JWST 371 - The Fishman Seminar

Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)

The course is offered by the Fishman Fellow in Jewish Studies, appointed annually to lecture on his/her scholarly concerns in the field of Jewish history, texts or culture. Students are encouraged to take note of the fact that each Fishman Seminar is uniquely offered and will not be repeated. Since the topic changes every year, the course may be taken for credit more than once.

Topic for 2017/18b: Legacy of Blood: Jews, Pogroms and Ritual Murder in Eastern Europe.This course explores two crucial manifestations of antisemitism during the modern period, namely ethnic violence and ritual murder accusations against Jews. By focusing in particular on Russia and Eastern Europe, this course studies the specific social, economic and political context that led to the emergence and persistence of these manifestations of antisemitism during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The course also investigates the multilayered responses of individual Jews, as well as Jewish communities, to instances of antisemitism, including rape and sexual violence carried out in the context of the pogroms, and to modern permutations of the “blood libel.” Readings include a variety of historical studies, memoirs, diaries and eyewitness accounts. Elissa Bemporad.

Second six-week course.

One 2-hour period.