The Official ISCA Podcast

Monday, October 21, 2024. In this episode, Pavel Brunssen and Andrei Markovits discuss "From Chants to Change: German Soccer's Unique Response to Antisemitism Post-October 7." Pavel Brunssen is a Research Associate and Alfred Landecker Lecturer at the Research Center on Antigypsyism at Heidelberg University. Brunssen’s research interests include antisemitism, antigypsyism, memory cultures, European soccer, and fan cultures. He has published widely on these topics, including an edited volume entitled "Football and Discrimination: Antisemitism and Beyond." Brunssen holds a PhD in German Studies from the University of Michigan. His award-winning dissertation forms the basis of his forthcoming book, The Making of "Jew Clubs": Performing Jewishness and Antisemitism in European Football and Fan Cultures (Indiana University Press). Andrei S. Markovits is the Karl W. Deutsch Collegiate Professor of Comparative Politics and German Studies Emeritus and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He just concluded a fifty-year university teaching career at leading institutions in the United States, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Israel. His work on social democracy, trade unions, new social movements, antisemitism and anti-Americanism in Europe; as well as on comparative sports cultures and human-animal relations appeared in 18 languages in many books, articles and reviews. His latest work is a memoir entitled The Passport as Home: Comfort in Rootlessness (Central European University Press, 2021). Music: "Pleasant Porridge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

Sunday, October 13, 2024. In this episode, Günther Jikeli and Katharina Soemer discuss "Manual Annotation: Why and How?" What is machine learning? How is machine learning helpful when observing and combatting antisemitism online? What challenges exist when using machine learning for this purpose? Why is manual annotation a necessary step for automated content detection? How do you manually annotate tweets? Günther Jikeli holds the Erna B. Rosenfeld Professorship at the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism in the Borns Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University. He has published widely on antisemitism online and offline. Katharina Soemer holds an MA in Sociology and Social Research from the University of Bremen, Germany. She currently manages ISCA’s Social Media & Hate Research Lab at Indiana University. Her published work focuses on online antisemitism and methods of research in that field. Music: "Pleasant Porridge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

Sunday, October 6, 2024. In this episode, Günther Jikeli and Katharina Soemer discuss "Online Antisemitism Before and After October 7” as part of our 2024 Datathon & Machine Learning Competition. Günther Jikeli holds the Erna B. Rosenfeld Professorship at the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism in the Borns Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University. He has published widely on antisemitism online and offline. Katharina Soemer holds an MA in Sociology and Social Research from the University of Bremen, Germany. She currently manages ISCA’s Social Media & Hate Research Lab at Indiana University. Her published work focuses on online antisemitism and methods of research in that field. Music: "Pleasant Porridge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

Sunday, September 22, 2024. In this episode, Mara Lee Grayson discusses "The Contemporary Racialization of the Jew and Its Impact on Campus Antisemitism.” Mara Lee Grayson is the author or editor of five books, including Antisemitism and the White Supremacist Imaginary: Conflations and Contradictions in Composition and Rhetoric (Peter Lang, 2023) and Challenging Antisemitism: Lessons from Literacy Classrooms (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023, co-edited with Judith Chriqui Benchimol). Grayson is founder and chair of the Jewish Caucus of the Conference on College Composition and Communication and chair of the Jewish Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English. She holds a PhD in English Education from Columbia University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the City College of New York. Previously a tenured faculty member in the California State University system, Grayson now works as the Director of Content Development for the Campus Climate Initiative at Hillel International. Music: "Pleasant Porridge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

Sunday, September 15, 2024. In this episode, Cary Nelson discusses "The Future of Campus Antisemitism after October 7." Cary Nelson is Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts & Sciences and Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. He is the author or editor of 36 books, including six about antisemitism. Hate Speech and Academic Freedom: The Antisemitic Assault on Basic Principles was published this April. He was president of the national AAUP from 2006-2012. Music: "Pleasant Porridge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

Sunday, September 8, 2024. In this episode, Dave Rich discusses "Antisemitism in the UK since the October 7 Attack." Dave Rich, one of Great Britain’s leading experts on antisemitism, is the author of The Left’s Jewish Problem: Jeremy Corbyn, Israel, and Antisemitism (2018) and Everyday Hate: How Antisemitism Is Built into our World and How You Can Change It (Updated Edition, 2024). He has worked for many years at the Community Security Trust, a London-based Jewish agency that aims to safeguard the British Jewish community. Music: "Pleasant Porridge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

