The Jewish Diaspora of the Caribbean: An International Conference at Jamaica

The Jewish Diaspora of the Caribbean: An International Conference, Kingston, Jamaica: January 12-14, 2010

“The Jewish Diaspora of the Caribbean” is an international conference to be held at Kingston’s Pegasus Hotel January 12-14 2010 exploring the history, culture, and identity of Caribbean Jewry. “The Jewish Diaspora of the Caribbean” is co-chaired by Jane S. Gerber (Professor of Jewish History, The Graduate Center, CUNY) and Ainsley Henriques (Director, the United Congregation of Israelites, Kingston).

Conference Program

Tuesday, January 12
Opening Remarks
Jane S. Gerber, Ainsley Henriques, Swithin Wilmot

Sephardic Trade Networks in the Colonial Caribbean
Chair: Jane S. Gerber

Miriam Bodian, University of Texas, “The Formation of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Diaspora.”

Jonathan I. Israel, Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton, “Amsterdam, Curacao and the Rise of Sephardic Trade System in the Caribbean (1600–1670).”

Gérard Nahon, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, “Amsterdam and the Jewish Nation of the Caribbean during the Seventeenth Century.”

Holly Snyder, Brown University, “What Jewish Merchants Contributed to Jamaican Commerce, 1670–1831.”

Material and Visual Culture of Caribbean Jewry

Chair: Judah Cohen

Rachel Frankel, Architect, “Remnant Stones: The Significance of New World Portuguese Jewish Diaspora Cemeteries.”

Sharman Kadish, Director, Jewish Heritage, UK; University of Manchester, “Isaac Mendes Belisario, London’s Bevis Marks Synagogue, and the Sephardi Architectural Heritage.”

Jackie Ranston, Independent Scholar, Jamaica, “Biography as History: The Art of Isaac Mendes Belisario (1794–1849)—Story Painter.”

Wednesday, January 13

Caribbean Jewish Identity and Heritage: From Conversos to Modern Jews

Chair: Miriam Bodian

Mordechai Arbell, The Ben Zvi Institute, Jerusalem, “The Gradual Disappearance of the Spanish-Portuguese Jewish Communities of the Caribbean.”

Ronnie Perelis, Yeshiva University, “Daniel Israel Lopez Laguna’s Espejo Fiel de Vidas (London 1720) and the Ghost of Marrano Autobiography.”

Hilit Surowitz, University of Florida, “Portuguese Jews of the Caribbean and the Question of Early Modern Secularization.”

Judah Cohen, Indiana University, “Inscribing Ourselves with History: Exploring Heritage in Today’s Caribbean Jewish Diaspora.”

Jamaican Jewish Heritage Tour of the Duke Street Synagogue with author and local historian Ed Kritzler

Blacks and Jews in the English Caribbean

Chair: Eli Faber

James Robertson, University of the West Indies, Mona,  “The ‘Confession made by Cyrus’ reconsidered: Maroons and Jews during the First Maroon War.”

Stan Mirvis, The Graduate Center, CUNY, “Sexuality and Sentiment: Concubinage between Jewish Males and their Female Slaves in late Eighteenth-Century Jamaica.”

Swithin Wilmot, University of the West Indies, Mona, “Jewish Retailers and Black Voters in Post Slavery Jamaica: Electoral Politics in the Parish of St. Dorothy, 1849-1860.”

Thursday, January 14

Reassessing the Geographic and Ethnic Definitions of Caribbean Jewry

Chair: Jane S. Gerber

Eli Faber, John Jay College, CUNY, “The Jews of Colonial America: How Broad were the Parameters?”

Matt Goldish, Ohio State University, «Franks Among Franks: Adventures of a Jamaican Ashkenazi in the 1690s.»

Dale Rosengarten and Barry Steifel, The College of  Charleston, “Charles Towne, South Carolina: Northernmost Outpost of the Gulf-Caribbean Plantation Region.”

Joanna Newman, The University of Southampton; The British Library, “Refugees from Nazism in the Caribbean during World War Two.”

Jamaican Jewish Heritage Tour of the Hunt’s Bay Cemetery with author and local historian Ed Kritzler

The Art of Sephardic Genealogy Workshop

John de Mercado, Independent Scholar, “A Sephardic Odyssey: Four Centuries of the de Mercado Family in the West Indies.”

Panel Discussion: Ainsley Henriques, John de Mercado, David Kleiman

Closing Remarks

Ainsley Henriques and Jane S. Gerber

Please contact either the conference coordinator, Stan Mirvis or Ainsley Henriques, for further questions.

More information at UCIJa (United Coongregation of Israelities in Jamaica)