Attempts to define antisemitism are often accompanied by disputes and controversy, bringing to the surface broader political, scholarly and theoretical differences. This workshop seeks to explore these disagreements. It brings together expertise from inside and outside the academy and from a range of perspectives to consider the various meanings of antisemitism and the issues that arise when trying to define it in particular times and places. What are the conceptual challenges involved in the search for a definition of antisemitism? How have understandings of antisemitism been affected by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? What distinguishes debates on the definition of antisemitism from debates on the definition of Islamophobia and other forms of prejudice?
Programme
Welcome: David Feldman, Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London
I: Concepts and Histories
The Challenges of ‘The Jewish People’: Promises and Perils of Collective Identities, Cynthia Baker, Bates College
Bracketing Antisemitism: Snares and Dangers, Manuela Consonni, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Chair: David Feldman, Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London
II: Politics and Practice
Antisemitism and the IHRA: A Defining Moment?, Brian Klug, St Benet’s Hall, University of Oxford
‘It’s the Definition, Stupid!’, AbdoolKarim Vakil, King’s College London
Defining Antisemitism in Germany, Juliane Wetzel, Technical University, Berlin
Chair: Mirjam Zadoff, Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism
III: Israel and Palestine
The Holocaust and Nakba: Challenging Antisemitism, Bashir Bashir, Open University, Israel
The Use of Antisemitism by Israelis and Palestinians in the Israel-Palestine Imbroglio, Colin Shindler, SOAS University of London
Chair: Marc Volovici, Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London
Workshop co-convenors: David Feldman and Marc Volovici