Jewish Studies Course List Spring 2010 American Studies (AM S)
ENGL 336/AMS 344 Jewish American Literature and Culture: A Service Learning Course
The course will offer a broad survey of Jewish literature and culture in the United States from the colonial and early national period to the present. Students will gain a grasp of the themes, issues, and periods that characterize Jewish literature and culture in the United States as subfields of American literature and culture. Like the cultural histories of other racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States, Jewish American cultural history both overlaps with and also diverges from the mainstream or dominant culture, with which it coexists on unequal terms. Stemming from a unique historical experience, Jewish American
cultural history is marked by particular historical watershed events, periods, themes, institutions, challenges and opportunities.
This is a service-learning course aimed at helping students consider how literature circulates with other cultural practices and forms and shapes meaning in everyday life. Students will devote a portion of time outside class as volunteers to the Kansas Audio-Reader Network, a reading and information service that provides access to the printed word and visual information for blind, visually impaired, and print disabled individuals in Kansas and western Missouri. Students in this course will enhance the printed word and visual information presently made available through the Kansas Audio-Reader Network by providing access to Jewish regional and national newspapers, magazines, short stories, and other information in print and visual forms.
TR 9:30-10:45 1003 Wescoe Professor Cheryl Lester
Anthropology (ANTH)
ANTH 465 Genocide and Ethnocide
time and location TBA
Professor Bartholomew Dean
English (ENGL)
ENGL 203 Topics in Reading & Writing: Holocaust Literature
In-depth reading and writing on a significant topic, theme or genre. Includes a variety of textual types or a range of historical periods. Continued practice in critical reading and writing. May include but ill not be limited to writing in literary genres. Prerequisite: ENGL 101 and ENGL 102, or their equivalent.
TR 11-12:15 4035 Wescoe Instructor M. J. McLendon
TR 2:30-3:45 1003 Wescoe Instructor M. J. McLendon
ENGL 336/AMS 344 Jewish American Literature and Culture
See AMS 344 above.
ENGL 536 Reading in the Holocaust
An examination of Holocaust literature, which may include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and film. Theoretical concerns may include such issues as memory, trauma, representation, imagination, exile, alienation, silence, the body and emotions, and intergenerational transmission. Prerequisite: Completion of the Freshman-Sophomore English requirement or its equivalent.
1:00-2:15 TR Instructor M.J. McLendon
Hebrew (HEBR)
HEBR 120 Elementary Israeli Hebrew I (5 credit hours)
A continuation of Hebrew 110. Students with other previous experience in Hebrew must take a placement exam. 5 credit hours.
9-10:25 MWF 107 Smith Instructor Lilia Dolgopolskaia
11-12:25 MWF 107 Smith Instructor Lilia Dolgopolskaia
1-2:25 MWF 206 Smith #17865 Instructor Sari Havis
HEBR 220 Intermediate Israeli Hebrew I (5 credit hours)
A continuation of HEBR 210 . Note; Students wit other previous experience in
Hebrew must take a placement exam. 5 credit hours.
9-10:25 MWF 206 Smith Instructor Anat Friedman
11-12:50 MWF 206 Smith Instructor Anat Friedman
HEBR 350 Intermediate Conversational Hebrew (3 credit hours)
Enhancement of oral proficiency in Hebrew at the intermediate level via guided discussions and communicative practices [designed to increase fluency, enrich vocabulary and improve conversational ability]. Prerequisite: HEBR 330 or HEBR 340 or permission from the instructor. 3 credit hours.
11-11:50 MWF 4066 Wescoe/EGARC Instructor Sari Havis
History (HIST)
HIST 503 History of Ancient Near East in a Modern Middle Eastern Context
Th
is course is fully on line with the professor based in Israel. It is fully interactive. Students will watch, discuss and revise videos taken on site by the professor, including interviews with local experts. Students will also have opportunities to question the experts.
8-9:15PM TR One course meeting in Lawrence, then via teleconferencing Professor Hagith Sivan
HIST 343 The Holocaust in History
The systematic murder of the Jews of Europe by the Nazis during World War II is one of the most important events of modern history. This course studies the Holocaust by asking about its place in history. It will compare other attempted genocides with the Holocaust and examine why most historians argue that it is unique. Other topics covered will include why the Holocaust occurred in Europe when it did, the changing role of anti-Semitism, and what the effects of the Holocaust on civilization have been. It will also discuss why some people have sought to deny the Holocaust. The course will conclude by discussing the questions people have raised about the Holocaust and such issues as support for democracy, the belief in progress, the role of science, and the search for human values which are common to all societies.
