I am a scholar of Jewish culture and history, focusing on the medieval and early modern periods, and with a particular interest in Jewish communities in the Islamic world. I currently hold the Deinard Memorial Chair in Jewish History, as an Associate Professor in the History Department at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.
Previously, I held postdoctoral fellowships with the Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life at Rutgers University (2026) in collaboration with the Rutgers Initiative for the Book; and the University of Toronto (2023-2025), as part of the Mellon-funded interdisciplinary project Hidden Stories: New Approaches to the Local and Global History of the Book. I completed my PhD in Jewish History and Museum Studies at the University of Minnesota in 2020. I also hold an MA in Religious Studies from the University of Toronto, and a BA in Anthropology, Classics, and Religion from Brandeis University (summa cum laude).
I have taught courses on Jewish life, art, and literature; Jewish-Muslim relations; and global and Middle Eastern history in a variety of settings, and I have lectured widely to academic and community audiences around the world. My academic interests include Jewish books, art and material culture; inter-religious contact and interfaith relations; magic and demonology; the Sephardi diaspora; and representing religion in museums. Learn more about my published research ›.
I am currently working on two major academic projects:
- a socio-historical analysis and descriptive bibliography of the Ibn Nahmias press in Ottoman Constantinople, 1493-1530. The books printed at this press, both in their content and also in their physical and material forms, are windows into the peregrinations of the Sephardim between the Iberian peninsula, Italy, Germany, North Africa, and the Ottoman Empire, as well as testaments to the deep intellectual and communal questions that were facing Jewish communities around the Mediterranean at a global moment of trauma and transformation.
- a interdisciplinary study of the movement of Torah scrolls between Jewish and Christian communities. Bridging the fields of History, Anthropology, Religious Studies, and Museum Studies, I explore how the Torah scroll as a material object acts as a stage for articulating ideas about Jews and Judaism, from the earliest debates between Jews and Christians in late antiquity to evangelical collectors in contemporary America.
About My Art
I am also a Hebrew calligrapher, letterpress printer, and book artist.
To see examples of my work, visit https://siennajewisharts.com.