060016 SE Jewish object cultures (2026S)

The umbrella term "Jewish object cultures" encompasses all material expressions of Jewish life, faith, and knowledge within various traditions, communities, and historical contexts.

The two-hour seminar focuses on ritual objects that are significant for synagogue and private religious life, as well as everyday objects that originate from Jewish life.

In addition to the introductory question of defining the term "object culture", the course deals with ritual objects and their meanings, concepts of holiness, purity, and touch, book cultures and written objects, everyday objects, objects as evidence of cultural exchange processes, the phenomenon of musealization and scientification, problems of representation in museum spaces, expropriation, loss, dispersion, and provenance research, gender issues, commercial marketing and authenticity, and the materiality of memory.

Objective: Students should learn to read objects as historical, social, and cultural testimonies, as carriers of knowledge, memory, and identity.

Method: Elaboration of the complexity of the object; object analyses based on originals and/or digitized copies; Questions and problems are discussed not only in the lecture hall of the Institute for Jewish Studies, but also during several excursions to the display depot and the archives of the Jewish Museum Vienna, as well as to the private Judaica collection of Ariel Muzicant.

Assessment: Compulsory attendance, active participation, and an oral or written object analysis.