The Centre for Jewish Studies
University of Manchester
Extra-Mural Lectures January-March 2000
For the full list of lectures, click here
Jan 11: Rosalyn Livshin, "The Acculturation of the Children of
Immigrant Jews to Manchester 1890-1930": The talk will examine the
way in which the children of immigrant Jews to Manchester were introduced
to English culture and an English way of life and the effect this had upon
the children in terms of their own culture, religion and sense of identity.
Why were the children exposed to anglicising influences not only from the
wider society in which they lived but through the very institutions of the
Jewish community itself? What effect did this have on the use of the Yiddish
language, Yiddish culture, religious observance, attitudes and a sense of
identity? These issues will be addressed through the use of documentary
and oral evidence. In particular the vast oral archive, built up by myself
and Bill Williams at the Manchester Studies Unit of Manchester Polytechnic,
provides a unique look at the effects of acculturation upon the children.
Taped extracts will be played from this archive to illustrate the talk.
The information for this talk is drawn from research undertaken for a Master
of Education at the University of Manchester.
Rosalyn Livshin, Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Jewish Studies,
is the North West Co-ordinator for the National Sound Archive's Project
on "The Living Memory of the Jewish Community", interviewing refugees
and survivors of the Holocaust, and researches also in local history and
genealogy. Her publications include: 'The History of the Harrogate Jewish
Community' (Leeds, 1995) and 'The Acculturation of the Children of Immigrant
Jews in Manchester, 1890-1930', in The Making of Modern Anglo-Jewry,
ed. David Cesarani (Oxford University Press, 1990).
The Centre for Jewish Studies
The Department of Religions and Theology
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL
United Kingdom
Tel +44 (0)161 275 3614; Fax +44 (0)161 275 3613
e-mail: Bernard.Jackson@man.ac.uk