Academically-based Jewish Studies
Calls for Papers

Conferences, Calls for Papers, and Contributors:

- Journalism and the Holocaust ( * next week * )
- Bridges Journal
- Mifgash (international)
- Mifgash (Toronto)
- History and Memory Conference (Cornell)
- Oral History Association
- Dead Sea Scrolls symposium

"Journalism and the Holocaust, 1933-1945," a conference at Yeshiva
University, October 22-24, with 31 speakers from China, Australia, France,
England, Poland, Israel, Canada and the USA, all analyzing how the
contemporaneously published press reported on the fate of the Jews during
the Nazi era. Among others, the speakers include Serge Klarsfeld, Marvin
Kalb, Robert St.John, Jacques Adler, Pawel Szapiro, Tom Segev, Colin
Schindler, David Caesarani, Dov Ber Kerler, Yitshak Arad, Yitshak Kerem,
Lynn Gunzberg.

All conference sessions will be held at Yeshiva University's Stern
College, located at 245 Lexington Avenue near 34th Street. There is no
need to pre-register. For more information contact shapiror@yu1.yu.edu.

The new issue (Volume 5 Number 2) of "Bridges: A Journal for Jewish
Feminists and Our Friends" is being prepared for press. It will
contain a special section on Jewish Women's Relationship to Land, and
includes poetry, art, essays, personal narratives and reviews. Topics
include language, nationalism, gardening, class, rural anti-Semitism,
women's celebration of TuB'Shvat, Jewish eco-feminism, women in the
Yishuv, and more.

Upcoming (1996) issues of Bridges will include special sections of writing
by Jewish women under 30 and writing by Sephardic and Mizrachi women.
Send submissions to the same address. We are particularly looking for
fiction. Response time 6-9 months. No simultaneous submissions, please.

Subscriptions are $15 (more if you can, less if you can't) to: Bridges,
Box 24839, Eugene OR 97402 (503)935-5720

Mifgash: An On-Going Conversation Among Jewish Intellectuals

November 3, 1995 Ass. for the Study of Higher Ed. (ASHE)
November 17-19, 1995 Toronto, Ontario
December 28, 1995 Modern Language Association, Chicago
February 2-4,1996 State College, Pennsylvania
March , 1996 TBA Greensboro, North Carolina
April 23, 1996 AERA, New York, New York
June 22-24, 1996 Menomeni, Wisconsin

During the last several years a community of Jewish intellectuals within
and outside the academy assembled to discuss issues of shared concern
affecting our own lives and the Jewish future. The following questions
were among those that emerged from our conversations.

1. Jews in the academy.

What is the relationship of Jews and Judaism to emerging
multicultural and pluralistic university settings? How do Jewish students
and teachers understand their relationship to the academy? In what ways
do institutions of higher education acknowledge and de-/legitimate Jewish
identification?

2. Campus milieu.

What is the impact of being Jewish on academics' intellectual
pursuits? What is the relationship of Jews, Judaism, and Jewish Studies
to "oppositional discourses" in gender studies, minority studies, literary
theory, film studies, and other multi-discipline or anti-discipline areas
of inquiry?

3. Intra-Jewish concerns.

How do intra-Jewish issues--such as difference in gender, modes of
observance, and degrees of alienation--affect dialogue among Jewish
academics?

4. Jewish learning.

How can Mifgash most effectively function as an adult Jewish
learning setting with impact on our personal and professional lives? In
what ways can Mifgash support the projects of Jewish academics interested
in studying Judaism or Jewish life for their professional enrichment?
What barriers do Jewish adults trained as academics find to Jewish
learning?

5. Jews and Social Responsibility.

Do Jews working in the academy conceive of scholarship as
pertinent to the direction of North American culture? What relationship
exists between Jewish values and broader social concerns?

Mifgash is now planning a series of home-hosted weekend retreats, limited
to 12-15 participants, that will address at least some of these questions
through shared study of both secular and religious text, presentations
related to issues of common interest, intensive dialogue, and open
informal discussion. A number of professional conferences in the coming
year will host 'sig' (special interest groups) with presentations by
Mifgash participants. While many of us work in higher education, we
recognize that the academy is not the only site of intellectual work in
our society and we welcome other people from outside of it. We invite you
to send us a note regarding your interest in the project. Please feel
free to offer to suggestions, questions, personal/professional concerns
and additions to the mailing and Email lists.

Some subsidy is available for travel to weekends. A seed grant from the
Nathan Cummings Foundation is instrumental in these activities. For
information, contact Haim Dov Beliak: Phone: (310) 286-9991, Fax (310)
286-7109, Email:BeliakB@CGS.Edu or Mifgash, 9715 Lockford Street, Los
Angeles, CA 90035.

Mifgash Planning Committee: Haim Dov Beliak (Claremont Graduate School)
Alan Block (University of Wisconsin, Stout) Miriyam Glazer (Lee College),
Carola Kaplan (Cal Poly Pomona), Harold Leavitt (Cal Poly Pomona), David
Purpel (University of North Carolina- Greensboro) Maeera Schreiber
(University of Southern California), Diane Schuster (Cal State Fullerton),
Shirley Steinberg (Penn State), Roger Simon (Ontario Institute for the
Study of Education at University of Toronto), Marv Sweeney (School of
Theology Claremont) (Additional participants are invited.)

