JDS 389LEC—The American Jewish Experience: History, Social Justice, and the Counter Culture

This course explores the rich and complex history of American Jewish experience from the seventieth century to the present, examining how Jewish immigrants fleeing European persecution built the largest Jewish community in modern history and profoundly shaped American culture, politics, and society. Through engagement with diverse cultural productions-including fiction, music, film, television, and comics-we will investigate how life in a liberal democracy and capitalist economy transformed Jewish identity, and how Jews, in turn, left an indelible mark on American life. Special attention will be paid to the ways Jewishness intersects with and complicates other dimensions of identity such as gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, citizenship, and class, revealing the multifaceted nature of what it means to be both Jewish and American across more than a century of dynamic cultural exchange.