Jennifer Wright Knust
Professor of Religious Studies
Jennifer Knust is a scholar of religion who specializes in early Christian history and the religions of the ancient Mediterranean. Author of To Cast the First Stone: The Transmission of a Gospel Story(with Tommy Wasserman, Princeton 2018), Unprotected Texts: The Bible’s Surprising Contradictions about Sex and Desire (HarperONE 2011), and Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity (Columbia 2005), she studies early Christian texts, their contexts, and their receptions from multiple angles, with a particular focus on rhetoric and gendered discourse. Her numerous articles, book chapters, and edited books address the materiality of texts, the intersection of Christian practices with other ancient religions, and the ethics of interpretation in ancient as well as contemporary contexts.
Office Hours
Current Appointments & Affiliations
- Professor of Religious Studies, Religious Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2019
- Co-Director, Manuscript Migration Lab, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, University Institutes and Centers 2020
- Director, Elizabeth A. Clark Center for Late Ancient Studies, Religious Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2020
Contact Information
- Background
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Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., Columbia University 2001
- M.Phil., Columbia University 1997
- M.Div., Union Theological Seminary 1991
- B.S., University of Illinois 1988
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Previous Appointments & Affiliations
- Director of Undergraduate Studies of the Department of Religious Studies, Religious Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2020 - 2022
- Recognition
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In the News
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APR 18, 2019 CBC Radio -
MAR 10, 2011 Fresh Air, NPR
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- Expertise
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Subject Headings
- Research
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External Relationships
- Princeton University Press
- Society of Biblical Literature
- Publications & Artistic Works
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Selected Publications
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Books
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Wasserman, Tommy, and Jennifer W. Knust. To Cast the First Stone: The Transmission of a Gospel Story. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018.
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Moser, Claudia, and Jennifer Wright Knust, eds. Ritual Matters: Material Remains and Ancient Religion. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2017.
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Moser, Claudia, and Jennifer Wright Knust, eds. Ritual Matters: Material Remains and Ancient Religion. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2017.
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Orlin, Eric, Michael Satlow, Lisbeth Fried, Michael Pregill, and Jennifer Wright Knust, eds. Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions. New York and London: Routledge, 2015. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203506240.Full Text
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Orlin, Eric, Michael Satlow, Lisbeth Fried, Michael Pregill, and Jennifer Wright Knust, eds. Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions. New York and London: Routledge, 2015. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203506240.Full Text
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Várhelyi, Zuzsanna, and Jennifer Wright Knust, eds. Ancient Mediterranean Sacrifice: Images, Acts, Meanings. New York and London: Oxford University press, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199738960.001.0001.Full Text
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Várhelyi, Zuzsanna, and Jennifer Wright Knust, eds. Ancient Mediterranean Sacrifice: Images, Acts, Meanings. New York and London: Oxford University press, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199738960.001.0001.Full Text
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Knust, Jennifer Wright. Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
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Crawford, Sidnie White, Ron Hendel, Mike Holmes, Robert Kawashima, Judith Newman, Eugene Ulrich, and Jennifer Wright Knust, eds. New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Thirty-Year Update (In preparation), n.d.
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Crawford, Sidnie White, Ron Hendel, Mike Holmes, Robert Kawashima, Judith Newman, Eugene Ulrich, and Jennifer Wright Knust, eds. New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Thirty-Year Update (In preparation), n.d.
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Academic Articles
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Knust, Jennifer. “Review of The Body and Desire: Gregory of Nyssa’s Ascetical Theology, by Raphael A. Cadenhead.” Journal of Roman Studies 111 (November 2021): 338–39. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0075435821000174.Full Text
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Knust, Jennifer. “Review of Beyond Mary or Martha: Reclaiming Ancient Models of Discipleship, by Jennifer S. Wyant.” Review of Biblical Literature, July 30, 2020.
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Knust, Jennifer, and Tommy Wasserman. “The Pericope of the Adulteress (John 7:53-8:11): A New Chapter in its Textual Transmission.” Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok 85 (2020): 22–55.
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Knust, Jennifer. “Marriage as a Social Good: Origen of Alexandria and John Chrysostom, Revisited.” Marriage, Family, and Spirituality 26, no. 1 (2020): 7–25.
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Wheeler-Reed, D., J. W. Knust, and D. B. Martin. “Can a Man Commit Porneia With His Wife?” Journal of Biblical Literature 137, no. 2 (January 1, 2018): 383–98. https://doi.org/10.1353/JBL.2018.0021.Full Text Open Access Copy
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Knust, Jennifer. “Review of Kultmetaphorik und Christologie: Opfer- und Sühneterminologie im Neuen Testament, by Christian A. Eberhart.” Review of Biblical Literature 20 (January 2017).
