Center for Jewish Studies, University of Graz
Contact details
Centrum für Jüdische StudienBeethovenstraße 21
8010 Graz
Austria
Tel: +43 316 3803927
Email: office.cjs@uni-graz.at
https://http://juedischestudien.uni-graz.at/
Contact person
Beate Konecky
Tel: +43 316 3803927
Email: office.cjs@uni-graz.at
Head of Department/Director
Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr.phil. Gerald Lamprecht
Tel: +43 316 380 8073
Email: gerald.lamprecht@uni-graz.at
Activites
Awards degrees in Jewish Studies as a sole or major componentCertificate: Jewish Studies - History of Jewish Cultures. The cross-faculty, certified specialization “Jewish Studies – History of Jewish Cultures” is an additional qualification aimed at BA and MA students in the humanities, catholic theology and social science faculties of the University of Graz. The subject of the certificate is the culture, religion, literature and history of Judaism since the European Enlightenment, with a focus on cultural, political, religious and social transformation processes. Of particular interest are the diverse forms and the change in Jewish lifeworlds in the past and present, taking into account intercultural and transcultural processes between Jewish and non-Jewish social groups, identity formation processes and self-perceptions and perceptions of others by the various Jewish societies. Starting from dealing with the changing Jewish world, insights for the analysis and understanding of cultural and religious transformation processes of the current migration societies are to be gained. In order to do justice to the complexity of these subject areas, the certified focus is designed to be interdisciplinary.
Jewish Studies - History of Jewish Cultures (Joint Master of the Karl-Franzens-University Graz together with the University of Jewish Studies Heidelberg). The two-year Joint Master's program Jewish Studies - History of Jewish Cultures is a humanities and cultural studies course that deals with the diverse forms and changes in Jewish life in the past and present. The course focuses on the culture, religion, literature and history of Judaism since the Enlightenment, with particular reference to the cultural, political and social processes of change in Europe. Particular emphasis is placed on intercultural and transcultural relationships between Jewish and non-Jewish social groups, on identity formation processes and on self-perceptions and perceptions of others by the various Jewish societies in Europe.
Offers courses in Jewish Studies
Provides supervision in Jewish studies for students working towards a research degree
Pursues academic research activities
Degrees offered
MA Geschichte jüdischer Kulturen
Main research activities
CJS primarily focuses on Jewish regional history and critical (contemporary) historical research. CJS scholars focus on the Jewish history of the 19th and 20th centuries in Austrian resp. the Habsburg regions as well as questions of antisemitism, persecution and deprivation by the National Socialists and (Jewish) post-war history. The latter includes questions of memory studies as well as the coming to term with National Socialism and the atrocities committed during that time in Austrian society, culture and politics. The CJS has established itself within the research landscape of Graz as a center of critical (contemporary) historical research and is actively involved in current historical and socio-political debates.
Jewish literature: The field of Jewish literatures deals with the multitude of linguistic and cultural forms and interactions that have emerged in the literary-textual field since the Haskalah. Shaped by imperial, post-imperial, national or post-national experiences, they each show moments of entanglement, negotiation and mediation. Processes of encounter, transfer, translation and transformation, the negotiation of difference and similarity, contributed to the development of Jewish language cultures in the German and Russian speaking world as well as to the emergence of modern Yiddish and Hebrew literature. From a comparative point of view, questions are asked about the objects, forms of representation and interactions of Jewish literatures that develop(ed) in the European context and in migration.
The focus on European-Jewish literatures, whether they are written e.g. in German, Russian, Yiddish or English, contests the dichotomies of periphery and center, of disruptions and continuities, and discusses the relations between the national and the transnational. Thematic aspects such as humour, portrayal of World War I and memory, offer in addition to their relevance for European literary and cultural history, new perspectives on the interweaving and negotiation of life worlds, knowledge, culture and language, on forms of self-perception and external perception, and on the conceptualisation of world literature.
Lived and conceived togetherness: The cultural studies-oriented research focuses on encounters and interactions between Jewish and non-Jewish communities as well as their effects on people's lifestyles. In doing so, experiences and practices from everyday life as well as their cultural processing are examined.
There is a Jewish Studies library
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