Nordic cooperation on Nordic Jewry
17 november, 2020
Nordic cooperation on Nordic Jewry
The members of the Minhag Finland research group of the Polin institute participated in an online workshop organised by Lena Roos, Professor of the Study of Religions in Södertörn University held on 15-16th October together with senior and junior researchers and other participants in various fields related to Jewish studies.
The theme of the conference was research on contemporary Judaism in the Nordic countries. The workshop aimed at creating a stronger collaborative network between both research teams and individual scholars, including participants of various disciplines from the University of Helsinki, Åbo Akademi University, the Donner Institute, Södertörn University, HL-Senteret (The Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies), Uppsala University, the Jewish Library in Stockholm and the University of Oslo.
The participants discussed recent and ongoing projects related to Jewish identity in the Nordic countries, archival projects, teaching Jewish studies on various levels, interviewing and fieldwork. Practical information, such as funding and grant possibilities on a small and larger scale, were also discussed, and the participants discussed various possible joint projects and future co-operations.
The workshop included an open online lecture by Cora Alexa Døving, a research professor at the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies, with the title “Jewish or Minority-ish? Jewish identity in multicultural Norway”, followed by a discussion.
Several ideas and suggestions were developed together, and the participants decided to elaborate on future joint projects on Nordic Jewry after mapping the funding opportunities. We are looking forward to the next workshop at Åbo Akademi University, organised by the Minhag Finland group to take place in May 2021.
Dóra Pataricza, Åbo Akademi University
The websites of the participating projects: