Emmanuel Lévinas' Barbarisms: Adventures of Eastern Talmudic Counter-Narratives Heterodoxly Encountering the South

This dissertation examines the scope and limitations of the re-appropriation of the term barbarism by modern Jewish intellectuals in conversation with Third World social movements. Emmanuel Lévinas is my paradigmatic example of this re-appropriation, as his Talmudic interpretations illuminate this process, and his work is located on the axis of the encounter between Jewish and decolonial thinking. I contend that Lévinas follows a classic line of modern European interpreters who expressed their discomfort with the description of the Jewish people as barbaric. While this discomfort can be traced within this orthodox interpretation of Lévinas, I argue that his particular solution for the problem can only be explained by a more heterodox exploration. Lévinas’ positive re-appropriation of the term is part of contextual conversations that he sustained with other peoples characterized as barbarians (i.e. Third World decolonial theorists). While this re-appropriation was originally conceived in order to establish an East-East revolutionary conversation between Eastern European rabbinical interpreters and other radical Eastern projects (i.e. Maghrebi Marxism) it became an East-South decolonial conversation between Jewish and Afro-Caribbean/Latino-American intellectuals. This conversation, however, ultimately challenges the apologetic Jewish re-appropriation of exteriority in the concert of multiple barbarians. I explore the limitations of Jewish thought to engage with this community and cross from an apologetic to a critical barbarism. This dissertation, in conclusion, seeks to make an original contribution in the interrelation between Jewish and post-colonial studies. I aim to do so by first, demonstrating that the Jewish return to classical sources is historically and conceptually a decolonial counter-narrative that was influenced by (and in turn influenced) Third World discourses; second, explaining the reasons and consequences of the persistence of Jewish imagery and influences in Third World decolonial theory; third, exploring the limits of Jewish thinking and the benefits of the expansion of Jewish apologetical dialogues into barbaric critical conversations. And finally, challenging most contemporary scholarship in modern Jewish philosophy, which holds that Jewish thought and the modern re-reading of its sources can only be understood in the context of Western consciousness.Ph

Space and Periphery: Toward a Latin American Jewish Philosophy

In this article we explore the possibilities of developing a Latin American Jewish Philosophy in four steps. First we unfold the disciplinary limitations that both limited the emergence of the field and also set the current conceptual-historical basis for the area. Second we explore a possible historical departing point for the field. We survey conversations between European and Latin American philosophies that can offer an excellent prescriptive historical opening for the area. Third we explore the conceptual possibility of leaving behind the centrality of the object to privilege the space as unit of analysis. We argue this is a conceptual need to acknowledge the importance of unfolding a Latin American Jewish Philosophy. Finally, after surfing possibilities and limitations as well as the historical and conceptual basis for the field, we finish reflecting in the hybrid nature and set the departing points for further research.Fil: Taub, Emmanuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Instituto de Investigaciones "Gino Germani"; ArgentinaFil: Slabodsky, Santiago. No especifíca

Global leadership

The speaker talks about social justices. He states that there are two kinds of justices and ways of thinking. The first justice is owning the truth and converting people. The second justice is helping people. He draws upon his past, growing up in Argentina as a Jew when many didn't have jobs and were not able to provide for their families. The second justice was displayed when a network of all denominations of religions was created to to help people. The speaker gives the advice for bringing about the second justice in today's community: listen to the community and create and try things that have never been done before in order to make different things happen

El espacio y la periferia: En torno a una filosofía judía latinoamericana

A partir de la influencia de las corrientes de pensamiento post-estructurales,post-modernas y, sobre todo, post-coloniales, pocas disciplinas de la Ciencias Humanas rechazan el espacio del conocimiento como un factor relevante en la construcción del saber. Diferentes estudios han dejado atrás la dicotomía exis- tente entre “espacios centrales” y “espacios periféricos” como sujeto y objeto de análisis. En este contexto, se han demostrado las limitaciones del conocimiento teórico generado en Europa y Norteamérica, como también se ha re-pensado la importancia del espacio periférico, o el margen, como generador y objeto de conocimiento. En otras palabras: mientras Europa y Norteamérica se han pro- vincializado, el resto del mundo ha comenzado a pensarse en términos globales.In this article we explore the possibilities of developing a Latin American Jewish Philosophy in four steps. First we unfold the disciplinary limitations that both limited the emergence of the field and also set the current conceptual-historical basis for the area. Second we explore a possible historical departing point for the field. We survey conversations between European and Latin American philosophies that can offer an excellent prescriptive historical opening for the area. Third we explore the conceptual possibility of leaving behind the centrality of the object to privilege the space as unit of analysis. We argue this is a conceptual need to acknowledge the importance of unfolding a Latin American Jewish Philosophy. Finally, after surfing possibilities and limitations as well as the historical and conceptual basis for the field, we finish reflecting in the hybrid nature and set the departing points for further research.Fil: Slabodsky, Santiago. Claremont Lincoln University; Estados UnidosFil: Taub, Emmanuel. Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero. Centro de Estudios sobre Genocidio; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin