Current Course Offerings

Cross listed as: GNS 105; cross-listed with graduate-level 405
Instructor: Matthew Johnson
MTWR: 8:50-9:40
Credits: 4
Level: Elementary
L&S Credit Type: Counts as Liberal Arts and Science credit in L&S
Description: Learn Yiddish, the language of east European Jewry and its diaspora. A language of the classroom and the bakery, the factory and the field, the synagogue and the street, Yiddish offers a gateway to explore the history of Jewish culture. This course introduces Yiddish through speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Emphasis is placed on communication, with attention to cultural and historical context. No prerequisites. All are welcome.

Cross listed as: History 156
Instructor: Tony Michels
MWF 1:20pm – 2:10PM + discussion section
Credits: 4
Level: Elementary
Core GenEd – Civics & Perspectives
Gen Ed: Ethnic Studies
Breadth: Humanities
L&S Credit Type: Counts as Liberal Arts and Science credit in L&S
Description: A century and a half ago, the United States was a backwater of the Jewish world, then centered in Europe with significant Jewish communities in the Ottoman Empire and elsewhere. Yet, by the 1950s, the United States became home to the largest Jewish community at that time. Why did millions of Jews come to this country? How has life in a liberal political and capitalist economic order shaped the Jewish experience in the United States? In turn, how have Jews influenced American culture, politics, and society? This course surveys the history of American Jews from the 17th century to the 21st century. Using Jews as the primary, though not only, case, it examines themes in the history of immigration, ethnicity, and religion.

Cross listed as: German 269, LitTrans 269
Instructor: Sunny Yudkoff
TR 11:00am – 12:15pm
Credits: 3
Level: Elementary
Breadth: Literature
L&S Credit Type: Counts as Liberal Arts and Science credit in L&S
Description: Introduces students to classic and lesser-known works of Yiddish literature and culture that take as their central concern the gendered experience of modern Jewish life. Covering material from the seventeenth century until today, we will explore a variety of texts, including memoirs, prayers, short stories, poetry, and visual art produced in Yiddish—a language that has been both praised and derided as mame-loshn, or “mother tongue.” The course texts will also familiarize students with major historical events of European Jewish history, including messianic movements; the Jewish Enlightenment; the rise of Jewish nationalism, socialism, and communism; and the Holocaust. The course also investigates the legacy of these works for contemporary artists and theorists of Jewish culture. This discussion-based course presumes no previous knowledge of Yiddish literature or language, or Jewish cultural literacy. All assessments and written assignments are in-class.

Cross listed as German 276, LitTrans 276
Instructor: Sunny Yudkoff
TR 1:00pm – 2:15pm
Credits: 3
Level: Intermediate
Breadth: Literature
L&S Credit Type: Counts as Liberal Arts and Science credit in L&S
Description: How do Jewish writers understand the relationship between the book and the body? This course investigates Jewish writing that takes up this question. We turn to texts produced around the globe from the nineteenth century until today that understand reading as a physical act. We will encounter bodies that write and that are written upon. We will read about scholars and golems, children and parents, journalists and ghosts. Genres to be covered include: folktales, silent film, modernist short story, scholarly essays, and novels. Readings may include work by S.Y. Agnon, Bruno Schulz, Hélène Cixous, and Cynthia Ozick. Class sessions will be discussion-based and primarily technology-free.