Articles
Essays and peer-reviewed scholarship in Yiddish Studies, an interdisciplinary field that engages all aspects of Yiddish cultural production, especially in its relationship to other cultures and languages.
Click here for a separate listing of open-access, peer-reviewed articles.
Review
“The Worst Good Idea Ever”? The Birobidzhan Project and Soviet Jewish Culture
Masha Gessen’s new book explores the history of the Jewish Autonomous Region of Birobidzhan through the story of David Bergelson and Simon Dubnow, whose thought and writing influenced its development.
Jun 26, 2017
Review
Review of Utopia’s Discontents: Russian Emigres and the Quest for Freedom, 1830s—1930s by Faith Hillis
Created out of necessity as a response to Tsarist repression, Hillis argues that circles of Russian émigré groups, or “colonies,” represented a crucial space in the development of Russian politics.
Oct 12, 2022
Review
Review of Marina Mogilner’s A Race for the Future: Scientific Visions of Modern Russian Jewishness
With a focus on Russian Jewish race scientists, Mogilner traces how biology informed notions of Jewish difference mobilized by communal organizations and political activists in imperial Russia and the early Soviet period.
Jun 02, 2023
Review
Review of As the Dust of the Earth: The Literature of Abandonment in Revolutionary Russia and Ukraine by Harriet Murav
The sophisticated method, the humane subject matter, the bold interpretations and the careful historical research all make Dust of the Earth a potent model for contemporary scholarship — in Yiddish Studies and beyond. In a moment when an increasing number of people across the globe find themselves in a political and social state of hefkeris, up for grabs and abandoned by their allies and leaders, Murav shows us that literature offers one small, but powerful path back to humanity.
Oct 30, 2024