cryptojewish speculations for a black planetary
by Ben Spatz
Published in Lateral 15.1 (2026)
ABSTRACT
A movement is growing to reimagine jewishness in a decolonial frame. As zionism loses its grip over white and white-passing jews in the global north, and with increasing momentum after Israel’s genocidal reprisal following the events of October 2023, the geopolitical figuration of jewishness has never been more contested. Yet while profound conversations unfold between black and indigenous studies, and across ethnic and cultural studies more broadly, jewishness and jewish studies rarely find a place at the table of critically situated identities. This essay argues that contemporary discussions of possible antiracist and decolonial futures should include a robust analysis of the re-racialisation of jews and jewishness across the twentieth century and into the present. Learning from recent work on blackness that extends beyond demographic empiricism, I propose a new research agenda for decolonial jewishness grounded in critical black studies. The final section alights on the cryptojew as a historical yet never fully knowable figure that is ripe for critical fabulation in apprenticeship to black studies.
ARTICLE SECTIONS
- blackening jewish studies
- for a black planetary
- critical theory is cryptojewish
- cryptojudaic speculations