A cultural anthropologist and scholar of Jewish Studies, Sam Shuman researches Hasidic Judaism within a global context to rethink larger questions in political theology about race and religion, global capitalism, gender and sexuality, sovereignty and empire. Their work often toggles between different methodologies: fieldwork, archival research and text analysis. 

Shuman is currently working on their first book manuscript, Of Mice and Hasidic Men, which explores the various forms of saintly mediation performed by Reb Shayele, a Hasidic miracle-worker (1851-1925). Though long considered a protector against the infestation of mice, Shayele has reemerged in the last decade as a patron saint of hospitality and protection against “intruders.” Shuman’s earlier fieldwork research, which examined the crisis of middlemen in the diamond industry, received competitive funding from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Fulbright Program. 

Shuman earned their Ph.D. and M.A. in sociocultural anthropology, with a graduate certificate in Judaic Studies, from the University of Michigan. They received their B.A. in sociocultural anthropology from Columbia University and a B.A. in Jewish gender and women’s studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Most recently, they taught in the Department of Anthropology at Davidson College. From 2021-2022, they held the Rabin-Shvidler joint postdoctoral fellowship in Jewish Studies at Fordham University and Columbia University. 

This academic year, they will teach two new courses at UVA: “Jews, Race and Religion” and “Jewish Economic Thought & Practice.” They will also co-teach “Questions in the Study of Religion” with Prof. Karl Shuve.