When, How, and Why Did Jews Become a “Minority”? Remapping Difference in Central Europe, 1815-1919
The conceptual partners of majority/minority frames modern theories of social organization and political rights. But the idea of a dichotomy between majority and (Jewish) minority to describe relations between ethnic or religious groups is recent. Professor Till van Rahden’s lecture demonstrates that the arithmetic concept did not exist before 1919, when the idea of democracy and the homogeneous nation-state triumphed in the wake of World War I. Prior to the war, he argues, languages of diversity referred to specific constellations of difference, such as colony or community, churches, nations, races, or tribes. The opposition of majority and minority introduced a level of abstraction into struggles over recognition. “Minority rights” for Jews and others became a miracle cure in such conflicts that seemingly offered a universal remedy.
Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:00pm to 5:30pm
Willard Hall Education Building, 006
Willard E. Hall Education Bldg, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
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