Fall Term 2024 Courses

ENG 330U Jewish and Israeli Literature
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Michael Weingrad
MODE: Online
Course Reference Number (CRN): 13836

This course looks at the Jewish encounter with modernity through literature. The focus will be on literature produced by Eastern European Jews in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period of great upheaval reflected in the emerging modern Hebrew and Yiddish literatures of the time. We will read works such as classic modern Jewish authors as Sholem Aleichem, S.Y. Agnon, and H.N Bialik. In the second half of the course we will sample literature produced after the 1930’s, including Israeli literature and literature produced outside of Eastern Europe.

University Studies clusters: Global Perspectives, Examining Popular Culture

JST 333U | Israeli Culture and Society
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Nina Spiegel
MODE: Hybrid
DAY(S)/TIME: Tues, 12:00 p.m. - 1:50 p.m.
Course Reference Number (CRN): 13990

Through a historical and cultural lens, this course will investigate competing voices and visions in the Israeli social arena, analyzing the diversity and complexity of Israeli society. By exploring topics such as myth and memory, public and state events, music and dance, theater and architecture, we will examine the debates, challenges, and visions of different members of the Israeli social arena.

Fulfills University Studies cluster requirement: Examining Popular Culture.

JST 335U Sex, Love, and Gender: Israeli and Palestinian Experiences
Instructor: Professor Nina Spiegel
MODE: Online
Course Reference Number (CRN): 11484

This course examines conceptions of gender in Israeli and Palestinian communities, investigating topics such as conceptions of femininity and masculinity, sex, love, beauty, work, and motherhood, and the impact of gender on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  In exploring these themes, we will investigate the history and experiences of a diverse array of communities, such as Jewish women of European, Middle Eastern, North African, and Ethiopian descent; Palestinian women of Muslim and Christian faiths; and LGBTQ+ people.  

No prerequisites are required.

Note: This course can serve as an elective for the major and minor in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS), and is also on the advisor-approved list for International and Global Studies’ Middle East certificate.

University Studies cluster: Gender and Sexualities Studies

JST/HST 372 | History of Antisemitism 
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Natan Meir
MODE: In Person
DAY(S)/TIME: Mon/Wed 11:30 a.m. - 1:20 p.m.
LOCATION: To Be Determined
Course Reference Number (CRN): 13988 / 13971

Antisemitism is all over the news these days, and you can find it in many places -- even on our campus. But what is antisemitism? And how does it connect to other forms of bigotry and xenophobia? This course will help you go beyond the one-line soundbites on social media by delving into the long history of hatred of Jews and Judaism from the Middle Ages to the present day. We'll explore anti-Jewish hostility in both Christian and Muslim lands, conspiracy theories, racial antisemitism, and various forms of antisemitism in today's world. We'll also discuss if and when anti-Zionism becomes antisemitism.  

Fulfills Race and Ethnic Studies Requirement (RESR)

JST 378U / HST 378U | Pagans, Christians, and Jews
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Loren Spielman
MODE: In Person
DAY(S)/TIME: Tues/Thurs 10:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.
LOCATION: To Be Determined
Course Reference Number (CRN): 11485 / 11333

After Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity in the 4th century CE, the Roman Empire underwent radical changes. Pagan sacrifice was outlawed, temples were closed, and new churches were built in every town, city and village. Heretics and Jews were forbidden from holding public office and owning Christian slaves. In this course, we will examine the story of the Christianization of the Roman empire from the mid-third century, when Christianity was still a small, largely insignificant movement, Judaism was reeling from the loss of its central temple, while shrines devoted to Isis, Mithras, and the traditional gods of the Greco-Roman pantheon dominated the landscape. By reading some of the ancient literature from late antiquity -- inscriptions and prayers, tales of martyrdom, stories about holy men and women, and the sayings of esoteric philosophers -- we will explore the changes that occurred as the Roman empire officially embraced and promoted the Christian faith.

University Studies cluster: Interpreting the Past

Fulfills an elective requirement for the Classical Studies minor.

JST 380U/ HST 380U | The Holocaust
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Nichola Farron
MODE: Online instruction
Course Reference Number (CRN): 11486 / 11334

This course will introduce students to the Nazi-planned and executed genocide of European Jewry that has come to be known as the Holocaust. Although we will of course study the so-called "Final Solution" and the process of mass murder, the course aims to provide a broad and contextualized understanding of many aspects of the Holocaust. These include the German and European contexts for the rise of Nazism; the nature of antisemitism and its links to Nazi ideology and policy; the nature and definition of resistance; the question of the "bystanders"; and types of collaboration. The goal is to gain an understanding of the Holocaust as an aspect of many different kinds of history: Jewish history, German history, European history, the history of antisemitism, and perhaps also the history of human civilization (or absence thereof). As time permits, we will also touch upon how the Holocaust is understood and "used" in contemporary society.

University Studies cluster: Global Perspectives.