Jews, Empire and Race

Jews, Empire and Race

Organizer
AHRB Parkes Centre for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of Southampton, UK
Venue
Southampton, UK
Location
Southampton, UK
Country
United Kingdom
From - Until
27.07.2005 - 29.07.2005
Deadline
10.01.2005
By
Dr Steve Taverner

"Jews, Empire and Race"

Conference organisers:

Professor Tony Kushner (University of Southampton),
Dr Nadia Valman (University of Southampton),
Dr Eitan Bar-Yosef (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,
Israel)

This international conference has two parts:

I. Jews and Empire

The first two days of the conference will aim to develop literary, historical and theoretical approaches to the study of the various roles played by both Jews and 'the Jew' in the rise and fall of European empires, from the early modern period to decolonization. While recent years have seen
a burgeoning critical literature on European imperial cultures, as well as some important work on the history, culture and representation of the Jewish minorities in Europe, there has been little attempt to connect these two fields of enquiry. The conference will bring together scholars working in both fields to study the representation and self-representation of Jews and Judaism as actors in the imperial apparatus as well as objects in the imperial imaginary.

Possible themes could include:

Jews and the Black Atlantic ;
Evangelicalism, Millennialism and Missions to the Jews;
Imperialism and the imagery of "Chosen People" ;
Jewish emigrants and immigrants ;
Global networks of communication ;
Jewish and imperial historiographies ;
Semitism and Orientalism ;
'The Jew' in Imperial Gothic narratives ;
Zionism and imperial culture ;
Anti-Semitism and imperialism ;
Representations of the Wandering Jew ;
Jews as colonists, colonial administrators or colonized people;
Diaspora, globalization and the Jews.

II. Jews, Racialisation and the Anglo-American World

The third day of the conference will develop further, through theoretical work and case studies, considerations of how Jews have been subjected and responded to processes of racialisation from the late eighteenth century onwards. In particular, it will focus on the role of 'race science' and how it confronted/constructed Jewish 'difference'. The geographical scope wil be Britain (including the British Empire and Commonwealth) and America. Papers are particularly welcome from those working in a comparative framework, situating the construction of 'the Jew' in relation to other minority groups. We seek to encourage multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches.

Strands will include:

theories of racialisation ;
Jews and Afro-Caribbeans/Afro-Americans ;
Jews and other minorities ;
contemporary asylum seekers and processes of racialisation' ;
the continuation of 'race science' through genetic mapping?
self-construction of minorities and processes of racialisation ;
the impact of Empire and its aftermath.

Sponsored by the 'Jews and Literary Representation' and the 'Race, Ethnicity and Memory' projects of the Parkes-AHRB Research Centre for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish relations, University of Southampton and the journal 'Patterns of Prejudice'.

Please send 200 word proposals for papers for either part of the conference, with a brief CV, by 10 January 2005 to:

Dr Steve Taverner
AHRB Parkes Centre
Department of History
University of Southampton
Southampton, SO17 1BJ
United Kingdom

Or through email parkes@soton.ac.uk

Any updates will be posted to: http://www.parkes.soton.ac.uk/race.htm

Programm

Contact (announcement)

Dr Steve Taverner

AHRB Parkes Centre
Department of History
Univ. of Southampton
Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

parkes@soton.ac.uk

http://www.parkes.soton.ac.uk/race.htm
Editors Information
Published on
08.12.2004
Classification
Regional Classification
Additional Informations
Country Event
Language(s) of event
English
Language of announcement