Join us as we welcome Asa Simon Mittman, Professor of Art & Art History at California State University, Chico, for a virtual lecture on "Jewish Demons, Muslim Idols, and Other Christian Monsters."
In the Middle Ages, Christians spent a great deal of time, money, and cultural energy generating elaborate fantasies about the two religions most closely related to their own, Judaism and Islam. They created demonic shadow versions of these religions and their adherents and, based on these inventions, took repeated action against their real-world counterparts. This discussion, based on Cartographies of Exclusion: Anti-Semitic Mapping in Medieval England (University Park: Penn State University Press, 2024), will interrogate a series of cartographic images designed to generate fear and hatred of Jews and Muslims in ways that endure into the present.
Sign up here, and we will send you the Zoom link the day before the talk.
This event is co-sponsored by PSU's Art History program and the Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies.
Cover image: Detail of Moses from a genealogical scroll in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Photo: Asa Mittman.