Henry Goldschmidt Henry Goldschmidt is Assistant Professor of Religion and Society at Wesleyan University, in Middletown, CT.  He has also taught cultural anthropology, Jewish studies, and diaspora studies at Rutgers University, Dickinson College, and elsewhere.  He received his B.A. in anthropology from Wesleyan University in 1991, and his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 2000.  Henry's ethnographic research has explored Jewish identities and Black-Jewish differences in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights--a neighborhood known for its history of conflict between Lubavitch Hasidic Jews and their predominantly Afro-Caribbean neighbors, most notably during the deadly violence of August 1991.  His book on Crown Heights, titled Race and Religion among the Chosen Peoples of Crown Heights, was published in October 2006 by Rutgers University Press, and his essays on Crown Heights have been published in a number of journals and edited collections.  He is also the co-editor (with Elizabeth McAlister) of the interdisciplinary collection Race, Nation, and Religion in the Americas, published by Oxford University Press in 2004. Henry's next major research project is provisionally titled Myth and Memory in the Brooklyn Diaspora.  He plans to explore the nostalgic narratives of Jews and others who left Brooklyn in the mid to late twentieth century.  In fact, he's a bit of a Brooklyn nostalgist himself.  He grew up in Park Slope, and lives there now with his wife Jillian Shagan. Contact Information Department of Religion Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 06459 hgoldschmidt@wesleyan.edu Telephone: 860-685-2294 Fax:  860-685-2821 Select Courses Introduction to the Study of Religion RELI 101 Chosen Peoples, Chosen Nation (RELI 210) Religious Worlds of New York (RELI 272) Race and the Making of American Jewish Identities (RELI 270) Anthropology of "Religion" (RELI 395) Myth, Memory and History RELI 397 Curriculum Vitae Education 2000   Ph.D., Anthropology, The University of California at Santa Cruz 1995   M.A., Anthropology, The University of California at Santa Cruz 1991   B.A. (high honors), Anthropology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 1987   Graduate, Hunter College High School, New York, NY Books Published 2006   Race and Religion among the Chosen Peoples of Crown Heights.  New Brunswick:  Rutgers University Press. 2004   Race, Nation, and Religion in the Americas (co-edited w/Elizabeth McAlister).  New York:  Oxford University Press. Essays Published 2006   "The Voices of Jacob on the Streets of Brooklyn:  Black and Jewish Israelites in and around Crown Heights."  In American Ethnologist, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 378-396. 2004   "Introduction:  Race, Nation and Religion."  Singly-authored introduction to Race, Nation, and Religion in the Americas, pp. 3-31.  New York:  Oxford University Press. 2004   "Food Fights:  Contesting 'Cultural Diversity' in Crown Heights."  In Local Actions:  Cultural Activism, Power, and Public Life in America (eds. Melissa Checker and Maggie Fishman).  Pp. 159-183.  New York:  Columbia University Press. 2004   "More Things in Heaven and Earth:  Idealism and Materialism in Russell McCutcheon's The Discipline of Religion."  Review essay in the Bulletin of the Council of Societies for the Study of Religion, vol. 33, no. 3-4, pp. 81-82. 2003   "Jews and Others in Brooklyn and its Diaspora:  Constructing an Unlikely Homeland in a Diasporic World."  In Diaspora:  Movement, Memory, Politics and Identity, Clarke Center Contemporary Issues Series, no. 14, pp. 43-52. 2002   "Suits and Souls:  Trying to Tell a Jew When You See One in Crown Heights."  In Jews of Brooklyn (eds. Ilana Abramovitch and Sean Galvin).  Pp. 214-223.  Hanover:  Brandeis University Press and the University Press of New England. 2002   "'Crown Heights is the Center of the World':  Reterritorializing a Jewish Diaspora."  In Diaspora:  A Journal of Transnational Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 83-106. Selected Papers and Presentations 2006  "Race, Religion, and Chosenness:  Categories and Singularities in the Epistemology of the Social Sciences."  Annual conference of the American Anthropological Association, San Jose, CA, November 2006. 2005   "A Brief History of American Jewishness, from John Winthrop to George W. Bush."  Center for Jewish History, New York.  At Home in Academia? conference. 2003   "Claiming Jewish History, a Quartet:  Lubavitch Hasidim, Black Hebrew Isaelites, Jewish Studies, Anthropology."  American Anthropological Association annual conference.  Panel on Choosing Jewish:  The Cultural Politics of Jewishness. 2003   "National Boundaries, Transnational Communities, and the Future of Immigration to the United States."  Lecture to the Young Ambassadors program for students from the Middle East, sponsored by Dickinson College and the U.S. Department of State. 2002   "Jews in Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Diaspora:  Decentering the 'Homeland,' Recentering Jewish Geographies."  Association for Jewish Studies annual conference.  Panel on Jewish Diasporas in a Diasporic World. 2002   "Jews and Others in Brooklyn and its Diaspora:  Constructing an Unlikely Homeland in a Diasporic World."  