Given the slew of timely recent publications, it is evident that contemporary scholars of antisemitism have responded well to the challenges presented by the pervasiveness of this discourse in the 21st Century. Such research addresses the convergence of antisemitism with misogyny, racism, and heterosexism, while also analyzing the far right and far left incarnations that converge in specific social movements and/or corporations. However, while this analysis is both insightful and very welcome, such research still tends to remain within the Euro-American and Arab worlds, and so remains somewhat detached from the significant economic and industrial changes occurring around the world today. In particular, this includes the growth of East and Southeast Asian nations and cities as centers of global power, within which Israel’s movement to ‘look East’ and its changing relationship with the various Asian nations is a key part of such modernity. Indeed, constructions of Jews, Israel, and antisemitism have become a key part of this changing context in nations such as China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia. As such, understanding the historical and contemporary attitudes towards and constructions of Israel and Jewish people across Asia is now an important part of addressing the complex incarnations of not only antisemitism but also the varying forms of racial and national politics across the world today. To this end, bringing together experts on Jews and Judaism across East and Southeast Asia for the first time, this series of talks will address the complex ways in which Jews, Israel, and antisemitism are represented and engaged within this diverse part of the world. Put together by Scholars from Asian studies departments and institutions across Asia, this series aims to begin a dialogue as to how contemporary scholars of antisemitism should grapple with this new and changing context.
This series will be convened by:
Dr. Mary J. Ainslie, Associate Professor, University of Nottingham Ningbo, Ningbo, China
Dr. Navras Aafreedi, Assistant Professor, Presidency University, Kolkata, India
Register for the webinars below
(Previous Webinar Recordings at the Bottom)
19 May, Rivalry over the Jewish Question amidst East Asian History Wars: Japan’s Offense and Defense
Dr. Yakov Zinberg, Professor (Ret’d), Senior Research Fellow, Kokushikan University, Tokyo
Date: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Time: 09:00 AM Eastern Time
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02 Jun., Nazi Imagery in East Asia: Hate, Ignorance, or Both?
Simon K. Li, Executive Director, Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Centre
Date: Thursday, June 02, 2022
Time: 09:00 AM Eastern Time
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16 Jun., “Central European Jewish Refugees in Post-WWII Shanghai”
Kimberly Cheng, New York University, New York
Date: Thursday, June 16, 2022
Time: 09:00 AM Eastern Time
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Recordings
14 October 2021, “Construction and Images of Jews in Contemporary East Asia: Cross-national Commonalities and Differences”
Dr. Rotem Kowner, Professor of Japanese History and Culture, Department of Asian Studies, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Click here to watch the recording webinar
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28 October 2021, “Jewish Communities in South East Asia – Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar”
Professor Meron Medzini, Professor Emeritus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Asian Studies, Jerusalem, Israel
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11 November 2021, “Jews and Jewishness in Contemporary China: Discursive Constructions and Considered Obscurement”
Dr. Corey Schultz, Associate Professor, University of Nottingham Ningbo, Ningbo, China
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09 December 2021, “Eichmann Proxies: Jewish Survivors, Holocaust Psychology, and A-Bomb Research in Japan”
Professor Ran Zwigenberg, Associate Professor of Asian Studies and Jewish Studies, Department of Asian Studies, College of the Liberal Arts at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, United States
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27 Jan., “CategoRising Jewish heritage in China: Memories and Anxiety over the Making of Shanghai Ark”
Dr. Shu-Mei Huang, Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Building and Planning, National Taiwan University
Date: Thursday, January 27, 2022
Time: 09:00 AM Eastern Time
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24 Feb., “Anti-Jewish Sentiment and Religious Intolerance in Indonesia”
Dr. Mun’im Sirry, Assistant Professor, Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame
Date: Thursday, February 24, 2022
Time: 09:00 AM Eastern Time
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10 Mar., Antisemitism by Proxy: China and the Jews
Dr. Glenn Timmermans, Professor of Literature, Department of English, University of Macau
Date: Thursday, March 10, 2022
Time: 09:00 AM Eastern Time
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24 Mar., “Antisemitism and Philosemitism in Malaysia”
Dr. Mary J. Ainslie, Associate Professor, University of Nottingham Ningbo, Ningbo
Date: Thursday, March 24, 2022
Time: 09:00 AM Eastern Time
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07 April, Philo-Semitism and Antisemitism in South Korea: An Observation in East Asian Context
Professor Ho-Keun Choi, Professor, Department of History, Korea University
Date: Thursday, April 7, 2022
Time: 09:00 AM Eastern Time
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05 May, “The North Korean Translation of Anne Frank’s Diary”
Dr. Dafna Zur, Associate Professor, Korean Studies, Department of East Asian Literatures and Cultures, Stanford University
Date: Thursday, May 05, 2022
Time: 09:00 AM Eastern Time
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