Meeting Josephine Levy-Rathenau: biography, memory, and intersubjectivity

• In Event: Embodied Jewish gender histories: Feminist, reflexive, creative encounters in the archives and in the field

Abstract

This contribution taps into the cacophony of voices that provide clues about the illustrious yet elusive German-Jewish feminist and social work pioneer, Josephine Levy-Rathenau. Tracing my “encounter” with Levy-Rathenau in the archives, the contribution creates a tapestry of impressions that make up the contours of a life. A host of observers give their own subjective and sometimes contradictory accounts: the colleague, the husband, the employee, the friend, and the biographer and scholar. Levy-Rathenau’s efforts to make it all about the mission partially succeed; yet she reveals herself to me in unexpected ways in her published and private works.

In the performative portion of this contribution, I stage excerpts of different genres illustrating the life and work of Levy-Rathenau, against a backdrop of two very different studio portraits of her. In the commentary portion, I wrestle with personal subjectivity versus the ideal of scholarly objectivity, biographical construction versus reconstruction, and the possibility of “befriending” your deceased historical subject – reflecting a unilateral relationship between two female introverted activist minds of a shared political worldview, separated by time, space, culture, socio-economic and religious background.

The paper is based on the journey to writing a condensed biographical essay on Josephine Levy-Rathenau for the Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women which follows the rules of “scholarly objectivity” while this performance/commentary will reveal the personal subjectivity “behind the scenes” of the biographical essay.

This study sheds light on the intricate relationships between researchers and their subjects, echoing themes of reflexivity and intersubjectivity highlighted in the broader session proposal. Through my performative presentation and commentary, I navigate the complexities of biographical representation while engaging with questions of identity, power dynamics, and historical memory.

(https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/levy-rathenau-josephine)

Author

• Angelina Palmen, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden