Andrea Most

Biography

Andrea Most is Professor of American Literature and Jewish Studies in the Department of English at the University of Toronto. She teaches and conducts research in the areas of modern American literature and culture, Jewish cultural studies, the environmental humanities, food studies, theatre and performance. Her first book Making Americans: Jews and the Broadway Musical (Harvard UP, 2004) won the 2005 Kurt Weill Prize for distinguished scholarship on music theatre. Her second book, Theatrical Liberalism: Jews and Popular Entertainment in America (NYU Press, 2013) was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in American Jewish Culture. Selected as a Jackman Humanities Institute Faculty Fellow on the special theme of Food for 2012-13, Prof. Most continues to conduct research on the relationship between Jews, Judaism and agriculture in the modern era, with a special focus on the contemporary Jewish food movement.  She works as a co-founder and designer of Bela Farm, a centre for land-based Judaism in Southwestern Ontario and as an activist in the Jewish food movement both locally and internationally. Prof. Most’s current research and teaching focus broadly on the crucial role of the humanities in confronting environmental crisis.  As part of this initiative, this year she will be completing an ecocritical memoir entitled A Pain in the Neck and developing a new experiential pedagogy for teaching in the environmental humanities. Prof. Most is cross-listed with many interdisciplinary programs including the Centre for Jewish Studies, the Department for the Study of Religion, Centre for the Study of the United States, and the Centre for Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies.

research interests

American literature
American theatre and popular culture
American Jewish literature and culture
American environmental literature
Food studies.

education

Ph. D – Joint Degree in American Literature and Jewish Studies, Brandeis University, (2001)
M.A – Brandeis University (1998)
M.A – Brandeis University, (1996)
B.A. –Yale University (1988)

awards and distinctions

National Jewish Book Award 2013. Finalist in the area of American Jewish Culture for Theatrical Liberalism.
Kurt Weill Prize, awarded by the Modern Language Association, American Society for Theater Research, American Musicological Society, and the Kurt Weill Foundation for the best book on Music Theatre in 2004/2005.
John Charles Polanyi Prize for Literature, 2004.
ATHE (Association for Theater in Higher Education) Essay in Criticism Award for Outstanding Critical Article in the field of Theatre Studies, 2000.
Glatzer Prize for Best Dissertation in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University, 2000.
Winner of Leo Wasserman Prize for best article in No. 87 of American Jewish History, 1999.

selected publications

Theatrical Liberalism: Jews and Popular Entertainment in America. New York University Press, May 2013.
Making Americans: Jews and the Broadway Musical, Harvard University Press, January 2004.
“The Farmer’s in the Shul: The New Jewish Food Movement (A Report from the Fields).” Studies in Contemporary Jewry. Forthcoming 2015.
“To Be (Or Not To Be): Ernst Lubitsch’s Irrepressible Theatrical Liberalism.” In The Public Intellectual and the Culture of Hope. Joel Faflak and Jason Haslam, ed. University of Toronto Press. 2013. 20 pgs.
“The Birth of Theatrical Liberalism.” In After Pluralism: Re-Imagining Models of Religious Engagement. Courtney Bender and Pamela Klassen, eds. Columbia University Press, 2010. 30 pgs.

courses

Topics in Jewish Literature and Culture
Cook the Books: Studies in Food Literature
American Pastoral
Twentieth Century American Literature
Theatricality and Idolatry
Theatrical Liberalism