Biography
Catherine Chatterley is a Canadian historian, specializing in the study of modern European history, the Holocaust, and research on antisemitism. She is the Founding Director of the Canadian Institute for the Study of Antisemitism (CISA) and the Founding Editor-in-Chief of Antisemitism Studies, the first scholarly journal devoted to the study of antisemitism.
Chatterley appeared in the documentary called "Unmasked: Judeophobia" (2011), where she was one of the scholars interviewed. That same year, she was invited as an expert scholar to participate in the Canadian All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism, which produced the Ottawa Protocol.
Her undergraduate studies included European history and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at the University of Manitoba, European Intellectual History at Concordia University (Montreal), followed by a doctorate in Modern European and Jewish History, and German-Jewish Literature, which she completed at The University of Chicago under the direction of Moishe Postone and Michael Geyer.
Syracuse University Press published her first book, Disenchantment: George Steiner and the Meaning of Western Civilization After Auschwitz, in their series on Religion, Theology, and the Holocaust, edited by Steven T. Katz. Disenchantment was named a 2011 National Jewish Book Award Finalist in the category of Modern Jewish Thought and Experience. Alongside Juan Asensio in France and Ricardo Gil Soeiro in Portugal, Chatterley is recognized as a leading scholar of George Steiner, an internationally renowned cultural critic, and has published two chapters in international collections about his work, both edited by Ricardo Gil Soeiro. Steiner died on February 3, 2020, and Chatterley wrote an obituary for the Times of Israel.
As the Founding Director of CISA, she was invited to be a member of the official government delegation to Israel in January 2014. From 2002 to 2008 Chatterley taught European history at the University of Winnipeg and from 2007 to 2018 at the University of Manitoba.
Chatterley appeared in the documentary called "Unmasked: Judeophobia" (2011), where she was one of the scholars interviewed. That same year, she was invited as an expert scholar to participate in the Canadian All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism, which produced the Ottawa Protocol.
Her undergraduate studies included European history and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at the University of Manitoba, European Intellectual History at Concordia University (Montreal), followed by a doctorate in Modern European and Jewish History, and German-Jewish Literature, which she completed at The University of Chicago under the direction of Moishe Postone and Michael Geyer.
Syracuse University Press published her first book, Disenchantment: George Steiner and the Meaning of Western Civilization After Auschwitz, in their series on Religion, Theology, and the Holocaust, edited by Steven T. Katz. Disenchantment was named a 2011 National Jewish Book Award Finalist in the category of Modern Jewish Thought and Experience. Alongside Juan Asensio in France and Ricardo Gil Soeiro in Portugal, Chatterley is recognized as a leading scholar of George Steiner, an internationally renowned cultural critic, and has published two chapters in international collections about his work, both edited by Ricardo Gil Soeiro. Steiner died on February 3, 2020, and Chatterley wrote an obituary for the Times of Israel.
As the Founding Director of CISA, she was invited to be a member of the official government delegation to Israel in January 2014. From 2002 to 2008 Chatterley taught European history at the University of Winnipeg and from 2007 to 2018 at the University of Manitoba.
Publications
Books
Disenchantment: George Steiner and the Meaning of Western Civilization after Auschwitz (Syracuse University Press, 2011)
2011 National Jewish Book Award Finalist
Articles
"A Saturday in October," Antisemitism Studies 8.2 (October 2024).
"Canada’s Struggle with Holocaust Memorialization: The War Museum Controversy, Ethnic Identity Politics, and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights," Holocaust and Genocide Studies (2015) 29 (2): 189-211.
Book Chapters
"Antisemitism in Modern European Thought After World War II," in The Cambridge History of Antisemitism, edited by Steven T. Katz (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025).
"Leaving the Post-Holocaust Period: The Effects of Anti-Israel Attitudes on Perceptions of the Holocaust," in Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, and the Dynamics of Delegitimization, edited by Alvin Rosenfeld (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2019)
"The Antisemitic Imagination," in Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity, edited by Charles Asher Small (Leiden: Brill, 2013)
"Language, Humanity, and the Holocaust: The Steinerian Triad," in The Wounds of Possibility: Essays on George Steiner, edited by Ricardo Gil Soeiro (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012)
"We Come After: The Holocaust in Steinerian Thought, 1952-1971," in O Pensamento Tornado Danca. Estudos em Torno do Pensamento de George Steiner, edited by Ricardo Gil Soeiro (Lisbon: Roma Editora, 2009): 96-113.
Disenchantment: George Steiner and the Meaning of Western Civilization after Auschwitz (Syracuse University Press, 2011)
2011 National Jewish Book Award Finalist
Articles
"A Saturday in October," Antisemitism Studies 8.2 (October 2024).
"Canada’s Struggle with Holocaust Memorialization: The War Museum Controversy, Ethnic Identity Politics, and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights," Holocaust and Genocide Studies (2015) 29 (2): 189-211.
Book Chapters
"Antisemitism in Modern European Thought After World War II," in The Cambridge History of Antisemitism, edited by Steven T. Katz (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025).
