The Ghetto and the Modern Jewish Imaginary

Few terms have figured as prominently, or as provocatively, in Jewish narratives and framings of modernity as the word "ghetto." This paper will discuss some of the various meanings the term "ghetto" has assumed over time while also highlighting the need for a cultural and conceptual history of its usage. 

Professor Daniel B. Schwartz is an assistant professor of modern Jewish history at George Washington University and the author of The First Modern Jew: Spinoza and the History of an Image (Princeton, 2012).