Search results

Your search found 261 items
Previous | Next
Sort: Relevance | Topics | Title | Author | Publication Year View all 1 2 3 4 5 6
Home  / Search Results
Author(s): Romeyn, Esther
Date: 2020
Abstract: This article sets out to discuss the emergence of (anti) ‘new antisemitism’ as a transnational field of governance, and particularly as a field of racial governance. Romeyn’s interest is not so much in the ‘facts’ of antisemitism or ‘new’ antisemitism, but in the ways in which it functions as a ‘power-knowledge’ field in which a cast of actors—global governance actors, such as the United Nations, UNESCO, the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe, the European Commission, non-governmental organizations, experts and scholars, and politicians—set out to define, invent measuring tools and technologies, analyse, formulate policy statements and programmes, and develop ‘interventions’ to address and redress (‘fight’) the ‘problem’. Embedded in the new antisemitism as a field of governance are the assumptions that, ideologically, it is imbricated in the universalist anti-racism of the liberal left, and that, culturally, it emanates to a significant extent from within ethnocultural or ethno-religious attitudes peculiar to populations originating from Northern Africa, the Maghreb or, more specifically, from majority Islamic countries. With respect to the latter groups, global governance actors concerned with the fight against the ‘new antisemitism’ instate a ‘regime’ that performatively enacts boundaries of belonging. This regime erects an interior frontier around culture/religion that effectively externalizes and racializes antisemitism.
Author(s): Turner, Michael
Editor(s): Masanori, Nagaoka
Date: 2020
Abstract: Kristallnacht, 1938, was a defining moment, changing the course of history. Can the Jewish heritage destroyed before and during World War II be reconstructed? This paper will link eschatological thought and the relevant Mishnaic texts, in particular the value of holiness and its attributes both in time and place. Can a synagogue be de-sanctified? Is the value in the material or the use?

Reviewing these tragic events, the possible criteria for reconstructing the architectural components of Jewish life should be considered, through the evidence of history, the record of events, values of the past, and the new realities of the future. Another significant concern is not so much in understanding the changing and diverse values of a community but the approaches toward the interpretations of these values. In this debate, where existential or historical models play a major role, Judaism tends toward the former, recalling events over time and the allegory in the facts.

What remained in Europe were the ruins, the memory of places and events, and the resilience of the human spirit. However, there are compounded memories and multiple voices, ever changing, challenging the identities of real and virtual communities. How do we evaluate the facts and the extended contexts over time that demand renegotiation of their meaning and interpretation?

On current projections, the Jews may become an insignificant number in European society over the course of the twenty-first century. Can these buildings, as reconstructed, live without the spirit of the people; can new people inhabit the reconstructions, or is the ruin the true manifestation of the course of history? The divergent case studies of the three ShUM cities, Speyer, Worms, and Mainz, in Germany provide a glimpse into the debate and an appraisal of the moment in time.

