Session I

This lecture will discuss monastic behavior, meditation, and other "practices of the self" in premodern Pali texts and in modern ethnography of Theravåda Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia. In this practice, the ultimate goal is to realize the truth that there is no self.

This lecture examines the history of Jewish women in Iraq from 1921 to 1952. These women lived in a society where the rights of all women were expanding. The debate about the rights and duties of Jewish women was conducted both within the boundaries of the Jewish community and outside these boundaries. The push for women’s rights often met with resistance from conservatives, whether they were rabbis or nationalists who saw women as nothing more than mothers responsible for raising the next generation of Iraqi patriots.