THE CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES AT UC SANTA CRUZ

An intellectual and programming hub for public events, research projects,
and collaborations devoted to the exploration of Jewish culture and history

James Young

James Young: “Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial Problem and Mine”

The selection of a design for the Berlin Memorial to Europe’s murdered Jews was a contentious one. After September 11th, the memorial for those who died in the World Trade Center was compared by some to holocaust memorials before it, and by one reporter specifically to the Berlin Memorial. How did it come to pass that the memorial at Ground Zero would evoke Berlin’s Memorial to Europe’s murdered Jews?

Joel Blecher: “The Maimonides Madrasah: Islamic Secular Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Damascus”

A visitor to the last standing Jewish day-school in Syria, the Maimonides Madrasah, will notice the logo of the Syrian Arab Republic’s Ministry of Education proudly chiseled above the entrance. The secular state stakes out an overt presence in many other Jewish sites in Damascus. The very centerpiece of the Syrian National Museum is a historical reconstruction of a 3rd century Jewish synagogue.

Ghetto: Jews, African Americans, and the Urban Imaginary

Since its inception in sixteenth century Venice, the term “ghetto” has been applied to Jewish urban spaces in Europe and the United States. Over the last half century, it has also become associated with African American inner city neighborhoods. Highly regulated and surveilled by the state, Jewish and African American ghettos have also been marked by a high degree of social autonomy.

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