Blood – Uniting and Dividing, draws together religious, historical and medical artefacts, as well as literature, art, film and cultural ephemera to explore how blood, in its regulation and its representation, has been interpreted and traded as a symbol between Jews and non-Jews through the centuries.
This cutting-edge exhibition considers the real and symbolic links between Christians and Jews and confronts some of the most difficult issues surrounding Jewish culture and identity: the rite of circumcision, the slander of the blood libel, and ideas of the Jewish ‘race’ and of racial purity.
The exhibition has been developed jointly by the Jewish Museum and the Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London. Anthony Bale, Professor of Medieval Studies at Birkbeck and David Feldman, Professor of History and Director of the Pears Institute have acted as academic advisors for the exhibition.
An accompanying publication, Blood – reflections on what unites and divides us, co-edited by Anthony Bale and David Feldman, expands on the exhibition’s themes, with specially commissioned essays from leading international scholars. Download a copy.
A series of events explore themes from the exhibition.
26 November 2015
Blood Fractions: the Octoroon and Other Fantasies
Professor Roger Luckhurst, Birkbeck, University of London
Full details and podcast
9 December 2015
Genealogies of the Future
Professor Jonathan Boyarin, Cornell University
Full details and podcast
9 February 2016
Race Theory, Anthropology and the Jewish Connection
Professor Dan Stone, Royal Holloway, University of London
Full details and podcast
8 March 2016
Circumcision: Identity Politics and/or Health?
Professor Sander Gilman, Emory University
Full details and podcast
27 June 2016
Blood Libels: from the Middle Ages to the Modern World
Multiple Speakers
Full details
28 June 2016
Blood Inscriptions: Science, Modernity, and Ritual Murder in Fin de Siècle Europe
Professor Hillel Kieval, Washington University in St. Louis
Full details and podcast