Module manager: Dr Eva Frojmovic
Email: E.Frojmovic@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2024/25
At least 20 credits from any ARTF-coded module or appropriate equivalent in a relevant discipline. In the latter case, students are advised to get in touch with the module leader to discuss eligibility prior to enrolment
This module is approved as a discovery module
Museums are increasingly conscious of the need to be socially inclusive. Traditional models of privileging high art and 'white western' art have come under sharp criticism. On this module, we will examine how museums have integrated (or failed to do so) the artefacts of the Jewish minorities in Europe and the USA. We will look at the historical reasons for the omission of Jewish culture from many museums, and the particularities of the models adopted for Jewish museums and Jewish exhibits in ethnographic and local history contexts. Topics will include: - From West End to East End: Identity politics at the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition of 1887 - The Whitechapel exhibition of 1906 - Exhibiting Jews and the problem of race at the World Fairs - Early Jewish Museums - Living in a museum: the architectural, spatial and material culture of the Jewish communities of Venice, Prague and Amsterdam between Renaissance and Modernity - Gender and material culture - Virtual spaces: the lost synagogues of Eastern Europe and strategies of reconstruction - Museums and politics in Israel.
On completion of this module, students should:
- have a clear and critical understanding of the ways in which major developments in museum culture have impacted on the study of the architectural and material culture of Jewish minorities in Europe;
- be able to analyse the historical reasons for the ommission of Jewish culture from many mainstream art museums, and the particularities of the diverse models adopted for Jewish museums and Jewish exhibits in ethnographic and local history museums worldwide;
- be able to research a presentation and an essay on particular sites of Jewish museum and material culture, and relate them to significant concepts learned during the module.
- Verbal and written fluency in constructing a logical and coherent argument.
- Use of audio visual aids
- Participation in group discussions
- Co-ordination and dissemination of a range of historical, contextual visual information
- Using bibliographies and databases.
Topics covered on this module will include:
1. Why the British museum has no space for Jewish civilisation, but the V&A has
> The discovery and dissemination of Jewish art: a manuscript facsimile in the Austrian empire and a synagogue excavation in Syria.
2-3. Collecting Jewish artefacts between the national, the ethnic and the religious models
> Identity politics, empire and exhibitions: the Anglo-Jewish Exhibition of 1887
> Exhibiting Jews and the problem of race at the Universal expositions.
4-5. Living in a museum: the architectural, spacial and material culture of the Jewish communities of Venice, Prague and Amsterdam between Renaissance and Modernity.
6. Gender and material culture: the case of synagogue textiles.
7. Virtual spaces: the lost synagogues of Eastern Europe and strategies of reconstruction.
8-9: Modernity and the search for Jewish monumentality and self-representation.
10. Conclusion:
> Museums and politics in Israel
> Post-1945 and the dominance of Holocaust museums and memorials.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visit | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Seminar | 10 | 2 | 20 |
| Private study hours | 178 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 22 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
- presentations
- museum/exhibition report due after reading week
- attendance at seminars
- registers taken
- contribution to class discussions.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Essay | 1 x mid term essay 2000 Words | 30 |
| Essay | Final Essay 3000 Words | 70 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 4/29/2024
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team