Joanne Gilbert speaks to IAH 207 and the wider academic community!

Posted on by Margot

I am excited to announce that Dr. Joanne Gilbert will be visiting IAH 207, Humor in 20th Century Literatures, Cultures and Identities on March 28th, 2017 at 4:00 pm in Brody Hall 138. She will be giving a multimedia presentation that deals with marginality and humor which will be open to the public.

Dr. Gilbert’s scholarship is not only widely regarded and consulted in academic circles, but is also well-loved by students who read her work in this class. Her work in the fields of humor, gender and culture was recently recognized (Nov. 2015) by the National Communication Association with the Lilla A. Heston Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Interpretation and Performance Studies.

Students will read the introduction and first chapter of her 2004 (reprint 2008) book, Performing Marginality: Humor, Gender, and Cultural Critique as a part of the regular course schedule but also in preparation for her visit.

Interested students and community members can join us for dinner at Brody Square.

Excited about this panel on Yiddish Memory Before, During and After the Holocaust

Posted on by Margot

With MSU’s new access to the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive and its more than 54,000 hours of testimony from witnesses to and survivors of genocide, MSU’s Jewish Studies program has taken several steps to excite and promote scholarship that uses these materials. After a rich and well-attended workshop about using these testimonies in both research and teaching in the fall, I decided we should continue to explore the issues raised by many of the participants.

Additionally, with the arrival of Dr. Amy Simon as the new William and Audrey Farber Family Chair in Holocaust Studies and European Jewish History here at MSU and the appointment of Dr. Anya Quilitzsch as the lecturer in Yiddish language at U of M, we had a stellar group of scholars in the field all working within the area.  Dr. Jeffrey Veidlinger, director of the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at U of M, Anya, Amy and I all worked to varying extents on the AHEYM project. This convergence/reunion of colleagues all working in the field of Yiddish and history inspired me to put together this panel.