AJS 43rd
Annual Conference
December 18-20, 2011 • Washington, DC
Grand Hyatt Washington
The following session organizers are seeking participants for sessions (panels, roundtables, meetings, or seminars) to be proposed for the 43rd Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies. If you are interested in joining one of these session proposals, please contact the session organizer directly at the e-mail/phone number provided.
If you would like to organize a session and wish to add your name to the below list, please send an e-mail to the AJS at ajs@ajs.cjh.org with the following information: your name and contact information (e-mail and/or phone number), a brief description of the session you wish to propose, and a brief description of the topics you would like participants to cover.
Submitted by:
Helen Leneman
CantorL@gmail.com
301-530-5222
Biblical Women Re-imagined through the Lens of Jewish Artists, Composers, and Writers
On the heels of a very successful session at last year's AJS conference on the broader topic "Jewish Retellings of the Bible in Art and Music," I am narrowing the topic to retellings of only biblical women's stories.
This session will explore how Jewish artists visualized biblical women, what voice composers gave them, and the way writers (poets, playwrights, and/or novelists) re-wrote them.
Paper requirements:
Papers will highlight specifically Jewish aspects found in these depictions. In some cases, comparisons with similar depictions of the same woman by non-Jewish artists could be included. Feminist approaches could also be incorporated into the discussion.
Submitted by:
Ariana Huberman
Visiting Associate Professor of Spanish
ahuberma@haverford.edu
Contemporary Jewish Literature in Argentina and the United States
This session will introduce current research on contemporary authors writing about Jewish issues in Argentina and the United States with the intent to look for points of dialogue in writings that are being produced in these rather different cultural settings.
Paper requirements: the papers may discuss one or more authors from Argentina and/or the US. Critical analysis, historical and/or cultural studies approaches are welcome.
Submitted by:
Gil Ribak
gribak@email.arizona.edu
Between Zydzi and Polyakn: Jewish-Polish Relations in North America
This session examines Jewish-Polish relations in the U.S. and Canada especially in light of events in Eastern Europe.
Paper requirements:
The papers may discuss any aspect of the relations between those two groups, preferably in relation to specific events abroad.
Submitted by:
Brian Amkraut
amkraut@siegalcollege.edu
Jewish Communal Responses to Peaceful Regime Change
The session will examine how organized Jewish communities handle their complicated relationships with national and local governments during times of political transition. In many cases Jewish communities spend many years and vast sums building up the necessary social and political capital with entrenched leadership, only to find themselves estranged with new regimes that then come into power. What strategies and tactics, if any, have organized Jewish communities employed to overcome the encounter with the "king who knew not Joseph."
The session welcomes proposals that examine specific experiences in detail as well as comparative studies.
Submitted by:
Victoria Khiterer
vk@vkshalom.com
717-872-5875
Jewish Pogroms in Late Imperial Russia and During the Civil War in Russia and Ukraine
I would like to organize a session for the 2011 AJS conference regarding Jewish pogroms in late Imperial Russia and during the civil war in Russia and Ukraine. Papers can focus on the reasons for the rise of anti-Jewish violence, the attitude of the various authorities toward the pogroms, the pogrom victims and perpetrators.
My presentation will analyze the worst pogrom in the history of Kievan Jewry, which continued for six days, October 1- 6, 1919, under Denikin’s Army. During this pogrom, according to official statistics, about 600 Jews were killed. Kiev Jews could not organize sufficient resistance against the pogrom–makers, because many well-armed soldiers and officers of Denikin’s Army participated in the attacks.
I am seeking the session chair, two paper presenters and a respondent.
Submitted by:
Carol Zemel
York University, Toronto
czemel@yorku.ca
In and Out of Africa
I’m eager to form a panel on Diasporic South Africa— called “In and Out of Africa." I have a paper on William Kentridge’s
Johannesburg Jews that I want to develop. Other Jewish artists,
photographers, writers, filmmakers, etc, abound.
One might focus on the arts or on an interdisciplinary approach encompassing politics, Jewish community, education, demography, etc.
Any interest?
Submitted by:
Shirli Sela-Levavi
Rutgers, NJ
selalevavi@yahoo.com
Yiddish Theater and the Formation of Jewish Identities
This panel will look at Yiddish theater from an interdisciplinary perspective and will examine its contribution to the formation and negotiation of Jewish identities from the turn of the century until WWII. What role did Yiddish theater play in forming Jewish identities at the time of the great immigration from Eastern Europe to America and to other nascent Jewish centers, and how was this role reflected in other disciplines? What role did it play in the inter-war period?
