Mika Ahuvia
Herbert L. & Lucia S. Pruzan Chair in Jewish Studies
Director of the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies
University of Washington
What stories do we tell about the foundations of Jewish history, culture, and society? In this lecture, Mika Ahuvia explains how scholarly paradigms have not kept up with uncovered evidence of enslaved, manumitted, and fostered children in antiquity. She argues that it is time for the contribution of non-normative Jews to late antique synagogues, rabbinic learning, and Jewish society in Late Antiquity to change our narratives of history. Our imaginings of Jewish society and the Jewish household in premodernity must change to accommodate the evidence of these heretofore marginalized Jews. A more inclusive story of the past sets the stage for more inclusive and ethical attitudes in the present.
This workshop is geared to graduate students and faculty and is open to the public.
Co-sponsored by the Department of Classics, and supported by the Diane Cummins Community Education Fund.
