Shai Zamir

Shai Zamir is a Harper-Schmidt Fellow and Collegiate Assistant Professor in the Civilization Studies Core at the University of Chicago. His academic work bridges early modern European history, Iberian studies, and Jewish history, with a focus on gender and sexuality, family and kinship structures, and Jewish-Christian relations.

• PhD in History from the University of Michigan (2023)
• Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University

Zamir’s research examines alternative kinship practices and social networks in the Spanish Empire, including Atlantic migration, Sephardic identity, and Inquisition-era persecution. His upcoming monograph, Intimate Enemies and Absent Friends, explores cross-cultural friendships and mobility in early modern Iberia and its diaspora.

Zamir’s publications analyze themes like gendered sociability in Spanish cities, friendship as resistance, and conversion narratives. He has received grants from the American Historical Association, Casa de Velázquez, and the Center for Jewish History.

• Scientific Awards: Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship

His work intersects gender studies, Jewish diaspora, and colonial Latin American history, with future projects focusing on Sephardi masculinity and transatlantic identity reinvention.