An international research consortium to promote the study of antisemitism is launched today (Tuesday 8 November, 2011). Co-convened by David Feldman, Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London and Scott Ury, Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism, Tel Aviv University, the International Consortium for Research on Antisemitism and Racism (ICRAR) involves leading scholars from universities and institutes across Europe, Israel and the US, who share the common goal of revitalising and reshaping the study of antisemitism. The Consortium will promote rigorous, independent research that looks to related fields and other disciplines for insight and embraces new theoretical and methodological approaches. To promote and foster new thinking on antisemitism, the Consortium will hold annual workshops and summer schools and produce publications of the outcomes. The first workshop will be Boycotts: Past and Present. This will be held in London in 2012, hosted by the Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism. David Feldman explains: "Antisemitism is an important and contentious problem. Yet our understanding of it remains under-developed. The study of antisemitism too often stands in isolation from related fields of inquiry and has failed to benefit from contemporary intellectual currents that encourage new thinking and approaches. Scholarly work has also suffered from the politicisation of the field, being corralled by immediate political concerns. This has foreshortened our understanding of antisemitism, both in the past and critically, in the present, and undermines the contribution academics can make to overcome it." Scott Ury adds: "The Consortium wants to reshape and revitalise the study of antisemitism. We are predominantly a group of historians, but in our collective endeavour we will reach out across disciplinary boundaries. We aim to shed light on the content, meanings, functions and dynamics of antisemitism. Importantly, we will also explore the connections between antisemitism and other racisms." Other founding members of the Consortium are: François Guesnet, University College London Jonathan Judaken, Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee Veronika Lipphardt, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin Michael Miller, Central European University, Budapest Amos Morris-Reich, University of Haifa Maurice Samuels, Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism, New Haven, Connecticut Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, Center for Research on Antisemitism, Technical University, Berlin.
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