Drawing on a variety of methods from cultural studies, history and ethnology, research in the Practice cluster focuses on both the everyday realm – such as home furnishings, clothing, personal care or nutrition – and the festive realm (ritual objects, wedding dresses, Rosh Hashanah cards, etc.). The research examines how the relationship between the Jewish diaspora and its environment is expressed in the ways in which Jews produced and consumed objects in accordance with the spirit of particular times and regions. In what ways did objects (not) contribute to reinforcing the regional identities of Jews in the 19th and 20th centuries? How could objects become reliable anchors to bridge historical and biographical ruptures caused by migration and exile?

The cluster will focus on the production, use and reuse of objects, thus concentrating on everyday and non-everyday uses of these objects, while examining changes in their use in the context of modernity. Emphasis will be placed on embodied practices (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 2005) in order to consider the sensory, affective and gender-historical dimensions of routines in object use.

A close examination of the diverse practices of object use and reuse allows for a critical inquiry beyond essentializing notions of “Jewish objects” into the processes of appropriation, modification, and translation of practices and meanings. Drawing on Michel de Certeau, the cluster is interested in “tactics” that often undermine the intentions of the producers of certain objects, revealing consumption as an active practice in which objects are altered by the actions of various agents, while at the same time creating affiliations through using the use of objects (Möhring 2012; Schrire 2023).