Dr. Devin E. Naar is the Isaac Alhadeff Professor in Sephardic Studies, Associate Professor of History, and faculty at the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies in the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. Born and raised in New Jersey, Dr. Naar graduated summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis and received his Ph.D. in History at Stanford University. He has also served as a Fulbright fellow to Greece. His first book, Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece, was published by Stanford University Press in 2016. The book won the 2016 National Jewish Book Award in the category of Research Based on Archival Material and was named a finalist in Sephardic Culture. It also won the 2017 Edmund Keeley Prize for best book in Modern Greek Studies awarded by the Modern Greek Studies Association.

Dr. Naar is at work on two book projects:

“Another Race Problem”: An Ottoman-Jewish History of the United States

Ladino: A History of a Mediterranean Jewish Culture

Sephardic Studies
As the founder and chair of the University of Washington’s Sephardic Studies Program within the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, Dr. Naar has overseen a multifaceted initiative to elevate scholarly and public engagement with Sephardic history, culture, and language. He has spearheaded the collection, digitization, and dissemination of one of the largest repositories of Ladino source materials in the country, mostly gathered from members of the local Sephardic community in the Seattle region. With over 400 discrete titles dating back to the eighteenth century and hundreds of unique archival items (postcards, diaries, family letters, institutional records, photographs, and more), the UW Sephardic Studies Collection has surpassed the Sephardic collections of both Harvard University and the Library of Congress in size and scope. A major online portal providing open access to all items is underway. A selection of items are already available online via the University of Washington Library.

In addition to his work with the Sephardic Studies Collection, Dr. Naar also curates Sephardic Studies events every term, including Ladino Day, as well as other events that bring scholars, artists, and activists in the field of Sephardic Studies to campus and convene a wide cross-section of students, faculty, and the broader public. Sephardic Studies events are often co-sponsored by departments on campus such as History, Linguistics, Spanish & Portuguese, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, and Music, as well as community institutions, including the local Sephardic synagogues, the Seattle Sephardic Network, and the Turkish American Cultural Association of Washington State.

Teaching
At the University of Washington, Dr. Naar teaches a range of undergraduate courses, including Introduction to Jewish Cultural History; The Sephardic Diaspora; The Holocaust: History and Memory; Race, Religion, and Migration in Global Context; and an honors seminar, Seattle’s “Color Line” and Mediterranean Imprints on the Pacific Northwest. He is developing a new lecture course, A History of Global Whiteness. He also has supervised several senior honors theses or independent studies, some of which have received prizes from the Department of History or the Dean’s Office.

Dr. Naar works closely as the advisor for a number of graduate students in History, the Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Near and Middle East Studies, and International Studies, and occasionally in an auxiliary role with graduate students in Linguistics, Spanish & Portuguese, or Music. He occasionally offers a graduate colloquium, Cities, Empires, and Jews, which focuses on the Ottoman and Russian Empires, as well as directed readings for graduate students on Jewish History, Ottoman History, Mediterranean Studies, and Sephardic Studies, as well as newer readings courses on Race and Migration in the Modern Mediterranean in Transnational Perspective.

Public Engagement
Dr. Naar has written for several popular venues, such as The Washington Post, Public Radio International, Jewish Currents, the Jewish Review of Books, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and Tablet Magazine. His research has been highlighted by numerous media outlets, including NPR, NBC, The Atlantic, The Seattle Times, The Forward, The Jerusalem Post, and UW Daily. He has delivered over 150 public lectures across North America and in Greece, France, Israel, and Russia, as well as more than fifty conference papers. His work has also appeared in Hebrew, French, Greek, German, Yiddish, and Ladino translation.

He conducts research in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish/Judezmo), Greek, Hebrew, French, and Spanish. He is learning Turkish and Yiddish.

Dr. Naar also speaks Ladino to his two children and occasionally writes poetry and short stories in the language.