How Franz Kafka connected with Yiddish language and theater in Prague
Though he wrote in German, author Franz Kafka became an enthusiastic supporter of Yiddish theater in Prague. Graduate fellow Aaron Carpenter tells the story.
American Jews & Israel: The history of the Palestine Economic Corporation shows how “support” can take many forms
The history of American-supported development in Mandate Palestine is an early example of the complicated relationship between American Jews and Israel, writes graduate fellow Jake Beckert.
Expanding what it meant to be Jewish in East Germany as the Berlin Wall fell
Ph.D. candidate Katja Schatte explains how ideas of Jewishness gradually expanded in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) starting in the mid-1980s.
Activist ancestors: Reaching towards the Jewish Labour Bund’s strategies for cultural organizing
Graduate fellow Shelby Handler shares the history of the General History Labor Bund, the 20th-century Jewish socialist organization that inspired her new collection of poetry.
What is Israel’s policy on Africa post-Netanyahu?
Benjamin Netanyahu was known for strengthening ties between Israel and Africa. Will Israel's new government follow the former prime minister's lead? Grad fellow Francis Abugbilla explains the situation.
How imagined “bizarro worlds” invite us into the real worlds of ancient Israel and Egypt
Looking at ancient texts' "topsy-turvy" visions of the world can reveal a lot about the authors' assumptions, writes grad fellow Forrest Martin.
Building a Sephardic Seattle community archive: Using many types of materials to preserve community history
Graduate fellow Lili Brown explains how community archives — community-centered archives that preserve all kinds of documents and materials — help researchers to construct richer pictures of the past, and how this approach is helping to preserve Seattle Sephardic history.
Maja Haderlap, Jewish writers, and telling the story of ethnic Slovenians in Austria using the “language of the enemy”
Like German-language Jewish writers, ethnic Slovenian author Maja Haderlap struggles with the language of the Nazis in telling the story of her community's persecution in Austria, writes graduate fellow Aaron Carpenter.