Dr. Eli Rosenblatt, “Creole Israel: The Jews of Suriname, 1890-1960,” Emerging Scholars Lecture Series (Feb. 16, 2022, YSU / Kent State)

Dr. Eli Rosenblatt joined us to deliver the first of three talks in our Emerging Scholars Lecture Series, which we co-organize with the Jewish Studies Program at Kent State University. For more information about our Emerging Scholars Lecture Series and to register for the remaining two talks, click here.

Full Video

Dr. Rosenblatt will explore a Caribbean Jewish society on the northeastern coast of South America. Among the oldest continuously existing Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere, my talk will argue that the Jews of Suriname, though distinctly situated in their tropical environment and largely unknown outside the Dutch sphere today, are the “relatives” of all American Jews. While most scholarship on race and racism in American Jewish culture has focused on the United States, this talk will focus on Surinamese Jews as they experienced events we commonly associate with America – the rise of Black Power politics, the mass migration of East European Jews to American cities, the emergence of Zionism, the Holocaust, and local antisemitism. In the context of a different American society divided by color and radically diverse in its cultural, linguistic, and religious makeup, the history of the Jews of Suriname provides us with a way of looking at American Jewish futures through the expanded lens of a lesser-known past.

Lecture: Dr. Eli Rosenblatt, “Creole Israel” (2/16)

Online webinar (only). Register here.

Dr. Eli Rosenblatt
Visiting Assistant Professor
Religious Studies, Northwestern University

“Creole Israel: The Jews of Suriname, 1890 – 1960

February 16, 2022 at 5:00 pm (eastern) / Online only

Dr. Rosenblatt will explore a Caribbean Jewish society on the northeastern coast of South America. Among the oldest continuously existing Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere, my talk will argue that the Jews of Suriname, though distinctly situated in their tropical environment and largely unknown outside the Dutch sphere today, are the “relatives” of all American Jews. While most scholarship on race and racism in American Jewish culture has focused on the United States, this talk will focus on Surinamese Jews as they experienced events we commonly associate with America – the rise of Black Power politics, the mass migration of East European Jews to American cities, the emergence of Zionism, the Holocaust, and local antisemitism. In the context of a different American society divided by color and radically diverse in its cultural, linguistic, and religious makeup, the history of the Jews of Suriname provides us with a way of looking at American Jewish futures through the expanded lens of a lesser-known past.

Deadline Extended for Submitting Proposals to Symposium

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

The CJHS and the Jewish Studies Program at Purdue University have extended the deadline for submitting proposals to our joint symposium: “CONTACT: The Movement and Meetings of Jewish People and Artifacts across Cold-War Boundaries

Please submit a brief proposal and your CV by Monday, February 7 to ContactSymposium22@gmail.com.

Contact postcard front

For more information click here or on the flyer above.

“Jews Around the World” Videos Posted (2021-2021)

The Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies a YSU and the Jewish Studies Program at Kent State University collaborated on a lecture series in Spring 2021, “Jews around the World.” The videos—save one, in process—are up! Watch them here.

Moshe Bernstein, “The Jews of Kaifeng, China: Identities Then and Now” (2/23/2021)

Galia Sabar, “Ethiopian Jews: The Long Quest for Zion” (3/23/2021)

Alma Rachel Heckman, “The Sultan’s Communists: Moroccan Jews and the Politics of Belonging” (4/20/2021)

CONTACT Symposium

Contact Symposium Flyer

CONTACT: Meetings and Movements of Jewish People & Artifacts across Cold-War Boundaries

We are seeking participants for a three-day symposium in Youngstown, Ohio to deliver papers exploring the meetings and movements of Jewish people, organizations, and artifacts across Cold-War boundaries. We intend for the proceedings to form the basis of an edited volume and are already in discussion with a university press.

Sunday, May 22 – Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio

Organizers
Rebekah Klein-Pejšová (Purdue) and Jacob Ari Labendz (YSU)

Sponsors
The Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies at YSU
The Jewish Studies Program at Purdue University