Flora Cassen

Flora Cassen is Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies at Washington University in Saint Louis and Senior Faculty at the Shalom Hartman Institute.

Cassen's work explores various aspects of early modern Jewish life in Italy and the Spanish Empire, including anti-Judaism, dress, travel, espionage, and food. Her book Marking the Jews in Renaissance Italy: Politics, Religion, and the Power of Symbols (Cambridge University Press, 2017) examines the history of the yellow badges or hats that Jews were forced to wear in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. She has published articles in flagship academic journals such as the Journal of Early Modern History, the Jewish Quarterly Review, the Association for Jewish Studies Review, and in collections of essays. Bridging the gap between academia and the general public, Prof. Cassen’s writing has appeared in publications such as Haaretz, Slate, The Conversation, Psyche/Aeon, Smithsonian Magazine, and The Forward. Her forthcoming book on antisemitism will be published by the New Jewish Press, a trade imprint with the University of Toronto Press.