Event

Sara Lipton, Professor of History, State University of New York at Stony Brook

“What’s in a Nose?  On the Origins, Dissemination, and Effects of Medieval Anti-Jewish Caricature”

In this paper I examine the visual sources for the earliest anti-Jewish caricatures, the contexts in which they first appeared, and the means by which they gradually came to shape medieval Christian -- and eventually modern European -- perceptions of and attitudes toward Jews.  I argue that art had an under-appreciated place in the development of western anti-Semitism.

Organized by the faculty workshop in Medieval Studies and co-sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program, Art History, Classical Studies, Comparative Literature, Romance Languages, and the Center for Ancient Studies.