registration
required) distributed/posted September 21, 2005
revised October 9, 2005
This assignment involves attendance at one or more events at "ReJewvenation: The Futures of Jewish Culture," taking place at the University of Toronto, October 28-31, as well as some advance independent research in preparation for the events you choose to focus on.
STEP 1. By our September 28 class meeting, choose either a workshop panel, or a performance in combination with a relevant workshop panel, as your focus. (Of course, you should also feel free to attend as many of these events as you like.) Below is a list of possible choices and combinations. Please consult the ReJewvenation schedule at www.rejewvenation2005.com for details on location, performers/presenters, and individual presentation topics. Please be sure to obtain tickets and/or register in advance where required.
Friday evening, October 28
8 p.m. Opening Address by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, followed by Performance: Hadassah Gross, "The Rebbetzin's Tisch" (Storahtelling) (advance registration required)
Saturday, October 29
1:30 p.m. Performance: "Babble: Shultime Parsha Performance" (Storahtelling)
and 3:30 p.m. Roundtable: The Futures of Jewish Ritual and Performance (registration
required)
8 p.m. Performance: Queer Jewish Weddings (advance tickets required) (in combination with Panel: The Futures of Jewish Music (Sunday) or with Panel and Roundtable Discussion: "Performing Jewishness" (Monday))
Sunday, October 30
9:30-11:30 a.m. Panel: The Futures of Jewish Music (can be combined with Performance: "Queer Jewish Weddings," on Saturday)
1-2:30 p.m. Panel: The Futures of Jewish Literature I: New Voices, New Readings
3-5 p.m. Panel: Addressing Command J: Jewish Laws, Digital Arts (in combination with Command J exhibition, October 21-November 20, 2005)
Monday, October 31
9-10:30 a.m. Panel: The Futures of Jewish Literature II
11 a.m.-1 p.m. Panel: Jews in Cyberspace
2-4 p.m. Panel And Roundtable Discussion: Performing Jewishness (can be combined with Performance: "Queer Jewish Weddings," on Saturday)
4:15-5:30 p.m. Closing Address: Sander Gilman
STEP 2. Conduct preliminary advance online and library research on the performers/presenters and/or relevant sources or ideas that will be important for the events you have chosen, based on the biographical information on the ReJewvenation website. Compile a bibliography of texts to read in preparation for the events - including 1-2 relevant publications by 1 or more of the participants in a workshop (I can assist you in locating some of these). (You can use de Lange, Judaism, including the bibliographical references he gives, as a point of departure for your research on specific Jewish topics.) Your research should give you some idea of what to expect at the actual event, and should give you material for:
STEP 3. Prepare a 1-2-page proposal of what you intend to do. Approach the proposal as a formal piece of writing, designed to convey what you are going to do and demonstrate why you think it is worthwhile. It should include a bibliography of all online and print resources you intend to consult, and should answer the following questions:
a) What event, or combination of events, will you focus on?
b) What has your advance preparation been focusing on so far, and what more do you intend to read in preparation?
c) What conceptual questions do you anticipate will be raised by the event(s) - perhaps in conjunction either with a course reading, or with some of the specialized readings you do for this project, and where they lead you?
These questions may, for example, concern the following issues:
What is Judaism? What is Jewish identity or "Jewishness" or being-Jewish? - perhaps in conjunction with the course readings by Sartre, Améry, Cohen, and de Lange.
What is the role of history and/or memory in the constitution of Judaism/Jewishness?
What is heritage/tradition? What does it mean to "have" a tradition? What is the role of appropriation/transformation in the constitution of tradition or identity?
How do Jewish traditions serve as a source for conceptual reflection? (Here, the example of Buber's appeal to Hasidism may prove instructive.) For what sorts of questions? How are traditions getting reappropriated/transformed/reinterpreted in order to serve as sources for reflection?
Note that this assignment asks you to focus either on one of the academic panels or paper, or on an artwork/performance in conjunction with a relevant academic panel. You will need to keep in mind the different ways that each sort of presentation can engage these sorts of questions. For an academic paper, you would likely be considering: how is the scholar/commentator theorizing this? What is his or her disciplinary framework (e.g. is s/he a historian, a literary scholar, an anthropologist), what does that mean for the kind of questions s/he asks, and how do those questions relate to my questions? For a performance or an artwork, you might consider: What sorts of Jewish sources, institutions, or concepts is the artist/performer drawing on? What sort of interpretation/reinterpretation of that source, and what sorts of views about Judaism and tradition, are implied by the artwork or performance? Finally: How does the scholarly discussion that links to the performance or artwork capture what the performer/artist is doing in a way that is relevant for your questions? Can we see the academic presentations as being in conversation with the performance works or artworks on common, or overlapping, subject matter or issues?
STEP 4. Schedule individual meeting with D.H. at which you submit and discuss your proposal - on or around October 12.
STEP 5. Conduct additional research outlined in your proposal and discussed at our meeting.
STEP 6. Attend the events, October 28-30
STEP 7. Give an informal (10-minute) presentation on your experience, and on the paper that you see emerging from it, at the November 2 class meeting.
STEP 8. Submit your 6-8-page paper by November 7.