There are common attitudes facing recovery and reconstructions for uprooted communities after tragedies that leave scars on history. The case studies of Jewish heritage reconstruction and the considerations of impermanence provide another perspective to the restorations of the Bamiyan Buddhas and together a chilling evidence to the consequences of racism.
Date: 2020
Date: 2020
Abstract: Belief in conspiracy theories about Jews is a prototypical example of how a naïve theory can serve as a universal explanation of “all the bad things happening in society.” Such a theory often arises in times of political unrest that tend to breed feelings of uncertainty in politics and a lack of control over politics. As both uncertainty (a sense-making deficit) and lack of control (an agency deficit) can relate to conspiracy-based antisemitism, this research examines which of the two processes plays a pivotal role in the belief in Jewish conspiracy. Specifically, we hypothesize that political uncontrollability, rather than political uncertainty, is a critical factor in triggering conspiracy theories about groups. In Study 1 (N = 812) we found that lack of control, but not uncertainty, in the political domain predicted belief in Jewish conspiracy, and subsequently led to increased discriminatory attitudes toward Jews. The results of longitudinal Study 2 (N = 476) revealed that only political uncontrollability led to an increase in conspiracy-related stereotypes of Jews. In Study 3 (N = 172) we found that experimental induction of political uncontrollability increased belief in Jewish, German, and Russian conspiracy, whereas induction of political uncertainty did not. Finally, Study 4 (N = 370) replicated this pattern in another cultural context with more general measures of uncontrollability and uncertainty. It was lack of personal control, rather than uncertainty, that increased belief in Jewish conspiracy—and indirectly predicted other conspiracy theories. Our findings consistently support the critical role of political uncontrollability, not uncertainty, in triggering a conspiracy theory of Jews.
Author(s): Moe, Vibeke
Date: 2020
Author(s): Dyrendal, Asbjørn
Date: 2020
Abstract: Studies of conspiracy beliefs in Scandinavian countries have been few and qualitative in nature. This chapter analyses recent surveys and gives tentative answers as to how international research findings about conspiracy beliefs hold up in a Norwegian setting.
Some of the expected effects were found. Two surveys validate the five-item conspiracy mentality scale for Norway, a measure of the generalised propensity towards believing in conspiracy theories. Scores on conspiracy mentality predicted belief in single-item conspiracy beliefs regarding Jews and Muslims, but the effect size was small. Conspiracy stereotypes of Jews and Muslims were a contributing factor in a more general xenophobia and correlated positively with measures of social distance. The conspiracy stereotypes contributed to explaining differences in views on the legitimacy of violence towards members of outgroups in general.
Contrary to expectations, anti-Muslim conspiracy beliefs were more closely tied to conspiracy mentality than antisemitic ones. With regard to the debate on whether adherents of the political far left and far right believe in conspiracy theories more than those of centrist and mainstream parties, the Norwegian left-wing adherents generally scored lower on conspiracy beliefs about Jews and Muslims. Conspiracy theories were for election winners: the populist right generally scored significantly higher than other political orientations. The differences in scores were particularly strong for anti-Muslim beliefs.
The analyses were run by adopting questions asked for other purposes. With the exception of conspiracy mentality, scales were constructed by using those survey items that were arguably approximate items to those in reliable measures. Further inquiries should adapt established scales for more robust answers and in order to build reliable models.
Author(s): Reches, Ruth
Date: 2020
Abstract: The book "Survival of the Identity of Holocaust Survivors" was prepared on the basis of a doctoral dissertation. It examines how the trauma of the Holocaust led to a shift in identity among survivors during the war, and the long-term consequences of the Holocaust for identity.

The interview material of 11 research participants who survived the Holocaust revealed identity changes caused during the Holocaust war - the survivors' self-perception as a member of society changed due to the exclusion related to nationality; the perception of one's Jewish origin has changed; the perception of one's role in the family has changed, the loss of family members has strengthened family ties among the survivors; life goals changed, survival became the main goal; self-esteem has changed.

The Holocaust caused long-term consequences for identity: the Holocaust shaped the perception of oneself as a "survivor", which acquired a different value in the context of Lithuanian and Israeli societies; survivors perceive themselves as valuing life, understanding the transience of material values; they perceive themselves as accepting God or as denying his existence. Survivors reveals his dual relationship with the Holocaust: he perceives himself as having gained strength, life experience, having found meaning in the Holocaust, or as having lost the continuity of life.

