2020-01-03
- I hit the jackpot of students for the inaugural class of JS 209/CWL 209/ENGL 222, Jewish American and U.S. Minority Literatures in Dialogue. Hailing from physics, psychology, journalism, accounting, business, health sciences, civil engineering, history, social work, English and other disciplines, students came together to read a wide variety of literary texts expressing immigrant and/or minority...
2019-11-09 - The University of Illinois held its annual diversity breakfast on Friday, November 8th, at the iHotel. Sean Garrick--the inaugural Vice-Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion--gave the keynote address. He noted that, not only is this year's incoming class the largest in the university's history, but it is also the most diverse. Garrick cited recent initiatives such as Illinois Commitment...
2019-11-09 - Professor Brett A. Kaplan has published a review of Sayed Kashua's Track Changes (2020). The novel is the fourth in what the author views as a quartet that also includes Dancing Arabs (2002), Let it Be Morning (2004), and Second Person Singular (2010).
2019-10-23 - "On October 16th, our class, Jewish American Literatures in Dialogue with U.S. Minority Literatures, enjoyed a rich and detailed tour of the Krannert Art Museum’s exhibit, Art Since 1948. Amy Powell, the curator of the exhibit, generously offered us many details about the fascinating multi-media texts. Our class was particularly interested in a large Frank Stella piece from his Polish Village...
2019-10-14 - A warm welcome to Omri Drumlevich, who is our Israel Studies Project visitor for the Fall semester. Omri was born in Kibbutz Ramat Rachel. He danced with Mehola Jerusalem and studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Omri joined the Batsheva Dance Company in 2012 and spent 7 years with the company. (Indeed, those of you who have seen Mr. Gagamay have already seen Omri...
2019-09-09 - Etgar Lefkovits was Jerusalem correspondent at the Jerusalem Post, and also worked at the Jerusalem bureau of the New York Times. He was subsequently in Washington D.C. as Israel and Middle East analyst to the US Congress, and then worked as Foreign Affairs Director to Israel's Minister for Social Equality. "Reflections of a former Jerusalem correspondent" focused on the...
2019-09-08 - The 2019-2020 annual newsletter is now complete! The newsletter can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on 2019-2020 in Electronic Newsletters under Resources. Enjoy, and let us know if you have any...
2019-09-02 - Students, faculty, visitors, and community members gathered at the Margie K. and Louis N. Cohen Center for Jewish Life on Sunday for our 2nd annual "Welcome Bagels" event. It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know one another and to learn more about Jewish Studies and Jewish life on campus--in addition to enjoying schmoozing and, of course, the bagels. PJCS faculty and...
2019-08-17 - The Program in Jewish Culture & Society is pleased to announce that Johnna Jones has been awarded the Fall 2019 Ronald H. Filler Jewish Studies scholarship. Johnna is a junior in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, majoring in Economics and minoring in Jewish Studies. Johnna is an outstanding student, who has been a James Scholar and made Dean’s List both in her first and second years...
2019-08-05 - The Program in Jewish Culture & Society is delighted to welcome Liat Maggid Alon as an Israel Institute Visiting scholar for the 2019-2020 academic year. Maggid Alon (Ph.D., Ben Gurion University of the Negev) is a historian of the modern Middle East with expertise in women, gender, and family, especially the Jewish community of Egypt. During the 2019-2020 academic year, she will be teaching...- 2019-08-01 - 2019 Winners Diana Sacilowski The title of Diana's research project is: Strategies of Silence: Representations of Jewish Poles in Polish Literature since the 1980s Diana writes: In this project, I examine instances of silence in Polish cultural texts since the eighties that deal with Poland’s Jewish history. Specifically, I analyze how they are used to depict Jewish...
2019-05-15 - 2018-2019 Filler Award Winners Yoav Margalit Yoav Margalit looks to both philosophy and Jewish studies as a way to understand things. But learning about Judaism is, like philosophy, so much more than just learning about one thing. Yoav has learned about other perspectives that he...
2018-12-04 - Following Pope John Paul II’s visit to Cuba in 1998, Fidel Castro Ruz convened a symposium to examine religious life in Cuba. Representatives from different religious communities were invited to attend and share their experiences and perspectives. During that event, members of Beth Shalom Congregation (a.k.a El Patronato)—one of three major synagogues in contemporary Havana—invited Fidel to visit...- 2018-10-29 - On Friday night, several members of the UIUC faculty and staff joined students and community members for a Shabbat dinner. It is a tradition that began a few years ago, and it allows us to connect with the Jewish community on and around campus. Friday night was another enriching experience: it showcased the diversity of people connected with Jewish life on campus and allowed us to...
2018-10-26 - The series that has become “Mad Creative” is the first in what I hope will become an HGMS annual tradition. It generated through a perhaps atypical origin story. I saw on Facebook a posting from one of the wonderful Comparative and World Literature and now HGMS graduate students, Meagan Smith. I’ve been a fan of Meagan’s writing ever since her exams some years ago and I read her post during a...