Call for Papers

Jewish Consciousness:
The Role of Ethics, Memory, and Power in Reclaiming Identity in Order to Confront Antisemitism

An international academic conference convened by the
Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP)

Venue: Jesus College, University of Cambridge

Dates: May 30, 2027 to June 1, 2027

Proposal deadline: February 3, 2027  

ISGAP invites scholars across the humanities and social sciences to submit proposals for an interdisciplinary conference on Jewish Consciousness: a framework for understanding Jewish identity on its own intellectual, ethical, cultural, and historical terms, and for mapping, decoding, and confronting contemporary antisemitism from a foundation of power. 
The conference will bring together leading scholars and thought leaders for an interdisciplinary exploration of Jewish Consciousness and its relevance to contemporary academic and public discourse. Featured speakers include Dr. Charles Asher Small, Professor David Patterson, Adam Louis-Klein, Dr. Shai Davidai, and Dr. Benjamin Chavis, among others.
 
Conference rationale

Historically, notions of Judaism and Jewish identity have often been shaped and even imposed from outside, through persecution, marginalization, segregation, and, at times, assimilation. Today, a hostile redefinition of Jewish identity is once again permeating academic and intellectual life, particularly in elite institutions. It casts the Jewish people as agents of colonialism, occupation, white privilege, and apartheid, without engaging with Jewish thought, ethics, values, intellectual discourse, history, or notions of homeland, exile, and freedom.

This redefinition could provide an interdisciplinary framework for analysis and empowerment, is taking place amid global economic crises, the weakening and failing of the state and global order, mass migration, and growing economic, political, and cultural marginalization and fragmentation. In this context of dislocation and fear, radical social movements of the far left and the far right, and radical political Islamist ideologies rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood, attack the democratic center. Though politically distinct, they share antisemitism as a core element of their ideologies and actively redefine Jewish identity for their own ends, with marked influence in Western higher education, the media of record, and intellectual and political discourse.

The irony is stark. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, leading intellectuals, theologians, social theorists, biologists, and eugenicists developed racist notions of the Jewish people that were eventually adopted by Nazi Germany and occupied Europe, which defined Jews as non-white and a threat to the purity of the Aryan race, a process that culminated in the Shoah. Today, very same people are recast by many in academia as white oppressors and colonisers. Both racialized representations, as irrational as they are, empty Jewishness of meaning, detach Jewish wisdom, ethics, and culture from their sources, and even deny the Jewish people’s ancient and modern ties to their homeland.

In response to these representations and contemporary intellectual discourse, the conference proposes Jewish Consciousness, an innovative model under development in a dedicated ISGAP research project, as an interdisciplinary conceptual framework for analysis and empowerment. It draws on Jewish teachings and on parallels with the Black Consciousness Movement, led by Steve Biko, in apartheid South Africa. Black Consciousness empowered Black South Africans to reject racist colonial categories and reclaim an identity grounded in the dignity and wisdom of African heritage. In a similar way, Jewish Consciousness seeks to ground Jewish identity in its own ethical philosophy and intellectual tradition, from Torah and Talmud to Maimonides and Emmanuel Levinas, and in principles such as Tzelem Elokim, the notion that every human being is created in the image of God.

The conference asks how and to what extent this framework can contribute to the reclamation of Jewish identity from imposed distortions, equip students and scholars to confront antisemitism and anti-democratic values, and renew the historic alliance between Jewish people, people of African descent, and others globally, rooted in a shared pursuit of justice and dignity for all.

 
Themes and suggested topics 

ISGAP welcomes proposals for papers in the fields of philosophy, Jewish studies, history, theology, political science, sociology, law, African and postcolonial studies, social theory, education, and related disciplines. Comparative and interdisciplinary approaches are especially encouraged. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

1. Jewish Consciousness as a framework
– Defining Jewish Consciousness: sources, scope, and limits
– Jewish identity beyond the binaries of race, ethnicity, and power
– Homeland, exile, and freedom in Jewish thought

2. Jewish ethics and philosophy
– Tzelem Elokim and human dignity
– Levinas, the ethics of the Other, and its implications for confronting hatred
– Maimonides, Talmudic reasoning, and ethical responsibility

