Scholars from Israel, Germany, France, Canada and the United States will meet at the University of California, San Diego, December 11-13, 2005, to discuss whether antisemitism in the German past became more attractive through critiques of Jewish men. The program will feature papers and talks from 35 leading researchers in Jewish history, German literature, and related fields. Conference keynote speaker will be Sander Gilman of Emory University, author of works on Freud, Kafka, the Jewish body, and Jewish self-hatred. The conference is sponsored by the UCSD Judaic Studies Program.

"Some scholars are looking at the history of antisemitism in new ways, asking if satirists and critics saw Jewish men as insufficiently masculine, as too soft and flabby and cowardly, whereas they saw Jewish women as unusually sexualized, intellectual, and dominant in Jewish families," said Deborah Hertz, Herman Wouk Professor of Jewish Studies at UCSD, and local conference chair.

Among topics to be discussed are Jewish sports clubs in German and Palestine, conflicts about dueling, Jewish hiking enthusiasts, the politics of circumcision, contrasting male and female refugee experiences in the Nazi era in New York City and numerous other issues.

Further information is available at the conference website, historyweb.ucsd.edu/Masc.Conf.site.html, or by phoning Erin Svalstad, 858 534-4551. Sessions will take place in the Deutz Conference Room of the Institute of the Americas on the UCSD campus. The conference is free and open to the public, but registration is advised as space is limited.