Homeland and diaspora; Islamophobia and Antisemitism; colonialism, nationalism, and genocide

5 credits I&S/DIV

 

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue—and initiated the conquest of the Americas. That same year, the king and queen of Spain expelled its Jewish community. Known as Sephardic Jews, what became of the descendants of the Jews exiled from Spain?

 

This course explores the unlikely experiences of Jews who spoke Spanish written in Hebrew letters, lived in the Muslim world for five centuries, studied at French schools, and made Seattle a center of their communal life in the 20th century. The course will help us overturn assumptions about the relationships between homeland and diaspora; Jews, Muslims, and Christians; politics, culture, and society in the Jewish and Muslim worlds; Antisemitism and Islamophobia; race and passing; colonialism, nationalism, and genocide; migration and political belonging; memory and nostalgia.