| "A Man Learns Only from What His Heart Desires": Hebrew Textbooks Reimagined |
By situating Hebrew textbooks for adults within their historical and social contexts, this lecture sheds light on the intricate relationship between pedagogy, national identity, and the challenges faced by immigrants adapting to a new homeland. |
Rakefet Anzi |
29 May, 2025 |
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| Love, Pride, Fear, and Happiness: Zionism as a Case Study for 'National Emotions' |
What emotional traits are essential for building a nation? More broadly, are there such things as ‘national emotions,’ and if so, what are they? |
Yair Berlin |
15 May, 2025 |
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| Israeli Far-Right amid the Erosion of the 'Legitimate Circle of Politics' |
The seminar explores the discursive mapping of far-right constituents within the most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history, formed under Benjamin Netanyahu’s premiership after the five elections held between 2019 and 2022. |
Ferit Belder |
12 May, 2025 |
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| To Be a Jewish State |
A book launch event marking the publication of Yaacov Yadgar's new book, To Be a Jewish State: Zionism as the New Judaism. The author in conversation with Amnon Ray-Krakotzkin |
Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, David Borabeck, Yaacov Yadgar |
5 March, 2025 |
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| Trade Networks Bridging Yemen, Israel, and Ethiopia: The Ḥibshūsh Family and Jewish-Muslim Commercial Relations in the 20th Century |
This lecture examines the commercial legacy of the Ḥibshūsh family, a prominent Yemenite Jewish dynasty that played a pivotal role in the Red Sea basin trade from the 1880s to the 1970s |
Menashe Anzi |
6 December, 2024 |
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| Abraham and Moses as Entrepreneurs: Educating for the Future with Narratives of the Past |
How does the global entrepreneurial discourse, which advocates for a neoliberal, individualistic, and future-oriented identity, intersects with a state education system that seeks to establish a collectivist and ethno-national identity? |
Sari R. Alfi Nissan |
22 November, 2024 |
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| Synagogues in Israeli Urban Internal Frontiers as Symbols of Sovereignty |
Israeli synagogues in mixed cities following the 1948 war, and their sovereign role |
David Borabeck |
15 November, 2024 |
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| New & Jew, Zionism and the Quest for National Culture |
The Creation of Hebrew Music and its Origins |
Yaron Peleg |
6 November, 2024 |
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| Michal Huss - You cannot really live (or die) here: ongoing struggles over cemeteries and housing in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, 1957-2020 |
Debates over housing and cemeteries in Jaffa. |
Michal Huss |
30 October, 2024 |
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| Martin Goodman - The Image of Herod in Modern Israel |
Jewish, Israeli, and Zionist perceptions of Herod. |
Martin Goodman |
23 October, 2024 |
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| Yemima Hadad - Buber and Gandhi on land and resistance: Reading the Buber-Gandhi correspondence after October 7 |
Contesting pacifist views and their implications today. |
Yemima Hadad |
21 October, 2024 |
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| Anat Scolnicov - The Israel Supreme Court Religion and the Relationship of State and Religion in Israel |
On judicial independence in Israel |
Anat Scolnicov |
23 March, 2023 |
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| Amos Morris-Rich - The Fusion of Zionism and Science: The First Two Decades - And the Present Day? |
On Zionism's relation to Science |
Amos Morris-Reich |
23 March, 2023 |
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| Neta Schramm - Zionist Neutral? The Sardonic Zionism of Yeshayahu Leibowitz and Ovadia Yosef |
Neta Schramm discusses the (non-ideological) "think Zionism" stances of two leading Israeli figures. |
Neta Schramm |
5 December, 2022 |
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| Maya Mark - Menachem Begin’s stand on the imposition of the Military Government, 1948- 1966 |
Maya Mark discusses Menachem Begin's commitment to Liberalism |
Maya Mark |
30 November, 2022 |
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| Hillel Cohen - Haters, Love Story: on the relations between Mizrahi Jews and Palestinian Arab’ |
Hillel Cohen discusses his new book on Mizrahim, Arabs, and Asheknazim in Israel |
Hillel Cohen |
21 November, 2022 |
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| Suzanne Schneider - The Divine People? Mapping the political-theological coordinates of post-liberalism |
On the political theology of "illiberal democracy" |
Suzanne Schneider |
10 November, 2022 |
