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The Sound and Music of Jewish Life

2023–2024 Fellowship Theme

Applications for this fellowship theme are closed. The call for the 2024-2025 fellowship year will be posted here late in the spring of 2023.

During the 2023–2024 fellowship year, the Katz Center will focus on the study of sound, music, and aurality in Jewish life—past and present. The year has two interrelated goals: 1) to promote new research into the study of the various musical cultures that have developed in Jewish contexts; 2) to encourage explorations of the role of sound in Jewish life and culture.

The first goal is an effort to build on recent advances in the study of Jewish music and musical culture from a proliferation of new sources, resources, and approaches. The second goal acknowledges the emergence of sound studies as a vital area of inquiry, an interdisciplinary field that encompasses sound- and listening-related practices, the orality of oral traditions, the aural dimensions of Jewish literature, deaf culture, the history and impact of sound-related technologies, the study of Jewish soundscapes, and the linguistic study of Jewish accents, among other potential topics.

The Center invites applications from scholars and scholar-artists pursuing research on related topics who are willing to participate and contribute as part of a cross-disciplinary cohort. The Center welcomes proposals from a variety of fields including musicology and ethnomusicology, the history of Jewish music or sound, literature and folklore studies, the study of technology or architecture, linguistics, the study of liturgy, relevant social sciences, and other fields as they relate to Jewish studies. Though the Center cannot offer rehearsal or performance space, we are open to proposals from applicants seeking to combine scholarship with creative and/or performance-related work.

Katz Center fellows are provided with the time and resources needed to pursue their individual projects (including an office, computer, and library privileges at the University of Pennsylvania), and are also expected to actively engage in the intellectual life of the fellowship community. All applicants must hold a doctoral degree or expect to receive it by the start date of the fellowship. Fellows are expected to live in Philadelphia for the term of their fellowship.

Fellowship Eligibility

The Katz Center invites applications from scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and the arts at all levels. Applicants must hold a doctorate degree or expect to receive it no later than the start date of the fellowship. The fellowship is open to all scholars, national and international, who meet application terms. International scholars are appointed under a J-1 visa only (Research Scholar status). No exceptions can be made, and the Katz Center reserves the right to cancel awards if the recipient or the Katz Center is unable to meet this condition. Applicants should consult the international programs office at their current university to confirm eligibility before applying for this fellowship.

As a scholarly institution striving for diversity and inclusivity, the Katz Center is committed to creating an intellectual space welcoming to all scholars regardless of nationality, religious orientation, racial or ethnic identity, gender identity and expression, professional rank, or institutional affiliation.

Fellowship Requirements

Fellows are required to spend the term of the fellowship in residence in Philadelphia at the Katz Center and are expected to pursue their proposed research projects. The Center’s requirements are residency in Philadelphia, attendance of weekly lunches on Mondays and weekly seminars on Wednesdays, one seminar presentation, as well as full participation in fellow-conceived colloquia and symposiums, among other special events. Fellows are provided with an office, computing and printing access, as well as administrative assistance and full library privileges to the University of Pennsylvania library system, including book delivery.

Please contact Anna Poplawski, the Katz Center's Academic Programs Coordinator, with questions.