Dana Rabin

Dana Rabin is a Professor at the University of Illinois in the Department of History, with additional affiliations in the Program in Jewish Culture and Society and the European Union Center. Her research spans the social and cultural history of early modern Britain, focusing on intersections of empire, race, law, and gender.

Her work examines legal events as prisms for understanding colonial complexities, including the Jewish Naturalization Act, the Somerset Case, and the Act of Union with Ireland. She explores how law shaped categories of difference and identity in Britain and its colonies.

Rabin's current project, Jews, Suffrage, and the Color Line in the British Empire, 1740-1858, investigates Jewish civil rights and the co-constitution of race and religion in imperial contexts. This multi-sited study analyzes suffrage, whiteness, and Jewish identity across metropole and colonial spaces.

Recent publications in Shofar and Law and History Review reflect her expertise in Anglo-American legal history, colonial governance, and racial dynamics. Her scholarship integrates global knowledge frameworks with detailed case studies.

• Lynn M. Martin Professorial Scholar (2018-2021)
• George S. and Gladys W. Queen Excellence in Teaching Award