Join the University of Iowa (UI) Jewish Studies Network, an International Programs affinity group, for two events celebrating the inaugural year of the Program in Jewish Studies.
Reading and discussion at Prairie Lights
Date & time: Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at 7 p.m. (CDT)
Location: Prairie Lights Books (15 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City)
Mehta will discuss her book, The Racism of People who Love You, a collection of essays published by Beacon Press in 2023. These essays integrate cultural criticism and personal experiences about multicultural, multiracial identity to give voice to multiracial experience and to think robustly about the challenges and possibilities of such lives. Oprah Daily described The Racism of People Who Love You as “the epitome of a book meeting a moment.”
The event will also feature an interview about Mehta's current project, Jews of Color: Histories and Futures, moderated by Ari Ariel, director of the International Studies Program and co-director of the Jewish Studies Network.
Discussion of Contraception and American Religion
Date & time: Wednesday, March 26, 2025, at 4 p.m. (CDT)
Location: The Jefferson Building, room 704 (129 E. Washington St., Iowa City)
Mehta will discuss contraception and American religion, driven by her forthcoming book, God Bless the Pill: Sexuality, Contraception, and American Religion, which examines the role of Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant voices in competing moral logics of contraception, population control, and eugenics from the mid-twentieth century to the present.
Both events are co-sponsored by the Jewish Studies Network, International Programs, Prairie Lights Books, the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, the South Asian Studies Program, the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, the African American Studies Program, the Latino/o/x Studies Program, and the Departments of American Studies; Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies; History; and Religious Studies.
Samira K. Mehta is an associate professor of Women and Gender Studies and the director of Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research and teaching focus on the intersections of religion, culture, and gender, including the politics of family life and reproduction in the United States. Her first book, Beyond Chrismukkah: The Christian-Jewish Interfaith Family in the United States (University of North Carolina Press, 2018), was a National Jewish Book Awards finalist.
In addition to her academic book projects, Mehta serves as the primary investigator for the Henry Luce Foundation–funded collaboration Jews of Color: Histories and Futures and is working on editing scholarly and literary collections related to her research topics. She also serves as a creative editor at the journal American Religion and co-chairs both the North American Religion Section of the American Academy of Religion and the board of Feminist Studies in Religion. She holds degrees from Swarthmore College, Harvard University, and Emory University.
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa–sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Daniel Vorwerk in advance at 319-497-1619 or daniel-vorwerk@uiowa.edu.
International Programs (IP) at the University of Iowa (UI) is committed to enriching the global experience of UI students, faculty, staff, and the general public by leading efforts to promote internationally oriented teaching, research, creative work, and community engagement. IP provides support for international students and scholars, administers scholarships and assistance for students who study, intern, or do research abroad, and provides funding opportunities and grant-writing assistance for faculty engaged in international research. IP shares their stories through various media, and by hosting multiple public engagement activities each year.