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| Gabriel Schwake - Dwelling on the Green Line: Privatize and Rule in Israel/Palestine |
Gabriel Schwake discusses his new book dealing with urban planning along the green line. |
Gabriel Schwake |
3 November, 2022 |
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| Tilde Rosmer - The Islamic Movement in Israel |
Tilde Rosmer (Zayed University) discusses the history and politics of the Islamic Movement in Israel. |
Tilde Rosmer |
19 October, 2022 |
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| Gideon Katz - The Fear of Judaism in Israeli Culture |
Gideon Katz discusses some of the mure surprising aspect of Israeli secularism |
Gideon Katz |
27 May, 2022 |
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| Nitzan Lebovic: Is Zionism a “Left-Wing Melancholy”? |
Nitzan Levobic discusses Zionism and melancholy, through the woks of Israel Zarchi |
Nitzan Levobic |
18 May, 2022 |
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| Tony Shaw and Giora Goodman - Hollywood and Israel: A History |
The authors of a recently published book dealing with the history of Hollywood's relation with Israel discuss some of their findings |
Tony Shaw, Giora Goodman |
12 May, 2022 |
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| Haggai Ram - The Social Life of Hashish in Mandatory Palestine and Israel: A Global History |
Haggai Ram charts the (modern) history of Hashish in the Holy Land |
Haggai Ram |
1 December, 2021 |
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| Amnon Aran - Israeli foreign policy since the end of the Cold War |
Amnon Aran maps the development of Israeli foreign policy since the end of the Cold War |
Amnon Aran |
18 November, 2021 |
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| Michael Karayanni - Religion and State among the Palestinian-Arabs in Israel: A Multicultural Entrapment |
Michael Karayanni considers how the Israeli construction of religion and politics shapes the live Palestinian-Arabs in the state. |
Michael Karayanni |
18 November, 2021 |
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| Eldad Ben Aharon - Supporting Denial: Israel’s Foreign Policy and the Armenian Genocide |
Eldad Ben-Aharon charts the history of Israel's refusal to recognise the Armenian Genocide. |
Eldad Ben-Aharon |
3 November, 2021 |
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| Kathrin Bachleitner - A road towards atonement? Why only West Germany came to “atone” for the Nazi crimes. |
Kathrin Bachleitner remaps the road that led to Germany's "atonement" for the Holocaust |
Kathrin Bachleitner |
27 October, 2021 |
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| Atalia Omer - Pathways toward a Jewish Israeli Restorative Ethics |
Atalia Omer discusses restorative justice practices and the possibilities (and limits) of Jewish critiques of Zionism. |
Atalia Omer, Yaacov Yadgar |
20 October, 2021 |
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| Reconsidering Early Jewish Nationalist Ideologies Seminar: Elana Shapira: Berta Zuckerkandl and Her Circle: Austrian Nationalism and Zionism in Viennese Modernism |
Elana Shapira discusses the tangled relationship between Austrian Nationalism and Zionism in Viennese Modernism |
Elana Shapira |
9 March, 2021 |
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| Reconsidering Early Jewish Nationalist Ideologies Seminar: Maja Gildin Zuckerman: The Pragmatism of Proto-Zionism: Tracing Jewish Nation-building through a Cultural Sociological Framework |
Maya Gildin Zuckerman discusses a 1897 tour from London to Palestine as a moment in the Zionist meaning making process. |
Maja Gilding Zuckerman |
23 February, 2021 |
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| Jamie Stern-Weiner: IHRA: The Politics of a Definition |
Jamie Stern-Weiner (Oxford) traces the genesis and evolution of a controversial 'working definition' of antisemitism. |
Jamie Stern-Weiner |
16 February, 2021 |
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| Anna Prashizky: Connecting Ethnicity and Space: The New Russian-Mizrahi-Mediterranean Pop Culture in Israel’s Periphery |
Ann Prashizky discusses 'self orientalistation' by the 1.5 generation of FSU immigrants to Israel. |
Anna Prashizky |
2 February, 2021 |
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| Adam Sutcliffe: Light Unto the Nations - The Idea of Jewish Purpose and the Emergence of Zionism (Reconsidering Early Jewish Nationalist Ideologies Seminar) |
Adam Sutcliffe (KCL) discusses how Zionist ideologues have viewed the notion of Jewish purpose. |
Adam Sutcliffe |
27 January, 2021 |
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| Tal Shamur (Cambridge): The emergence of melancholic citizenship at the urban periphery: The case of south Tel Aviv protest against global migration |
Tal Shamur presents his work on the melancholic protest of Hatikva residents. |
Tal Shamur |
19 January, 2021 |
