Dates: Fridays, June 2 & 9, 2023
Time: 2:00 - 4:00 PM
Place: ISU, Cunningham Memorial Library, Room 028
Cost: $10


On March 29, 1516, the Doge of the Venetian Senate proclaimed the establishment of a section of Venice, an island in the northcentral part of the collection of islands which comprised the Republic, that would house and contain the almost 1,000 Jews who inhabited the territory. The place chosen for this segregated population was the site of an old, unused foundry, “geto,” in Venetian Italian, and most likely the origin of the word which was also spelled getto or ghetto. Iron gates at the openings to the canals that distinguish Venice were locked at night and opened in the morning by guards to ensure that the inhabitants would not leave the area. For next 281 years, the ghetto functioned as a marginalized city within a city. In the aftermath of the French Revolution, the army of Napoleon marched across northern Italy liberating the ghettos in the name of the slogans of the Revolution, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.

This class will explore the reasons for the institution of the ghetto, the relations of the inhabitants to each other and to the Venetians and its broader cultural significance. The disturbing and growing manifestation of Anti-Semitism will be central to the story. The class will also focus on the concept and reality of the isolation of any population by a dominant power structure, whether Venice, Soweto or Harlem. Materials for the course will include lecture outlines, handouts of readings, video clips and excerpts from a play about the Ghetto.