Founding Members

Prof. Zygmunt Bauman, Prof. Geoffrey Cantor, Dr. Frank Felsenstein, Prof. Griselda Pollock, Prof. Adrian Rifkin, Prof. Max Silverman

The Centre's founder members, academic board and teaching staff are drawn from a wide range of disciplines and fields of study: Cultural Studies, Sociology, History of Art, English Literature, French, Philosophy, Middle Eastern Studies, Spanish, International Studies, Theology & Religious Studies, Classics. The distinctiveness of the Centre lies in the fields of cultural history and analysis, and in its engagement with questions of modern and current Jewish cultural creativity, especially in relation to literature, film and art. Another area of focus is the question of Jewish identity and difference in the modern world, and representations of Jews in non-Jewish culture. These are studied through various analytic methods, such as postcolonial thought and feminism.

The Montague Burton Fellowship, a postdoctoral research and teaching post (currently vacant), was last held by Michael Weingrad, who specialises in modern Jewish literature and thought. Visiting scholars in the last few years have included Bryan Cheyette, David Cesarani, Norman Kleeblatt, Lionel Kochan, and Irit Rogoff. Students have access to excellent resources for study and research. The Centre for Jewish Studies was a partner of CentreCATH, the AHRC Research Centre for Cultural Theory, Analysis and History. Together, the sister institutions host international scholars for seminars, lectures and conferences. Postgraduate students will have the opportunity to study with visiting speakers and to present conference papers alongside them.

The Montague Burton Fellowship was endowed in 1944 by Montague Burton, a textile manufacturer who had migrated to Britain from the Russian empire in the early years of the 20th century. Montague Burton was also a sponsor of Peace Studies and the study of International Relations, and a supporter of the University of Leeds and the wider Leeds community.

Furthermore, they will be part of a large and thriving postgraduate community with its own hub, the Postgraduate Room of AHRC CentreCATH, where about 50 Ph.D. students and MA students on four related degree schemes meet and learn together.