Jewish Studies
The goal of the Jewish Studies Program is to provide students with a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and diverse exploration of Jewish civilization over its 3000-year history. The program includes courses across multiple disciplines (the Arts, Humanities, Interdisciplinary Programs, and Social Sciences) and regions of the world (from the Middle East and within the Islamicate, to Europe and the Americas, and as far afield as the Far East and South Asia as well as Oceania). Through these offerings, students will gain an understanding of the breadth and depth of Jewish culture and history, including: the ancient roots of Jewish life and thought; the Jewish peoples’ dispersion across lands and continents; and the development of the variety of Jewish cultural and linguistic expressions and worlds.
Jewish Studies minors at Hamilton take courses across multiple disciplines and regions of the world. This enables them to explore the breadth and depth of Jewish culture and history, including the ancient roots of Jewish life and thought, the Jewish peoples’ dispersion across lands and continents, and the development of the variety of Jewish cultural and linguistic expressions and worlds. Students have the opportunity to learn Hebrew, ancient and modern, and read biblical texts in the original Hebrew language.
- Students will learn to understand the breadth and variety of Jewish Culture and history across many cultures, from the Middle East and within the Islamicate, to Europe and the Americas, and as far afield as the Far East and South Asia as well as Oceania.
- Students will gain a foundational understanding of the ancient roots and sources of Jewish life and thought, and then of the Jewish people's dispersion across lands and continents, and their later development of a wide variety of cultural and linguistic expressions and worlds.
- Students will be able to take courses in a number of cultural expressions, including but not confined to Jewish literature and history, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, government, religion, and psychology.
- Students will have opportunities to pursue both breadth and depth by working with faculty on research projects as well as taking a variety of courses. They will become familiar with multiple methods and disciplines that address a wide variety of aspects of Jewish thought and history.
A Sampling of Courses
Ancient Jewish Wisdom
An introduction to the Jewish Tradition and Jewish way of reading.
Explore these select courses:
Close reading of selections from the Jewish Bible (Old Testament) that address the nature of political leadership, the nation, justice, and the best form of government. Examination of politics in the Bible and in the Israelite nation. Comparison with works from other cultures (Greece, Rome, Islamic world) that focus on justice and biographies of political leaders. In addition to the Bible, readings may include Sophocles’ Antigone, Machiavelli’s The Prince, the Roman Stoics, and Arabic political texts.
An examination of art and media from the rise of fascism in the 1920s and the outbreak of World War II in 1939 to postwar reconstruction and the entrenchment of the Cold War in the 1950s. We will study a range of visual material – including film, newsreels, photographs, paintings, illustrations, and comics – not simply as representations of war, but as the cultural fronts on which an unprecedented global conflict unfolded. Students will learn about the evolution of artistic practice and popular culture in Allied and Axis nations, and consider how visual media worked as propaganda, news, and entertainment.
Meet Our Faculty
Baruch Spinoza, Moses Maimonides, neuroethics, and Jewish studies
History of photography; photojournalism and news media; modern and contemporary visual culture; media studies; digital humanities; World War II and the Holocaust; Jewish Studies
Visual culture of Europe and the Americas (18th and 19th centuries), history and theory of landscape, decolonial theory, queer theory, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Jewish Studies (particularly Sephardim and Mizrachim)
Russian and Soviet history, Central Eurasian history, and history of the modern Middle East
literary realism; ethics, political, and social history of Germany; documentary literature
Early Christianity Late Antiquity New Testament Ancient Judaism
Explore Hamilton Stories
As we welcome new and returning members of our community back to College Hill, we want to offer a glimpse into what campus has been up to these past few months while many have been away. Here’s a sampling of new spaces, new faces, renamed buildings, major moves, and more.
Ravven an Invited Speaker at NYC Symposium
Professor of Religious Studies Heidi Ravven recently gave an invited talk at The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.
Senior Theses Dig Deep, Demonstrate Knowledge Gained
We asked a few members of the Class of 2024 to tell us about their senior projects and share their biggest takeaways.
Contact
Department Name
Jewish Studies Department
Contact Name
Heidi Ravven
Clinton, NY 13323
