Activities and Programs
The Academic Consortium meets semi-annually at the Jewish Community
Federation building for a half-day of dialogue, discussion and structured
programs. These programs feature members of the Academic Consortium
sharing knowledge about their designated fields of interest. Steering
Committee meetings are also held, with the goals of evaluating recent
programs, re-evaluating goals of the Consortium and methods of achieving
them, and identifying projects.
The successes of the Academic Consortium range from its influence
in the establishment of a Jewish Studies program at San Francisco
State University to its sponsorship of symposia on Jewish subjects
with leading experts. Recent programs sponsored by the Academic
Consortium have included:
Jewish Literature/Jewish History: An Interdisciplinary Conversation (Spring, 2009). A panel of graduate students of history and literature, moderated by Academic Consortium chair Professor Robert Alter, UC Berkeley, juxtaposed a Yiddish literature text with a relevant primary source while addressing the following questions: How can literary theory and literary sources inform Jewish historiography? How can Jewish history enrich literary criticism? What are the limits, methods, and responsibilities of these cross-disciplinary forays?
Jews & Muslims (Fall, 2008) Professors Fred Astren (SF State), Susan Miller (UC Davis), Emily Gottreich (UC Berkeley), and Aaron Hahn Tapper (USF) each spoke on a panel moderated by Academic Consortium Chair Robert Alter (UC Berkeley). The program bridged various academic disciplines and ranged from the medieval period to the present in a discussion of the language, characterization, historical record and critiques, demographics, lived realities, teaching challenges, and campus life involving Jews and Muslims.
Yiddish Culture in a Hebrew Land (Fall, 2007) UC Berkeley's Koret Professor of Jewish History, John Efron, spoke on "From Lodz to Tel Aviv: The Satirical World of Shimon Dzigan." Yael Chaver (Lecturer in Yiddish Language, UC Berkeley) served as respondent.
Studying Jewish Literatures: The Comparative Context (Spring, 2007) Professors Amir Eshel (Stanford), Chana Kronfeld (UC Berkeley), and Gabriella Safran (Stanford) led a discussion integrating the study of Jewish and comparative literature in their respective fields of German Studies, Hebrew Literature, and Slavic Studies.
The Jewish Century (Spring, 2006) A faculty-only program led by Professor Yuri Slezkine (Berkeley) in conversation with Marc Dollinger (San Francisco State) and David Biale (Davis).
Biblical Prose: The Challenge of Literary Translation (Fall, 2005) Led by Professor Robert Alter (UC Berkeley) with Professor Adriane Leveen (Stanford) as respondent.
Cultures of the Jews (Spring, 2005) A faculty-only discussion of the thinking behind David Biale’s The Cultures of the Jews: A New History. David Biale was joined by contributors to the volume Erich Gruen (Berkeley) and Ronald Hendel (Berkeley), as well as reviewer Naomi Seidman (GTU).
Emerging Scholarship in Jewish Studies (Fall, 2004) Professors Arnold Eisen (Stanford) and David Biale (UC Davis) led a discussion of interdisciplinary teaching and research in Jewish Studies, and doctoral candidates Jess Olson (Stanford), Allison Schachter (Berkeley), and Naomi Brenner (Berkeley) discussed their research.
Jewish Studies and Feminism: The State of the Field (Spring, 2004) Led by Professors Cynthia Baker (Santa Clara), Cynthia Scheinberg (Mills), Dina Stein (GTU), Charlotte Fonrobert (Stanford), and Naomi Seidman (GTU), and graduate student Mara Benjamin (Stanford).
Jewish Studies and the Holocaust: The State of the Field (Fall, 2003) Led by Professors Steven Zipperstein (Stanford), Diane Wolf (UC Davis), and Murray Baumgarten (UC Santa Cruz), with presentations by graduate students George Bloom (Santa Cruz) and Anat Plocker (Stanford), and Professor Sam Edelman (Chico).
Teaching Israel Today: A Workshop for Professors in the
Field (Spring, 2003)
Led by Professors Arnold Eisen from Stanford University and David
Biale from UC Davis.
America is Different: Jewish Studies and the Problem of
the New (Fall, 2002)
Led by Professor Andrew Heinze, Director of the Swig Judaic
Studies Program at the University of San Francisco.
Sephardic Studies: Origins, Present,
and Future (Spring, 2002) Led by Professor Aron Rodrigue,
Eva Chernov Lokey Professor in Jewish Studies, Professor of
History, and co-Director of the Taube Center of Jewish Studies
at Stanford University, with participation from Olga Borovaia,
Emily Gottreich, and Julia Cohen.
Emmanuel Levinas and Jewish Thought:
Between Tradition and Invention (Fall, 2001) Led by Professor
Samuel Moyn, Assistant Professor of History at Columbia University
(Ph.D. UC Berkeley 2000).
The Poetics and Politics of Translating
Jewish Languages (Fall, 2002) The panel on "Translating
Hebrew Literature and the Roles of Tradition in Jewish Culture"
was conducted by Robert Alter (UCB), Ariel Bloch (UCB), Chana
Bloch (Mills), Chana Kronfeld (UCB), and Naomi Seidman (GTU);
the panel on "Multiculturalism of Jewish languages: translating
Yiddish and Ladino" was led by Monique Balbuena (UCB), Eli
Katz (UCB), Robert Peckerar (UCB), Zachary Baker (Stanford),
and
Murray Baumgarten (UCSC).
David Grossman's See Under: LOVE (Spring, 2000) Considerations of David Grossman’s novel
See Under: LOVE, were led by Berkeley graduate students
Lital
Levy and Lincoln Shlensky. A discussion of its theatrical
adaptation was led by Naomi Newman, Artistic Director of
A Traveling Jewish
Theatre.
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| David Biale, Adrian Leveen, Arnold Eisen |
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