CFP: Victorian Jewish Life – University of Heidelberg (February 9-10, 2026) EXTENDED DEADLINE

Victorian Jewish Life
University of Heidelberg – February 9-10, 2026
Extended deadline: 14 July 2025

In the heyday of Victorian England, the era when the sun never set on the British Empire, Jewish culture in England was also experiencing an all-time high. International movements for reform and emancipation were shaping laws about Jewish rights, and as the century progressed, immigrants from Eastern Europe brought their cultures and experiences to London. The grinding poverty of the Jewish East End existed in tension with the rise of bourgeois Jewish communities in the wealthier districts of Bayswater and Maida Vale, the legal and social discrimination with the successful organization of bodies like the Anglo-Jewish Historical Association and the Jewish Territorialist Organization, and the two-time election of Benjamin Disraeli, to date the only British Prime Minister of Jewish heritage.

We encourage the study of under-researched Jewish writers and histories, and in particular want to discuss how they relate to themes of research popular with nineteenth-century scholars, such as the rural/urban divide, immigration, gender, and (wage) labour, where a Jewish perspective is usually absent. The Victorian era was a time of upheaval – economically, politically, as well as socially; how were these changes experienced by Jewish citizens, and how were they reflected upon in literature by contemporary Jewish writers? We encourage an interdisciplinary approach to Victorian Jewish life from literary, historical, religious, and cultural perspectives in order to examine the conference topic from different angles. While our main focus is on England and the development of an Anglo-Jewish identity in the Victorian era, we also invite speakers to compare and contrast their findings with continental Jewish experiences as well as engage with the generally shifting perception of Jewish mobility and the rise of a Jewish cosmopolitanism in the nineteenth century.

This conference explores all aspects of Jewish life in Victorian England and its international and transcontinental influences. We are especially seeking abstracts on:

❖ Spatial experience
❖ Colonialism and immigration
❖ Class/labour
❖ Gender
❖ Women and children’s experiences
❖ Rural/urban experiences
❖ Transeuropean/transnational influences
❖ Zionist ideas/ambitions
❖ Identities
❖ Religious change
❖ Material cultures

Abstracts of up to 400 words, and biographical notes of up to 100 words, should be sent to ruthquante@hotmail.de and lorrumson@gmail.com by July 14 2025. If you are not sure what you would like to present, but are interested in attending, we are also accepting informal expressions of interest until the same date.