In 2007-08 the Jewish Studies Program and the Bronfman Fund for Judaic Studies will sponsor a campus-wide series of lectures, films and events on the theme of exile. As a consequence of greater mobility, political instabilities, economic insecurity and the proliferation of communication methods, the state of diaspora/exile increasingly characterizes populations around the world, from Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe. It is thus a growing topic of global interest bringing with it a shared series of questions: How do exiles conceptualize their relation to the homeland? What function do language and culture serve in efforts both to maintain the cohesiveness of exilic communities and to promote or prohibit assimilation? How do immigrant communities from different origins relate to one another in common foreign settings? What role does exile play in the formation of nationalism? Can one speak of a state of exile that is internal? Is exile purely negative in its valence or can it be conceptualized as a positive transformative experience, perhaps one that helps break down the chauvinism of blood and soil? We hope that these questions and others will animate the year’s events, allowing us to consider the theme of exile descriptively and constructively.