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, and of creative engagements by poets, novelists, visual artists, and filmmakers. Over more than two centuries, the neighborhood has witnessed waves of demographic shifts and infrastructure changes. Its image has been transformed from a site of poverty, crime, and social turmoil to a location of American heritage tourism and gentrification. This seminar traces the Lower East Side’s trajectory through an interdisciplinary approach to an array of materials, including reportage, literature, film, photography, and tourist practices.
About Professor Shandler
Jeffrey Shandler has been teaching at Rutgers since 2000. A member of the faculty in the Department of Jewish Studies, his courses have been cross-listed with American Studies, Art History, Comparative Literatures, German, and History. Prof. Shandler has written books on Holocaust memory, the role of media in American religious life, and Yiddish culture, among other topics. You can learn more about him here: https://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/people/core-faculty/jeffrey-shandler