Publications

Liora Halperin publishes article "Majority and Minority Language in the Middle East: The Case of Hebrew in Mandate Palestine"

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 16:33:43 +0000

Liora Halperin publishes article "Majority and Minority Language in the Middle East: The Case of Hebrew in Mandate Palestine" Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/10/2017 - 09:33

Liora Halperin, Assistant Professor of History and Jewish Studies, and Endowed Professor of Israel/Palestine Studies, publishes article "Majority and Minority Language in the Middle East: The Case of Hebrew in Mandate Palestine," in Laura Robson (ed.) Minorities in the Modern Arab World: New Perspectives (Syracuse University Press, 2016).

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Elias Sacks publishes first book "Moses Mendelssohn's Living Script: Philosophy, Practice, History, Judaism"

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 16:53:38 +0000

Elias Sacks publishes first book "Moses Mendelssohn's Living Script: Philosophy, Practice, History, Judaism" Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/14/2016 - 09:53

We are thrilled to announce that Elias Sacks, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies, recently published his first book, Moses Mendelssohn's Living Script: Philosophy, Practice, History, Judaism (Indiana University Press, 2016).

Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786) is often described as the founder of modern Jewish thought and as a leading philosopher of the late Enlightenment. One of Mendelssohn's main concerns was how to conceive of the relationship between Judaism, philosophy, and the civic life of a modern state. Elias Sacks explores Mendelssohn's landmark account of Jewish practice--Judaism's "living script," to use his famous phrase--to present a broader reading of Mendelssohn's writings and extend inquiry into conversations about modernity and religion. By studying Mendelssohn's thought in these dimensions, Sacks suggests that he shows a deep concern with history. Sacks affords a view of a foundational moment in Jewish modernity and forwards new ways of thinking about ritual practice, the development of traditions, and the role of religion in society.

Join us in congratulating Professor Sacks on this marvelous accomplishment!

Purchase Professor Sacks' book here.

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Brian Catlos plans conference at University of San Diego, speaks to Duke University

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 22:37:03 +0000

Brian Catlos plans conference at University of San Diego, speaks to Duke University Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/06/2015 - 15:37

Brian Catlos, Professor of Religious Studies, will be organizing and moderating three panels at this year's American Association of Italian Studies Conference in Boulder, CO, March 26-29, 2015, entitled "Italy in the Mediterranean I: Conflict," "Italy in the Mediterranean II: Images," and "Italy in the Mediterranean III: Identities."

With University of San Diego faculty Sharon Kinoshita & Oumelbenine Zhiri, Catlos is organizing this year's UC Mediterranean Research Project Winter Workshop and Symposium: "Borders," taking place April 13-14, 2015 in La Jolla, CA.

He will also present at talk at Duke University on March 30 entitled "We Ought Not Persecute Jews, but Saracens: The Lives of Muslims in Medieval Latin Christendom." On March 31, Catlos will present a talk at Wake Forest University entitled "The King has not Authorized You to Kill Us... Vulnerability, Violence, and Resistance among Subject Muslims in Medieval Spain."

Catlos’s Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, Power and Violence in the Age of Crusade and Jihad (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2014) has been published in Dutch tranlsation as Koningen, kruisvaarders & kalifen. Geloof, macht en geweld ten tijde van de kruistocten en de jihad by the publisher De Bezige Bij (“The Busy Bee”). De Bezige Bij was founded as an illegal press under German occupation in the Second World War, when its proceeds went to support Jewish children being hid from the Nazis by Dutch civilians. It is the leading literary press in the Netherlands, and publishes leading Dutch authors including Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch, Gerard Kornelis van het Reve, Jan Geurt Siebelink, Simon Vinkenoog, and Tommy Wieringa.

Both of Catlos' 2014 books Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors and Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom are in production in paper back editions.

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Sacks Publishes Essay on Attracting Students to Humanities Courses

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 16:02:36 +0000

Sacks Publishes Essay on Attracting Students to Humanities Courses Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/28/2015 - 09:02

Elias Sacks, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Director of Graduate Studies for the Program in Jewish Studies, recently published an essay on strategies for attracting students to humanities courses. Entitled “Expanding the Jewish Studies Classroom: Citizenship, Vulnerability, and the Trinity,” the essay appears on the website of the Association for Jewish Studies and is based on a 2013 presentation at the Association’s annual meeting.

Read the essay here.

