The Social Logic of Colonial Anti-Judaism: Revisiting the Anti-Jewish Crisis in French Algeria, 1889–1902

This chapter examines the social functions of anti-Judaism in French Algeria during the period 1889–1902 by focusing on the roles played by ethnic groups involved in what came to be known as the “anti-Jewish crisis.” The anti-Jewish crisis erupted in the late 1890s, when the three enfranchised ethnic groups living in French Algeria—Frenchmen with roots in France, European immigrants, and local Jews—challenged the established social order in the colony. The chapter first provides a background on the anti-Jewish crisis before discussing the segregated landscape of Algiers and the rise of the French anti-Jewish movement in the early 1890s. It then considers how xenophobia developed among many Frenchmen with regard to European immigrants in French Algeria and the participation of such immigrants in anti-Jewish riots. It also looks at Jewish reaction to the anti-Jewish crisis.