Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
I am Pratt Foundation Chair of Jewish Civilisation at the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation (ACJC) in the School of Philosophical, Historical & International Studies (SOPHIS) in the Faculty of Arts.
I joined Monash University from the University of Ottawa, Canada in early 2020.
My primary area of research is the cultural production of migrants and their descendants, in particular as it intersects with language continuity.
My publications examine the Jewish experience at the intersections of language literature, theatre, film, education, and organizational life. I am the author of Jewish Roots, Canadian Soil: Yiddish Cultural Life in Montreal, 1905-1945 and ייִדיש לעבט Yiddish Lives On: Journeys of Language Revitalization (2023). My ongoing research project, New Yiddish Cinema, investigates a 21st-century corpus of film and television created in a Jewish diaspora language that few of its creators, actors or viewers speak. The project examines this transnational cinema as well as the processes of screen translation in the production and reception of cinema in a lesser-used language. As part of this project, I am working on a manuscript titled The Supernatural in New Yiddish Cinema: Dybbuks, Demons and a Haunted Jewish Past (Lexington Books, Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy series) as well as research that interrogates the tropes of Yiddish as funny on American television. I am researching past and contemporary Jewish cultural life in Melbourne.
My scholarly and supervisory interests include:
- Language revitalization, specifically in the context of Yiddish civilization and culture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries;
- Yiddish cinema, including film and television from the 1920s through the present;
- Jewish representation on screen;
- Film translation and subtitling, in particular as it pertains in lesser-spoken languages;
- Memory of the Holocaust and its aftermath in literature, film, and performance;
- The Australian Jewish experience as reflected in its culture, with a particular focus on Melbourne.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Yiddish Studies/Germanic Languages, MA-PhD, Columbia University
Jewish Studies, BA, McGill University
Research area keywords
- Yiddish Studies
- Foreign-language film
- Holocaust and Genocide Studies
- Language revitalization
- Australian Cultural History
- Migrant History
- Canadian Studies
- Film translation
- Intercultural cinema
- Jewish Studies
- Translation Studies
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The Kronhill Program for European Jewish Experience
Margolis, R., Slucki, D., Wolski, N., Heller, D., Doron, D., Shenker, N. & Michaels, P.
12/07/21 → 12/07/26
Project: Research
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Benjamin Slome research fund
Margolis, R., Slucki, D., Wolski, N., Shenker, N., Doron, D., Heller, D., Forgasz, R. & Margolis, R.
19/08/20 → 19/08/25
Project: Research
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Kerryn Baker Memorial Endowment for Gender Research
Margolis, R., Forgasz, R., Slucki, D., Wolski, N., Doron, D., Shenker, N. & Heller, D.
10/08/20 → 31/08/23
Project: Research
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The Floris Kalman Memorial Fund for Yiddish Research and Cultural Production
Margolis, R., Wolski, N. & Slucki, D.
14/10/21 → 30/04/23
Project: Research
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Forays into a Digital Yiddishland: Secular Yiddish in the Early Stages of the Coronavirus Pandemic
Margolis, R., 20 Jul 2021, In: Contemporary Jewry. 41, 1, p. 71-98 28 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
French Canada as a Site of Holocaust Representation
Margolis, R., 2020, Translated Memories: Transgenerational Perspectives on the Holocaust. Hoffman, B. & Reuter, U. (eds.). Lanham Maryland USA: Rowman & Littlefield Education, p. 69-97 29 p. (Lexington Studies in Jewish Literature).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
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In de heym in kanade: A survey on Yiddish today
Margolis, R., Nov 2020, No Better Home? : Jews, Canada, and the Sense of Belonging. Koffman, D. S. (ed.). Toronto Canada: University of Toronto Press, p. 261-283 23 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
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Montreal Yiddish Theatre as Youth Cultural Imperative
Margolis, R., 2019, Theatre and (Im)migration. Meerzon, Y. (ed.). Toronto Canada: Playwrights Canada Press, Vol. 10. p. 129-146 18 p. (New Essays in Canadian Theatre; vol. 10).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
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The Keneder Adler and Yiddish Community Life in Montreal, 1944
Margolis, R., 2019, In: Canadian Jewish Studies. 27, p. 115-124 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile
Prizes
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Faculty of Arts Young Researcher of the Year Award
Margolis, Rebecca (Recipient), 1 May 2011
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award
Margolis, Rebecca (Recipient), 1 Jun 2013
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award
Margolis, Rebecca (Recipient), 1 Nov 2012
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Monash University Faculty of Arts Dean’s Research Award
Hohwy, Jakob (Recipient), Hassed, Craig (Recipient), Margolis, Rebecca (Recipient), Chadha, Monima (Recipient), Bayne, Timothy (Recipient), Chambers, R. (Recipient), Windt, Jennifer (Recipient) & Kars, Aydogan (Recipient), 2021
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Canadian Holocaust Literature
Rebecca Margolis (Organiser), Seymour Mayne (Organiser) & Ruth Panofsky (Organiser)
27 Oct 2018Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
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Yiddish in the New Millennium
Rebecca Margolis (Organiser)
5 Nov 2016Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
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Canadian Jewish Studies (Journal)
Rebecca Margolis (Editor in chief)
1 Jun 2009 → 1 Jun 2011Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Editorial responsibility
Press/Media
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Vaybertaytsh podcast
6/12/21
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Blogs, Podcasts and Social Media › Podcasts
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Christmas and Hanukkah on film
13/12/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Blogs, Podcasts and Social Media › Podcasts
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Yiddish in Sydney
15/10/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Blogs, Podcasts and Social Media › Podcasts