New Introductory Courses in History (200-0-20)
Topic
The Jews of Southeastern Europe
Instructors
Stefan Cristian Ionescu
Ștefan Cristian Ionescu is currently a Theodore Zev and Alice R. Weiss-Holocaust Educational Foundation Visiting Associate Professor in Holocaust Studies at Northwestern University. Ionescu holds a Ph.D. in history from Clark University. He is the author of several book chapters and articles in such journals as Nationalities Papers: A Journal of Ethnicity and Nationalism, Journal of Genocide Research, Holocaust Studies: A Journal of History and Culture, Yad Vashem Studies, and Culture and Psychology. Ionescu’s book, entitled Jewish Resistance to Romanianization: 1940-1944, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2015.
Meeting Info
Harris Hall L06: Tues, Thurs 9:30AM - 10:50AM
Overview of class
Topic: The Jews of Southeastern Europe
Starting in the 19th century, in the Western European colonial and postcolonial imagination, Southeastern Europe (known as the Balkans) became the typical locus of Orientalism at the fringe of Europe, depicted as a place of socio-economic backwardness, bloodthirsty tribalism, and ingrained inter-ethnic and inter-religious hatred and violence targeting especially the minorities, such as the Jews. Such myths worsened during the twentieth century when Southeastern Europe - encompassing the modern states of Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia and its successor states - was seen as a source of instability, war, and political chaos and fragmentation. One of the most important minorities of Southeastern Europe during the modern era, the local Jews contributed decisively to the region's economic and socio-cultural modernization, while enduring discrimination, marginalization, long-lasting struggles with integration, and eventually mass destruction and mass emigration. At the same time, during the Ottoman and the Habsburg Empires and the successor nation-states, the region harbored significant traditions of multiculturality, multi-confessionalism, and peaceful coexistence, and some of the local Jews achieved economic prosperity and social and cultural prominence. In spite of the relatively small size of their communities, the local Jews triggered a lot of interest in the Great powers' and local states' political-diplomatic circles who debated their status (often conceptualized as the "Jewish Question") at the major peace conferences marking the end of various conflicts such as the 1877-1878 Russian-Ottoman War, World War I, and World War II.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Jews of the region have witnessed a series of transitions that shaped their lives in a major way - from empires to nation states and emancipation, from war and civil war to peace, from fascism to communism and from the latter to liberal democracy. This course will examine the political, economic, and socio-cultural history of the Jews in Southeastern Europe throughout the 19th and 20th centuries from the disintegration of local empires and the emergence of modern nation-states to the recent democratization and the enlargement of the European Union.
Learning Objectives
By completing this course, you are expected to be able to:
• Familiarize yourselves with the major concepts and historical events that shaped the history of Jews in Southeastern Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries.
• Read critically, understand and critically analyze works of history produced by scholars with different methodological and theoretical approaches to the study of Jewish history.
• Improve your analytical, writing and communication skills through close readings of texts, class discussions, writing papers.
• Learn to recognize historical arguments regarding controversial historical questions and to formulate and support an original historical argument using primary and secondary sources.
• Learn how to properly structure a thesis-driven paper, how to apply appropriate methods of citation, and how to use a clear writing style that conveys historical knowledge ideas, and evidence in a mature, readily understood manner.
Evaluation Method
Discussion posts on Canvas; final paper; participation in class Q&As
Class Materials (Required)
All the assigned readings will be uploaded on Canvas
Class Notes
History Area(s) of Concentration: European
Class Attributes
Historical Studies Distro Area