Module Information

This module provides an overview history of the Jewish people in the modern world since the beginnings of secular western society in the mid-eighteenth century. Jews are often seen as an archetypal minority group and their experience is relevant for other minority ethnic and religious groups as well as for determining the degree of toleration in a society. Topics included: Jewish identity and history till modern times; the Jewish Enlightenment ('Haskalah'); Chassidic and non-Orthodox religious identity; Jewish political emancipation; anti-semitism and the Holocaust; Jewish cultural conflict and intellectual life; Zionism, the State of Israel and the Arab-Israel conflict; the Jewish situation in the modern world; Jews in British society.