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When we refuse to share a meal or accept food prepared by others on religious grounds, we express the notion that “we” want nothing to do with “them.” We also reinforce ideas about who “they” are and, perhaps more importantly, who “we” are. 

To explore what it means to be Jewish, Christian, or Muslim according to the traditional food restrictions of these religious communities, scholar David M. Freidenreich will visit the ���岻������ of New England Center for ���岻������ Humanities to present a lecture titled “Food and Identity in Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” on Monday, January 30 at 6:00 p.m. at the WCHP Lecture Hall in Parker Pavilion on the UNE Portland Campus.

Freidenreich is the Pulver Family Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Colby College, where he serves as director of the Jewish Studies program and associate director of the Center for Small Town Jewish Life. After receiving a B.A. from Brandeis ���岻������, he earned his Ph.D. at Columbia ���岻������ and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary. His award-winning first book, Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Law, explores attitudes toward adherents of foreign religions expressed in ancient and medieval laws about sharing food. He is currently studying the ways Christians have used ideas about Jews to think about Muslims.

This event follows a fall semester in which the Center for ���岻������ Humanities hosted eight lectures, including ones by best-selling authors James Doty and Rick Steves. Since its founding in 2009 by UNE cultural studies scholar Anouar Majid, the Center has brought leading thinkers from around the world to Portland to share their expertise with students and a diverse audience of community members. The lectures are free and open to the public, and streamed live online so that students at UNE’s campus in Tangier, Morocco, and people around the globe can watch.

To apply, visit www.une.edu/admissions