Works-in-Progress Group in Jewish Studies

Session Submission Type: Panel Session

Abstract

This session is an informal, highly collegial gathering in which a group of AJS participants workshops two pre-distributed papers. All are welcome. We have met each year at the AJS for the past sixteen years. We are proud to provide a space that combines serious intellectual exchange with a warm, relaxed atmosphere that can be particularly inviting for junior scholars or first-time attendees of the conference.
We aim to engage with current research in any and all fields of Jewish Studies and to allow presenters to share papers in progress with a welcoming and critically productive group of colleagues. Works-in-progress is always an interdisciplinary environment where we discuss two papers from different disciplines within Jewish Studies (this year one comes from early modern Jewish history, the other from literature) and where scholars from numerous fields take part in the conversation.
Our presenters for the 2016 meeting of the AJS are Saul Noam Zaritt, Assistant Professor of Yiddish Literature in the departments of Comparative Literature and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, and Joshua Teplitsky, Assistant Professor of History at Stonybrook University. Zaritt will share a paper entitled “Isaac Bashevis Singer, Translation, and Ghost World Literature.” Teplitsky’s paper is entitled “‘I, the Widow, Do Solemnly Swear…:’ Plague, Survival and Domestic Material Culture in Early Modern Prague.” Both papers represent cutting-edge research in their respective fields, and exemplify the disciplinary diversity of the Works In Progress group.
The co-chairs of the Works-in-Progress session are Jessica Marglin, Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California, and Rena Lauer, Assistant Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History, School of History, Philosophy, and Religion, Oregon State University.
In late November, in preparation for our meeting during the AJS, we will circulate the two papers. Those interested in attending should contact one of the co-chairs in order to receive the papers in advance.

Sub Unit

• Interdisciplinary, Theoretical, and New Approaches

Chairs

• Jessica M. Marglin, University of Southern California

• Rena Nechama Lauer, Oregon State University

Individual Presentations

• Isaac Bashevis Singer, Translation, and Ghost World Literature - Saul Zaritt, Harvard University

• “I, the widow, do solemnly swear...:” Plague, survival, and domestic material culture in early modern Prague - Joshua Teplitsky, Stony Brook University