Discrimination

The vagueness of the term antisemitism – especially with regard to its origins – renders it controversial. It was first introduced and deployed in 1879 as the programmatic self-designation of a political-social movement – the “Anti-Semitic league” (“Antisemitenliga”) – whose goal was to combat Judaism. Currently, the term is mostly used colloquially either as a noun (antisemitism, antisemites) or as an attribute (antisemitic). It serves its purpose as a tried and tested term that remains discursively effective and whose role is to identify expressions, attitudes, and practices that are rooted in an antisemitic attitude or that can be interpreted as antisemitic. It is, however, disputed whether and to what extent religiously motivated anti-judaism, national anti-Zionism, and politically motivated hostility toward Israel can all be subsumed equally under, and thought about by means of, this colloquially used “container-term” (Containerbegriff).

Intersectionality identifies the mutual interpenetration and interaction or “intersection” (Überkreuzung) of different aspects of identity and discrimination. Developed in the 1980s by US lawyer Kimberlé Crenshaw , it has since been adopted in anti-discrimination work and social science-oriented analyses in various disciplines, including theology. In addition to the initial aspects of identity – namely, race, class, and gender – that were integral to the development of Black feminism (womanism), others have been added to the current discussion, such as disability, age, sexual orientation, and religious affiliation.