News and Information

208 NEWS AND INFORMATION Conferences Philip & Muriel Berman Center SHOFAR The Philip and Muriel Berman Center for Jewish Studies will host a conference entitled "The Other in Jewish Thought and History," May 17-19, 1992, at Lehigh University. The conference will explore the categories, descriptions , and images by means of which Jews have defined other groups and, simultaneously, themselves. . As increasingly recognized in fields such as anthropology, social thought, and literary theory, groups forge their own cultural boundaries and establish their identities through their definitions of "other." Such conceptions of otherness, which often reflect a group's fears and vulnerabilities, also generate and support discourses of inclusion and exclusion. Bringing together scholars from a variety of disciplines to apply these issues to Jewish thought and history, the conference aims to enhance our understanding of the processes through which Jewish identity, culture, and ideology have been constructed, legitimated, and disseminated. To receive a conference schedule and registration materials, contact Shirley Ratushny, Asst. to the Director, Berman Center for Jewish Studies, Lehigh University, Maginnes Hall 9, Bethlehem, PA 18015,215-758-3352. YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Papers are solicited for the 63rd Annual Conference of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, to be held in New York City, November 7-9, 1992. The theme of the conference is "Political, Religious, and Cultural Responses to Modern Jewish Nationalism in Eastern European Jewry, 1897-1939." Possible issues related to this theme might be: the Bund and Jewish nationalism; religious Zionism and Orthodox anti-Zionism; liberal and bourgeois Jewish alternatives to nationalism; Hasidic responses to modern Jewish nationalism, the varieties of secular Jewish anti-Zionism, cultural conflicts, such as that between Hebrew and Yiddish as the national Jewish language; the role of the labor movement in Zionism; territorialism; cultural Zionism; etc. ' Limited subsidies are available from YIVO to help cover travel and hotel expenses of participants in the conference. The deadline for submission of proposals for papers is May 15, 1992. Send one-page abstracts to: Dr. Allan Volume 10, No.2 Winter 1992 209 Nadler, Director of Research, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 1048 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10028. CUNY and Tel Aviv University The City University of New York and Tel Aviv University are planning a conference on the theme "Russian Jewry on Three Continents: A Tale of -Migrations." This conference will take place at Tel Aviv University in December 1993 or January 1994. Possible topics within this general theme would include, but not be limited to, the following: a comparison of Czarist and Soviet nationality policies and their implications for Jewish migrations; the debates among Russian Jews, then and now, as to "what is to be done"; migratory self-selection among Russian Jews; the social, economic, and cultural integration of Russian Jewry in the United States and/or Israel; the settlement patterns of Russian Jews in the United States and/or Israel; the role ofvoluntary, social service , and governmental agencies and efforts in settling and integrating Russian Jews in the United States and/or Israel; the demography of Russian Jews as a factor determining patterns of migration; etc. Ifyou are interested in submitting a proposal for a paper to be delivered at this conference, please write to Professor Paul Ritterband, Center for Jewish Studies, Box 465, City University of New York, 33 West 42 Street, New York, NY 10036-8099; tel. 212-642-2180. Educational News National Yiddish Book Center Once again, the National Yiddish Book Center announces paid summer internships for undergraduate students. The seven-week program offers an unusual combination of academic learning and hands-on work experience, providing college students with an introduction to Yiddish language, literature and culture. The academic component of the program includes it daily, intensive, full-credit course in Yiddish Iangauge; offered at both the beginners' and intermediate levels. Also offered is an informal evening· seminar in Modern Yiddish Literature in English translation and a weekly discussion group. Interns will also spend approximately 30 hours each week working at the Center . The program begins on June 1 and runs through July 17, 1992. Students receive a fellowship of $1,500 plus an allowance of $100 per week for room and board. The program...