DeZIM_talk | “Race,” Racialization, and the Connection Between Anti-Semitism and Racism

Dr. Daniel James will be the first fellow in the “Relationship between Antisemitism and Racism” (RAR) Fellowship Program from April to June 2026. The fellowship is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR) and is a joint project of the Research Network on Antisemitism in the 21st Century (FoNA21) and the Knowledge Network on Racism Research (WinRa).

His lecture focuses on a fundamental debate that is being conducted intensively, particularly in Germany: the relationship between antisemitism and racism.  The debate often oscillates between two poles: either anti-Semitism is considered categorically distinct from racism or a specific form of it. Dr. Daniel James argues that this debate takes on a different character once one uncovers an implicit assumption: racism is frequently understood, following the pattern of anti-Black racism, as a matter of skin color—or “race.”

Based on a critical analysis of the conceptual foundations, the lecture proposes shifting the focus from the static concept of ‘race’ to the dynamic concept of racialization. While ‘race’ is an either/or category, racialization as a process allows for gradual gradations—and thus also encompasses forms of attribution and subordination that are not tied to visible characteristics. Using historical examples, the lecture demonstrates how Jewish identity has been partially racialized in various contexts—from late medieval Spain to the present-day United States. These processes of racialization give rise to a position that is neither fully included nor fully excluded: not quite white, but also not unambiguously non-white.

The lecture thus offers a nuanced approach to the relationship between antisemitism and racism, without categorically separating or subordinating one to the other.

Speakers:

• Dr. Daniel James works on classical German philosophy with a focus on Hegel and Marx, on social philosophy, as well as on the philosophy of race and the philosophy of the social sciences. His postdoctoral project *Racism without Race* develops a concept of racism that proceeds from the process of racialization and can thus also grasp phenomena such as antisemitism or anti-Eastern European racism in a non-reductive manner. Recent works include the volume *Hegel and Colonialism*, co-authored with Franz Knappik, as well as the essay “Folk Concepts of Race, Cross-culturally” (with Leda Berio, Steffen Koch, Alex Wiegmann, and Benedict Kenyah-Damptey).  

• Moderator: Neta-Paulina Wagner, research associate at the National Discrimination and Racism Monitor