Researcher ORCID Identifier
0009-0000-8406-5124
Graduation Year
2026
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Environmental Analysis
Reader 1
Jordan Daniels
Reader 2
Marina Perez de Mendiola
Reader 3
Walker Wells
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
Zoë L Jacobs
Abstract
This thesis traces the evolution of doikayt—the Bundist principle of hereness—from its origins in the Jewish Labor Bund to contemporary applications in North America. Rooted in a refusal of both assimilation and nationalist escape, doikayt emphasizes cultivating safety, solidarity, and belonging through collective responsibility rather than territorial claims.
Building on this foundation, the exploration situates hereness within a settler-colonial context, where ethical dwelling is complicated by Indigenous dispossession. Drawing on Alexis Shotwell alongside Indigenous thinkers Vanessa Watts and Kyle Whyte, I examine how inhabiting place requires confronting historical injustices and ongoing relational responsibilities. Chapter 3 analyzes Linke Fligl (2016–2022) as a lived example of doikayt, highlighting its programming, land practices, and integration of shmita cycles, demonstrating how diasporic belonging and accountability intersect in practice.
Finally, the thesis expands hereness to ecological and architectural realms. Drawing on Leopold, Watts, Whyte, sustainable design, and regenerative architecture, I argue that the built environment is a critical site for ethical engagement with the present. Frameworks like the Hannover Principles and the Living Building Challenge illustrate how humility, reciprocity, and interdependence can shape spaces that honor ecological limits and long-term care.
Taken together, this work positions doikayt as a model for accountable dwelling across historical, social, and ecological contexts, linking diasporic ethics with environmental responsibility and interdependent communities, human and more-than-human.
Recommended Citation
Jacobs, Zoë L., "Doikayt and the Ethics of Belonging: Lessons in Place-Making from the Jewish Labor Bund" (2026). Scripps Senior Theses. 2855.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/2855
Included in
Environmental Design Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, Social Justice Commons, Sustainability Commons, Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons
