Journal for Cultural Research, 2003

My objective is to provide insight into how "Jewishness", primarily as a cultural signifier, is created in the sitcom Seinfeld and how it is a reflection of contemporary conversations and negotiations of Jewish cultural identity within North America. This kind of research is important because television is still a primary media source despite declining ratings , and sitcoms are the primary workhorse (and globally distributed) of the TV networks, hence NBC's "Must-See TV" and the astronomical salaries that top sitcom stars receive. Seinfeld is a breakthrough "Jewish" sitcom because it is the first time, since The Goldbergs left the air in the 1950s, that a Jewish lead character is directly defined (Jerry self-identifies both directly and indirectly) as Jewish. Like Jack Benny and George Burns, he is assimilated, but he is not in the Jewish closet. This historical development is of interest to those who study the shifting nature of race via class in North America, the racing of Jews in particular, and how this racing informs popular TV representations of Jews. However, the sitcom is also notable and fascinating because it engages in the historical network TV practice of Jewish selfcensorship, and it also employs primarily negative stereotypes. The rest of the core and supporting ensemble are ambiguously sketched in terms of ethnicity (not race, I argue they are raced in terms of unmarked whiteness) and they are stereotypical and self-deprecating. They can be read as Jewish or not Jewish, but there is no direct or clear designation. Jewishness appears as signifiers and coding that can be read as Jewish (food, philosophical references) and possibly Jewish (mannerisms, phenotype, anxiety). Therefore, two more key questions that I address are: Why are only Jewish characters, as opposed to other white ethnics in sitcoms, presented ambiguously? Overall, how does the complex relationship between Jewishness and whiteness shape the Jewish representations in Seinfeld?

Television & New Media, 2019

Far from being merely "a show about nothing," this article argues that the American television sitcom Seinfeld (1989-1998) managed to develop a sophisticated theory of situations and events in modern life. The show explored a rich and humorous multiplicity of everyday situations and events that took its main characters and audience members alike to the very limits of their conventional lives. Yet Seinfeld consistently stopped short of raising larger political stakes in these explorations. In other words, Seinfeld never took its critique of everyday modern life to a structural level, that is, to the historical forces and social relations that shape contemporary situations and events. By bringing Seinfeld into an intellectual encounter with communist philosopher Alain Badiou's work on situations and events, I argue that we can gain a deeper appreciation of both sides and rethink the political and aesthetic potential of situation comedy.

The books published in the Philosophy of Popular Culture series will illuminate and explore philosophical themes and ideas that occur in popular culture. The goal of this series is to demonstrate how philosophical inquiry has been reinvigorated by increased scholarly interest in the intersection of popular culture and philosophy, as well as to explore through philosophical analysis beloved modes of entertainment, such as movies, TV shows, and music. Philosophical concepts will be made accessible to the general reader through examples in popular culture. This series seeks to publish both established and emerging scholars who will engage a major area of popular culture for philosophical interpretation and examine the philosophical underpinnings of its themes. Eschewing ephemeral trends of philosophical and cultural theory, authors will establish and elaborate on connections between traditional philosophical ideas from important thinkers and the ever-expanding world of popular culture.

The Journal of Popular Culture, 2000