Ben Ratskoff specializes in histories and theories of antisemitism, race, and fascism; Holocaust and genocide studies; Black diasporic culture and thought; and critical theory and cultural studies.
Ben comes to Occidental from Hebrew Union College and USC. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in comparative literature from UCLA and his B.A. in English from Northwestern University. His research interrogates the relationship between antisemitism, colonialism, and white supremacy; the politics of Holocaust memory and representation; and the intersections of Black and Jewish thought. He teaches a wide range of courses on antisemitism and the Holocaust, the memory and representation of atrocity, comparative genocide studies, and advanced critical theory.
What drew you to teach at Occidental?
I was lucky enough to teach at Oxy as a NTT in the Religious Studies department while I was finishing my PhD at UCLA. I attended large research universities for both undergraduate and graduate study, so the small liberal arts college environment was entirely new to me. I was immediately impressed with the close community among students, faculty, and staff, emphasis on and support for civic engagement and public humanities work, and the unique combination of a liberal arts campus in a multicultural metropolis like Los Angeles. I also admired the supportive and collaborative relationship facilitated between administration and faculty, which can be rare at larger universities. After I left the NTT position, I consistently longed for the improbable opportunity to return to Oxy, so I was incredibly grateful and excited when such an opportunity materialized.
With a full semester behind you, what are your impressions of Oxy students?
I have found Oxy students to be remarkably curious, worldly, inquisitive, and driven. In my experience, they model rich engagement across difference and disagreement in the classroom, making for exciting and productive class discussions, and are also eager to extend their learning outside of the classroom, from self-organized reading groups to attending public cultural events in Los Angeles.
When did you first become interested in the intersection of Black and Jewish studies?
As an undergraduate student, I found myself in Black Studies courses, at first to fulfill general education requirements but then out of genuine interest. It was in these courses that I first developed a critical curiosity around histories of diaspora, race, nation, and genocide and that I acquired a new language to understand dimensions of Jewish culture and life. It was this organic experience over a number of years that led to my interest in the intersections of Black Studies and Jewish Studies as fields.
Do you have a favorite class that you are teaching, and why?
I am currently teaching a class on "The Politics of Holocaust Memory" that I am really enjoying. In addition to students' nuanced engagement in urgent questions of collective memory and justice, the classroom brings together students with diverse family histories connected to a number of different historical atrocities. It has been incredibly rewarding to see how the dynamics of Holocaust memory both challenge and inform their understanding of their own family memories and to have their comparative insights enrich our class discussions.