Abstract
The religious tradition of male circumcision has come increasingly under
attack across a number of European states. While critics of the practice
argue that the problem is about children’s rights and the proper relationship
between secular and religious traditions, Jews tend to see these attacks within
the longer history of attempts to assimilate and remake them according to
the norms of the majority. Using the 2012 German legal controversy concerning
the issue as my vantage point, I explore how contemporary criticism of
male circumcision remains entangled with ambivalence toward Judaism and
the Jews as the “other.” Through a close reading of the arguments, I show
how opponents use the seemingly neutral language of universal human rights
to (re)make Jewish difference according to the norms of the majority.
I conclude by arguing that such an approach to this issue runs the risk of
turning Jews once again into strangers at a time when cultural anxieties are
troubling European societies.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 55-84 |
Journal | Studies in Law Politics and Society |
Volume | 79 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |