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Sovereigns and Subjects: Jewish Political Thought and Experience in the 20th Century
Organizers

Gad Barzilai (Jackson School)

Richard Block (Germanics)

Susan Glenn (History)

Noam Pianko (Jackson School)

Michael Rosenthal (Philosophy)

Project Overview

Since the Enlightenment, Jews have had a double-relation to political power and the modern state. On the one hand, they have been liberated from tutelage to become minority subjects in liberal states. On the other, they have become sovereigns through participation in those liberal governments and also through the creation of their own state.

The purpose of the two-day symposium is three-fold:

  1. to explore Jewish perspectives on the central paradoxes and limits of modern liberalism and the nation-state;
  2. to see what is unique about the Jewish experience of modern politics;
  3. to find out what this experience has in common with other ways of negotiating the nation-state and the modern world order.

Conference Program

Conference E-Flyer (pdf)

No advance registration required.

Sunday, February 24, 2008
All events at UW Hillel (4745 17th Ave NE) Directions

2-3:15 pm: 1st Panel - Rabbinic Political Thought in the Modern World

Moderator:   Bob Stacey (History, University of Washington)

Speaker:  Charlotte Fonrobert (Religious Studies, Stanford University)  "Replacing the Nation – Judaism, Diaspora and the Neighborhood"

Commentator:  Marty Jaffee (Jewish Studies, University of Washington)

3:45 - 5 pm: 2nd Panel - American Jewish Political Experience

Moderator:  Susan Glenn (History, University of Washington)

Speaker:  Tony Michels (History, University of Wisconsin) "Against Exceptionalism:  An Attempt to Revise the Liberal Paradigm in American Jewish History"

Commentator:  Sarah Stein (History, University of Washington)


7 pm: Evening Lecture

Opening Remarks:  Paul Burstein (Sociology, University of Washington)

Speaker Introduction:  Michael Rosenthal (Philosophy, University of Washington)

Speaker:  Derek Penslar (Jewish Studies, University of Toronto) "Uniform Identities:  Jews and the Military in Modern Europe"

Reception to follow

Monday, February 25, 2008
All events will take place in the Simpson Center for the Humanities, Communications 202 Directions

10 am -12pm: 3rd Panel - Jews and Political Theology

Moderator:  Gad Barzilai (Political Science and Law, University of Washington)

Speaker 1:  Peter Gordon (History, Harvard University) "The Place of Judaism in the History of Secularization: Reflections on Charles Taylor's 'A Secular Age'"

Speaker 2:  Samuel Moyn (History, Columbia University) "Hannah Arendt's Critique of Political Theology (and Was It Jewish?)"

Commentator:  Richard Block (Germanics, University of Washington)


2-4 pm: 4th Panel (2-4pm) -  Zionism & Contemporary Politics

Moderator:  Joel Migdal (International Studies, University of Washington)

Speaker 1:  Jeffrey Spinner-Halev (Political Science, University of North Carolina) "Zionism and Post-Zionism in Comparative Perspective"

Speaker 2:   Noam Pianko (International Studies, University of Washington) "Breaking the Sovereign Mold: Jewish Nationalism and the Boundaries of Collective Identity in a Global Era"

Commentator:  Derek Penslar (Jewish Studies, University of Toronto)

4-5 pm: Open concluding discussion

Events

Conference: February 24-25, 2008

Invited speakers include:

Charlotte FonrobertCharlotte Fonrobert
(Religious Studies, Standford University)


Peter GordonPeter Gordon
(History, Harvard University)


Tony MichelsTony Michels
(History, University of Wisconsin-Madison)


Samuel MoynSamuel Moyn
(History, Columbia University)


Derek PenslarDerek Penslar
(Jewish Studies, University of Toronto)


Jeffrey Spinner-HalevJeffrey Spinner-Halev
(Political Science, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill)


Conference sponsors include the Simpson Center for the Humanities, the Jewish Studies Program, the Departments of Philosophy and Germanics, the Program on Values in Society, the Institute for Transnational Studies, UW Hillel, and the College of Arts and Sciences.

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