Jews, Gender, and Economies in History Workshop
Jews, Gender, and Economies in History Workshop
Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies
University of Oxford
Where: Zoom
When: 4–5 October
Over the last two decades, historians have increasingly examined the presence and interactions of Jews with and within various ideas and forms of economic life. At the same time, gender continues to form a major focal point in the study of Jewish life and thought. Nevertheless, these two scholarly ships have often passed each other with scant active dialogue.
How can perspectives from gender studies inform and enrich scholarly attention to Jewish economic life and material culture? How can Jewish economic histories escape gendered assumptions about the industrial formal economy and economic and social agency? What sources can prove fruitful for the incorporation of perspectives on gender, as well as the economic activities of female and non-binary individuals, which might have been ignored or elided in conventional implicitly male-gendered conceptions of economic and/or business activity?
To address these questions within the context of ongoing empirical research, we call for abstracts for papers from junior academics (PhD candidates, postdocs, and pre-tenure junior faculty). Submissions may address Jewish life in any region(s) in the early modern, modern, or contemporary periods. Possible topics in national or transnational contexts include capitalism, labour, domestic work, consumption, consumer culture, identity, philanthropy, cosmopolitanism, commerce, advertising, trade, entrepreneurship, industry, crafts, business, migration, and sex work. The virtual workshop will take place on 4–5 October on a dedicated Zoom platform. Proposals and papers should be in English.
Abstracts of no more than 250 words and a short biography should be sent by 30 June 2021 to jgeworkshop2021@gmail.com.
The virtual event is hosted by the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and co-sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania.