HIEU 1501 Course Description

Antisemitism has been called both an ancient religious hatred and an ultra-modern racial ideology. Scholars often cite its origins in the early teachings of the Catholic Church, yet its appearance predates Christianity by centuries. In modern times, antisemitism has thrived in Muslim societies in which no actual Jews live. These puzzles continue today: We live in a world suffused with antisemitism—yet no one can agree on a satisfactory definition of it. In this first-year seminar, we will explore this complex topic as an introduction to the contemporary study of history.

            In this course, we will carefully trace the history of anti-Jewish ideologies from antiquity to the present. Our goal will be to examine where and how myths about Jews and Judaism develop in history, how they change over time, and when and why they result in violence. The long pedigree and elusive meaning of antisemitism make it an ideal vehicle to learn about the academic study of history as a whole. Hence, in this course we will pay special attention to what the continuities and discontinuities in the story of antisemitism can teach us about larger theoretical and methodological problems of historiography.

            We will proceed chronologically in this course from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome to the early Christian world, through to medieval and early modern Europe. As we reach the modern period, we will spend more time isolating the key strands of modern antisemitism—political, economic, cultural, and racial. In the second half of the course, we will examine some key topics in twentieth- and twenty-first century history of antisemitism, including the Holocaust, Communist antisemitism, and Islamist antisemitism. Concurrent with this portion of the course, students will develop their own research agendas for studying a specialized case of antisemitism from a pre-approved cluster of topics. Students will pursue an extended research project, including building a research bibliography.

In each course session, we will read a combination of narrative history and primary sources. Students will actively participate in sharing ideas and analyses of the readings. Then, the instructor will deliver some background remarks about the following week’s topic. Towards the end of the term, students will present their research-in-progress for group critique as we discuss methods and sources for historical study.

            This is an introductory course that assumes no prior knowledge of Judaism, Jewish history, or European history. We will read and critically analyze a variety of primary and secondary sources, including religious, political, and legal writings, artistic images and musical recordings, and scholarly studies. The overall goal of this course is to develop close critical reading and writing skills while engaging with a key moral problem of human history that the world continues to confront today.

Readings will include David Nirenberg’s Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition (2013), Walter Laqueur’s The Changing Face of Antisemitism (2006), and various other primary and secondary sources available on Collab. This course satisfies the second writing requirement. 

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