The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism is a centre of innovative research and teaching on antisemitism, racialization and religious intolerance. It contributes to knowledge and understanding, policy formation and public debate.
The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism was established in 2010 by Birkbeck, University of London and Pears Foundation.
We are the only university centre in the UK dedicated to the study of antisemitism and one of only two in Europe. The Institute is renowned internationally for its innovative research and teaching.
Our work is framed by our conviction that antisemitism is a distinctive form of racism. Through our research and public activity we establish points of connection between the problem of antisemitism and the challenge of racisms more broadly.
Our scholarship contributes to public debate on antisemitism, racialization and religious intolerance and we provide expertise and advice to a wide range of institutions in the UK, Europe and the wider world.
The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism is both independent and inclusive.
Between 1947 and 1949, debates about Palestine within the United Nations pulled dozens of countries into the determination of the land’s fate – national interests and transnational sympathies shaped attitudes towards the partition of Palestine and the ensuing Arab-Israeli war. The war riveted the attention of the world – for reasons that still apply in our own day.
Historians have recognized the wide range of sexual fantasies underlying attitudes toward Jewish men and women that have developed over the centuries. However, those fantasies about Jewish women, enacted over centuries in horrific acts of sexual violence, most recently in Israel on 7 October 2024, have received far less attention. In this context, Susannah Heschel will argue that antisemitism requires reinterpretation as a culture of sadism.
The struggle against antisemitism and the struggle against racism have at times appeared inextricably connected. But today it is the disconnections that are most visible – illustrated by the responses to 7 Oct 2023 and its aftermath. Today, any political reunion of anti-antisemitism and anti-racism will have to recognise these disconnections and bridge them.
This series encompasses antisemitism and racism from the ancient world to the present day. It considers topical and theoretical questions and brings historical and multidisciplinary perspectives to bear on contemporary concerns and phenomena.
This lecture will bring together the narratives and memories of two suffering groups of people: the victims of the concentration camps and ghettos in Europe and the slave plantations in the American South.
Seminar | For Scholars
In this seminar, Emilie Wiedemann will focus on the preparations for the UN World Conference Against Racism held in September 2001 and the advocacy of diaspora Jewish NGOs within this context.
SEMINAR SERIES | ANTISEMITISM NOW
Drawing on quantitative survey data gathered both before and after the October 7 attacks, Jonathan Boyd will discuss the position of Jews in Britain today, how, if at all, they have been impacted by the Hamas-Israel war, and what the future may hold.
Our work shows how antisemitism has often been intertwined with anti-Muslim, anti-migrant, anti-black and anti-Irish bigotries. Antisemitism and other racisms should not be considered in isolation and still less in competition.
Professor David Feldman, Director
