Antisemitism: Antiq to Today

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

This course offers a cultural, global history of antisemitism from antiquity to the present. Antisemitism is a remarkably resilient form of hatred that has survived across the centuries. Indeed, the fear and animosity toward Jews that we call antisemitism is the oldest continuous global tradition of hatred for any single group. In this course, we will explore antisemitism across a range of different time periods and countries with attention to varying political, social, economic, religious, and cultural contexts. We begin with negative images of Jews in the pre-Christian Hellenistic world and follow anti-Jewish beliefs and sentiment as they evolve through Christian anti-Judaism to modern, racial antisemitism and finally, 20th and 21st century anti-Zionism and the recent upsurge in antisemitism during the last few years. The purpose of this course is to understand antisemitism as a complex, ever evolving yet stubbornly resilient form of hatred that acts as a kind of social thermometer and a useful index of the health of society, revealing the serious moral disturbance and illness of a society. We will read a variety of primary and secondary sources and will also study several cases of antisemitic scapegoating and persecution, including the Dreyfus Affair, the lynching of Leo Frank, and the Beilis Affair. By studying antisemitism across time and a number of different nations and cultures, students will gain an understanding of (1) how Jews have repeatedly struggled to survive, withstand, and overcome prejudice and hate and (2) how Jews have tried to balance their desire to pursue successful lives and acculturate to the dominant Christian cultures of their homelands while preserving their culture, religion, language, and social practices. Students will also learn to use their insights into the causes of and reactions to antisemitism to better understand other forms of racism, bigotry, and prejudice, both in the U.S. and abroad.