From Catalonia to the Caribbean: The Sephardic Orbit from Medieval to Modern Times is a polyphonic collection of essays in honor of Jane S. Gerber’s contributions as a leading scholar and teacher. Each chapter presents new or underappreciated source materials or questions familiar historical models to expand our understanding of Sephardic cultural, intellectual, and social history. The subjects of this volume are men and women, rich and poor, connected to various Sephardic Diasporas—Spanish, Portuguese, North African, or Middle Eastern—from medieval to modern times. They each, in their own way, challenged the expectations of their societies and helped to define the religious, ethnic, and intellectual experience of Sephardim as well as surrounding cultures throughout the world.
Federica Francesconi, Ph.D. (2007) is Assistant Professor of History and Director of the Judaic Studies Program at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Her forthcoming monograph is titled Invisible Enlighteners: Modenese Jewry from Renaissance to Emancipation.Stanley Mirvis, Ph.D. (2013) is Post-Doctoral researcher at the Hebrew University. His forthcoming monograph is titled The Jews of Colonial Jamaica: A Testamentary History of a Diaspora in Transition (Yale University Press). Brian M. Smollett, Ph.D. (2014) is Associate Dean of List College and the Gershon Kekst Graduate School and Assistant Professor of Modern Jewish History and Thought at Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
Readers include senior scholars, students, and a popular audience interested in the history of Sephardic Diasporas.