Contested Terrain

Conference: Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe

Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe:
comparisons/contrasts/connections
22nd - 24th June 2008
Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies
University College London

Organised by: Edge Hill University, Goldsmiths College, UCL

Aims
The aim of this conference is to explore the connections, commonalities and differences between Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe through a broad geographical and historical lens.

Papers will focus on contemporary and historical flashpoints, such as Britain, Germany, France, Iberia, Austria, Russia, the Balkans, and the Netherlands. In addition to ‘national’ case studies, the conference will attempt to gain a broad ‘European’, transnational perspective on this complex question or will at least consider whether such a thing can or should be attempted.

Given the acute relevance of the subject today, we aim to give equal attention to contemporary as well as historical research. At the same time, however, the importance of looking at Antisemitism/Islamophobia in the longue durée is critical, and papers will be included that go back to the medieval period.

Keynotes
Keynote addresses will be given by:

• Professor Sander Gilman (Emory University)
• Professor Ivan Davidson Kalmar (University of Toronto)

Questions
The broad questions that the conference seeks to address are:

• What are/have been the similarities and differences between the imagined threat(s) of Muslims and Jews in Europe?
• How and why have conceptions of Jews and Muslims altered/persisted over different times and places in Europe?
• What has been the role of wider discourses of ‘race’, religion, culture,
  colonialism and national identity in shaping conceptions of Jews and Muslims?
• Are perceptions of Jews and Muslims fundamentally different from those of other ‘minorities’ in Europe?
• To what extent and when have Muslims and Jews together been a significant counterfoil to identity formation in Europe?

The conference is dedicated to the memory of Professor John Klier.

For further information please contact James Renton or Ben Gidley.

Conference attendance is free. Places are limited so early registration is advised.

More info here

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