As Jon Stratton argues, “an aspect of the modern stereotype of the Jew is her or his acting ability, and the genius claimed for the Jew as an impersonator and mimic” (2000:60) Assuming that in an anti Semitic culture the Jew is an actor by default, and that immigration and multi-ethnic environments encourage passing and mimicry, what place did the professional theater play in mitigating Antisemitism, immigration and ethnic assimilation? How did it respond to racism and anti-Semitic stereotypes on the one hand and to positive Jewish self-image on the other? How was it related to other discourses that responded to the same cultural phenomena, such as psychoanalysis, feminism and others?
Submitted by:
David Roskies
Jewish Theological Seminary
daroskies@jtsa.edu
Reading Sutzkever: II
A panel consisting of close readings of Abraham Sutzkever’s poetry or prose. Only people who have not yet presented should submit proposals.
Submitted by:
Rafael Medoff
Wyman Institute
rafaelmedoff@aol.com
U.S. Presidents' Policies on Issues of Jewish Interest
Seeking participants for an AJS session showcasing new research on U.S. presidents' policies on issues of Jewish interest. We already have participants discussing Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt. We would consider additional speakers on either of these presidents, but ideally would prefer participants who would discuss one or more other presidents.
Submitted by:
Rosemary Horowitz
horowitzr@appstate.edu
828-262-2253
The Reception of the Holocaust and Popular Culture
We are seeking participants interested in examining the reception of the Holocaust by the public. This panel will explore the reception by the public of Holocaust film, literature, and other media. The focus is on the ways in which the vision of the artist converges with or diverges from the expectations of the public and why.
Submitted by:
Ron H. Feldman
ronhfeldman@gmail.com
Jewish Calendar as Subject and Object
I am interested in organizing a panel including papers on various aspects of how Jewish calendars structure the Jewish experience of time, from antiquity through modernity. Papers could include a range of topics, methods and approaches.
Submitted by:
Amy Simon
ammshapi@indiana.edu
Wartime Lodz: Varying Perspectives of the Lodz Ghetto
This panel seeks to examine the Lodz Ghetto during WWII from both
within and without. The panel seeks to offer new insights into ghetto
life as well as to broaden our understanding of the ghetto's role in
the city during the Second World War. Papers can address any aspect of
ghetto life or discuss Polish or German ways of seeing the ghetto.
Submitted by:
Erin Corber
ecorber@indiana.edu
Devi Mays
demays@umail.iu.edu
‘Jewish Interwars’ : People and Projects in the Years after The Great War
Panel looking for 1 or 2 participants to contribute presentations on various aspects of either Sephardi or Ashkenazi histories or experiences of the years between the two world wars.
Our panel seeks to both describe and further understand the interwar years as a post-war period. Papers may discuss any aspect about how Jews experienced the post-WWI period in a variety of locations and contexts.
Particular attention may be paid to issues of gender and family, migration, education, accomodating nationalism(s) and patriotism(s), reconstruction, and memory of war.
Submitted by:
Eric Tuten
eric.tuten@sru.edu
724-738-4913
The idea of this roundtable/panel is to discuss at least the following three topics: approaches to teaching the Holocaust through film (methodology), specific films (merits and demerits, especially historical "accuracy"), and synchronizing specific films with readings (fiction and non-fiction). I welcome additional ideas from potential participants.
Submitted by:
Aya Elyada
aya.elyada@duke.edu
Between Yiddish and German: Cultural and Historical Perspectives
The session aims to explore various aspects of the relations between Yiddish and German from the late middle ages and into the twentieth century. We welcome proposals for papers that go beyond a strict linguistic analysis to consider the literary, cultural and historical dimensions of the relations between these two languages. Topics may include, but are not limited to, translations from German into Yiddish and vice versa, mutual literary influences, the adoption of German culture among Yiddish-speaking Jews, and the work of bilingual authors.
Submitted by:
Jolanta Mickute
jmickute@indiana.edu
We are looking for a third panelist working on Jewish women in Eastern Europe/Russia who would like join our AJS panel with this thematic and geographical focus. One of us is a doctoral student at Indiana University (Ramajana Hidic: rhidicde@indiana.edu), working ona prominent Bosnian Jewish woman who was a social and political activist in the interwar period. I am a graduating doctoral student at IU, who will do a talk on some aspect of the Polish Zionist women’s sociopolitical and sexual life in interwar Poland (Jolanta Mickute: jmickute@indiana.edu). Yet, we still need a third participant to complete the panel and formulate its theme and questions more accurately. Should you be interested, please email me at jmickute@indiana.edu. We have already written up a panel abstract as well as individual presentation abstracts, and we’ll gladly email them to anyone interested in joining us.
