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

Israelis are often stereotyped as brash, innovative, loud, audacious… and also in-your-face and just plain rude. But what lies behind the stereotype? What characterizes the culture and society of the only majority-Jewish society in the world, a society that is also incredibly ethnically, religiously, and socially diverse? In this course we’ll investigate how an Israeli national culture was created, and explore its role in shaping contemporary Israeli society. We’ll examine the forces that influence and challenge an Israeli national identity, and listen to competing voices in the cultural arena. Our topics will include myth and memory, public and state events, music and dance, theater and architecture.

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 intersections of gender and nationalism; the role of masculinity in Israeli society; conceptions of femininity, sex, love, beauty, work, and motherhood; and the impact of gender on the Arab-Israeli conflict. In exploring these themes, we will investigate the history and experiences of a diverse array of women in Israel, including Jewish women of European, Middle Eastern, North African, and Ethiopian descent; Christian and Muslim Israeli Arab and Palestinian women; and foreign workers from locations such as Thailand and the Philippines. Topics include the relationship between gender and religion, culture, ethnicity, and politics. 

No prerequisites are required. 

Note: This course can serve as an elective for the major in Women, Gender and Sexualities Studies (WGSS).

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

In this course we will chart the development of hostility towards Jews from antiquity to the present day. In lectures and discussion, students will gain an understanding of how anti-Jewish hostility has persisted over millennia even as it has adapted to individual historical and geographic contexts. Topics include anti-Jewish bias in the ancient world and foundational Christian sources; social and economic marginalization and expulsions in medieval Europe; the emergence of political and racial antisemitism in the nineteenth century; Nazi antisemitism; and contemporary expressions of anti-Jewish sentiment, including left- and right-wing antisemitism and conspiracy theories such as QAnon.  

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.