CFP: The 19th Early Modern Workshop (August 15-16, 2022): Jewish Mobility Reconsidered

Joshua Teplitsky Discussion

 

Call for Participants

 

The 19th Early Modern Workshop 

Jewish Mobility Reconsidered: People, Objects, and Information in Motion in the Early Modern Period

Zoom

Monday-Tuesday, August 15-16, 2022

 

The Early Modern Workshop invites proposals to participate in this summer’s meeting on the theme of “Jewish Mobility Reconsidered: People, Objects, and Information in Motion in the Early Modern Period” to be held via zoom. Now approaching its twentieth year, the Early Modern Workshop (EMW) brings together scholars from every level of their academic careers, from advanced graduate students to senior scholars, to examine pertinent historical questions based on the analysis of primary sources from the early modern period (approx. 1450-1800). The workshop is marked by its unique format in which presenters pre-circulate primary sources from their areas of interest, in both the original language and the English translation, that have not previously been published. Presenters do not deliver lectures or conference papers, but rather introduce a new text and raise questions for collaborative, seminar-like discussion. The texts are subsequently made available online for wider reading, scholarship, and teaching use.

 

This year’s theme is “Jewish Mobility Reconsidered.” Early modern Jewish historians have long recognized the significance of mobility as a defining feature of the period, yet the concept and its analytic uses are ripe for refinement. Mass dislocations define the start of this period, but early modern Jews did not only move to escape persecution. Men and women also moved, temporarily or permanently, to improve their economic standing or to forge new family alliances. The increased movement of people opens up questions about cross-cultural exchanges,  network creation and maintenance, and individual experience. The circulation of previously unknown objects within the Jewish world offers fertile ground for investigations into kashrut, medicinal, culinary, and consumption practices. Finally, the early modern period saw an increase in the speed of distribution and availability of printed and unprinted information to convey news about wars, expulsions, political shifts, and blood libels, alongside popular religious movements or new scientific theories. An inquiry from the perspective of mobility deepens our understanding of Jewish diplomacy and of the reception of ideas and popular belief. We welcome applications from presenters addressing these and similar themes. 

 

Applicants should email a brief CV and 250-word abstract that summarizes the primary source document(s) they propose to present, including both a description of the document(s) and what questions it raises to earlymodernworkshop@gmail.com with the subject line “EMW 2022.”  Graduate students and early career scholars are particularly encouraged to apply. For examples of presentations from previous workshops, see www.earlymodern.org.

 

Proposals are due on Friday, March 4, 2022. 

Applicants will be notified by late March and will be expected to submit a transcribed primary source document (not previously published), a translation of the primary source document, and an introduction with a short bibliography for further reading by July 1, 2022.

 

Francesca Bregoli, Queens College and The Graduate Center, CUNY (fbregoli@gc.cuny.edu)

Joshua Teplitsky, SUNY Stony Brook (joshua.teplitsky@stonybrook.edu)

 

On behalf of the NYC EMW organizing committee:

Elisheva Carlebach, Columbia University

Debra Glasberg, Columbia University

David Sclar, The Frisch School 

Magda Teter, Fordham University

 

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