"Leaving the Post-Holocaust Period: The Effects of Anti-Israel Attitudes on Perceptions of the Holocaust," in Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, and the Dynamics of Delegitimization, edited by Alvin Rosenfeld (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2019)
"The Antisemitic Imagination," in Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity, edited by Charles Asher Small (Leiden: Brill, 2013)
"Language, Humanity, and the Holocaust: The Steinerian Triad," in The Wounds of Possibility: Essays on George Steiner, edited by Ricardo Gil Soeiro (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012)
"We Come After: The Holocaust in Steinerian Thought, 1952-1971," in O Pensamento Tornado Danca. Estudos em Torno do Pensamento de George Steiner, edited by Ricardo Gil Soeiro (Lisbon: Roma Editora, 2009): 96-113.
Teaching
University of Manitoba, Department of History
University of Winnipeg, Department of History
- SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2009-2011
- Adjunct Professor & Research Affiliate, 2011-2014
- Sessional Instructor, 2007-2009; 2014-2018
University of Winnipeg, Department of History
- Sessional Instructor, 2002-2005
- Assistant Professor (term), 2006-2008
Presentations
"Antisemitism in 2020," 2020 Shindleman Family Lecture, Canadian Institute for the Study of Antisemitism (CISA), Hotel Fort Garry, Winnipeg, June 12, 2020
"Antisemitism in 2019: Not Our Grandparent’s Antisemitism, Or Is It?," World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust & Descendants Annual Meeting, Vancouver, November 1-4, 2019
"The Religious Dimension of Contemporary Antisemitism," An End to Antisemitism International Conference, University of Vienna, February 18-22, 2018
"The Effects of Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, and Anti-Israel Politics on Contemporary Holocaust Education and Memorialization," Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, and the Dynamics of Delegitimization: An International Scholar's Conference, Indiana University at Bloomington, April 2-6, 2016
"Why We Now Call It Hitler's War: Antisemitism and the Origins of WWII," The Legacy of the Great Wars: Marking History and Humanity. The 31st Annual Political Studies Conference, University of Manitoba, January 28-30, 2015
"Fatigue, Envy, Politics: Holocaust Memorialization Through a Diasporic Lens," Ethnic Relations, Racism, and Antisemitism Conference, European Sociological Association, University of Vienna, September 4-6, 2014
"The Holocaust, Ethnic Identity Politics, and the New Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR)," Probing the Limits of Tolerance: Jewish Communities and Other Minorities Facing Antisemitism and Xenophobia, Kantor Centre 11th International Seminar on Antisemitism, Warsaw, October 15-17, 2012
"Blood and Belonging: Christian Antisemitic Themes in Anti-Israel Discourse," Ideological Sources of Campus Antisemitism, Indiana University, March 2012
"The History and Purpose of IAW," Advocates for Civil Liberties Conference, Toronto, February 16, 2011
"Erasure--Antisemitism, the Holocaust, and Progressive Universalism: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights as Microcosm," Association for Jewish Studies (AJS) Annual Conference, Boston, December 21, 2010
"Campus Antisemitism," Interparliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA) Conference, Ottawa, November 7-9, 2010
"The Antisemitic Imagination," International Association for the Study of Antisemitism (IASA) Inaugural Conference, Yale University, August 22-26, 2010
"Antisemitism in 2019: Not Our Grandparent’s Antisemitism, Or Is It?," World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust & Descendants Annual Meeting, Vancouver, November 1-4, 2019
"The Religious Dimension of Contemporary Antisemitism," An End to Antisemitism International Conference, University of Vienna, February 18-22, 2018
"The Effects of Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, and Anti-Israel Politics on Contemporary Holocaust Education and Memorialization," Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, and the Dynamics of Delegitimization: An International Scholar's Conference, Indiana University at Bloomington, April 2-6, 2016
"Why We Now Call It Hitler's War: Antisemitism and the Origins of WWII," The Legacy of the Great Wars: Marking History and Humanity. The 31st Annual Political Studies Conference, University of Manitoba, January 28-30, 2015
"Fatigue, Envy, Politics: Holocaust Memorialization Through a Diasporic Lens," Ethnic Relations, Racism, and Antisemitism Conference, European Sociological Association, University of Vienna, September 4-6, 2014
"The Holocaust, Ethnic Identity Politics, and the New Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR)," Probing the Limits of Tolerance: Jewish Communities and Other Minorities Facing Antisemitism and Xenophobia, Kantor Centre 11th International Seminar on Antisemitism, Warsaw, October 15-17, 2012
"Blood and Belonging: Christian Antisemitic Themes in Anti-Israel Discourse," Ideological Sources of Campus Antisemitism, Indiana University, March 2012
"The History and Purpose of IAW," Advocates for Civil Liberties Conference, Toronto, February 16, 2011
"Erasure--Antisemitism, the Holocaust, and Progressive Universalism: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights as Microcosm," Association for Jewish Studies (AJS) Annual Conference, Boston, December 21, 2010
"Campus Antisemitism," Interparliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA) Conference, Ottawa, November 7-9, 2010
"The Antisemitic Imagination," International Association for the Study of Antisemitism (IASA) Inaugural Conference, Yale University, August 22-26, 2010