Dear colleagues,
Jewish Studies Workshop – Autumn 2019 Calendar
Monday, October 7: Welcome gathering at the home of Na’ama Rokem (Associate Professor, NELC & Comparative Literature), faculty co-advisor to the Jewish Studies Workshop. Details to be circulated via the Jewish Studies Workshop listserv.
Monday, October 14, 4:00 PM, Social Sciences 122: Thomas Meyer (Ludwig-Maximiliens-Universität, München): “The Human Condition vs. Classical Political Philosophy: Hannah Arendt, Leo Strauss, and the ‘War of Ideas.’” The Jewish Studies Workshop is co-sponsoring this event hosted by the Philosophy of Religions Workshop.
Monday, October 14, 4:30 PM, Classics 113: Abigail Akavia (PhD ’18, Classics; Postdoctoral Fellow, Leipzig): “Cassandra, Hecuba, and Anti-Tragedy: Hanoch Levin’s Theater of Suffering.” With a response from Michal Peles-Almagor (Comparative Literature). Co-sponsored with the Theater & Performance Studies Workshop.
Thursday, October 24, 5:15 PM (Swift Lecture Hall) and Friday, October 25, 9:30 AM-4:30 PM (Swift 106): CONFERENCE: Religion’s Turn: A Chicago Conference in Continental Philosophy of Religions. Featuring a keynote address by Hent de Vries (Goddard Professor of Humanities, New York University) to mark the 20th anniversary of his major book, Philosophy and the Turn to Religion (Johns Hopkins UP, 1999). Sponsored by the France Chicago Center, the Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture, the Franke Institute for the Humanities, the Divinity Students Association, Graduate Council, the Department of Comparative Literature, and the Philosophy of Religions Workshop.
Monday, October 28, 6:00 PM and all day Tuesday, October 29, Franke Institute for the Humanities: “Not in Search of Messages”: A Primo Levi Study Day, to commemorate Levi’s 100th birthday. Featuring a keynote address by Philippe Mesnard (Professor of Comparative Literature, Université Clermont Auvergne). Sponsored by the Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies, the Jean and Harold Gossett Fund in Memory of Holocaust Victims Martha and Paul Feivel Korngold, the France Chicago Center, the Franke Institute for the Humanities, and the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.
Wednesday, October 30, 4:30 PM, Swift Common Room: A public lecture by Leora Batnitzky (Perelman Professor of Jewish Studies and Professor of Religion, Princeton University): “Perplexed By What?: Guides to Modern Jewish Life from Krochmal to Leibowitz.” A workshop on a pre-circulated paper will take place the next day.
Monday, November 4, 5:00 PM, Swift 208: Enzo Traverso (Winokur Professor in the Humanities, History, Romance Studies, and Jewish Studies, Cornell University): “The Jewish Question: History of a Marxist Debate.”
Sunday, November 10, 1:00 PM-6:00 PM and Monday, November 11, 10:00 AM-5:00 PM, Swift Lecture Hall: CONFERENCE: Rabbinic Judaism and Its Contexts.
Tuesday, November 12, 5:00 PM, Swift 200: Joel Swanson (PhD student, History of Judaism): “‘A Prototype of the Psychopathic Israelite’: The Psycho-pathologization of the Wandering Jew in the Fin de Siècle.” With a response from Mendel Kranz (PhD student, Philosophy of Religions).
Wednesday, November 13, 4:30 PM, Swift Common Room: A public lecture by Nitzan Lebovic (Assistant Professor of History, Lehigh University): “A Temporal Turn: Buber, Benjamin, Arendt, and Celan.” A workshop on a pre-circulated paper will take place the next day.
Monday, November 18 and Tuesday, November 19, Swift Lecture Hall: CONFERENCE: Jewish Difference Under Empire: Identity and Alterity Across France, the Maghreb, and Israel/Palestine. Featuring a keynote address by Aamir Mufti (Professor of Comparative Literature, University of California-Los Angeles). Sponsored by the Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies, the France Chicago Center, the Franke Institute for the Humanities, and the University of Chicago Graduate Council.
Wednesday, November 20, 3:30 PM, Swift Common Room: A public lecture by Kenneth Moss (Felix Posen Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History, Johns Hopkins University): “The Praxis of Futurelessness: Political Pathology, Minorityhood, and Triage in Polish Jewish Thought, 1928-1935.” A workshop on a pre-circulated paper will take place the next day.
Thursday, November 21, 5:00 PM, Swift Lecture Hall: A public lecture by Orietta Ombrosi (Associate Professor of Philosophy, Sapienza University, Rome; Greenberg Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies): “Sarah Kofman: A Feminine Deconstruction of Judaism.”
Tuesday, December 3, 5:00 PM, Swift 200: Marsha Morman (MA student, Divinity): “Hillel and Shammai’s Views on Marriage.” With a response from Kirsten Collins (PhD student, Religion, Literature & Visual Culture).
Wednesday, December 4, 3:00 PM, Swift Common Room: A public lecture by Matthias Lehmann (Teller Family Professor of Jewish History, University of California, Irvine): “Thinking Like a State?: Jewish Philanthropy in the Late Nineteenth Century.” A workshop on a pre-circulated paper will take place the next day.
For other events related to Jewish Studies at the University of Chicago this quarter, please consult the calendar of Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies. There’s a lot going on, including two conferences, a Primo Levi study day, and many visiting speakers!