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Bound Together: My (Isaac's) Yearnings for Ishmael

Wednesday, March 28, 2012
4:00 AM
3222 Angell Hall 435 S. State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109

1-3pm, Panel Discussion
Panel Speakers: Professor Gil Hochberg, University of California Los Angeles; Professor Ruth Tsoffar, University of Michigan; Ramon Stern, PhD Candidate at the University of Michigan.
Respondents: Professor Anton Shammas, University of Michigan and Professor Gil Anidjar, Columbia University.
3:30-5:00pm, Keynote Address: “Bound Together: Ishmael as the Ever Present Absence in Isaac’s Binding”
How might one re-imagine the boundaries of the Biblical telling of the binding of the Isaac? In his talk, author Albert Swissa traces the discontinuities in the famous Biblical story through Midrashic interpretation, seeking to break the silence of Isaac and re-inscribing the presence of Ishmael as kin and marker of difference. His scholarly engagement explores and challenges seemingly intrinsic assumptions in Jewish religion, the division between Israeli Jews and Palestinians, ethnic politics in Israel, common genres in Hebrew literature and more.
Sponsored by: OVPR, Comparative Literature, Near Eastern Studies, Zell Writer’s Series, Rackham, International Institute, Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, Mediterranean Topographies, IRWG, Institute for the Humanities, National Center for Institutional Diversity, CMENAS, University of Michigan Hillel, Context for Classics, Romance Languages and Literatures, DAAS, American Culture, Arab-American Studies.