Keeping up with Sephardic resources

Researchers looking for new resources about Sephardim might be interested in the Sephardic and Mizrahi Caucus site and list.

In the latest edition, I learned that the University of Murcia in Spain now has a Center of Sephardic Studies, and will offer a course, Introduction to Sephardic Culture. They are organizing the "Sepharad in the Holocaust" project, which will create an archive of Sephardic Holocaust survivors' testimony. The Center will also organize exhibits, conferences and higher-education courses.

The central aim of the Sephardic and Mizrahi Caucus is to promote integration of academic Sephardi and Mizrahi studies into general Jewish studies and other fields outside of Judaic studies.

The bimonthly discussion list is for scholars and students of Sephardi and Mizrahi studies, who may post questions, and announce publications, books, calls for papers, and other related information.

For more information, click here and see extensive online resources and an interesting list of course syllabuses with specialized bibliographies.

In the same vein, the Claims Conference has issued a request for proposals for research and documentation projects on the Sephardic experience during the Holocaust.

It is seeking project proposals concerning "Jews and Jewish life throughout the Mediterranean and in the Levant immediately preceding World War II, during the Holocaust, and in the Shoah's immediate aftermath." Projects concerning the Jews of North Africa are particularly encouraged, although projects on the European Sephardic experience will also be considered.

The organization has a $100,000 fund for this, and expects to award several grants beginning in late 2007. For information, click here