Has anti-Semitism always been the same, or have ideas about Jewishness, and suspicion towards Jews, changed over time? In this episode, guest Ana Gómez-Bravo helps to answer these questions by looking at the lives of Jews and “conversos” (Jewish converts to Christianity) in medieval Spain, exploring how Catholic authorities tried to define and restrict their Jewish and converso residents, in a conversation that spans medieval medicine, forbidden breastfeeding, decoy hams, official guides to Jewishness, and the expulsion of Jews in 1492.
Ana Gómez-Bravo is Professor of Spanish and Portuguese Studies at the University of Washington.
Jewish Questions is the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies’ podcast on issues that matter now in Jewish life, politics, history and culture — from a scholarly perspective.
This season, hosts Laurie Marhoefer and Noam Pianko talk with faculty experts from the University of Washington about anti-Semitism: what it is, its long history, and how to push back against it today.
