Event

SYMPOSIUM

Jews and the Natural World: Bodies, Animals, Evolution 

This day-long symposium will explore the interconnected discourses with which Judaism both invents and interacts with nature, from the conceptual and categorical challenges posed by eating animals in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, to the chains of logic that derive from evolutionary theory in the nineteenth century, to the epistemologies that underlie Jewish medicine from the Talmud through modern genetics research.

Space is limited and registration is required. Please RSVP to Carrie Love at carrielo@upenn.edu by December 6, 2017. 

9:30–10:00 am | COFFEE
10:00–10:30 am | INTRODUCTIONWelcome: Steven Weitzman, University of Pennsylvania/Katz Center
Opening Remarks: Daniel Langton, University of Manchester/Katz Center
10:30 am–12:00 pm | BODIES
"Nobody Knows Better than Jew" Talmudic Bodies of Knowledge and Medical Epistemes in Late AntiquityLennart Lehmhaus, CRC 980 "Episteme in Motion," Free University of Berlin/Katz Center
History, Memory and Genetic Jewish Selfhood
Yulia Egorova, Durham University/Katz Center Respondent: Sacha Stern, University College London/Katz Center
12:00–1:00 pm | LUNCH
1:00–2:30 pm  | ANIMALSChair: Marcy Norton, University of Pennsylvania
The Intimacies of Eating: Gender, Sex, and Human-Animal Encounter in Rabbinic Stories of Sodom and Noah
Julia Watts Belser, Georgetown University/Katz Center
Soul Food and Salvation in Medieval Ashkenaz
David Shyovitz, Northwestern University/Katz Center
Respondent: Beth Berkowitz, Barnard College
2:30–3:00 pm | COFFEE BREAK
3:00–4:30 pm | EVOLUTION
Blavatsky, Evolution, and the "Great Chain of Being"
Julie Chajes, Tel Aviv University/Katz Center
Darwin's Jews and Man's Place in Creation
Daniel Langton, University of Manchester/Katz Center Respondent: Donovan Schaefer, University of Pennsylvania 
4:30–5:30 pm  | ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONModerator: Julia Watts Belser, Georgetown University/Katz Center 
Panelists:Projit Bihari Mukharji, University of Pennsylvania/Katz Center
Gwynn Kessler, Swarthmore College
5:30–7:30 pm | DINNER
Event Location: 420 Walnut StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19106Event Date and Time:  December 13, 2017 9:30amLecture Series:  Ruth Meltzer Seminar SeriesFor fellows, Penn faculty, and invited guests only RSVP:  Required Event Contact:  Carrie Love Event Contact Email:  carrielo@upenn.eduEvent Contact Phone:  215-746-1290