Anti-Semitism, Racism, Anti-Zionism: Debates, Contexts, Stakes

Over the last two decades negative perceptions, conceptions, and treatment of Jews, and the effort to preempt and suppress them have been marked by fierce debates about “antisemitism.” Everything about the term – what it designates, its historical, theological, and scientific origins, its current targets, how to trace and fight it, and its relation to racism, colonialism and anti-colonial struggles, anti-Zionism, and Islamophobia – is disputed among scholars, educators, and political actors, creating odd alliances and dividing old communities. The seminar offers a study of contemporary antisemitism in the context of these debates and their historical background, theoretical presuppositions, and political stakes.