Australian UNAOC Research Network Partner Monash University’s Australian Centre for Jewish Civilization has announced the call for papers, deadline September 26, for the Annual AAJS conference. The conference will be held 12-13 February, 2012 at Monash University.
The theme of the conference is “Old New Jews: Jewish Identity in the 21st Century.”
Old New Jews borrows the Jewish idea of Alt Neu to capture the ongoing exchange of past and present, innovation and tradition. This year’s AAJS conference on Jewish Identity in the 21st Century examines how this creative tension is playing itself out under the impact of our rapidly changing millennium. Over the centuries the contours of Jewish identity have shifted through encounters with broader intellectual, historical, cultural and sociological trends. This conference focuses on how the 21st century will sustain and transform Judaism and Jewish identities. It looks to past models of Jewish culture and identity in order to provide a comparative perspective on current and future trends impacting on Jews and Judaism. Papers and Keynote addresses will look at questions of Judaism and Jewish identity – its transmission, diversity, and specificity in relation to national and global settings. The conference will look at how the Israel-Diaspora relationship is being remodelled; Jewish institutional life; the impact of new technologies; Judaism in an age of choice and hybrid identities;demographic trends and marriage patterns; population movements and scholarly constructs of ethnicity, identity and social cohesion.