Rural and Urban Jewries Between Tradition and Modernity.

International Junior Scholars Workshop

University of Bamberg

27-29 July 2020

Call for Papers

The dichotomy of ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’ characterizes our image of Jewish history and culture to this day. The dualism of “land equals stagnation” and “city equals modernization” is a common schol-arly pattern that needs to be questioned. The relationship between city and countryside has mostly been seen as a one-way street and as an “either/or,” either city or country. This raises the question: is this dichotomy tenable in light of newer research on transformation processes? Such a stark contrast obscures important questions: What happened in-between city and countryside and in movements that headed in both directions? How are categories like “city” and “countryside” complicated by connections and trans-fers of persons, texts, objects, ideas, and institutions?

This interdisciplinary workshop therefore focuses on the phenomenon of rural Jewries in their relation-ships to urban ones, and is not limited to any given historical period. The focus is on Central Europe (esp. the German-speaking areas), Eastern (Central) Europe, as well as North America. These regions are entangled not least by Jewish migrations in the context of tradition and modernization; they also suggest different responses to the core questions of the workshop.

The following questions shall be discussed at the workshop: Are rural and urban Jewries today still considered as set categories in research? When and where have rural Jews been agents of modernization, and when and where did such impulses come from and urban Jews? The interaction of the different milieus of the rural population with each other as well as that of the country with the city and vice versa should be included.

Potential topics to discuss at the workshop are:

• Discussion of the categories of tradition, modernity, and modernization? With a focus on Jewish life worlds in the city and the country

• Country Jew/City Jew? On a problematic typology

• How did movements from city to the countryside and vice versa look like in different regions from pre-modern times to modern times?

• The role of border crossers between country and city

• Rural and urban Jewries in a transnational comparison

• Interactions among religious and ethnic groups in rural areas

• Interactions between country and city by knowledge transfer, economics, internal migration and trans-national migration

• Popular images of urban and rural Jews and Jewries in literature, theater and film

We invite interested junior scholars of all disciplines to submit proposals by 15 April 2019 for 20-minute papers. Senior scholars will serve as chairs and respondents. Languages at the workshop will be German and English. Pending successful grant applications, travel costs and hotel accommodations will be covered by the organizers. The workshop is sponsored by the German Association for Jewish Studies (Vereinigung für Jüdische Studien). Please send a proposal of up to 400 words and a CV (max. 2 pages) to nachwuchstagungjudaistik@gmail.com

Workshop Organizers: Rebekka Denz, University of Bamberg, Markus Krah, University of Pots-dam, Carsten Schapkow, University of Oklahoma

International Workshop – Call for Proposals

25-26 September 2019

Sephardic History and Culture – Graduate Workshop

Institute for Jewish Studies and Religious Studies, University of Potsdam, and Selma Stern Center for Jewish Studies Berlin-Brandenburg (ZJS)

Organizers: Prof. Dr. Sina Rauschenbach, Dr. Susanne Härtel, Julian Holter, M.A. and Tanja Zakrzewski M.A.

Although Sephardic Studies is already established as a field at Israeli and U.S. universities, it is strongly underrepresented at European universities, where Jewish Studies scholars still tend to focus on Ashkenazic histories and cultures. However, Sephardic Studies scholars have often been forerunners in connecting Jewish and non-Jewish history, introducing new research questions and applying new methodological approaches from other disciplines to Jewish history and thought. The workshop is the first of a series of workshops designed to connect European scholars involved in the study of Sephardic history and culture and to create new networks of scholarly discussion and cooperation. Participants will introduce their research projects in short presentations of no more than 20 minutes, followed by extensive discussions of these projects in an interdisciplinary context and an inspiring scholarly atmosphere. The language of the workshop will be English.

Researchers with projects from all epochs and all geographic areas between Iberia and the so-called Western and Eastern Sephardic Diasporas are encouraged to apply. Whereas the general approach to the research topic of this workshop should be historical, researchers working in the fields of social history, cultural history, religious history, and/or the history of knowledge and ideas are all welcome. Especially welcome are applications from ongoing PhD and postdoctoral projects as well as applications connected with topics of interest to the newly established research group “Jewish-Jewish Encounters in the Ottoman Empire” at the University of Potsdam/ZJS.

The workshop will start with an evening lecture on 24 September 2019 and continue until 26 September at noon. Participants will arrive on 24 September 2019 and leave on 26 September 2019 in the afternoon. They will be provided accommodation for two nights at a Potsdam hotel and a contribution of 200 Euros to their travel expenses.

Please submit, if possible as one pdf document, a short proposal of about 500 words, a CV and – in the case of PhD projects – the contact information of one of your supervisors to Tanja Zakrzewski (tzakrzew@uni-potsdam.de). Applications will be reviewed after 8 April 2019. Successful candidates will receive invitations no later than 30 April 2019.