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One People, Scattered: The Role of Communication in Holding the Jewish Diaspora Together, 200-2000 AD | Israel Institute for Advanced Studies

One People, Scattered: The Role of Communication in Holding the Jewish Diaspora Together, 200-2000 AD

[RG #98] One People, Scattered: The Role of Communication in Holding the Jewish Diaspora Together, 200-2000 AD

September 1, 2004 - August 31, 2005

Organizer:

Menahem Blondheim (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Our group sets out to address an ancient problem from a new perspective. The problem, which has intrigued and been debated for centuries, is Jewish survival as a people in exile, dispersed over the four corners of the earth since antiquity. The proposition we set out to explore is that effective communication, over time and across space, was key to the survival of Jews as "one people, scattered" (Book of Esther, 3:8), forming what many consider "the mother of all diasporas".

Beyond approaching a major hisorical quantary in a new way, we are also developing a novel scholarly agenda. This agenda is the re-understanding of Jewish civilization from a communications perspective and, more generally, proposing that history and communications be studied jointly. History, after all, aspires to trace all aspects of human life and understand it in all its complexity. Communication is one significant, albeit neglected, aspect of human history; but in addition, it is a potential key to grasping and untangling historical complexity. For by its nature, communication is the story of linkages, of interconnections and interrelations. It may therefore serve as a central site, anchoring a multifaceted perspective on historical development in all its richness. At the same time history, which is the great warehouse of human experience, can serve as the ultimate database, and a giant multifunction laboratory for testing, fine-tuning and even generating ideas and theories about communication.

 

Members

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Menahem Blondheim

FELLOW
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Menahem is a professor in the Department of Communication at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research interests are: history of communication in America; Jewish and Jewish-American culture and communication; communication technology and social change.

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Yaron Eliav

FELLOW
University of Michigan

Yaron is a professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan. His research interests are: Talmudic and early Christian literatures, classics and archaeology; encounter between Jews and Graeco-Roman culture.

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Shmuel Feiner

FELLOW
Bar-Ilan University

Shmuel is a professor in the Department of Jewish History at Bar-Ilan University. His research interests are: modern Jewish History in the 18th and 19th centuries; the Jewish Enlightenment; cultural conflicts; secularization; orthodoxy, and modern nationalism.

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Elihu Katz

FELLOW
University of Pennsylvania

Elihu is a professor in the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. His research interests are: communication theory; the diffusion of innovation; media events; leisure and cultural policy.

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Tamar Liebes-Plesner

FELLOW
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Tamar is a professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research interests are: political communication, media and collective memory; television audiences; new TV genres; the media and terror.

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Doron Mendels

FELLOW
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Doron is a professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research interests are communication and history.

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Haym Soloveitchik

FELLOW
Yeshiva University

Haym is a professor in the Bernard Ravell Graduate School at Yeshiva University, New York. His research interests are medieval Jewish history and history of Jewish law.

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Dror Wahrman

FELLOW
Indiana University

Dror is a professor in the Department of History at Indiana University. His research interests are the culture of modern Britain and 18th century British history.

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