Sherman Conversation 2024: Workshop on Jewish Studies Research
‘Encountering Others, Encountering Ourselves’: Reflexivity and the Jewish Studies Researcher
Centre for Jewish Studies Sherman Conversation
Thursday 11 January 2024
Graduate School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, University of Manchester
Report on the Event
Katja Stuerzenhofecker and Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz
A very successful workshop on the theme ‘Encountering Others, Encountering Ourselves: Reflexivity and the Jewish Studies Researcher’ was held as this year’s Sherman Conversation of the Centre for Jewish Studies. Fourteen scholars from the UK and abroad participated, from fields as diverse as anthropology, sociology, history, and literary studies as well as Jewish studies sensu stricto, all united in exploring the challenges and opportunities offered by their research on Jewish themes.
The lively and wide-ranging discussions were facilitated by the use of action learning set methodology, and focussed on three main themes arising from participants’ reflexive accounts. Action learning sets employ a peer learning process that is well established in professional development and higher education. The workshop’s use of action learning aimed to enable participants to reach a deeper understanding of their positionality and how to negotiate it. Due to time restrictions, each theme was introduced by pairs of pre-selected discussion starters in the form of participants’ accounts of the impact of their positionality on their research. The pairs served to highlight different facets of each theme. Discussion starters were explored by the whole group through Socratic questioning. This was followed by an open discussion round of each theme’s significance for all participants. The following is a summary of key discussion points.
1. Can we be who we really are? Vulnerable researcher identities
We explored different situations encountered in our own research, such as researchers having aspects of personal identity of which the community they research does not approve; it was noted that while this exposed the researcher to risks, it might also offer unanticipated potential, since the researcher might become a ‘safe’ person for unhappy community members to talk to. This in itself can engender ethical dilemmas: what are the limits of the research relationship before it turns into therapy, for instance?
Non-Jewish scholars spoke of sometimes finding distrust of their motives or their ability to research Jewish topics. Questions of moral responsibility also arose when studying epistolary and other personal or private archival material: do these texts have owners? What duties are owed to living relatives? What does this mean for Holocaust research methodology and ethics? Does public interest and/or presence of material in archives overwrite privacy? Who advises on moral dilemmas beyond institutional research ethics committees?
More practical issues included the balance between scholars’ research integrity and research funders’ priorities: can passion be balanced with the need for financial security and strategic decisions?
2. Why do we do this and what is best practice? Research motivations and goals
This theme led to much reflection on the position of Jewish studies within the wider academic context. How is it affected by the secular-Christian context of British (and Western) academia? For researchers whose own Jewish identity is under construction or ambivalent, does this field of research offer a vicarious connection to Jewishness and Jewish community? Is ‘nostalgia’ an acceptable motive for research, or would this be better understood as ‘the recording of precedents’? Does Jewish studies research lack attention to the quotidian? Should our research be used to challenge dominant discourses, or to raise awareness of issues? And how are our research projects affected by internal processes, such as intra-community conflict, and external events, whether these be fashions in funding or world events?
3. How do we negotiate multiple commitments? Research ethics and methods
This theme led to intense discussion of the consequences of being positioned by others (particularly in academia), and the ways in which Jewish studies researchers sometimes end up involuntarily ‘representing’ Jews and Judaism to the outside world. Can we avoid being the ‘prop’ in somebody else’s play and retain our agency? Closely linked to this was the question of how to navigate multiple identities (as scholar, community member, etc.) and the associated problem of balancing research rigour and community position, with all the emotional labour and distance this requires. It was noted that research interpretations of data can often clash with a Jewish community’s self-understanding or a Jewish institution’s priorities and goals. How should this be managed? For which audiences are we doing our work?
Participants appreciated having a confidential and open space in which to discuss these topics. Workshop participants expressed interest in forming a ‘reflexivity’ network to continue discussion of the pressing questions raised, and to develop resources for the Jewish studies community. Workshop participants also initiated an informal network of researchers engaging contemporary Jewish lives. Its meetings are attended by national and international researchers. The Sherman event also generated a discussion panel on the contemporary in Jewish studies research at the British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies 2024 conference.
Original call for applicants:
For questions, contact Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz, lindsey.taylor-guthartz@manchester.ac.uk, or Katja Stuerzenhofecker, katja.stuerzenhofecker@manchester.ac.uk
This workshop seeks to explore collaboratively and reflexively our positions as Jewish Studies researchers in relation to the Jewish subjects we study. Some researchers identify as Jewish themselves but are outsiders to the Jewish community they study. Others do not identify as Jewish but are insiders in other respects that are significant to their research, e.g., gender, sexuality, disability or nationality. The wide range of possible insider-outsider constellations poses challenges and opportunities that shape the research process and the researcher’s personal and professional development. This workshop aims to facilitate exchange between scholars across the spectrum of insider-outsider positions in Jewish Studies. We will explore the ethics, tensions and practicalities arising from our insider-outsider positions, broadly defined as a continuum on which we find ourselves, sometimes in several positions concurrently.
Some of the questions we hope to explore:
What are the essential ways in which ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ research might differ?
Who is an ‘insider’ and what ethical complications does this status entail?
Is the ‘boundary’ between ‘outsiders’ and the Jewish subjects they are studying porous? If so, under what conditions and with what implications can it be crossed?
What is our ethical duty as researchers to communities of which we are ‘insiders’? Do they differ from the duties of those researchers who are ‘outsiders’?
What personal safety issues arise for us when we research our own communities? Can we ever not be researching?
Who is our work for, and how do we navigate our multiple audiences?
How do we reconcile interventionist, activist, and scholarly concerns of our research?
What are the implications of publishing research on communities in which we are ‘insiders’?
How can we share research with participants and communities while recognizing distinct interests and perspectives on data?
What funding concerns might we need to be aware of? What impacts on academic freedom might be generated by funding that comes from ‘inside’ the community?
We invite applications from researchers at all career stages working in Jewish Studies, broadly defined as scholarly engagement with Jewish subjects, past and present. In four sessions, spread over a single day, we will examine the themes that emerge from participants’ case studies of their positionality as a researchers. We will discuss strategies for constructive engagement with the strengths, limitations and potential of our positions in a mutually supportive and confidential environment. The day’s conversations will be facilitated as action learning sets, a peer learning process well established in professional development and higher education which enable participants to reach a deeper understanding of their positionality and how to negotiate it. The process employs Socratic questioning by the group in response to participants’ description of their own research experiences The aim of action learning sets is for participants to work towards their personal action plan. The process will be introduced in full on the day. For further information on action learning sets, see McGill and Beaty (2001) Action learning: a guide for professional, management & educational development. Rev. 2nd ed. London: Kogan Page.
We hope to explore the potential to form a researcher network after the event.
Attendance and refreshments throughout the event are free. We are able to offer a small number of bursaries for travel and accommodation for selected participants with particular financial needs. Details of how to apply for a bursary will be made available with notification of acceptance.
Places are limited and the organizers have selected participants to ensure a varied range of career stages and insider-outsider positionalities.