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Knust, Jennifer. “Review of Forbidden Oracles? The Gospel of the Lots of Mary, by AnneMarie Luijendijk.” Early Christianity 8, no. 2 (2017): 285–88.
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Knust, Jennifer. “Review of Teaching the Historical Jesus: Issues and Exegesis, ed. Zev Garber.” Review of Biblical Literature 05 (2016).
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Knust, Jennifer. “"Who's Afraid of Canaan's Curse? Genesis 9:18-29 and the Challenge of Reparative Reading".” Biblical Interpretation 22, no. 4–5 (August 23, 2014): 388–413.
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Knust, Jennifer, and Tommy Wasserman. “The Biblical Odes and the Text of the Christian Bible: A Reconsideration of the Impact of Liturgical Singing on the Transmission of the Gospel of Luke.” Journal of Biblical Literature 133, no. 2 (2014): 341–65. https://doi.org/10.1353/jbl.2014.0024.Full Text
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Knust, Jennifer, and Tommy Wasserman. “Earth Accuses Earth: Tracing What Jesus Wrote on the Ground.” Harvard Theological Review 103, no. 4 (October 2010): 407–46. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0017816010000799.Full Text
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Knust, Jennifer Wright. “In Pursuit of a Singular Text: New Testament Textual Criticism and the Desire for the True Original.” Religion Compass 2, no. 2 (March 2008): 180–94. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2008.00062.x.Full Text
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Knust, J. W. “Early Christian Re-Writing and the History of the Pericope Adulterae.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 14, no. 4 (January 1, 2006): 485–536. https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2007.0009.Full Text
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Knust, Jennifer. “Where Did John Baptize? From Bethany to Bethabara and Back Again (In preparation).” Jahrbuch Fur Antike Und Christentum, n.d.
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Knust, Jennifer. “Love’s Limits. Love of Neighbor in the First Three Christian Centuries (In preparation).” Journal for Ethics in Antiquity and Christianity, n.d.
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Book Sections
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Knust, Jennifer, and Tommy Wasserman. “Codex Bezae as Repository.” In Studies on the Intersection of Text, Paratext, and Reception A Festschrift in Honor of Charles E. Hill, edited by Gregory R. Lanier and J Nicolas Reid, 142–76. Leiden: BRILL, 2021.
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Wright Knust, Jennifer. “‘Who Were the Maccabees?’ The Maccabean Martyrs and Performances of Christian Difference.” In Martyrdom: Canonization, Contestation, and Afterlives, edited by Jan Willem van Henten and Ihab Saloul, 79–104. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.5117/9789462988187_ch03.Full Text
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Knust, Jennifer, and Tommy Wasserman. “The Wondrous Gospel of John: Jesus's Miraculous Deeds in Late Ancient Editorial and Scholarly Practice.” In Healing and Exorcism in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity, edited by Mikael Tellbe and Tommy Wasserman, 511:165–96. Tübinigen: Mohr Seibeck, 2019.
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Knust, Jennifer. “Marriage, Adultery, and Divorce.” In The Oxford Handbook of New Testament, Gender, and Sexuality, edited by Benjamin H. Dunning. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.
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Knust, Jennifer. “On Textual Nostalgia: Herman C. Hoskier's Collation of 'Evangelism 604' Revisited.” In The Future of New Testament Scholarship: From H. C. Hoskier to the Editio Critica Major and Beyond, edited by Garrick Allen, 417:79–102. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1628/978-3-16-156663-9.Full Text Link to Item
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Knust, Jennifer. “Editing without Interpreting: The Museum of the Bible and New Testament Textual Criticism.” In The Museum of the Bible A Critical Introduction, edited by Jill Hicks-Keeton and Cavan Concannon, 145–70. London and Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2019.
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Knust, Jennifer. “Late First-Century Christian Apocalyptic: Revelation.” In Enemies and Friends of the State Ancient Prophecy in Context, edited by Christopher A. Rollston, 545–64. University Park, PA: Pennslyvania State University Press, 2018.
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Knust, Jennifer. “Miscellany Manuscripts and the Christian Canonical Imaginary.” In Ritual Matters Material Remains and Ancient Religion, edited by Jennifer Knust and Claudia Moser, 13:99–118. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2017.
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Knust, Jennifer. “Miscellany Manuscripts and the Christian Canonical Imaginary.” In Ritual Matters Material Remains and Ancient Religion, edited by Jennifer Knust and Claudia Moser, 13:99–118. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2017.
