Fernandes听family, Suriname ca. 1908. At center are Isaac Daniel Fernandes, a Portuguese Jew from a planter family, and Klasina Elisabeth Vroom, descended from a family of manumitted slaves. Surrounding them are their eight children and a daughter-in-law. Courtesy of the Fernandes-Vroom family.
The Program in Jewish Studies, Department of History听and Colorado Law welcome Professor Aviva Ben-Ur, who will present a public lecture titled 鈥淛ewish Autonomy in a Slave Society: The Eurafrican Jews of Suriname, South America.鈥� This talk is part of the Jewish Studies Community Talks Series, made possible in part by a grant from Rose Community Foundation.
The lecture will take place from 7:30 to 9听p.m. Wednesday, March 14, in the Chancellor鈥檚 Silver and Gold Room at University Club, 972 Broadway, Boulder. This event is free and open to the public. RSVPs are appreciated to cujewishstudies@colorado.edu.
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Suriname, a Dutch colony established on the South American mainland in the 1660s, was among the largest slave societies of the hemisphere. Its Jewish community, founded during the same decade, was granted exceptional liberties, including religious tolerance, unrestricted economic opportunities听and, most remarkably, the privilege to self-govern according to its own religious and secular laws. This political autonomy also empowered Jews to convert their slaves to Judaism, resulting in the rise of a sizeable class of people collectively known in the sources as 鈥渕ulatto Jews鈥� or 鈥淛ewish mulattoes.鈥�
In her talk, Ben-Ur will听address听the emergence of Eurafrican Jews, their legal status, cultural characteristics, social activism听and their experience of Jewish autonomy in a colony where upwards of 96 percent of the population was unfree.
Who: Open to the public
奥丑补迟:听鈥淛ewish Autonomy in a Slave Society: The Eurafrican Jews of Suriname, South America鈥�
奥丑别苍:听Wednesday, March 14,听7:30鈥�9听p.m.
奥丑别谤别:听University Club,听Chancellor鈥檚 Silver and Gold Room
RSVP: cujewishstudies@colorado.edu
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Ben-Ur is professor in the Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and holds adjunct appointments in the Department of History and in the programs of Spanish and Portuguese and Comparative Literature.
She specializes in Atlantic Jewish history and slavery studies and is the author of听Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society: Suriname in the Atlantic World, 1651-1825听(forthcoming with University of Pennsylvania Press);听Remnant Stones: The Jewish Cemeteries and Synagogues of Suriname: Essays听(Hebrew Union College Press, 2012) and听Remnant Stones: The Jewish Cemeteries of Suriname: Epitaphs听(Hebrew Union College Press, 2009), both co-authored with Rachel Frankel;听and听Sephardic Jews in America: A Diasporic History听(New York University Press, 2009).
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A subscription series, Community Talks features nationally and internationally renowned scholars, authors, artists听and performers for themed public events with the goal of enriching community learning and expanding access to academic programming on Jewish culture and history.
Guarantee your spot at all听Community Talks events by becoming a subscription member. Subscribers will receive sneak previews, exclusive offers听and intimate dinners and salons with visiting speakers. To learn more and subscribe, please visit the Program in Jewish Studies online.
