Dr. Cynthia Saltzman

Rutgers University, Camden

Bio

Cynthia Saltzman is a cultural anthropologist and Lecturer at Rutgers University Camden in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice. She holds a B.A. from Bennington College and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University. She did her post-doctoral work at Yale University and was a Fellow in Yale's Program in Judaic Studies. She has been writing on antisemitism and antizionism in unions and academic associations since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The Moralizing Turn: Anthropological Antizionism

Abstract

This paper analyzes the increasing consolidation of antizionist stances within contemporary anthropological scholarship before and after October 2023. It explores how the discipline adopted a moralizing rhetoric that demonizes Israel and frames Israel as a white supremacist, colonialist entity. Specific terminology—namely apartheid and genocidal Israel — create essentialist metaphors that flatten complex political realities into binary categories of pure oppressor and oppressed, and an “antizionist fixation” within anthropology often sidelines Jewish, Zionist, and Israeli scholars.