This lecture series delves into the complex and often intertwined phenomena of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and racism in contemporary Europe. As xenophobic and discriminatory ideologies resurface and intensify across the continent, this series aims to critically examine the historical roots, present manifestations, and future implications of these forms of prejudice. Through interdisciplinary approaches, leading scholars, activists, and policymakers will engage in discussions on how social, political, and economic factors contribute to these biases, exploring their impact on communities and individuals.
Spring Lecture Series Speakers
Feeling (Un)safe: Jews, Muslims and the German State Since October 7
Dick Moses, City College of New York
Thursday, March 13, 2025 I 4130 Posvar Hall I 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM
Abstract:
For about 25 years, a minority security dilemma has been crystalizing in Germany. With increasing Muslim immigration, the state has gradually instituted measures to acculturate this small but growing minority to the official memory culture centered on the Holocaust. It does so in part out a concern with Jewish safety, which is increasingly centered on sensitivities about German support of Israel rather than antisemitic crimes, nearly all of which are committed by Christian Germans. To make Jewish people feel safer, Muslim migrants are made to feel less safe. Conversely, Muslim security is experienced as endangering Jews. Therein lies the dilemma. This development hardened dramatically after October 7. How and why the trilateral relationship between the German state and its two non-Christian minorities issued in a dilemma
rather than reconciliation is the subject of this paper.
About the Speaker:
A. Dirk Moses is the Spitzer Professor of International Relations at the City College of New York. He is author and editor of publications on German history and in Genocide Studies, including Nachdem Genozid: Grundlage für eine neue Erinnerungskultur (2023). His public writings on Germany, Gaza, and Ukraine have appeared in the Geschichte der Gegenwart, the Boston Review, Noema Magazine and Lawfare. He edits the Journal of Genocide Research.
We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe
Meet and Greet: Fred Kudjo Kuwornu*
Director of We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe
Thursday, March 27, 2025 I Global Hub I 3:00 PM- 4:00 PM
About the Director:
Fred Kudjo Kuwornu is a multi-hyphenate socially engaged artist, filmmaker and scholar whose work is deeply influenced by his background as a person of African descent. Born and raised in Italy, Kuwornu is based in New York. His unique background is reflected in his triple citizenship, holding Italian, Ghanaian, and U.S. passports. By consistently bridging the past and present, the hegemonic and subaltern, the seen and unseen, Kuwornu's practice emerges as a vital contribution to contemporary visual culture, understanding the complex interplay between history, identity, race, and representation in our globalized world. Kuwornu's curatorial vision can be understood as a form of historical remixing in which he reconfigures archival materials and contemporary narratives to enlighten a rethinking of perspectives. His works have been exhibited at prestigious venues including the Central Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale (2024), Museum of Moving Image in New York, Library of Congress, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, George Eastman Museum and numerous international film festivals. More info: https://www.fredkuwornu.com
Film: We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe*
Director: Fred Kudjo Kuwornu (Present for Q &A)
Thursday, March 27, 2025 I 125 Frick Fine Arts Building I 5:00 PM
We Were Here - The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe, exhibited in the Central Pavilion directed by Adriano Pedrosa at the 60ᵗʰ International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, sheds light on the overlooked presence of African and Black individuals in Renaissance Europe, highlighting their depiction in masterpieces by some of the era’s most celebrated artists. How did they come to Europe? Why were they portrayed? Were they truly all servants or slaves? If the Black faces portrayed in these Renaissance masterpieces could speak, what would they tell us?
* Special acknowledgement of co sponsors below.
From Secularism to Public Order: Identity Politics and the Idea of Muslim Solidarity in France
Kirsten Wesselhoeft, Vassar College
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 I 4130 Posvar Hall I 4:30 PM
Abstract: Pending
About the Speaker:
Kirsten Wesselhoeft is associate professor of religion at Vassar College. She is a scholar of contemporary Islam, drawing on ethnography and political analysis to study Muslim thought and culture in contexts shaped by colonial encounters and secular liberalism. Her first book, Fraternal Critique: The Politics of Muslim Community in France (Chicago, 2025), shows how young engaged Muslims use disagreement and dissent to cultivate community, a value that is in turn stigmatized by political elites. Her scholarly writing has appeared in Political Theology, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and Sociology of Islam, among other journals.
2024 Fall Speakers:
How Does One Become Racist?
Carole Reynaud-Paligot, Centre d'histoire du XIXe siècle - Université Paris 1
Tuesday, Sept 24, 2024 I 4900 Posvar Hall @ 4:00 PM ET
Europe's Other Jew and Muslim: Past and Present
Farid Hafez, Assistant Teaching Professor of International Relations, College of William & Mary
Monday, October 21, 2024 I 4130 Posvar Hall @ 1:00 PM ET
Cycles of Hate: The EU’s Combating Antisemitism Policy from 2015 till today
Carolyn M. Dudek, Hofstra University
Monday, November 11, 2024 I WPU, Lower Level @ 4:00 PM ET
Co-Sponsors:
- African Studies*
- Center for Africana Studies*
- Center for Ethnic Studies Research*
- Center for Black European Studies and the Atlantic, Carnegie Mellon University *
- Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences*
- Department of French and Italian*
- Department of History of Arts and Architecture*
- Department of German
- Department of Religious Studies*Early Modern Worlds*
- Film and Media Program*
- Jewish Studies Program*
- Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program*
- European Studies Center*
- University Center for International Studies*