GSA 2023: Eastern Europe and the German-Jewish Imagination: Between Modernity and Tradition, Montreal (03.03.2023)

We invite proposals for the seminar “Eastern Europe and the German-Jewish Imagination: Between Modernity and Tradition,” which will take place October 5-8, 2023 at the 47th Annual German Studies Association Conference in Montreal, Canada. 

Abstract: Reflecting on the complex relation between “Ost- and Westjuden,” Shulamit Volkov noted how increasing immigration from Eastern Europe into Germany and Austria since the 1880s alarmed many established German-speaking Jews who felt “implicated by the deeds and misdeeds of the Schnorrer from the East.” Yet despite a seemingly deep cultural gap between these groups, the “Ostjude” and Eastern Europe remained objects of interest for German-speaking Jews. This seminar seeks to explore the nature of this interest, which took many forms—often tinged with nostalgia, sometimes pragmatic and anthropological, and at times a means for addressing pressing political concerns, like fascism and Zionism. We would like to open this topic to a broad interdisciplinary inquiry, and propose that rather than viewing the experience of 20th-century European Jews as a one-directional move toward western secular urban modernity, the relationship between West- and East-European Jews itself reflects the condition of modernity, namely, the irresolvable tension between tradition and novelty, the village and the metropolis, religiousness and secularity.

Format: Participants are asked to submit a position paper of approximately 7 pages by the end of the summer. The conveners will pre-circulate all contributions among seminar participants. Each participant will give a brief oral presentation of their contribution in the seminar to be followed by discussion.

To apply for a seminar, click here or access the portal through the conference website. Applications ask for an abstract describing the nature of your contribution to the seminar (500 words max), as well as a short biography (300 words max). The deadline for applications to participate in a seminar is Friday, March 3rd at 11:59 p.m. PST.

Please let us, the conveners, know if you have any questions. We look forward to reading your proposals.

Best wishes,

Kata Gellen, Duke University, kata.gellen@duke.edu

Adi Nester, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, adines@email.unc.edu