JSIS 498
Instructor: Noam Pianko
M 2:30-4:20pm

Credits: 5

Requirements met: I&S

Zionism endures as a flashpoint in debates about the history, meaning, and morality of nationalism and the ideal of national sovereignty. Supporters of the movement insist on the basic right of each national group to have political control of its territorial homeland. Detractors question the ethical validity and practical viability of linking ethno-religious preservation with territorial and political boundaries. Precisely because Zionism raises such heated disagreements, it offers an ideal case study for critically assessing nationalism and national sovereignty, past, present, and future. By focusing on scholarly debates from a variety of disciplines about the development of Jewish nationalism and the history of the State of Israel, students will have the opportunity to consider the dilemmas of preserving individual rights and collective identity, homeland centers and diaspora peripheries, and territorial boundaries and global interconnections.

Open to JSIS majors only.