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DHC Lecture with Cynthia M. Baker

American Religious Studies Scholar to Speak at Freie Universität Berlin on Topic of "Europe’s and America’s 'New Jews'" / Lecture is part of the conference "Jewish Friends. Contemporary Figures of the Jew"

№ 266/2017 from Oct 10, 2017

The American religious studies scholar Cynthia M. Baker will give a lecture on October 17 at 6:15 p.m. at the Dahlem Humanities Center (DHC), Freie Universität Berlin. A professor at Bates College (Maine, USA), Baker will speak on the topic "Europe's and America's 'New Jews.'" The venue is the Seminar Center, Room L 116, Otto-von-Simson-Straße 26. The public lecture will be given in English, and admission is free. This lecture is part of the international public conference "Jewish Friends. Contemporary Figures of the Jew" being held October 17–18 by DHC and the Institute of Jewish Studies, Freie Universität. The conference language is also English.

Over millennia up to and including today, the work "Jew" has been associated with numerous images and connotations. In recent years the term "new Jews" has increasingly been used in public discourse as a kind of critical lens for exploring issues of justice, equality, and identity policy. In her lecture, Baker will examine how and in which contexts the term is used. She will address both familiar and new connotations of the concept "Jew" and also shed light on current cultural dynamics in the European Union and the United States of America.

Baker's evening lecture will take place in the context of the two-day international conference "Jewish Friends. Contemporary Figures of the Jew," which will deal with the functions of different figurations of the "Jew" in contemporary political, social, and cultural discourses. Other participants at the conference being held October 17 and 18 include Daniel Boyarin, Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, Salman Sayyid, Oded Schechter, Ron Naiweld, Ofri Ilany, Hillel Ben-Sasson, Ivan Segré, Sultan Doughan, and Baruch Wolski. The conference is being organized by Hannah Tzuberi (Institute of Jewish Studies) and Elad Lapidot (Seminar of Catholic Theology), both at Freie Universität Berlin. The conference is being supported in part by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Times and Locations

Lecture

  • October 17, 2017, 6:15 p.m.
  • Freie Universität Berlin, Seminar Center, Room L 116, Habelschwerdter Allee 45, 14195 Berlin; subway station: Freie Universität/Thielplatz or Dahlem-Dorf (U3)

Conference

More Information

Katja Heinrich, Dahlem Humanities Center, Freie Universität Berlin, Tel.: +49 30 838-55057, Email: k.heinrich@fu-berlin.de

Keywords