Project overview
This proposal develops a ‘Maimonides from Scratch’ (MfS) pilot in the French Mediterranean city of Marseille for an ERC Consolidator grant application that explores Jewish and Muslim presence and place in both Manchester and Marseille through creative practices. The pilot provides further arts-based methodological texture to my Anniversary Fellowship Zouj (“two”) concerning the historical, experiential and affective dynamics of Sephardic Jewish and Muslim North African cultures and relations and their legacy in Marseille.
Building on Zouj, MfS turns to the medieval polymath Maimonides and his encounters with Muslim intellectuals and dignitaries. Maimonides’ philosophical writings speak to Jewish and non-Jewish museum publics and previous workshops at the Manchester Jewish Museum began the co-production of a cartoon about Maimonides, shaped by participant reflections and accompanied by a stop-motion session. In Marseille we will hold our pilot at the Mucem, European museum of the Mediterranean, with local bédéiste (graphic novelist) Odélia Kamoun and Ohel Yaakov (OY) a so-called ‘hard to reach’ Charedi Jewish community and school interested in Maimonides as an important Sephardic religious figure who codified Jewish law.
MfS is collaborative, integrating an interdisciplinary team—art, anthropology, literature, religious studies—from Cambridge and Southampton including PhD candidate Anoushka Alexander-Rose (English) and Dr Kwame Philipps (AMT). The ‘Scratch’ technique MfS uses creates iterative knowledge exchange through dialogue around a new artwork. We also employ scratch to reach an intergenerational public inclusive of the Charedi world, to exchange on Maimonides with local Marseille communities, share arts-based practices between HE and GLAM, and to co-produce a bande désinée (BD, graphic novel), a significant artform for youth cultural enrichment in France that differentiates MfS Marseille from Manchester . Having commenced our work in Manchester, we are keen to observe its reception in Marseille as a significant site of contemporary Sephardic and Muslim North African presence.
I will lead two sessions at the MucemLab (the educational arm of the Mucem) with the MfS team and Kamoun for A. a group of museum volunteers both Jewish and non-Jewish, and B. a local (OY) Charedi class (ages 8-11), to ensure intergenerational and interfaith reception, engagement, and co-creation. We will discuss Maimonides’ life as a gateway to experiences of contemporary Marseille incorporating participant feedback and garner ideas for the narrative thread of a BD. This will be complemented by a stop-motion animation workshop led by Anastasia Badder, where participants will make their own films, centring movement, place and encounter. Our team will then work on a BD vignette storyboard with Kamoun.
We aim to empower expression through the arts in the co-production of a research-led BD vignette and stop motion informed by multiple-perspectival exchange. Previous lessons learned (Manchester) and those from Marseille will be shared with the Mucem. After the pilot, Alexander-Rose, Badder and I will host an Imiscoe panel on rethinking Migration Studies, presenting findings and outputs from this pair of pilot projects. Having both an animated film and BD vignette as dual outputs 1. Fits Zouj and 2. Offers comprehension proof of concept for the ERC grant.
Building on Zouj, MfS turns to the medieval polymath Maimonides and his encounters with Muslim intellectuals and dignitaries. Maimonides’ philosophical writings speak to Jewish and non-Jewish museum publics and previous workshops at the Manchester Jewish Museum began the co-production of a cartoon about Maimonides, shaped by participant reflections and accompanied by a stop-motion session. In Marseille we will hold our pilot at the Mucem, European museum of the Mediterranean, with local bédéiste (graphic novelist) Odélia Kamoun and Ohel Yaakov (OY) a so-called ‘hard to reach’ Charedi Jewish community and school interested in Maimonides as an important Sephardic religious figure who codified Jewish law.
MfS is collaborative, integrating an interdisciplinary team—art, anthropology, literature, religious studies—from Cambridge and Southampton including PhD candidate Anoushka Alexander-Rose (English) and Dr Kwame Philipps (AMT). The ‘Scratch’ technique MfS uses creates iterative knowledge exchange through dialogue around a new artwork. We also employ scratch to reach an intergenerational public inclusive of the Charedi world, to exchange on Maimonides with local Marseille communities, share arts-based practices between HE and GLAM, and to co-produce a bande désinée (BD, graphic novel), a significant artform for youth cultural enrichment in France that differentiates MfS Marseille from Manchester . Having commenced our work in Manchester, we are keen to observe its reception in Marseille as a significant site of contemporary Sephardic and Muslim North African presence.
I will lead two sessions at the MucemLab (the educational arm of the Mucem) with the MfS team and Kamoun for A. a group of museum volunteers both Jewish and non-Jewish, and B. a local (OY) Charedi class (ages 8-11), to ensure intergenerational and interfaith reception, engagement, and co-creation. We will discuss Maimonides’ life as a gateway to experiences of contemporary Marseille incorporating participant feedback and garner ideas for the narrative thread of a BD. This will be complemented by a stop-motion animation workshop led by Anastasia Badder, where participants will make their own films, centring movement, place and encounter. Our team will then work on a BD vignette storyboard with Kamoun.
We aim to empower expression through the arts in the co-production of a research-led BD vignette and stop motion informed by multiple-perspectival exchange. Previous lessons learned (Manchester) and those from Marseille will be shared with the Mucem. After the pilot, Alexander-Rose, Badder and I will host an Imiscoe panel on rethinking Migration Studies, presenting findings and outputs from this pair of pilot projects. Having both an animated film and BD vignette as dual outputs 1. Fits Zouj and 2. Offers comprehension proof of concept for the ERC grant.