Workshop Overview
This workshop brings together scholars of Africa and South Asia to explore the intersections of African, South Asian, and Jewish experiences of the Holocaust, focusing on historical encounters, intellectual discourse and cultural production, while also examining the varied ways in which Holocaust memory has been incorporated into contemporary political projects.
This program is organized by Trinity College, Cambridge University in partnership with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
This event is open to the public, but reservations are required here. The workshop is scheduled for February 27 - 28, 2025, in Cambridge, England.
Schedule
All sessions will take place in the Old Combination Room at Trinity College unless otherwise specified
Thursday, February 27
8:30 Registration
9:15 – 10:00 Introductory session
Welcome Remarks
Jonathon Earle, Associate Professor of African History, Centre College, and Visiting Fellow Commoner, Trinity College, Cambridge, and Shirli Gilbert, Professor of Modern Jewish History, University College London Krista Hegburg, Senior Program Officer for International Academic Programs, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
10:00-12:00 Panel I: Intersecting Histories Moderator: Jonathon Earle
Shared Histories of Exile and Displacement: Artistic Responses in the Works of Charlotte Salomon and Amrita Pritam Harshada Anand, Senior Research Fellow and PhD Candidate, Centre of German Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Holocaust Memory and Colonial Violence in the Work of Ousmane Sembène Maïté Marciano, Visiting Assistant Professor of French, Centre College
Ethiopia at the Crossroads: Refugees, Colonialism, and the Holocaust Matteo D'Avanzo, PhD Candidate, Department of History, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa & INALCO
Sephardic Jewish Populations and Local Katangese Representation, 1930-1955 Catherine Porter, Assistant Professor of History and International Studies, Hampton University
14:00-15:30 Panel II: Camps and Internment Moderator: Natalie Eppelsheimer, Professor of German, Middlebury College
Jewish Refugees from Germany in British Ceylon Sebastian Musch, Alfred Landecker Lecturer, Osnabrück University
Exiled in Mauritius: An African, Asian, and Jewish History of Detainment During the Holocaust Shae Omonijo, PhD Candidate, Department of History, Harvard University
In-Between Positions: Jewish Refugees, German POWs, and Colonial Contradictions in Wartime Mauritius Roni Mikel-Arieli, Postdoctoral and Teaching Fellow, The Rabb Center for Holocaust Studies, The Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
15:30-16:00 Tea & Coffee Allusen Room
16:00-17:30 Panel III: The Holocaust in Colonial Discourse Moderator: Krista Hegburg
Exploring the Holocaust and Nazi Germany in Nigeria: 1938-1948 Oliver Coates, Director of Studies and Tutor, St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge University
The Holocaust and Medicine in Colonial Africa Edward Kissi, Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, University of South Florida
From the Promised Land to the Unpromised Land: Jewish Exodus Narratives and Ambedkar's Vision for India's Depressed Classes Awadhesh Kumar Pandey, PhD Candidate, Centre of German Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Friday, February 28
9:00-10:30 Panel IV: Refugees, Antisemitism & Fascism Moderator: Ilana Weinberg, International Programs Officer, William Levine Family Institute, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Jewish Migration to India in the Fascist Era Benjamin Zachariah, Senior Research Fellow, Einstein Forum
Antisemitism Among and Against Polish Refugees in British Colonial Africa Jochen Lingelbach, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in African History, Department of African History, University of Bayreuth
“Evil Waves of Hitlerism”: The Struggle of Rhodesian Jews Against Nazism, and Anti-Semitism in Southern Rhodesian Immigration, 1930s-1940s George Bishi, Postdoctoral Fellow, International Studies Group, University of the Free State
10:30-11:00 Tea & Coffee Allusen Room
11:00-12:30 Panel V: Mobilising Holocaust Memory Moderator: Shirli Gilbert
Rafting to Bombay: Nahum Laufer's Story of Displacement, Refuge, and Return Subarno Chattarji, Professor, Department of English, University of Delhi
Breaking the Mirror: The Distortion and Manipulation of the Holocaust in South African Politics after October 7th Jakub Nowakowski, Director, Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre
From the Holocaust to Hinduphobia: Memory Work as a Tool in 21st Century Victimization Politics Shana Sippy, Associate Professor of Religion and Chair of Asian Studies and Religion Programs, Centre College
This workshop is made possible thanks to the generosity of the Martin Rees Conference Series Fund and the College Council of Trinity College, and support of the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.