Mishnah is a notoriously difficult work to study as a coherent text. The apparent lack of clear logical arrangement, the abrupt shifts of topic, and the frequent insertions of associatively-arranged sections which interrupt the topical flow have challenged students of Mishnah from talmudic times until the present. In this course we will explore the nature and purpose of Mishnah redaction. Employing close reading techniques we will see how the Mishnah redactor employs keywords and literary struct