This program aims to provide deeper insights into the socio-economic, political, and cultural processes related to this rapidly evolving subject matter. The ISGAP Certificate Program in Critical Contemporary Antisemitism Studies offers a wide range of courses that enable you to explore topics aligned with your interests and to gain professional knowledge. Courses are taught by leading international scholars and will provide a comprehensive understanding of the complexities of contemporary antisemitism and approaches to combat this growing challenge to democratic principles.
Each course consists of four-part online sessions scheduled weekly throughout the Fall and Spring semesters. To earn the Certificate, candidates must successfully complete two required courses and four elective courses, totaling six courses within a two-year timeframe.
Students may enroll in individual courses without committing to the full certificate program. In order to receive an official ISGAP certificate, students must, however, complete the required coursework.
Although live participation is encouraged, all courses will be recorded and available for later viewing.
To earn your certification at the end of the program, you will need to submit a 2,000-3,000 word research or policy paper, with the possibility of publication.
To view previous courses, click here.
ISGAP is a high-caliber international research center, committed to mapping, decoding, and combating contemporary antisemitism. Headquartered in New York, ISGAP also operates in Canada, the UK, Italy and Israel. ISGAP holds programs at top universities, engages in research projects, and publishes books and reports in the area of contemporary antisemitism studies and policy.
Applications are now being accepted.
Certificate Program:
$900 USD
Individual Courses:
$175 USD per course
Led by Dr. Charles Asher Small, this four-part course will offer a critical analysis of issues central to the study and emergence of contemporary antisemitism, as it relates to processes of globalization, the crisis of modernity, and the rise of reactionary anti-systemic movements, including political Islam, and the extreme left and extreme right wing nationalism. This area of inquiry is central to challenges confronting scholars and students when assessing the complexities of contemporary antisemitism(s) in a comprehensive analytical manner.
This course examines a variety of questions that cut across several disciplines to examine the millennial phenomenon of antisemitism. Exploring the history, causes, and essence of Jew hatred, the course delves into its philosophical, theological, ideological, political, and social aspects. The ultimate aim of the course is to arrive at a deeper understanding of the essence of Jew hatred as it appears among very diverse peoples and cultures ranging from ancient Greeks to modern intellectuals, from Saint Augustine to Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, from Karl Marx to Adolf Hitler. Among the areas of focus are Nazi antisemitism, Jihadist antisemitism, and contemporary antisemitism. The fundamental question to be examined in this course is: What is the antisemite anti?
The devastating rupture in Jewish life that unfolded on October 7, 2023, had its most horrific consequences in Israel, a country that in many ways remains in shock as a result. But that day also, counter intuitively, triggered a surge in antisemitism that targeted campuses worldwide. Jewish students and faculty who identify in part with Israel found their identities disparaged and criminalized. We want to ask how the world has changed as a result and what can be done about it.
This course examines how contemporary antisemitism in Western societies has been reinforced and reshaped by its Arab-Islamist iteration, particularly through the activism of Arab radical and political Islamist immigrants who employ antisemitic narratives to challenge and erode the foundations of Western liberal democracy.
This course offers a feminist critique of gender-related issues within Israeli law, focusing on the intersection of legal frameworks, societal norms, and gender perceptions. Key areas of exploration include Family Law, Religious Laws, and gender-based violence, with particular attention to Muslim-Jewish feminist collaborations. These joint efforts challenge claims of Israel being an apartheid state, while exposing the danger embedded in feminist analysis that factors in the (Jewish) origin of the victims of gender-based violence.
This course explores the history of antisemitism in America, from the colonial era to contemporary times. While we shall devote special attention to key episodes like General U.S. Grant’s expulsion of “Jews as a Class” from his Civil War warzone in 1862 as well as Gilded-Age antisemitism, the goal is to understand antisemitism both deeply and broadly. Students should be prepared to read and analyze some “hard core” antisemitic in this class. It is impossible to understand antisemitism without reading the primary sources themselves, however odious they may be. We will also look at what history can teach us concerning contemporary antisemitism.
This course will explore the dynamics of contemporary antisemitism in France, Europe, and the United States, drawing connections between ideological, political, and social trends. It will analyze how antisemitism mutates across different contexts — from Islamist extremism to far-right populism, to far-left anti-Zionism and 'woke' relativism — and how state and civil society responses shape democratic resilience. By situating these phenomena in both European and American contexts, the course will highlight patterns of convergence and divergence, as well as the geopolitical dimensions that link local prejudice to global ideological warfare.
Comparative studies allow us to explore what is both familiar and foreign, to deepen understanding of our own and others’ traditions through their similarities and differences. Juxtaposing Hindu and Jewish indigeneity reveals two civilizations whose beliefs and practices emerge from sacred geography, peoplehood, and sovereignty. Examining their parallels and distinctions illuminates questions of identity, belonging, and diaspora, showing how ancient beginnings remain central to current concerns about indigeneity. For instance, this framework refutes the settler colonial state libel that targets Jews. More broadly, this approach also challenges the Western category of “religion” by foregrounding two non-colonial root traditions with enduring relationships to their ancestral homelands.
This course will provide students with a comprehensive introduction to the form of antisemitism which became entrenched within Islamist ideology and subsequently came to be disseminated throughout the Muslim communities and beyond. It will begin with historical background, but work around to a focus on policy in the contemporary world.
The Jewish state is at the epicenter of Jewish life. The majority of the Jews will soon reside in Israel. What are the repercussions of this development in Jewish ethics and morality, Jewish memory, Jewish leadership, and Jewish religion? What will be the role of the diaspora? What will be the status of Jewish victimology in world affairs if sovereignty is what defines Judaism? All these questions will be explored from a historical, sociological, and cultural perspectives.
