About
The Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism was launched in November 2010.
Our founding principle is that the study of antisemitism is vital to understanding all forms of racism, prejudice and xenophobia.
We are a centre of innovative research and teaching and contribute to discussion and public policy formation on antisemitism and intolerance.
Based at Birkbeck, University of London, and established by the Pears Foundation, the Institute is both independent and inclusive.
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NEWS
Toward a History of the Term “Anti-Semitism”
David Feldman traces the changing meanings of the term ‘anti-Semitism’ from the late nineteenth century to the present.
The American Historical Review Roundtable: Rethinking Anti-Semitism
The American Historical Review »
Corbyn’s Labour, British Jews and Antisemitism: Will Peace Now Break Out?
Or are the conflicts too deep and the definition of antisemitism too flimsy?
Read David Feldman and Brendan McGeever
Antisemitism and Immigration in Western Europe Today: is there a connection?
A five-nation study - April 2018
The Left and Antisemitism
We need more than denunciations and expulsions to confront how the Left talks about capitalism, race and Jews - read David Feldman and Brendan McGeever
See Our Research »Study
The Institute is located within Birkbeck College, a world-class research and teaching institution. We have unrivalled expertise in the teaching of religious and racial intolerance and multiculturalism across a wide range of disciplines.
At Birkbeck you can study: antisemitism, ethnicity, immigration, intolerance and identity, multiculturalism, racialization, racism and xenophobia.
Doctoral Research
There are many opportunities to study for your PhD with the Pears Institute. The Institute's staff and Associates welcome research students whose projects fall within their areas of interest.
Study with us »
Events
Yiddish Exceptionalism: Lynching, Race, and Racism in Joseph Opatoshu’s American Fiction
Speaker: Marc Caplan
19 November 2018
The Holocaust and Yiddish
Speaker: Miriam Schulz
20 November 2018
1938 in Retrospect
Speakers: Mary Fulbrook, Nicholas Stargardt and Jennifer Craig-Norton
27 November 2018
'Warrant for Genocide'? Hitler, the Holocaust and the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion'
Speaker: Sir Richard Evans
5 February 2019
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Latest Podcasts
Challenging Denial: From Slavery to the Holocaust
Our panel of experts explore how and why denial operates.
After Multiculturalism? Conversations between History and Sociology
Scholars discuss: the past and present of ‘multiculturalism’; the shifting politics of class, race and difference in post-1968 Britain; and the role and responsibilities of anti-racist scholarship.
Jews of Colour: Race and Afro-Jewishness
Professor Lewis Gordon explores some unique challenges and dynamics faced specifically by Afro-Jews, in light of the tendency in Euromodern scholarship to erase the African elements, in what is now known as ‘western’ history and its religions.
Jews, Muslims, Frenchmen: The Promises and Perils of Fraternity
Professor Ethan Katz traces the simultaneous development of coexistence and conflict among Jews and Muslims in France across the twentieth century and up to our own time.
Shaming with Images: German Responses to Atrocity Films, 1945-46
Professor Ulrike Weckel discusses the complexities involved in understanding the attitudes and actions of the shamed.
‘Please mind the gap’: Integrated histories and geographies of the Holocaust and Holocaust memory
Professor Tim Cole explores the gaps within Holocaust scholarship and some of the ways that those gaps have been filled by scholars.
Cosmopolitanism: Jewish and Postcolonial Perspectives
Three leading scholars consider what cosmopolitanism means today.
Zionism and Antisemitism: an International Conference
Scholars examine the interaction between Zionism and antisemitism as it has developed from the nineteenth century through to the present day.
The Meanings of Antisemitism
Professor David Feldman examines the changing meanings of antisemitism since the term’s first use.
view our podcasts »