When
In the late 1920s, Bernard Lecache founded the International League Against Anti- Semitism (LICA) in Paris to raise public awareness in France and other European societies against Jewish hatred and mobilize Jews and non-Jews to take action toward discrimination. The rise of anti-Semitic discourse in the French Algerian press which culminated in the pogrom of Constantine in August 1934 led the leadership of LICA to establish branches in North African cities in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Based on daily correspondences between the headquarter of LICA in Paris and its North African chapters between 1936-1940, this paper discusses the membership and activities of LICA in North Africa prior to the rise of Vichy and during the first years of WWII. I argue that despite the efforts of LICA to encourage strong relations between Muslims and Jews, the anti- Semitic environment among the French colons, the German propaganda in North Africa and the situation in British Palestine hindered its plans for a strong Jewish-Muslim rapport in urban North Africa prior to and during World War II.Dr. Boum's main research explores how different generations of Moroccan Muslims remember, picture and construct Moroccan Jews, Jewishness and Judaism. He has published a number of articles on the history and historiography of the Jewish communities of southern Morocco, Jewish-Muslim interfaith dialogue, representation of Jews in Moroccan museums, Jewish migration in the context of Arab nationalism and Zionism, and the Alliance Israélite Universelle in rural Morocccan communities.Dr. Boum's latest book, Memories of Absence: How Muslims Remember Jews in Morocco, is due out this month with Stanford University Press. More information about his book can be found here: http://sup.org/book.cgi?id=21951 DR. AOMAR BOUM,ASSISTANT PROFESSORSCHOOL OF MIDDLE EASTERN & NORTH AFRICAN STUDIESMENAS Colloquium SeriesFriday, September 13, 20133pm in Marshall 490