Francophone Jewish Thought and the Colonial Question

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

This roundtable will address what makes the Francophone postcolonial context unique as a site for thinking about the relationships between colonialism, decoloniality, and Jewish thought. Although these relationships have come under increased scrutiny and attention recently, the particularities of the French context remain largely under-theorized. French colonial Algeria was the site of one of the most significant anti-colonial struggles, the Algerian War of Independence, and France continues to be dogged by issues tied to its colonial legacies, including immigration, Islamophobia, and even debates over universalism and laïcité. In recent years, France has also been the site of an important resurgence in anti-racist and decolonial discourse, especially from immigrant, Muslim, and Jewish groups. Concomitantly, in the postwar period, Francophone Jewish thought refashioned its intellectual and political coordinates and developed complex critiques of universalism and assimilation. Figures such as Emmanuel Levinas, Albert Memmi, Jacques Derrida, and others challenged the hegemony of Western modernity and developed new paradigms for Jewish thought in its wake. This roundtable will discuss the various ways that these issues intersect with one another and the generative insights that can be gleaned from thinking about French Judaism within this intersectional lens. Key questions will include interrogating the role of Jewishness in decolonial discourse, comparing the different valences of Ashkenazi and North African Jewish voices, illuminating the centrality of the Algerian War, and asking about the role of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in public discourse. The roundtable argues that the intersection of (post)colonialism and French Jewish thought constitutes a unique paradigm in relation to other cases across Europe and the US.

Sub Unit

• Modern Jewish Thought and Theology

Moderator

• Rebecca Glasberg, Stanford University

Discussants

• Mendel Kranz, Rice University

• Jacob Levi, Connecticut College

• Elad Lapidot, University of Bern

• Yael Attia, University of Potsdam

Zoom Host

• Zoom Host 16