JEWS ACROSS THE AMERICAS: 1492-PRESENT
Editors: Adriana Brodsky & Laura Leibman
While typical histories of American Judaism meant for classroom use are commonly written by one author and are limited by national boundaries, Jews Across the Americas provides a polyphonic approach to the diversity of the American Jewish experiences. Ranging from the early colonial era to the present, Jews Across the Americas includes primary sources from South America, North America, and the Caribbean. Each entry will consists of (1) a primary source (100-1000 words or 1-4 images) and (2) a 400-600 word introduction that succinctly answers the following questions: what is the original context of this work? What does the source contribute to local Jewish history or history of the era? What does it add to the story of American Jewish history more broadly across time and space? What are a few key questions scholars have asked about this work? Entries should include a very brief list (1-5 works) of secondary resources that either use the source or address its context or were referenced in the introduction.
By translating each entry into English, Jews Across the Americas gives undergraduates and interested lay people easy access to primary sources from a wide range of American countries. For those teaching in multilingual classrooms, an online companion website allows students to read the texts in their original languages. This website will also allow for the inclusion of music or video clips. Entries will be balanced to pay attention to the historical and geographic range of American Jewish history, as well as the role of women and other typically underrepresented members of the American Jewish life. The individual entries will be complemented by an overview of each era by the editors, as well as a glossary and index.
Taken as a whole, the work aims to help scholars provide students with new way of thinking about American Jewish history that is more methodologically and geographically diverse than current commonly assigned books.
Submissions are particularly encouraged on underrepresented people, places and issues, early time periods, and those that combine visual and textual approaches as well as resources on essential, defining moments. Sources may be either historical documents, art, short literary texts, objects from material culture (such as ephemera, furniture, architecture, clothing, etc.), or sound or video clips.