The Minor Jewish Studies at GeorgiaState is designed to
introduce students to Jews’ complex encounter with the modern world.
Students study topics including Jews’ assimilation and civil rights struggle;
religious reform and the rise of ultraorthodoxy;
immigration and urbanization; ethnic identity formation; Zionism, Israel,
and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict; socialism and Communism; feminism and
changing gender roles; anti-Semitism and the Holocaust; American Jewish
culture, history and politics; Jewish cultures (Yiddish, Hebrew, and
vernacular); interfaith and interethnic alliances; and human rights
advocacy.
The Jewish Studies Minor is interdisciplinary in method and global in scope.
It helps students to combine insights from numerous fields, including
history, sociology, language and literature, religious studies,
communication, political science, psychology, and women’s studies.
Students encounter Jews in historical settings ranging from the ancient
Mediterranean to modern Europe, to North and South America, to the Middle East.
The program highlights the fascinating and volatile compound of religion,
ethnicity, nationality, and diaspora that
comprises modern Jewish life today. Students have the opportunity to
analyze Jews’ experience, both on its own terms and in comparison
with the parallel experiences of other groups.
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