Rebecca Margolis

I am Professor and Pratt Foundation Chair of Jewish Civilisation in the School of Philosophical, Historical & International Studies (SOPHIS), Faculty of Arts. I joined Monash from the University of Ottawa, Canada, in 2020 to serve as Director of the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation. My scholarship examines the relationship between language, media and cultural identity in migrant and diasporic contexts, with particular emphasis on multilingual screen media, audiovisual translation and Jewish screen cultures. This work contributes to cultural studies, screen studies, sociolinguistics and Jewish studies.

My books and articles demonstrate how languages circulate through cultural institutions and media, shaping identity, memory and cultural belonging across generations. I am the author of two books that analyse the cultural infrastructures and social networks that sustain minority languages in diasporic settings, using Yiddish as a primary case study: Jewish Roots, Canadian Soil: Yiddish Cultural Life in Montreal, 1905–1945 and Yiddish Lives On: Journeys of Language Revitalization. Since relocating to Australia, I have extended this research to Australian migrant and Jewish cultural life, including studies of Holocaust literature, music and performance, and have contributed to multilingual theatre production as a translator and dialogue consultant. I also collaborate with theatre makers and artists on multilingual production to examine the creation of new multilingual cultural forms across music, literature and screen media.

A central focus of my current scholarship is multilingualism in film, television and digital media. I examine how audiovisual media represent linguistic difference, migration and cultural memory, with particular attention to translation, performance and audience reception. My book The Yiddish Supernatural on Screen: Dybbuks, Demons and a Haunted Jewish Past (2024) analyses how film and television use language, voice and sound to represent memory and historical rupture. My publications also address multilingual screen media, audiovisual translation, Jewish comedy and the role of minority languages in modern cultural production. I am currently completing a book manuscript examining the cultural and comic functions of Yiddish in modern screen media.

My research and supervisory interests include:

• Multilingual screen media, including film, television and digital platforms
• Audiovisual translation, subtitling and multilingual media production
• Migration, diaspora and cultural identity in media
• Minority languages and cultural transmission
• Humour and performance
• Horror, the supernatural and cultural memory
• Jewish and migrant cultural history in Australia and the diaspora
• Jewish screen cultures across film, television and digital media
• Holocaust memory in literature, film and performance