ISGAP Canada 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.

The seminar series is run by a separate organization, the Canadian Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP Canada).

6:00 PM Lecture
Leacock Building, Room 738
McGill University
855 Sherbrooke Ouest
Montreal, Quebec H3A 2T5

Convener: Michelle Whiteman, Director, ISGAP Canada

2016-2017 Schedule

Seminars are open to the university community and the interested public

Fall 2016

Oct. 27 “Understanding Antisemitism: A Comparative Analysis of National Socialist and Islamic Jihadist Jew Hatred” 

Professor David Patterson
Hillel Feinberg Chair in Holocaust Studies, Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, University of Texas at Dallas
Location: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Convener: Michelle Whiteman, Director, ISGAP Canada
(Video Link)

Dec. 1 “Emil Fackenheim’s Quasi-Historicism: The Problem of Hitler’s Posthumous Victories”

Professor Sharon Portnoff
Elie Wiesel Associate Professor in Judaic Studies and Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Connecticut College
Location: Leacock Building, Room 738 
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Convener: Michelle Whiteman, Director, ISGAP Canada
(Video Link)

Spring 2017

Feb. 23 “Conspiracy Theories Among Refugees in Germany. Preliminary findings of an empirical study.”

Dr. Günther Jikeli
Associate Professor; Justin M. Druck Family Scholar at the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, Borns Jewish Studies Program, Indiana University
Location: ARTS Building, McGill Room W20
Time: 5:00 P.M. 
Convener: Michelle Whiteman, Director, ISGAP Canada
(Video Link)

Mar. 23 “Religion and the Making of Nigeria” (A book discussion)

Professor Olufemi Vaughan
Geoffrey Canada Professor of Africana Studies and History, Bowdoin College, Senior Editor of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia in African History
Location: ARTS Building, McGill Room W20
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Convener: Michelle Whiteman, Director, ISGAP Canada

Apr. 20 “Was it Possible to be a ‘Bystander’ to the Holocaust in Eastern Europe” 

Professor Jan Grabowski
Professor of History of the Holocaust, University of Ottawa; Co-founder of the Polish Centre for Holocaust Research, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw
Co-sponsor: Canadian Institute for Jewish Research
Location: Canadian Institute for Jewish Research, 1396 Ste. Catherine St. W, room 218
Time: 6:00 P.M.
(Video Link I)      (Video Link II)

2015-2016 Schedule

Fall 2015

Nov. 12 “The War of 1948: New Perspectives”

Dr. Benny Morris
Professor of History, Middle East Studies, Ben-Gurion University
Location: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Convener: Michelle Whiteman, Director, ISGAP Canada

(Video Link)

Dec. 10 “Rising Antisemitism in Europe: How to Assess the Threat?”

Dr. Günther Jikeli
Visiting Professor, Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, Indiana University, Senior Research Fellow, ISGAP
Location: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Convener: Michelle Whiteman, Director, ISGAP Canada

(Video Link)

Spring 2016

Jan. 28 “Antisemitism in France”

Dr. Marc Knobel
Research and Director of Studies at CRIF (Conseil representative des institutions Juives de France)
Location: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Convener: Michelle Whiteman, Director, ISGAP Canada
(Video Link)

Feb. 11 “Do Dogs Bite: The Impact of Terrorism”

Professor Robbie Friedmann
GILEE Founding Director, Professor Emeritus of Criminal Justice, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University
Location: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Convener: Michelle Whiteman, Director, ISGAP Canada

 

Mar. 10 “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 Minster’s Office
Location: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Convener: Michelle Whiteman, Director, ISGAP Canada

Mar. 24 “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: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Convener: Michelle Whiteman, Director, ISGAP Canada
(Video Link)

Apr. 14 “Sublimated 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: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Convener: Michelle Whiteman, Director, ISGAP Canada

 

2014-2015 Schedule

Seminars are open to the university community and the interested public

Oct. 20 “The New RDS Movement (Retractions and Disavowals in Scholarship): One Academic’s Symbolic Pushback Against The BDS Movement”

Dr. Dahn Hiuni, Independent Artist
Adjunct Professor of Art and Education, School of Visual Arts, New York
Location: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

(Video Link)

Nov. 3 “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: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

(Video Link)

Nov. 17 “Gaza=Auschwitz: Antisemitism by Analogy?”

Professor Martin Kramer, President
Shalem College, Jerusalem
Location: McGill Law School, Chancellor Day Hall, Moot Court Room
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Jan. 26 “Antisemitism in Modern Islamic and Arab Discourse”

Dr. Mordechai Kedar, Senior Lecturer
Department of Arabic and Center for the Study of the Middle East
Bar-Ilan University
Location: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

(Video Link)

Feb. 9 “A Third Exodus: The Historic Plight of Jews in France”

Dr. Glen Feder, Senior Research Fellow
ISGAP Paris
Location: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

(Video Link)

Mar. 2 “The Global Muslim Brotherhood: A Hollywood Fiction?”

Steven Merley, Editor
The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch
Location: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

Mar. 23 “The German People and the Holocaust: New Sources, New Insights”

Professor Alan Steinweis, Professor of History
Distinguished Professor of Holocaust Studies
University of Vermont
Location: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

(Video Link)

Apr. 8 “Multiculturalism, Jewish Marginalization and Gender”

Jennifer Roskies
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
ISGAP Research Fellow
Location: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

(Video Link)

Apr. 20 “Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries: A Case Study in Discrimination”

Dr. Stanley Urman, Executive Vice President
Justice for Jews in Arab Countries
Location: Leacock Building, Room 738
Time: 6:00 P.M.

(Video Link)

Fall 2013

November 11 – Dr. Charles Asher Small
Executive Director, ISGAP
“Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity”
(Video Link)

December 2 – Professor Salim Mansur
Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Western Ontario, Canada
“Arab and Muslim Antisemitism: Reconsideration, Reflection and some Propositions”
(Video Link)

Spring 2014

February 3 – Professor Shalem Coulibaly
Professor of Philosophy and Secretary General, Université de Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
“Africans and Jews from Jean Sartre and Alain Badiou’s Perspective”
(Video Link)

March 10 – Dr. Matt Levitt
Fromer-Wexler Fellow; Director, Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
“Antisemitism in the Public and Private Discourse of Hezbollah”
(Video Link 1)
(Video Link 2)

March 31 – Dr. Charles Asher Small
4:00 PM
Executive Director, ISGAP
“Contemporary Antisemitism: Reflections of a Scholar”
(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.