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Anya Topolski

Principal Investigator

Bio


Anya Topolski is an associate professor in ethics and political philosophy at the Radboud University Nijmegen. She obtained two bachelor degrees at McGill University in Montreal, Canada: BSc in Biochemistry (1999) and an BA Honours in Philosophy (2000). After a brief but memorable experience teaching in Korea, Anya moved to Belgium to complete a Masters in Continental Philosophy (Magna Cum Laude) specialising in the political thought of Hannah Arendt. She obtained her PhD in Philosophy at the KU Leuven, for which she was awarded the 2008 Auschwitz Foundation Stichting Prize , with a focus on the political thought of Hannah Arendt, the ethics of Emmanuel Levinas and contemporary Jewish thought.

In 2009, she joined an interdisciplinary NWO project as a post-doctoral researcher to consider the application of her theory of relationality in the field of military ethics where she engaged in post-Srebrenica research on responsibility and judgment. In 2012 her research on European Identity and Exclusion, antisemitism and islamophobia, was funded by FWO – Flanders. In addition she was a lecturer at the University of Kent in Brussels in political rhetoric and communication. In 2015 she became an assistant professor in political theory at the Faculty of Management at Radboud University, Nijmegen. As of 2017 she joined the ethics and poitics department of the faculty of philosophy where she now is principle investigator fort he Race-Religion Constellation Project and coordiantor of the Race, religion, Secularism Network. For more information here is her website and a recent interview.

Her current research is in the field of critical philosophy of race and focuses on the race-religion intersection in European. Her areas of expertise are: racism, political philosophy, ethics, European identity and exclusion, gender, antisemitism and Islamophobia, political theology, Jewish thought, Arendt, Levinas, Judeo-Christianity.

 

Publications (Selected):

Academic books; as author (IBa)

(2015). Arendt, Levinas and A Politics of Relationality. In: Assiter A., van der Zweerde E. (Eds.), bookseries: Reframing the Boundaries: Thinking the Political. London: Rowman & Littlefield International. 304 pages.

Academic books; as editor (IBe)

(2018). Ethics for Psychologists: A Global and Case-Based Approach. Editor: Anya Topolski. Sage Publishing. 

(2016). Is there a Judeo-Christian Tradition? A European Perspective. (Topolski, A., Ed., Nathan, E., Ed.). De Gruyter.

Articles in internationally reviewed academic journals; as editor (ITe)

(2022) Special Issue of Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies on the Intersection of Race in Religion in African Political Communities. Co-edited with Josias Tembo.

(2020) Special Issue of the Journal Political Theology on Jean Bodin and the Sovereignty of Exclusion. Co-edited with James Renton.  Issue 6, Volume 21, 2020

(2019) Special Issue of the Journal The European Legacy on Judith Butler’s Parting Ways. Co-edited with Louis Klee. Response by Judith Butler.

Articles in internationally reviewed academic journals (IT)

(2023). The Race Religion Constellation. In The Routledge Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. Ed. John Solomos. Section: Histories/Origins, Ed. Nasar Meer. Routledge. 

(2022) Exploring the Entanglement of Race and Religion in Africa. Co-author: Josias Tembo. Special Issue of Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies on the Intersection of Race in Religion in African Political Communities. Co-edited with Josias Tembo. 

(2022) On race and religion in African political communities: an interview with David Theo Goldberg. Co-author: Nyanchama Okemwa. Special Issue of Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies on the Intersection of Race in Religion in African Political Communities. Co-edited with Josias Tembo.

(2020) The Dangerous Discourse of the ‘Judeo-Christian’ Myth: Masking the Race-Religion Constellation in Europe. Patterns of Prejudice. Genealogies of ‘Jews’ and ‘Muslims’: Social Imaginaries in the Race–Religion Nexus. A special issue guest-edited by Yolande Jansen and Nasar Meer Volume 54. Issue 1 & 2. 71-90.

(2020) Bodin Now; or, What’s Wrong With Intellectual History? In the Special Issue of the Journal Political Theology on Jean Bodin’s and the Sovereignty of Exclusion. Co-edited with James Renton.  Issue 6, Volume 21, 2020. 475-478. https://doi.org/10.1080/1462317X.2020.1806609

(2020) Nation-States, the Race-Religion Constellation, and Diasporic Political Communities: Hannah Arendt, Judith Butler, and Paul Gilroy. Special Issue of the Journal The European Legacy Judith Butler’s Parting Ways or Ways of Cohabitation. Guest Editors: Anya Topolski & Louis Klee.  Volume 25, Issue 3. 266-281. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10848770.2020.174126

(2020) Rejecting the Rhetoric of Uniqueness: The First Step Towards Semitic Solidarity. Jewish Quarterly. Forthcoming.

