Visiting Scholar to Discuss New Directions in Recovering Women’s Voices in Jewish Antiquity

Published:

January 31, 2020

Event Details

Time: 4:15 p.m.
Date: Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020
Location: Humanities and Social Studies Center, Room N3118

shattered bowl with script and what appears to be a stick figure of a person in a long garment

Alexander Marcus, a visiting scholar and lecturer in Jewish studies, will present “Recovering Women’s Voices in Jewish Antiquity: New Directions.”

Marcus says, “In recent decades, scholars of Jewish studies and adjacent fields have drawn greater attention to discourses of gender and sexuality in classical rabbinic literature and other ancient Jewish sources. This scholarly work has demonstrated the possibility — and importance — of recovering the voices of women and other marginalized groups. Yet, it has also highlighted the challenges such projects present. This talk will outline these recent scholarly trends while exploring some of the most promising new directions, including the potential of underutilized methodologies, and understudied texts and material culture, to shed more light on the experiences and perspectives of Jewish women.”

Alexander Marcus

Marcus’ research focuses on the Babylonian Talmud and other literary and material legacies of Sasanian Mesopotamia (3rd-7th century CE), through which he explores hermeneutics, religious identity and boundary formation, gender and social hierarchies, medicine and ritual, and intersections of religion and power. He has also worked extensively in the realms of Jewish education, conflict transformation, and Muslim-Jewish and Christian-Jewish relations. In June he will begin a postdoctoral position at Yale University.

The talk is co-sponsored by the Center for the Humanities and the Department of Religious Studies.

Grinnell College welcomes the participation of people with disabilities. Accommodation requests may be made to Conference Operations.

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