Dr. Jessica Marglin

Biography

Jessica Marglin specializes in the history of Jews in modern North Africa and the Mediterranean, with a focus on law and legal history. She is the author of the book 'Legal Lines: Jews and Muslims in Modern Morocco,' published by Yale University Press in 2016, which is a comprehensive study of the Jewish Moroccan legal system during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Her recent work, 'The Shamama Case: Contesting Citizenship in the Modern Mediterranean,' published by Princeton University Press in 2022, explores a complicated lawsuit involving the estate of Nissim Shamama. Marglin holds the Ruth Ziegler Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies at USC and has been influential in her field since being appointed in August 2016. Her research interests include the interplay between Jews and Muslims in modern legal contexts, as well as broader Mediterranean studies.

Research Interests