A History of Jewish-Muslim Encounters: F
Hist. Jewish-Muslim Encou
Much of what Americans know today about Jews and Muslims historically comes through journalistic depictions of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East. This seminar will introduce students to a far longer history of the many social, cultural, political, and economic encounters and entanglements between Jews and Muslims that spans centuries and continents. We will nuance narratives of both Jews and the Middle East as we move both chronologically and thematically to trace the experiences of Jews in Arabia before and with the rise of Islam, and how Jews and Muslims shaped the theology and religious literature of one another. We will examine how the Islamic conquests brought about the need to create an institutional framework for minorities, and the histories of Jewish communities under various Islamic caliphates, moving from Babylonia, to the eastern Mediterranean, and al-Andalus (Islamic Spain). Following Sephardic Jews with their expulsion in 1492, we will trace the formation of a Sephardic diaspora across the Ottoman Empire and North Africa. Finally, we will chart modern transformations in Jewish-Muslim encounters in daily life, popular culture, religious practice, and political movements. In doing so, we will consider their encounters as part of more global and interregional processes in the Middle East and beyond, such as colonialism, imperialism, nationalism, the formation of modern nation states in the Middle East, and the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Through reading scholarly literature and analyzing primary documents—including letters and petitions, newspapers and state records, literature, music, and photography—this course guides students in thinking like historians, reading texts, and formulating interpretations. By centering a wide range of historical voices, we will examine how encounters between Jews and Muslims were shaped by gender, class, race, religious practice, and regionality. In taking our guiding frameworks and approaches from different disciplines and fields, including history, anthropology, visual culture, and postcolonial studies, we will work to better understand the long history of Jewish-Muslim encounters in the Middle East and beyond.
- W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Rachel E Smith
Info - 4 points
U.S. Civil and Human Rights Lawyers
US Civil/Human Rights Law
What is the role of the individual in changing the legal system? To what extent, if any, can individuals transform legal norms? If transformation is possible, how do they go about it? What motivates them? Do these individuals understand themselves as having achieved their aims? This class examines these questions by exploring the work of “cause lawyers,” civil and human rights lawyers who engaged with the legal system for the purpose of changing it to better reflect their values and priorities. By studying works by and about cause lawyers and legal organizations, students will learn to identify overlooked sources of power in the U.S. and global legal system.
- T 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
Brittany Tevis
Info - 4 points
Magic in Jewish History and Culture
Magic in Jewish Hist + Cu
The belief in the possibility of certain actions to supernaturally alter the laws of nature can be found in virtually every culture and period of human history and the Jewish tradition was no exception. Drawing on a wide range of primary texts, visual media, and ethnographical studies this course will offer an introduction to the broad variety of Jewish magical beliefs and practices from the bible to the present. Students will learn about the various kinds of magic practiced by Jews in different historical periods and cultural contexts, the tensions that existed between magic and prevailing religious and social norms, and the ways magic was integrated as an acceptable and even valued aspect of Jewish culture. The course will also highlight the symbiotic relationship between Jewish magical traditions and those of other cultures, the social functions of Jewish magicians, and the role played by women as practitioners and transmitters of magical lore.
- R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Elly Moseson
Info - 4 points