Putting Jewish Studies to Work?

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

There has long been a tense relationship between research and application in the humanities/social sciences. In the past, scholars have hesitated to engage – and have even disparaged – any mode of work that approached the realm of the ‘applied’. And though many of us find ourselves “sucked into the world of praxis” in the course of our research, we have historically been enjoined to write as if this were not the case (Parry 2015: 126).

Instead, scholars have been invited to think about their positionality with the aim, among other things, of mitigating their impact on their research setting. More recently, calls for collaborative research, particularly one that engages advocacy, have emerged; yet these tend to be framed as a matter of justice rather than application. And, perhaps less often, we have been asked to consider how others outside of academic might take up our work. At the same time, institutional emphasis on ‘impact’, a sought-after outcome which tends to go underdefined, is shaping the nature of humanities research, grant-seeking, and jobs.

These tensions are perhaps all the more critical for scholars of Jewish lives to consider, given the often fraught contexts within and on which we work. With this in mind, this roundtable asks:

• How, by whom, and to what ends is or might Jewish Studies research be ‘put to work’?
• What distinctions are/can be made between advocacy and application in Jewish Studies research?
• What does ‘impact’ mean for Jewish Studies?
• Many humanities fields are undergoing profound changes leading to new kinds of research and work. Is Jewish Studies experiencing similar changes? With what implications?
Convening researchers and writers from within and beyond academia with a diversity of experiences and orientations towards impact and application, this roundtable aims to open a conversation about whether and how Jewish Studies is or should be put to use.

Sub Unit

• Interdisciplinary Approaches

Moderator

• Sharon Avni, Sharon Avni

Discussants

• Ari Y. Kelman, Stanford Graduate School of Education

• Leonard Saxe, Brandeis University

• Anastasia Badder, The University of Cambridge

• Emily Sigalow, UJA Federation of New York

Zoom Host

• Zoom Host 07