The book has important lasting value because the research participants interviewed in the book were 80 years old or older at the time of the study, and now, several years after the study, some of them are no longer alive.
Date: 2020
Abstract: ο ανά χείρας βιβλίο συνιστά μια απόπειρα διερεύνησης της ελληνο-εβραϊκής ταυτοτικής αναφοράς στο πλαίσιο της σύγχρονης ελληνικής κοινωνίας, αφού η μοντέρνα εκδοχή της εβραϊκότητας ξεδιπλώνεται με ορόσημο την νεωτερικότητα. Μέσα από την εκπόνηση μιας επιτόπιας εμπειρικής έρευνας επιδιώκεται η διερεύνηση, αφενός του τρόπου με τον οποίο οι Έλληνες/δες Εβραίοι/ες αυτο-προσδιορίζονται, όσον αφορά την ατομική και συλλογική διάσταση της εθνικής, εθνοτικής και θρησκευτικής τους ταυτότητας, αφετέρου του τρόπου με τον οποίο διακλαδώνονται και συμπλέκονται οι μεταλλαγές και οι μεταμορφώσεις αυτής της ταυτότητας με ορόσημο το Β' Παγκόσμιο πόλεμο.
Η έρευνα εστιάζει συγκριτικά, στις Ισραηλιτικές Κοινότητες των Αθηνών, της Θεσσαλονίκης, της Λάρισας και του Βόλου, και επιχειρεί να απαντήσει στα ακόλουθα ερωτήματα. Πως βλέπουν τον εαυτό τους οι Έλληνες/δες Εβραίοι/ες: ως θρησκευτική μειονότητα, ως εθνοτική ομάδα ή απλώς ως κανονικά και πλήρη μέλη της ελληνικής κοινωνίας; Πως αντιλαμβάνονται την ιουδαϊκή τους ταυτότητα: ως θρησκευτική πίστη ή ένταξη, ως τήρηση των ιουδαϊκών τελετουργικών και εθίμων ή ως εθνο-πολιτισμική παράδοση; Ποιες είναι οι επιρροές της μεταβαλλόμενης (εκκοσμικευόμενης) ελληνικής κοινωνίας στην ελληνο-εβραϊκή ταυτότητα; Ποιο ρόλο παίζει το Ισραήλ στην ταυτοτική τους αναφορά; Πως βλέπουν τους μη Εβραίους, Έλληνες συμπολίτες; Με τη χρήση ποιοτικών και ποσοτικών μεθοδολογικών εργαλείων, μέσα από μια συγκριτική προοπτική τριών γενεών από το τραυματικό γεγονός του Ολοκαυτώματος, εξετάζονται οι εκφράσεις και οι συνιστώσες, οι υποδηλώσεις και οι συνισταμένες, οι διαφοροποιήσεις και οι περιδινήσεις του ταυτοτικού αυτο-προσδιορισμού των Ελλήνων/δων Εβραίων, στη συνεχώς μεταβαλλόμενη και κατά επίπεδα εκκοσμικευμένη, ελληνική κοινωνική πραγματικότητα. (Από την παρουσίαση στο οπισθόφυλλο του βιβλίου)
Date: 2020
Abstract: This article introduces a new analytical model for researching vernacular religion, which aims to capture and describe everyday religiosity as an interplay between knowing, being, and doing religion. It suggests three processes that tie this triad together: continuity; change; and context. The model is envisaged as a tool for tracing vernacular religion in ethnographic data in a multidimensional yet structured framework that is sensitive to historical data and cultural context, but also to individual narratives and nuances. It highlights the relationship between self-motivated modes of religiosity and institutional structures, as well as influences from secular sources and various traditions and worldviews.

The article is based on an ongoing research project focusing on everyday Judaism in Finland. The ethnographic examples illustrate how differently these dynamics play out in different life narratives, depending on varying emphases, experiences, and situations. By bringing together major themes recognized as relevant in previous research and offering an analytical tool for detecting them in ethnographic materials, the model has the potential to create new openings for comparative research, because it facilitates the interlinking of datasets across contexts and cultures. The article concludes that the model can be developed into a more generally applicable analytical tool for structuring and elucidating contemporary ethnographies, mirroring a world of rapid cultural and religious change.
Author(s): Wezel, Katja
Date: 2020
Author(s): Staudinger, Barbara
Date: 2020
Abstract: Der 1. Juni 2018 bedeutete eine Zäsur für die staatlichen Einrichtungen des Freistaats Bayern. Mit diesem Stichtag mussten Kreuze als Symbol »bayerischer Kultur«, so Ministerpräsident Söder, in den Foyers staatlicher Institutionen angebracht werden: Staatliche Symbolpolitik wurde für den öffentlichen Raum verordnet, für Museen wurde sie immerhin noch empfohlen. Spätestens seit der Flüchtlingskrise von 2015 wird die Angst vor einem »importierten Antisemitismus« durch populistische Parteien in Deutschland wie in Österreich politisch verwertet. Gemeinsam mit dem Feindbild des »politischen Islam«, das sich mittlerweile auf alle Muslim_innen erstreckt, trug dies zu einem markanten Anstieg offenen Antisemitismus innerhalb der deutschen Gesellschaft bei. Populisten, die die Bevölkerung immer mehr in ein »wir« und »die anderen« spalten, die den Hass gegen Minderheiten politisch verwerten und Antisemitismus entweder klein reden oder ausschließlich jenen zuschreiben, die sie bekämpfen, haben Einzug in den politischen Mainstream gefunden. Jüdische Museen müssen heute auf diese Entwicklung antworten: Als Museum zur Geschichte einer Minderheit und als Ort, der sich zwangsläufig mit den Folgen von Antisemitismus und politisch motivierter Ausgrenzung auseinandersetzt, haben sie eine gesellschaftspolitische Verantwortung. Dies bedeutet, dass sich jüdische Museen öffnen müssen, und zwar in mehrerer Hinsicht: 1. thematisch, wenn es darum geht, historischen und aktuellen Antisemitismus und dessen Folgen für die jüdische Bevölkerung zu thematisieren, 2. politisch, um gegen Populismus, rassistische Hetze und Instrumentalisierung von Religionen aufzutreten, und 3. räumlich, wenn es darum geht, nicht nur ein kulturell interessiertes Publikum, sondern die Stadtbevölkerung anzusprechen.