An Island Called Home

Ruth Behar was four years old when her family fled their native Cuba. Growing up between the diasporic worlds of her Sephardic father and Ashkenazic mother, she became one of the world’s great anthropologists, a master at telling the stories of her Catholic informants in Spain and Mexico. When, in her thirties, she did return to Cuba and her own origins, she produced beautifully poetic accounts of loss and resilience. The University of Michigan professor and MacArthur Fellow recounts her fascinating travels across cultures.

This program is presented in partnership with the Institute for the Humanities at the University of Michigan.