On Antisemitism: A Word In History

Never has the term been deployed more widely or loosely than it is today; never has informed discussion of its meaning been more needed. At a time when the fight against it impacts both the funding of medical and scientific research and the right to free speech and protest, the confusion surrounding the concept is of more than merely academic concern.

This discussion will feature historians Lila Corwin Berman and David Feldman joining Columbia professor Mark Mazower in a wide-ranging discussion moderated by Adam Tooze.

This event is open only to Columbia University affiliates. All others interested in attending should email globalthought@columbia.edu.

Speakers

Lila Corwin Berman is the Paul & Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History and Director, Goldstein-Goren Center for American Jewish History at NYU. She is the author of several books and articles, including The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex: The History of a Multibillion-Dollar Institution (2020) and Who Is American? Belonging and the Question of Jewish Citizenship (forthcoming April 2026). She has written guest columns for the Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and MSNBC.

David Feldman directs the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism. He is Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London and is Professor of History in Antisemitism at the University of Melbourne. His research interests include the history of Jews in Britain and the British Empire and the history of antisemitism. He has also published extensively on the history of migration and immigration in Britain from 1600 to the present including on systems of immigration control, migrants and entitlement to welfare, and the long history of multiculturalism and Islamophobia. His expertise has been sought international institutions including the OSCE and the UN and he has written for the Financial Times, the Guardian, Haaretz and other outlets.

Mark Mazower is Ira D. Wallach Professor of History, Columbia University. He is the author of many books on modern Greek and European history including Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews: 1430-1950 (2004), Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century (1998) and Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe (2008). His most recent book is On Antisemitism: A Word in History, published by Penguin Press. His commentaries on current affairs and his book reviews appear in the Financial Times and elsewhere.

Adam Tooze is Kathryn & Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History, Columbia University, Director of the European Institute and Chair of the Committee on Global Thought. He has authored many books on twentieth century and contemporary history. He writes the "Chartbook" newsletter and his columns and commentary can be found in The Financial Times, Foreign Policy and other publications.

This event is cosponsored by the Committee on Global Thought, the European Institute, and The Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities.