Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on September 10, 2012

Philosopher, gender and queer theorist Judith Butler is set to receive the Adorno Prize in Frankfurt. But a number of Jewish groups are upset over the selection of such an outspoken Israel critic.

When the city of Frankfurt announced that Judith Butler was to be awarded the Adorno Prize for her outstanding contribution to philosophical thought, a particularly vicious war of words broke out between Butler and her critics.

A professor of rhetoric and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, Butler is most well-known for her philosophical works on gender and queer theory, including "Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity" (1990) and "Undoing Gender" (2004).

More recently, though, Butler has also made a name for herself as a prominent political activist and critic of Israeli political policy in the Middle East. She is a vocal proponent of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for non-violent punitive measures against Israel.

Butler is an outspoken critic of Israeli political policy in the Middle East

War of words

Awarded every three years, the Adorno Prize recognizes outstanding achievement in the fields of music, literature, philosophy and film in honor of German philosopher and theorist Theodor W. Adorno.

It was announced on May 31 that Butler would receive the prize. In a lengthy and scathing attack on the decision, published in the Jerusalem Post on August 26, members of the Jewish community, academics and commentators expressed their outrage, condemning in particular Butler's open support for the BDS movement.

Gerald Steinberg, a professor of political science at the Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, described the BDS campaign as "the modern embodiment of anti-Semitism." "Butler is one of a tiny number of token Jews who are used to legitimizing the ongoing war against Israel, following a dark practice used for centuries in the Diaspora," Steinberg wrote.

Stephan Kramer, general secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, deplored the decision to award the Adorno Prize - given in honor of a philosopher forced to flee the Nazi regime because of his own Jewish heritage - to what he referred to as a "known hater of Israel." Awarding the prize to Butler could not be considered a "mere mistake," Kramer said.

Read more:
Adorno Prize for Judith Butler irks Jewish groups

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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