Jonathan Judaken was installed as the Gloria M. Goldstein Professor of Jewish History & Thought April 3. The program included a welcome from Feng Sheng Hu, the Richard G. Engelsmann Dean of Arts & Sciences and the Lucille P. Markey Distinguished Professor; remarks from Erin McGlothlin, vice dean of undergraduate affairs and the Gloria M. Goldstein Professor of Holocaust Studies; and the installation and medallion presentation by Provost Beverly Wendland.
In his remarks, titled “Antisemitism and Anti-Antisemitism,” Judaken discussed how growing up Jewish in South Africa’s apartheid regime shaped his professional work. Chair of the Department of Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies in Arts & Sciences, Judaken has been credited with introducing the term “anti-antisemitism” into academic discourse. “Most of my work has been about how people understand antisemitism, either to oppose or to counter it,” he said. “It is about anti-antisemitism.”
Judaken emphasized that the fight against antisemitism should not be used as a political weapon. “Today, both antisemitism and anti-antisemitism are being instrumentalized and weaponized,” he said.
Read more on the Arts & Sciences website.