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| Reconsidering Early Jewish Nationalist Ideologies Seminar: Rose Stair (Oxford): Age and gender in German-language cultural Zionism |
The fourth lecture in the Reconsidering Early Jewish Nationalist Ideologies seminar series. Rose Stair discusses cultural Zionism through a focus on age and gender. |
Rost Stair |
1 December, 2020 |
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| Peter Bergamin (Oxford): Guns and Moses: Jewish anti-British Resistance during the Mandate for Palestine |
Peter Bergamin presents some findings and conclusions from his recent research on the British Mandate for Palestine, focusin on the phenomena of Jewish illegal immigration and anti-British terrorism, and their role in Britain’s eventual abandonment of the |
Peter Bergamin |
24 November, 2020 |
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| Reconsidering Early Jewish Nationalist Ideologies Seminar: Yuval Evri (KCL) - The Return to Al-Andalus: Disputes Over Sephardic Culture and Identity Between Arabic and Hebrew |
Yuval Evri discusses his new book, The Return to Al-Andalus, Disputes Over Sephardic Culture and Identity Between Arabic and Hebrew |
Yuval Evri |
17 November, 2020 |
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| Nahshon Perez (Bar-Ilan) and Yuval Jobani (Tel Aviv): Governing the Sacred: Political Toleration in Five Contested Sacred Sites |
Nachshon Perez discusses Perez and Jobani's co-authored book on the politics of contested sacred sites |
Nachshon Perez |
10 November, 2020 |
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| Reconsidering Early Jewish Nationalist Ideologies Semina: Danielle Drori (Oxford): Yosef Klausner in Translation: Zionism and Christianity |
The second seminar in the Reconsidering Early Jewish Nationalism Sereis. Danielle Drori discusses Zionism and translation, with a focus on Klausner's Life of Jesus |
Danielle Drori |
3 November, 2020 |
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| Hadeel Abu Hussein (Oxford): Palestinian Arab Citizens in Israel, Equality Struggle |
Hadeel Abu Hussein discusses the historical stages of the Palestinian Arab citizens in Israel with respect to their political formation and social experience as individuals and a collective starting from 1948, until nowadays. |
Hadeel Abu Hussein |
27 October, 2020 |
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| Reconsidering Early Jewish Nationalist Ideologies Seminar: Yair Wallach, (SOAS): Language of Revival or Conquest? Hebrew in the Streets of early 20th century Jerusalem |
Yair Wallach discusses his book A City in Fragments: Urban Text in Modern Jerusalem (Stanford University Press, 2020). |
Yair Wallach |
22 October, 2020 |
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| Sandy Kedar: Emptied Lands - A Legal Geography of Bedouin Rights in the Negev. |
Prof. Sandy Kedar (Haifa) discusses his co-authored book on the legal rights of the Bedouin in the Negev. |
Sandy Kedar |
14 October, 2020 |
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| Hizky Shoham - The Emotional Scripting of Boycotts: The Nazi-Zionist Agreement in Jewish Public Culture During the 1930s |
Hizky Shoham discusses the 'emotionologies' surrounding the Nazi-Zionist 'Transfer agreement.' |
Hizky Shoham |
26 February, 2020 |
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| Larissa Remennick - The Israeli Diaspora in Berlin: Back to Being Jewish? |
Larissa Remeniick discuss the origins and present condition of the new (post-2010) Israeli diaspora in Berlin |
Larissa Remennick |
19 February, 2020 |
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| Lotem Perry-Hazan: Ethnic segregation in the Haredi education in Israel: Policies and practices |
Lotem Perry-Hazzan discusses ethnic discrimination in admissions to Haredi schools in Israel |
Lotem Perry-Hazzan |
5 February, 2020 |
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| Heather Munro: Ashkenazi Hegemony in Haredi Israeli Society and Implications for the Future |
Heather Monro discusses the implications of Ashkenazi Hegemony in the Israeli Haredi society. |
Heather Munro |
28 January, 2020 |
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| The Making of the Israeli Far Right Book Talk by Peter Bergamin |
Peter Bergamin discusses his new book: The Making of the Israeli Far-Right: Abba Ahimeir and Zionist Ideology |
Peter Bergamin |
22 January, 2020 |
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| Seyed Ali Alavi - Iran and Palestine: Past, Present and Future |
Ali Alavi discusses the history of Iran's relations with Palestinian organisation and the Palestinian cause, and their implication to Iranian-Israeli relations. |
Ali Alavi |
22 January, 2020 |
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| Tamar Calahorra, Competition between Members of Parliament and Governmental ministries on Policy Outcomes through Legislation – Israel as a Test case |
Dr. Calahorra studies some dramatic changes in the ways legislation is conducted in Israel |
Tamar Calahorra |
