Event Recap: The Jewish Silk Roads
Following brief opening remarks by Fox Center Director Carla Freeman, Professor Gil Harris regaled attendees with an account of a visit to an Uzbek market and how his mother, swearing in a language he had never heard her speak, revealed secrets about historical confluences in Central Asia’s Fergana Valley. The Fergana Valley today crosses eastern Uzbekistan, southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan. However, historically, it was a crucial pass along the Silk Road. The different merchants that settled in the Fergana Valley brought with them their distinct cultures and traditions, which can be seen together in both the Uzbek language and in the colorful rugs Harris’ mother collected.
Professor Gil Harris’ talk was as much about family history as it was about regional history. He concluded his lecture with a brief anecdote about how the Uzbek word for bread, “non,” is its own edible carpet, and connected it to the “nan” he eats daily in his life in India today.
After Harris’ talk, a brief audience Q&A was held.
About the Speaker
Jonathan Gil Harris is Professor of English at Ashoka University. He earned his Bachelors and Masters from Auckland University, and completed his DPhil from University of Sussex. Prior to coming to Ashoka, he was a Professor at George Washington University, where he taught since 2003. He has also held positions at Ithaca College, New York, and University of Auckland in New Zealand.
Professor Harris’ research interests include Shakespeare, including Indian adaptations, early modern English theatre, pre-colonial and colonial travel literature, medical history (especially understandings of illness and foreign bodies), early modern writing about India, medieval and early modern Silk Road cultures, and global Jewish history.
Professor Harris has published more than ten books on Shakespeare and early modern globalisation. He is currently working on a book project titled The Jewish Silk Road: Secrets of My Mother’s Tea Chest.
