Between anti‐Semitism and Islamophobia: Some thoughts on the new Europe
Author(s)
Publication Name
Publication Date
Abstract
The apparent resurgence of hostility against Jews has been a prominent theme in recent discussions of Europe. At the same time, the adversities of the Muslim populations on the continent have received increasing attention as well. In this article, I attempt a historical and cultural clarification of the key terms in this debate. I argue against the common impulse to analogize anti‐Semitism and Islamophobia. Instead, I offer an analytic framework that locates the two phenomena in different projects of exclusion. Anti‐Semitism was invented in the late 19th century to police the ethnically pure nation‐state; Islamophobia, by contrast, is a formation of the present, marshaled to safeguard a supranational Europe. Whereas traditional anti‐Semitism has run its historical course with the supersession of the nation‐state, Islamophobia threatens to become the defining condition of the new Europe.
Topics
Jewish life
> Main Topic: Identity and Community Antisemitism Islamophobia Jewish life
> Comparisons: Between Jews and Non-Jews
> Main Topic: Identity and Community Antisemitism Islamophobia Jewish life
> Comparisons: Between Jews and Non-Jews
Genre
Geographic Coverage
Original Language
Volume/Issue
32(4)
Page Number / Article Number
499-508
DOI
Link
Link to article (paywalled), Between anti‐Semitism and Islamophobia: Some thoughts on the new Europe
Bibliographic Information
Between anti‐Semitism and Islamophobia: Some thoughts on the new Europe. 2008: 499-508. https://archive.jpr.org.uk/10.1525/ae.2005.32.4.499
