鈥淗asidic Women, the Arts, and the Digital Paradox鈥�

Jessica Roda (Georgetown University)

Part of the Jewish Studies Seminar series

搁厂痴笔:听听

Have you had a glimpse of the mesmerizing music videos of ultra-Orthodox women celebrities like Bracha Jaffe or Devorah Schwartz, captivating over half a million viewers on YouTube? Or the myriad films and Yiddish plays crafted by Hasidic girls in Montreal and New York? Probably not.

In this talk, Jessica Roda offers a rare entry into these hidden artistic worlds. Drawing on her unique work, the first translocal ethnography of Hasidic women in North America, who mobilize the arts to transform religion, Roda introduces the audience to a world rarely visible to outsiders. She explores how women artists, whether still part of the ultra-Orthodox community or navigating complex ties to it, engage in music, dance, and film online and on-site to challenge expectations and reshape the image of Hasidicness. As an active observer and participant, Roda brings singular insight into these private feminine spaces and shows how their artistic expressions push us to think about Hasidism beyond the local and the traditional. Much like in mainstream society, celebrity status is rare, but stars like the above are household names in these circles, and their influence on Jewish music and culture is wide-reaching.

Jessica Roda听is an associate professor of Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University. She is an anthropologist and ethnomusicologist trained between Europe and North America, whose research explores music, religion, cultural heritage, gender, health, and media. She is the author of听Se R茅inventer au Pr茅sent听(PUR, 2018)听and For Women and Girls Only听(NYU, 2024), and has published over twenty scholarly articles, as well as an edited volume and a special issue of an academic journal. Roda has received numerous fellowships and awards for her work, notably the Society for Ethnomusicology鈥檚 Special Interest Group for Jewish Music Book Award for听For Women and Girls Only. She is currently working on a new project exploring practices of healing and spirituality that mobilize psychedelics in comparative settings, both within and beyond the Jewish Orthodox world.

Beyond academia, Roda is also a trained pianist, flutist, and modern-jazz dancer (City of Paris Conservatory). She grew up in French Guiana, a formative experience that continues to shape her perspective as a person, educator, and anthropologist.

Coffee, tea, and pastries will be served.