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Papers by Nancy Alhachem

Alhachem, N. & Winter, F. (2024). Antisemitism and Islamophobia: Contested Terms in Dialogue. In R. Barroso Romero et al. (Ed.), Practicing Interdisciplinarity: A Bottom-Up Approach (pp. 131-148). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter., 2024

This was written a while ago (2021), as the outcome of a discussion on interdisciplinarity, and... more This was written a while ago (2021), as the outcome of a discussion on interdisciplinarity, and how Antisemitism and Islamophobia could benefit from such a frame. The context might be slightly different, nevertheless the discussion remains ever relevant. My own approach is that it is necessary to look at the phenomena of Othering in their entanglements. Though the origin, use, and abuse of the terms is highly contested, focusing on the uniqueness of each form of hatred, risks reproducing the racism and prejudices that we ought to fight.

Dieser Text wurde vor einiger Zeit (2021) als Ergebnis einer Diskussion über Interdisziplinarität geschrieben und darüber, wie Antisemitismus und Islamophobie von einem solchen Rahmen profitieren könnten. Der Kontext mag sich von dem heutigen leicht unterscheiden, doch die Diskussion ist nach wie vor aktuell. Mein eigener Ausgangspunkt ist, dass es notwendig ist, die Phänomene des Othering in ihren Verflechtungen zu betrachten. Obwohl der Ursprung, die Verwendung und der Missbrauch der Begriffe höchst umstritten sind, birgt die Konzentration auf die Einzigartigkeit jeder Form von Hass die Gefahr, den Rassismus und die Vorurteile zu reproduzieren, die wir bekämpfen sollten.

Alhachem, N. (2023). "The Transformation of the Refugee Category and the Dialectics of Solidarity in Europe." Weltbeziehung, edited by: Bettina Hollstein, Hartmut Rosa, Jörg Rüpke, Campus Frankfurt / New York, 259-278. , 2023

In this paper, I sketch the formation and transformation of the ‘refugee’ category in legal and h... more In this paper, I sketch the formation and transformation of the ‘refugee’ category in legal and historical discourses, as well as the necessity of a new view on migration in all its different groupings. For expressing solidarity in terms of a resonant “Weltbeziehung” (Rosa 2018; 2019), we can say that a 'healthy' Weltbeziehung is one in which the relevant political and legal measures take into account the reality of migration. Where the line between forced and voluntary movement is not always clear. And therefore, the persistence of solidarity beyond euphoric Willkomensmomentum is conditioned by this transformation of Weltbeziehung. Hence this contribution addresses how the modern refugee regime is still based on unequal sovereignties and egocentric politics. Pleading hereafter, for a solidarity that transcends national interests, and the double standard view on movement.

It is assumed that the category of Refugee has been created about 70 years ago to protect Europeans who were fleeing Nazi-fascist regimes and in the aftermath of the Second World War. As well as the communist rules of central and east-European countries, seen as heroic ‘white, anti-communist males’ as Chimni argued already in 1998, the category of refugee was established on a colour line separating South from North (Chimni 1998). This is what we are reminded of when we look at the portrayal of the ‘refugee crises’ following the summer of 2015, the flow of Syrian refugees, and most recently Afghan escaping Taliban in the aftershocks of the American retreat.

Talks by Nancy Alhachem

The recent German translation of Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of... more The recent German translation of
Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization (2009) reopened the discussion on the comparability of the Holocaust, remembering different histories of violence, and the role of memory in practices of exclusion and inclusion in today’s society.
The same week is also the anniversary of the Hanau attack (20 February 2020). The workshop wants to translate into a symbolic remembrance not only Hanau but also other attacks related to racism and anti-Semitism (e.g. Halle, 9 October 2019). This will give us the opportunity to discuss questions including, but not limited to:

 Can different acts of violence be studied and understood as interconnected?
 How can Multidirectional Memory form a frame of mutual recognition in a ‘Post-Migrant/Multicultural’ society?
 Why are these forms of Othering and Alienation re-surfacing?
The discussion will be framed by commentaries from doctoral and post-doc researchers from different fields such as Philosophy, Sociology, Postcolonial Studies, Museology, History and Jewish studies.

Conference Presentations by Nancy Alhachem

Case Studies form German former colonies, Armenian Genocide, Syrian Nexus of Violence, Gaza, and ... more Case Studies form German former colonies, Armenian Genocide, Syrian Nexus of Violence, Gaza, and the theoretical frames for studying political and mass violence.

The legal definition of ‘genocide‘ – a word coined by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin – is laid down in Art. 2 of the United Nations’ Convention of the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide (UNCG), which was ratified in 1948. It identifies acts committed with the intention ‘to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group’ as genocidal. These acts include killing, causing bodily and mental harm, physical destruction, but also measures intended to prevent birth within a group and forcibly transferring children to another group; (see Rafter 2016).
Outlawing genocide under international law happened in the aftermath of the Nuremberg trial and was a reaction to the German crimes against humanity during the Nazi regime: the intentional deportation and killing of Jews and other ethnic groups, and the practice of euthanasia on disabled persons by the state /state agencies. The aim was to define binding criteria according to which the absolute sovereignty of the state over its subjects could be limited, perpetrators could be held accountable, and further genocidal crimes prevented.
In public perception and among scholars (especially in Germany), the Holocaust is considered the paradigmatic genocidal crime. However, genocides have preceded the holocaust (e.g. in Armenia) and have occurred afterwards. Therefore, genocide is no more seen as a singular and static event, but as a process happening at many times and having many faces.

Identities shape everyday life. They are not a fixed thing, but adapt according to situation and ... more Identities shape everyday life. They are not a fixed thing, but adapt according to situation and circumstance. Multiple factors contribute to the facets of an identity: religiosity, music, nature, sports, carnival, literature, etc. are parts of and shape this identity. In appealing to certain aspects, sub-identities are activated and items which could or should be considered rationally are emotionalized in appealing not to reason, but to that part of a subject’s identity, thus posing (in the worst case) a threat to that very identity; see for example the question of man-made climate change and the highly charged and emotionalized debate, as well as religious practices to which the subject feels a strong adherence. These identities are established by resonant self–world relations, i.e. relations that shape and support the individual, that offer spaces or relations that can be relied upon to counteract alienation with the environment. The more resonant these spaces or relations, the more resilient they are to threats that may question their content or form. One person may find that resonance in long hikes through the mountains, in cooking parties with friends, in listening to Mozart and woodcraft; another finds it in painting, in attending Sunday mass, in spending their holidays in a certain place; a third in soccer games, in their work, in meditation practices – all these aspects shape the individual’s identity and create networks, as these resonant relations are not only related to the individual, but must, in that individual, be negotiated with one another.

What happens, however, if these sub-identities come into conflict with one another? If, for example, the practice of established rituals, of culturally determined and long-established religious practices come into conflict with acute political questions in a politically engaged person? Can second-order resonance, i.e. culturally determined relations or spaces, produce the same kind of resonance and possibility for resilience as resonance that is constituted by peak moments? How do power relations influence and contribute to resonant self–world relations and their resilience in a changing, accelerating or shifting environment?

Our papers address these questions from various disciplines and cultures, considering ancient and modern phenomena in a diachronic perspective.