Time Schedule:
Julia N. Eulenberg
SISJE 250
Seattle Campus
Introductory orientation to the settings in which Jews have marked out for themselves distinctive identities as a people, a culture, and as a religious community. Examines Jewish cultural history as a production of Jewish identity that is always produced in conversation with others in the non-Jewish world. Offered: jointly with HIST 250.
Class description
SISJE 250/HIST 250 The Jews in Western Civilization, Eulenberg, MWF 1:30-2:50 The placement of Jews in Western Civilization, the impact of the Christian and Muslim world on them, and the impact that they made on the host societies in which they lived. This course provides a general introduction to the history of Jews in Western culture and society, from the early middle ages to the present. The course examines the way in which Jews,as a nearly continuous, classic minority in both the Christian and Muslim worlds, have interacted with the host cultures in which they lived, and also at the effect their presence had on those non-Jewish societies. Topics include Jewish life in medieval Europe; the expulsion of Jews from European countries and the British Isles; the range and impact of blood libel stories; Emancipation and the entry of Jews into modern European society; the great 19th c. migrations; the Shoa; the construction of new, 20th c. communities; and the modern State of Israel.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
>A combination of lecture and discussion, the latter using both primary source documents and assigned readings; attendance is counted A combination of lecture and discussion, the latter using both primary source documents and assigned readings;attendance is counted as part of the grade.
Recommended preparation
Recommended Preparation for Success in the Course: Reading assignments and attendance. >
Class assignments and grading
Readings from required texts and source documents available in required texts, on the Internet, or handed out in class. This is a writing course; exit requirements include a mid-term and a final essay exam, class discussion of primary source documents, and a 5-10 page paper dealing with one of the themes presented in the course, for which at least one additional, recommended text will be necessary.
Discussion and attendance (25%); 1 10-12 page paper based on one of the subtopics listed in the syllabus,which will require reading the materials for that subtopic plus a minumum of one other book or series of three articles (20%); 1 3-5 page paper expanding on one of the source documents used for the subtopics and discussion [this may be handed in at any time prior to the last week] as part of the grade.((10%); midterm [materials up to the date of the exam](20%); final [materials between the midterm and the final, with one cumulative essay question that links subtopics] (25%).
