Crossing Borders: Visualizing Jewish/Christian and Jewish/Muslim Relations in Medieval and Early Modern Times

Sunday, March 14, 2010 to Monday, March 15, 2010

This conference builds on the assumption that the borders between the minority Jews and the dominant cultures in which they lived were permeable, allowing not only violent persecution but fruitful cultural exchange.  Scholars from a variety of disciplines will examine illustrated chronicles, the Arena Chapel in Padua, coins, architecture, calendars, prints, and lesser-known manuscripts.  Additional support comes from the support of the Departments of Art History, History, and Religious Studies, the Boniuk Center for Religious Tolerance, and the Jewish Studies Program.  The conference is organized by Diane Wolfthal, the David and Caroline Minter Professor of Art History and department chair.  It will be open to the broader community with times for discussions set aside throughout the day.

 Becoming Visual: The Emergence of the Visible Jewess in Later Medieval Art: Sara Lipton (SUNY-Stony Brook)

 The Visual Construction of Jews: Diane Wolfthal (Rice University), “Complicating Anti-Semitism: Class Conflict and Religious Conflict in Images of Christian Violence against Jews”, Anne Derbes (Hood College), “Sexuality, Usury, and Anti-Semitism in the Arena Chapel”, Chair: Michael Maas (Rice University)

 Jewish Material Culture: Eva Haverkamp (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich) “How Can Money Be Jewish? Coins Minted by Jews in Medieval Ashkenaz”, Natalie Zeldin (Rice University), “The Sephardic Cemetery at Ouderkerk.”, Chair: Alec Mishory (Rice University)

 Understanding the Expulsion of Jews: Linda Elaine Neagley (Rice University), “A Jewish Monument in the Court of the Palais de Justice in Late Medieval Rouen”,Sarah Westphal-Wihl (Washington University in St. Louis), “The Pulpit, the Public Sphere, and the Expulsion of the Regensburg Jews in 1519”, Chair: Judith Steinhoff (University of Houston)

 Egyptian Jews: Paula Sanders (Rice University), “Inter/ intrareligious polemics in Medieval Egypt”, Chair: Gregory Kaplan (Rice University)

 'Which is the Merchant here, and Which the Jew?': Shakespeare’s Jewish Questions