Department of Religious Studies
Department of Religious Studies
Sam Shuman

Sam Shuman

Assistant Professor
Email: mqr2rb@virginia.edu

Office Hours

Thursdays 10:00am - 12:00pm

Education

  • PhD (Sociocultural Anthropology), University of Michigan
  • Graduate Certificate in Judaic Studies, University of Michigan
  • MA (Sociocultural Anthropology), University of Michigan
  • BA (Sociocultural Anthropology), Columbia University
  • BA (Jewish Gender and Women's Studies), The Jewish Theological Seminary

Research Interests

My research situates Hasidic Judaism within a global context and, in so doing, allows us to rethink larger questions in political theology about race and religion, global capitalism, gender and sexuality, sovereignty and empire. To do this, I toggle between different methodologies: ethnography, archival research, and text analysis.

I focus on contemporary Hasidic Jews and the various forms of mediation that Hasidic brokers perform in everyday life. My first project, Cutting Out the Middleman, funded by the Social Science Research Council, the National Science Foundation, and Fulbright, focused on Antwerp’s regulation of the diamond sector and the restructuring of its Hasidic workforce. I spent my time in trading offices, governmental offices, synagogues, and cafes, to understand how the rise of online platforms and the state’s capture of unreported taxes, led to the “disintermediation” of diamond brokers.

My second project, Of Mice and Hasidic Men, concerns the various forms of saintly mediation performed by a dead Hungarian Hasidic miracle-worker named Reb Shayele (1851-1925). Though long considered to protect against the infestation of mice in Hasidic homes and businesses, Shayele has assumed significance among Hasidic men in the last decade. Shayele has been resurrected as a patron saint of hospitality and protection against “intruders.” By praying at Shayele’s gravesite and using his amulets and incantations, contemporary Hasidic men seek to ward off unwelcome encounters with agents of the state, such as police, traffic enforcement agents, and building inspectors. I have conducted ethnographic research among 50,000 pilgrims at Shayele’s gravesite in Hungary, explored hagiographic materials and newspapers in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Hungarian, and reviewed extensive social media content.

Teaching

Saints (Fall 2026), Questions in the Study of Religion (Fall 2026)

Selected Publications

Forthcoming (Sept 2026) “Outed in the Field: Hasidic Life & the Hidden Abode of Transgression.” In Critical Jewish Studies Now: The Relational Politics of Memory, Itamar Haritan and Re’ee Hagay, ed., London: Palgrave McMillan

2026 “‘I Never Looked into a Diamond’: The Transparent Ignorance of Diamond Brokers.” In How Transparency Works: Ethnographies of a Global Value, Filipe Calvão, Matthieu Bolay, and Elizabeth Ferry, ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

2025 “Of Mice and Hasidic Men: Reb Shayele as Populist Patron Saint.” The Jewish Quarterly Review (JQR) 11.4: 99-135 https://doi.org/10.1353/jqr.2025.a952521 

2025 “You’re All Individuals! The Remaking of Antwerp’s Hasidic Male Workforce.” Les Cahiers de la mémoire contemporaine/Bijdragen tot de Eigentijdse Herinnering 17: 219-253

2021 “Stop the Spread: Gossip, COVID-19, and the Theology of Social Life.” Religions 12.12: 1037 https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12121037

Selected Awards & Grants

  • 2027 (Winter-Spring) Open Society Fellow, Central European University, Institute for Advanced Studies (CEU-IAS), Budapest, Hungary
  • 2025-2027 Fellow of the Institute of the Humanities & Global Cultures, UVA
  • 2022 Michael S. Bernstein Dissertation Prize in Judaic Studies, University of Michigan
  • 2021 Association for Jewish Studies Dissertation Completion Fellowship (Finalist)
  • 2017-2018 Social Science Research Council (SSRC), International Dissertation Research Fellowship
  • 2017-2018 National Science Foundation (NSF), Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant
  • 2017-2018 Fulbright Commission, Fulbright Scholar-Belgium