Call for paper proposals | comparative session proposal on Jewish social mobility and integration (1850-1940)

SSHA Conference, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 11-14 November 2021

We are putting together a panel proposal for the Social Science History Association Annual Conference 2021. In a comparative session, we hope to complement our papers on the social mobility and integration of Jewish diamond workers in Amsterdam and the Jewish Dutch elite in the Netherlands in general with other research on Jewish social mobility and integration between 1850 and 1940.

From the second half of the nineteenth century onwards, possibilities for social climbing came within reach of more and more Jews worldwide. Furthermore, in this period Jews increasingly integrated into national societies. At the same time however, the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries confronted them with a new, racist form of anti-Semitism that severely hindered their individual life strategies, in Europe ultimately culminating in the Holocaust. We think the processes of integration and upward social mobility should not necessarily be analysed as interdependent, but definitely as interconnected mechanisms. In our view, this approach will make a worthwhile contribution to existing historiography.

We invite scholars researching modern Jewish history worldwide to join us in a comparative session proposal. We welcome all potential panellists studying the social mobility and/or integration of Jews in the modern period worldwide.

At the moment, the SSHA Conference 2021 is planned as a live event, and we will travel to the United States if possible. In case the conference is not proceeding as planned, we will – together with the participants to our session – explore other ways to exchange our views.

Please send proposals (max. 500 words) including a title and a short biographical statement to joris.kok@iisg.nl and sietske.van.der.veen@huygens.knaw.nl by 1 January 2021. We will contact everyone as soon as possible after this date. Please note that if you join us in a successful application, the SSHA requires a fee and membership. More information on travel grants can be found on the website of the SSHA.

More information about the research of Joris Kok into Jewish diamond workers can be found on the website of the International Institute of Social History.

More information about the research of Sietske van der Veen into the Jewish Dutch elite can be found on the website of the Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands.

Call for papers: The Usage of Ego-documents in Jewish Historical research – 2nd International researchers’ workshop, Western Galilee College, 26-27 May 2021. 

This is a call for paper for the second workshop on the usage of Ego documents in Jewish historical research.

The first workshop took place in 27-28 May 2019. Papers presented at the workshop can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwwE-cpauYFFcOiGfzmhMps8oDRDeJGEU

The workshop will deal in the usage of Ego documents by historians. By ego-documents, we refer to letters, diaries, and life stories written by individuals. The workshop will concentrate of Jewish History in the last three centuries, especially the 20th century.

Since early modern hysterography, Ego-documents used to be treated as sources unsuited for historical research. However, in the last decades the human aspect of history became incrementally important. Researching individuals changed the way historians regard Ego-documents. The workshop will concentrate on the methodological issues concerning these documents. We will concentrate on letters, testimonies and life stories (including ethical testaments).

Due to the current Covid-19 circumstance, the workshop will take place virtually, via the ZOOM net. The workshop will include twelve to fifteen presentations.

We invite proposals (up to 500 words) & short CVs.

Please send proposal & CV to Dr. Haim Sperber, Head of Department, Multi-disciplinary Studies: haims@edu.wgalil.ac.il

Please send your proposal by 14 January 2021 the latest.

Jewish-Christian Contacts, Past and Present: Sweden and Germany Compared

Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden

18–20 October, 2021

This conference aims to explore commonalities and differences in patterns of Jewish-Christian contacts in Germany and Sweden. It also focuses on changes over time with a special emphasis on the period from the 1870s to the present. Although the conference as a whole has a comparative theme, we also welcome papers and sessions that deal with either Germany or Sweden specifically.

Although Germany and Sweden are at the centre of the conference, presentations may expand the theme to also include other German-speaking areas of Europe as well as the other Nordic countries.

Participants can submit abstracts for individual papers (20 minutes) or for whole sessions consisting of three papers. Abstracts for individual papers should be no more than 250 words, for sessions no more than 750 words. Please submit your abstract using one of the links below.

Themes covered in the conference will for instance be:

• Coexistence and confrontation between Jews and Christians
• Jewish-Christian dialogue
• Jewish migration and subsequent Jewish-Christian contacts
• Family and individual biographies
• Jewish-Christian networks and contacts in business
• German-Swedish cultural transfer
• Antisemitism in Germany and Sweden
• Conversions
• Academic contacts in the emerging fields of Wissenschaft des Judentumsand Religionswissenschaft, as well as in other academic fields
• Feminist theology
• Churches and their relations to the State of Israel
• Contacts between Jews and Christian minorities
• Judaism and Esotericism
• Music as a field of Jewish-Christian contacts

The organizing committee also welcome presentations and sessions on other topics related to the overall theme.

A conference volume is planned, but the organizers also welcome plans for publishing the presentations from certain sessions as special issues of suitable scholarly journals.

The conference is free of charge but travel and lodging costs must be covered by the participants themselves.

Deadline for abstracts: 10 January 2021.
Deadline for registration for the conference, 15 June 2021

Further information: lena.roos@sh.se
Webpage: https://www.sh.se/kalender/kalenderposter/2021-10-18-conference-jewish-christian-contacts-past-and-present.-sweden-and-germany-compared