About the lecture
In her talk, Prof. Roitman will examine how the settler colonialism paradigm is applied to the Middle East conflict. She will show that this approach is not only historically inaccurate, but also justifies anti-Semitism and harms the cause of peace. Echoing Vasily Grossman’s words, “Tell me what you accuse the Jews of – I will tell you what you are guilty of,” she will explore how the dynamics of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are often portrayed as universal dynamics of colonisation and oppression.
The commentary on the lecture will be given by Dr Michał Trębacz from the Jewish Historical Institute and the Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Lodz.
The lecture will be delivered in English.
Workshop for students and doctoral students
The day after the lecture, on 18 March 2025, Prof. Jessica Roitman will lead a workshop for students. Registration for the workshop is mandatory and is possible via the online form.
About the speakers
- Prof. Dr Jessica Roitman is Professor of Jewish Studies at the Faculty of Religion and Theology at the Vrije Universitait Amsterdam. She is a social and cultural historian focusing on Jews chronologically from the early modern period to the nineteenth century. Her research interests include the Caribbean, the Atlantic and colonial (Jewish) history. In particular, her work concerns the intersection of “minorities,” ethnicity, and religion in colonial spaces. Jessica Roitman co-leads the research programme Traces of the Transcendent at the CLUE+ Research Institute. In addition to her research, she teaches courses on antisemitism, Islamophobia, Jews and Judaism, Jewish culture in Amsterdam and religious heritage in Amsterdam. She supervises BA, MA, and PhD theses on these topics. She is the (co-)editor-in-chief of the Journal of Early American History, editor of the Brill's Privacy Studies series, the Jewish Urban Cultures series of Amsterdam University Press and a member of the editorial board of Jewish Historical Studies.
- Dr Michał Trębacz is a historian who serves as the Head of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and is an Assistant Professor at the Philip Friedman Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Lodz. His research interests include the socio-political history of the 20th century, with particular emphasis on Jewish history and biography. He has participated in several international grants in the field of interwar and World War II history, including the Ringelblum Archive – complete edition.
We encourage all those interested to participate in this unique event.