Yiddish @ Sydney

First Heidelberg International Conference in Modern Yiddish Studies
Yiddish Poets and the Soviet Union, 1917-1948
Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, 1-3 December 2008

The Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg, in cooperation with the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, has pleasure in announcing the first of a proposed biennial conference in the field of Modern Yiddish
literature to be held in Heidelberg, 1-3 December 2008. The theme of this year’s inaugural conference — “Yiddish Poets and the Soviet Union, 1917-1948” — aims to be as inclusive and wide-ranging as possible.

The mapping of Yiddish-Russian Jewish literature in revolutionary and post-revolutionary Russia/Soviet Union demands re-evaluation in the light of recent historical research. Integrally part of this reassessment is the work
of those Yiddish poets in the Diaspora who had strong ideological ties with the Soviet Union. Their poetry reflected a Utopian belief in the world’s first socialist state which was also committed to supporting and promoting
Yiddish language and culture. Until ideological pressures under Stalin prevented it, Soviet Yiddish poets also interacted with their Yiddish peers abroad as well as with Russian/Soviet poets. The history of theses cross-
cultural relationships has yet to be written. These complex and often neglected interactions are an essential part of the literary history of modern Yiddish poetry.

Papers are therefore invited that examine Yiddish poetry in its varied and multifaceted experimental years, its modernistic approaches and reworking of aesthetic influences and modes, its debts to Russian/Ukrainian and, more
generally, to modern European poetry and prose, its themes and their elaboration in a time of upheaval, change and destruction. The theoretical foundation of Yiddish poetry in this period, as it appears in writings by
both Yiddish poets and literary critics, is equally important and invites closer research, as does the role and predicament of Yiddish poets in Soviet society.

A volume of selected and peer-reviewed papers which will include an updated biographical and bibliographical section will be published by the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien.Those interested in participating should submit a brief abstract of their papers (200 words) by 31 May 2008. Once the proposals have been received, further details will be sent to participants.
Papers can be delivered in English, Yiddish and German.

Daniela Mantovan
Conference Convenor
daniela.mantovan@hfjs.uni-heidelberg.de

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP AND CONFERENCE

16-17 November 2008
New York City

Organized by the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York University. Supported by The Blavatnik Family Foundation, Corinne P. and Maurice R. Greenberg Foundation, and The Starr Foundation

On November 16-17, 2008, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies and New York University's Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies are organizing an international
scholarly conference on Soviet Jewish Soldiers, Jewish Resistance, and Jews in the USSR during the Holocaust. This conference will take place in New York City at NYU's Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies.

Masses of rich material have become available since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, providing new insight into previously under-researched aspects of the Holocaust on Soviet territory. This joint conference will examine the Soviet Jewish experience during World War II and the Holocaust, including but not limited to: Soviet Jewish soldiers at home and abroad; representations of Jewish soldiers in press, literature, and films; contextual issues such as German, Axis, and Soviet policies and attitudes during the Holocaust; Soviet Jewish combatants in the struggle against Fascism; camps and ghettos in the Soviet Union; Soviet Jewish life and culture; collaboration as a Soviet and post-Soviet issue; and the Soviet Shoah and the evolution of Soviet Jewish consciousness.

Proposals are welcome from scholars in all relevant academic disciplines, including advanced graduate students. Applicants interested in presenting a paper should be currently researching or completing projects related to the above or to other themes that shed new light on an under-studied aspect of the Soviet Jewish experience during World War II. Successful candidates will be required to submit a copy of their presentation six weeks in advance of the conference, for circulation among all conference participants.

For applicants whose papers are accepted, the conference organizers will fund conference-related travel and lodging expenses.

The conference will be conducted in English.

If you would like to propose a paper for this conference, please send a cover letter, your curriculum vitae, and a one-page abstract of your proposed paper to: Dr. Suzanne Brown-Fleming, Senior Program Officer, Center
for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2126.

For queries, contact (202) 314-7802.

Application materials may also be emailed to
sbrown-fleming@ushmm.org or faxed to the attention of Dr. Brown-Fleming at 202-479-9726.

The deadline for receipt of proposals is 15 March 2008. Participants will be selected and notified no later than 15 April 2008.

