Building 360, CCSRE Conference Room
Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE), 450 Jane Stanford Way Building 360, Stanford, CA 94305
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Jewishness, Voice, Comedy, and Space
Whether Jewishness is understood as racial, ethnic, or religious, it is often associated with a distinctive speech style, characterized as emotional, argumentative, or impatient. Since the early 19th century, comedians have performed and thematized Jewish voice. This paper asks how recent English-language renditions of comic Jewish voice relate to early Yiddish and Russian renditions. It posits that speech style can be indentified as Jewish in certain spaces at certain times. When these spaces no longer offer the possibility of such identification, comic performers - whether professional or amateur - might seek out new spaces, or heighten the signaling of Jewishness.