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Brian Catlos wins prestigious Albert Hourani Book Award

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 01:23:40 +0000

Brian Catlos wins prestigious Albert Hourani Book Award Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/25/2014 - 18:23

The Middle East Studies Association has awarded the 2014 Albert Hourani Book Award to Brian Catlos's Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom, ca. 1050-1614 (Cambridge: 2014).

At the awards ceremony held on November 23 in Washington DC the prize committee chair, Prof. Tayeb el-Hibri (Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, UM Amherst) said:

"The submissions for the Hourani Book Award this year were at a record level of 125 books, covering a wide range of topics. The committee which undertook the labor of sifting through these titles ought to be cited at the outset for its careful consideration of books, debating and and eventually selecting. Wali Ahmadi of UC Berkeley, Michael Herb of Georgia State Univ., Amy Mills of South Carolina State Univ., and Rochelle Davis of Georgetown Univ. We should thank them all for their time investment in the process.

"The choice eventually crystallized through consensus as everyone admired the selected work for its depth of analysis, readability, and overall originality. The Winner of the Albert Hourani's Book Award for 2014 goes to Brian Catlos, *Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom, 1050-1614* (Cambridge University Press, 2014). Various members of the committee described it as "a major work of scholarship," "magisterial," "a classic," and "the result of decades of historical and archival research."

"The book examines the history of Islamic societies after conquest in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and during the wars of the Crusades between 1050-1614. The author works with primary sources and scholarly literature on both the Islamic and Western sides, and examines the religious, political, and economic history of Islamic society as a minority, and its cultural interactions in environments ranging from accommodation to intolerance and systematic exclusion. Catlos provides a landmark work of synthesis on the neglected history of the Muslim subaltern during and after the so-called Reconquista. His work sets a model for future research on Mediterranean studies, encouraging not only a new level of complex analysis but also hybridization of Medieval European and Islamic history.”

Congratulations Professor Catlos!

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Liora Halperin Publishes First Book, Babel in Zion

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 23:54:16 +0000

Liora Halperin Publishes First Book, Babel in Zion Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 11/20/2014 - 16:54

We are excited to announce that Liora Halperin, Assistant Professor of History and Jewish Studies, has recently published her first book, Babel in Zion: Jews, Nationalism, andLanguage Diversity in Palestine, 1920-1948.

The promotion and vernacularization of Hebrew, traditionally a language of Jewish liturgy and study, was a central accomplishment of the Zionist movement in Palestine in the years following World War I. Viewing twentieth-century history through the lens of language, author Liora Halperin questions the accepted scholarly narrative of a Zionist move away from multilingualism, demonstrating how Jews in Palestine remained connected linguistically by both preference and necessity to a world outside the boundaries of the pro-Hebrew community even as it promoted Hebrew and achieved that language’s dominance. The story of language encounters in Jewish Palestine is a fascinating tale of shifting power relationships, both locally and globally. Halperin’s absorbing study explores how a young national community was compelled to modify the dictates of Hebrew exclusivity as it negotiated its relationships with its Jewish population, Palestinian Arabs, the British, and others outside the margins of the national project and ultimately came to terms with the limitations of its hegemony in an interconnected world.

Purchase this book on Amazon

Also check out Halperin's recent article in Tablet, "Letters From Multilingual Tel Aviv Show the Early Limits of Hebrew."

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Prof. Catlos' Recent Book "Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors" Appears in New Yorker

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 21:26:32 +0000

Prof. Catlos' Recent Book "Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors" Appears in New Yorker Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/22/2014 - 15:26

The recent book Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors by Brian Catlos, Professor of Religious Studies, recently appeared in The New Yorker. Check out the New Yorker's Briefly Noted Book Review to read more.

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Professor Sasha Senderovich Publishes in The New York Times and Appears on NPR

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Oct 2013 06:00:00 +0000

Professor Sasha Senderovich Publishes in The New York Times and Appears on NPR Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 10/12/2013 - 00:00

Sasha Senderovich, Assistant Professor of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures and Jewish Studies, recently published an op-ed in The New York Times entitled "Goodbye, Lenin?" (follow the link to read). The op-ed ran December 9, 2013 and addressed the tearing down of the statue of Vladimir Lenin on Sunday, December 8, 2013 during protests in Kiev against President Viktor Yanukovich.

Professor Senderovich also made an appearance on National Public Radio's The Takeaway on Tuesday, December 10, 2013 addressing the same issue. Follow the link here to hear the podcast.

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