“How Jewish was James Sanua?” | Raphael Cormack in Conversation with Jessica Marglin and Adam Mestyan

Raphael Cormack, Assistant Professor, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, Durham University, United Kingdom

In conversation with Jessica Marglin, Professor of Religion Law & History, USC and Visiting Professor, NELC, Harvard and Adam Mestyan, Ford Foundation Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, NELC, Harvard

Yaqub “James” Sanua was probably one of the most famous Arab Jews of the modern era: The pioneer of the Arabic theatre in Egypt and the satirical Arabic press, he was also a pivotal figure in Egypt’s late 19th century anti-colonial movement. However, his Jewish-ness has always been contested and some scholars even suggested he converted to Islam. Although it has been established for certain that he was born Jewish and died Jewish, the question of what his Judaism meant to him was proved more difficult to answer. In this talk, Cormack will use both Sanua’s published work and his unpublished personal archive to argue that Judaism was a significant part of his life story, but not in a clear or simple way.