Sephardic History and Culture
01:563:344 / 01-506-344
Hilit Surowitz
Department of Jewish Studies
Fall 2010
Description: This course will explore the history, religion, and culture of Sephardic Jews from the fifteenth century to the present. Following the development of mercantile networks and colonial expansion we will examine the development of Sephardic community and identity in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Americas. Our study will include a survey of key events and figures, and topics such as diaspora, economics, social networks, and religious identity.
Required Texts:
There is no single textbook for this course. Instead, all readings for the course will be available on SAKAI.
In addition to the items listed on the Schedule below, other readings or media may be assigned during the course of the semester.
Learning Goals:
h. Understand the bases and development of human and societal endeavors across time and place.
k. Explain the development of some aspect of a society or culture over time, including the history of ideas or history of science.
Assessment: Via embedded exam questions and embedded written assignments.
Attendance & Participation
Students are expected to attend each class on time. Attendance will be taken at each class meeting. You are permitted three unexcused absences. Following the third unexcused absence 1/3 of a letter grade will be deducted for each unexcused absence. Students who encounter any extended problem with absences, for example, for medical or family emergencies, or religious reasons, must inform me in writing about the reason and duration of the absence. Decisions on excused absences will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Short quizzes will be given on a regular basis. There will be no make-ups for in-class quizzes or exams.
Student participation is an integral component for the success of this class. Course participants will be expected to arrive to class on time, and prepared to discuss the assigned readings. Please bring assigned readings to class as we will frequently consult the text. Participation not only means asking questions and involving oneself in the classroom discussion, it also means actively listening to others.
Requirements:
v Participation, in-class assignments, pop quizzes (15%)
v In-class midterm exam (25%)
v Paper (25%)
v Final exam (35%)
v All students must come to office hours at least once during the semester.
Written work will be graded on the basis of content, clarity of argument, quality of writing, and how well it analyzes the material and answers the questions. Written work, except for that which is a classroom assignment, must be typed (double-spaced, 12 pt. font), and spell-checked. One letter grade per day will be deducted for late papers unless you have a written medical excuse.
Classroom Policies:
v Plagiarism and cheating will be penalized according to the full extent of University policy. Please consult Rutgers University’s Policy on Academic Integrity for Undergraduate and Graduate Students:
http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/integrity.shtml#plagiarism
v Students with disabilities who require accommodations should provide me with their “accommodation letter” from the Office of Disability Services as soon as possible so that appropriate arrangements can be made. Please consult the website of the Office of Disability Services for further information:
http://sas.rutgers.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=135&Itemid=117
v Note that I do not accept assignments submitted by email. All assignments must be submitted in hard-copy on the day that they are due.
v Evaluations will cover all course material.
Schedule
Week 1: Approaches & Frameworks
Readings introduce the study of Sephardic Jews and diaspora communities. Utilizing Gilroy’s The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness we will explore the intersection of the study of diaspora communities and diaspora consciousness.
Gilroy, Paul. 1993. The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, pages 1-41.
Lital Levy, “Historicizing the Concept of Arab Jews in the Mashriq,” Jewish Quarterly Review, Volume 98, Number 4, Fall 2008, pp. 452-469.
Week 2: Jews in Medieval Iberia
Readings provide a historical framework within which to understand the origins of the Iberian Jewish culture and the Sephardic diaspora. The religious, social and cultural world of Iberian Jews during the medieval period is necessary for understanding the development of Sephardic culture in both its eastern and western diasporas.
“Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Medieval Iberia: Convivencia Through the Eyes of Sephardi Jews” by Benjamin Gampel in Mann, Vivian B., Thomas F. Glick, and Jerrilynn Denise Dodds. 1992. Convivencia: Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Medieval Spain. New York: G. Braziller in association with the Jewish Museum, pp. 11-38.
