Sarah Abrevaya Stein: Areas of Graduate Study

Division: Europe Since 1789

In this field, students have the opportunity to explore the varied nature of European Jewries: the shaping of modern European Jewish identities (among them the religious, political, literary, nationalist, and secularist): relationships between Jews and majority and minority cultures: and interactions between Jews and the states and empires in which they lived. Additionally, students of Modern European Jewish History will explore the theoretical and historiographic concerns that scholars of Jewish History bring to their research, in particular the question of how the history of Europe is transformed when the story of one of its minority populations is brought to the fore.

Graduate students may wish to prepare graduate fields in Modern European Jewish History to prepare them for research in this field, to build a comparative program of study, or to gain theoretical insights about the role and development of ethnic, national, or religious identities in Europe.

If possible, students of this field are asked to enroll in the graduate seminar "Topics in Modern European Jewish History" in advance of preparing their reading list. In consultation with Professor Stein, students will develop a particular focus within this broader field (be it regional, period specific, or thematic). Knowledge of a Jewish language is not required.

Division: Comparative History (Comparative Ethnicity & Nationalism, and Comparative Colonialisms)*

In preparing a field in Comparative Ethnicity & Nationalism students will read some of the theoretical and historical literature that explores the development of ethnic and national identities across Europe, in relation to world events. In addition to mastering a body of comparative scholarship, students will be asked to develop a particular focus in cooperation with Professor Stein. Possible topics include; the place of ethnic minorities in the multi-lingual, multi-sectarian, multi-ethnic Russian and Ottoman Empires: the way in which ethnicity and nationalism was configured differently in and by Europe's empires and nation-states: the development of ethnic or national consciousness among particular minority communities: the question of how gendered, sexualized, and ethnic identities develop in tandem: and the usefulness of engaging in comparison.

Graduate students may wish to prepare graduate fields in the study of Ethnicity and Nationalism to fortify the theoretical basis of their own research, to engage in comparative history, or to gain insights about the role and development of ethnic, national, and religious identities in Europe.

In preparing a field in Comparative Colonialisms students will read some of the theoretical and historical literature on the shaping of imperialism and culture in colonial settings. In addition to mastering a body of comparative and theoretical scholarship, students will, in cooperation with Professor Stein, develop a particular focus. Possible topics include; the varied nature of Europe's empires and imperial acquisitions (e.g. was Russia imperialist in the same way as was Britain?), the shaping of culture under and in resistance to imperialism, the ways in which imperialism influenced and helped invent gendered, racial, and economic senses of self: and the usefulness of engaging in comparison.

Graduate students may wish to prepare graduate fields in the study of Comparative Colonialism to fortify the theoretical basis of their own research, to engage in comparative history, or to gain insights about the role and development of imperialist and colonial identities in and beyond Europe.

*Students may not offer a field in the Comparative History division as a first field.