The Joel Barkan Memorial Lecture is part of the annual Provost’s Global Forum at the University of Iowa.
2026 Joel Barkan Memorial Lecture
Black is the New Jewish in Streaming and TV Series
Featuring Lawrence Baron
Date: Thursday, April 23, 2026
Time: 2 p.m.
Location: Old Capitol Senate Chambers
Over the past decade, Black Jewish characters have been increasingly appearing as major characters in streaming and television series starting with Orange is the New Black (2015) and Chicago Med (2025) and more recently in Long Story Short (2025) and Boston Blue (2025). First, this talk will examine the demographic, media-driven, and political reasons why this is occurring. Then it will analyze whether these depictions of Black Jews constitute “shallow representations” which reduce them to either one-dimensional stereotypes of Blacks and Jews or substantive portrayals of the backstories and hybrid identities of Black Jews.
This lecture is part of the Provost's Global Forum: Cinematic Connections in a Polarized World: How movies bring us together
About Joel Barkan
Joel Barkan was a serious scholar of the politics of Africa who, after his retirement from the university in 2005, went on to have a second career in Washington, D.C., as a consultant with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the World Bank, and the Agency for International Development. He also served for several years as senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Many of the university’s faculty, staff, and administrators knew him also as a creative program-builder who made lasting contributions to international studies at the university and to the regular discussion in Iowa City of changing political, economic, and social circumstances in the world. UI faculty members who were his colleagues and who teach international studies proposed that Joel Barkan be recognized in a named annual campus lecture. The first annual Joel Barkan Memorial Lecture was given in 2015.
Past Lectures
Powering partnerships, amplifying real-world impact
Featuring Catherine Chong, director of the Office of Industry Engagement at Singapore Management University. Featured in the Provost's Global Forum, Private Sector and University Partnerships: Pursuing Pathways for Global Collaboration, Learning, Prosperity, and Democracy
Artivism by Daniel Arzola: Art, Communication, and Identity
Featuring Daniel Arzola, senior graphic designer, University of Minnesota. Featured in the Provost's Global Forum, LGBTQ Youth in Global Perspective - Resistance, Resilience, Reimagination
Let Me Be Myself: Teaching Anne Frank in the 21st century
Featuring Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House. Featured in the Provost's Global Forum, Teaching Anne Frank
School's Out - What Happens When School's Not Enough?
Featuring Dr. Supriya Baily, associate professor and associate director, Center for International Education, George Mason University. Featured in the Provost's Global Forum, Why School? International Perspectives on Education and Social Transformation
“A Darker Presence”: Interpretive Goals and Collecting Strategies in the National Museum of African American History and Culture
Featuring William S. Pretzer, senior curator for history for the Smithsonian Institution at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Featured in the Provost's Global Forum, Against Amnesia: Archives, Evidence, and Social Justice.
2017 - Gautam Yadama
Gautam Yadama, dean and professor at the Boston College School of Social Work
Featured in the Provost's Global Forum, Women’s Health & the Environment: Going Up in Smoke.
2016 - H.E. Dr. Valon Murtezaj
H.E. Dr. Valon Murtezaj, deputy minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Kosovo
Featured in the Provost's Global Forum, The Nation, the State, and the Global Redefinition of Self-Determination.
2015 - Shibley Telhami
Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland and a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
Featured in the Provost's Global Forum, The Arab Spring in a Global Context.