Prof. Michael Alexander

University of California, Riverside

Bio

Michael Scott Alexander is Professor of Religious Studies and the Maimonides Chair in Jewish Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of Jazz Age Jews, winner of a National Jewish Book Award, and, more recently, Making Peace with the Universe: Personal Crisis and Spiritual Healing.

Proposal for an Endowed Chair in Global Jewry

Abstract

This paper uses a proposed Endowed Chair in Global Jewry to examine how Jewish Studies might better account for historically underrepresented communities in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It explores how ancestry, self-identification, race, migration, and transnational networks complicate definitions of Jewish belonging. The paper argues that more faculty positions dedicated to “Global Jewry” would support a useful framework for studying these communities without resolving contested questions of legitimacy.