Last week's American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) Biennial Scholars Conference on "Jews and Judaism in the American World of 'Difference'” marks an important shift in the field towards thinking about American Judaism as a relational identity. Held the same three days as Brandeis University's conference on "Blacks, Jews, and Social Justice in America," both conferences attest to Jewish studies response to a broader trend in American studies to think beyond "national" boundaries and to see ethnicity as something created through social structures and interactions with other groups. To read more about the conference, check out my post on the Religion in American History blog.

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