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The religious tradition of male circumcision has come increasingly under attack across a number of European states. While critics of the practice argue that the problem is about children’s rights and the proper relationship between secular and religious traditions, Jews tend to see these attacks within the longer history of attempts to assimilate and remake them according to the norms of the majority. Using the 2012 German legal controversy concerning the issue as my vantage point, I explore how contemporary criticism of male circumcision remains entangled with ambivalence toward Judaism and the Jews as the “other.” Through a close reading of the arguments, I show how opponents use the seemingly neutral language of universal human rights to (re)make Jewish difference according to the norms of the majority. I conclude by arguing that such an approach to this issue runs the risk of turning Jews once again into strangers at a time when cultural anxieties are troubling European societies.

Cultural entrepreneurship research examines how actors upend the status quo by gaining the legitimacy and resources needed to advance novel ways of doing things. Extant studies, however, rarely spotlight an important tension: the pursuit of legitimacy and resources needed to advance adoption is often at odds with the desire to safeguard endeavors from external influence. While entrepreneurs are largely associated with the promotion of endeavors, they are also inclined to preserve meaningful values and practices, uphold family or ethnic legacies and traditions, and protect the integrity and authenticity of cultural products. Many of these valued outcomes are put at risk when endeavors diffuse beyond their cultural hearth and garner the interest of outsiders. How do entrepreneurs promote endeavors while protecting them from unwanted external influence? This paper sheds light on the motives, activities, and strategic approaches to entrepreneurship of actors that are both change-makers and culture-bearers. It elucidates trade-offs between evangelizing activities that promote rapid adoption of endeavors (i.e., the “hare”) and shepherding activities that safeguard the integrity of an endeavor (i.e., the “turtle”). It proposes and calls for research into alternative solutions that transcend the two approaches.

Developing structures and processes that support learning and knowledge creation has become an area of extensive study. This paper describes dimensions of knowledge that were needed in integrating theory and practice for an applied research project. The project involved team members from university, business and consulting organizations. The knowledge created through this team structure was inherently multi-dimensional, with theoretical, practicable, educable and evidentiary components. The paper concludes with considerations for how the essence of this project team structure might be replicated for organizational knowledge creation in American industry.