Magda Teter-Professor of History Faculty Photo

Magda Teter

Professor
of History

Director of Jewish and Israel Studies Program

Wesleyan University

Allbritton 203

Middletown, CT 06459

Tel: 860.685.5356

Fax: 860.685.2078

mteter_at_wesleyan.edu

Office Hours: Wednesday 10:30-12, Thursday 9-11, or by appointment (please email for an appointment)


History Department

Home Full CV Jewish Studies at Wesleyan Early Modern Workshop
Jewish House Mahzor

RELI 396:  Jewish Studies:  Methods and Theories

Jewish studies is broad in terms of disciplinary approaches and diverse in the ways it conceives its subject matter. This course will focus on the historical roots of the discipline, current models that advance theories and methods of Jewish studies, and on how such studies are being differently forged and performed in different disciplines, including Jewish history, Jewish literary studies, anthropology, sociology, and religious studies. For each of these areas of study, the seminar will examine a classical seminal work as well as outstanding recent ones that are on the frontiers of knowledge. Talks by a number of invited guest speakers will be a required part of the seminar.

Course Requirements            Course Readings

Syllabus

1. Mon. 01/25 Introduction

 

2. Wed. 01/27 Jewish Studies Today

3. Mon. 02/01 A Case Study-Hasidism: NO CLASS but PLEASE DO THE READINGS, SUBMIT RESPONSE, AND COME TO THE TALK AND DINNER WITH Prof. MOSHE ROSMAN

Required talk:  Prof. Moshe Rosman, ?What?s New in the Study of Hasidism?? PAC 004, 4:15 pm (kosher dinner to follow at 6pm)

 

4. Wed. 02/03 Discussion of the readings on Hasidism and Moshe Rosman's talk.

 

5. Mon. 02/08 The Rise of Academic Study of Jews and Judaism I:

 

6.  Wed. 02/10 The Rise of Academic Study of Jews and Judaism II:

7. Mon. 02/15  Reading Rabbinic Responsa:

8. Wed. 02/17 Leopold Zunz, Sufferings of the Jews during the Middle Ages (On moodle). FINAL PROJECT NEEDS TO BE APPROVED BY THE END OF THE WEEK

 

9. Mon. 02/22 Heinrich Graetz I:

10. Wed. 02/24 Heinrich Graetz II:

11. Mon. 03/01: Simon Dubnow:

12. Wed. 03/03 Salo Baron:

REQUIRED TALK:  Professor Elisheva Carlebach, Columbia University, "Jewish Time/Christian Time: Calendar and Polemic in Early Modern Europe"
THURSDAY, 03/04 PAC 004 at 04:15 PM - 06:00 PM (kosher dinner to follow)

 

SPRING BREAK MARCH 5-22, 2007

 

13. Mon. 03/22: Yizhak Baer:

14. Wed. 03/24 Jacob Katz:

15. Mon. 03/29 Zionist Historiography:

16. Wed 03/31: Project presentation.

 

17. Mon. 04/05 New Approaches:

18. Wed. 04/07 The Last Marranos (film)

19. Mon. 04/12 Discussion of the readings above and the talk.

 

20. Wed. 04/14 NO CLASS, PLEASE READ Zerubavel for next week

21. Mon. 04/19:  Zionist Historiography, History and Memory: Yael Zerubavel, Recovered Roots, PART I and ch. 5, 8, 11, and conclusion.

22. Wed. 04/21: RELIGIOUS STUDIES--THE TALMUD:

DRAFT OF THE SECOND ASSIGNMENT DUE  FRIDAY 04/23 at 12 pm (noon)

 

23. Mon. 04/26 RELIGIOUS STUDIES--THE TALMUD:

24. Wed. 04/28 Ella Shohat "The Invention of the Mizrahim" Journal of Palestinian Studies 29 no. 1 (1999): 5-20; Aziza Hazzom, "The Great Chain of Orientalism:  Jewish Identity, Stigma Management, and Ethnic Exclusion in Israel" in American Sociological Review 68 no. 5 (2003): 481-510

 

25. Mon. 05/03 Hagar Salomon, The Hyena People

 

26. Wed. 05/05 Jewish Studies: A Reassessment:  Moshe Rosman, How Jewish Is Jewish History?, 82-110, 182-186.

05/07 FINAL ASSIGNMENT DUE BY 8AM