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The Summer School for Graduate Students in Jewish Studies: Mingled Identities | Israel Institute for Advanced Studies

The Summer School for Graduate Students in Jewish Studies: Mingled Identities

Date: 
Sun, 08/07/2012 to Tue, 17/07/2012
conference

 

Mingled Identities: Rethinking the Notion of Identity in Jewish Culture

 

DIRECTORS:

Israel J. Yuval, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
David B. Ruderman, University of Pennsylvania

 

The 2012 summer school will probe the meaning of Jewish identity across the sweep of Jewish history. Recent scholarship on the history of Judaism as well as the history of western religions in general has moved away from the narratives of religious conflict and separation. Instead of border maintenance, scholars increasingly speak of border crossings, socio-cultural mixing, hybridity, and mingled identities when examining the histories of interaction between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Such explorations have challenged the meaning of Jewish culture itself. What elements in specific Jewish cultures can we speak of as enduring or internal, and how are these ideas themselves created and disseminated? Is it not more productive to examine Jewish cultures at their borders, at their sites of cultural contact and exchange with other cultures, rather than merely to study them in isolation in search of their essential nature? Through an intense seminar format, students will explore these questions with a faculty of distinguished scholars representing variegated fields and approaches to Jewish studies, as they emerge from close readings in original languages and open discussion. While all teaching and discussion will occur in English, a strong reading knowledge of Hebrew will be required of all participants.

 

FACULTY:

Israel J. Yuval, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (medieval Jewish history)
David B. Ruderman, University of Pennsylvania (early modern Jewish history and thought)
Richard I. Cohen, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (history of modern Jewish culture)
Ada Rapoport-Albert, University College London (Kabbalah, Sabbateanism and Hasidism)
Isaiah Gafni, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (history of rabbinic culture)
Marina Rustow, John Hopkins University (medieval middle eastern history, interactions between Judaism and Islam)