Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. Introduction: The Shared Story of Europe’s Ideas of the Muslim and the Jew—A Diachronic Framework

   • James Renton, Ben Gidley

   Pages 1-21

3. Christendom

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 23-23

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   2. Ethnic and Religious Categories in the Treatment of Jews and Muslims in the Crusader States

      • Andrew Jotischky

      Pages 25-49

   3. Antisemitism, Islamophobia and the Conspiracy Theory of Medical Murder in Early Modern Spain and Portugal

      • François Soyer

      Pages 51-75

4. Empire

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 77-77

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   2. Fear and Loathing in the Russian Empire

      • Robert D. Crews

      Pages 79-98

   3. The End of the Semites

      • James Renton

      Pages 99-140

5. Divergence

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 141-141

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   2. The Case of Circumcision: Diaspora Judaism as a Model for Islam?

      • Sander L. Gilman

      Pages 143-164

   3. Islamophobia and Antisemitism in the Balkans

      • Marko Attila Hoare

      Pages 165-185

   4. Antisemitism and Its Critics

      • Gil Anidjar

      Pages 187-214

6. Response

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 215-215

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   2. Antisemitism, Islamophobia and the Search for Common Ground in French Antiracist Movements since 1898

      • Daniel A. Gordon

      Pages 217-266

   3. The Price of an Entrance Ticket to Western Society: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Heinrich Heine and the Double Standard of Emancipation

      • David J. Wertheim

      Pages 267-281

   4. The Impact of Antisemitism and Islamophobia on Jewish–Muslim Relations in the UK: Memory, Experience, Context

      • Yulia Egorova, Fiaz Ahmed

      Pages 283-301

7. Back Matter

   Pages 303-311

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This is the first book to examine the relationship between European antisemitism and Islamophobia from the Crusades until the twenty-first century in the principal flashpoints of the two racisms. With case studies ranging from the Balkans to the UK, the contributors take the debate away from politicised polemics about whether or not Muslims are the new Jews. Much previous scholarship and public discussion has focused on comparing European ideas about Jews and Judaism in the past with contemporary attitudes towards Muslims and Islam. This volume rejects this approach. Instead, it interrogates how the dynamic relationship between antisemitism and Islamophobia has evolved over time and space. The result is the uncovering of a previously unknown story in which European ideas about Jews and Muslims were indeed connected, but were also ripped apart. Religion, empire, nation-building, and war, all played their part in the complex evolution of this relationship.  As well asa study of prejudice, this book also opens up a new area of inquiry: how Muslims, Jews, and others have responded to these historically connected racisms.

The volume brings together leading scholars in the emerging field of antisemitism-Islamophobia studies who work in a diverse range of disciplines: anthropology, history, sociology, critical theory, and literature. Together, they help us to understand a Europe in which Jews and Arabs were once called Semites, and today are widely thought to be on two different sides of the War on Terror.

 

• Racism
• Prejudice
• Empire
• Discrimination
• Xenophobia

“This collection of essays outlines the groundwork for examining the interesting but often overlooked relationship between antiSemitism and Islamophobia in Europe. Essays provide a wide historical perspective from Crusader states of the Middle Ages through contemporary controversies. … Summing Up: Recommended. Faculty.” (B. Lieberman, Choice, Vol. 55 (6), February, 2018)

“The contributors to this volume seek to make connections between anti-Semitism and Islamophobia from the Crusades to modern times. Drawing on various case studies from across Europe, they describe the evolution of ideas about Judaism and Islam, noting how these have both combined and diverged, and how the adherents of these religions have responded.” (Survival, Issue 2, April, 2019 – May, 2019)

• Department of English and History, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, United Kingdom

  James Renton

• School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom

  Ben Gidley

Ben Gidley is Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, UK. His research focuses on racisms, multiculture, diaspora, and urban diversity. He is the co-author of Turbulent Times: The British Jewish Community Today (2010).

James Renton is Reader in History at Edge Hill University, UK. His research focuses on racism, empire, and the genealogy of global politics. He is the author of The Zionist Masquerade: The Birth of the Anglo-Zionist Alliance, 1914-1918 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).   

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