Book Talk. Critical Theories of Anti-Semitism

This talk will give an overview of Jonathan Judaken’s new book, Critical Theories of Anti-Semitism (Columbia University Press, 2024). The book is at once a philosophical reflection on key problems in the analysis of anti-Semitism and a history of its leading theories and theorists. Judaken explores the methodological and conceptual issues that have vexed the study of Judeophobia and calls for a reconsideration of the definitions, categories, and narratives that underpin overarching explanations. He traces how a range of thinkers have wrestled with these challenges Judaken argues against claims about the uniqueness of Judeophobia, demonstrating how it is entangled with other racisms: Islamophobia, Negrophobia, and xenophobia.