Visit the website at http://www.ushmm.org/research/center

22-24 September 2008 in Duesseldorf

The XIth Symposium for Yiddish Studies in Germany will be held 22-24 September 2008 at the Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf. This annual Symposium is organized alternately by the Yiddish programs at the universities of Trier and Duesseldorf and is intended to offer scholars the possibility to present their research, exchange ideas and put forward questions for discussion.

You are invited to submit abstracts for 20 min. papers until April 1, 2008.
Presentations can be held in Yiddish or German.

We have decided not to devote the symposium to a single topic in order not to exclude any of the fields of research within Yiddish Studies. Interdisciplinary papers with a connection to Yiddish Studies are welcome.

The symposium is open to all those interested in Yiddish Studies. A participation fee of 10 € is to be paid at the symposium itself. We ask participants to register in advance at the address below.

We are happy to answer question by mail, fax or e-mail.

Simon Neuberg (Professor of Yiddish Studies, University of Trier)
Marion Aptroot (Professor of Yiddish Studies, University of Duesseldorf)

Correspondence address:
Abteilung fuer Jiddische Kultur, Sprache und Literatur
Institut fuer Juedische Studien
Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf
Universitaetsstr. 1
40225 Duesseldorf
Email: jiddisch@phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de
www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/jiddisch

Following upon the success of previous years, the Yiddish programme at the University of Sydney will be convening another international conference, 1-2 July 2007 at Mandelbaum House, University of Sydney. This year the theme will be ‘community’.

As defined in the OED, a community for the purposes of the conference will be “a body of people organized into a political, municipal, or social unity; those members of a civil community, who have certain circumstances of nativity, religion, or pursuit, common to them, but not shared by those among whom they live”. Hence, communities under discussion can be geographical (Bialystock, Birbidzhan, Ottawa, Melbourne), religio-political (Bundist, Satmar Hasidim), social (artists, virtual, landmanshaftn).

This is an interdisciplinary conference: papers relating to pedagogy, history, literature, sociology, and the arts are welcomed. Other topics will be considered, but only those bearing directly upon Yiddish language, culture and education will be accepted. Postgraduate students are encouraged to submit proposals based on their research.

Papers can be presented in English, Yiddish or bi-lingually. In addition, the possibility presentation via video-conferencing exists if arranged in advance.

Deadline for abstracts: April 30, 2007. Abstracts should not exceed three hundred words and must include title, author's name, postal and email address. Accepted speakers will be notified before 12 May 2007.
Please send abstracts either electronically or by post to:

Dr Jennifer Dowling
Dan Goodridge Lecturer in Yiddish Studies
Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies (A17)
SLaC
University of Sydney
Sydney NSW 2006
or email jennifer.dowling@arts.usyd.edu.au

The Canadian Society for Jewish Studies (CSJS), the Vered Program in
Jewish Canadian Studies of the University of Ottawa, the Zelikovitz Centre
for Jewish Studies at Carleton University and the Jacob M. Lowy Collection
of Library and Archives Canada invite proposals for panels and individual
presentations for an academic conference in Jewish studies to be held at
Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, Ontario,
October 24-25, 2007.

The conference is intended to celebrate the recent establishment of two
new Jewish Studies programs in Ottawa, the Vered Program in Jewish
Canadian Studies at the University of Ottawa and the Max and Tessie
Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies at Carleton University, as well as
the thirtieth anniversary of the Jacob M. Lowy Collection of rare Hebraica
and Judaica at Library and Archives Canada.

The conference will provide an opportunity for scholars of Jewish studies
in Ottawa and elsewhere to convene and share their original research. The
organizers invite presentations in all aspects of Jewish studies from a
variety of academic disciplines.

Presentations in English or French will be limited to a maximum of twenty
(20) minutes and interested participants should submit proposals of
300-500 words by April 15, 2007. The abstract should clearly explain the
main argument of the paper. The committee will respond to proposals by
June 1, 2007.Graduate students are welcome to present and are asked to
send an accompanying letter of support from their academic advisor.

