Russian Jews and “Gypsy Punks”: The Performance of Real and Imagined Cultural Identities within a Transnational Migrant Group

Abstract

This article will discuss the implications of the construction of cultural space among Russian Jews in New York City and the narratives employed to collectively produce and claim this space, particularly the repeated notion of being without a “home” or “place.” Analysis of these narratives will address the uniqueness of Russian Jewish identity and the historical factors that contributed to the isolation of Russian Jews in their homelandandinNewYork.SpecialattentionwillbepaidtophysicalRussian Jewish spaces, considering these spaces as mediating agents in constructing cultural identity, as well the role of the music scene as it relates to cultural cohesion. This focus is drawn from communications scholar David Morley’s assertion that media technologies tend to “transport the individual or small family group to destinations (physical, symbolic or imaginary) well beyond the confines of home or neighborhood, combining privacy with mobility” (149). Considering Russian Jews as a highly mobile group that centers on the exclusion of others, inclusion manifests itself through the construction of, and participation in, spaces that represent their physical and imagined communities. Using historical and theoretical research, a literature review, ethnographic techniques, interviews, analyses of songs and media, and the presentation of personally recorded media, Russian Jewish identity and alienation will be used as a means of understanding the “gypsy punk” movement that has emerged in the popular New York City nightclub, Mehanata, also known as “The Bulgarian Bar.” The rising fame of the selfproclaimed gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello will be considered, along with the textual, audio, and visual media that presents this scene to participants. Finally, the music scene as a whole will be contextualized within historical