3 December, 2019 |
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| Nancy Hawker - Palestinian multilingualism: A perfectly normal adaptation to colonialism, conflict and late capitalism |
Nancy Hawker (The Aga Khan University) considers the developing place of Arabic in official nation-statist platforms in Israel |
Nancy Hawker |
27 November, 2019 |
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| Yoav Ronel - 'Love, Zionism and Melancholy in the Prose of Micha Yosef Berdichevsky' |
Yoav Ronel (Bezalel and BGU) considers representations of a melancholic national and subjective desire in the prose of Micha Yosef Berdichevsky (1865-1921) |
Yoav Ronnel |
20 November, 2019 |
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| Avihu Shoshana - 'Nocturnal Inequality: Ethnographies of Social Selection and Waiting in Line for Night Clubs in Tel-Aviv' |
Avihu Shoshana (Haifa University) discusses findings from his ethnography of social selection in Israeli night-clubs. |
Avihu Shoshana |
13 November, 2019 |
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| Jonathan Leslie - Fear and Insecurity: Competing Narratives of the Iran-Israel Relationship |
Jonathan Leslie considers the history of Iran's "becoming" and existential threat in Israel |
Jonathan Leslie |
6 November, 2019 |
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| Moriel Ram, 'A tale of sand and snow: Bar-Lev line and the Hermon ski site as material fantasies' |
Moriel Ram (SOAS) discusses how sand and snow produce potent imageries and physical realities in Israeli political culture. |
Moriel Ram |
5 November, 2019 |
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| The Folly of Secularism Dialogues on the theopolitics of the nation-state: Israel in a wider context. Session 3: Israel: a dialogue between Yehouda Shenhav (Tel Aviv) and Yaacov Yadgar (Oxford) |
Yehouda Shenhav and Yaacov Yadgar discuss the uses and misuses of a discourse on “Judaism” in Israel. Session 3 in a series of three. |
Yehouda Shenhav, Yuval Evri, Yaacov Yadgar |
3 April, 2019 |
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| The Folly of Secularism Dialogues on the theopolitics of the nation-state: Israel in a wider context. Session 2: Liberalism and Secularism: a dialogue between Elizabeth Shakman Hurd (Northwestern) and Yolanda Jansen (Amsterdam) |
Elizabeth Shakman Hurd and Yolande Jansen discuss the notion of the “secular,” liberal politics of the nation-state. Session 2 in a series of three |
Elisabeth Shakman Hurd, Yolande Jansen |
3 April, 2019 |
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| The Folly of Secularism Dialogues on the theopolitics of the nation-state: Israel in a wider context. Session 1 Religion and Politics: a dialogue between William Cavanaugh (DePaul) and Timothy Fitzgerald (Centre for Critical Research on Religion) |
Timothy Fitzgerald and William Cavanaugh discuss the politics and history of the conceptual duality and its current usages. First session in a series of three |
Timothy Fitzgerald, William Cavanaugh |
3 April, 2019 |
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| Avner Offer: Quality of Life and Well-being in Israel Today |
Avner offer discusses how to measure -- and how to understand the measurements -- of quality of life and well-being in Israel. |
Avner Offer |
6 March, 2019 |
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| Eyal Chowers - The emerging notion of sovereignty in contemporary Israel |
Eyal Chowers considers Israeli democracy, liberalism, and the emerging notion of sovereignty in the state |
Eyal Chowers |
6 March, 2019 |
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| Guy Burton - Rising Powers and the Arab-Israeli Conflict since 1947' |
How have rising power engaged with the Arab-Israeli conflict? What does this tell us about rising powers and conflict management as well as their behaviour in international politics more generally? |
Guy Burton |
27 February, 2019 |
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| Ibrahim Khatib - Identity, Conflict perception and Reconciliation in the shadow of the Arab-Israeli conflict |
Ibrahim Khatib discusses the correlations between identity, conflict perception, and willingness to reconcile. |
Ibrahim Khatib |
27 February, 2019 |
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| Menachem Klein - Abbas' Leadership in a State Postponed |
Menachem Klein discusses the political biography and leadership of Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority. |
Menachem Klein |
6 February, 2019 |
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| Khaled Furani - Putting Israel on the Couch: A Palestinian challenge from within the Leviathan |
Khaled Furani deconstruct sovereignty, and considers some alternatives. |
Khaled Furani |
23 January, 2019 |
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| Netta Cohen - When climate takes command: Jewish-Zionist scientific approaches to climate in Palestine 1900-1948 |
