Experience, Space and Time in Jewish Cultural History: a Pragmatist Perspective

This chapter outlines a pragmatist approach to Jewish cultural history, and historical research in general. Through new readings of both classical pragmatists, such as William James, John Dewey, and G. H. Mead, and of modern pragmatists, such as Bruno Latour, Annemarie Moll, John Law, and Andrew Abbott, it argues that for understanding how historical entities are assembled and for understanding how they stay relatively integrated over long durations of time, we must pay attention to how such historical entities make sense for people vis-à-vis their experiences. It discusses how a historical entity such as Jewish cultural history is continuously reconstructed through new experiences where “Jewishness” comes to the fore as a site of causality and explanation. Furthermore, the chapter presents a thorough review of recent currents in Jewish cultural historiography.