Research
Jake Ransohoff begins term as 2022/2023 Hellenisms Past and Present, Local and Global Postdoctoral Fellow
At the beginning of September, the SNF Centre for Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University welcomed Jake Ransohoff as its 2022/2023 Hellenisms Past and Present, Local and Global Postdoctoral Fellow.
Ransohoff's research focuses on the intersection between power, political legitimacy, and attitudes toward the body in the Byzantine world—especially the disfigured and disabled body. During his time at the Centre, he will work on his first book project, Sightless Eyes, Broken Bodies: Blinding, Punishment, and the Politics of Disability in the Byzantine World. This project continues the work of his dissertation and will offer a new exploration of blinding's origins as rooted in late antique attitudes toward the body. It also shows that clustered bursts of this punishment intersperse with long periods during which authorities abandoned the practice. Such volatility, he argues, reveals that the meaning of blinding was much more contested than scholars have allowed.
Ransohoff completed his PhD at Harvard University in Byzantine history this past June. He was made a Mellon Graduate Fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University in 2020, and was awarded a two-year William R. Tyler Research Fellowship in Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks in 2017. He also holds a BA from the University of Chicago in History and Medieval studies.
Ransohoff had this to say about joining the community at the SNF Centre:
It is a great pleasure to join the Stavros Niarchos Centre’s vibrant community of Hellenists for the 2022–2023 academic year. I am excited to meet SFU students and enjoy the natural beauty of the Vancouver area. I also welcome the chance to share my research on disability and disfigurement in Byzantium. But I welcome even more the opportunity to hear about other scholars’ work and gain from their insights and feedback. I have been fortunate to learn firsthand the importance of collaboration with talented people in many different fields. I look forward to continuing these interdisciplinary exchanges as a Hellenisms Past and Present Postdoctoral Fellow.
Ransohoff will participate in the SNF Centre for Hellenic Studies Fall Seminar Series this Friday, September 16. Registration now.
Learn more about Ransohoff and his work on the contact page of our website. You can also follow him on twitter using @jcransohoff.
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