معرفی
Rebecca Margolis is Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Arts, cross-appointed with Classics and Religious Studies and affiliated with the Vered Jewish Canadian Studies Program. She serves as President of the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies.
Her educational background:
- Columbia University: M.A.-Ph.D. in Germanic Languages (Yiddish Studies), 2005
- McGill University: B.A. in Jewish Studies/Religious Studies, 1996
Professor Margolis specializes in Yiddish language evolution among Canadian Jews, challenging the "dying language" narrative through four research pillars: (1) 21st-century New Yiddish Cinema produced globally; (2) post-1950 language transmission examining revitalization via family transmission, publishing, youth activism, and digital media; (3) early 20th-century Yiddish culture during mass Eastern European Jewish immigration; and (4) Holocaust scholarship analyzing its impact on Canadian Jewish identity and media representation. Her work intersects cultural memory, ethnic studies, and linguistic anthropology.
Her award-winning monograph Jewish Roots, Canadian Soil: Yiddish Culture in Montreal, 1905-1945 received:
- Canadian Jewish Book Award
- J.I. Segal Award
She teaches courses including Yiddish Literature and Film, Canadian Responses to the Holocaust, Judaism, and intensive Yiddish language instruction, maintaining office hours in Hamelin Hall. Her research demonstrates how Canadian Yiddish has transformed from an immigrant vernacular to an actively cultivated ethnic language through institutional and community efforts.