(2018) The Race-Religion Intersection: A European Contribution to the Critical Philosophy of Race. Critical Philosophy of Race. Issue 6.1

(2017) Good Jew, Bad Jew: ‘Managing’ Europe’s Others. Ethnic and Racial Studies (Special issue 'Islamophobia and Surveillance: Genealogies of a Global Order'). Ed. James Renton. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2018.1391402

(2016). Tzedakah: The True Religion of Spinoza's Tractatus? History of Political Thought, 37(1), pp. 78-106.

Article in academic book (IHb)

(2023) What Do Women Have To Do With It? Race, Religion and the Witch Hunts. Purple Brains. Editor Katrine Smiet. Radboud University Press.

(2021) Race, Religion and Refugees: Arendt’s Ambiguous Analysis of Nation-States. Ed. Maria Robaszkiewicz. Hannah Arendt: Challenges of Plurality. Springer.  

Projects


Quotas for the Inclusion of Racialised Dutch Academics

Researchers: Anya Topolski and Tamara Soukotta

Race and racism are structurally present in our everyday experiences of Dutch society, yet very often silenced in public discussions. Those who inhabit racialised bodies often experience being pushed to the margins where their presence is just enough to create the illusion of a diverse and inclusive society, yet not enough to make significant changes. In the context of Dutch universities, racialised academics—which we understood as academics who self-identify as being racialised based on a variety of possible markers of difference—are still largely excluded, especially when it comes to hiring for permanent positions. Yet here we are, very much present in Dutch universities regardless. Many of us—racialised academics—exist in the cracks of the university, and from these cracks we resist (epistemic) erasures and try our best to sow seeds for transformations, for possibilities of world(s) otherwise.

This space is one of these cracks for racialised academics and/or existing initiatives by-for racialised academics to find each other, to embrace each other, to create safe space with-for each other, to support each other, to make more cracks within the walls of Dutch academia. It is our hope that from these cracks one day we might be able to see a new world emerge. A world where we, racialised academics, not only can exist but thrive in Dutch universities if we so choose to be there.

The Race-Religion Constellation: Antisemitism, Islamophobia and Antizyganism

The Race-Religion Constellation: Antisemitism, Islamophobia and Antizyganism

Researchers: Anya Topolski

Topolski’s current research project aims to develop a European critical philosophy of race focusing on the intersection of race and religion manifest in terms of antisemitism, islamophobia and antizyganism. This research complements and challenges the trailblazing field of critical race theory which, partially because of its American context, is limited in its scope. An example of this is how the socially-constructed category of race is too often reduced to a colour-based binary (black/white) or biological phenomenon. What my research aims to do is to complicate this colour-line by bringing to light its intersection with a religion-based form of racism (i.e. as expressed in terms of antisemitism).

European identity and exclusion: The discursive construction of the ‘Judeo-Christian’ tradition (FWO Funded 2012-2015)

Researchers: Anya Topolski

This project concerns the symbolic meaning of the term ‘Judeo-Christianity’ in relation to European identity formation. The goal is to investigate the roots of the relationship between the creation of the European community and the exclusion of ‘others’. My research hypothesis is that it is necessary to understand the process of identity formation in relation to the construction of enemies in order to avert violence and to develop a notion of community that is not defined by exclusion.

Publications


Encyclopedia Entry

The Race Religion Constellation
By Anya Topolski
May 2023
Routledge Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. Ed. John Solomos. Section: Histories/Origins, Ed. Nasar Meer.


Book chapter

What Do Women Have To Do With It? Race, Religion and the Witch Hunts.
By Anya Topolski
March 2023
Purple Brains


Keynote Lecture

Dehumanisation: Race, Religion and the European Witch Hunts.
By Anya Topolski
February 2023
University of Florence


Article

On race and religion in African political communities: an interview with David Theo Goldberg
By Anya Topolski and Stella Nyanchama Okemwa
December 2022
Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies


Ten behoeve van de commissie voor Binnenlandse Zaken, Veiligheid, Migratie en Bestuurszaken van de Kamer van volksvertegenwoordigers. Vrijdag 2 februari 2024.

Advies over voorstel van resolutie betreffende de bestrijding van het antisemitisme (DOC 55 3717/0010)
By Anya Topolski
February 2024
NA


Article

Unsettling Man in Europe: Wynter and the Race–Religion Constellation
By Anya Topolski
December 2023
Religions 2024, 15(1), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010043


Article

Europa is medeplichtig aan de genocide tegen de Palestijnen
By Anya Topolski
December 2023
Samenleving & Politiek, Jaargang 30, 2023, nr. 10 (december), pagina 31 tot 37


Article

Exploring the Entanglement of Race and Religion in Africa
By Anya Topolski and Josias Tembo
December 2022
Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies


Lecture

Antisemitism and Islamophobia as Forms of Dehumanisation: The European Problem
By Anya Topolski
July 2022
European Conference on Politics and Gender. University of Ljubljana


Lecture

European Ontologies: Blacks, Jews and White Supremacy – A Reply to Mills
By Anya Topolski
June 2022
Spinoza Symposium, University of Amsterdam


Book chapter

Race, Religion and Refugees: Arendt’s Ambiguous Analysis of Nation-States
By Anya Topolski
November 2021
Women in the History of Philosophy and Sciences


Interview

Hannah Arendt in tegenlicht - Gesprek met Anya Topolski en Nadia Fadil, moderatie door Yousra Benfquih
By Anya Topolski
October 2021
EEN COMPLEXE WERELD BEKEKEN DOOR ARENDTS OGEN


Invited Respondent

Islamophobia and the Politics of Replacement.
By Anya Topolski
June 2021
The Politics of Replacement. Demographic Fears, Conspiracy Theories, and Race Wars Conference. Amsterdam.


