JST 203, 204 - From Zion to Zionism: History of Jewish Nationalism

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR (students beginning prior to Fall 2024): Meets general academic requirement HU.
Meets requirement: W when offered as 204
The very words Zion and Zionist have become powerful political signifiers both within and without Jewish communities, as well as in international discourse. Why are these words so hotly contested, and what do they signify? This course examines the historical evolution of modern Zionism. It considers the different religious, political, and cultural forms that Jewish nationalist thought has taken over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and situates these ideas within their historic and geographic contexts. Students will read the works of Jewish nationalist thinkers like Theodore Herzi, Max Nordau, Ahad Ha’am, Yitzchak Baer, Simon Dubnow, and Louis Brandeis and analyze their competing visions of Jewish nationhood and the specific historical concerns that fuel the emergence of different nationalist ideologies.