Splash Biography

The 1960s were a time of great change for American Jews. With rising assimilation, the need to grapple with the Holocaust, and a shifting political landscape, it was far from clear how to articulate a distinctly Jewish identity. This course will examine a film ("Fiddler on the Roof," 1971) that is both emblematic of how many American Jews did navigate those concerns and a major influence on American Jewish identity to this day. In particular, we'll focus on the dialectic of tradition and change at the heart of the film, examining it in the context of the 1960s and asking what kind of Jewish identity it asks us to assume. The basic question of this course is one posed implicitly in the film's opening scene: How do we keep our balance between Americanization and Jewishness in a world where tradition is no longer authoritative?

If a loving God exists, why is the world full of seemingly unjust suffering? How do oppressed people continue to affirm faith in God in the midst of the darkness of history? What right do privileged people have to talk about God in a broken world? These questions have preoccupied theologians and philosophers for centuries under the name "theodicy", or the problem of evil; this course takes up that question through the life and work of Tupac Amaru Shakur. We will consider Tupac's personal religiosity (or lack thereof), and its significance to his music, as well as the relationship between his subversive prayers to "Black Jesuz" and his revolutionary politics. In so doing, we will encounter questions of race and racism, American history, and theology in general. No prior exposure to either theology or Tupac is necessary; only an interest in asking challenging questions and hearing challenging music.