“For the longest time, I felt like I had no allies”: Stigmatization and Recognition of Jewish Faculty in Canadian Higher Education
Abstract
This article examines the experiences of Jewish faculty in Canadian higher education following the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. Drawing on Lamont’s sociology of recognition, the study utilizes national survey data and in-depth interviews to examine how stigmatization operates across four interconnected layers: spatial, policy, cultural, and interpersonal. Findings reveal a multilayered assault of worth, marked by declining physical and emotional safety, limited institutional recognition of antisemitism, exclusion from dominant academic milieus, and breakdown of collegial relationships. A central site of tension concerns anti-Zionism, which has become a boundary for recognition and belonging within many academic spaces. The study argues that prevailing policy frameworks, while oriented toward greater inclusion, inadequately account for Jewish identity and can inadvertently reproduce exclusion. Addressing Jewish inclusion requires meaningful education, policy revision, and relational practices that expand cultural membership and reaffirm dignity, recognition, and shared humanity in higher education.
Keywords: stigmatization, recognitio
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Published
2026-08-27
Keywords
stigmatization, recognition, Jewish faculty, equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), antisemitism, higher education
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Copyright (c) 2026 Lilach Marom, Leor Elizur, Cary Kogan
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