Submitted by:
Avishalom Westreich
Academic Center of Law and Business, Ramat Gan
avishalomw@gmail.com
Amihai Radzyner
Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan
amihai.radzyner@biu.ac.il
The Agunah Problem: New Perspectives
The Agunah problem (the problem of the chained wives) is a major challenge for Jewish Law and Jewish society. Several solutions were proposed throughout the history: after-the-fact remedies for releasing theagunot on the one hand; routes for preventing aginut from the beginning on the other. Many solutions were discussed (and disputed) in classic halkhic sources, in modern scholarship and in the last few decades – in public discourse as well.
The panel seeks to explore new aspects of the agunah problem and its solutions. Current papers discuss the problem, new solutions, and new aspects on past solutions. We would welcome papers on the Agunah issue and related topics from various methodologies, such as: halakhic, legal, philosophical, historical, sociological, and feminist.
Submitted by:
Rachel Harris
rsharris@illinois.edu
Contemporary Israeli Media
This panel focuses on TV and Film in Israel and we are looking for one or two more papers to join this panel with a similar focus; interests in documentary, journalism or other media forms would be welcome. The current papers on Merhak Negiah an Israeli Soap Opera (by Anna P Ronell at MIT) and on the films Free Zone, Syrian Bride and The Lemon Tree by Rachel S. Harris (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) both explore the role of previously marginalised characters and their new found centrality in these representations. We are seeking to explore the changing role of the media in Israel and its use as a tool in creating acceptance for marginalised groups, as a vehicle for representing alternative solutions to the conflict, and a force for establishing notions of normativity in Israeli society.
Scholars with an interest in participating should send an email of enquiry.
Submitted by:
Bernard Cooperman
cooperma@umd.edu
Teaching Film/Teaching through Film
The AJS has undertaken for some years to show a selected panel of films at the Annual meeting, not just as entertainment for attendees but as a way of providing access to new films for teachers who might want to use the films in their courses.
Meanwhile, we have seen an enormous expansion in the number of relevant films available, a steep decline in the price of visual material, and the growth of the importance of film studies as a separate intellectual discipline.
In this context, I would like to organize a session at the 43rd Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies December 18 - 20, 2011 in Washington, DC that would address whether and how film can/should be used in teaching any aspect of Jewish Studies. Papers might address general topics (films as historical representations; pedagogical implications of using film in place of other forms of reconstruction; etc.) or specific topics (individual films; genres; directors; etc.).
Since the deadline is May 5, if you are interested in participating, please contact me with a topic and a short abstract as soon as possible.
Bernard Dov Cooperman
Louis L. Kaplan Assoc. Prof. of Jewish History
c/o Dept. of History
F.S. Key Hall 2115
University of Maryland
College Park MD 20742
301-405-4271 (work)
301-314-9399 (fax)
cooperma@umd.edu
Submitted by:
Kenneth Waltzer
waltzer@msu.edu
Perspectives on Jewish Prisoners in the Nazi Camps
I am eager to organize a panel to be called “Perspectives on Jewish Prisoners in the Nazi Camps,”exploring everyday experiences and responses by Jewish prisoners in and immediately after the Nazi concentrationary universe. As I see it, papers can focus on prisoners in Nazi labor or concentration camps and can be drawn on diaries, testimony, memoirs, oral histories, and documentary sources. What are the conditions for Jews as well as other prisoners in the Nazi camps and what are the responses by Jewish prisoners to circumstances beyond extremity. What solidarities are evident, if any, what continuities in spiritual or religious commitment exist, if an, and what behaviors are aimed at endurance My own paper will focus on the perspectives offered in the diary kept clandestinely by Abraham Gottlieb from Kozlow, Poland (today, Abraham Ahuvia of Kibbutz Nitzer Sereni) during the final months at Buchenwald. This diary casts light on the comparatively more difficult circumstances confronted by Jewish prisoners in Buchenwald’kleines lager (little camp) than other prisoners and also on the clandestine effort in the camp to sustain a children’s barrack amidst those difficult conditions.
Kenneth Waltzer
Professor, Director-Jewish Studies
Michigan State University
waltzer@msu.edu
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