Cover Osteuropa 8-10/2008

In Osteuropa 8-10/2008
Teil des Dossiers Menschen

Diaspora, Civil Rights, Multiculturalism
Simon Dubnov’s Relevance Today

Anke Hilbrenner


Deutsche Fassung

Abstract

The Russian-Jewish historian Simon Dubnov was the first to ascribe to the diaspora a key function in shaping Jewish identity. From his analysis of the Jewish experience in Eastern Europe, he developed the concept of “nationalism without a nation state”: diaspora nationalism. Members of the minorities in supranational states were to enjoy the same civil rights as members of the majority. Their cultural rights were to be guaranteed through the creation of autonomous communities. The field of nationalism studies has largely ignored Dubnov’s work. But his concept is quite relevant to contemporary European societies marked by multiculturalism and internal difference.

(Osteuropa 8-10/2008, pp. 165–182)

Read this article's international version:
Civil Rights and Multiculturalism