Submission of full panels (3-4 papers) will be given priority, but
individual papers will be accepted as well.
All presenters must be current members of CSJS*.
Proposals should be submitted electronically to:
cheryl.jaffee@lac-bac.gc.ca

Media in Transition 5: Creativity, ownership and collaboration in the digital age
MIT, April 27-29, 2007

deadline for abstracts January 5, 2007

The fifth Media in Transition conference aims to generate a conversation that compares historical forms of cultural expression with contemporary media practices. We hope this event will appeal widely across disciplines and scholarly and professional boundaries. (Entire description is at the link above)

The Australian Association of Jewish Studies is pleased to announce its 19th annual conference —'Jewish Leadership Throughout the Ages' — which will be convened at Mandelbaum House, University of Sydney, Australia on 11-12 February 2007.

This is an interdisciplinary conference and papers relating to history, literature, the arts and political science, from ancient times to the present day are welcomed. Papers on other topics will be considered, but preference will be given to those bearing directly on the conference theme.

Students engaged in academic research are encouraged to submit proposals based on their work to the program committee. Authors should clearly indicate their student status with their submission.

Essays sought for an interdisciplinary collection co-edited by an art
historian and literary scholar. The growing subgenre of Jewish literary and
graphic culture contains a number of significantly innovative aesthetic
works that are increasingly recognized by literary critics as an exciting
form of alternative narrative that may also represent the inception of a
new visual literacy that has significant implications for the future of Jewish
literary and artistic expression. As the catalog of a recent art exhibit
devoted to this cultural phenomenon states, ³Jewish Graphic novels
represent an important genre in artistic expression and assert the intensity of word
and image in conveying narratives that speak eloquently to the contemporary
viewer. [They] offer intense visual elucidation of Jewish historic and
literary events by combining intense illustration with searing social
issues.² Works to be addressed may include graphic novels by Will Eisner (A
Contract With God: and Other Tenement Stories, Fagin the Jew, The Plot: The
Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion); Czech writer Vittorio
Giardino¹s trilogy of volumes about Jewish life under the shadow of
totalitarianism (A Jew in Communist Prague: Loss of Innocence, A Jew in
Communist Prague: Adolescence, and A Jew in Communist Prague: Rebellion);
Ben Katchor¹s The Jew of New York; Miriam Katin's memoir of WWII survival,
We Are On Our Own; Neil Kleid¹s portrayal of mobsters in Brownsville; Etgar
Keret¹s surreal tales, Jetlag: Five Graphic Novellas; Joe Kubert¹s stunning
account of the Warsaw ghetto uprising in Yossel: April 14, 1943; Joann
Sfar¹s whimsically philosophical The Rabbi¹s Cat; James Strum¹s disturbing
parable of American racism, The Golem¹s Mighty Swing; and J.T. Waldman¹s
recent bold retelling of the essential Jewish myth of power and
powerlessness in Megillat Esther. The editors also hope to include an essay
or two on the impact of Art Spiegelman¹s seminal works of Holocaust oral
history in Maus: A Survivor¹s Tale: My Father Bleeds History and Maus II: A
Survivor¹s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began, which crystallized the
acceptance of the graphic novel as a legitimate literary form. This
collection aspires to fill an important gap in existing scholarship by
offering the first collection of critical discussions to solely address the
way that Jewish graphic novels grapple with Jewish history, cultural
politics, antisemitism, portrayals of Ashkenazi and Sephardic identities,
the role of the Holocaust in the artist¹s cultural and moral imagination,
political controversy, literature, sacred texts, and myth through these
captivating works that render image and text in hitherto unimagined forms.
Other essays might consider the important role of autobiography in the
graphic novel and the role of the graphic novel in the Jewish Studies
classroom. This list is by no means exhaustive; other relevant theoretical,
pedagogical, or cultural approaches will be considered.

Authors are encouraged to use images whenever appropriate but they are individually
responsible for all necessary permissions. Papers from all disciplines, or
interdisciplinary submissions (whether focused on single works or
comparative discussions), are welcomed. Send brief bios along with abstracts
(300 words) or complete essays that follow the current edition of the MLA
Style Manual to both Ranen Omer-Sherman rosherman@miami.edu and Samantha
Baskind s.baskind@csuohio.edu by 11/30/06.