Project Details
Projekt
GRK 707: Makom. Place and Places in Judaism. The Meaning and Construction of Place References in European Judaism from the Enlightenment to the Present
Subject Area
Theology
History
Social Sciences
Linguistics
History
Social Sciences
Linguistics
Term
from 2001 to 2007
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 273301
The research training group addresses the question of the meaning and construction of places. Judaism is usually perceived as a religion and culture in which a sense of time and history plays a dominant role. The programme, however, attempts to give special emphasis to the spatial dimension of Jewish life and Jewish experience. It deals with questions of mobility and immobility, studies references to places and relationships between places and examines the perception and interpretation of places. The dissertations written in the context of the research training group analyse the presence of Jewish communities at "real" places, the perception and description of this presence (by the members of these communities and by others) as well as the intellectual backgrounds of a debate on what this presence meant for the Jewish people and how it affected European society. The research programme of "Makom" has four main focuses: analysis of the religious and spiritual dimension of place and places in Judaism, study of specific forms of relationships between urban and rural areas, examination of "city culture" in its relationship to Jewish culture, and - as an option for the intended second phase - the analysis of the construction of place references by the media.
DFG Programme
Research Training Groups
Applicant Institution
Universität Potsdam
Spokesperson
Professor Dr. Julius H. Schoeps
