Grits and Gefilte Fish: Teaching Southern Jewish History in 2023

Session Submission Type: Hybrid Roundtable

Abstract

This hybrid roundtable will explore how a group of educators in Jewish Studies teach the southern Jewish experience. We will reflect on pedagogically-oriented questions, such as what assumptions about southern and/or American Jewish history do students bring with them to the classroom and how can we challenge and nuance these assumptions (about Jews in the South, religion in American history, beliefs about race, ethnicity, and identity, etc.)? How does the study of regionally disparate groups of Jews complicate prevailing narratives about American Jewish life? How can we methodologically, geographically, and theoretically engage the exceptional aspects of the South in dialogue with broader Jewish history, American history, and Southern Studies? And finally, how can we incorporate studies of race, gender, class, and religion into the study of southern Jews to help students appreciate how these factors shaped southern Jewish identity?

As moderator, Josh Furman will structure the conversation, ensure that all in-person and virtual participants are able to contribute, facilitate audience engagement, and offer reflections in response to insights shared by the panelists. Jillian Hinderliter will speak about incorporating southern Jewish women’s history into Southern Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies courses and how students engage with a diversity of Jewish women’s voices in and outside of the classroom. Jacob Morrow-Spitzer considers how we can situate southern Jewry in dialogue with broader American history (i.e. Civil War and Reconstruction history or US global history) as well as how questions of race and citizenship in the South complicate assumed notions of American Jewish whiteness and exceptionalism. Heather Nathans explores representations of race, gender, and ethnicity in US theatre and how she and her students negotiate performances of “Southerness” and “Jewishness” as they intersect with race. Shari Rabin will reflect on issues of place, disciplinarity, and pedagogy, focusing on teaching southern Jewish materials in a Jewish Studies department in the South and in a religion department in the North. Finally, Ashley Walters will talk about teaching globally-oriented survey courses alongside regionally-specific histories and how southern Jewish history is particularly well suited for exploring transnational histories of the modern Jewish experience.

Sub Unit

• Hybrid (At Conference - all divisions welcome)

Moderator

• Joshua Furman, University of Denver

Discussants

• Jillian Hinderliter, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

• Jacob Morrow-Spitzer, Yale University

• Heather Nathans, Tufts University

• Shari Rabin, Oberlin College

• Ashley Walters, College of Charleston

Zoom Facilitator

• Chad Gibbs, College of Charleston

Zoom Host

• Zoom Host, AJS