Dr. Jordan Katz’s current project examines the delivery records kept by Jewish midwives in eighteenth-century Europe. In this lecture, she explored the paths that midwives took to pursue training and licensure, the populations they served, and the larger urban contexts in which they worked. By keeping records and engaging in municipal business, Jewish midwives became part of larger recordkeeping efforts as well. Katz's work reflects on what we can learn from these records about the diverse Jewish communities that populated 18th-century Europe. As a scholar in residence at HBI, Katz is completing her current book project, Delivering Knowledge: Jewish Midwives and Hidden Healing in Early Modern Europe.
Jordan Katz is Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies at University of Massachusetts Amherst and has received fellowships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture; the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine; the Center for Jewish History, and the Women's Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School. Her work has been published in Jewish Quarterly Review, Jewish Social Studies, and in Be Fruitful! The Etrog in Jewish Art, Culture, and History.
