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  • JLST 401: Senior Seminar: Trials and Transitions

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    Before the 1990s, the world saw only occasional, discrete war crimes trials after major-power cataclysms. In the last two decades, trials expanded dramatically in number, scope, and philosophy. Separate Ad Hoc Tribunals for crimes in Yugoslavia and those in Rwanda, in Sierra Leone and in Cambodia are giving way to a permanent International Criminal Court, which has begun to hand down indictments and refine its jurisdiction. At the same time, worries about residual impunity or the effect that punishment might have on societies' futures has led to the development of national and social courts to complement those at the international level. Models of transitional justice abound. This capstone seminar examines the intent, process, meaning and consequence of these new institutions, particularly in terms of national constitutions, international law, and principles of justice. Prerequisite:    Senior standing or permission of the instructor
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  • JWST 101: Judaism: Innovation and Tradition

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    What is the relationship between modern notions of Jewish identity, thought and practice and the Hebrew Bible? How does the modern Reform movement link itself to the laws of the rabbinic sages? Are there consistent values and ideals that mark Jewish moral thought throughout its history? What elements of the Jewish tradition have enabled its elasticity and historic persistence? By providing an introduction to the traditions of Jewish thought and practice through the ages, this course will take up these questions. Though the course's method of progression will be primarily chronological, commencing with myths of Israel's beginnings and culminating with contemporary debates over Jewish identity, we will additionally emphasize the strong ties between methods of Jewish thought and practices and the surrounding cultural environments in which they developed. We will approach the tradition not only with historical concerns, but with literary and philosophical aims as well. We will analyze the interpretive strategies, theological presuppositions, and political aims that accompany the tradition both in its continuities and its ruptures. Finally, we will consider the extent to which we can speak of Judaism under the category of religion, considering as well the other categories that have been proposed for Judaism, Jews and Jewishness, such as nation, people, race and ethnicity, and the motivations behind such designations. Texts will include the Hebrew Bible, Holz (ed), Back to the Sources; Halbertal, People of the Book; Mendelssohn, Jerusalem; Hertzberg (ed), The Zionist Idea; Levi, Survival in Auschwitz as well as excerpts and articles available in a course packet.
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  • JWST 206: The Book of Job and Joban Literature

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    The Book of Job has often been described as the most philosophical book of the Hebrew Bible. The story of one man's struggle to understand the cause of his suffering and his relationship to God represents the finest flowering of the Near Eastern wisdom literature tradition. Through its exploration of fundamental issues concerning human suffering, fate and divinity, and the nature of philosophical self-examination, Job has served as a touchstone for the entire history of existential literature. At the same time, the sheer poetic force of the story has inspired some of the greatest artistic and literary meditations in the Western tradition. This course will engage in a close reading of the Book of Job in its full cultural, religious, and historical context with special attention to its literary, philosophical, and psychological dimensions. We will then proceed to investigate key modern works in several genres that involve Joban motifs, themes, and text both explicitly and implicitly. These texts will include Franz Kafka's The Trial, Archibald MacLeish's J.B., Robert Frost's "Masque of Reason," Carl Jung's Answer to Job, and William Blake's Illustrations to the Book of Job. All readings are in translation.
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  • JWST 217: The Modern Middle East

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    This survey course addresses the main economic, religious, political and cultural trends in the modern Middle East. Topics to be covered include the cultural diversity of the Middle East, relations with Great Powers, the impact of imperialism, the challenge of modernity, the creation of nation states and nationalist ideologies, the discovery of oil, radical religious groups, and war and peace. Throughout the course these significant changes will be evaluated in light of their impact on the lives of a variety of individuals in the region and especially how they have grappled differently with increasing Western political and economic domination. This course is part of the Exploring Diversity Initiative because it compares the differences and similarities between different cultures and societies in the Middle East and the various ways they have responded to one another in the past. Prerequisite:    Open to all
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  • JWST 291: Sirens in the Synagogue: Real and Imaginary Encounters in Jewish Narratives Antiquity to Present

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    Jewish culture, like culture in general, is shaped by a variety of encounters between groups. The image of the Sirens--half-birds (or fish)/half-women--serves as a point of departure to other perhaps no less surprising encounters. In this seminar, we shall read texts in English translation from the Hebrew Bible, and especially from the Rabbinic literature of Late Antiquity--Talmud and Midrash--as well as later periods, to explore the creative encounters that have shaped Jewish literature and culture. We shall study the continuous presence of Biblical interpretation in Jewish literature, as well as the dialogical exchanges with neighboring cultures, especially the Ancient Near East, the Greco-Roman world, emerging Christianity, the Mediterranean region, the Moslem and the European civilizations. Throughout our readings, we will explore cultural concepts such as ethnicity, gender, the sacred, social institutions (such as kingship, priesthood and marriage), individuality, and imagination. Our interpretations of a selection of texts will lead to a deeper understanding of the continuous tradition of Hebrew and Jewish literature and culture.
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  • JWST 352: Writing after the Disaster: The Literature of Exile

