Western Jewish Studies Association Conference CFP

May 5-6, 2019

California State University, San Bernardino Palm Desert Campus

Palm Desert, CA

Scholars of Jewish Studies, including graduate students, are invited to submit proposals for papers and panels on all areas of Jewish Studies regardless of discipline, geographical focus, or time period.  The WJSA encourages papers and panels on Jews in the American West, and the Coachella Valle in particular, paradigm shifts in Jewish Studies, pedagogy, Israel, and Jewish historical anniversaries commemorated in 2019: 40^th anniversary of the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty; 50^th anniversary of Golda Meir becoming first woman Prime Minister of Israel; 70^th anniversary of the Knesset; 80^th anniversaries of World War 2, the White Paper, and ghettoization of Jews in Poland; Centennials of Primo Levi, Mordecai Anielewicz, Treaty of Versailles, Weimar Republic; Bicentennials of Wissenschaft des Judentums, Isaac Mayer Wise, and Rebecca Gratz founding the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society; 800^th anniversary of establishment of Aljama in Toledo; 950^th anniversary of Vespasian permitting Yochanan ben Zakkai to establish Yavneh.

Paper proposals should be no longer than one double-spaced typed page and should be submitted with a short CV.  Organizers of panels should submit a cover sheet with the title of the panel and titles of each of the papers and names and CVs of each presenter, Individuals wishing to chair a session should submit their CV.

A limited number of modest travel stipends are available for graduate students and overseas scholars presenting papers at the conference.

Although there is no WSJA membership requirement for participation in the conference, there is, a higher registration fee for non-members.  Deadline for submission of proposals: November 30, 2018.  E-mail proposals should be sent to Lawrence Baron, lbaron@mail.sdsu.edu.  For membership information for the WJSA, see www.wjsa.net or contact Lawrence Baron at lbaron@mail.sdsu.edu

Call for Papers

Conference

“Jewish Literatures and Cultures in Southeastern Europe. Experiences, Positions, Memory”

University of Graz, 16 ˗ 17 September 2019

The regions of Southeastern Europe are characterised in historical as well as in contemporary perspective by a high degree of ethnical, religious, lingual and cultural diversity and heterogeneity. Belonging to the Ottoman Empire or Austria-Hungary, forming supranational nation states such as Yugoslavia, or arising as nation states such as Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, but also Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, and (European) Turkey they were framed in different legal, referential and ideological settings, providing spaces for various encounters, entanglements and conflicts. Jews, be they Sephardim, Ashkenazim or Romaniots, settling there in different periods, experienced divergent life worlds (Lebenswelten) engendering over the centuries a rich cultural production. The language they chose depended on their respective cultural and political position – be it Hebrew, Ladino, a Slavic language such as Croatian, Bosnian or Serbian, Turkish, Greek or Italian.

Scholarly interest in those regions has grown impressively in the last years, however, predominantly in the realms of historiography. Literature and cultural production in general are still an under-researched area today demanding attention.

Concentrating on the 19^th century until today, i.e. on the shifts from imperial to national setting/s, the conference aims at addressing, highlighting and analysing the following topics:

• How did Jewish writers position themselves in the multicultural and multilingual setting of the literary field? In which ways did/do they reflect on identification processes (Jewish – Jewish, Jewish – Muslim, Jewish – Christian);
• In what ways did/do they reflect on those experiences in religiously informed literary genres (e.g. Musar literature);
• Which topics did/do they raise and how (e.g. segregation/integration; empire/ nation; relation between Jewish and Christian and Muslim groups; Shoah; World Wars I and II; migration; Yugoslav wars of the 1990s);
• Which processes of entanglement and encounter took/take place (e.g. choice of genre; topics; translation) since enlightenment;
• How did/do writers define their relationship to and their understanding of Europe and the European;
• Which processes accompanied the transition from pre-modern times to modernity and postmodernity (self-perception; language choice – e.g. from Ladino to Serbian, from Serbo-Croatian to German; translation practices);
• Which experiences were/are elaborated in literature, e.g. shared experiences vs. differing experiences (e.g. alienation; belonging; situativity of belonging and multiple attachments; similarity vs. difference; perceptions and attributions; gender constructions; ambivalences; ambiguities; contiguities; the role of cultural heritage in transnational and trans-lingual perspective);
• Which preferences in genre choice were/are displayed (e.g. novel; biography; autobiography) and why;
• How did/do literary processes (avant-garde; modernism; postmodernism) reflect in Jewish literatures?
• What impact had/have conceptions of memory and post-memory (Marianne Hirsch) on Jewish literatures in Southeastern Europe;
• To what extent and in which ways did/do translation activities enhance the visibility of these literatures and create/d an awareness among the readership of world literature;
• What were/are the positions and dispositions of non-Jewish writers such as Miljenko Jergović or Aleksandar Hemon writing about Jewish conditions (compared e.g. to the 19^th century Polish writer Eliza Orzeszkowa);
• To what extent and in which ways can Jewish experiences in Southeastern Europe be compared to other multi-ethnic regions such as the Russian Empire and the Habsburg Empire?
• What were/are the relationships between Southeastern and Eastern European Jewish writers?

