The Lives of Jessie Sampter: Queer, Disabled, Zionist

In The Lives of Jessie Sampter, Sarah Imhoff tells the story of an individual full of contradictions. Jessie Sampter (1883-1938) was best known for her Course in Zionism (1915), an American primer for understanding support of a Jewish state in Palestine. In 1919, Sampter packed a trousseau, declared herself "married to Palestine," and immigrated there. Yet Sampter's own life and body hardly matched typical Zionist ideals. Although she identified with Judaism, Sampter took up and experimented with spiritual practices from various religions. While Zionism celebrated the strong and healthy body, she spoke of herself as "crippled" from polio and plagued by sickness her whole life. While Zionism applauded reproductive women's bodies, Sampter never married or bore children; in fact, she wrote of homoerotic longings and had same-sex relationships. By charting how Sampter's life did not neatly line up with her own religious and political ideals, Imhoff highlights the complicated and at times conflicting connections between the body, queerness, disability, religion, and nationalism.

Author: Sarah Imhoff
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: 05/27/2022
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.84lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.60d
ISBN13: 9781478018063
ISBN10: 1478018062
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Gender Studies
- Religion | Judaism | General
- Social Science | People with Disabilities

About the Author
Sarah Imhoff is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, and author of Masculinity and the Making of American Judaism.