Speaker
Samantha Bosco
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Forest and Wildlife Ecology, UW–Madison
Dr. Samantha Bosco is a postdoctoral research associate in Forest and Wildlife Ecology at UW–Madison. Here, she leads qualitative research in a multi-institutional community-engaged transdisciplinary project examining drivers and barriers of agroforestry adoption amidst the conservation policy landscape in the upper Midwest. Her previous work examined the queer and Indigenous ecologies of agroforestry in the Northeast. Outside of her research, Dr Bosco channels her experiences as a trans, queer, anti-Zionist Ashkenazi Jew into performing original acoustic punk music focusing on queer and trans empowerment and solidarity with Palestinian liberation. In 2024, her music helped raise over $4,000 to support Palestinian relief efforts and mutual aid for Stop Cop City protesters. She also is an active member of Jewish Voice for Peace-Madison.
Speaking in
Jewish Identity Beyond Zionism: Understanding Jewish Diversity & Belonging
The last year has been enormously painful for our Jewish community at UW-Madison. This session brings together a diverse panel of Jewish faculty and staff experts on antisemitism, Holocaust remembrance, and Arab-Jewish and anti-Zionist Jewish history to shed light on the multifaceted discrimination faced by Jewish critics of Zionism. The panel will share the lived experiences of anti-Zionist Jews, Jews of color, and queer Jews on campus and discuss the need for a more inclusive Jewish community that recognizes and honors Jewish diversity. Drawing on observations from Gaza Solidarity Encampments at US colleges and universities, the panel demonstrates how community building among and across these marginalized voices fosters inter-faith equity and inclusion, engendering new dimensions of campus safety during a time of international crisis. The talks will also highlight the voices of Jewish students in the form of statements collected through interviews and surveys.
Session Objective
- Appreciate the important history and future of Jewish alternatives to Zionism
- Recognize the racial, ethnic, and political diversity of the Jewish community
- Distinguish antisemitism from anti-Zionism and other forms of political dissent from the State of Israel
- Explain why and how the conflation of antisemitism and anti-Zionism has been used to threaten Jewish safety