A symposium on crypto-Judaism in New Mexico
The complicated 600-year evolution of crypto-Jewish identity is fleshed out in conversations between historians, anthropologists, genealogists, and musicians at a free symposium, Fractured Faiths: Spanish Judaism, the Inquisition, and New World Identities. The gathering — which takes place from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10, in the New Mexico History Museum auditorium (113 Lincoln Ave.) — is held in conjunction with the museum’s exhibition of the same name. Friday begins with “Iberian Identity Crises and Their Reverberations: 1391 and Beyond,” by David Graizbord of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona, followed by “Violence, Revitalization, Expulsion: Jewish Life in Late-Medieval Iberia,” by Gretchen Starr-LeBeau. John F. Chuchiak IV presents “Water and Fire: The Inquisition in New Spain and the Prosecution and Persecution of Accused Judaizers, 1570-1821,” and Emmanuel Ortega delivers “The Reception of Autos-de-Fe in 18th-century San Bartolome Otzolotepec: The Contextual Graphics of a Hegemonic Spectacle.” Paul Duncan, a medical oncologist, offers Friday’s final topic, “A Genetic Link: Identifying a Sephardic Fingerprint.”
Saturday starts with an exploration of the infamous Juan de Oñate’s Jewish-converso lineage by José Esquibel, followed by a look into high society in early Santa Fe by historian Frances Levine in “Doña Teresa’s World: An Intimate View into the Palace.” The penultimate presentation is “The Twentieth-Century Movement of Reclaiming Jewish Identity,” by Ron Duncan Hart of the Latin American & Iberian Institute at the University of New Mexico, and the day concludes with a lecture and musical recital in the Judeo-Spanish language of Ladino. For more information, contact Josef Díaz at 505-476-5082. — Jennifer Levin