CALL FOR PAPERS
Annual Conference of the Australian Association of Jewish Studies
OLD NEW JEWS: JEWISH IDENTITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY
THE DINA AND RON GOLDSCHLAGER FAMILY CONFERENCE ON CONTEMPORARY JEWISH LIFE
Old New Jews borrows the Jewish idea of Alt Neu to capture the ongoing exchange of past and present, innovation and tradition. This year's AAJS conference on Jewish Identity in the 21st Century examines how this creative tension is playing itself out under the impact of our rapidly changing millennium. Over the centuries the contours of Jewish identity have shifted through encounters with broader intellectual, historical, cultural and sociological trends. The 19th century was notable for transforming Jewish identity through the impact of emancipation, modernisation, antisemitism and the birth of new ideologies. In the 20th century, the Holocaust and the creation of Israel were two events that dramatically reshaped the Jewish world. This conference focuses on examining how the 21st century will sustain and transform Judaism and Jewish identities. It looks to past models of Jewish culture and identity in order to provide a comparative perspective on current and future trends impacting on Jews and Judaism. Papers and keynote addresses will look at questions of Judaism and Jewish identity – its transmission, diversity, and specificity in relation to national and global settings. The conference will look at how the Israel-Diaspora relationship is being remodelled; Jewish institutional life; the impact of new technologies; Judaism in an age of choice and hybrid identities; demographic trends and marriage patterns; population movements and scholarly constructs of ethnicity, identity and social cohesion. This conference explores ideas that have been developed through the research on Jewish Continuity [pdf 2.21MB] and the Gen08 community survey [pdf 719kB] by Professor Andrew Markus.
Papers will cover a broad range of themes.
- Models of Jewish identity through the ages
- Israel, Middle East and globalisation
- New technologies and virtual Jewish communities
- Jewish education and globalisation
- Jews and language
- Judaism in an age of choice
- Immigration, multiculturalism and globalisation
- Antisemitism and globalisation
Papers on related topics not listed here will also be considered. We welcome proposals from academics, postgraduates and independent scholars.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
- Dr Daniel Gordis
- Professor Samuel Heilman
- Dr Bethamie Horowitz
- Professor Andrew Markus
- Professor Moshe Semyonov
- Dr David Shneer
SCHEDULE
The conference will meet on 12-13 February 2012 at the Caulfield Campus of Monash University, Melbourne Australia.
SUNDAY 12TH February – A day of international keynote speakers and panel discussion, concluding at night with a panel discussion.
MONDAY 13TH February – A day of keynote speakers, parallel sessions of academic papers and a closing address.
Abstracts are due Monday 26 September
Abstracts should be no more than 300 words long, for a paper of 20 minutes duration and include the title of the paper, the author’s name and institutional association and the abstract. Upon acceptance of the paper, we will require a brief (approximately 60 words) biographical note. Proposals for panels with multiple papers on a common topic should follow the above format for each author and panel chair.
Please send all abstracts of papers or panel proposals by 26 September 2011 addressed to: miriam.munz@monash.edu
Conference chair: Associate Professor Mark Baker
Conference convenor: Dr Miriam Munz on +61 3 990 35004