404 South Governor St. #12
Iowa City IA 52240-5622
(319) 338-5125
jalevi21@juno.com
josephlevi@hotmail.com
 

Education
Ph.D. in Romance Languages, concentration: Portuguese, Medieval Spanish, and Italian, (UW-Madison, 1993).
I have two M.A.'s, one in Portuguese and one in Italian, (UW-Madison, 1988 and 1989, respectively).
I also hold a Laurea in African and Islamic Studies from the Istituto
Universitario Orientale, Naples, Italy, (1982), and a Diploma de L?nguae Cultura Portuguesa from the Universidade Cl?ssica de Lisboa, Portugal, (1986).

Teaching
1986-93: Teaching Assistant, (Portuguese/Italian), UW-Madison.
1993-94: Visiting Assist. Prof., (Portuguese) U of Georgia.
1994-97: Visiting Instructor, (Portuguese, Medieval Spanish, and Medieval Islam), U of Iowa.
1997-98: Adjunct Assist. Prof., (African History, African Islam), U of Iowa.
1998-99: 6-Month Scholarship-Lisbon.
1999-01: Part-time ESL Instructor/Visiting Scholar, U of Iowa.

Publications and research interests
Romance Philology (Portuguese, Spanish, Italian); Medieval Iberia; Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Medieval Iberia; the Sephardim in the Peninsula; the Sephardic Diaspora in the Americas, (1500-1800); Jews in Brazil (1500-1822; 1822-to the present); Portuguese Jewry; Medieval Italian Jewry; Brazil and the Atlantic Slave Trade; Islam in Brazil (1550-ca. 1835); Portuguese Expansion, mainly in China; PortugueseLanguage and Luso-Brazilian/Lusophone Literatures and Cultures.

Publications

Francisco Varo's Grammar of the Mandarin Language (1703). An English Translation of 'Arte de la lengua mandarina'.  Co-authored with W. South Coblin. Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2000.

Keith Fox. Fantasmagoria de um fregu?s. The Phantasmagoria of a Shopper. Retrospectiva/Retrospective. 1994-1996. Set?bal: Museu do Trabalho/Museum of Work Michel Giacometti, C?mara Municipal, 2000

O Dicion?rio Portugu?s-Chin?s de Padre Matteo Ricci, S.J., (1552-1610). Uma abordagem hist?rico-lingu?stica. New Orleans: UP of the South, 1998.

Hernando del Pulgar. Los Claros Varones de Espa?a (ca. 1483). A Semi-Paleographic Edition. New York: Peter Lang, 1996.

Alfonso X, El Sabio, Estoria de Alexandre el grand, General Estoria (Quarta Parte). The Life of Alexander the Great as Narrated by King Alfonso X, the Wise, of Castile, in the General Estoria, Manuscript U, Vatican Urb. Lat. 539. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen P, 1996.

Portugal. Caderno de exerc?cios. Iowa City: Maecenas P, 1994.

Text and Concordance of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS. 8174 Libro di sapere di astronomia. Alfonso X, El Sabio. (14th-Century Italian Translation by Guerruccio Federighi). Madison: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, 1993.

Selected Articles

"A Di?spora sefardita nas Am?ricas durante os s?culos XVII-XVIII." Revista da C?tedra de Estudos Sefarditas «Alberto Benveniste», Universidade de Lisboa (2001) [forthcoming]

Essay entries on "Carlos Heitor Cony," "Roberto Drummond," and "Moacyr Scliar," in S. Lilian Kremer, ed. Holocaust Literature. 2 vols. New York: Routledge, 2003. [forthcoming]

Essay entry on "Hernando del Pulgar," in Dictionary of Literary Biography. Medieval Spanish Literature. George Greenia, and Frank Dominguez, eds. 2 vols. Columbia, SC: Bruccoli, Clark, Layman, 2003. [forthcoming]

Essay entries on "Bernandim Ribeiro," "S? de Miranda," "Graciliano Ramos," and "Padre Ant?nio Vieira," in Dictionary of Literary Biography. Portuguese and Brazilian Literature. Monica Rector, and Fred Clark, eds. 2 vols. Columbia, SC: Bruccoli, Clark, Layman, 2003. [forthcoming]

"A mulher sefardita." Faces de Eva 7 (2002) [forthcoming]

"Sino-Lusitanian Religious Contacts and Scholarly Rewards." Portuguese Studies Review Spring (2001) [forthcoming]

"The People of the Book: Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Medieval Iberia. Minorities and Hegemony at the Service of Science." Mediaevalia (2001) [forthcoming]

"Al-Andalus e a sua heran?a isl?mica." N?s Revista de Lusofonia (2001)[forthcoming]

"La ienti de Sion: Linguistic and Cultural Legacy of an Early13th-Century Judeo-Italian Kinah." Italica 1 75 (1998): 1-21.  [also
published on the Internet:<www.library.upenn/cjs/hosted/levi/index.html>and
<www.orbilat.com/Italo-Romance/Italkian-La_Ienti_de_Sion.html>]

Selected forthcoming speaking engagements

"Os Bene Israel na encruzilhada: o impacto da cultura portuguesa e luso-indiana nas comunidades locais desde o fim do s?culo XV at? aos nossos dias." Modern Language Association, New Orleans, December 27-30, 2001.

"As comunidades sefarditas na Am?rica francesa durante os s?culos XVI-XVIII." American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, San Francisco, July 8, 2001.

"Gente da Na??o: Judeo-Portuguese Presence in the Anglo-American Colonies during the 17th-18th Centuries." UMASS-Dartmouth, Department of Portuguese Studies, June 26, 2001.

"Il primo dizionario Europeo-Cinese." Quarto Centenario dell'Arrivo a Pechino di Matteo Ricci S.J. (1610). Rome, October 26-28, 2001.

"A Success Story. Ricci's Accommodation to Chinese Society: The Door is Cracked." Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, April 10, 2001.

"Father Matteo Ricci, S.J., China, and the First Portuguese-Chinese Dictionary." Instituto Inter-Universit?rio, Macau, April, 9, 2001.

Upcoming 3-Week Seminar (if enrolment warrants)

"Do Brasil ?s ?reas sob influ?ncia espanhola, francesa, holandesa einglesa. Desterro, Di?spora e Peregrina??es do Povo de Israel durante oss?culos XVII-XVIII." C?tedra de Estudos Sefarditas «Alberto Benveniste», Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, May 16-May 30, 2001.