Class Information

ZOOM: If you are ill or experiencing COVID symptoms, please feel free to join class using this zoom link. Our default will be that the link is not used in class, so if you want to join that way, please email Laura at least an hour prior to class.

Office Hours: Do you have questions about the class or want to run your ideas past me? Shuugs and I are available to talk! My office hours are Tuesdays and Wednesdays 3-4pm, Greywood 115. Other ways to reach me: leibman@reed.edu (I typically answer email within 36 hours Su-Fri, so if you don’t hear from me, feel free to nudge me) or set up a meeting (either in person or via zoom) at https://calendly.com/leibman

Blog: this is where you will post your class assignments and build items in H5P. Login is the same as your regular Reed login.

Jews Across Americas Website (no log-in required)

Jews Across Americas Archive email:  JewsAcrossAmericasArchive@gmail.com password: Rubrica1492

Moodle: this has e-reserves for the class as well as the announcements. Login is the same as your regular Reed login.

Description

This course examines the diversity of the American Jewish experiences in South America, North America, and the Caribbean.  Moving from the early colonial era to the present, we will examine Jewish life through a variety of literary genres ranging from poetry to fiction to graphic novels. This course offers an introduction to the methods of American studies and digital humanities, and focuses on how to read literature in the context of primary historical sources and material culture. Prerequisites: at least two 200-level English classes or Introduction to Judaism (Religion 151) OR any other course in Jewish literature or history. This course applies toward the English Major pre-1900 requirement. 

As a CRES class, Jews Across the Americas addresses issues of race and ethnicity in three key ways. First, we will trace the way Jews have been depicted (and present themselves) alternatively as a religious group, nation, race, or ethnicity and ask what is at stake in each (self-)conception. Second, we will highlight the contributions of Latinx, African American, indigenous, Asian American, and multiracial  Jews to American Judaism. Third, we will compare how American Jewish experiences differed in South America, North America, and the Caribbean. 

Reserves

All class materials will be available on print or e-reserves,  or linked below. You can also buy a copy of Jews Across the Americas (“Reader”) and Like a Bride in the Bookstore.

More Information