ILC – Black Bread and Onions: Jewish Domestic Ritual in Nineteenth Century Eastern Europe

Student or Group Info

Name(s): Amelia
Term: Winter
Credits: 12
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Internship Info (if applicable)

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Field Supervisor

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Subcontractor

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Program of Project Description

Narrative: This eight week project, entitled Black Bread and Onions: Jewish Domestic Ritual in Nineteenth Century Eastern Europe, is designed to explore the relationship between Jewish women’s roles and Jewish culinary and religious traditions in the nineteenth to early twentieth centuries and how that relationship is reflected in the lives of Jewish women today. Specific learning objectives are to gain a foundational understanding of women’s roles in Eastern European shtetls, Jewish culinary traditions, and to examine the way one interacts with food and womanhood with this history as their background. Written work includes personal reflective memoirs as well as short research papers on Jewish women’s history and religious and food traditions. These writings will be compiled in a final zine that also includes the student’s family photos and history, prayers, and art on the subject. Texts to be studied include: Hungering For America: Italian, Irish and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration by Hasia R. Diner, Voices of the Matriarchs: Listening to the Prayers of Early Jewish Women by Chava Weissler, Little Weirds by Jenny Slate, Sinister Wisdom edited by Elvis Bakaitis and Red Washburn. The student will also draw inspiration from various Jewish zines about food and gender, an example being TimTum, to provide a foundational understanding of how the free form nature of zines can be the optimal way to reflect on one’s own personal experiences.

Learning objective	Activity	Deliverable
Examine my own relationship with food, tradition, and womanhood through a Jewish perspective.	Write about and make art on my own memories of food experiences I have had, reflect on my relationship with womanhood and cooking, examine family history.	Update posts on my WordPress ePortfolio and writings and art in my zine.
Learn more about Jewish women’s roles in mid nineteenth to early twentieth century shetls specifically looking at their connection to agricultural and culinary traditions.	I will read books on the subject as well as religious writings created specifically at the time that chronicled the way women should act and what they should value.	Write my findings and thoughts in a zine and updates on my progress on my WordPress ePortfolio.
Put together a zine of my work through the quarter.	I plan to hone my skills on Adobe Illustrator as well research other zines similar to mine.	Finished zine at the end of the quarter as well as weekly updates on my WordPress ePortfolio.

Evaluation of Work