Virtual Scholars Forums – Call for Proposals

The Center for Jewish History invites proposals for a new Virtual Scholars Forum to begin in Fall 2021. Building on the success of previous working groups and the potential for broader scholarly community made possible by the turn to online learning, CJH is seeking to provide new opportunities to draw from the research and ideas of a wide array of scholars across the globe at different career stages. The Center welcomes proposals on diverse and multidisciplinary themes/subjects that seek to examine a specific topic or question through various historical, disciplinary, and contextual mediums and lenses. The ultimate goal is to facilitate the creation of an interdisciplinary community of scholars who engage and provide opportunities for inquiry and conversation among themselves in an ongoing way.

Working Group Requirements

• The new working group will be expected to commit to a two-year cycle of six virtual meetings per academic year. Renewal for a third year is possible.
• The meetings will be modeled on scholars presenting works-in-progress or a completed work of scholarship in the interest of generating conversation that relates to the overall theme of the group. Working groups should also consider how to engage the broader CJH public in some form. This might take the form of sponsoring a public symposium or a public lecture series, developing a digital platform, or other forms of disseminating the group’s results, all based on the outcome of the working group’s cumulative deliberations.
• Applications must identify two group conveners.
• Conveners will determine the specific composition of the group, but both junior and senior scholars as well as advanced graduate students (ABD) should be invited to participate. Participation is by invitation only. Groups should consist of no fewer than twelve and no more than twenty invitees to begin.

The proposal should identify, in very clear terms:

• The proposed theme and its significance to Jewish Studies
• The plan for the two-year cycle
• The names of the two conveners and a list of potential participants
• Possible session topics that reflect a multidisciplinary perspective
• Proposals should address the potential afterlife of the working group. Applications must consider ways the group can further its stated goals following completion of the working group cycle, either through sponsoring annual panels at the AJS conference, establishing a long-term digital project, publication of working group presentations, holding week-long seminars that involve a broader array of participants, conferences, or by other means.

The Center for Jewish History will provide the digital platform and provide technical and administrative support for the group’s public programming. Proposals are welcome from established scholars in the field of Jewish Studies. Applications should be no longer than 3-5 pages and should be sent to jkaplan@cjh.org by February 28, 2021.