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When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven
Rabbis and the Reproduction of Species
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2023
About this book
A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.
This book investigates rabbinic treatises relating to animals, humans, and other life-forms. Through an original analysis of creaturely generation and species classification by late ancient Palestinian rabbis and other thinkers in the Roman Empire, Rafael Rachel Neis shows how rabbis blurred the lines between humans and other beings, even as they were intent on classifying creatures and tracing the contours of what it means to be human. Recognizing that life proliferates by mechanisms beyond sexual copulation between two heterosexual “male” and “female” individuals of the same species, the rabbis proposed intricate alternatives. In parsing a variety of creatures, they considered overlaps and resemblances across seemingly distinct species, upsetting in turn unmitigated claims of human distinctiveness. When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven enters conversations in animal studies, queer theory, trans theory, and feminist science studies to provincialize sacrosanct ideals of reproduction in favor of a broader range that spans generation, kinship, and species. The book thereby offers powerful historical alternatives to the paradigms associated with so-called traditional ideas.
This book investigates rabbinic treatises relating to animals, humans, and other life-forms. Through an original analysis of creaturely generation and species classification by late ancient Palestinian rabbis and other thinkers in the Roman Empire, Rafael Rachel Neis shows how rabbis blurred the lines between humans and other beings, even as they were intent on classifying creatures and tracing the contours of what it means to be human. Recognizing that life proliferates by mechanisms beyond sexual copulation between two heterosexual “male” and “female” individuals of the same species, the rabbis proposed intricate alternatives. In parsing a variety of creatures, they considered overlaps and resemblances across seemingly distinct species, upsetting in turn unmitigated claims of human distinctiveness. When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven enters conversations in animal studies, queer theory, trans theory, and feminist science studies to provincialize sacrosanct ideals of reproduction in favor of a broader range that spans generation, kinship, and species. The book thereby offers powerful historical alternatives to the paradigms associated with so-called traditional ideas.
Author / Editor information
Contributor: Rafael Rachel Neis
Rafael Rachel Neis is Professor of History and Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan and author of The Sense of Sight in Rabbinic Culture: Jewish Ways of Seeing in Late Antiquity.
Topics
-
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
vii -
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Illustrations
ix -
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Acknowledgments
xi -
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Note on Translation, Ancient Texts, and Images
xvii -
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Introduction
1 -
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1. Difference
25 -
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2. Multiplicity
56 -
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3. Menagerie
84 -
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4. Hybrid
118 -
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5. Generation
154 -
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Epilogue
195 -
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Notes
201 -
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Bibliography
261 -
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Source Index
297 -
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Subject Index
305
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
June 30, 2023
eBook ISBN:
9780520391208
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
289
eBook ISBN:
9780520391208
Keywords for this book
late antiquity; rabbinic writings; trans species; animal studies; Judeo-Christian tradition; ancient Jewish; life forms; creatures; nature; woman from Sidon; talmud; birds; mules; Babylonian incantation bowls; fire; gender; generation; hybrids; multiplicity; kilayim; Tannaim
