Calls for Papers

EAJS Nahmanides Workshop Programme (2020-21): Call for applications opens 3 February 2020, with deadline of 5 April 2020.

January 27, 2020 by EAJS Administrator

EAJS Nahmanides Workshop Programme

Call for Applications (2020-21)

The European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS) invites applications to the Nahmanides Workshop Programme for the academic year 2020-21.

The Nahmanides Workshop Programme is one of the fruits of the workshop ‘E Pluribus Unum? Multidisciplinarity in Jewish Studies Programs and Teaching,’ held in Girona in May 2017. A report about the Girona workshop can be found on the EAJS website [link]. The programme is named after the medieval scholar, rabbi, kabbalist and physician, Moses ben Nahman, commonly known as Nahmanides, who lived most of his life in Girona.

The purpose of the Nahmanides workshop programme is to support focused workshops addressing specific issues and problems relating to the teaching of academic Jewish Studies in Europe. The proposed workshop must be on a clearly identified and focused topic relating to the teaching of Jewish Studies in Europe, rather than a broad-themed workshop. Academic excellence and the impact on network building in Jewish Studies across Europe will also be relevant criteria; international cooperation in the development of proposals is strongly encouraged.

One grant of up to a maximum of £6,500 will be awarded to help organise the proposed workshop. The grant may be used to fund the travel, accommodation and basic maintenance expenses (i.e. lunch and coffees) of the active participants. Proposed budgets will be assessed against the coherence and relevance of the submission as well as its expected outcomes and outputs. The exact amount awarded to the successful workshop proposal will be decided by the EAJS’s award committee. In case of an event budget exceeding the award, the applicants will need to show evidence for the ability to provide for the remaining amount.

Applications are to be submitted by one or more scholars actively involved in Jewish Studies in Europe. The main applicant (who must be based at the host institution for the workshop) needs to be a fully paid-up Full Member of the European Association for Jewish Studies. Co-applicants and the active participants are not required to be members of the EAJS, though membership is encouraged, and the active participants will all need to be involved in the teaching of Jewish Studies at European universities and academic institutions. The workshop must be hosted by a university or similar academic institution based in a European country, and the workshop must be scheduled to occur between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021.

The successful applicants will be required to produce a short academic report of the major outcomes which will be posted on the EAJS website. The academic report must be written in English.

Submission process: Applications for the Nahmanides Workshop Programme must be submitted through an online form (which must be completed in full). The form will be available on the EAJS website from 3 February 2020. The deadline for applications will be 5 April 2020. Awards will be transferred approximately four months prior to the workshop.

Enquiries about the programme should be sent to admin@eurojewishstudies.org

Please note that applicants should identify and contact the relevant cost centre at their home institution (Department, Faculty, University) in order to avoid complications in the transfer of funds in case of a successful application. Also, applicants must document sufficient institutional support for holding the event at the host institution, and for the adequate administration of the funds.

EAJS Conference Grant Programme in European Jewish Studies (2020-21): Call for applications opens 3 February 2020, with deadline of 5 April 2020.

January 27, 2020 by EAJS Administrator

EAJS Conference Grant Programme in European Jewish Studies

Call for Applications (2020-21): Opens 3 February 2020

The European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS) invites applications to the EAJS Conference Grant Programme in European Jewish Studies for the academic year 2020/21, funded by the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe. The purpose of this programme is twofold: to foster cooperation among scholars involved in Jewish Studies across Europe, and to support early career researchers in this field to develop a professional network.

Grants will be offered for two types of academic events, EAJS Conferences and EAJS Summer/Winter Schools. Academic excellence and the impact on network building in Jewish Studies across Europe will be key criteria, and international cooperation in the development of proposals is strongly encouraged.

EAJS Conferences and Summer/Winter Schools may be devoted to any topic of relevance in Jewish Studies, including but not limited to Jewish history, Jewish thought, Jewish languages and literatures, Jewish history of science and knowledge, Jewish material heritage, and Jewish topics in the social and political sciences.

For both EAJS Conferences and Summer/Winter Schools, a grant application must include a description of the core theme, topic or discourse to be examined, the rationale/justification for the event, the duration, the venue, and how the event will enhance international academic cooperation and networking.

The application must also outline the expected participants and explain how the proposed theme will be translated into the format of the event. For example, in the case of an EAJS Conference, this might be a discussion-focused one-day workshop or a wide-ranging synoptic conference. An application for a grant for an EAJS Conference should name scholars who have already committed to participate, although additional calls for papers and invitations to scholars in the field are possible. In the case of an EAJS Summer/Winter School, this outline should describe the faculty involved, the non-faculty participants (e.g. undergraduate/graduate students; postdocs/early-career scholars; general public), and how the theme will be translated into both lectures by faculty and active forms of involvement for the non-faculty participants (e.g. discussions, group work and presentations).

For both types of application, the applicant(s) are encouraged to invite participants from across Europe in order to allow for a broad representation of approaches and academic cultures. Cooperation between different institutions, preferably from different European countries, is encouraged. The EAJS welcomes applications that demonstrate a degree of public or Jewish communal impact.

