INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON JEWISH STUDIES 24 VI 2008

Modern Jewish Culture: Diversities and Unities

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON JEWISH STUDIES

Modern Jewish Culture: Diversities and Unities

24-26 June 2008

at University of Wrocław, Poland

pl. Uniwersytecki 1, Oratorium Marianum Hall

Organized by the Department of Jewish Studies, University of Wrocław (Poland), and Littman Library of

Jewish Civilization, Oxford (UK)

This international conference features senior scholars from around the globe exploring

the intersection of modernity and Jewishness in the expression, representation, and

construction of culture.

DAY 1 (TUESDAY, JUNE 24)

I. 9 a.m.-10:00 a.m.

Welcome and Introductions


Marcin Wodziński (University of Wrocław, Poland)

Connie Webber (Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, UK)

Simon J. Bronner (Pennsylvania State University, USA)

II. 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Why (and What) Culture?

Moderator and Respondent: Moshe Rosman (Bar-Ilan University, Israel)

Mikhail Chlenov (State Jewish Maimonides Academy, Russia), “How Jews Understand

They are Jews: Jewish Identities in the Modern World”

Harvey E. Goldberg (Hebrew University, Israel), “How Israeli Social Scientists Came to

Recognize Culture”

Jonathan Webber (University of Birmingham, UK) "Representing Jewish Culture: The

Problem of Boundaries"

LUNCH: Noon-1 p.m.

III. 1:00-3 p.m.

Virtual and Authentic Jewish Culture

Moderator: Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (New York University, USA)

Dan Ben-Amos and Batsheva Ben-Amos (University of Pennsylvania, USA),"Virtual and

Authentic in Jewish Culture"

Felicitas Heimann-Jelinek (Jewish Museum Vienna), “The Rivalry Between the Virtual

and the Authentic—A Misunderstanding?”

Ruth Ellen Gruber (Italy), “Beyond Virtual Jewishness: New Authenticities, Real

Imaginary Places, and the Commodification of Jewish Culture”

3:15- 6:30 P.M. TOUR OF JEWISH WROCŁAW

DINNER 7 p.m.

DAY 2 (JUNE 25)

IV. 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m

Creating, Displaying, and Depicting Jewish Memory and Culture


Moderator: Richard I. Cohen (Hebrew University, Israel)

Suzanne Rutland (University of Sydney, Australia), “Presentations of, and Controversies

about, Holocaust Memory in Australian Museums”

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (New York University, USA), “Building the Museum of

the History of Polish Jews: A Work in Progress”

Maren Krüger (Jewish Museum Berlin), “Communicating German-Jewish History and

Culture: The Jewish Museum Berlin”

V. 11 a.m. -12:30 p.m

Representing and Performing Jewish Culture

Moderator: Dan Ben-Amos (University of Pennsylvania, USA)

Mikel Koven (University of Worcester, UK), "Stereotyping and the Ethnic Jew: The Case

of Ost und West "

Richard I. Cohen (Hebrew University, Israel) “Moses Mendelssohn as a Jewish Icon”

Shalom Sabar (Hebrew University, Israel), “Religious, Zionist, Ideal, and Militaristic –

The Changing Image of the Simchat Torah Flag from Shtetl Culture to Modern Israel”

LUNCH 12:30-1:30

VI. 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Jewish Cultural Landscapes, Past and Present

Moderator: Joachim Schloer (University of Southampton, UK)

Agnieszka Jagodzinska (University of Wrocław, Poland), “The Jewish Cemetery

Landscape as a Text of Culture”

Haya Bar-Itzhak (University of Haifa, Israel), “Diaspora and the Land of Israel in Jewish

Legends.”

Karen Sarhon (Ottoman-Turkish Sephardic Culture Research Center, Turkey) “Ladino:

The Sound That Has Slowly Disappeared From the Wider Soundscape Of Turkey”


VII. 3:30-5:00 p.m.

Defining and Constructing Jewish Culture and Memory

Moderator: Suzanne Rutland (University of Sydney, Australia)

Joachim Schlör (University of Southampton, UK), “Migration and Jewish Memory:

Means of Transport and Storage in Modern Times”

András Kovács (Central European University, Hungary), “Culture as Identity Peg: The

Role of Culture in the Construction of Jewish Identity”

Steve Siporin (Utah State University, USA), “Mixed Motives: Sustaining and Defining

Jewish Heritage in a Small Italian City Today”

EVENING CULTURAL EVENT

--CONCERT BY BENTE KAHAN 6 p.m.

DINNER: 7:30 p.m.

DAY 3 (JUNE 26)

VIII. 9 a.m.-11 a.m.

Jewish Culture and Jewish Identities in Contemporary Poland ****


Moderator: Jonathan Webber (University of Birmingham, UK)


Erica Lehrer (Concordia University, Canada), “'Jewish Like an Adjective': New

Inflections of Polishness in Krakow's Kazimierz"


Michael Steinlauf (Gratz College, USA), “Something Lost that Seeks Its Name: The

Dybbuk in Post-Communist Poland”

Konstanty Gebert (Poland), "The Virtual, The Vitriolic, And The Virtuous:

Contemporary Polish Representations Of Jews."

Michael Schudrich (Poland) “"Poles Rediscovering Their Jewish Roots And Identity:

What Does This Mean And How Does It Happen?"

XII. 11:30 a.m.-12: 30 p.m.

Diversities and Unities in Modern Jewish Culture: Retrospective on the Conference

and Prospect for the Future

Marcin Wodziński (University of Wrocław, Poland) and Simon J. Bronner (Pennsylvania

State University, USA)

LUNCH: 12:30-1:30 p.m.