Jewish Space?
Re-examining Jewish Spatial Narratives

Jewish spatial narratives and sensibilities have been portrayed in cultural exhibitions, popular and academic written histories, film, television and written fiction, studies of the cultural landscape, and works of architectural history and theory. These spatial narratives use nomadic tents, shtetls, tenements, barracks, post-war single-family homes, condominiums, and other architectural spaces and building types to narrate a history of Jewish culture that extends from ancient Israel to the American suburbs. Architects and architectural theorists have also tried to imagine a distinctly Jewish spatial sensibility that unites these disparate objects--a “Jewish” space that extends beyond geographic specificity.

This publication, supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania State University School of Art and Architecture, seeks to examine how architecture is used to construct a Jewish spatial history. Architectural historians, theorists and practitioners, and authors whose work concentrates on these and related matters, are encouraged to re-examine the way specific architectural forms and ideas are used to socially construct a “Jewish space” and a Jewish spatial narrative. Committed participants include Mitchell Schwartzer, architectural historian, California College of the Arts and Crafts; Margaret Olin, art historian, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Philip Nobel, architecture critic , Metropolis Magazine and The New York Times; Allan Wexler, artist, New York City; Alexander Gorlin, architect, New York City; Miriam Gusevich, Catholic University of America; and Carol Herselle Krinsky, architectural historian, New York University. Five to eight additional papers will be included in the publication.

Interested participants should send a 500 word abstract, a writing sample(MS Word document), a current CV, an example of images for the proposed manuscript, and the estimated number of illustrations for the final manuscript (Penn State will pay for image rights for between 3-8 images total). This material should be sent via email and must be received by March 10th. Final manuscripts (2500-3000 words) will be due in October.