International conference on  Diaspora:  Movement, Memory, Politics and Identity, held at Dickinson College. 2002   "Race, Religion, and Research:  Doing Fieldwork in Crown Heights."  Invited lecture, Community Studies Center, Dickinson College. 2002   "Food Fights:  Contesting 'Cultural Diversity' in Crown Heights."  Colloquium series, Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University. 2001   "Lubavitch Hasidim, Black Hebrew Israelites, and the Historiography of Jewishness."  Association for Jewish Studies annual conference.  Panel on The New Jewish Anthropology. 2001   "Race and Religion, a Riot and a Pogrom:  Conflicting Narratives of Black-Jewish Difference in Crown Heights."  American Sociological Association annual conference.  Panel on New Frontiers in the Study of Religion and Race. 2000   "Food Fights:  Contesting 'Cultural Diversity' in Crown Heights."  American Anthropological Association annual conference.  Panel on Constructing America:  Cultural Activism, Power and Public Life. 2000   "'A Man Born By My Foot':  Tracing the Hegemony of 'Race' in Crown Heights."  Association for the Sociology of Religion and American Sociological Association annual conferences.  Panel on Race and Religion:  Shifting Approaches to Shifting Categories. 2000   "'A Sign and a Wonder Upon They Seed Forever':  Hebrew Israelite History and Identity, From Origin to Dispersion and Back Again."  Center for Critical Analysis of Contemporary Cultures and Graduate Student Association at Rutgers University.  Conference on In the Beginnings:  Temporal, Spatial and Textual Origins. 1998   "'A Man Born By My Foot;:  Shades of 'Race' in Crown Heights."  American Anthropological Association annual conference.  Panel on Bodies and Spirits:  Race, Religion and Identity Formation in the Americas. 1998   "Race, Religion, and Biblical Culture in the Immigrant Communities of Crown Heights."  Social Science Research Council, International Migration Program, conference on Transformations:  Immigration and Immigration Research in the United States. 1998   "Lubavitch Messianism:  Historical Narrative as Grounds for Collective Agency."  Guest lecture, Department of Religion, Wesleyan University. 1997   "The Voice of Yaakov on the Streets of Brooklyn:  Memory, Narrative and Identity in the Jewish Communities of Crown Heights and Bed-Stuy."  American Anthropological Association annual conference.  Panel on Memory and Jewish Identity. 1997   "Blacks and Jews in Crown Heights:  What Does the Bible Have To Do With It?"  Lecture to Program for Minority Access to Research Careers, New College, CUNY. Fellowships and Grants 2005-06  Fellowship, Young Scholars in American Religion Program, Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, Indiana and Purdue Universities 2000-01   Research Fellowship, Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion at Yale University,   Program on American Religion, Race and Ethnicity 2000-02   Publication Assistance, Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion at Yale University 1999-00   Dissertation Writing Fellowship, National Foundation for Jewish Culture 1999        Graduate Scholarship, Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society of Northern California 1998        Dissertation Writing Fellowship, Lucius N. Littauer Foundation 1997-98   Dissertation Research Fellowship, Social Science Research Council, Program on  International Migration 1993-96   Regents Fellowships, University of California at Santa Cruz Other Scholarly Activities 2005-07   Seminar Participant, Young Scholars in American Religion Program, Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, Indiana University/Perdue University 2003-       Seminar Participant, Center for Religion and Media, New York University 2003        Chairperson, Faculty seminar and curricular study-group on Diaspora Studies, Dickinson College 2002        Planning Committee, Diaspora:  Movement, Memory, Identity and Politics.  International conference held at Dickinson College 2002        Panel co-organizer, Jewish Diasporas in a Diasporic World.  Annual conference of the Association for Jewish Studies 2001        Panel co-organizer, The New Jewish Anthropology.  Annual conference of the Association for Jewish Studies 2000        Panel co-organizer, Race and Religion:  Shifting Approaches to Shifting Categories.  Jointly sponsored by the annual conferences of the American Sociological Association and Association for the Sociology of Religion 1998        Panel co-organizer, Bodies and Spirits:  Race, Religion and Identity Formation in the Americas.  Annual conference of the American Anthropological Association 1998-       Occasional peer reviewer, Cultural Anthropology, American Ethnologist, Diaspora 1997-99   Seminar participant, Faculty seminar in American religion, Columbia University 1994        Conference co-organizer, Revisioning Culture.  Graduate student conference held at The University of California at Santa Cruz Professional Associations American Anthropological Association Society for the Anthropology of Religion American Ethnological Society Society for Cultural Anthropology Association for Jewish Studies Association for the Sociology of Religion American Academy of Religion