“The Origins of Sephardic Jewry in the Medieval Arab World” by Marc R. Cohen in Zohar, Zion. 2005. Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry: from the Golden Age of Spain to ModernTimes. New York: New York University Press, pp. 23-39.
Week 3: Sephardic Communal Life and Organization
Readings introduce Sephardic communal life and organization in the Iberian Jewish diaspora. We will explore the origins and establishment of Iberian Jewish community throughout Europe and the Mediterranean world, and the way in which communities were constructed.
R: “Prologue” & “Community and Society” from Rodrigue, Aron and Benbassa, Esther. 2000. Sephardi Jewry: A History of the Judeo-Spanish Community, 14th-20th Centuries. Berkeley: University of California Press, pages i-64.
R: “Religion, Thought and Attitudes: the Impact of the Expulsion on the Jews,” by Moshe Idel from Kedourie, Elie. 1992. Spain and the Jews. The Sephardic Experience 1492 and After. London: Thames & Hudson, pages 123-39.
Week 4: Self Definition and Perception of Sephardic Jews in the Early Modern Period
Readings explore the creation of a Sephardic communal identity, and the process of re-Judaization in early modern Europe. We focus on the way Sephardic Jewish identity was created and understood by both Jews and non-Jews, and the importance of social and economic networks for communal maintenance.
Miriam Bodian, “'Men of the Nation': The Shaping of 'Converso' Identity in Early Modern. Europe,” Past and Present 143 (1994), pp. 48–76.
“Images and Self-Images of Sephardic Merchants in Early Modern Europe and the Mediterranean” by Francesca Trivellato in Jacob, Margaret C., and Catherine Secretan. 2008. The Self-Perception of Early Modern Capitalists. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 49-74.
Week 5: Early Modern Cosmopolitanism
Readings explore the development of a cosmopolitan ideology during the early modern period, examining the role of early modern exploration and the influence of commerce on religious tolerance and diversity. Focus on the role of Port Jews in the development commerce and early modern “secularization.”
“Censors, Inquisitors, and Cosmopolites” from Jacob, Margaret C. 2006. Strangers Nowhere in the World: The Rise of Cosmopolitanism in Early Modern Europe. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 13-40.
“Port Jews and Three Regions of Emancipation” by David Sorkin in Cesarani, David. 2002. Port Jews: Jewish Communities in Cosmopolitan Maritime Trading Centres, 1550-1950. London: Frank Cass, pp. 31-46.
“Researching Port Jews and Port Jewries: Trieste and Beyond” by Lois Dubin in Cesarani, David. 2002. Port Jews: Jewish Communities in Cosmopolitan Maritime Trading Centres, 1550-1950. Parkes-Wiener series on Jewish studies. London: Frank Cass, pp. 47-58.
“The Port Jews of Livorno and Their Global Newtworks of Trde in the Early Modern Period” by Francesca Trivellato in Cesarani, David, and Gemma Romain. 2006. Jews and Port Cities, 1590-1990: Commerce, Community and Cosmopolitanism. London: Vallentine Mitchell, pp. 31-48.
Week 6: Judeo-Spanish Culture & Ladino
Readings survey the development of a rich Ladino print culture in the Iberian Jewish diaspora, and its influence of Ladino print culture and communal identity.
“Judeo-Spanish Culture in Medieval and Modern Times” by David M. Bunis in Zohar, Zion. 2005. Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry: from the Golden Age of Spain to ModernTimes. New York: New York University Press, pp. 55-76.
“The Ottoman Diaspora: The Rise and Fall of Ladino Literary Culture” by Aron Rodrigue in Biale, David. 2002. Cultures of the Jews: A New History. New York: Schocken Books.
Olga V. Borovaia, “Translation and Westernization: Gulliver's Travels in Ladino, Jewish Social Studies, Volume 7, Issue 2, Winter 2001, pp. 149-168.
Week 7: North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean
Readings explore gender construction in the eastern Sephardi diaspora and its relation to communal identity.
