Exhibit Opening and Book Launch | Anatomy of Torture: Testimonies from the Berkeley Archive

Don’t miss Professor Ron Hassner’s special exhibit opening and book launch, Anatomy of Torture: Testimonies from the Berkeley Archive, to celebrate the publication of his newest book, “Anatomy of Torture,” (Cornell, 2022) making a trove of original manuscripts from the UC Berkeley archives that detail the persecution of Spanish Jews in the 16th and 17th century available for public viewing for the first time. Materials on display relating to the Inquisition include Bancroft Library materials as well as original documents and artifacts from The Magnes Collection.

Anatomy of Torture Special Exhibit Opening and Book Launch

Tuesday, October 18, 2022 | 5:00 – 7:00pm

Reception at 5:00pm followed by program at 5:30pm
at The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley.

The evening will include a reception, presentation, and exhibition viewing.

FEATURING

• John Erlich: Five folk songs in Judeo-Spanish, Accompanied on the Oud (Arabic & Turkish lute)
• Prof. Charles Faulhaber (Department of Spanish and Portuguese, U.C. Berkeley): “The Significance of Berkeley’s Spanish Inquisition Holdings”
• Peter Hanff (Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley): “Acquiring the Inquisition Manuscripts for Berkeley”
• Dr. José Adrián Barragán-Álvarez (Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley): “The Challenges of Transcribing and Translating the Manuscripts”
• Prof. Ron E. Hassner (Political Science, U.C. Berkeley): “What Can the Past Teach Us about Torture Today?”

RSVP

Learn more about Professor Hassner’s research and book in the July 20, 2022 Berkeley News article: “The tortures of the Spanish Inquisition hold dark lessons for our time” by Edward Lempinen

This special exhibit will be on display and open to the public at Berkeley’s Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life from October 18 to October 20, 11:00am-4:00pm.

A 1,334-page text documents the trial of Manuel de Lucena, after his arrest in 1594. Visible here, among the parchment pages, is a letter from de Lucena to his wife, Catalina Henríquez. (Bancroft MSS 96/95m, vol. 2. Photo courtesy of The Bancroft Library)

Sponsored by UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, Center for Jewish Studies, The Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Stuides, and The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life.

Please RSVP to this event.