What is a Yiddish Studies Program of Study?

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Sponsor: In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies

Abstract

With the expansion of Yiddish Studies, scholars now face the challenge of defining and framing the field for future generations. This work is increasingly done through formal Yiddish Studies Programs, offered at the graduate or undergraduate levels, yet there is no consensus as to what a degree in “Yiddish Studies” should look like, from a BA program with a year or two of language study and a few courses on Yiddish literature in translation to a dedicated Master’s program with a full curriculum for advanced students. While the study of Yiddish may be largely determined by external forces (availability of teaching personnel, finances, the structure of programs at a given college or university), this roundtable aims to take a proactive, content-oriented approach, with current heads of Yiddish Programs articulating their visions for what such programs could and should look like in a digitized, post-pandemic era. Participants will discuss intellectual aims and priorities: depth of study versus accessibility, connecting teaching to research versus following student interests, the importance of building global student cohorts versus the pull of local scholarly communities and collaboration with other language-literature programs. Together they will propose possible futures for Yiddish studies programs.

Hannah Pollin-Galay directs the Goldrich Institute for Yiddish and will discuss her efforts to make the Yiddish Studies Program a space of challenging, international exchange, while also speaking to local, Israeli realities. Saul Zaritt leads a program in Yiddish studies that doesn’t exist in any official capacity at Harvard University but instead traverses multiple departments and university institutions. Marion Aptroot at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf leads a program created within the European Union’s and her university’s regulations, constraints, and possibilities. Karolina Szymaniak directs BA and MAs in Yiddish at the University of Wrocław and is also the director of pedagogy at the Warsaw International Summer Program; she will discuss constructing programs for Slavic-speaking and international students alongside the challenges of national, European, and international cooperation. Anna Shternshis of the University of Toronto will discuss the advantages of directing students toward an “area studies” model rather than thinking of Yiddish Studies as an independent discipline.

Sub Unit

• Yiddish Studies

Moderator

• Saul Zaritt, Harvard University

Discussants

• Anna Shternshis, University of Toronto

• Hannah Pollin-Galay, Tel Aviv University

• Karolina Szymaniak, University of Wroclaw

• Marion Aptroot, Heinrich Heine University

Zoom Host

• Zoom Host 17