CFP: Special Issue of Jewish Folklore and Ethnology “The Folklore and Ethnology of Antisemitism, Old and New”

The editors of Jewish Folklore and Ethnology (JFE) invite submissions for a special issue on “The Folklore and Ethnology of Antisemitism, Old and New.” JFE is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary annual journal published and distributed internationally in print and online versions by Wayne State University Press. It features innovative, original analytical studies, essays, and commentaries in English on the diverse ways in which Jewishness is expressed, conceived, transformed, and perceived by Jews and non-Jews through folklore, tradition, material/visual culture, and sociocultural practice.

Reports of the rise of antisemitic incidents in the twenty-first century frequently link hate speech, desecration of Jewish sites, and violence toward Jews to the emergence, and in many cases resurgence, of beliefs, sayings, and narratives that can be categorized as folklore. Folklore functions frequently to persuade public culture to racialize/demonize Jews but can also serve to defend Jews. Although scholarship has analyzed older folkloric patterns both attacking Jews (e.g., blood libel legends, wandering Jew beliefs) and defending them (e.g., Golem legends, Cossack jokes), critical discourse has arisen in the twenty-first century regarding a “new antisemitism” and the sociocultural practices that manifest it. Under the rubric of the new cultural antisemitism, scholars discuss concepts of anti-Zionism, anti-Americanism, Holocaust denial, pan-Russification, structural discrimination/racism, and neo-Nazism. New social platforms that invite ethnographic attention to the invention and spread of rituals, beliefs, and narratives include social media, college campus organizations, protest rallies as media events, and professional societies. The editors seek studies that use the evidence of folklore and ethnology to analyze the platforms, practices, processes of material/visual culture, and contents of cultural antisemitism in recent and historic situations.

Guidelines for the Submission of Manuscripts

Analytical essays in English (6,000–8,000 words, double-spaced, in MS Word) should be submitted through the Digital Commons platform. JFE follows the in-text citation style with a reference list at the end according to the guidelines of the Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition. Prospective authors can send advance queries directly to the editor, Simon J. Bronner at bronners@uwm.edu.