What are you most excited about as you start your Laidlaw research summer?
While it can never be anticipated, discovering something new through my research excites me greatly. Earlier today in Butler 202, I came across a Philosophical Dictionary by Voltaire, published in 1764. I thought it would be useful to engage with this sort of text as dictionaries were close companions of intellectuals up until the popularization of dictionaries as necessities in the home--and before the Napoleonic Wars, corporations would commission dictionaries from individuals or groups--and the language that a thinker uses informs the way they craft their arguments and therefore beliefs. 
Below, I put an image of the entry I opened to, on Patrie (Homeland), which offers an account of Jews as being fundamentally stateless. I thought it was fascinating, seeing as so much of the way that thinkers considered Jews within the Zionist movement feels almost bound by these definitions. 
Seeing the way that the thinkers I've been dealing with (namely Ahad Ha'am) have complicated or maintained these notions has complicated my own thinking in exciting ways. 

This week, the discussions we held about research cut across the disciplines. How does the interdisciplinary nature of this program, the fact that students are focusing on such a diverse range of projects, help you think about your project and/or your academic interests more broadly?
I know other scholars might read this, so I'd like to direct this response to them. I've been so incredibly inspired talking with the other scholars. Hearing these new people think out loud and talk about things they're passionate about has catalyzed a greater conviction in what I'm studying myself, but also maybe broadly the beauty of research itself. We know, and I think probably the people around us know, that things can change over the next half-decade in our research or career interests. Because of this, I think there is a deep beauty in what we are doing here. Where can we put out knowledge to the grindstone and walk away being not just better specialists but better citizens; that there is something that we are doing besides excavating some series of data or facts. To be surrounded in this desperate sea of varied yet profound interests is a gift I hope keeps giving. 

As you begin your individual research projects this week, do you anticipate any challenges in getting started? If so, what are they?
My challenges this week have been in developing the methodological scaffolding for my thesis. All the introductions I've read in secondary literature have offered guidance on possible approaches in evaluating the aims of national movements. Deciding which one fits best for this project is something I'm still considering and hope to get more guidance on.