In 1654 a ship carrying 23 Jewish refugees fleeing the Brazilian Inquisition sailed off course and landed in New Amsterdam. Some 350 years later, American Jewry has come to constitute one of the largest, richest, and most important Jewish communities in the world. This course surveys the in-between years, examining the experiences of Jewish immigrants and their children as they have sought to negotiate a place for themselves in a society whose regard for religious minorities has run the spectrum from hostile to ambivalent. Combining historical and sociological approaches, we will pay particular attention to the construction and the continuous reformation of American Jewish identity, looking at such topics as the transformation of "Judaism" from a racial to an ethnic category; the articulation of discourses of "chosenness" in a pluralistic, secularizing society; the development of contemporary revitalization movements (Reconstructionists, Havurahniks, etc.); and the place of Jews in American higher education. Instead of taking the usual exams, students in the class will demonstrate their learning and develop their skills by conducting original research, digging through the College archives and conducting oral histories with alumni. If all goes well, their final projects will form the backbone of a published volume on the history of Jews at Williams College. Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: full attendance and participation, brief weekly response papers, and one 18- to 25-page research paper. No prerequisites. Open to all classes. Enrollment limit: 20 (expected: 20). (This course is part of the Critical Reasoning and Analytical Skills initiative. )

Hour: VERTER