BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//events.la.psu.edu//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20201101T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20200308T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:10543-2b21def0a452555346dfa2c431dab9a6@events.la.psu.edu DTSTAMP:20260530T132753Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240220T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240220T173000 SUMMARY:“Remembering the Holocaust in a Racial State: Holocaust Memory During th e First Decade of Apartheid South Africa,” Roni Mikel-Arieli DESCRIPTION:\nPlease join us for a lecture co-sponsored by the Jewish St udies program and the African Studies program featuring Roni Mikel-Ariel i from Ben Gurion University of the Negev and The Hebrew University of J erusalem.\n\nSouth Africa\, usually considered marginal in the study of diaspora Jewry\, adopted strategies of public memorialization far earlie r than other diasporic Jewish communities. This lecture provides an acco unt of the first decade of post-war Holocaust commemoration in South Afr ica before the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 decisively impacted the soci al fabric of apartheid South Africa at large. During that period\, the J ewish community&rsquo\;s mnemonic practice began as immigrants mourning the loss of their relatives in Eastern Europe and attempting to commemor ate the victims of the Holocaust\, all the while confronting antisemitis m from right-wing Afrikaners. Focusing on the Jewish efforts in construc ting commemorative monuments in memory of the perished European Jews\, s ince as early as the late 1940s\, this lecture reveals how\, through off icial national routes\, the South African Jewish community was able to p ublicly mediate the anti-antisemitic message to the local white communit ies\, while ignoring its relevance to local racism. The community convey ed messages embodied in these memorials\, about the moral crisis of the Holocaust\, the intensity of loss\, and the savagery of racism. However\ , their memorials turn inward\, refusing to face head-on the racism of t he new regime on the home front.\n\nRoni Mikel-Arieli is a cultural hist orian\, interested in the intersections between Holocaust memory\, conte mporary Jewish history\, and African studies. She is a postdoctoral Fell ow and a teaching Fellow at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Mikel-Arieli is also the academi c director of the oral history division at the Institute of Contemporary Jewry of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She was awarded a 2020&nda sh\;21 research fellowship at the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem\; 2019&ndash\;20 Phyllis Greenberg Heideman and R ichard D. Heideman Fellowship at the Jack\, Joseph and Morton Mandel Cen ter for Advanced Holocaust Studies\, USHMM\; and a 2019 junior postdocto ral fellowship at the Center for Holocaust Studies at the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich\, Germany. Her first authored book\, titl ed Remembering the Holocaust in a Racial State: Holocaust Memory in Sout h Africa from Apartheid to Democracy (1948&ndash\;1994) was published in 2022 in De Gruyter series New Perspectives on Modern Jewish History. He r articles have appeared in the journals: Journal of Genocide Research\, African Identities\, Journal of Jewish Identities\, South African Histo rical Journal\, The Communication Review\, and Jewish Social Studies\, a nd she is the modern books section editor of Jewish Historical Studies: A Journal of English-Speaking Jewry.\n\nFor more details: https://events .la.psu.edu/event/jsp_roni-mikel-arieli/ X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Please join us for a lecture co-sponsored by the Jewish Studies program and the African Studies program featuring Roni Mikel-Arieli from Ben Gurion University of the Negev and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

South Africa, usually considered marginal in the study of diaspora Jewry, adopted str ategies of public memorialization far earlier than other diasporic Jewis h communities. This lecture provides an account of the first decade of p ost-war Holocaust commemoration in South Africa before the Sharpeville m assacre in 1960 decisively impacted the social fabric of apartheid South Africa at large. During that period, the Jewish community’s mnemo nic practice began as immigrants mourning the loss of their relatives in Eastern Europe and attempting to commemorate the victims of the Holocau st, all the while confronting antisemitism from right-wing Afrikaners. F ocusing on the Jewish efforts in constructing commemorative monuments in memory of the perished European Jews, since as early as the late 1940s, this lecture reveals how, through official national routes, the South A frican Jewish community was able to publicly mediate the anti-antisemiti c message to the local white communities, while ignoring its relevance t o local racism. The community conveyed messages embodied in these memori als, about the moral crisis of the Holocaust, the intensity of loss, and the savagery of racism. However, their memorials turn inward, refusing to face head-on the racism of the new regime on the home front.

Ro ni Mikel-Arieli is a cultural historian, interested in the intersections between Holocaust memory, contemporary Jewish history, and African stud ies. She is a postdoctoral Fellow and a teaching Fellow at the Departmen t of Sociology and Anthropology at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. M ikel-Arieli is also the academic director of the oral history division a t the Institute of Contemporary Jewry of The Hebrew University of Jerusa lem. She was awarded a 2020–21 research fellowship at the Internat ional Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem; 2019–20 Phyl lis Greenberg Heideman and Richard D. Heideman Fellowship at the Jack, J oseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, USHMM; an d a 2019 junior postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Holocaust Stud ies at the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich, Germany. Her fi rst authored book, titled Remembering the Holocaust in a Racial State : Holocaust Memory in South Africa from Apartheid to Democracy (1948&nda sh;1994) was published in 2022 in De Gruyter series New Perspecti ves on Modern Jewish History. Her articles have appeared in the jour nals: Journal of Genocide Research, African Identities, Journal of Jewish Identities, South African Historical Journal, The Communication Review, and Jewish Social Studies, a nd she is the modern books section editor of Jewish Historical Studie s: A Journal of English-Speaking Jewry.

For more details: https://eve nts.la.psu.edu/event/jsp_roni-mikel-arieli/

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