Proposed budgets will be assessed against the academic excellence and relevance of the applications as well as its expected outcomes and outputs. Applicants may request between £1,600 and £8,000 for the travel, accommodation and basic maintenance expenses (i.e. lunch and coffees) of the active participants. Expenses for European keynote speakers may also be included. Applications that propose to assign a portion of these expenses to PhD students and early career researchers are encouraged. The exact amount awarded to the successful proposals will be decided by the EAJS’s award committee. In case of an event budget exceeding the award, the applicants must show evidence for the ability to provide for the remaining amount.

Applications are to be submitted by one or more scholars actively involved in Jewish Studies. The main applicant (who must be based at the host institution) must be a fully paid-up Full Member of the European Association for Jewish Studies. Co-applicants and the active participants are not required to be members of the EAJS, though the EAJS expects that the majority of the active participants will be involved in academic pursuits at European universities and academic institutions. The academic event must be hosted by a university or similar academic institution based in a European country and must be scheduled to occur between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021.

The successful applicants will be required to produce a short academic report of the major outcomes which will be posted on the EAJS website. English must be one of the conference languages, though it need not necessarily be the only language for the conference. The academic report must be written in English.

Submission process: Applications for the Conference Grant Programme must be submitted through an online form (which must be completed in full). The form will be available on the EAJS website from 3 February 2020. The deadline for applications will be 5 April 2020. Awards will be transferred approximately four months prior to the academic event.

Enquiries about the programme should be sent to admin@eurojewishstudies.org

Call for proposals. Jews and Quakers Conference ‘Prejudice and Privilege’. Birmingham, UK. 29-30 June 2020. Deadline for proposals: 9 March 2020.

January 26, 2020 by EAJS Administrator

29^th-30^th June 2020: Jews and Quakers Conference ‘Prejudice and Privilege’

Keynote Speakers

Professor Shirli Gilbert (Professor of Modern Jewish History, UCL, London)

Dr. Benjamin J. Wood (Woodbrooke Centre for Research in Quaker Studies, Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Religion and Public Life at the University of Leeds).

Call for proposals

In June 2020, the Centre for Research in Quaker Studies is hosting a 24-hour multidisciplinary conference on ‘Jews and Quakers: Prejudice and Privilege’, at Woodbrooke in Birmingham, UK. This follows the successful 2017 conference ‘Jews and Quakers: on the borders of acceptability’, held at the University of Sussex. We invite proposals for short papers (20 minutes paper + 10 minutes question and answer) or panels (two to four short papers) to be offered at this conference.

Religious prejudice and privilege manifest in multiple ways in our society and our lives. Antisemitism is unfortunately common in Britain today, and Quakers are not immune from it. Historically, some Quakers have experienced brief periods of persecution, but most now experience the privileges which come with being part of the majority Christian culture. Jewish and Quaker identities are intersectional – they are only one aspect of a person’s identity, and gender, class, race, age, sexuality, disability, etc. may affect what it is like to be Quaker or Jewish (or both).

We would be pleased to receive proposals for papers or panels on this theme, including but not limited to proposals on the following indicative topics:

Analysis of historical or contemporary cases of religious prejudice, against or within the Jewish and/or Quaker communities

Analysis of historical or contemporary cases of religious privilege, experienced by Quaker and/or Jewish communities, or ways in which members of those communities experience both some forms of privilege and some form of oppression at the same time

Philosophical or theoretical explorations of prejudice and/or privilege which use examples from Jewish and/or Quaker communities as case studies

Considerations of the complexity of religious identity with reference to any form of intersectional oppression or privilege (e.g. the relationship of Judaism and/or Quakerism to whiteness; feminism and/or trans rights in Quakerism and/or Judaism; class position in relation to Judaism and/or Quakerism, the effects, if any, of being identified as secular or non-theist in the context of either community)

To submit a proposal, please send a 250 word abstract of your paper or panel to rhiannon.grant@woodbrooke.org.uk by midnight on Monday 9^th March 2020.

We welcome postgraduate and early career researchers, women and gender minorities, scholars of colour, and other underrepresented groups. If you are uncertain and would like to discuss your idea before submitting, please contact us.

General bookings for the conference will open soon via https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/ Accessibility notes: Most of Woodbrooke is accessible to wheelchair users, loop system users, and people with other disabilities, and we are happy to discuss your specific needs in advance. We may be able to provide or signpost attendees to financial support for the costs associated with attending. We are not able to provide childcare for this event.

Conference website: https://jewsandquakers.wordpress.com

Call for Papers. 2nd Parkes Institute International Summer Graduate Seminar: “Cultural Heritage and Jewish/non-Jewish Relations”. University of Southampton. 16-17 July 2020. Deadline: 10 February 2020.

January 19, 2020 by EAJS Administrator

Call for Papers

2nd Parkes Institute International Summer Graduate Seminar:

Cultural Heritage and Jewish/non-Jewish Relations

16-17 July 2020, University of Southampton

The Parkes Institute for Jewish/non-Jewish Relations at the University of Southampton (UK) is pleased to invite proposals for its second International Summer Graduate Seminar. The broadly defined theme of the 2020 conference is Cultural Heritage.

