Ages of Diaspora

Jewish Cultural History International Workshop

Goethe University Frankfurt

29 – 30 May 2019

Supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

Info: yaelalmog6@gmail.com

This workshop seeks to propose a historical exposé of the notion of diaspora based on liturgical, literary, and philosophical texts by Jewish authors. The event will feature lectures on antiquity; the Middle Ages; the Early Modern; and modernity; as well as an overarching commentary. This historical analysis will discern the differences between diaspora and exile in Jewish thought and the (re)appearances of theological images of diaspora and return in diverging political contexts. The participants will not only discuss the transformation of the notion of diaspora in Jewish communities throughout the period of their expertise but will also reflect on the echoes of this change in other epochs.

The workshop will opt to challenge common notions of Jewish diaspora. Complicating the binary opposition of diaspora to a homeland, we will discuss sources that constitute the attachment to multiple homelands; non-territorial national identities; and competing diasporist ideologies that adhere to diverging political visions and depictions of the world.

Wednesday – 29 May 2019 – Campus Westend Seminarpavilion 2.03

15.30 Welcoming/Coffee

16.00 Introduction, Yael Almog, Goethe University Frankfurt

16.15 Christian Wiese, Goethe University Frankfurt

17.00 Hindy Najman, Oxford University

18.00-18.30 Coffee break

18.30 Keynote address by Daniel Boyarin, The University of California, Berkeley: “Diasporic Nationalism: An Old Solution to a New Problem”

Thursday – 30 May 2019 – Campus Westend NG 1.701

10.00 Andrea Schatz, King’s College London

11.00 Yael Almog, Goethe University Frankfurt

12.00 Adam Stern, Yale University: “Ages of Diaspora: A Response”

Free and open to the public

Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies

Hebrew Manuscript Studies: Codicology, Palaeography, Art History

SUMMER WORKSHOP

1 to 12 July 2019

Project Leaders: Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (OCHJS and Corpus Christi College) 

César Merchán-Hamann (OCHJS and Bodleian Library)

Closing date for applications: 30 March 2019

Recent years have witnessed an unprecedented interest in Hebrew manuscripts in various fields of academic Jewish studies.  The development of new technologies to deal with medieval handwriting, online accessibility of the contents of the major European Hebrew manuscript collections, creation of manuscripts databases, and programmes dedicated to the study and preservation of Jewish archives and libraries, have made and continue to make the manuscripts readily available for scholarly investigation.  This readiness of access to information has already given a new impetus to ‘the return to primary sources’ in historical research and encouraged new editorial projects concerning medieval Hebrew texts.

Together with this renewed dynamism of historical and textual studies based on the unprecedented availability and ease with which students can consult manuscripts in good quality reproduction, there is a growing awareness of the necessity to understand the material and cognitive aspects involved in manuscript  production and circulation.  Indeed, the accessibility of the sources needs to go hand in hand with a focused preparation of the students and scholars to approach these handwritten medieval sources in their specificity and complexity.

Indeed, many students and scholars who are using original manuscripts in their historical or literary research feel, and often express, the inadequacy of methodological tools at their disposal in order to better comprehend and exploit this rich source material.

The Summer Workshop in Oxford proposes a comprehensive and specialised programme in the fields of Hebrew codicology, paleography, diplomatics, art history, history of the book, and collections, conservation, Jewish calendars, manuscripts in the age of print and digital humanities applied to Hebrew manuscripts. Several specialists will provide in-depth methodological introduction and research guidance to the fields of Hebrew manuscripts studies.  The Workshop is organised in collaboration with the Bodleian Library, which will allow access to original manuscripts in situ for the teaching sessions.  Lecturers will include Professor Judith Olszowy-Schlanger, Professor Sarit Shalev-Eyni and Dr. César Merchán-Hamann.

Suitably-qualified scholars and students are invited to apply.  Space for the Workshop is limited and early application is advised.  Selection of participants will be on the basis of the potential benefit to their studies from attending the Workshop.

A limited number of bursaries is available.  The bursaries cover travel, tuition, accommodation and maintenance costs, and will be awarded at the discretion of the organisers on the basis of financial circumstances and suitability for the Workshop.

Workshop Fee: £100

Applications should reach the Centre by 30 March 2019. 

Applicants will be informed on 4 April 2019 whether their application has been successful and the Workshop Fee will be due for payment by 30 April 2019.

For more detailed information see: www.ochjs.ac.uk/

or contact:

Prof. Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (judith.schlanger@orinst.ox.ac.uk)

Dr. César Merchán-Hamann (cesar.merchan-hamann@bodleian.ox.ac.uk)

For any other queries contact:

Martine Smith-Huvers (registrar@ochjs.ac.uk)