Origins, Authenticities

January 31, 2013  |  2:30 to 6:00 PM  |  The Jordan Center's Diasporas Project

Sponsored by the Glucksman Ireland House and the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia, this opening session of the series tackles the vexing question of where we all come from and how we represent ourselves as nations, religions, and races. Do people really have ultimate origins, and why do they claim to need to? Russian notions of nationality and recent movement are considered alongside the well-researched cases of the Irish, African, and Jewish diasporas. The session also tackles the largest parameters of diasporic studies and is a basis for the sessions to follow.

The Diasporas Project at NYU

The Diasporas Project is a series organized by the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia in spring 2013. It is part of the Center’s inaugural year and we are grateful to the many units around NYU that have been offering help and guidance. Sessions are co-organized with Ireland House (31 January – 1 February), Kevorkian (14 – 15 March), and Hebrew and Judaic Studies (25 26 April).

The overarching purpose of the project is twofold: to consider the shared characteristics and shared assumptions that underpin the idea of a diaspora, and in the process erode our parochialisms; and to better grasp what is at stake and what is assumed when we cast movement as a diaspora rather than say an emigration, a migration, sex trafficking, slavery, or a flow of refugees. The project in no way aims to settle these questions one way or another; rather it aims to address them intelligently and forthrightly, as a guide to students and colleagues.

Origins, Authenticities

Ireland House
31 January - 1 February 

31 January 2013

2:30 - 6:00 PM EST

Yanni Kotsonis, Director, Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia
Welcome Remarks

Kevin Kenny, Boston College
Introduction

Nathaniel Knight, Seton Hall
"The Three Circles of Russianness"

Hasia Diner, NYU
"How did the Jewish Diaspora become a Diaspora?"

John Waters, NYU

RSVP to jordan.russia.center@nyu.edu

Link to written event recap