Who is a Jew? What makes something Jewish? Is Judaism a religion or ethnicity, or both? What is Jewish peoplehood and (if such a phenomenon even exists) how is it constituted? These issues have been interrogated in great depth by scholars of modern Judaism(s). But we often write as if such questions only emerged with the complications of early modernity—as if premodern Jewishness were an organic and self-explanatory category uncomplicated by questions of how, why, and with whom to be Jewish.
The theme year Rethinking Jewish Peoplehood: Towards a New Archive seeks to move beyond the horizon of modernity to interrogate the ways Jewishness was constructed among a diverse set of premodern Jewish communities and thinkers—uncovering forgotten historical models of Jewish belonging and reshaping our sense of what it meant to be a Jew in the premodern world.
Research on premodern Judaism(s) has, of course, considered the question of Jewish identity and how it was constituted. But scholars who have ventured to interrogate these questions have largely focused (albeit critically) on those strains of premodern thought that gave birth to currently hegemonic conceptions of Jewishness. This theme year proposes to (re)visit the premodern past in a different register. We will gather scholars working to complicate our understanding of how concepts such as Jewishness, ethno-religion, peoplehood, Jewish racial and ethnic diversity, conversion, Jewish-adjacent practitioners, and Jewish belonging have been constructed and utilized in premodern Jewish communities and literatures.
While our research will remain firmly rooted within our individual expertise in late antique or medieval Judaism(s), this theme year will also push participants to consider the ways in which we can begin to integrate research of different periods on these questions—acknowledging that the construction of Jewishness has always been complicated, contested, and diverse. Specifically, we will consider how different historical models of imagining Jewish belonging might offer affordances for thinking about present phenomena. Our historical research will be premised on the principle that the archive is not static. Perceptions of the Jewish past are constantly remade as texts and histories are suppressed and forgotten—through uneven patterns of preservation, publication, translation, and pedagogy. But we work in a moment where more of the archive than ever is available to be reexamined, and Rethinking Jewish Peoplehood invites researchers to engage with the archive in ways that expand and even transform our conceptual frameworks for understanding what it means to be Jewish.
We invite scholars, experts, and practitioners from an array of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences to join us in this multidisciplinary exploration. We encourage applicants to consider questions of diversity, inclusion, and the voices that are amplified or marginalized in different media contexts.
Qualifications
Fellowship applications are accepted from both tenured and untenured faculty as well as from recent Ph.D.’s without a tenure-track position and professors emeriti. Where appropriate, applications are accepted from independent artists, documentary filmmakers, and writers. For these non-academic applicants, a B.A. degree is required and a graduate degree is encouraged.
We encourage all applicants to apply for a full academic year, September - April. We also offer a limited number of single-term fellowships under special circumstances (please explain). Fall term runs September-December and Winter Term runs January-April. Fellows can serve no more than two terms within a period of four years.
The Frankel Institute is structured as a full-year residential fellowship; however, alternative arrangements may be available. If you are unable to reside in Ann Arbor and would like to request alternative arrangements, please explain.
Application Instructions
- The Frankel Institute is structured as a full-year residential fellowship; alternative arrangements may be available. If you are unable to reside in Ann Arbor and requesting alternative arrangements, please explain.
Application Review Process
The selection committee reads all applications. Once an applicant is selected for the long list, they will be contacted to schedule a short interview (via Zoom). Final announcements regarding selected fellows and waitlisted fellows will be made in late February.
Application Process
This institution is using Interfolio's Faculty Search to conduct this search. Applicants to this position receive a free Dossier account and can send all application materials, including confidential letters of recommendation, free of charge.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
The University of Michigan is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.
Document Checklist
To complete your application, you must upload the following documents in PDF format.
- Abstract of your proposed fellowship project (100 words) Submit under Research Plan in Interfolio
- Description of your proposed fellowship project (1,000 words) Submit under Proposal in Interfolio
- Current CV with a list of your publications
- 1 sample of completed work and/or work in progress (not more than 40 pages each)
All documents and other materials must be in English.
Letters of reference are not required. However, the committee requests reference contact information so that it is available if it wants more insight. Please be prepared to provide contact information for two references.
Eligibility
Fellowship applications are accepted from both tenured and untenured faculty and from recent Ph.D.’s without a tenure-track position and professors emeriti. Where appropriate, applications are accepted from independent artists, documentary filmmakers, and writers. For these non-academic applicants, a B.A. degree is required and a graduate degree is encouraged.
All offers of employment with the Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies are contingent on meeting all employment authorization requirements and applicable immigration regulations. All non-US citizens will need to obtain the proper visa/immigration status to work within the United States.
We encourage all applicants to apply for a full academic year (September-April). We also offer a limited number of single-term fellowships under special circumstances. Should you be interested in a single-term fellowship, the application will require that you explain the special circumstances. Please note that the Fall term runs September-December, and the Winter Term runs January-April. Fellows can serve no more than two terms within a period of four years.
The Frankel Institute is structured as a full-year residential fellowship. We have very limited slots for one-semester fellowships. If you are interested in only one semester, please submit an explanation for this request on the application form. We cannot accept remote participants. However, other alternative arrangements may be available in case of exceptional circumstances. You will have the opportunity to explain on the application form.
University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, & the Arts Faculty Eligibility:
All LSA faculty eligible to apply must be tenure–track, full–time faculty members engaged in major scholarly and/or creative projects in the humanities and/or interpretive sciences. They must have completed two consecutive terms of full–time teaching since their last leave of any kind. As this is a scholarly activity leave, terms on this award do not count toward sabbatical. Further, LSA faculty may apply to only one of the following in a given year: (1) Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies, (2) Institute for the Humanities, or (3) Michigan Humanities awards.
University of Michigan Emeritus faculty members are not eligible for the fellowship.
Compensation
All fellows receive compensation of $62,000 for a full academic year fellowship, or $31,000 for a single term. Additionally, University of Michigan health benefits are available for fellows who carry a 50% or greater appointment for four consecutive months.
Contact
Please contact js-frankel-institute-applications@umich.edu with any questions regarding the application or program requirements
