Understanding Zionism: Culture, Literature and Art - Einzelansicht

This seminar will examine the origins and cultural output of the Jewish national movement-the Zionism. In times when to many pro-Palestine protesters Zionism appears as synonymous with injustice and oppression, we need to reflect on the origins and history of Jewish nationalism. We will start by learning the history of Zionist thought including its major thinkers including Ahad Haam, Borochov, and Zeev Jabotinsky. Then we will focus on diverse “Zionisms in practice” in interwar Poland. We will explore a range of social and cultural developments in pre-1948 Palestine: the war on the Yiddish language, European-Jewish acculturation in the Middle East, or the women question within the Zionist movement. The next meetings will be devoted to representations of Eretz Israel and Diaspora in pre-state Hebrew fiction, as well as to European and North American perspectives on Eretz Israel and local Jewish immigration. Students will gain experience working with sources including memoirs, travelogues, fiction, and visual artifacts.

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