This course is designed primarily to allow faculty to develop focused interdisciplinary courses which address specific issues, themes, or problems in American Jewish politics, culture, and society. Topics may vary from semester to semester. Students should consult the department's webpage for current offerings before the start of the semester.

Since the founding of the United States, Jews have been a tiny minority within a Christian-dominant culture. Just about 2.4% of the current population of the U.S. identifies as Jewish. And yet as this country approaches its 250th birthday, few other communities of comparable size can point to a history of being as widely celebrated as American Jews - while also recalling moments of being widely ostracized and debated. In this course, we will trace the history of American Jews from the colonial era to the present (with a particular emphasis on the 20th century), and reflect on the outsized role American Jews have played in the nation’s cultural imagination. We will examine the richness and diversity of American Jewish culture and the American Jewish experience, while also attending to the challenges and constraints faced by generations of Jews in this land. Topics and themes of the course will include: migration and the immigrant experience; the role of religion in American life; the boundaries of racial and ethnic identities; social and economic mobility; histories of integration and exclusion; cultural and religious innovation; antisemitism and philosemitism; gender and sexuality; and the often contested interplay between personal and communal identities.

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