Measured Diversity as a Goal

While working on an essay about diversity, equity, and inclusion, I stumbled across this Ted Talk presentation by Janet Stovall, Sr. Director of Social Impact at UPS Foundation, is an advocate for inclusion in corporations, and an activist against racism. When she was at college, Stovall’s “Project 87” urged her North Carolina University to actively…

ANELC eLecture Series 2020: Eblaite As An East Semitic Language

The Ancient Near Eastern Languages in Contact eLecture Series ends this week with a presentation on Eblaite by Dr. Rebecca Hasselbach-Andee, Associate Professor of Comparative Semitics at the University of Chicago. Dr. Hasselbach-Andee’s work includes a broad range of Semitic languages, and she has edited a volume recently published, called A Companion to Ancient Near…

ANELC eLecture Series 2020: Shared Features of Aramaic and Arabic in Transition

This week, the Ancient Near Eastern Languages in Connection eLecture series featured the research of two scholars on the connections between Aramaic and Arabic in the ancient Near East. Dr. Na’ama Pat-El is an Associate Professor of Semitic Philology at Harvard University. Dr. Phillip Stokes is an Assistant Professor in the Arabic program at the…

ANELC eLecture Series 2020: Translating the Bible from Hebrew & Greek Origins

Benjamin Whittle, a research student at University College London in Hebrew & Jewish Studies, presented the ANELC eLecture today. Ben’s research is in contact between Hebrew and Greek. This presentation focused on how Hebrew verbal stems are codified in Greek translations of the Pentateuch and Former Prophets. The Septuagint (LXX), written in Greek, and the…

ANELC eLecture Series 2020: Culture and Context of Jewish Greek Writings in the Second Temple Period

Dr. Marieke Dhont presented the ANELC eLecture this week, demonstrating linguistic connections between Greek and Jewish culture. In addition, her study provides evidence for a bilingual community of Jews in the Second Temple Period. This time period followed the introduction of Hellenism from the west into the whole of the ancient Near East. Hellenistic Greek…

ANELC eLecture Series 2020: The Heritage of Samaritan Hebrew in the Second Temple Period

This week’s ANELC eLecture was presented by Dr. Stefan Schorch, who is working on a collaborative project to develop a lexicon of Samaritan Hebrew. Samaritans separated from the main Jewish religious life in late antiquity. Their practices of prayer and worship increasingly moved toward Mount Gerizim rather than Jerusalem in Judah. While the two sects…