Topics in Israel Studies (280-4-1)
Topic
Leisure and Popular Culture in 20th Century Palest
Instructors
Maayan Hilel
Crowe Hall, 5-155
Office Hours: Thursday 5:00 - 6:00
Dr. Maayan Hilel is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in Jewish & Israel Studies, and Assistant Director of the Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies at Northwestern University. She is a historian of the modern Middle East specializing in the cultural and social history of Palestine / the Land of Israel. Her book manuscript explores the emergence of modern leisure culture in Palestine's urban centers during the formative years of British rule (1918-1948). Relying on relational history, it examines intercommunal relations and cultural transformations within Jewish-Zionist and Palestinian-Arab societies. Through archival research in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, her research focuses on the ways in which members of marginalized social groups such as women, children, workers, and villagers participated, experienced, and interpreted major historical changes that unfolded at that time.
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-329: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
This course focuses on leisure and popular culture in Palestine/The land of Israel during the first half of the 20th century. The course examines the emergence of new leisure forms, sites, and practices and probes how local, regional, and global events shaped the cultural life of both Jewish and Arab societies and their intercultural relations. Throughout the course, we will discuss cafés, cinemas, beaches, nightlife, theatre, and sports venues as spaces of both intercommunal encounters and friction. We will examine how broad historical processes such as modernization, urbanization, the emergence of national identities, and the evolving national conflict between the Arab and Jewish communities shaped local leisure patterns. Also, we will analyze the interrelationship between leisure and other social constructs such as work, family, community, and nation. How did categories of ethnicity, gender, and class organize and reshape institutions and practices of leisure culture and vice versa? The course combines a wide range of primary sources as well as cultural products of Jewish and Arab writers, moviemakers, and artists. Through course readings, lectures, discussions, and collaborative assignments, students will confront the many ways in which leisure had a foundational impact on ordinary people's daily lives and the formation of collective identities in 20th-century Palestine \ Israel.
Registration Requirements
No registration requirements.
Learning Objectives
- Acquire in-depth knowledge of Palestine and Israel's modern cultural history.
- Increase the understanding of the complex and multi-faceted relationship between Jews and Arabs.
-Shape informed opinion upon a contested historical period and encourage critical thinking in relation to it.
-To be familiar with recent scholarly developments, methods, and approaches in the historiography of Jewish-Arab relations.
-Encourage active engagement in class discussions and in critical evaluation of primary and secondary sources.
-Develop writing, collaboration, and interpersonal communication skills.
Evaluation Method
Class participation: 25%
Paper, mid-term: 25%
Readings (Discussion posts on Canvas): 15%
Research/final project: 35%
Class Materials (Required)
Materials will be provided by the instructor.
Class Attributes
Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
Historical Studies Distro Area