Dear History Students, Here is some more information on a great course that I strongly advise you consider taking with Prof. Bregoli. As you'll recall this course fulfills a number of concentrations (Non-Western, Jewish, European) as well as the upper-level non-Western concentration. HIST295: Sephardic Jewish History, Prog. Bregoli M-W, 1:40-2:55pm, in Kiely 417 This course offers an introduction to Sephardic Jewish history and culture, with a special focus on the Sephardic Diaspora in the Mediterranean regions during the early modern and modern periods. Who can be defined as a Sephardic Jew? What are some of the traits of Sephardic culture? How is the Sephardic experience distinctive and different from that of Ashkenazic Jews? Finally, what is the legacy of Iberian Jewry on the modern Jewish experience? To address these questions, we will begin with an overview of Jewish life in late medieval Christian Spain and the events that led to the mass conversions and expulsions from the Iberian Peninsula in the 15thcentury. The course will continue with an exploration of the creation of new Sephardic and conversocommunities and identities in Europe, the Ottoman Empire, and the New World in the aftermath of the 1492 expulsion. Finally, we will pay considerable attention to the upheavals that changed Sephardic life dramatically in the modern period: challenges of modernization for Sephardic communities in North Africa and the Ottoman Empire in the course of the 19th century, modern political forms, the Holocaust of the Balkan Jews, the fate of North African Jews during WWII, and migrations. The course will conclude with a section on the renaissance of contemporary Sephardic life in America, Europe, and Israel.