Teaching
SABE currently has two ongoing initiatives in the area of teaching are Theses and WU Course on Antisemitism at Work in Austria, as well as two projects that took place with WU students this academic year (2023/2024).
Theses
The Institute of Human Resource Management and the Institute of Gender and Diversity in Organizations provide students with the opportunity to write their Bachelor and Master Theses on Antisemitism or a topic related to Antisemitism.
Tourism students discover Jewish heritage in Austria
During the passing academic year more than 50 students in a course dedicated to sustainable tourism visited placed related to Jewish culture and history.They explored cuisine and culture, places dedicated to heritage of scientists of Jewish origin, as well as museums and memorials of the Holocoust. They relfected on their experience in essays which linked observations made during visits to those places to the targets of Sustainable Gevelopment Goal 16: Peace and strong insitutions, and proposed how to ameliorate the educational impact of those places for a more peaceful society.
One of the students after a visit to an Israeli coctail bar on the river bank observed: "I noticed the Hebrew inscription " יהודיםוערביםהםאחיםושכנים " which means "Jews and Arabs are brothers and the neighbors" and then I realized the potential of this place." Another student, who visited one of the concentration camps, observed: "Through my visit, I realized the profound need for educational institutions to encourage such journey." and said that visit was "challenging and enlightening, leaving a lasting impact."
Master students design measures against antisemitism at the workplace
Advanced master students in course Human Resource Management addressed the problem of antisemitism at the modern workplace. Working in small teams, they elaborated on the challenges of systematic discrimination as well as spontaneous expressions of hate in the organizational setting, and proposed HRM policies and practices to inform managers of teams and organizations how to respond when they face such problems, and how to proactively limit potential of antisemitic incidents to occur.
WU Course: Antisemitism at Work in Austria
Course background
Antisemitism in Austria has a long history going back to the early Middle Ages, having had a presence in civic life throughout the centuries, culminating in the Holocaust. After WW2 antisemitism ensued with revised vigor (Wodak, 2011), even though Austria no longer has a Jewish population of any significance ("antisemitism without Jews": Benzl & Marin, 1983) and antisemitism was partially outlawed and officially frowned upon ("antisemitism without antisemites": Marin, 1980). Antisemitism manifests itself in the popular culture and in everyday language, in local and national politics as well as in the media - targeting a community numbering only c.10,000 (Staetsky & DellaPergola, 2020) but with a much wider presence in the Austrian national psyche. The latest Austrian Parliament survey on Antisemitism (2021) suggests the continuous widespread prevalence of antisemitism, while the tiny Jewish population reports growing concern of their safety (DellaPergola, 2021).
Course Content
The course treats the topic of Antisemitism, specifically current Antisemitism. To provide a holistic view on the topic, several speakers are invited. This lecture series "Dealing with antisemitism in the past and present. Scientific organizations and the state of research in Austria." has been designed in cooperation with the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI). Some of the lectures were open to the public and took place on the following days, lecture recordings are available:
7 May, 15:00 - 16:30, Workplace Antisemitism: Restitution of the Past, Engagement with the Present, campus WU, Teaching Center, TC.4.03
14 May, 15:00 - 16:30, Research on Post-1945 and Contemporary Antisemitism at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, campus WU, Teaching Center, TC.0.03
21 May, 15:00 - 16:30, Empirical Research on Antisemitic Prejudice: the Quantitative Approach. Methods and Problems, campus WU, Teaching Center, TC.0.04
28 May, 15:00 - 16:30, Nazi Crimes and Anti-Semitism in History. The Vienna Wiesenthal Institute of Holocaust Studies, VWI, Rabensteinweg 3, 1010 Wien
4 June, 15:00 - 16:30, Actively Archiving Antisemitism: 60 Years of the Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance, campus WU, Teaching Center, TC.0.04
REGISTRATION FOR THE PUBLIC LECTURES
Recordings of the past lectures
Learning outcomes
Students will acquire the knowledge how to study covert and under-researched issues at work, through the lens of antisemitic attitudes and behavior in Austria. Working in teams, they will develop awareness to discriminatory behavior, its manifestations, implications and consequences. In the process they will learn how to design and execute methodologies exploring sensitive issues and build the confidence to reflect critically on issues of equality, diversity and ethics. The course language is English and teamwork will involve exchange students.
Students' Testimonials
More information on the course and how it is perceived provide the Students' Testimonials.