Fighting Antisemitism Through Scholarship
Jewish Foundation of Manitoba Focus, Spring Newsletter 2019
Catherine Chatterley first heard about the Holocaust as a young girl growing up in a Lutheran family in St. Vital and Fort Richmond. She was immediately horrified and puzzled.
“The first adult book I read was The Diary of Anne Frank,” says Chatterley. “The Holocaust was a mystery to me and I wanted to know how it could have happened.”
Her youthful curiosity ultimately led to a PhD in history from the University of Chicago and international recognition as an expert in antisemitism. Today she is an instructor at the University of Manitoba, the Founding Director of the Canadian Institute for the Study of Antisemitism (CISA), and the Editor-in-Chief of the Antisemitism Studies, CISA’s flagship publication published by Indiana University Press.
Chatterley founded CISA in 2010. It is an independent, non-profit entity with charitable status. Through donors, CISA is able to publish the journal, produce the Shindleman Lectures, offer free public courses, participate in international conferences, and develop new initiatives to advance the study of antisemitism.
CISA’s endowment fund at the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba is a key piece of CISA’s financial sustainability. With significant contributions from Marjorie Blankstein and MaryAnn Kanee and a number of other key gifts, the fund sits at nearly $600,000. “The Jewish community has been really supportive and I appreciate that,” says Chatterley. “As the fund grows, I will be able to spend less time fundraising and more time on the substance of my work.”
For Chatterley, that substance is all about conducting and gathering the type of research that informs decision-makers, changes policy, and changes minds. Since World War II, she notes, the Jewish community has focused on interfaith dialogue, human rights advocacy, and Holocaust education as tools to fight antisemitism. Perhaps still necessary, she says, but by no means sufficient.
“The great hope was that Holocaust education would help people see the impact of hatred,” says Chatterley. “I don’t have a lot of faith in that approach. Conventional Holocaust education tends to universalize the Shoah, which in fact takes the focus off antisemitism.
“What we need is scholarship: research, data collection, interviews, studies, and other activities that help people understand antisemitism at a deep level so that we can address it,” she says.
Catherine Chatterley first heard about the Holocaust as a young girl growing up in a Lutheran family in St. Vital and Fort Richmond. She was immediately horrified and puzzled.
“The first adult book I read was The Diary of Anne Frank,” says Chatterley. “The Holocaust was a mystery to me and I wanted to know how it could have happened.”
Her youthful curiosity ultimately led to a PhD in history from the University of Chicago and international recognition as an expert in antisemitism. Today she is an instructor at the University of Manitoba, the Founding Director of the Canadian Institute for the Study of Antisemitism (CISA), and the Editor-in-Chief of the Antisemitism Studies, CISA’s flagship publication published by Indiana University Press.
Chatterley founded CISA in 2010. It is an independent, non-profit entity with charitable status. Through donors, CISA is able to publish the journal, produce the Shindleman Lectures, offer free public courses, participate in international conferences, and develop new initiatives to advance the study of antisemitism.
CISA’s endowment fund at the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba is a key piece of CISA’s financial sustainability. With significant contributions from Marjorie Blankstein and MaryAnn Kanee and a number of other key gifts, the fund sits at nearly $600,000. “The Jewish community has been really supportive and I appreciate that,” says Chatterley. “As the fund grows, I will be able to spend less time fundraising and more time on the substance of my work.”
For Chatterley, that substance is all about conducting and gathering the type of research that informs decision-makers, changes policy, and changes minds. Since World War II, she notes, the Jewish community has focused on interfaith dialogue, human rights advocacy, and Holocaust education as tools to fight antisemitism. Perhaps still necessary, she says, but by no means sufficient.
“The great hope was that Holocaust education would help people see the impact of hatred,” says Chatterley. “I don’t have a lot of faith in that approach. Conventional Holocaust education tends to universalize the Shoah, which in fact takes the focus off antisemitism.
“What we need is scholarship: research, data collection, interviews, studies, and other activities that help people understand antisemitism at a deep level so that we can address it,” she says.
Past Press Coverage
Goldhagen Gives CISA Lecture to Packed Ballroom, May 15, 2014
Art Sleuths on Nazi Trail, February 7, 2014
Another Success--CISA's Community Course on Antisemitism, December 24, 2013
Course explores History of Antisemitism, October 12, 2013
Interview with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR), April 3, 2013
Interview on Contemporary Antisemitism, April 26, 2013
Deborah Lipstadt to Speak for CISA, January 14, 2013
CISA's First Year in Review, June 2, 2012
Canadian Antisemitism Institute Aims to Fill Worldwide Void, May 9, 2012
US State Department: Special Envoy Rosenthal Delivers First Shindleman Family Lecture for CISA, May 7, 2012
CISA's Screening of Gloria Greenfield's Unmasked:Judeophobia and the Threat to Civilization, January 23, 2012
Wiesel to Act as Honorary Chair of Antisemitism Institute, December 23, 2011
CISA Announces its first Academic Year of Programming: Interview with CISA’s Director, October 2, 2011
Chatterley Leads Opposition to Holocaust Obfuscation Campaign in Canada, April 7, 2011
The War Against the Holocaust, April 2, 2011
Local Institute to Combat Antisemitism, March 26, 2011
The History of Israeli Apartheid Week, March 3, 2011