Lecture

Good Jew, Bad Jew: ‘Managing’ Europe’s Others.
By Anya Topolski
May 2021
Series: Memory Politics and Minority Managements in Contemporary Europe Freie Universitat Berlin, Berlin Graduate School: Muslim Cultures and Societies


Invited Keynote

The masked differences of race, religion and secularism: Europe’s post-Shoah silence.
By Anya Topolski
April 2021
Conceptualising Difference Conference. Aberdeen University.


Journal article

Rejecting Judeo-Christian Privilege: The First Step Towards Semitic Solidarity
By Anya Topolski
September 2020
Jewish Studies Quarterly


Journal article

Bodin Now; or, What’s Wrong With Intellectual History?
By Anya Topolski
August 2020
Political Theology


Article

Bodin Now; or, What’s Wrong With Intellectual History?
By Anya Topolski
August 2020
Political Theology


Article

The dangerous discourse of the ‘Judaeo-Christian’ myth: masking the race–religion constellation in Europe
By Anya Topolski
April 2020
Patterns of Prejudice


Journal article

The Dangerous Discourse of the ‘Judeo-Christian’ Myth: Masking the Race-Religion Constellation in Europe.
By Anya Topolski
April 2020
Patterns of Prejudice


Journal article

Nation-States, the Race-Religion Constellation, and Diasporic Political Communities: Hannah Arendt, Judith Butler, and Paul Gilroy
By Anya Topolski
March 2020
The European Legacy


Article

Parting Ways or Ways to Cohabitation: Introduction
By Anya Topolski
March 2020
The European Legacy


Book chapter

Race in relation to law and politics with Nawal Mustafa
By Anya Topolski
January 2020
VHI-Bundel Diversiteit


Book chapter

Hannah Arendt en Kinderrechten: Het recht om niet te hoeven vechten voor je rechten.
By Anya Topolski
March 2019
Universiteit van Amsterdam


Journal article

The Race-Religion Intersection: A European Contribution to the Critical Philosophy of Race
By Anya Topolski
April 2018
Critical Philosophy of Race


Journal article

Good Jew, Bad Jew: ‘Managing’ Europe’s Others.
By Anya Topolski
November 2017
Ethnic and Racial Studies

Student work


Hey you on the other side of the screen! 

 

This is Riikka Toropainen writing here. I am a 30-year-old, second-year bachelor's student from Finland. I decided to quit the career that I was pursuing and chase my dreams of studying higher education abroad. That is why I ended up studying at Radboud University Nijmegen and taking the course Culture through Philosophy given by Dr. Anya Topolski. At the end of every course, there was a final research project. Dr. Topolski encouraged us to think out of the box and do a creative assignment related to the topics we have learned. I saw my chance to pursue another teenage dream and be a YouTuber. I also wanted to share more knowledge of my own country (and other Nordic countries). Since, from time to time during my studies, I have felt that they are not represented even though Nordic countries are part of the West and Europe which my studies are related to. 

I spend hours on research and creating a style for my invented YouTube channel, I started filming. After editing my footage for a day, I realized I was missing some key points and thus, was not happy with it. I started from the beginning and with a better script. When I finally finished editing the new footage, the situation in Finland had changed and you can see the outcome in the final result of my video essay. The project taught me, not only about my chosen topic but also how academic learning can be easier to consume - like video essays. 

I hope you enjoy the video essay and me having fun in front of the camera!

https://youtu.be/kfzI8Lrd-wA 

Riikka

Sam van Stokkom - Culture Through Philosophy Video Essay

My name is Sam van Stokkom, I am 19 years old and I am a second year Arts and Culture student at Radboud University Nijmegen. In the first semester of this academic year I took a course called ‘Culture Through Philosophy’. At the end of this course we were expected to hand in a final research project. My professor, Dr. Topolski, encouraged us to be creative with this project and told us it didn’t have to be a written paper. This inspired me to think outside the box, and I immediately knew I wanted to record a video essay. I regularly watch informative video essays of other creators, so I wanted to give it a go myself. After weeks of research, days of writing a script and hours of filming and editing, this is the final product! This video essay has been the most fun and rewarding final project I have ever created for a course. I have never developed such a thorough understanding of a topic like I have with the topic of this project. I hope my video teaches viewers something new as well! 

If you have any questions or remarks about this project, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I would love to hear from you! 

You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/vNS3-Y427ng. You can reach Sam at [email protected]

Anya Topolski

Principal Investigator

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