“Structuring Labor Relationships in the Ancient Jewish Household”

This seminar is offered in a hybrid format; however, non-Duke University participants are asked to attend online via Zoom.
Please preregister here: https://duke.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAtduqrrT4vHtWqAgUHmhTHD1gaKk5NQzHb

The North Carolina Jewish Studies Seminar (NCJSS) welcomes its first fall '21 guest, Pratima Gopalakrishnan, to discuss her paper "Structuring Labor Relationships in the Ancient Jewish Household."

The concept of mezonot (often translated as "maintenance") in rabbinic texts refers to the food allowance provided to household members labeled as dependents. Although mezonot later becomes synonymous with a form of benevolent support, this paper explores the earlier legacy of this concept as a non-monetary compensation provided in the context of domestic labor exchange, whether between husband and wife, father and child, or employer and laborer.

Link to the paper can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tn2uolvswk6fme4/NCJSS_Maintenance.pdf?dl=0

Pratima Gopalakrishnan is the Perilman Postdoctoral Associate in Jewish Studies at Duke University. She is a historian of labor and gender in late ancient Jewish society. Her current research focuses on the relationships that govern the exchange of work and support within the household. Previously a fellow at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at University of Pennsylvania, she received her PhD in Religious Studies from Yale University. Prior to her studies at Yale, she obtained an MA in Jewish Studies from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and she holds a BA in Religious Studies and Economics from the University of Virginia.

The NCJSS is a collaborative partnership of Duke, NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Wake Forest University