Jewish Thought and Empire: 1830-1939

23-24 June 2025

• The Institute of Jewish Studies at the University of Antwerp
• The Bucerius Institute for Research of Contemporary German History and Society, University of Haifa
• With the support of The European Association for Jewish Studies

​Venue: University of Antwerp
Hof van Liere – Prentenkabinet
Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerpen

Free entrance. To register: email to ijs@uantwerpen.be​

Organisers: Vivian Liska (University of Antwerp), Cedric Cohen-Skalli (Haifa University), Daniel M. Herskowitz (Duke University)

The past decades have witnessed remarkable advances in the historical and conceptual understanding of empire, imperialism, and colonialism. To date, these advances have left a minimal mark on the study of modern Jewish thought. Due, among other things, to the historical success of Zionism, and the narrative of “Jewish contribution” to western nation-states (Germany, France, England, etc), the dominant paradigm in scholarship was and remains that of the nation-state. As a consequence, the imperial context in the 19th century was considered as a mere background or stage to be superseded in the 20th century. For both its adherers and detractors, the nation-state of the 20th century is the organising concept through which Jewish themes, thinkers, texts, and movements are approached.

This workshop takes as its point of departure the fact that empire – as a reality or a phantasy – was a ubiquitous frame of reference, and that the nation state and imperial expansion are not opposite concepts but intermingled and two sides of the same coin. Jewish studies have compartmentalised German Jewish thought, French Jewish thought, Zionist-Israeli Jewish thought, American Jewish thought, but taking into account the imperial paradigm enables recognising a trans-national perspective that appreciates the common imperial stand that runs across national borders and through Jewish thought in the 19th and 20th centuries.

A paradigmatic example of this duality of nationalism and imperialism is the historical line between the 1791 decree of emancipation of French Jews voted by the French revolutionary assembly and the 1870 Crémieux decree granting French citizenship to all Algerian Jews in the newly conquered and colonised Algeria - in sharp contrast to the lot reserved to the Muslim “indigènes”. The emancipation of the Algerian Jews was conceived and realised by the Jews of the colonial “métropole”, who succeeded to convince the French political and colonial establishment of the “utility” of Algerian Jews for further colonisation of Algeria. The destiny of Algerian Jews, including the growing divide with the Muslim Algerians, was decided in Paris, by the collaboration of French Jews and Catholics around new imperial plans.