The Parkes Institute is one of the world’s leading centres for the study of Jewish/non-Jewish relations, with multidisciplinary scholarly expertise spanning from antiquity through to the present day.

Our summer seminar is aimed at postgraduate students and early-career postdoctoral researchers (within one year of the submission of their doctoral thesis) working on all aspects of cultural heritage in interdisciplinary Jewish studies, especially Jewish history and culture. Papers are invited to focus on topics and questions related, but not limited, to the study of Jewish/non-Jewish relations across the ages in the following areas:

Tangible heritage structures such as cities, districts, buildings, monuments, objects;
Museums, exhibitions, collecting;
Intangible heritage through memory, testimonies, the movement and mobility of people, knowledge, languages, ideas;
Cultural heritage and the environment;
Heritage tourism and economic impact;
Emotional reactions and attachments to cultural heritage.

The conference offers an opportunity for graduate students from around the world to present their research. The programme will also include professionalisation talks and workshops, as well as cultural events (tbc). The keynote lecture will be delivered by Dr. Erika Szívós, Associate Professor and Head of Department, Department of Economic and Social History, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest.

Please send proposals (maximum 250 words) and a short biography to parkesgradconf2020@gmail.com by 10 February 2020.

Some assistance is available towards the costs of travel and accommodation of participants with no institutional support. Additionally, thanks to a private donation, we have scholarships available for participants from Eastern Europe. If you would like to be considered for funding, please include a summary of costs with your application. Students are encouraged to apply to their own institutions for funding wherever possible.

Call for Papers. BAJS Conference: World in Crisis: Reflections and Responses from Antiquity to the Present. Southampton (13-15 July 2020). Deadline: 31 January 2020.

January 19, 2020 by EAJS Administrator

British Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference Call for Papers

World in Crisis: Reflections and Responses from Antiquity to the Present

13th to 15th July 2020

University of Southampton and the Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations

The annual conference of the British Association for Jewish Studies 2020 will explore Jewish perspectives on a world in crisis, whether real or imagined, in different spaces from antiquity to the present. Crisis can be found or understood in a variety of arenas of life from the political to the existential, and can be traumatic and yet, in some instances, lead to innovation. The conference aims to bring together scholars from diverse academic disciplines to explore Jewish perspectives of dramatic or perceived social, political, historical, ideological or religious change, originating from within Jewish worlds and without. The conference will assess Jewish engagement with change and crisis throughout history from the local to the transnational, including within the context of relationships with non-Jews. Analysis of the varied spectrum of reactions to and representation of times of crisis can do much to shed light on diversity within the Jewish experience in different contexts, whether impacting an individual or a community. Furthermore, challenges to the significance of the concept of crisis in Jewish history and culture, and emphasis on long-term trends are an important facet of this discussion. Papers will highlight the multiplicity of Jewish approaches to a world in crisis from resistance to rationalisation, whether literary or visual, and with an interdisciplinary perspective that characterises Jewish Studies. The conference is intended to provide a forum for reflection and critical contributions to significant, long-standing or contemporary issues of crisis and response, and the place of Jews, Judaism and Jewish Studies within this.

We welcome papers that explore Jewish traditions in different parts of the world and in different historical periods. Topics can include, but will not be limited to the following:

Jews and theological, religious, philosophical or ideological crisis
Jews and political engagement or activism
Cultural or social crisis and responses
Jewish literary explorations of crisis whether real or imagined
Visual representation of crisis: museums, art, film and television
Antisemitism
Nationalism and populism
Reception, legacy and re-imagining of crisis
Challenges to concepts of crisis in Jewish history and culture

As usual with BAJS conferences, papers on topics unrelated to the conference theme are also very welcome, including proposals by graduate students wishing to present on their doctoral research.

Confirmed keynote speakers

Prof Hindy Najman (University of Oxford and Director of the Centre for the Study of the Bible in the Humanities)
Prof Stefanie Schüler-Springorum (Technische Universität Berlin and Director of the Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung)
In addition, there will be a plenary panel session discussing how work in Jewish Studies can contribute to understanding and addressing questions of crisis – whether longstanding or contemporary – around the world today

Paper proposals should include an abstract of no more than 250 words and a speaker biography of maximum 100 words.

Panel proposals are welcomed. Proposals should include a brief rationale for the panel of no more than 100 words, abstracts of maximum 250 words for each paper proposed as part of the panel, and speaker biographies of no more than 100 words each. Panels should be mixed in terms of gender, and, where possible, reflect a range of career stages.

Speakers will be allocated 30 minutes for their presentation and questions. Papers should be a maximum of 20 minutes in length followed by 10 minutes for questions and discussion.

We have a limited number of bursaries available for postgraduate students and early career researchers. If you would like to be considered, please state this as part of your proposal and send your CV (maximum 2 pages).

Please send paper and panel proposals and all conference-related correspondence to BAJS2020@soton.ac.uk

The deadline for proposals is Friday 31st January 2020. Registration will open in April 2020.

Many thanks to the following institutions for their support of the conference: European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS), the Parkes Institute, and the History Department of the University of Southampton.