Mifgash: An On-Going Conversation Among Jewish Intellectuals
November 17-19, 1995
Toronto, Ontario

Over the past several years, Mifgash has gathered groups of Jewish
intellectuals within and outside the academy to discuss issues of shared
concern. We have begun to engage questions of, for example, the
relationships of Jews and Judaism to emerging multicultural and
pluralistic university settings; the impacts of being Jewish on academic
identities and pursuits; differences between Jews in the academy; the
relationships between scholarship, Jewish values and social
responsibility.

Mifgash is now organizing a series of local weekend gatherings in North
America, hosted by previous participants. The meeting in Toronto is being
organized by Roger Simon and Sharon Rosenberg, of the Ontario Institute
for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, and is scheduled
for November 17-19, 1995. Limited to 15-20 participants, the weekend is
designed as an opportunity for interested individuals to engage, on a
formal and informal basis, issues of concern for Jewish intellectuals
studying and working in university settings.

The primary focus of the Toronto Mifgash is an on-going conversation
regarding the integration of Jewish knowledges and identities with
academic or intellectual work. We are anticipating the participation of
Jewish faculty and graduate students from the humanities, social sciences
and education. Some of the questions we will be exploring include: How do
Jewish teachers and students understand their relationships to the
academy? In what ways do institutions of higher education acknowledge and
de-legitimate Jewish identification? What are the relationships of Jews,
Judaism and Jewish Studies to "oppositional discourses" in gender studies,
literary theory, film studies, anti-racism and other multi-discipline or
anti-discipline areas of inquiry?

Our aspirations for the Toronto Mifgash are that it become a meaningful
place for people with very diverse Jewish identities and knowledges to
talk through their attempts at, or interests in, integrating these
identities and knowledges with their teaching and/or writing. We know from
past experience that some of the major differences, that create barriers
to conversations among Jews in the academy, include: differences in
sexuality, modes and degrees of observance, and the extent of knowledge
regarding Jewish thought and culture. Mifgash intends to be a place where
these barriers are challenged, so that we might articulate and attend to
the differences between us as part of what it means to offer support in
the integration of our Jewish selves with our academic identities and
work.

For the weekend of November 17-19, we envisage starting early Friday
afternoon and finishing Sunday lunchtime. The weekend will consist of:
facilitated sessions around selected texts or films; formal presentations
where people discuss specific examples of working through an integration
of their Jewish identities and/or knowledge with their intellectual work;
opportunities for open discussion around issues of pertinence to Jews in
the academy. As our meetings will take place over Shabbat, we are
planning a dinner for Friday evening; and, for those who wish to do so,
there will be an opportunity to daven together on Saturday morning.

As our physical space is limited, we need to know as soon as possible if
you wish to participate in the Toronto Mifgash weekend. Please submit a
brief statement about how the Mifgash conversation interests you and a
biographical sketch. If you would like to facilitate a discussion around a
text or film, or present on a relevant aspect of your work, please provide
a statement in this regard.

Following the principle that Mifgash meetings be inclusive of all Jews, we
will be organizing kosher food for the weekend (Friday night dinner,
Saturday luncheon and dinner, Sunday luncheon) and are asking $50 per
person to help cover food costs. Since we are anticipating that the
majority of participants will be from Toronto or nearby, we will not be
organizing accommodation. If you are coming from out of town, let us know
as soon as possible and we will endeavour to find a space for you at
someone's home.

Please send your submission and/or request for more information about
Mifgash or the November weekend to: Roger Simon [e-mail:
rsimon@oise.on.ca] or Sharon Rosenberg [e-mail: srosenberg@oise.on.ca].
Hard-copy submissions can be mailed to: Roger Simon, Department of
Curriculum, OISE, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S
1V6. Or call: (416) 923-6641, ext. 2425.

If you know of others who may be interested in this gathering, please
forward this notice or let us know their name, and we will be pleased to
send a copy.

We hope to see you in November!
Roger Simon and Sharon Rosenberg

Much recent scholarly debate has centered around the relationship between
history and memory. As a forum for graduate students to contribute to
this exchange, we invite abstracts of papers which address the subject
through a variety of disciplinary, methodological, and theoretical
approaches. We encourage a broad interpretation of this theme,
encompassing a range of historical periods and geographical locales.

To that end, possible topics include:

RITUAL ** MYTHOLOGY ** POLITICS OF THE PAST ** MONUMENTS ** MUSEUMS **
FOLKLORE ** ORAL HISTORY ** REPRESSED MEMORY

These are only a few suggested topics, and are not to be considered a
definitive list. Please send abstracts of 1-2 pages with address, phone
number, and e-mail address, along with a stamped, self-addressed postcard
to:

Jeff Hyson
Graduate History Association
Cornell University
450 McGraw Hall
Ithaca New York 14853
E-mail: jh31@cornell.edu

Deadline for abstracts is December 15, 1995, and participants should be
prepared to submit finished drafts of conference papers to the organizing
committee by March 30, 1996.

