Humanities

The Bible in Its Ancient Iranian Context

March 13-14, 2025 | 306 & 314 Royce Hall UCLA An International Conference Convened by: M. Rahim Shayegan, UCLA William Schniedewind, UCLA Catherine Bonesho, UCLA Co-sponsored by: The Pourdavoud Institute for the Study of the Iranian World The Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies Zoom Webinar Link Download the Conference Program Although there has been renewed interest in the Persian period in biblical scholarship, the profound impact of the ancient Iranian world on the biblical books of Esther and Daniel has often been taken for granted. From their dynamic portraits of foreign kings and Jewish communities in the imperial…

Fighting Antisemitism and Preserving the Memory of the Holocaust: Advances in Greece and Europe? By Leon Saltiel

Fighting Antisemitism and Preserving the Memory of the Holocaust: Advances in Greece and Europe? Lecture by Leon Saltiel, Director of Diplomacy, Representative at UN Geneva and UNESCO, and Coordinator on Countering Antisemitism for the World Jewish Congress Sunday, February 2, 2025 4:00 p.m. The Harry and Yvonne Lenart Auditorium, The Fowler Museum at UCLA Reception to follow Introductory remarks by The Honorable Christina Valassopoulou, Consul General of Greece in Los Angeles Event is free but advanced registration is requested. RSVP: https://forms.gle/qeSd5APvr7EewWAG6 If you are unable to attend but would like to watch the lecture via livestream on our YouTube channel, the link is…

California Medieval Seminar (Winter 2025)

Participation in the Seminar consists of group discussion of pre-circulated papers, typically drafts of articles, book chapters, or dissertation chapters (with complete apparatus). Two of the papers are ordinarily by emerging scholars (including PhD students) and the other two are by established scholars. We allocate one hour per paper and presenters should anticipate substantial, and substantive, feedback. Calls for presenters are circulated via e-mail from the Center approximately two months prior to each meeting and papers are accepted on a first-come basis. More information can be found here. Register to attend in Royce 306 Register to attend via Zoom

“Lost in Transfer? Misunderstanding, Miscommunication, and the Production of Knowledge in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean”

Organizers: Stefania Tutino (UCLA), Andrea Aldo Robiglio (KU Leuven), and Eva Del Soldato (UPenn) The question of how knowledge transfers has become central for understanding the culture of the premodern world in a global perspective. This workshop is interested in exploring the question of what happens when transfer fails: what happens when knowledge is not “translated” properly? What kind of knowledge is produced when the chain of transmission breaks down or malfunctions? We think that miscommunication is as important as communication, and we propose to explore this theme both by examining specific case studies of miscommunication and by investigating what…