Ri J. Turner

Email: rjturner3@wisc.edu

Address:
Advisor: Tony Michels

Ri J. Turner

Biography

My research focuses on the role of the American Yiddish press as a semi-private space for “internal” conversation among Eastern European Jewish immigrants at the turn of the last century. Apart from research, I am passionate about Yiddish language pedagogy, the curation and translation of little-known Yiddish texts, setting Yiddish poetry to music, and reading literary and journalistic texts in Hebrew, Polish, French, and Spanish.

Education

M.A., Yiddish, Hebrew University
M.A., Jewish Studies, Hebrew College
B.A., Anthropology, Cornell University

Field

  • U.S.\North American History
  • Jewish History

MA Title

  • “Confronting the Jewish Rejection of Jewish Particularism: Chaim Zhitlowsky’s Pedagogical Intervention into Ashkenazi American Assimilation”

Selected Publications

Selected Awards

  • George L. Mosse Modern Jewish History Fellowship (2021-2022)
  • Jewish Studies Fellowship from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture (2018)
  • Translation Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the PEN/Heim Translation Fund, and the Yiddish Book Center (2014, 2018)

Courses Taught as TA

  • History/Jewish Studies 219: The American Jewish Experience (Fall 2022)
  • Afro Amer 102: Introduction to Comparative US Ethnic and American Indian Studies (Spring 2023)