Events

The Judaic Studies Alumni Council invites you to a lecture by Binghamton University Professor Jonathan Karp, followed by a networking reception. Dietary laws will be observed. Registration details will follow.

5:30 – 8 p.m. Thursday 16 May

SUNY Global Center

116 E. 55 St., Manhattan

"White Jews and the Yearning for Blackness"

In American society, Jews have been identified as white, even if at times tentatively and grudgingly. The debate about Jews and whiteness has focused attention on questions of race and ethnicity in American Jewish communities. While white status often affords privilege, some Jews have found being identified as white to be oppressive and limiting. In this talk Professor Jon Karp tells the story of three American Jews who have identified as black to examine the resistance to being identified as white, and the sense of longing for and belonging to Black cultural community. 

About the Alumni Council

The Binghamton University Judaic Studies Council supports the mission of the Judaic Studies Departments and its students’ advancement. The Judaic Studies Council advises the Department in developing strategic partnerships and long-term planning, expanding the network of opportunities for current students and recent graduates, providing learning opportunities for alumni and friends, assisting in recruiting students to Binghamton.

More information about the Judaic Studies Alumni Council can be found here.

Jonathan Karp is an associate professor of Judaic studies and history at Binghamton University of the State University of New York (SUNY). He is the author of The Politics of Jewish Commerce: Economic Thought and Emancipation in Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2008) and editor or co-editor of seven volumes, including Beyond Whiteness: Revisiting Jews in Ethnic America (Purdue University Press, 2023); World War I and the Jews (Berghahn Books, 2018) with Marsha L. Rozenblit; and The Cambridge History of Judaism in the Early Modern World (Cambridge University Press, 2017) with Adam Sutcliffe. His work explores the roles that Jews have played in modern economic life and the images and stereotypes that have accompanied them. His forthcoming book is Jews and Blacks in the Business of American Popular Music. Karp is the recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service. From 2010 to 2013 he served as executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society.