CALL FOR PAPERS: Antisemitism and English Culture

A major international conference on the histories and cultures of antisemitism in England, from the Middle Ages to the present day and beyond. To be held at Birkbeck College, University of London, 9-11 July 2007.

Key questions to be addressed include:
Can we talk of a distinctly English kind of antisemitism?
Is antisemitism inherent in constructions of Englishness?
What is, or has been, the relationship between 'high' or intellectual English culture and antisemitism?
How far can specific English contexts be seen to have engendered antisemitism?
Is there a meaningful history of English philosemitism, and what is its relationship to antisemitism?
In what ways is England's antisemitic past reflected in the present?
What is the relationship between English antisemitism and communism, socialism, fascism, Zionism, Islamism, secularism, liberalism, or other ideologies?
How is antisemitism mediated in English art, literature and other cultural forms?
What are the contours of continuity and transformation in English antisemitism?
To what extent have the terms 'antisemitism' and 'Englishness' become redundant? How much use do they retain?

Papers from all disciplines, or interdisciplinary submissions, are welcomed; panel proposals of 3 speakers are also welcomed. Papers will be of 20 minutes duration. Paper proposals of no more than 150 words should be sent as soon as possible and by 15 December 2006 to Dr Anthony Bale (a.bale@bbk.ac.uk), School of English & Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, Bloomsbury, LONDON, WC1E 7HX, England.

Website: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/eh/conf/antisemitism