The Antisemitism in Comparative Perspective Seminar Series

Anti-Judaism, or the controversial term coined in the 1870s by Wilhelm Marr, Antisemitism, is one of the most complex and, at times, perplexing forms of hatred. It spans history, infecting different societies, religious and philosophical movements, and even civilizations. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, some contend that Antisemitism illustrates the limitations of the Enlightenment and modernity itself. Manifestations of Antisemitism emerge in numerous ideological based narratives and the constructed identities of belonging and otherness such as race and ethnicity, nationalisms, and anti-nationalisms.

The ISGAP seminar series aims to explore this subject matter in a comprehensive, interdisciplinary framework from an array of approaches and perspectives as well as regional contexts. Eminent scholars and researchers are invited to present seminar papers in an informal setting. 

2016-2017 Schedule

Fall 2016

Oct. 26 Bloodless Racism: Anti-Semitism/Antisemitism and Campus Politics”

Professor Katya Gibel Mevorach
Anthropology Department and Chair, American Studies at Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA
Location: Columbia University, William and June Warren Hall, WJ 103
1125 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027
Time 6:00 P.M.

Nov. 30 “BDS on University Campuses: Antisemitism or Free Speech?

Professor Stephen Sussman 
Associate Professor of Public Administration, Barry University/PACE, and Affiliated Professor / University of Haifa;
Location: Columbia Law School, William and June Warren Hall, WJ Basement 107
1125 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027

Time: 6:00 P.M.

Spring 2017

Feb. 23 “The Roots of Contemporary Antisemitism, the Alt-right, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian Revolutionary Regime”

Dr. Charles Asher Small
Executive Director, ISGAP;
Location: Columbia University, William and June Warren Hall, WJ Basement 107
1125 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027
Time 6:00 P.M.
(Video here)

Mar. 23 “Antisemitism on the Web”

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
New York Times Writer, Former Google Data Scientist;
Location: Columbia University, William and June Warren Hall, WJ Basement 107
1125 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027
Time 6:00 P.M.
Convener: Dr. Larry Amsel, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Columbia University
(Video here)

Apr. 20 Violence Against Jews in the United States: A Historical Perspective and Analysis” 

Yehudit Barsky
ISGAP Research Fellow and Author;
Location: Columbia University, William and June Warren Hall, WJ Basement 107
1125 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027
Time 6:00 P.M.
(Video here)

2015-2016 Schedule

Fall 2015

Nov. 11 “Resentment, Anxiety and Careerism: Accounting for Antisemitism in the Academy and Among the Intelligentsia”

Dr. Barry Kosmin
Director, Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture
Research Professor, Public Policy and Law, Trinity College, Hartford, CT
Location: WJ 107
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Convener: Vivaldi Jean-Marie

Dec. 9 “The Enemy of My Enemy Is My…Enemy?-Attitudes of the Czech Antisemitic Movements toward the Muslim World, Arab Uprisings and the Arab Refugee Wave”

Dr. Zbyněk Tarant
Assistant Professor, Middle East Studies, University of West Bohemia
Location: WJ 107
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Convener: Vivaldi Jean-Marie

(Video Link)

Spring 2016

Feb. 24 “The Internal Palestinian Conflicts”

Dr. Bassem Eid
Founder, Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG)
Location: Jerome Greene Hall, Room 105
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Convener: Vivaldi Jean-Marie

Mar. 9 “Three totalitarian temptations: Nazism, Communism and Islamism as anchors of hate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”

Col. (res.) Dr. Eran Lerman
Researcher at Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and former Deputy for Foreign Policy and International Affairs at the National Security Council in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office
Location: Jerome Greene Hall, Room 105
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Convener: Vivaldi Jean-Marie

Mar. 23 “Similarities and Differences Between Antisemitism and the Contemporary Delegitimization of the Democratic Nation State of the Jewish People”

Dr. Yossi Kuperwasser
Director, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Location: Jerome Greene Hall, Room 102
Time: 5:00 P.M.

Convener: Vivaldi Jean-Marie

Apr. 13 “The Theory of Antisemitism: Jew-Hatred and the Jewish State”

Dr. Gabriel Noah Brahm
Associate Professor of English, Northern Michigan University and Schusterman Research Fellow in Israel Studies, Brandeis University
Location: Jerome Greene Hall, Room 105
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Convener: Vivaldi Jean-Marie

Apr. 13 “Scholars Falsehoods”

Ben-Dror Yemini
Researcher, Lecturer and Senior Journalist with the Hebrew daily Yediot Ahronoth
Location: Jerome Greene Hall, Room 105
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Convener: Vivaldi Jean-Marie

2014-2015 Schedule

Nov. 5 “Theodor Lessing: Jewish Self-Hatred”

Dr. Alon Segev, Department of Philosophy
University of Illinois at Springfield
Location: Jerome Greene Hall, Room 105
Time: 6:00 P.M.

(Video Link)

Nov. 19 “Antisemitism and the Left: From Marx to the Present”

Professor Robert Wistrich, Director
Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Location: Jerome Greene Annex
Time: 6:00 P.M.

(Video Link)

Feb. 11 “The Battle against Liberal Democracy and the Jewish Question: From Marx to Qutb”

Dr. Glen Feder, Senior Research Fellow
ISGAP Paris
Location: Jerome Greene Annex
Time: 6:00 P.M.

(Video Link)

Fall 2013

Wednesday, November 6 at 4:30PM, Jerome Greene Hall 101

Haras Rafiq
Founding Director of CENTRI (Counter Extremism Consultancy, Training, Research and Interventions)
“Pathways to Extremism and Radicalisation”
(Video Link)

Spring 2014

Wednesday, February 5 at 12:15PM, Case Lounge, Jerome Greene Hall 7th Floor
Professor Gregory Gordon

Associate Professor of Law at the University of North Dakota and Director of the UND Center for Human Rights and Genocide Studies
“The Enemy Within: A Neo-Nazi Takeover in the American Heartland?”
Professor Dan Michman
Bar-Ilan University; International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem
“Misunderstandings of the Phenomenon ‘Antisemitism’ in Some Recent Influential Studies of the Holocaust”
(Video Link)

Wednesday, March 12 at 5:30PM, Uris Hall Rm. 141*
Dr. Matthias Küntzel

Hamburg Technical College; Research Associate, Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
“Obama’s New Iran Policy and the Temptation of Appeasement”
Video Link

Wednesday, April 2 at 6:00PM, Jerome Greene Hall 104
Ambassador Efraim Halevy

Head of the Center for Strategic Policy Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s School of Public Policy (2003-2011); Former Director of Mossad, Israel
“Sovereignties and Players Local and International – Old and New – Struggling to Reshape a Crumbling Middle East Landscape. Quo Vadis?”
Video Link

Wednesday, April 23 at 12:15PM, Jerome Greene Hall, Case Lounge, 7th Floor
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin

Rabbi, Author
“Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism”
Video Link

Thursday, May 1 at 6:30PM, Jerome Greene Hall, Case Lounge, 7th Floor
Professor Uzi Rabi

Director, Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Tel Aviv University
“Iran and Israel and the Arab World: New Discourses in a Changing Environment”
Video Link


 

SEMINARS ARE OPEN TO THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY (UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS AND FACULTY) AND THE INTERESTED PUBLIC

This programming is made possible in part by funding from the Koret Foundation.