The Edinburgh Jewish Studies Network is looking to start a programme of activities this autumn, under the changing conditions brought about by the Covid crisis. We would like to take the opportunity presented by the great move online to reach out to new participants and bring people together in different ways in pursuit of new directions in Jewish Studies research. We would like to put together a programme of activities (workshops, lectures, reading groups, etc) around a substantial theme which has potential for interdisciplinary work:
Experience, Emotion and Writing
For this thread, we are interested in hearing about research that investigates how emotions are encoded, mediated and transmitted in testimony, diaries, letters, literature, and any other genres of writing from any period.
To start our explorations we have scheduled our first meeting for Tuesday 6th October 3-5pm on Zoom.
Please email h.holtschneider@ed.ac.uk to indicate your participation, so that we have an idea of numbers, and so I can send you the Zoom link on the day before we are due to meet.
Please feel free to attend part of the meeting; we totally understand that it can be difficult to commit to 2hs, and we would rather benefit from your input as you are able to give it than miss out on your participation! If you are interested in the topic, but can’t make this meeting, please drop me a line with a paragraph about your interests and suggestions for future meetings; it would be great to be able to include you later in the semester.
We will be discussing
Pollin-Galay, H. 2018, ‘Introduction’ in Ecologies of Witnessing: Language, Place, and Holocaust Testimony, Yale University Press. DOI:10.12987/yale/9780300226041.003.0001
Elliot, B., Gerber, D., and Sinke, S. 2006, ‘Introduction’ in Letters Across Borders : The Epistolary Practices of International Migrants, eds Elliot, B., Gerber, D., and Sinke, S., Palgrave Macmillan US.
Both text can be accessed at
The aim is to explore the areas or contact or conflict between theories of testimony, narrative, genre, affect and memory, and to develop interdisciplinary exchanges and potential collaborations. At the end of the meeting we will agree the next date and format of future meetings.
The meeting will take the following format:
3-3:30pm Introductions.
3:30-4:30pm Text discussion.
4:30-5pm Discussion of future meetings.
We look forward to seeing you on 6 October, whether you can make the entire meeting or part of it!
Warmest regards and wishing you all a good start into the semester,
Hannah Holtschneider and Peter Davies
Edinburgh Jewish Studies Network 