This course focuses on the historical development of English-speaking Jewish communities in North America and Britain, which also devotes attention to their lives previous to their entry to these nations.  Presentations and student work also will invite comparisons to Australia, Canada, South Africa, Ireland, and Mandate Palestine.  A primary means of investigation for our study will be primary documents available in anthologies and assembled by the instructor.  We also shall examine material that accords with a "cultural-historical" approach, such as memoirs, site visits (including London's East End), oral history, and quasi-autobiographical fictional works, including film and television.  All of this shall serve as the basis for discussion and written work.    

The processes by which Jews engaged with the societies they joined, were transformed, and transformed themselves into new generations of "American" and "British" Jews is our main concern.  We also will look at the complicated negotiations of these changes, and those who expressly professed to resist these transformations, such as the Bundists (and others) committed to the Yiddish language and culture, and the post-World War II ultra-Orthodox, who chose to remain sequestered to a significant degree.  Differences between Jews derived from (geographic) origins, gender, class, and religious, and sexual identities will be examined.  The period covered roughly begins in medieval times, in the case of Britain.  A more comparative approach begins in the 17th century.  An area of emphasis is the periods of mass immigration and adjustment to the respective areas of settlement.  A large share of the course will consist of comparing the immigrant and refugee experiences in different settings and subsequent migrations.  As opposed to considering these communities from their internal tensions and politics, they shall be analysed through the situation of Jewry in the wider non-Jewish and international contexts.  Furthermore, by using primary documents, literature, film, music, and field trips, we will survey the cultural creations and horizons of these diverse Jewries.