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Spring 2022 Israel Studies Classes

Israeli Theatre: Plays/Performance

PERF 450.003/PERF 650/ISR 400 with Professor Roy Horovitz
M/Th 2:30 PM - 3:45 PM

This course explores the intense Israeli theatre scene, sketching the general evolvement of the Jewish and Israeli theatre in the past 150 years. The course looks at theatre as an art form and as an arena in which cultural myths, memories, and histories are constructed and deconstructed. It places key Israeli plays in their historical and theatrical contexts and attempts to understand some of the fundamental conflicts and tensions that characterize the Israeli society and its local theatrical activity. Students read plays, watch videos, and perform selected scenes in class in order to get a sense of Israeli theatre. Crosslist: ISR-400-001.

Arab-Israeli Relations

SISU-319-001 with Professor Dan Arbell
T/F 11:20 AM - 12:35 PM

A survey of Arab-Israeli relations from their origins to the present. Includes an account of Zionism and Palestinian nationalism, the history of the British mandate, the Arab-Israeli wars, the involvement of external powers, and the quest for peace. The emphasis is on conflict resolution. Usually Offered: spring. Grading: A-F only. Prerequisite: SISU-206 and SISU-210. 

Negotiating Israel-Palestian Peace

SISU 419.006 with Professor Guy Ziv
W 11:20 AM - 2:10 PM

This course provides students with a deeper understanding of the problems that have confounded the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, in particular the "final status" issues: borders, Jerusalem, refugees, and security. Students focus on the contested narratives; the relevant political actors; and the key international, regional, and internal events that have shaped the dispute. Previous rounds of negotiations are also reviewed in order to analyze what went wrong. Students then partake in a simulation in which they attempt to constructively address the final status issues as well as other sticking points, such as settlements and terrorism, in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. 

Voices of Mod Jewish Literature

JWST 210.001 with Professor Lauren Strauss
M/Th 12:55 PM - 2:10 PM

Explores a variety of literary works analyzing the historical experience of modern Jewish communities in Europe, as well as the United States and Israel, emphasizing how migration, racism, industrialization, and political change affected these Jews and their Judaism. AU Core Habits of Mind: Creative-Aesthetic Inquiry. 

Modern Jewish Civilization

HIST-245.001 with Professor Lauren Strauss
Mon/Thu 9:45 AM - 11:00 AM

This survey course covers a broad range of Jewish political, social, cultural, religious, and intellectual history from the early modern period (approximately sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries) to the mid-twentieth century. Students encounter groups of Jews as diverse as the ultra-orthodox Hasidim, the founders of the Jewish enlightenment and Reform movements, bourgeois European women, and radical revolutionaries. Geographically and culturally, Jews have spanned the globe, reflecting the modes of dress, cooking, architecture, etc. of many countries and speaking over 30 specifically Jewish languages (which combine Hebrew with others) as well as the dominant languages of their home countries. The modern Jewish experience has encompassed both euphoria and despair, as in the mid-twentieth century with the Shoah (Holocaust) and the establishment of the State of Israel. This diversity is reflected in both classroom discussions and assignments. Through reading of primary documents from each time and place, students understand history in "real time," and critically analyze the social and political structures that exercised power over the lives of Jews and others in various communities. These lessons are reinforced with a visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. AU Core Integrative Requirement: Diversity and Equity. 

Hebrew, Elementary Modern II (3 credits)

HEBR-117.001 with Professor Sarit Lisogorsky
M/TH 9:45 AM - 11:00 AM

Continuation of HEBR-116.

Hebrew, Intermediate Modern I (3 credits)

HEBR-217.001, professor TBD
M/TH 11:20 AM-12:35 PM

Continuation of HEBR-216.

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