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Auto-Emancipation and Antisemitism (Homage to Bernard-Lazare)

2003; Indiana University Press; Volume: 10; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/jss.2003.0028

1527-2028

Mitchell Cohen,

Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies

Is there a simple logic to emancipation? Yes: it takes you from one status to another, at least in principle. But a great deal depends on the world you leave and the world you enter—and the overlaps between them. Nowadays it is difficult to imagine an emancipated society that is not democratic. Yet historically speaking, emancipation did not necessarily mean democracy. Jews were sometimes emancipated by enlightened, absolutist monarchs. You can be granted civil rights and be judged by the same laws as everyone else without having the right to vote (perhaps because nobody has it). You can also have both civil rights and the franchise, yet find it necessary to muffle your public voice because of the chills of political or social or cultural or religious prejudice.