Mel Konner
www.melvinkonner.com/
Melvin Konner, MD, PhD, is the author of nine books and is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology at Emory University in Atlanta, where he teaches in the anthropology, human biology, and Jewish studies programs. He has written for the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, Science, and the New England Journal of Medicine. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Exotic Jewish Cultures
Global History and Culture
Non-Ashkenazic Jewish communities, including the Jews of Islamic countries, Sephardic Jews, Ethiopian Jews, the Jews of India, and the Jews of Kaifeng, China have fascinating back stories. What were the origins of these communities? How did they survive and even thrive, in these foreign lands? We’ll discuss some of the unique characteristics, contributions and lessons we can enjoy and learn from today.
Ancient Times
Global History and Culture,
Text and Thought
As a wise archeologist once said, "Just because it is written in the Bible doesn't necessarily mean that it is wrong." This session reviews some of what we know from scientific, archeological and historical evidence about the origins of the Jews and the period covered by the Tanakh (the Jewish Bible) and the Talmud. We'll look at archeological evidence dating back to the Jews of Babylon, the Second Temple period, the Jews of Alexandria, Rome, and other diaspora communities before the common era.
The Jewish Body in History
Global History and Culture,
Health and Healing
This session traces the historical trajectory from strength (the great warriors of ancient times) to weakness (the deliberate submission of the diaspora) and back to strength (the "muscle-Jews" of Europe, the people's army of modern Israel). It also traces Jewish laws and attitudes about sex and purity, as well as the "Jewish" anti-sexual mythology. It takes up anti-Semitic views of the Jewish body, including “scientific” racism and the widespread acceptance a century ago that diabetes, TB, syphilis, and even flat feet were specifically Jewish. Finally, it looks at what Jewish genes are real, and new theories used to explain Jewish achievements.
The Jewish Body: From Circumcision to Nose Jobs
Health and Healing,
Identity and Responsibility
This presentation will focus on modifications of the body, such as circumcision in ancient and modern context (designed to keep the Jews separate from other people) and nose jobs and other cosmetic surgery (often designed to make the Jews fit in). How did Jewish genes make the Jews different, or did they only seem different? At many times in history, Jewish women became an exotic attraction to Gentile men, and yet somehow anti-Semites' definitions of the Jewish body drove some Jews to change their faces and bodies. Jews invented Hollywood and made countless movies, and sometimes even succeeded on the other side of the camera, but they held up to the world an Aryan ideal of beauty. We will explore and discuss these paradoxes.
