Antisemitism is a form of racism – or is it?

The article discusses relationships between racism and antisemitism. It focuses on three major contestations which have taken place during the post WW2 era(s) regarding the ways racism, antisemitism and the relationships between them should be analysed. The first examines the different academic disciplinary approaches from which racism and antisemitism need to be studied. The second concerns the relationship between antisemitism, racism and modernity, introducing the notion of ‘new antisemitism’ which has become entangled in this contestation. The third examines how understanding racism and antisemitism relates to the theory and politics of intersectionality. The article argues against exclusionary constructions of racism resulting from different forms of identity politics. It calls for an inclusive definition of racism in which vernacular and specific forms of racism can be contextualised and analysed within an encompassing de-centered non-Eurocentric definition of racism. Within such an analytical framework, antisemitism should be seen as a form of racism