Claiming Livorno: Commercial Networks, Foreign Status, and Culture in the Italian Jewish Diaspora, 1815-1914

Abstract

This dissertation examines the dense web of real and imagined relationships that linked Jews in Livorno in Italy and Jews in Alexandria in Egypt during the nineteenth century. The dissertation traces overlapping and intersecting Jewish families and communities, and explores their commercial practices, national and religious identities, and cultural allegiances. For Jews in Egypt, Livorno served as a touchstone of economic resources, information, legal status, and solidarity. Weaving together micro-stories from the Tuscan, Italian, and British consular courts, the dissertation demonstrates the intersectional and situational nature of nationality in Egypt. Individuals and communities understood the power of various forms of documentation and status, and used them to navigate their legal, economic, and social possibilities. In integrating the history of Livorno with the history of Alexandria, the dissertation views Jewish history through a Mediterranean lens and contributes to our understanding of Jewish experiences of modernity.

Chapter One examines the early modern history of Livorno, and emphasizes the local framework of the Jewish community as well as its Mediterranean connections. The second chapter explores the economic endeavors of Jews from Livorno during the nineteenth century, looking closely at the family firm and the interconnected dynamics of trust and vulnerability amidst the progressive economic decline of the port city. Chapter Three argues that Jewish trading diasporas, spreading goods and information, continued to play a consequential role during the modern era. The chapter also examines how Jewish merchants in Alexandria were able to use the consular court as a forum for negotiating commercial relationships and exchanges. Chapter Four focuses on the claims of nationality and citizenship that Jews mobilized in Egypt, and argues that citizenship in the Mediterranean was porous, instrumental, and flexible. While nationality could often be ignored or disregarded in Alexandria, the final chapter explores the associational spaces and activities Italian Jews used to give their status social, emotional, and cultural meanings. Italian officials and nationalists often perceived Jews as an important audience in their efforts to expand Italian imperial influence in Egypt. Italian Jews navigated these perceptions, and created layered cultural allegiances that were rooted in the local context of Egypt and reinforced by transnational ties to Italy and Jewish communities worldwide.