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.
2015-2016 Schedule
Fall 2015
Nov. 9 “Memory, the Jewish Intellectual and Cartesian Cogito in Jean Amery’s At the Mind’s Limits”
Dr. Vivaldi Jean-Marie
Associate Professor of Philosophy, CUNY
Adjunct Associate of Philosophy and African-American Studies, Columbia University
Location: Harvard Faculty Club, Room 4
Time: 7:00 P.M.
Dec. 7 “The Great Failure of the Anti-Racist Community: How and Why Contemporary Global Antisemitism Has Been Downplayed and Ignored”
Professor Neil Kressel
Professor, Department of Psychology, William Paterson University
Location: Harvard Faculty Club, Room 10
Time: 7:00 P.M.
Convener: Vivaldi Jean-Marie
Spring 2016
Feb. 8 “The Politics of Israeli Public Diplomacy from the Second Intifada to the Present”
Professor Neil Rogachevsky
Tikvah Postdoctoral Fellow, Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, Yeshiva University
Location: Harvard Hillel, Rabb Hall
Time: 7:00 P.M.
Convener: Vivaldi Jean-Marie
Feb. 22 “The Internal Palestinian Conflicts”
Mr. Bassem Eid
Founder, Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG)
Location: Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, WCC B010 Singer Classroom
Time: 7:00 P.M.
Convener: Vivaldi Jean-Marie
Mar. 7 “Jews in Post-Communist Russia: A State with Philosemitic Pretensions, a Society with Antisemitic Sentiments”
Dr. Vladimir Khanin
Associate Professor, Department of Political and Middle Eastern Studies, Ariel University of Samaria
Location: Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, WCC Room 3015
Time: 7:00 P.M.
Convener: Vivaldi Jean-Marie
2014-2015 Schedule
Seminars are open to the university community and the interested public
Oct. 21 “Antisemitism and the Power of Jewish Firstness”
Dr. Adam Katz, Assistant Professor of English
Quinnipiac University
Location: Harvard Faculty Club, Room 7
Time: 7:00 P.M.
Nov. 4 “Combating Anti-Israel Bias and Antisemitic Rhetoric in Federally Funded Middle East Studies Programs: A Case Study”
Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, Adjunct Professor
University of California, Santa Cruz
Location: Harvard Faculty Club, Library
Time: 7:00 P.M.
Nov. 18 “Gaza=Auschwitz: Antisemitism by Analogy?”
Professor Martin Kramer, President
Shalem College, Jerusalem
Location: Harvard Faculty Club, Room 4
Time: 7:00 P.M.
(Video Link)
Feb. 10 “The Hegemonic Presence of the Left in Latin America: The Political, Social and Cultural Implications of Anti-Israel Bias”
Dr. Luis Fleischman, Senior Advisor
Menges Hemispheric Project, Center for Security Policy
Adjunct Professor, Florida Atlantic University Honors College
Location: Harvard Faculty Club, Room 4
Time: 7:00 P.M.
(Video Link)
Mar. 3 “The Global Muslim Brotherhood: A Hollywood Fiction?”
Steven Merley, Editor
The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch
Washington, D.C.
Location: Harvard Faculty Club, Room 4
Time: 7:00 P.M.
Apr. 16 “Jihadist and Islamist Antisemitism in Turkey: Between Hate and Political Gain”
Professor Kemal Silay, Central Eurasian Studies;
Chair Professor, Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies; Director, Turkish Studies Program
Indiana University
Location: Harvard Faculty Club, Theater Room
Time: 7:00 P.M.
Apr. 21 “American Antisemitism: Grounds for Optimism or Pessimism?”
Professor Arnie Dashefsky, Director
Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life
Department of Sociology, University of Connecticut
Location: Harvard Faculty Club, Room 4
Time: 7:00 P.M.
(Video Link)
Fall 2013
Tuesday, November 12 – North Dining Hall
Charles Asher Small, D.Phil
Executive Director, ISGAP
“Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity”
(Video Link – Part I)
(Video Link – Part II)
Tuesday, December 3 – Theatre Room
Dr. Kenneth Marcus
President and General Counsel, Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law
“Anti-Semitism, Higher Education, and the Law”
(Video Link)
Spring 2014
Tuesday, February 4 – Milstein East B, Wasserstein Hall*
Professor Shalem Coulibaly
Professor of Philosophy and Secretary General, Université de Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
“Africans and Jews from Jean Paul Sartre and Alain Badiou’s Perspective”
(Video Link)
Tuesday, March 11 – Theatre Room
Dr. Matthias Küntzel
Hamburg Technical College; Research Associate, Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
“The Roots of Iranian Antisemitism and its Consequences”
(Video Link)
Tuesday, April 1 – Theatre Room
Tarek Fatah
Public Intellectual, Author
“Antisemitism in the Muslim World and How It’s Concealed as a Critique of Israel“
(Video Link)
Monday, April 28 – Theatre Room
Dr. David Hirsh
Goldsmiths College, University of London
“Fraser v UCU: Tribunal Finds No Antisemitism, Only Jews Trying to Silence Criticism of Israel”
(Video Link)
Tuesday, April 29 – Theatre Room
Dr. Günther Jikeli
Justin M. Druck Family Visiting Scholar, Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism
and Fellow, Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies
“European Muslim Antisemitism”
(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.