Center Names Winner of the First JHP Student Research Paper Prize

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Prize Winner Alexander Gilliatt

​In early May, the Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies honored Alexander Gilliatt (GJS/JHP) as the first recipient of the newly-introduced JHP Student Research Paper Prize. Gabe Atkinson (HIS/JHP) received an honorable mention. Faculty members working with the Center expressed their excitement about the strong work that Appalachian State students are carrying out in these fields.
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The annual JHP Student Research Paper Prize was launched by the Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies during the 2020-21 academic year. The prize honors a student in a JHP cross-listed class in a given year, who has done exceptional work and contributed to the pursuit of Judaic, Holocaust and/or Peace Studies at Appalachian State University and beyond. In 2021, nominations came from the course instructors and were all diligently reviewed by a prize committee composed of Center affiliated faculty. The research paper prize includes a $250 cash prize.

Alexander Gilliatt, the prize recipient, just graduated with a major in Political Science and a minor in Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies. He received the prize for his paper “English, Yinglish, and a Surviving Mother Tongue,” which he completed in Prof. Stephanie Yep’s Judaic Studies class. “Alex brings Yiddish to life, not only by peppering his paper with insightful and humorous examples of assimilations of Yiddish into the English language,” Yep wrote in her nomination, “but by showing what makes Yiddish Jewish. Alex argues that Yiddish is veiled in its codedness yet ‘allows for a widespread understanding of the feeling a word exudes.’ He unravels features of irreverence and sarcasm embedded in the Yiddish language––features that lie at the center of performing Jewishness.” Gilliatt will remain at Appalachian State a bit longer, aiming at completing the Government and Justice Studies’ MA program and remaining involved with the Center.

The Center is looking forward to more student achievements and prize winners in the years to come.