Prof. Claude (Dov) B. Stuczynski
About
dovstuco@gmail.com
Prof. Claude (Dov) B. Stuczynski is the Head of the Department of General History at Bar-Ilan University.
His research focuses on the Iberian Converso phenomenon and the Modern Inquisitions, primarily from a theological-political perspective.
Stuczynski has published extensively on the exclusion of New Christians and the complexities of Converso identity.
His current projects include editing unknown anti-Converso conspiracy writings from the 17th century and reassessing the roles of Conversos as both agents and victims within the Iberian Empires.
His work offers a critical look at the religious and political boundaries of the early modern Atlantic world.
Lecture Abstract:
The 17th century pepper merchant and mercantilist Converso writer, Duarte Gomes Solis, and the "messianic" Jesuit missionary and preacher, Father Antonio Vieira, were among those Portuguese Catholics who vividly supported the presence of open Jews interacting with Converso merchants across the Indian Ocean as agents of Portugal's imperial endeavors. Taking in consideration that in Portugal open Judaism was prohibited and Conversos were often suspected and persecuted by the Inquisition on grounds of being hidden heretical Judaizers, in my talk I will explain the reasons why those views were not banned. Instead of merely offering economical (mercantilist) explanations to this riddle, I will focus on the "heterotopic" character of the Indian Ocean in terms of Jewish-Converso presence from an European standpoint. These geo-political and imaginary perspectives will help to better understand Moses Pereyra de Paiva's project of his "Notisias dos Judeos de Cochim" (Report on the Jews of Cochin) (1689), but this time, as an agent of the Dutch East India Company.