The Max & Pearl Herman Lecture Series - Dr. Noam Sienna

The Department of Gender, Religion, and Critical Studies is pleased to invite you to the next lecture in the Max and Pearl Herman Lecture Series in Judaic Studies:

Dr. Noam Sienna - Hidden Stories: How Jewish Books Reveal Global Connections in the Premodern World

Jews are often described as "people of the book." But what can studying Jewish books tell us about the people who wrote them, read them, and carried them through the centuries? This talk offers a whirlwind tour of global Jewish history through books, drawing on the groundbreaking work of an interdisciplinary project at the University of Toronto. From the ancient origins of rabbinic Judaism through the highs and lows of Jewish life in medieval and Renaissance times, all the way to Canadian Jewry in the 20th century and beyond, this lecture will invite participants into a new and remarkably rich view of the Jewish people and their books.

Noam Sienna is currently a postdoctoral fellow with the University of Toronto College of Arts and Sciences, researching Jewish book cultures in the medieval and early modern Islamic worlds as part of the project “Hidden Stories: New Approaches to the Local and Global History of the Book.” He received his PhD in History and Museum Studies from the University of Minnesota, and is also a Junior Fellow with the Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography. His first monograph, Jewish Books in North Africa: Between the Early Modern and Modern Worlds, is forthcoming with Indiana University Press.

Pre-registration required. Admittance by registration confirmation only. To register, please click here.

Doors open 6 pm. Lecture at 7 pm. Admission is free and everyone is welcome!