Rachel Simon, “Between the Family and the Outside World: Jewish Girls in the Modern Middle East and North Africa,” Jewish Social Studies, Volume 7, Issue 1, 2000, pp. 81-108.
“Jewish Women in the Ottoman Empire,” by Pamela Dorn Sezgin, in in Zohar, Zion. 2005. Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry: from the Golden Age of Spain to ModernTimes. New York: New York University Press, pp. 216-238.
Week 8: From the Near East to the Far East
Readings survey the role that Sephardic Jews played in global commerce during the modern period.
Sarah Abrevaya Stein, “Mediterranean Jewries and Global Commerce in the modern period: on the trail of the Jewish feather trade,” Jewish Social Studies, Volume 13, Issue 2, 2007, pp. 1-39.
“Trading Diasporas and Chartered Companies: Evidence from the Coral-Diamond Trade Between the Mediterranean and India in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries” by Francesca Trivellato in Ago, Renato. 2002. The Value of the Norm: Legal Disputes and the Definition of Rights. Rome: Biblink, pp. 163-192.
Week 9: New Nations
Readings examine the process of nation-state building in the Middle East and its influence on Sephardic Jewish identity and community. Focus on the redefinition in light of the formation of national ideologies.
Beinin, Joel. 1998. The dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: culture, politics, and the formation of a modern diaspora. Contraversions, 11. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 1-59.
Joseph Massad, “Zionism’s Internal Others: Israel and the Oriental Jews,” Journal of Palestinian Studies, 1996, 25/4.
Ella Shohat, “Rupture and Return: Zionist Discourse and the Study of Arab Jews,” Social Text, 75 (Volume 21, Number 2), Summer 2003, pp. 49-74.
Week 10: “Other” Jews?
Readings will focus on Sephardic identity in the modern period. We will look at the way in which Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish identity were created (and suppressed) by Ashkenazi hegemony, and the way in which Sephardim interpreted the creation of the State of Israel.
Harvey Goldberg, “From Sephardi to Mizrahi and Back Again: Changing Meanings of “Sephardi” in Its Social Environments,” Jewish Social Studies, Volume 15, Number 1, Fall 2008, pp. 165-188.
Ella Shohat, “Sephardim in Israel: Zionism from the Standpoint of its Jewish Victims,’’ Social Text 19–20 (1988): 1–35.
Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, ‘‘The Zionist Return to the West and the Mizrahi Jewish Perspective,’’ in Orientalism and the Jews, ed. I. Kalmar and D. Penslar (Waltham, Mass., 2005), pp.162-182.
Week 11: New Identities and Constructions
Readings will focus on the way in which Sephardic historiography and memory are constructed, and the acculturation of Sephardic Jews to Ashkenazi dominated societies.
Jonathan Schorsch, “Disappearing Origins: Sephardic Autobiography Today,” Prooftexts, Volume 27, Number 1, Winter 2007, pp. 82-150.
Joelle Bahloul, "The Sephardi Family and the Challenge of Assimilation" Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries, pp.312-324.
Week 12: Caribbean (Sources to be distributed in class)
Readings focus on the history of the Caribbean’s Jews, and the development of a regional hub for Sephardic Jewish life in the Americas.
Week 13: Sephardic Encounter with American Ashkenazi Judaism
The next two weeks will focus on Sephardic Jews in North America and the encounter between Sephardim and American Ashkenazim. We will pay particular attention to the struggles for empowerment, inclusion, and exclusion.
“East meets West: Sephardic Strangers and Kin” and “Ashkenazi-Sephardic Encounters” from en-Ur, Aviva. 2009. Sephardic Jews in America: A Diasporic History. New York: New York University Press, pp. 81-149.
Week 14: Sephardic Experiences in America & Conclusion
Devin E. Naar, "Jerusalem of the Balkans" to the Goldene Medina: Jewish Immigration from Salonika to the United States,” American Jewish History 93:4, December 2007, pp. 435-473.
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