Imagining Jewish Authenticity: Vision and Text in American Jewish Thought

by Ken Koltun-Fromm

Exploring how visual media presents claims to Jewish authenticity, Imagining Jewish Authenticity argues that Jews imagine themselves and their place within America by appealing to a graphic sensibility. Ken Koltun-Fromm traces how American Jewish thinkers capture Jewish authenticity, and lingering fears of inauthenticity, in and through visual discourse and opens up the subtle connections between visual expectations, cultural knowledge, racial belonging, embodied identity, and the ways images and texts work together.

262 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 2015

About the author

Ken Koltun-Fromm (b. 1966) is Robert and Constance MacCrate Professor of Social Responsibility and Professor of Religion at Haverford College. His research focuses on Jewish conceptions of identity, authority, authenticity, and materiality.

Education
B.A., Haverford College
M.A., Harvard Divinity School
Ph.D., Stanford University