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| Canadian Association for Jewish Studies | |
|---|---|
| Name | Canadian Association for Jewish Studies |
| Formation | 1970s |
| Type | Learned society |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
| Region served | Canada |
| Languages | English, French |
| Leader title | President |
Canadian Association for Jewish Studies is a national learned society that advances scholarship on Jewish history, Jewish literature, Jewish thought, and related subjects within Canada and internationally. It connects academics, independent researchers, librarians, archivists, and community scholars from provinces such as Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Manitoba while maintaining links with institutions like University of Toronto, McGill University, University of British Columbia, and York University. The association fosters dialogue with organizations including the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Judaica Foundation, the Canadian Historical Association, and international bodies like the Association for Jewish Studies and the European Association for Jewish Studies.
The association emerged amid the postwar expansion of Jewish studies in North America alongside programs at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Columbia University, Brandeis University, and Yale University. Early founders included faculty associated with McMaster University, Queen's University, and University of Western Ontario, and it organized its first gatherings in collaboration with archives such as the National Archives of Canada and community institutions like the Canadian Jewish Archives. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the body intersected with debates provoked by works from scholars linked to Jewish Social Studies, Modern Judaism (journal), and conferences hosted at venues including McGill University and the University of Toronto. Later decades saw engagement with transnational projects involving Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Tel Aviv University, and centers such as the Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University.
Governance follows a typology similar to the Association for Jewish Studies with an elected executive including a president, vice-president, treasurer, and secretary drawn from faculties at Concordia University, Carleton University, Simon Fraser University, and other campuses. An advisory board has included representatives from archival partners like the Canadian Jewish Congress National Archives, museum partners such as the Canadian Jewish Museum, and funding agencies including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The constitution prescribes biennial elections, committees for awards and program selection, and bylaws paralleling procedures used by the Modern Language Association and the American Historical Association.
The association sponsors seminars, lecture series, and workshops in collaboration with university centers such as the Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies, the Munk School of Global Affairs, and Jewish studies programs at Mount Allison University and University of Winnipeg. Programmatic emphases include pedagogy rooted in canonical texts like the Tanakh and modern works by authors connected to Isaac Bashevis Singer, Saul Bellow, A. B. Yehoshua, and Amos Oz. It coordinates archival training with the Canadian Jewish Archives and hosts public-facing initiatives alongside community partners including the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.
Scholarly output associated with the association appears in journals, edited volumes, and monographs produced by presses such as University of Toronto Press, McGill-Queen's University Press, Brill Publishers, and Oxford University Press. Members contribute to periodicals like Jewish Social Studies, AJS Review, Shofar, Modern Judaism, and national reviews linked to Canadian Jewish News and the Globe and Mail. Research projects have addressed topics ranging from the history of Ashkenazi Jews in Montreal and Toronto to studies on Sephardi communities in Halifax and Winnipeg, memory work around events such as the Holocaust and the Six-Day War, and cultural analyses of figures like Leonard Cohen, Mordecai Richler, Nellie McClung, and Yehuda Amichai.
The association organizes annual and biennial conferences hosted at institutions including McGill University, University of Toronto Scarborough, University of Alberta, and University of Victoria. Panels commonly bring together scholars working on themes linked to Zionism, diasporic studies engaging Yiddish and Hebrew literatures, pedagogical sessions drawing on archival collections from the Canadian Jewish Archives and exhibitory collaborations with museums like the Canadian Jewish Museum. Special events have featured keynote lectures by visiting scholars affiliated with Oxford University, Cambridge University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Princeton University.
Membership comprises faculty, graduate students, independent scholars, archivists, librarians, and community educators from provinces including Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Local chapters and affiliate groups operate in urban centers such as Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Winnipeg and coordinate regional programming with partners like the Jewish Historical Society of British Columbia, the Jewish Public Library of Montreal, and the Holocaust Education and Genocide Prevention Centre.
The association has influenced hiring, curricular development, and archival preservation across Canadian universities and cultural institutions, contributing to the establishment of chairs and programs at University of Toronto, McGill University, York University, and University of British Columbia. Critics have debated the association's stances during contentious moments involving debates over Israel and academic freedom, drawing commentary from outlets such as The Globe and Mail, National Post, and community forums including the Canadian Jewish News. Some scholars have called for broader inclusion of transnational perspectives linked to Latin American Jewish Studies, Eastern European Jewish studies, and indigenous-settler colonial frameworks as represented by research at institutions like Simon Fraser University and University of Manitoba.