Oct 14
Forkosh Lecture in Judaic Studies: "The Afterlives of Conversion:
Wed, October 14, 2020
• 2:30pm
- 3:40pm (1h 10m) • See Webinar Link Below
The Forkosh Family Lecture in Judaic Studies will be given by Dalia Kandiyoti, Associate Professor of English at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. Her talk is titled, 'The Afterlives of Conversion: Iberian Jewish Pasts in Contemporary Writing and Culture.'
When medieval and early modern Spanish and Portuguese Jews were forced to convert to Catholicism they became known as conversos. Now, five centuries after their conversion, stories of their descendants uncovering long-hidden Jewish roots have come to light and inspired a wave of contemporary writing involving hidden artifacts, family secrets, and clandestine Jewish ritual practices pointing to a past presumed to be long dead and buried. Professor Kandiyoti will discuss how conversos are appearing again, offering alternative views of history, in a range of American, Latinx, Spanish, and Turkish fiction and memoirs today. Exploring Sephardi (Iberian Jewish), Christian, Muslim, and converso past and present ties, Professor Kandiyoti's talk will draw on her recent book, The Converso's Return: Conversion and Sephardi History in Contemporary Literaure and Culture (Stanford, 2020).
Event Contact: Stacy Beckwith