Universal equality is a treasured political concept in France, but recent anxiety over the countrys Muslim minority has led to an emphasis on a new form of universalism, one promoting loyalty to the nation at the expense of all ethnic and religious affiliations. This timely book offers a fresh perspective on the debate by showing that French equality has not always demanded an erasure of differences. Through close and contextualized readings of the way that major novelists, philosophers, filmmakers, and political figures have struggled with the question of integrating Jews into French society, Maurice Samuels draws lessons about how the French have often understood the universal in relation to the particular.
Samuels demonstrates that Jewish difference has always been essential to the elaboration of French universalism, whether as its foil or as proof of its reach. He traces the development of this discourse through key moments in French history, from debates over granting Jews civil rights during the Revolution, through the Dreyfus Affair and Vichy, and up to the rise of a new antisemitism in recent years. By recovering the forgotten history of a more open, pluralistic form of French universalism, Samuels points toward new ways of moving beyond current ethnic and religious dilemmas and argues for a more inclusive view of what constitutes political discourse in France.
Universalismthe fundamental equality of all individuals and equal treatment before the lawhas been a treasured political concept in France since the Revolution. But lately, anxiety over Frances Muslim minority has led politicians and intellectuals to embrace a form of universalism that demands loyalty to the nation at the expense of all ethnic and religious affiliations. In this timely book, Maurice Samuels shows that French universalism was not always so hostile to religion and urges us to understand its history and varied forms. He argues, furthermore, that French universalism has evolved in the modern period largely as a discourse on Jews. Tracing the development of this discourse through key moments in French history, from debates over granting Jews civil rights during the Revolution, through the Dreyfus Affair and Vichy, and up to the rise of the new antisemitism after 2000, Samuels shows that Jewish difference has always been essential to the elaboration of French universalism, whether as its foil or as proof of universalisms reach. Jews are Frances paradigmatic minority, and as such they have long provided French thinkers with the key point of reference for debating the nature of the state and the meaning of Frenchness itself. Ranging from the French Revolution to the recent attack on Charlie Hebdo, this book will be of keen interest to anyone studying issues of religious tolerance, the history of European Jewry, and the dilemmas of contemporary France.
