Re-Judaizing the Polish (Studies) Landscape: The Doikeyt Model
Re-Judaizing the Polish (Studies) Landscape: The Doikeyt Model

Summary/Abstract: Taking as its starting point the radical transformation of the Polish cultural and historical landscape that has resulted from Poland’s post-1989 Jewish revival, this article presents a proposal for a substantial reconfiguration of nationally and philologically based university departments and programs in Central and East European Studies—one that reimagines Polish Studies, Russian Studies, and other Slavic Studies programs as inherently multilingual, culturally pluralistic spaces of encounter, and that effects changes to degree requirements and language requirements that reflect this post-national shift in perspective. Making reference to the concept of doikeyt or “hereness,” a cultural and political attitude promoted within the pre–World War II Jewish world, particularly within Bundist and Yiddishist discourse, that saw Jewish culture and languages as native to Eastern Europe—as belonging in Poland and in Russia—the author asks specifically whether Jewish languages (Yiddish and Hebrew) and courses in Yiddish culture, and by extension other “minority” languages and cultures, should have a place within the curriculum and course requirements that contribute today to a degree or a major in Polish Studies, Russian Studies, or other European literature and language programs traditionally structured around the study of one dominant language and culture.

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