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    This course will consider different kinds of works (poetry, memoirs, fiction, essay) written by authors forced to live in exile as a consequence of political and/or religious persecution. Our point of departure will be the paradigmatic expulsion and subsequent diaspora of the Jews of Spain and Portugal. Most assignments, however, will be drawn from twentieth century texts written during, or in the wake of, the massive destruction and displacements brought about by the Spanish Civil War and World War II. How is the life lost portrayed? How are the concepts of home and the past intertwined? What kind of life or literature are possible for the deracinated survivor? We will discuss the role of writing and remembrance in relation to political history, as well as in the context of individual survival. Readings might include works by Nu?ez de Reinoso, Leon, Cernuda, Semprun, Benjamin, Nancy, and Blanchot. Prerequisite:    Comparative Literature 111 or an equivalent English course
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  • JWST 385: Ethics after the Shoah

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    The Destruction of European Jewry during World War II has had an enduring impact on philosophical and literary work in Europe and elsewhere. Can any meaning be gleaned from it? How can it be represented? In so far as it changed our conception of what it is to be human, does it also change how we participate in the humanities? In this class we will consider these questions, by focusing on the surge of ethical inquiry that followed from the disaster. We will treat post-World War II works by authors who consider the impact of the Shoah on notions of the other, election, representation, forgiveness, and universalism, with particular attention given to the French context. Emmanuel Levinas will be a central figure along with Primo Levi, Emil Fackenheim, Hannah Arendt, Georgio Agamben, Maurice Blanchot and Jacques Derrida.
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  • JWST 434: The Meaning of Diaspora and the Jews of Europe

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    Dispersion, exile, migration, statelessness are all aspects of diaspora. And in the study of diasporic peoples and cultures, the Jews have long figured as the archetype. Indeed, prior to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the diasporic condition both defined and, in a meaningful way, was defined by the Jewish experience. As a result, Jewish political figures, intellectuals, and scholars have played a central role in discussions of the meaning of diaspora, including debates about its political and social implications, economic value, and cultural significance. This seminar examines various interpretations of Jews' diasporic existence from the nineteenth century to the present, both as a cultural practice and a form of group identity from which political claims have been made. Ultimately, this seminar will test the proposition that "The Modern Age is the Jewish Age," that is, that the meaning of diaspora in modern Jewish history has direct relevance to students of human identity, not just of Jewishness. In addition to common readings, students will conduct independent research on some aspect of the history of diaspora that will culminate in a 20-page paper.
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  • JWST 490: Memory, History, and the Extermination of the Jews of Europe: Dangerous History

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    The atrocities committed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War continue to trouble historians in their attempts to understand and represent them in all their magnitude and horror. Beyond historians, the complicity of segments of European societies in perpetrating those atrocities continues to raise thorny questions for postwar European nations about what their responsibilities are toward that past. This tutorial will focus on a series of questions relating to the historicization and memorialization of the extermination of European Jews. They include: Is the Holocaust unique? Is it a Jewish story or universal story? Does the Holocaust raise different issues for the historian than other historical events? How should the Holocaust be represented and what are the implications of different means of representing it? What role, if any, did European Jews play in their own destruction? Has Germany faced up to its past? Were Germans also victims of World War II? Who were the "bystanders" as compared to the "perpetrators"? Were the postwar trials of perpetrators a travesty of justice? How appropriate are the different uses that Israel and the United States have made of the Holocaust? By the end of the course, students will have grappled with the ongoing controversies that have arisen among scholars, governments, and lay people about the meaning (and meaninglessness) of the Holocaust for the postwar world. In a world in which extraordinary acts of violence continue to be perpetrated and more and more nations' pasts are marked by episodes of extreme criminality and/or trauma, exploring the manner by which one such episode has been remembered, avenged, and adjudicated should prove relevant for future consideration of other societies' efforts to confront their own traumatic pasts. Prerequisite:    Permission of instructor
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  • JWST 491: Exile, Homecoming and the Promised Land

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    In terms of vocabulary and metaphor, the Jewish experience of exile pervades modern, western discourse on the experience of being alienated, severed, and separated from one's national and natural homeland. Thus in this course we will take the Jewish experience of exile (galut) as our point of departure for a broader discussion of these themes as they relate to other diasporic communities. As a consequence of increased mobility, political instabilities, economic insecurity and the proliferation of means of communication, the state of Diaspora increasingly characterizes populations across the globe, from Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe. While we will not focus specifically on these communities, one of our tasks will be to discover how the Jewish experience shapes the discourse on exile and Diaspora that pervades modern discussions of displacement and emigration. We must further consider what is at stake politically and philosophically in privileging the Jewish experience, especially given the post-1948 community of Palestinian refugees. To illuminate this discussion we will draw on the literature of the Jewish tradition from the Hebrew Bible and rabbis to Twentieth Century accounts and reflections of Franz Kafka, Walter Benjamin and Emmanuel Levinas, as well as materials that reflect the voices of other refugee communities. We will then move to examine the relationship of the notion of the homeland to that of the promised land. We will consider the ambivalence in the nineteenth and twentieth century concerning discourse of blood and soil, and the consequent possibility that exile and rootlessness could signal positively.
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