Here is a sample of subjects taught by Neil M. Frau-Cortes. 

• An Absent Glance: Identity and Alterity in the Poetry Written by/against Conversos.
  • ​​Poetry has a unique way of voicing our most inner feelings. Conversos have been not only the subject of poetical production, but also the object of popular and literary anti-Semitic poetry. Both instances have contributed to the development of their identity, in its belonging and its alterity. Includes recitation and singing. 
    

• The Music They Brought: New Mexican Romanzas and Sephardic Romancero
  
  
  • Survey of melodies and themes that are common to the Romancero and its derivatives in the Sephardic world and the American Southwest. Video preview here
• Lights and Shadows in the Songs of Sepharad.
  
  
  • The Jewish and crypto-Jewish experience in Sepharad through folk song. Strong women, hidden practices, exile, and survival of lore. 
• Gazelle of Love: a Taste of Medieval Hebrew Poetry.
  
  
  • Introduction to the features of the Golden Age of Hebrew poetry through the works of Yehudah Halevi and Ibn Gabirol. The reinvention of Hebrew poetry, innovation and continuity, and the emergence of secular poetry.
• Walking into the night: Disputations and Jewish apologetics in Medieval Europe.
  
  
  • How did we go from Convivencia (Coexistence) to the Inquisition? What can we learn about those dark times of violence and proselytism?

• When the Itsy Bitsy Spider Got Religion:
  
  
  • Have you ever wondered what are the origins and transmission of the melodies we sing at shul? Is your favorite Adon Olam actually some Gregorian chant transmitted by Lutherans? This is a fun lecture-recital where you'll learn the surprising history of several well-known melodies.
• Kabbalah: Mysticism, Exile, and Messianic Hope
  
  
  • Introduction to the history and mean themes of Kabbalah in the framework of Medieval Iberia. How did Kabbalistic though (re-)shape Jewish and crypto-Jewish identity? Includes a short survey of Kabbalistic chants.
• Opening the gates: chanting and meditation as a tool of spiritual growth:
  
  
  • Chanting is a powerful form of prayer and has a long tradition in Judaism. A form of meditation, chanting is also a useful tool that complements other spiritual practices. Through simple exercises, we will learn how to use our voice to ground ourselves and to get in touch with the world of Spirit.
• Stubborn presence: Celtiberian, Phoenician and Kabbalistic goddess-myth and its persistence in modern Madonna devotion in the Iberian Peninsula
  • The pre-Roman Iberian pantheons are rich, complex and fascinating. Some of their traces --particularly the goddess myths-- have survived through the centuries in unexpected ways.

• ​The Music of Kabbalah:
  • A workshop that deals with the role of music in Kabbalah. It includes easy chanting and Jewish meditation exercises. You don't need to be a composer to write your own "Judeomantra."
    
    
• Embodied Leyning:
  
  
  • Ever wanted to learn Torah trop but found it too intimidating? This is crash course on leyning with an innovative twist: we'll learn trop through body movement.
    
    
• Mystery of the Travelling Melodies:
  
  
  • How does an American ragtime become a French Cabaret tune, then a Spanish children song and later a Sephardic song? Or a Turkish love song become a Muslim nationalist anthem, a pious liturgical poem, and then a rather bawdy Moroccan Jewish song? Sephardic melodies and their transmission (lecture-recital).
• The Xuetas of Mallorca: contemporary trends
  
  
  • An overview of the crypto-Jews of Mallorca from a sociological and historical perspective. Xueta integration in contemporary Jewish institutions and in the mainstream community. Video preview here.
• Ansi se me arrimo: sex, strong women and stalking creepers in Sephardic folk song.
  
  
  • Sephardic folklore is not all about queens, palaces and chivalry. This is a lecture-recital about adultery, flirting, sex, and some very strong women.

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These subjects can be extended and combined at-will for a scholar-in-residence weekend, with or without service participation.

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