Karen Stern

Research Grantee

2012-13 Report

Positions

• Assistant Professor, Department of History, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York

Publications 2012

• “Tagging Sacred Space in the Dura Europos Synagogue”, Journal of Roman Archaeology 25, fasc. 1 (2012): 171-194
• “Hammam Lif Mosaics”, Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition (7th-9th Century), edited by Helen Evens and Brandie Ratliff. New Haven: YUP, 2012, 141-2.

Papers at Conferences 2012-13

• November 2012: “Location and Locution: Rethinking Spatial Context in the Interpretation of Jewish Inscriptions”, invited paper for session at the Annual Meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature, Chicago, IL.
• November 2012: “Inscription as Competition in Third-Century Syria”, in session of Religious Competition in the Third Century, Annual Meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature, Chicago, IL.

New Fellowships & Grants

• Senior Research Fellowship, Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem Israel, 2012.
• Whiting Fellowship, Brooklyn College of CUNY: award for excellence in undergraduate teaching: one semester teaching release, Fall 2011-Winter 2012.

Research done with funding from Memoria Romana

Work on the chapter that addresses my Memoria Romana project is ongoing and will serve as the fourth chapter of my next monograph, “Writing on the Wall: Graffiti and the Forgotten Jews of Late Antiquity” (see chapter outline below). I have already circulated the book prospectus to some university presses, and, happily, two of its chapters have been sent out for peer review. My next research trip to Rome is forthcoming.

Please note that my work in Rome relates to research I conducted in Israel in 2011, which was highlighted in an NPR interview of Weekend Edition in June 2011: [http://www.npr.org/2011/06/19/137257434/archaeologists-unscramble-ancient-graffiti-in-israel]

Chapter outline, upcoming monograph (anticipated completion of draft in summer 2014): Writing on the Wall: Graffiti and the Forgotten Jews of Late Antiquity

• Chapter 1: Why Graffiti? An Introduction
• Chapter 2: Graffiti as Devotion
• Chapter 3: Graffiti as Commemoration in the Mediterranean East
• Chapter 4: Graffiti, Memory, and Diaspora in Rome and Southern Italy
• Chapter 5: Declaring Jewishness in a Christian World
• Chapter 6: Conclusion: Rethinking Jewish History