Alanna E. Cooper

Alanna E. Cooper is the Abba Hillel Silver Chair of Jewish Studies and an Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Case Western Reserve University. She also serves as Director of Undergraduate Studies. Her research explores Judaism as a lived religion in the U.S., Israel, and the former Soviet Union, focusing on how social upheaval influences religious expression and the dynamics of global diaspora.

Research Interests

• Impact of societal change on sacred practices
• Material culture in religious communities
• Diaspora studies and migration patterns
• Digital preservation of religious traditions

Courses Taught

• Anthropology of Jews and Judaism
• Introduction to Judaism
• Jewish Art and Architecture
• Religion and the Internet: Digitizing the Sacred
• Interpreting Religion (Theories and Methods)

Public Lectures

• Saying Goodbye to Synagogues in America’s Hinterland
• Museum Collecting Amid Dispersion and Loss
• Holocaust Torah Scrolls as Memory Repositories
• Jewish-Muslim Relations in Central Asia