Into the spiral of problematic perceptions: modern anti-semitism and gebildetes buergertum in 19th-century Germany

This article attempts to relate modern anti-Semitism to the increasingly close interactions of Jews and non-Jews in an age of political emancipation and social integration. It argues that the changing mutual perceptions of Jews and Protestants in the German educated bourgeoisie are of central importance in this regard. In nineteenth-century Germany, literature movements such as realism, and various human sciences such as anthropology, Protestant theology or philology provided ample material for discussing the Jewish character. These fields suggest four ways of perceiving Jews: the Jew as parvenu, as Talmudist, as materialist and as nomad. Indeed, bourgeois Jews themselves contributed to these literary and scholarly debates. Their discussions were frequently shaped by the attempt to confront anti-Jewish misconceptions. Moreover, they propagated their own interpretation of the Jewish character: the figure of the humanistic Jew. This Jewish interpretation, which identifies a universal mission, proves to have a twofold nature: it is not only a counter-attack against anti-Semitic polemics, but also a particular result of the peculiar Jewish adaptation of bourgeois culture. As the article argues, however, this humanistic perception of Jewish identity caused concern on the Protestant side, which led to further polemics and thus further Jewish defence. The resulting spiral of problematic perceptions was the consequence of the growing social intimacy of bourgeois Jews and Protestants in nineteenth-century Germany. Modern anti-Semitism, it is thus argued, can be interpreted as a specific form of rejection of ambivalence and the establishment of neat binary codes in the confusing closeness of Jews and non-Jews

Gebildete doppelganger: burgerliche Juden und Protestanten im 19. jahrhundert

The book analyses the relationship of Jews and Protestants in the educated middle-class. The origins of modern Jewish identity and modern anti-Semitism are both subjects of its investigation

Getrennt streiten – getrennt leben? Der doppelte streit um Heinrich von Treitschkes Antisemitismus unter gebildeten Bürgern (1879-1881) [Separate quarrels – separate lives? The dual controversy about Heinrich von Treitschke’s anti-semitism in the educated bürgertum (1879-1881)]

The essay tries to reconsider the controversies that the Berlin historian Heinrich von Treitschke inaugurated in 1879 when he attacked German Jews and embraced the anti-Semitic movement. A detailed analysis of the structure of the following two distinct debates will demonstrate that Treitschke first had to argue with educated Jews. Only after a break of half a year a new controversy erupted, this time among educated Protestants. The essay tries to show that with these debates a fundamental disposition for anti-Semitism was established which called the relations of educated Jews and Protestants into question

A communicative gap: bourgeois Jews and Protestants in the public space of early imperial Germany

The article takes a novel look at the extensive debates about the “Jewish Question” in early Imperial Germany by analysing how Jews and Protestants communicated with each other. These debates were shaped by two hitherto neglected facts: by the character of pamphlets as an anarchic media and by the bourgeois background of their Jewish and Protestant authors. The “Jewish Question” played a considerable role in the public communication of the German educated middle-class, urging mostly Jews and Protestants to raise their voice. Their different motivations to do so are discussed and the overall make-up of this body of literature is delineated. The specific media structure of the debates and especially the problematic power of pamphlet literature seemed to jeopardize the established ways of bourgeois communication. Thus, the very structure of the “Jewish Question” itself appeared to epitomize the contradictory positions of Jews in the public sphere and in middle-class culture. By briefly characterizing the Jewish responses to the challenges in these debates, the article concludes that in this structure a communicative gap between bourgeois Jews and Protestants became visible. At the same time, this serves as a concrete example to refute a dominance-free, Habermasian concept of the public sphere and to highlight the importance of the ability to universalize one's position in the public communication of 19th-century Germany

Rassendenken und Rassismus im 18. Jahrhundert

Die Diskussionsreihe „Kant – Ein Rassist?“ widmet sich aus verschiedenen wissenschaftlichen Perspektiven der titelgebenden Frage. Die vierte von sechs Folgen beleuchtet das Verhältnis zwischen Rassedenken und Rassismus im 18. Jahrhundert aus historischer Perspektive. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden die Position und die Bedeutung Kants in der damaligen zeitgenössischen Diskussion bestimmt. Die interdisziplinäre Diskussion nimmt auch zu aktuellen politischen Fragen aus philosophischer, soziologischer und feministischer Perspektive Stellung. Das Impulsreferat hält Uffa Jensen, Heissenberg-Professor am Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung der Technischen Universität Berlin. Uffa Jensen forscht zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte der Psychowissenschaften, der transnationalen Geschichte und der modernen Emotionsgeschichte. Die erste Replik hält Andrew Wells, Geschichtswissenschaftler an der Universität Dresden mit den Forschungsschwerpunkten des Rassismus, des Rassedenkens und der Geschichte der Sklaverei. Die zweite Replik stammt von Jacob Mabe, Professor für Philosophie und Vorsitzender der Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Gesellschaft. In der anschließenden Diskussion knüpfen Ruth Hagengruber, Gerald Hartung, Natasha A. Kelly, Hannah Peaceman, Miriam Rabe, Johanna Strunge und Karolin-Sophie Stüber an die Vorträge an und erweitern die Perspektive. Durch die Sitzung führt Andrea Esser. Der Impulsvortrag von Uffa Jensen beginnt ab Minute 4:20. Die Replik von Andrew Wells beginnt ab Minute 32:10. Die Replik von Jacob Mabe beginnt ab Minute 44:10. Uffa Jensen antwortet ab Minute 56:24 kurz auf die beiden Repliken. Die allgemeine Diskussion startet ab Minute 61:20

Learning How to Feel: Children's Literature and the History of Emotional Socialization, 1870-1970

Learning How to Feel explores the ways in which children and adolescents learn not just how to express emotions that are thought to be pre-existing, but actually how to feel. The volume assumes that the embryonic ability to feel unfolds through a complex dialogue with the social and cultural environment and specifically through reading material. The fundamental formation takes place in childhood and youth. A multi-authored historical monograph, Learning How to Feel uses children's literature and advice manuals to access the training practices and learning processes for a wide range of emotions in the modern age, circa 1870-1970. The study takes an international approach, covering a broad array of social, cultural, and political milieus in Britain, Germany, India, Russia, France, Canada, and the United States. Learning How to Feel places multidirectional learning processes at the centre of the discussion, through the concept of practical knowledge. The book innovatively draws a framework for broad historical change during the course of the period. Emotional interaction between adult and child gave way to a focus on emotional interactions among children, while gender categories became less distinct. Children were increasingly taught to take responsibility for their own emotional development, to find 'authenticity' for themselves. In the context of changing social, political, cultural, and gender agendas, the building of nations, subjects and citizens, and the forging of moral and religious values, Learning How to Feel demonstrates how children were provided with emotional learning tools through their reading matter to navigate their emotional lives

Learning how to feel : children's literature and emotional socialization, 1870-1970

A key historical framework for study of the effects of literature on children's emotional development in the century up to 1970 Employs a literary perspective, offering readers an historical context for the processes in childhood of acquiring practical knowledge Provides an excellent reference point for courses that include the history of emotions, cultural studies, and child development, at both undergraduate and graduate levels Explores broad questions of children's socialization and the acquisition of practical emotional knowledge in the modern period Addresses the realm of children's studies through a historical as well as literary lens, allowing areas like developmental and child psychology to benefit from the historical and cultural contex