Alan Verskin

Professor and Samuel J. Zacks Chair of Jewish History

Campus

Fields of Study

Areas of Interest

  • Jews of the Islamic World 
  • Sephardic Judaism
  • Judeo-Arabic
  • Travel Literature

Biography

Alan Verskin is the Samuel J. Zacks Chair of Jewish History. His areas of research include religious, legal, and social history in both Jewish and Islamic contexts, from the middle ages through the nineteenth century. He is particularly interested in travel, translation, and the migration of ideas between religious communities. He is also interested in intellectual responses to religious persecution and minorityhood. What unites and connects all of these areas is an emphasis on paying attention to the first-person stories of those whose perspectives have been marginalized.

Education

PhD, Princeton University
MA, Princeton University
MA, University of Chicago
BA, University of Toronto