Return after 500 years? Spanish and Portuguese repatriation laws and the reconstruction of Sephardic identity

Abstract

In a gesture of reconciliation, Spain and Portugal in 2015 passed bills inviting the descendants of Sephardic Jews–expelled 500 years earlier–to acquire citizenship. Applicants are to ascertain their Sephardic heritage through family trees, evidence of belonging to a religious community, language skills and/or retained links with the homeland. This article explores applicants’ motivations to request citizenship and the ways in which legal provisions, religious associations, and the migration industry become gatekeepers of and (re)shape what it means to be Sephardic. Based on interviews with applicants and other actors involved, the article discusses how states, religious associations, applicants themselves and businesses facilitate and define the process towards citizenship. It also points to how the repatriation laws have spurred identification with–but also alienation from–Spain and Portugal, by making it possible to gain an attractive EU passport, while encouraging the revisiting of a painful past.