New York’s Lower East Side may be the most studied and storied neighborhood in America. Since its emergence as the city’s most densely populated immigrant neighborhood in the mid-19thcentury, the Lower East Side has been the subject of extensive scrutiny by journalists, reformers, photographers, urban planners, as well as creative engagements by writers, visual artists, and filmmakers. Over the past century-and-a-half the Lower East Side has witnessed waves of demographic shifts and infrastructure changes. Its image has been transformed from a locus of poverty, crime, and social turmoil to a site of American heritage tourism and gentrification. This seminar will trace the neighborhood’s trajectory through an interdisciplinary approach to an array of materials, including journalism, photography, film, literature, and tourist productions.
Professor Jeffrey Shandler
Prof. Jeffrey Shandler teaches and researches memory practices, public history, language use, and the new media of the previous century through explorations of modern and contemporary Jewish culture. He has written, edited, or translated seventeen books, most recently Homes of the Past: A Lost Jewish Museum. Learn more at http://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/people/core-faculty/jeffrey-shandler