What Should an Antisemitism Program Do?

After October 7, many universities rushed to create programs to study antisemitism. Maurice Samuels has directed an antisemitism program at Yale since 2011. However, given that scholars cannot agree even on a basic definition of antisemitism, the purpose of such programs is anything but clear. In this talk, he will discuss some of the conceptual, political, and operational problems involved in studying antisemitism in our current moment. He will also discuss future plans for the program and looks forward to hearing ideas that the colloquium participants might have for ways to move the program forward.

Maurice Samuels is the Betty Jane Anlyan Professor of French at Yale University, where he chairs the French Department and directs the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism. A recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Cullman Center Fellowship at the New York Public Library, he is the author of five books, including most recently Alfred Dreyfus: The Man at the Center of the Affair, published by Yale University Press in 2024.

Cosponsors: Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Department of Classical & Near Eastern Religion & Cultures, Department of French & Italian, Department of German, Nordic, Slavic, & Dutch, Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication, Human Rights Program, Institute for Global Studies, Department of Political Science, Religious Studies Program, Department of Sociology