How did Zionist scientist see climate in Palestine? |
Netta Cohen |
16 January, 2019 |
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| Brian Klug - Defining antisemitism, demonizing Zionism, excoriating Corbyn: The current controversy over the left and the Jews |
Brian Klug analyses the controversy around antisemitism in the Labour Party and the limits on the criticism of Zionism. |
Brian Klug |
28 November, 2018 |
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| Orna Sasson-Levy - Gendered citizenship: The case of Women Breaking the Silence |
Orna Sasson-Levy discusses the cast of women soldiers who decide to speak |
Orna Sasson-Levy |
21 November, 2018 |
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| Adriana X Jacobs - A gift from Sinai: Translation and nation-building |
Adriana Jacobs (Oxford) discusses the role of translation in the constitutive era of modern Hebrew literature. |
Adriana X Jacobs |
16 November, 2018 |
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| David Tal - The making of alliance: The making and history of US-Israel relationships |
David Tal discusses the making and history of US-Israel relationships. |
David Tal |
16 November, 2018 |
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| Yakov Rabkin - Israel: The Russian Connection |
Yakov Rabkin (University of Montreal) discusses the roots of Israeli political culture in the Zionist beginnings in the Yiddish speaking regions of the Russian Empire. |
Yakov Rabkin |
26 October, 2018 |
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| Yaacov Yadgar - The Nation-State bill and the meaning of Israel’s Jewish identity |
Yaacov Yadgar discusses the recently passed Basic-Law: Israel the Nation State of the Jewish People, and discusses how it plays into Israel's Jewish Identity Crisis |
Yaacov Yadgar |
10 October, 2018 |
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| Kfir Cohen - Israeli Literature as Global Literature |
Kfir Cohen discusses Israeli literature as global literature (broadly defined) |
Kfir Cohen |
25 June, 2018 |
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| Bashir Abu-Manneh - Habibi’s The Pessoptimist and 1948 |
Bashir Abu-Manneh discusses Emile Habibi’s The Pessoptimist and 1948. |
Bashir Abu-Manneh |
31 May, 2018 |
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| Rami Ginat - Egyptian Communist Voices of Peace (1947-1958) |
Rami Ginat discusses the Egyptian Communist Party's stance on Israel in its formative first decade of statehood. |
Rami Ginat, Yaacov Yadgar |
30 May, 2018 |
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| Faisal Devji: Jewish Pecedents and Muslim Nationalism |
Faisal Devji discusses the surprising relations between Pakistani nationalism and Zionism. |
Faisal Devji, Yaacov Yadgar |
2 May, 2018 |
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| Yuval Evri: Andalusian Legacies: the role of al-Andalus/Sepharad in the political and cultural history of Israel/Palestine |
Yuval Evri discusses the uses of the the image of Al-Andalus in political and cultural discourses in the turn of the 20th Century. |
Yuval Evri, Yaacov Yadgar |
7 March, 2018 |
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| Galia Sabar: African Migration to Israel - Chronicle of a Failure Foretold |
The history and politics of African migration to Israel |
Galia Sabar, Yaacov Yadgar |
21 February, 2018 |
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| Almog Behar - Between Hebrew and Arabic |
The politics, culture, and reality of Hebrew and Arabic in Israel and beyond. |
Almog Behar, Yaacov Yadgar |
14 February, 2018 |
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| Eugene Rogan - The Myth of the Campbell-Bannerman Report: Arab views on Israel after the Suez Crisis |
On the origins and context of a little know (for some obvious reasons) chapter in the history of the Zionism. |
Eugene Rogan |
8 February, 2018 |
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| Haim Yacobi - Israel, Africa: Identity, Culture and Politics |
Haim Yacobi (UCL) gives a talk on Israel in Africa, Africa (and Africans) in Israel. |
Haim Yacobi, Yaacov Yadgar |
30 January, 2018 |
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| Avi Shlaim - A Jordanian Perspective on Israel |
Prof. Avi Shlaim reviews the history of the Jordanian-Israeli relations, and considers how Israel is viewed and understood from the Jordanian side |
Avi Shlaim, Yaacov Yadgar |
29 November, 2017 |
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| Birth of the Ashkenazi-Mizrahi Controversy on the ‘Arab Question’ (1910-12) |
On 'the mother' of all ensuing Mizrahi–Ashkenazi ethnic controversies. |
Moshe Behar, Yaacov Yadgar |
1 November, 2017 |
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| Jews, Israel and Debate: Understanding Israel in the Diaspora |
Why and how should we study Diaspora Jews' relation to Israel? |
Ilan z Baron, Yaacov Yadgar |
31 October, 2017 |
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