Jewish Women Thinkers in the Face of Shoah and Its Aftermath

Dear Colleagues,

Hannah Arendt’s response to the question “Who are you?”, asked of her after the Shoah, in which she appealed to her Jewish origin, goes beyond a merely private declaration, it touches the core of a fundamental philosophical issue: the relationship between a tradition (Judaism) taken, on the one hand, as a form of belonging in times of persecution and systematic extermination of the Jews of Europe, and, on the other the specifically women perspective that emerges in one of the few philosophers acknowledged by the postwar (and “post-Auschwitz”) academic community, on the other.

At the intersection of these two existential dimensions, belonging to a community and to a gender, to Judaism and to womanhood, within a precise historical moment such as the Shoah and its historical and political aftermath, there emerge key philosophical reflections that inform (whether in continuity with or in divergence from Arendt’s thought) the work of Jewish women thinkers of the 20th and 21st centuries. These reflections disclose an ongoing negotiation with and a questioning of that cultural inheritance as well as of their gendered identity (sometimes embraced as feminist, sometimes even denied) particularly in relation to the historical and political events of their time, and most notably to the Shoah and/or its enduring repercussions, which remain profoundly significant today.

While studies on contemporary Jewish thought and gender studies have both expanded markedly in recent decades, the intersection between these domains, together with a renewed engagement with the Shoah, the post-Auschwitz condition, and their ongoing implications which today give rise to highly contentious debates, still calls for a more integrated and multilayered analysis. The joint exploration of the three axes of Judaism, gender difference, and the Shoah (and its aftermath), thus, remains a largely uncharted research area demanding new lines of inquiry.

This Special Issue seeks, therefore, to fill that gap by engaging the subject from a double or even triple vantage point: How are questions of gender and Judaism articulated in relation to one another? In what ways does this articulation open up new insights into the Shoah, revealing what remains unthought in current ethical and political debates? Conversely, how do such perspectives contribute to a renewed understanding of the relationship between notions of identity and difference, and the philosophical implications that follow?

To pursue these interrogations, this Special Issue will examine the philosophical and existential trajectories of some 20th- and 21st-century women thinkers, exploring how their shared Jewish roots have shaped their reflections on these concepts and, in turn, opened up novel avenues for thinking about violence and suffering, as well as about antisemitism and/or anti-Zionism and related concerns. Whether focusing on widely recognized figures (such as H. Arendt and S. Weil), on lesser-known yet equally significant authors (like R. Bespaloff, J. Hersch, E. Amado Levy-Valensi, or S. Kofman), on thinkers who left a distinct mark (like A. Heller and S. Sontag), or on living “sibyls” of gender theory such as H. Cixous and J. Butler—as well as many others also warranting studyhere—all of these philosophers share reference to a common origin, albeit differently interpreted, and to a common vulnus; that is, an intimately, and perhaps intellectually, decodable wound.

The aim of this volume is not only to bring renewed attention to the writings and ideas of these thinkers, but also to reopen philosophical inquiry into the Shoah, its premises, and its reverberations, which remain part of our lived experience today and still demand understanding. In so doing, this volume seeks to foster a new, more inclusive, and more radical philosophical and political lexicon.

Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following topics:

Gender and Judaism:

• How do questions of gender and Judaism intersect? Does this intersection offer distinct philosophical tools and new approaches for understanding the Shoah and his aftermath?
• In what sense can the Jewish women philosophers of the 20th and 21st centuries contribute to inquiries into the body, sexuality, and gender difference in relation to their cultural and religious heritage?

Identity and Non-Identity or Difference:

• How might the issues of identity and non-identity, community or non-community, belonging and exclusion, be rethought, reformulated, or even deconstructed through the double lens of Judaism and the feminine? How does Judaism fit into these perspectives?
• Does the existential and conceptual intertwining of the feminine and Judaism provide new philosophical tools for understanding Alterity and Difference, or even this oppositive binarity?
• How do these philosophers rethink, reformulate, or deconstruct key concepts within both Jewish and Western intellectual traditions?

History and Judaism:

• How do Judaism and the concept of history intersect in the thought of the Jewish women philosophers of the 20th and 21st centuries? How is the concept of history interpreted by these thinkers?
• How and through which new perspectives can the history, cultural heritage, and memory of the Shoah—which are today all contested—be rethought?
• What reflections do these philosophers offer on violence—particularly, but not exclusively, in relation to the Shoah and its aftermath—developed within contexts of persecution, exile, and war?

Antisemitism:

• How have these women thinkers grasped the historical, social, political, religious, and philosophical implications underlying antisemitism?
• How do their analyses contribute to clarifying the conceptual and structural distinctions between antisemitism and anti-Judaism, or between antisemitism and anti-Zionism?
• How can they help recognize the new variants of antisemitism and understand the underlying mechanisms that lead to it?

This Special Issue aims to provide a solid platform and reference point for an investigation that is both specific and broad, which is necessarily an interdisciplinary research project not only because it intersects several thematic areas that are more topical than ever today, but also because it engages different philosophical approaches, ranging from moral and political philosophy to theoretical philosophy, history of philosophy, or the history of ideas. The goal is thus to fill a significant gap regarding the intersection between Judaism and gender difference in the international academic discourse or context, through a cross-cutting approach, but one meaningfully filtered through the prism of gender. We hope we can stimulate new research by offering a framework that connects these various intellectual paths.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200-300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send this to the Guest Editor, Dr. Orietta Ombrosi (orietta.ombrosi@uniroma1.it) and cc the Assistant Editor of Religions, Clare Chai (clare.chai@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

Prof. Orietta Ombrosi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.