Judaic Studies

This section of the research guide was created to support professor Scott Spector's course The “Jewish Question” in German History and Culture. Here is the course description: The emancipation of the Jews just after the crest of the Enlightenment in central Europe simultaneously created concern about the very possibility of their integration into the general society. Hence the “Jewish Question,” as it came to be called, emerged out of the emancipation-assimilation pact—the silent agreement that if something like equal rights were granted to this tiny minority, they would merge with the general society, if not completely vanish. This graduate class will explore texts relating to various debates about Jews in Germany and Austria, broadly construed. Included will be biographical and autobiographical writing; anti-Semitic polemics and responses to these; political theory emerging from these questions; as well as aesthetic representations. Throughout our readings and discussions we will attempt to refer to comparative examples of minority subjectivity, integration, and assimilation, particularly relating to the history of race in the United States.