CTR together with the UCL Hebrew and Jewish Studies organizes a hybrid conference for postgraduate students working in the area of Jewish Studies in Nordic countries.

Conference scope and structure

This year’s pilot will be hybrid with strong presence in person, comprising panels of 20-minute papers and discussion. We seek to bring together researchers from across departments and universities, to form a sense of fellowship in our interdisciplinary field. 

Program

Monday, September 16, Lund University

9:00-9:30                           Opening remarks

9:30-10:00                         Fika

10:00-11:30                       Panel History part 1 (chair: Magdalena Dziaczkowska)

• Christine Meibeck, PhD candidate, University of Potsdam: “Relief and Rescue Operations for Jewish Refugees in Norway” 
• David Dahlborn, PhD candidate, University of Cambridge: “Efforts by the Swedish Jewish communities to ‘promote Jewish values’ to Polish-Jewish exiles 1968-1974” 
• Martin Englund, PhD candidate, Södertörn University: “We, the Expelled: Historical Experiences Among the Refugees that Came to Sweden from Poland 1967-1972 due to the Antisemitic Campaign”

11:30-11.40                       break

11.40-12:40                       Panel History part 2  (chair: Magdalena Dziaczkowska)

• Daniel Leviathan, PhD candidate, Lund University: "The wooden synagogue of Karlstad: a case study in the uniqueness of Swedish synagogue architecture"
• Noa Ben-David, PhD candidate, University College London: “Jewish name changing in prewar and postwar Norway”

12:45-14:00                       Lunch (on site)

14.15-15:15                       Panel Jewish Studies from the Nordics (chair: Noa Ben David)

• Jordan Spencer Jacobs, visiting PhD candidate, Lund University: “Responding to polarization in an age of “to and fro”: An exploration in light of contemporary Jewish thought”
• Clara Sofie Locke, MA student, Copenhagen University: “Interreligious Practices in Jewish “Magic” Manuscripts”

15:15-15:45                       Fika               

15:45-16:45                       Keynote: Linguistic Practices in the Jewish Community of Finland

• Prof Lily Kahn, Head of Department, University College London Hebrew and Jewish Studies
• Dr Riitta Valijärvi, Associate Professor, University College London School of Slavonick and East European Studies & Uppsala University

16:45-17:00                       Break

17:00-17:30                       Introduction to the journal Nordisk Judaistik (Svante Lundgren)

• Svante Lundgren, Researcher and Associate Professor, CTR, Lund University

17:30- 18:00                      Concluding remarks & proceeding to dinner

18:30                                                       Dinner                                

Tuesday, September 17, Lund University

9:00-10:00                         Roundtable panel Approaches to Teaching Jewish Studies in the Nordic Context 

• Dr Matthew Johnson, Associate Senior Lecturer, Lund University
• Dr Maja Hultman, postdoctoral researcher, Gothenburg University 
• Joanna Zofia Spyra, PhD candidate, University of Bergen

10:00-10:30                       Fika

10.30-11.30                       Keynote: The History and Memory of Jewish Migration to Norway

• Dr Jon Reitan, Associate Professor, Norwegian University of Science and Technology Department of Teacher Education

11:30-11:40                       Break

11:40-13:10                       Panel Literature (chair: Matthew Johnson) 

• Anna Hofman, PhD candidate, University of Hamburg: “Taking Place: Situatedness and Memory in Jewish Third-Generation Poetry in Sweden”
• Bat Chen Seri, PhD candidate, Lund University: “Far Away from Human-land: Kafka’s Nonhumans in Günther Anders and Walter Benjamin”
• Sofia Iaffa Nylén, PhD candidate, Stockholm University: “a form of madness after the madness”: Intra-Generational Trauma and Postmemory in Gloria Gervitz’ Migraciones”

13:10-14:10                       Lunch (on site)

14:10-15:40                       Panel Contemporary Jewry in the Nordics (chair: Noa Ben David) 

• Hanna Nir, PhD candidate, Uppsala University: “Young Jewish experiences in contemporary Sweden”
• Paula Caceres, PhD candidate, Gothenburg University: “Antisemitism: youths’ experiences in a Swedish context”
• Maor Oz, PhD candidate, University of Toronto: “Amba, a Diplomatic Pickle: Gastrodiplomacy and Jewish Identity in Stockholm”

15:40-16:10                       Fika & closing remarks

Participation

The call for papers is closed now but you can register to the conference here. 

Zoom link for remote participation:

 https://lu-se.zoom.us/j/69067495313

Funding

The conference has received generous funding from the CEMES (Centre for Modern European Studies, University of Copenhagen) as well as Oscar och Signe Krooks stiftelse and Birgit och Sven Håkan Ohlssons fond.  

Contact us

Please feel free to get in touch with the coordinators: Noa Ben-David (uclhben@ucl.ac.uk) and Magdalena Dziaczkowska (magdalena.dziaczkowska@ctr.lu.se)  if you have any questions.