Welcome to the 2025 series of podcasts recorded by students in the international course on ‘Cultures of Hate and Oppression: Connecting the Conversations between Antisemitism, the Holocaust, Colonialism and Gender’. Coordinated by Dr Adam Levin and Professor Merle Williams for the 2024/25 academic session. ‘Cultures of Hate and Oppression’ is a collaborative course which brings together colleagues and students from four highly regarded universities: our institution, the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Central European University in Vienna, as well as Birkbeck and the School of Oriental and African Studies (both affiliated to London University). Our collaboration has been greatly enriched by our partnership with the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre. This partnership has been integral to developing the timely, thoughtful and creative work produced by our students in the podcasts.
‘Cultures of Hate’ is a challenging and pathbreaking course because it brings together 4 topics that are often treated separately in academic discourse or even approached as somehow incompatible with one another: antisemitism, the Holocaust, colonialism and gender. Our aim is to trace and elucidate the overt or sometimes hidden connections between these phenomena. In this way, we explore the darkly intertwined legacies of prejudice, discrimination, racism and oppression that have shaped our contemporary world.
For the ‘Cultures of Hate’ course assignment, students are invited to develop a podcast concentrating on one of the 4 major thematic areas treated in the course. They are allocated to cross-institutional groups consisting of 4–7 members each. These groups work under the guidance of a mentor to frame a clearly defined topic and to decide on a suitable approach, as well as assigning roles to individuals, writing a script and applying the necessary technical skills. This year, podcasts were recorded on aspects of antisemitism, the Holocaust, colonialism and gender. Here, we showcase the best three podcasts that were produced.
