The Concordia University Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies, is dedicated to the study of the Canadian Jewish experience. Through research and education, the Institute supports a wide range of projects of local, national, and international interest. In addition, the Institute is committed to providing resources, learning and other culturally enriching experiences within the Jewish community and its institutions. It collaborates with community organizations such as the Canadian Jewish Congress Archives and Montreal's Jewish Public Library, as well as the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies in order to foster both the scholarly study of Canadian Jewry as well as the dissemination of the results of this scholarly study to the general public.  New undertakings include plans for virtual panels on key areas of the discipline, and support for the ACJS’s series of profiles of authors of new publications and newly defended theses.

Together with the Concordia University Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies, the Chair provides a bridge between the academic study of Canadian Jewry and the community in which it serves. The Institute is responsible for the academic study of Canadian Jewry, and the Institute, responsible for community activities, represent an unprecedented partnership.

The Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies oversees and awards important fellowships in the area of Canadian Jewish Studies and Jewish Studies. Information on the fellowships can be found at: https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/research/jewish-studies/research/fellowships.html   It also focuses on a wide range of publishing, student, and community oriented events, courses, and offers a Scholars-in-Residence Programme.

We encourage those who are interested in any of our programmes or initiatives to access our website for further details.

The Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies houses the Avriel Butovsky Library and the catalogue can be found at: The Avriel Butovsky Library. For more information about the library please visit our site.

Miranda Crowdus is an assistant professor in the Department of Religions and Cultures. She assumed the directorship of the Institute in January 2022. Crowdus' research interests lie at the intersection of ethnomusicology and Jewish Studies. Crowdus' research specializations, as well as her upbringing in Montreal, and a vested interest in learning about Montreal's Jewish communities "in their own words" was the motivation for her new research project "The Music of Jewish Montreal" (2022). The project explores connections between musical consumption and practices and their role in strengthening the confidence and cohesion and transcultural practices and potential of minority communities in Canadian urban contexts. Another recently conceived project "Performing the Canadian Jewish Archive" uses material documents as well as experiential encounters linked with the Canadian Jewish Archive as a catalyst for arts-based creations and practices.

Crowdus is also currently working on research on Jewish cultural heritage and cultural sustainability with a particular emphasis on intangible cultural heritage. Using an interdisciplinary framework, her comparative research interrogates the construction of contemporary European and Canadian Jewish Cultural Heritage (JCH) displays, by addressing their assumed notions of temporality and resulting conflicting representations and negotations of Jewish identities.

Dr. Crowdus' faculty profile

For detailed information on the Concordia Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies visit the CUCCJ's website.