Faculty/School recognition for MA student
Jewish education. Congratulations to Yehudis Fletcher, MA Religions & Theology, who was the School's nominee for the Faculty’s Distinguished Achievement Award: Postgraduate Student of the Year. The criteria was that "the nominee should be an outstanding postgraduate student on a taught programme who has excelled in some significant manner." Yehudis was put forward by SALC for her charitable work and research relating to the place of secular education in the Charedi or so-called ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. Among other things, her charitable foundation published an Education Policy Position paper 9 Sept 2024, supported by Baroness Estelle Morris and Baroness Tessa Blackstone, that has been taken up by the media, including the BBC and the Jewish Press, and is intended to influence the Government’s ‘Children’s Wellbeing Act’.
PhD studentship, AHRC
Jewish History. This AHRC-funded PhD studentship for a collaborative doctoral project with the Manchester Jewish Museum is entitled "Defying Disability in Victorian Jewish Manchester: The Diaries of David Isaacs and Social Marginality in a Minority Community.” The project will be supervised by Daniel Langton. It offers a unique opportunity for the doctoral student to both advance their research and archive skills and also work with a museum on public-facing initiatives. The deadline for complete applications is 13 February, 2025. For more information and contact details for any questions, please see further information.
Lecture, University of Copenhagen
Moshe Behar will give a lecture on ‘Settler Colonial Studies, Terminations of Colonialism, and Ethnonationalism’. 11 December 2024, 14:00 at the University of Copenhagen. Further information.
Klezmer performance
Upcoming concert. Klezmer Klassica will give their first full-length concert to launch their new EP, Klezmer Klassica: Volume 1 and 2. Tuesday 10 December, 7.30pm at the Anthony Burgess Foundation. Tickets and further information here.
Scriptural Encounter 2024
Faith responses to difficult challenges. This series of Scriptural Encounter addresses the question, 'What might be the role of the faith traditions in encouraging measured reconciling solutions?’ We are exploring ways to deal with tensions that arise from our respective Scriptural traditions. The third webinar will be presented by Rabbi Dr. Daniel Roth, director of Mosaica, an Israeli NGO advancing community mediation and dialogue and Director Emeritus of the Pardes Center for Judaism and Conflict Resolution. Thursday 28 November, 4-5.30pm online via Zoom. Registration details here.
Call for postdoc fellowship applications
Jewish Studies. The Rothschild Foundation Europe offers a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Jewish Studies for £35,000 per annum for two years (in the UK, this equates to a part-time position). The Foundation only allows one application per institution, and so there will be an internal selection process. Candidates who wish to be considered for entering the competition as Manchester’s institutional applicant, should submit (i) a one-page CV, and (ii) a proposal of no more than 2 pages, including:
1. Project title
2. 150 word abstract
3. Project description
4. Research methodology
5. Explain how your project would advance Jewish Studies in Europe and align with the University of Manchester and the Centre for Jewish Studies
6. Estimated duration of the project (usually two years)
7. Describe how the results of the research will be published (eg book, article).
8. Confirm eligibility according to the Rothschild application guidance.
The two documents named above should be sent to daniel.langton@manchester.ac.uk by the internal selection application deadline of 8 December 2024. (The deadline for the institution’s grant application is 13 January 2025.) It is important to note that the successful internal candidate will be expected to draft a full application as soon as an internal decision has been made (around 13 December 2024) and to secure agreement from two referees who know their work and can provide a reference by 20 January 2025. The internal deadline is set so as to allow time for consultation, feedback and necessary University permissions before a submission meeting the Foundation's deadline. The internal selection will be guided by criteria of the Rothschild Foundation, although these are not detailed. However, they include an emphasis on "advancing Jewish Studies in Europe" and at the relevant institution, and the future potential of the proposed research. Although all research topics in Jewish Studies are eligible in principle, the Foundation says it welcomes in particular applications from those engaged in “the study of contemporary Jewish life in Europe from a social science perspective and those whose proposals involve digital humanities research techniques”. Full eligibility criteria, additional conditions, a sample application form and guidance notes, are available from the Rothschild website: https://rothschildfoundation.eu/what-we-fund/academic-jewish-studies/post-doctoral-fellowships/
New publication
Middle Eastern studies. Former Manchester PhD student, Roman Vater, The Hebrew Falcon: Adya Horon and the Birth of the Canaanite Idea (New York: Sun Press, 2024). Further information.
New publication
Jewish and Biblical Studies. Daniel Langton, 'Paul of Tarsus: Judaism' in Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception Online, edited by Constance M. Furey et al (Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2024). Further information.
New Publication
Jewish history. Daniel Langton, 'Wandering Jews in England’s Green and Pleasant Land: Wissenschaft des Judentums in an Anglo-Jewish Context' in Hebrew Union College Annual 94 (2023), 235-284. Further information.
History department seminar
Holocaust studies. Simone Gigliotti will present her book, Restless Archive: The Holocaust and the Cinema of the Displaced. There will be a book discussion with response by Jean-Marc Dreyfus. Wednesday 13 November, 3pm. Roscoe 2.3. Open access available here. Further information.