ABSTRACT | The burning question of how to combat racism, Islamophobia, and antisemitism is deeply connected with how we understand and define those phenomena. Recent years have seen a plethora of definitions of those phenomena, produced by scholars, practitioners, activists, and bureaucrats in the belief that a clear understanding of the phenomena is necessary – or even a precondition – for successfully confronting it. While some definitions have been adopted by NGOS, governments, universities, etc. they have also faced criticism by scholars and activists.
In this event, we ask: what is the purpose of defining antisemitism, Islamophobia, and racism? What are their merits, limits, and problems of this approach, and what does this debate mean for the daily efforts to confront discrimination, prejudice, and harassment in our society.
The event brings together scholars and practitioners in the field. Our starting point is a recent book, co-edited by David Feldman and Marc Volovici, which analyses the politics of understanding, defining, and combating antisemitism and Islamophobia. Rebecca Gould, a contributor to the volume, will be speaking on the problems of definition in the struggle against multiple forms of prejudice and discrimination. Désirée Sandanasamy of the anti-racist NGO ZARA will be speaking on the practical relevance of definition in the day-to-day struggle against racism.
SPEAKER |
David Feldman, Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, London
Rebecca Gould, Professor of Comparative Poetics and Global Politics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
Désirée Sandanasamy, Legal Counsel at ZARA (Zivilcourage und Anti-Rassismus-Arbeit), Vienna