CALL FOR PAPERS
2012 BIENNIAL SCHOLARS’ CONFERENCE ON AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY
Center for Jewish History, New York City
The 2012 AJHS Scholars’ Conference will explore disciplinary and other
kinds of boundaries that currently confront the field of American
Jewish history. It will examine the opportunities and challenges that
arise from the engagement of history and the humanities (including
literary studies, media studies, theater, dance and art history,
cultural studies, and musicology) as well as the social sciences
(anthropology, economics, folklore, linguistics, political science,
psychology, sociology). The conference will also explore the impact
that the work of American Jewish historians has had on other
disciplines.
Looking beyond disciplinary boundaries raises various questions: How
has the interdisciplinary study of American Jewry developed? How does
the study of American Jewish history take shape in relation to area
studies or comparative programs, such as American Studies, Ethnic
Studies, Comparative Religions, or Jewish Studies? What kinds of
cross-disciplinary engagements would best enhance the field of
American Jewish history?
In considering disciplinary boundaries, how do they compare with other
boundaries that figure in the work of American Jewish historians?
These other boundaries include:
* Geographical boundaries (e.g., in studies of immigration or of
American Jews as part of a transnational or diasporic community)
* Cultural boundaries (e.g., in studies that examine the relation
of Jews with their neighbors, comparative studies of Jews vis-à-vis
other groups, or the study of communities that test the limits of
Jewish peoplehood)
* Discursive boundaries (e.g., in studies that engage non-verbal
forms of expression)
* Institutional boundaries (in work that bridges the academy and
the arts, or institutions of public culture, or work that addresses a
general public audience or reflects Jewish communal concerns)
The committee invites proposals for papers that engage any of the
aforementioned issues and encourages the submission of complete panel
proposals and roundtable presentations. The organizers view the theme
of “beyond boundaries” very broadly, and will consider a wide range of
proposals bearing on all aspects of the American Jewish experience,
though preference will go to those that deal in some way with the
conference’s central theme.
Graduate students completing dissertations may submit proposals
accompanied by a letter of recommendation from their advisor. All
submissions must include a one-page (250 words) paper abstract, short
(120 words) biography, and a specific indication of technological
needs. Complete panel proposals are strongly encouraged. Please send
proposals to hsalomon@ajhs.org by November 15, 2011.
ACRAH 