Sunday, May 12, 2024. In this episode, Cary Nelson discusses "The Perilous Campus Scene: Encampment versus Enlightenment." Cary Nelson is Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts & Sciences and Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. He is the author or editor of 36 books, including six about antisemitism. Hate Speech and Academic Freedom: The Antisemitic Assault on Basic Principles was published this April. He was president of the national AAUP from 2006-2012. Music: "Pleasant Porridge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

Sunday, April 7, 2024. In this episode, Ilan Troen discusses "Religious Dimensions of the Israeli/Palestinian Dispute." Ilan Troen is a professor emeritus at Brandeis University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and a founding editor of the leading journal "Israel Studies" (Indiana University Press). He has contributed to numerous publications about Jews and Israel, including “Tel Aviv, The First Century: Visions, Designs, Actualities” (2012); with Donna Robinson Divine, “Zionism in the 21st Century” (2014) and “Essential Israel: Essays for the 21st Century” (Indiana University Press, 2017). Ilan Troen lived in the United States before making aliyah in 1975. He now lives with his wife, Dr. Carol Troen, and six children in Omer, Israel. Music: "Pleasant Porridge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

Sunday, April 14, 2024. In this episode, Michal Cotler-Wunsh discusses "The Hamas Massacre of October 7 and Responses to It: A Chronology of Hate." Michal Cotler-Wunsh is a prominent public speaker, researcher, and independent policy and strategy advisor on intersecting issues of antisemitism, law, human rights, and Zionism. Informed by political, professional, and academic experience, Michal explores topics surrounding mutated and mainstreamed rising antisemitism; international law, human rights, and the harm of their weaponization; the threat of disinformation and conspiracy theories to democracies; Zionism as a millennia-old identity integral to the construction of a progressive national liberation movement; the relationship between Israel and global Jewry in collaborative nation-building; and the role of “Olim” as a “live bridge” to build resiliency, address growing internal gaps, and connect Israel to global communities, cultures, and countries. Michal’s focus on process, transparency, and accountability, continues to inform and guide her in the role of Israel’s Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism, engaging local and global partners around the shared responsibility to comprehensively identify and address the rise and mainstreaming of ever-mutating antisemitic hate. Michal was a Member of Israel’s 23rd Knesset. Drawing on areas of expertise and commitments, she served as Chair of the Special Committee on Drug and Alcohol Use, Chair of the Subcommittee on Israel-Diaspora Relations, and as active member of several prestigious committees including the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, and the Children’s Rights, Women’s Status, and Immigration and Integration Committees. Michal served as the first Knesset Liaison to the Issue of the International Criminal Court (ICC), was co-chair of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Friendship Group, was a member of several interparliamentary working groups, and Chair of the Caucus for Ethiopians in Israel. She initiated and led multiple Knesset hearings on the topic of online antisemitism, engaging social media platforms, civil society organizations, and technology experts. Recognizing the inherent connection between online hate and real-world violence, Michal co-founded the Interparliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism, together with multi-partisan elected officials from Canada, Australia, the US, and the UK. She remains at the forefront of this and other initiatives, committed to identifying, exposing, and combatting the mutation and permeation of antisemitism in the online and real-world space. Equipped with extensive experience, academic expertise and multi-lingual communication skills, Michal is regularly interviewed and featured as a speaker at diverse events in Israel and abroad. She is a prolific author published on multiple platforms, utilizing her hybrid identity and competencies to transcend and bridge geographic, cultural, religious, and linguistic divides. Michal serves as a trustee in The Rabbi Sacks Legacy and is a member of several not-for-profit boards, focused on governance and strategy. She is a legal advisor to the Goldin family, dedicated to the return of deceased Israeli soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, and Israeli civilians Avera Mengistu and Hisham a-Sayed, held captive for 9 years in standing violation of international law and human rights. In this, as in other engagements, Michal is committed to underscoring shared responsibility for equal and consistent application of international law and human rights, critical to the sustainability of the infrastructure created to uphold, promote, and protect foundational principles. Music: "Pleasant Porridge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Sunday, March 17, 2024. In this episode, Elhanan Yakira discusses "Spinoza, Arendt, and Contemporary Israel Bashing." Elhanan Yakira is a professor emeritus of philosophy at the Hebrew University. His main fields of interest are early modern rationalism and anti-Israelism, with a special emphasis on Jewish and Israeli anti-Israelism. He has published a number of articles on these subjects, as well as a book: Post-Zionism, Post-Holocaust. Three Essays on Denial, Forgetting, and the Delegitimation of Israel, Cambridge University Press, 2009. "Pleasant Porridge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/