3. Imposed identities: from racial antisemitism to contemporary redefinitions
– Nazi-era racial science and the construction of the Jew as non-white
– Decolonization narratives and the recasting of Jews and Zionists as white colonizers and oppressors
– Replacement theology and its secular variations in contemporary discourse

4. Antisemitism, globalization, and social dislocation
– Economic crisis, state weakening, migration, and the resurgence of antisemitism
– Antisemitism as a shared element of far-left, far-right, and Islamist movements
– The “red-green alliance” and its influence in Western higher education

5. Antisemitism in the academy
– Scholarship, curricula, and the representation of Jews and Israel
– From classroom to encampment to street: the movement of ideas into action
– Academic freedom, institutional responsibility, and the safety of Jewish students

6. Black Consciousness and Jewish Consciousness
– Steve Biko, Black Consciousness, and the reclamation of identity
– Comparative studies of identity, dignity, and resistance to imposed categories
– The decolonization narrative and the establishment of the State of Israel
– Black–Jewish relations: shared struggles for justice and prospects for a renewed alliance

7. Art, memory, and self-representation and consciousness
– Memory, representation, and self-representation in Judaic practice
– The history of Jews shaping modern media, from the press to photography and film
– Contemporary artistic expressions of the Jewish condition

8. Renewing alliances
– The history of Black-Jewish relations and shared struggles for justice
– Prospects for a renewed alliance between Jewish people and people of African descent

9. Education and empowerment
– Equipping Jewish students and scholars to understand and assert their heritage
– Pedagogical and policy approaches to combating antisemitism and prejudice
– Jewish student organization, leadership, and advocacy on campus

Conference format and practical details

The conference will be held in person over two days. Papers will be presented in panels of three, each with a chair and a discussant. 

To allow for informed discussion, accepted speakers are required to submit a working paper of 3,000–4,000 words in advance. Working papers will be pre-circulated to panel chairs and discussants.

Details on registration and accommodation will be sent to accepted speakers. Speakers are expected to cover their own travel and accommodation. A limited number of bursaries are available for early-career scholars and those without institutional support.

Registration Fee is  £200, which includes lunch, tea, and coffee. Limited scholarships are available. 

On-campus accommodation is available at a rate of £175 per night.

Publication

Selected papers will be considered for publication in an edited volume or a special issue of the International Journal of Alterity. Speakers invited to contribute will be asked to submit a full paper of 6,000–8,000 words after the conference, by the deadline listed below. All papers will be subject to peer review.

Submission guidelines

ISGAP invites established scholars, early-career researchers, and advanced doctoral candidates to submit proposals for individual papers. Proposals for complete panels of three papers with a chair are also welcome.

Please submit the following as a single PDF:
– Paper title and an abstract of up to 400 words
– Name, institutional affiliation, and contact details
– A short biography of up to 150 words
– A request to be considered for a bursary (if relevant)

For panels, please submit a 400-word panel rationale plus an abstract and biography for each speaker and a biography for the chair.

Submissions should be sent to [email protected] with the subject line: Jewish Consciousness Conference Proposal.

Key dates

– January 15, 2027: Deadline for submission of proposals

– February 5, 2027: Notification of acceptance
Accepted speakers will be notified by this date and receive registration and accommodation details.

– March 5, 2027: Confirmation of participation and registration
Accepted speakers should confirm their attendance and register by this date. Places not confirmed may be offered to other applicants.

– May 5, 2027: Deadline for submission of working papers for circulation

– May 30 to June 1, 2027: Conference

– September 30, 2027: Deadline for submission of full papers for publication

Due to limited availability, we encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible.

About ISGAP

The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of antisemitism and other forms of prejudice, including racism, and their policy implications. Founded in 2004 by Dr. Charles Asher Small, ISGAP works to advance critical contemporary antisemitism studies in university research and teaching. Among its many activities, it runs a Summer Institute for Curriculum Development in Critical Contemporary Antisemitism Studies, a fellowship training program in collaboration with the Woolf Institute in Cambridge, faculty and postdoctoral fellowships at leading academic institutions, and international seminar series on a wide range of topics relating to antisemitism and prejudice. Its publications include books, reports, an occasional paper series, and the International Journal of Alterity.

For inquiries, please contact: [email protected]