6-8:30 pm Tuesday at Edwards Regents Room. Professor Frances Sternberg
Jewish Studies (JWSH)
JWSH 300 Topics in Jewish Studies: Jewish American Popular Culture
TBA
11-12:15 MW 412 LIN Professor Henry Bial
JWSH 300/AMS/WGSS Topics in Jewish Studies: Blacks and Jews in the United States
This course is cross-referenced with and can count toward a degree in WGSS and AMS.
Using an interdisciplinary and intersectional perspective, that takes race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class into account, we will examine the relationship between Blacks and Jews in the United States. We will analyze and discuss interactions – real and imagined – between Blacks and Jews in: Art and Visual Culture, Family and Life Narratives, Feminist Activism and Theory, Film and Television, History and Politics, Jazz and Other Popular Music, and Literature
Time and place TBD Instructor Megan Williams
JWSH 311 Narratives of Jewish Life
The course focuses on the narratives through which Jews made sense of their lives under the impact of the forces of modernity, beginning in the "old world," and moving through the 19th century and into the 20th. The goal is to analyze how the imagination of Jewish writers was captured by the changes in social structures such as new educational, residential and occupational opportunities, leading to increased interactions with the gentile society. Students read and discuss literary works based in the shtetl, in revolutionary Russia, and in America. We will also look at memoirs and letters written by ordinary Jews. All assigned texts will be in English.
Time and place TBD Professor Renee Perelmutter
JWSH 490 Directed Study in Jewish Studies
This is a capstone course, meant to be taken after you have completed the other requirements for the major.
Investigation of a special topic or project selected by the student with advice, approval, and supervision of the Faculty adviser in Jewish Studies. Open only to students pursuing a minor in Jewish Studies. Independent study, by appointment. Please contact Professor Lynn Davidman to set up this course.
JWSH 491 Directed Study in Jewish Studies, Honors
Required for Honors in the minor. The honors version of JWSH 490.
JWSH 572 Jewish Folklore
Jewish folklore is extraordinarily rich and varied. From folktales to riddles, from legends about the exalted rabbis to irreverent jokes, folklore is central to the Jewish way of life. This course will grace the extent to which oral elements appear in traditional Jewish literary texts such as the Bible; read and discuss folktales, and examine minor genres such as proverbs, riddles and jokes. Topics will include the supernatural beings of Jewish folklore – dybbucks, seductive female demons, and golems. Students will acquire theoretical tools with which to analyze folklore (Jewish or otherwise), read stories, watch movies, and collect samples of folklore from informants.
Time and place TBA Professor Renee Perelmutter
Religious Studies (REL)
REL 107 Living Religions of the West
A basic introduction to the major religious traditions in the Near East, Europe and the Americas.
4:00-5:15 TR 100 Smith Lecture
& one discussion section Professor Sergey Dolgopolski
REL 311 Hebrew Scriptures
Come explore the world of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament)! We will dive into the texts to gain a better understanding of this ancient collection of literature in all its variety. By looking at the texts in their historical context, we will get a sense of their meaning and significance when they were first composed. We will also consider how, when, and why these books came together into a single collection, and how archaeological discoveries like the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls have changed our understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures. Prerequisite: REL 124.
2:15-3:30 TR 107 Smith Instructor Molly Zahn
REL 326 Introduction to the Talmud and Interpretation
This is an introductory course of study of the Talmud and the main lines of its reception and interpretation from Late Antiquity through Modernity in Rabbinic literature and the broader context of Western religion and philosophy. Prerequisite REL 104, REL 107, or REL 124/125, or permission of instructor. No knowledge of Hebrew is required. *Know how to read a text in Hebrew? Ask about combining this course with REL 500 Readings in Non-English Religious Texts by contacting the professor at sbd@ku.edu.
11:00-12:15 TR 108 Smith Professor Sergey Dolgopolski
REL 523 Dead Sea Scrolls
This course will commence with a description of the religious and philosophical developments of the Hellenistic world and then describe the history of the Jews and religious developments within Judaism down to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. Next there will be a description of the origin of Christianity and its developments to the end of the first century and also the development of Judaism to the completion of the Mishnah. Subsequently, there will be consideration of the interplay between Judaism, Gnosticism and Christianity down to 400 C.E. The course will be concluded with discussions of such topics as Jewish and Christian ideas of redemption, messianism and eschatology.
12:30-1:45 MW 208 Smith Professor Paul Mirecki
Theatre (THR)
THR 380 / JWSH 300 Popular Culture: Jewish-American Popular Culture
See JWSH 300 above for course description.
11:00-12:15 MW LIN 412 Professor Henry Bial
Updated September 28, 2009
For more information please contact the Program in Jewish Studies, 4024 Wescoe, Mailing address: Smith Hall, 1300 Oread Ave., room 102, Lawrence, KS 66045. 785-864-4664, www.jewishstudies.edu and www.hebrew.ku.edu
Images courtesy of Nurit Simpson