Are Jewish Studies Ethnic Studies?

110 FOCUS ON PROGRAMS AND TEACHING SHOFAR The following five papers were part of a panel discussion on starting and running Jewish Studies programs at the Second Annual Conference of the Midwest Jewish Studies Association held at Spertus College of Judaica in Chicago in October of 1990. We welcome responses, dialogue, and discussions of experiences with other programs for what we hope can become a regular column. Are Jewish Studies Ethnic Studies? Gilead Morahg University of Wisconsin at Madison Some twenty years ago there was a failed effort to establish a Jewish Studies program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There were many reasons for this failure, not least of which was the uneasiness of some Jewish faculty members about a program that would focus attention on Judaism as a subject of study and, perhaps, on them as Jews. There was also some genuine skepticism among the faculty ·as to the intellectual validity of the very notion of Jewish Studies, and a stance of not-so-benign indifference on the part of the campus administration. The effort faltered, fizzled, and was ultimately transformed into a dim, sometimes acrimonious, memory. A little over two years ago a group of Madison faculty launched a new initiative to establish a Jewish Studies program. This time the response was very different. There was enthusiastic support from the administration, and no dissenting voices came from the faculty. The University Foundation was charged with raising funds for a number of new positions in Jewish Studies; a faculty proposal to establish a Center for Jewish Studies was endorsed swiftly at all the administrative levels; funding for a new Chair in Jewish Studies was secured, and, in 1991-92, Jewish Studies will become an official presence on the Madison campus. The fact that, during the past twenty years, Jewish Studies had legitimized itself as an area of academic inquiry, and the fact that Madison was one of the few major institutions of higher learning in the country that did not have a Jewish Studies program, were clearly important factors in the reversal that I have described. But there was another factor in this process which, I believe, deserves a closer look. Over ,the past five years the UWMadison has redefined itself as a campus that places a very high priority on VoLume 9, No.4 Summer 1991 111 cultural diversity among its faculty and student body as well as in its educational policy. During this time a plan to recruit greater numbers of minority students and faculty was developed, funded, and aggressively pursued ; a multicultural student center was established, and a rich line of multicultural activities and events was initiated; the formation of new Ethnic Studies programs, such as Native American Studies and Chicano Studies, was encouraged, and every Madison undergraduate is now required to take at least one Ethnic Studies course before graduating. Among the Ethnic Studies options open to students are courses in Jewish Studies, and there is no question that the desire for a multiplicity of strong programs in various ethnic cultures was the primary motivating factor in the administration's support for the increased presence of Jewish Studies on the Madison campus. But not all of the faculty working to strengthen this presence are equally comfortable with the equation of Jewish Studies with Ethnic Studies. The implications of this equation should be pondered because the rise of Ethnic Studies is, of course, not unique to Madison. It is part of a national trend that is apparent from Dartmouth to Berkeley and is likely to include an increasing number of institutions in the future. This valorization of ethnicity may be used to good effect by those of us who seek to strengthen existing Jewish Studies programs or to establish new ones, but some active members of the Jewish Studies community are uneasy about the effects this trend may have on the way Jews are presented and perceived. The designation of Jewish Studies as an area of Ethnic·Studies also designates the Jews as a distinct ethnic minority in the United States. This is a designation that makes some people uncomfortable. And, although I am not one of these people, I believe that the causes and...