My DPhil project aims to explore the social history of queer people in early modern Spain – individuals who transgressed contemporary gender and sexual norms. Using archival sources, I will examine instances of same-sex intercourse and ambiguous gender and explore the position of queer people within their communities, paying particular attention to how the reactions such individuals provoked intersected with other social identity markers, such as race and religion.

Existing scholarship on non-normative sexuality and gender-crossing in early modern Iberia has primarily focused on intellectual discourse and artistic representations. Little attention, however, has been paid to social dynamics, particularly networks and interactions in specific locales. This project, situated within the fields of social history and the history of gender and sexuality, aims to fill this gap by centring lived experiences and contextualising them within the culturally composite and diverse Spanish society of the period, incorporating into the analysis local circumstances as well as the impact of expanding empire and Mediterranean exchanges.

I hold a bachelors degree in History and General Humanities and a masters degree in Early Modern History, both from Tel Aviv University, both of which were awarded distinction.