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Knust, Jennifer. “Can an Adulteress Save Jesus? The Pericope Adulterae, Feminist Interpretation, and the Limits of Narrative Agency.” In The Bible and Feminism: Remapping the Field, edited by Yvonne Sherwood, 402–31. Oxford: Oxford Unniversity Press, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198722618.001.0001.Full Text
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Knust, Jennifer. “'Taking Away From': Patristic Evidence and the Omission of the Pericope Adulterae from John's Gospel.” In The Pericope of the Adulteress in Contemporary Research, edited by David Alan Black and Jacob N. Cerone, Vol. 551. London and Oxford: Bloomsbury Publishing, T&T Clark, 2016.
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Knust, Jennifer W. “Jesus’ Conditional Forgiveness.” In Ancient Forgiveness: Classical, Judaic, and Christian, edited by Charles Griswold and David Konstan, 176–94. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511978654.011.Full Text
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- Teaching & Mentoring
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Recent Courses
- CLST 940S: Death and Dying in Late Antiquity 2023
- RELIGION 101: Introduction to Religious Studies 2023
- RELIGION 930S: Death and Dying in Late Antiquity 2023
- RELIGION 999: Special Readings 2023
- RELIGION 101: Introduction to Religious Studies 2022
- RELIGION 361: The End of The World: Apocalyptic Arguments from Antiquity to the Present Day 2022
- RELIGION 999: Special Readings 2022
- CLST 881: Christian Manuscript Culture 2021
- HISTORY 881: Christian Manuscript Culture 2021
- RELIGION 494: Honors Research 2021
- RELIGION 815S: Readings in Early Christian Literature: Greek 2021
- RELIGION 885: Christian Manuscript Culture 2021
- Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
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Presentations & Appearances
- "Papyrology as an Art of Destruction". Fresh Perspectives on the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, Papyrology, and Communication in the Ancient World. The Chester Beatty Library. October 2021 2021
- "From Bethany to Bethabara and Back Again". Bible and Early Christiany Studies Seminar. Australian Catholic University. March 2021 2021
- "Building Bethabara". The Social Worlds of Early Christians: A Symposium in Honor of L. Michael White. University of Texas at Austin. October 2020 2020
- "The Biblical Position on Sex". Sex Week. Furman University. March 3, 2020 2020
- "Patristic Writers and John’s Compositional Goals". Annual Meeting. The Society of Bibilical Literature. November 2019 2019
- "Where Did John Baptize? A Tale in Two Maps". International Conference on Patristic Studies. Oxford University. August 2019 2019
- "Desire’s Social Good: The Fathers on Marriage Revisited". Marriage and/as Metaphor in Christian and Jewish Traditions. 20th Annual Brenninkmeijer-Werhahn Annual Lecture and Conference. March 26, 2019 - March 27, 2019 2019
- "Every Bible Tells a Story: New Testament Textual Criticism and the Stories People Want". The Bible Unearthed Panel. University of Oklahoma. February 28, 2019 2019
- "Augustine". Core Social Sciences. Boston University. February 2018 2018
- "Why Stories Matter: The Eye of Faith and the Effect of Christ’s Spittle". Duke University. February 2018 2018
- "New Testament Textual Criticism as Exegesis". Annual Meeting. The Society for New Testament Studies. 2018 2018
- "The Bible as Plunder: The (Possible) Theft of the Codex Bezae and the Problem of Provenance". Pre-Conference Workshop. Study of Religion as an Analytic Discipline. November 2017 2017
- Panelist, “Avoiding Deception: Forgeries, Fake News, and Unprovenanced Material in Religious Studies". Annual Meeting. Society of Biblical Literature. November 2017 2017
- “Seeing, Hearing, and Doing: The Impact of the Byzantine Liturgy on the Transmission of the Gospel of John". Joint session of New Testament Textual Criticism, Johannine Literature, Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds Sections. Annual Meeting, Society of Biblical Literature. November 2017 2017
- "The Liturgical Annotations to Codex Bezae and the History of Textual Scholarship". Philologia Sacra et Profana: Constructions of the Authentic. Yale University. September 17, 2017 - September 18, 2017 2017
- “On Textual Nostalgia: Herman C. Hoskier’s Collation of ‘Evangelium 604’ Revisited". Herman Hoskier and the Future of Textual Scholarship on the Bible Conference. Dublin City University. August 2017 2017
- "Slippery Rocks". Annual Meeting. American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts. May 2017 2017
- "Dismissing Her Quietly: Shame and the Persistent Precarity of Mary". Cushing Lecture. University of Detroit, Mercy. April 2017 2017
- “The Significance of the Liturgy in the Textual Transmission of the Pericope Adulterae", with Tommy Wasserman. Tenth Annual Birmingham Colloquium in New Testament Textual Criticism. University of Birmingham. March 2017 2017
