Speaking of Hebrew: Language and identity in contemporary American Judaism

FAIN: FT-285693-22

Sharon Avni
Research Foundation Of The City University Of New York (New York, NY 10007-1044)

Writing one chapter of a book that examines the evolution of the Hebrew language in the United States.

This book project examines contemporary American Judaism through a deep analysis of non-Orthodox Jews’ everyday practices of speaking, learning, and engaging with Modern Hebrew. This ethnographically-grounded, discourse-analytic approach study reveals how despite limited linguistic mastery, American Jews mobilize Modern Hebrew in ways that create and give voice to distinctive forms of Judaism at a time in which non-Orthodox Jews are increasingly questioning or eschewing the religious, denominational, ethnic, racial, nationalistic, and diasporic categories that have traditionally defined Jewish life in the United States. Traversing the disciplinary boundaries of Jewish studies and linguistic anthropology, this book provides a new analytic frame for disentangling the social and interconnected nature of language, religion, and identity. This stipend would support the writing of one chapter in June/July of 2022.