Blood on the Tongue: Reading Abjection in Nationalist Blood Libels From Nazi Germany to Hamas and the British National Party
The blood libel is usually known as the Medieval European legend about Jews killing Christians to consume their blood or otherwise use it in rituals. However, in this paper I explore more recent instances of the blood libel that have emerged in nationalist contexts. What I call the nationalist blood...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Gonzaga Library Publishing
2012-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Hate Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://jhs.press.gonzaga.edu/articles/115 |
| _version_ | 1828266900220542976 |
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| author | Damon T. Berry |
| author_facet | Damon T. Berry |
| author_sort | Damon T. Berry |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The blood libel is usually known as the Medieval European legend about Jews killing Christians to consume their blood or otherwise use it in rituals. However, in this paper I explore more recent instances of the blood libel that have emerged in nationalist contexts. What I call the nationalist blood libel is more overtly politicized than its predecessors, as there is a relationship between the accusatory portrayals of groups signified as alien and what Arjun Appadurai in Fear of Small Numbers (2006) called an anxiety of incompletion inherent in the modern nation-state as a result of the political discourses of majority and minority. In this article I discuss specific instances of the nationalist blood libel in a Nazi publication and in a cartoon aired in 2010 by Hamas wherein the Jew is signified as an agent of abjection; of transgression and dismemberment. I also examine an example from contemporary Britain in which the Islamist has replaced the Jew in the narrative, as this subject is imagined as an existential threat to the British people and the nation. In reading these examples through Julia Kristevas theorization of abjection, I contend that the telling of the nationalist blood libel relates personal and communal fears about pollution and dissolution, and that this fear, though fundamentally threatening to subjectivity, nevertheless works to establish it. I therefore argue that this reveals the nationalist blood libel as a folk reification mechanism that allows the segmentation of friend/enemy camps and rationalizes anxieties along lines of protectionism, and thereby mobilizes affects into political and often violent action. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T04:58:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e79c8ecdbb9f4d2cac93547ea7c9ba60 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2169-7442 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T04:58:27Z |
| publishDate | 2012-01-01 |
| publisher | Gonzaga Library Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Hate Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-e79c8ecdbb9f4d2cac93547ea7c9ba602022-12-22T03:01:25ZengGonzaga Library PublishingJournal of Hate Studies2169-74422012-01-011019912210.33972/jhs.115115Blood on the Tongue: Reading Abjection in Nationalist Blood Libels From Nazi Germany to Hamas and the British National PartyDamon T. Berry0The Ohio State UniversityThe blood libel is usually known as the Medieval European legend about Jews killing Christians to consume their blood or otherwise use it in rituals. However, in this paper I explore more recent instances of the blood libel that have emerged in nationalist contexts. What I call the nationalist blood libel is more overtly politicized than its predecessors, as there is a relationship between the accusatory portrayals of groups signified as alien and what Arjun Appadurai in Fear of Small Numbers (2006) called an anxiety of incompletion inherent in the modern nation-state as a result of the political discourses of majority and minority. In this article I discuss specific instances of the nationalist blood libel in a Nazi publication and in a cartoon aired in 2010 by Hamas wherein the Jew is signified as an agent of abjection; of transgression and dismemberment. I also examine an example from contemporary Britain in which the Islamist has replaced the Jew in the narrative, as this subject is imagined as an existential threat to the British people and the nation. In reading these examples through Julia Kristevas theorization of abjection, I contend that the telling of the nationalist blood libel relates personal and communal fears about pollution and dissolution, and that this fear, though fundamentally threatening to subjectivity, nevertheless works to establish it. I therefore argue that this reveals the nationalist blood libel as a folk reification mechanism that allows the segmentation of friend/enemy camps and rationalizes anxieties along lines of protectionism, and thereby mobilizes affects into political and often violent action.https://jhs.press.gonzaga.edu/articles/115abjectional-aqsa tvantisemitismarjun appaduraiblood libelbritish national partyder stürmerhamasimmigrationjulia kristevanationalismtaboo |
| spellingShingle | Damon T. Berry Blood on the Tongue: Reading Abjection in Nationalist Blood Libels From Nazi Germany to Hamas and the British National Party Journal of Hate Studies abjection al-aqsa tv antisemitism arjun appadurai blood libel british national party der stürmer hamas immigration julia kristeva nationalism taboo |
| title | Blood on the Tongue: Reading Abjection in Nationalist Blood Libels From Nazi Germany to Hamas and the British National Party |
| title_full | Blood on the Tongue: Reading Abjection in Nationalist Blood Libels From Nazi Germany to Hamas and the British National Party |
| title_fullStr | Blood on the Tongue: Reading Abjection in Nationalist Blood Libels From Nazi Germany to Hamas and the British National Party |
| title_full_unstemmed | Blood on the Tongue: Reading Abjection in Nationalist Blood Libels From Nazi Germany to Hamas and the British National Party |
| title_short | Blood on the Tongue: Reading Abjection in Nationalist Blood Libels From Nazi Germany to Hamas and the British National Party |
| title_sort | blood on the tongue reading abjection in nationalist blood libels from nazi germany to hamas and the british national party |
| topic | abjection al-aqsa tv antisemitism arjun appadurai blood libel british national party der stürmer hamas immigration julia kristeva nationalism taboo |
| url | https://jhs.press.gonzaga.edu/articles/115 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT damontberry bloodonthetonguereadingabjectioninnationalistbloodlibelsfromnazigermanytohamasandthebritishnationalparty |