New Publication

How Jewish is Jewish Folklore?: The Nineteenth-Century Rise of Folklore Studies and the Claims of Jewish Cultural Authenticity. Dr Cathy Gelbin has contributed a chapter to Irene A. Diekmann et al (eds.) '...und handle mit Vernunft': Beiträge zur europäisch-jüdischen Beziehungsgeschichte (Hildesheim: Olms; 2012), 209-224. This article looks at Germany from the 1870s until World War I, when as part of a broader discourse on folk traditions and the nation Jewish folktales played an important role in defining the racial and cultural status of the Jews. As rising racial antisemitism scientifically redressed the old concept of the Jews’ essential difference, the proponents of “Wissenschaft des Judentums” (the Scientific Study of Judaism) studied Jewish folk traditions to promote the culturally productive nature of the Jewish diaspora for both Jews and non-Jews. Further information.