Co-convened by Dr Peter Bergamin and Professor Yaacov Yadgar, this seminar series explores Jewish nationalist theories from the formative 1881-1948 period which are deeply imbued with cultural, sociological, linguistic, religious, and political elements of their time and place.
The full context of these distinctive aspects has often been neglected, particularly by mainstream historiography, which has emphasised age-old motifs and common, homogeneous Jewish ethno-national themes and narratives—whether real or imagined—rather than the equally vibrant and productive heterogeneous elements that are reflective of authorial and geographical provenance. This seminar adopts an integrationist approach, both horizontally and vertically, and considers Jewish history as a crucial element of both the local environment and larger European trends.
*This series will not run in Michaelmas Term 2023.*