3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

Yiddish was the language of European Jews for 1000 years. From the 19th century to the present day it has been a language that millions of Americans -- Jewish immigrants and their descendants -- have spoken, written in, conducted their daily lives in, and created culture in. This course will examine literature, film, newspapers, and more to explore how Jewish immigrants to American shaped their identities--as Jews, as Americans, and as former Europeans. What role did maintaining, adapting, or abandoning a minority language play in the creation of Jewish American identity--cultural, ethnic, or religious? How was this language perceived by the majority culture? What processes of linguistic and cultural translation were involved in finding a space for Yiddish in America, in its original or translated into English? The overarching subjects of this course include migration, cultural translation, race, ethnicity, multilingualism, and assimilation.