USC Shoah Foundation’s newly established Scholar Lab program provides academics with an opportunity to engage in cross-disciplinary scholarly inquiry in a collaborative space.

Members of the Scholar Lab and the Institute staff following the February convening. From the left: Robert Williams, Kori Street, Josh Kun, Sara Lipton, Mehnaz Afridi, Badema Pitic, Jeffrey Veidlinger, Claudia Wiedeman, and Jonathan Judaken.In late 2020, USC Shoah Foundation’s Research Unit initiated its inaugural Scholar Lab Program that focuses on the topic of antisemitism. This research program convenes six scholars of all levels and from different academic backgrounds to facilitate their engagement with the topic of antisemitism. As part of the program, the selected scholars conduct original research to address the main question of the program: Why do people hate Jews? Scholar Lab emphasizes and encourages scholarly creativity in all phases of the program, ranging from the conceptualization of scholarly ideas about potential directions of their project and the development of their methodological approach, to the creation of their final product. The goal of the program is to foster groundbreaking and innovative research across disciplines to deepen the public knowledge about antisemitism.

Josh Kun discusses his project on music and antisemitism.During the first phase of the program, the Scholar Lab participants had met several times with the Institute staff to exchange their ideas, develop their projects, initiate their research, and consult with the Institute staff. In the second phase of the program, the Scholar Lab on Antisemitism participants gathered together in February 2022 for an in-person convening to present their individual projects, identify their common patterns, and assess individual and group perspectives on the main question of the program. Participants also discussed possible formats for disseminating their work and findings to broader audiences.

In September 2022, the Institute launched its inaugural Scholar Lab Event Series that featured three public events focused on presenting the participants’ research to broader audiences. The recordings of these events can be accessed on the Videos page.

Read more about Scholar Lab here

 

Watch "Antisemitism and Religion"

Held on November 16, 2022, this moderated discussion features Dr. Mehnaz Afridi of Manhattan College and Dr. Sara Lipton of Stony Brook University, who are members of USC Shoah Foundation’s Scholar Lab on Antisemitism program. As part of the discussion, Dr. Afridi and Dr. Lipton present on their research projects examining antisemitism in the Arab world and representations of Jews in medieval Christian sermons, respectively, focusing on the insights they gained into the causes, manifestations and consequences of antisemitism through history and in relation to religion. The discussion is moderated by Dr. Jessica Marglin, Associate Professor of Religion at USC. 

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Watch more lectures from the series.