New Beginnings: Summer School on Jewish Studies
The week will investigate how Jews and Judaism conceptualized, experienced, imagined, celebrated, but also warded off the possibilities and limitations, promises and dangers of beginning anew. We will explore conceptual questions (What is a beginning? What is a new beginning? How do beginnings relate to ends?), historical questions (the effort to create new beginnings through and in the aftermath of migration and revolution), normative questions (when are new beginnings legitimate, or even required?), legal questions (how does the law, secular and religious, relate to starting afresh?), cultural questions (the effects of technical innovation such as the invention of print), and familial/personal expressions (conversion, birth, new beginnings as a literary and artistic theme).
The week will also give participants an opportunity to think about the beginnings of their own scholarly careers with professionalization sessions and opportunities for dissertating students to share research.
A detailed programme will be announced in spring 2023.
Target group
Graduate students at any institution worldwide, in any subfield of Jewish studies, past or present, are eligible to apply.
Micro-credentials and study credits (ECTS)
Successful completion of the summer school can be awarded with 3 credits according the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).
All certificates of completion are issued as a micro-credential.
Social programme
Participants will be able to get in touch with peers attending other summer schools at Antwerp Summer and Winter University. A visit to the beautiful city hall, a networking reception, a guided city walk, a quiz night, a football game and a day-trip to another Belgian city such as Bruges or Brussels are only some examples of these activities. All activities of the social programme are offered free of charge, in some cases participants will be asked for a deposit which will be reimbursed upon participation to the activity.
Specific social activities in the days around and during the summer school on New Beginnings will be announced close to the start of the programme.