- “‘A Pearl of the Gospel’: Reading Communities and the Para-Textual Evidence for the Tenacity of the Johannine Pericope Adulterae". The Bible in Ancient and Modern Media Section. Annual Meeting, Society of Biblical Literature. November 2016 2016
- "Biblical Interpretation, Sexual Ethics, and Finding Some Goood in the World". Annual Meeting. National Association of College and University Chaplains. February 2016 2016
- "Can an Adulteress Save Jesus?". Bowdoin College. February 2016 2016
- "Modernity’s Vanishing Point: Jesus and the Retreat of Authenticity". Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. February 2016 2016
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Outreach & Engaged Scholarship
- Interviewee. "The Sexuality of the Bible". The Bad Christian Podcast. February 2020 2020
- Interviewee. Episode 99. "The Bible as a Living Document". September 2019 2019
- Guest Author. “Tracking Down Stolen Manuscripts,” “Christian Manuscripts and Nazi Loot,” and “The Legality, Morality, and Scandal of Acquiring Ancient Manuscripts". The Bart Ehrman Blog. June 2019 2019
- Author, "The Plunders of Codex Bezae". “Textual Objects and Material Philology” Conference Panel. Ancient Jew Review. May 19, 2019 2019
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Service to the Profession
- Participant. Faculty Short Course on Improving Departmental Climate. Duke Office of Faculty Advancement & Duke Office of Institutional Equity. August 2, 2021 - August 5, 2021 2021
- Editorial Board. Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testament. 2021 - 2023 2021 - 2023
- Reviewer. Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship. American Council of Learned Societies. 2021 2021
- Reviewer. Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies. 2021 2021
- Editorial Board. Biblical Interpretation Series. Brill. 2020 - 2023 2020 - 2023
- Reviewer. Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies. 2020 2020
- Advisory Board. MARK16 Virtual Research Environment. Swiss National Science Foundation. 2019 - 2023 2019 - 2023
- Editorial Board. Novum Testamentum. 2019 - 2023 2019 - 2023
- Editorial Board. TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism. 2019 - 2023 2019 - 2023
- Evaluator. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. 2019 2019
- President. New England and Eastern Canada Region. Society of Biblical Literature. 2017 - 2018 2017 - 2018
- Co-Convenor. Boston Area Patristics Group. 2016 - 2018 2016 - 2018
- Evaluator. Edito Critico Maior. Novum Testamentum Graecum. 2016 2016
- Chair. New Testament Textual Criticism Section. Society of Biblical Literature. 2013 - 2018 2013 - 2018
- Editorial Board. Journal of Biblical Literature. 2013 - 2018 2013 - 2018
- Member. International Greek New Testament Project Committee. 2010 - 2018 2010 - 2018
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Service to Duke
- Academic Standards and Honors. Arts & Sciences Committee on Undergraduate Teaching. 2021 - 2023 2021 - 2023
- Member, Provost's Committee on 12-Month Graduate Funding. 2021 2021
- Convenor. Early Christian Track. Graduate Program in Religion. 2020 - 2023 2020 - 2023
- Duke Faculty Affairs. Appointments, Tenure, and Promotion Committee. 2020 - 2023 2020 - 2023
- Graduate Program in Religion . Admissions Committee. 2020 - 2023 2020 - 2023
- Chair. Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. Department of Religion. 2019 - 2023 2019 - 2023
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Academic & Administrative Activities
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Conferences, Lectures, Public Programs
“The Corporeal Consequences of Discursive Violence,” organized with Todd Berzon (Bowdoin College). March 2022.
“Of Peptides and Scribes: Applying Life Sciences to the Study of Manuscripts,” a presentation featuring Dr. Timothy L. Stinson, organized with the Manuscript Migration Lab. November 2021.
“Ethiopic (Ge‘ez) Manuscripts: An Informational Event with Examples Drawn from Duke’s Collection,” a presentation by Dr. Gay Byron with manuscripts curated by J. Andrew Armacost organized with the Franklin Humanities Institute Manuscript Migration Lab. October 2021.
“Dr. William H. Willis and the Duke Papyri: A Conversation,” a conversation featuring Dr. Daniel Sharp and Dr. Nicholas Wagner organized with the Franklin Humanities Institute Manuscript Migration Lab. September 2021.
“Preservation, Restitution, and the Idea of ‘Cultural Heritage,” a workshop featuring Dr. Felwine Sarr and Dr. Astrid Swenson organized with the Franklin Humanities Institute Manuscript Migration Lab. April 2021.
“Cultural Heritage Restitution: Ethical and Legal Issues,” a workshop featuring Dr. Patty Gerstenblith, Mr. András Riedelmyer, and Dr. Heghnar Watenpaugh organized with the Franklin Humanities Institute Manuscript Migration Lab. November 2020.
“How Social Movements Feel,” a lecture by Dean Spade, organized with the Boston University Gender and Sexuality Faculty Studies Group. March 2018.
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Conferences, Lectures, Public Programs
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