Sex and Scandal in 18th-Century Curaçao’s Sephardic Community

This lecture explores a dramatic but largely overlooked adultery case from late-18th-century Curaçao, in which two members of the Sephardic community were accused of a clandestine affair that reverberated far beyond the private sphere. Drawing on archival records, Dr. Roitman shows how this scandal exposed the faultlines of sexuality, power, communal authority, and colonial governance in the Jewish Caribbean, providing a unique entry point into how Sephardic self-governance intersected with colonial law, and how intimacy, race, and social hierarchy worked in daily life.

Jessica Roitman is Professor of Jewish Studies in the Faculty of Religion and Theology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is a social and cultural historian with a focus on Jews in chronologies ranging from the early modern period through the 19th century. Her research interests are in Caribbean, Atlantic, and Colonial (Jewish) histories. In particular, her work looks at the intersection of 'minorities', ethnicity, and religion in colonial spaces.

She is (co) editor-in-chief for the Journal of Early American History, editor for Brill's Privacy Studies book series, Amsterdam University Press' Jewish Urban Cultures book series, and is on the editorial board of Jewish Historical Studies and NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion.

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