Though focusing on the above outlined complexes of inquiry the conference organisers encourage scholars with other relevant topics not being mentioned to apply. We encourage especially early career researchers to apply.

The conference aims at creating a dialogue between Jewish studies, Balkan studies, and current literary and cultural theories. We intend to highlight the diverse and conflicting Jewish experiences in Southeastern Europe and the strategies of their literary representation throughout the 19^th, 20^th and 21^st centuries.

Please submit an abstract of max. 2.000 characters and a short CV to Renate Hansen-Kokoruš (renate.hansen-kokorus@uni-graz.at) and Olaf Terpitz (olaf.terpitz@uni-graz.at) by December 16^th 2018.

The working language of the conference will be English. Presentations should not exceed 20 minutes. The outcomes of the conference will be published in a peer-reviewed volume.

Accommodation (two nights) will be provided. We seek to secure travel funding for those whose home institutions do not cover their travel expenses. For further information on the conference, please visit our website: https://slawistik.uni-graz.at/de/veranstaltungen/jewish-literatures-in-southeastern-europe/

The conveners:

Renate Hansen-Kokoruš, Institute for Slavic Studies, KFU Graz

Olaf Terpitz, Center for Jewish Studies, KFU Graz

Call for Papers :  Demonology

Interest in ancient Jewish and Christian beliefs about demons has grown significantly in recent decades. Particular consideration has been given to the influence of other cultures (e.g. Zoroastrian traditions), the transmission of traditions across time and between communities (e.g. the myth of rebellious angels), and to the origins of demons and methods for dealing with them (e.g. exorcism rituals, magic, etc.). Less attention has been paid to the nature and characteristics of demonic beings (broadly conceived).

Dr Hector M Patmore and Prof. Josef Lössl (Cardiff University) therefore invite proposals for papers that consider this theme in Jewish and / or Christian sources from the Biblical period to Late Antiquity. Papers may have any relevant focus, including:

• The ontology of demonic beings.
• The place of demonic beings in spiritual hierarchies.
• The role of gender in the depiction of demonic beings.
• The connection between demons and particular locations.
• The personification / hypostasizing of abstract concepts.

Papers exploring cultural exchange between Jews and Christians would be particularly welcome.

Planned Outcomes 

Selected papers will be published in an edited volume. To support the development of ideas and coherence of the volume, dedicated programme units are planned for the following conferences:

• SBL Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA (Nov 23-26th, 2019)
• EABS Annual Conference, Warsaw, Poland (Aug 11-14th, 2019).
• International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford (Aug 19-24th, 2019).

It is expected that successful applicants will present their papers at one of these. Some financial assistance is available. This research collaboration will contribute to the AHRC funded project, ‘Demonic Exegesis’ (Reference: AH/P005969/1).

Application Process 

To apply send a title, abstract (max. 300 words), and CV to patmoreh@cardiff.ac.uk no later than 31st Dec 2018. PhD students are encouraged to apply. Their application should include a letter of recommendation from their supervisor. The deadline for completed papers for publication will be 31st Dec 2019.

The 49th Annual Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches

The Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas

Call for Papers

The Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas invites you to join fellow scholars March 2-4, 2019 as we continue the important legacy established by Franklin H. Littell and Hubert G. Locke nearly fifty years ago. This conference offers the opportunity to address the historical significance of the Holocaust through scholarship that is interfaith, international, and interdisciplinary.

The central theme of the 2019 ASC is “Conflicting Realities of the Holocaust.” 2019 marks the 75th anniversary of two important events: the liberation of Majdanek and the mass deportation of the Hungarian Jews. Liberation and death continued to coexist in the last year of the Holocaust.  We now know with hindsight that these were the final months of the Third Reich, yet they still shaped uncertain and conflicting realities for the victims and perpetrators. The conference welcomes participants to revisit the Holocaust from the perspective of divergent realities and their representations either directly or indirectly. How did victims and perpetrators interpret these complex realities and how, if at all, did they inform their actions?

Please email presentation proposals to annualscholarsconference@utdallas.edu with “ASC Proposal” as the subject. The proposal should include the title of the paper with a short abstract of 250-500 words and a brief (150 word) bio and short CV. Proposals may be for a panel, round table, or individual paper.  

Proposal submission deadline: November 1, 2018.

Notification of Acceptance letters will be emailed no later than November 15, 2018.

Registration will open on December 1, 2018 and will include a tiered pricing level:

           Students/Retired Participants: $200

           Regular Registration: $250

           Late Registration (any registration after Feb. 15): $350

There will be limited financial support available for graduate students and junior scholars. Please indicate in your proposal if you would like to apply for one of these awards, including how this conference will help you in your research and/or professionally.

Interested participants are encouraged to visit www.utdallas.edu/ackerman/asc for more information or email Cindy Seton-Rogers at annualscholarsconference@utdallas.edu with any questions.