Contextualizing Antisemitism on College Campuses

REGISTRATION CLOSED, WALK UPS WELCOME. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Antisemitism is experiencing a resurgence worldwide and in the U.S. But what are Jewish students experiencing on American college campuses? This lecture provides an historical context for antisemitism on both the political right and left, and describes the often confusing political environment of many college campuses, in which antisemitic attitudes can take root. Antisemitism on college campuses can be related to debates about Israel, but is as frequently tied to conflicts around class, race, and religious observance. Once we understand what informs campus antisemitism, what are some effective strategies for combating it?

ABOUT THIS SPEAKER: Professor Rachel Rubinstein is a professor of American literature and Jewish studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, received her B.A. in English from Yale University and her Ph.D. from the Department of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University. She has been teaching at Hampshire College since 2003. Her teaching and research interests focus on migration, multilingualism, comparative ethnicity and racial formation. She has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship (2013-14) and a Whiting Foundation Travel Fellowship (2017-18), among other grants, in recognition and support of innovative teaching in the humanities, and has taught both adult learners and high school students through community organizations like the Amherst public library and the Yiddish Book Center. Her scholarly work includes two co-edited volumes, Arguing the Modern Jewish Canon: Essays on Literature and Culture in Honor of Ruth R. Wisse (Harvard University Press, 2008), and the forthcoming Teaching Jewish-American Literature (MLA Publications Committee, 2019). She is the author of Members of the Tribe: Native America in the Jewish Imagination (Wayne State University Press, 2010), which earned a Jordan Schnitzer Book Award Honorable Mention.