How does diaspora live in the body? Based on Professor Kosstrin's new book Kinesthetic Peoplehood: Jewish Diasporic Dance Migrations, this talk explores how dance practices signal diverse Jewish diasporic contexts. Like flavor notes in food, wherein ingredients reference foodways’ regions and histories, movements indicate time, place, and syncretism, revealing how dances manifest cultural migrations at the heart of Jewish experience. Ultimately, Professor Kosstrin traces diasporas of Jewish movement practices to demonstrate the ethnocultural diversity of global Jewry.
Hannah Kosstrin is a dance historian and movement analyst who researches Jewish dance in global contexts. At The Ohio State University, she is Associate Professor of Dance and Director of the Melton Center for Jewish Studies. Dr. Kosstrin is author of Honest Bodies: Revolutionary Modernism in the Dances of Anna Sokolow (Oxford University Press, 2017), Kinesthetic Peoplehood: Jewish Diasporic Dance Migrations (Oxford University Press, 2026), and numerous articles. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Jewish Identities, Dance Research Journal, and Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women.