The Program Committee for the 1996 Oral History Association annual
meeting invites proposals for presentations on all aspects of the practice
and interpretation of oral history. We are particularly interested in
proposals related to the conference theme, "Oral History, Memory, and the
Sense of Place."

Historians today are challenging -- and being challenged by --
barriers between scholars and citizens, professionals and publics. The
distance between history -- the official, codified version of the past --
and memory -- the personal and communal version of the past -- often
appears vast, and indeed it is a contested landscape. Oral history can
mediate between these two modes of understand- ing: in Michael Frisch's
apt phrase, it allows for a "shared authority" in the interpretation of the
past as both interlocutor and respondent -- and subsequently their
audiences -- negotiate the meaning of prior experiences. We chose our
theme because we believe that much of this con- struction of meaning
happens in a local setting, in fact is often "about" the history of a
locale.

We hope the program will reflect the variety of ways in which this
theme can be approached. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
the construction of local memories; the relationship between popular and
professional notions of history; the relationship between vernacular,
covert, or suppressed histories and official history; the importance of
locale in shaping community identity; the nature and role of nostalgia in
local memories; the uses of memory in heritage based tourism.

We also hope the annual meeting will reflect the variety of
disciplines and settings in which oral history is practiced, and so
welcome proposals from academic scholars; public history professionals
working in museums, historical societies, archives, and libraries;
community historians; media professionals; and independent researchers.
Proposals from graduate students and proposals related to undergraduate
and precollegiate teaching are also encouraged.

In addition to traditional research leading to publication,
sessions may address the many uses of oral history in media such as radio,
video and film, exhibitions, and drama. While sessions may be organized
in the conventional panel format, we also encourage proposals for
roundtables, workshops, media and performance-oriented sessions, and
sessions that invite audience involvement. The Program Committee hopes to
develop a number of conversation sessions focused on particular areas of
interest, in which a convener will lead a discussion of all in attendance
at the session.

The Program Committee encourages proposals for entire sessions,
though we will also combine proposals for single presentations into full
sessions and, as necessary, add a single paper to sessions where time is
available. A proposal for a full session should include a chair and no
more than four participants, including one or more commentators. The
committee also encourages sessions in which participants represent the
full diversity of oral history practitioners. OHA policy prevents those
who will have presented papers at the 1995 annual meeting from doing so in
1996; such individuals may, however, serve as session chairs and
commentators. All program participants are expected to register for the
meeting.

Each proposal must include a cover sheet that includes the
information listed below. Proposals for entire sessions should include a
one-page description of the issues and questions the session will address
and a one-page abstract of each presentation in the session. Proposals
for an individual paper or other presentation should include a one- page
abstract of that presentation. A one-page vitae of all session
participants must be included with each proposal. Include on proposals
only those people who have agreed to participate in the session. Finally,
we wish to encourage sessions that are not simply descriptive, but rather
focus around questions, issues, problems, that reach for analysis,
reflection, evaluation.

COVER SHEET INFORMATION:

1. Type of proposal - panel, roundtable, workshop,
conversation session, single paper, other (please specify):

2. Title of session (if proposal is for a single paper, note
the title of the paper):

3. Proposer - name, institutional affiliation, address,
phone, fax, and email numbers:

4. Chair - name, institutional affiliation, address, phone,
fax, and email numbers:

5. Presenters - include name, institutional affiliation,
address, phone, fax, and email numbers for each presenter;
also include the title of each presentation: 6. Commentator(s) - include name, institutional affiliation,
address, phone fax, and email numbers for each presenter:
Direct all queries and submit all proposals to the program
co-chairs:

Howard L. Green
New Jersey Historical Commission
CN 305, Trenton, NJ 08625
609/984-3460 (phone) 609/633-8168 (fax)
hlgreen@pilot.njin.net (e-mail)

Linda Shopes
Division of History,
Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission
Box 1026, Harrisburg, PA 17108
717/772-3257 (phone) 717/787-4822 (fax)
lshopes@llpptn.pall.org (e-mail - queries only)

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ALL PROPOSALS: DECEMBER 15, 1995.

The Dead Sea Scrolls Institute,Trinity Western University, is pleased to
announce the first of a series of public symposia on the Dead Sea Scrolls
and related topics. The proceeds will be published in a new DSS series
which will be announced shortly.

This announcement is for general information only, since the Symposium is
totally full with over 350 people already registered. A more timely
announcement will be given for the next Symposium in March 1996. For
further details please contact:

Dr. Peter W. Flint or Dr. Martin G. Abegg
Dead Sea Scrolls Institute Tel. (604) 888-7511
Trinity Western University Fax. (604) 888-5336
7600 Glover Road email: flint@twu.ca
Langley, BC V2Y 1Y1 email: abegg@twu.ca
CANADA