Jessica Roda
Associate Professor
Jessica Roda is an anthropologist and ethnomusicologist whose research engages with the intersections of music, religion, cultural heritage, gender, health, and media. Trained in Europe and North America, her scholarly contributions include over fifteen peer-reviewed articles, three monographs, and the curation of a special issue of an academic journal, published in both French and English.
Her first monograph, (Se réinventer au present. Les Judéo-Espagnols de France, PUR 2018), provides a nuanced analysis of the social and political implications of Jewish music practices within diasporic communities originating from Turkey and Greece in France. Her second book, (For Women and Girls Only: Reshaping Jewish Orthodoxy through the Arts in the Digital Age, NYU Press, 2024), examines the ways in which ultra-Orthodox Jewish women, as well as those who have departed from religious life, utilize artistic expression, digital platforms, and technological tools to negotiate and transform religious norms. This work has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the Cashmere Award from the AJS Women’s Caucus (2021), the Hadassah Brandeis Institute Research Award (2021), and the 2024 Society for Ethnomusicology’s Jewish Music Special Interest Group Prize.
Dr. Roda’s current research focuses on second states of consciousness that involve breathwork, psychedelics, and dance. She is particularly interested in how sensory experiences, especially those related to sound and embodied practices, contribute to spiritual transformation and the shaping of religious meaning. Her work explores how forms of knowledge from outside Jewish contexts, particularly Indigenous understandings of plant medicine, are being translated into Jewish frameworks, prompting a revisitation of Jewish texts and traditions. These cross-cultural encounters are inspiring some Jews to reimagine the Jewish past and its historical connections to plant-based and alternative healing practices. This project contributes to broader discussions on the sensory, auditory, and performative dimensions of religion, health, and spiritual renewal.
Roda has served as a fellow at Université de Paris (Lab Urmis), McGill University, Columbia University (Heyman Center), UCLA (Department of Ethnomusicology), Université de Tours, Hannover University, University of Pennsylvania, and the State University of Campinas in Brazil. She is a collaborator in various collective research programs in Canada, Europe, and Brazil. From 2022 to 2024, she served as the president-elect of the Canadian Association for Traditional Music and is currently the co-chair of the Society for Ethnomusicology’s Special Interest Group for Jewish Music. Her public-facing work has appeared in BBC, LaPresse, TV Quebec, The Huffington Post, Akadem, Radio Canada, Canadian Jewish News, France Culture, The Moment, Glamour, The Conversation US, Times of Israel, and numerous networks in Europe and the Americas (Brazil, Canada, Colombia, USA).
Beyond her academic life, she is also a trained pianist, flutist, and modern-jazz dancer (City of Paris Conservatory), and she grew up in French Guiana, a childhood that shaped her as a person, educator, and scholar.