Schusterman Center
for Israel Studies

 

Aviv Ben-Or, NEJS

Aviv is interested in Hebrew literature and the Jewish literary tradition in a broad sense, ranging from the medieval period to modern times, with a focus on Jewish communities in North Africa and the Middle East. Proficient in Hebrew and entering his third year of Arabic, he is particularly interested in examining the works of contemporary Israeli authors of Sephardi and Mizrahi background.

 

Zeynep Civcik, NEJS

In 2003-2004 Zeynep conducted a research project at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University and wrote a thesis about the changes and continuities of Israeli security policy. For her dissertation, she is nearing completion of a comparative study of the role of the military in the foreign policies of Turkey and Israel.

 

Rachel Fish, NEJS

Rachel's dissertation examines the concept of bi-nationalism from pre-1948 Israel to contemporary discourse, how the idea has evolved, and the transmission of the idea within societies.

 

Eric Fleisch, NEJS

Eric's dissertation "The State of the American Jewish Philanthropic Partnership: a Case-Based Analysis" is nearing completion in 2012. It looks at the way American Jewish advocacy agendas and fundraising networks have influenced the debate and activity amongst their counterparts in the rapidly expanding Israeli third sector.

 

Mostafa Hussein, NEJS

Having received an MA degree from Al Azhar University in Cairo, in Islamic Studies in Israel, Mostafa intends to broaden the outlook on Islamic Scholarly works conducted by Israeli scholars and on their connection to the Western oriental studies carried out by Jewish researchers. Aside from his native Arabic language - colloquial Egyptian and Classical Arabic - he speaks Hebrew and German.

 

Matthew Iannucci, Politics

Matthew plans to examine political discourse in Israeli society, and Israeli national identity. His The ‘Duality of Structure’ Between the IDF and Israeli Society: The Influence of the Peace Movement was published in the Journal of Near and Middle Eastern Studies in 2010.

 

Susanna Klosko, NEJS

After spending a year in Hungary and then a year in Israel, Susanna developed a special interest in the ideological views of the Russian Zionists, and the confrontation between these views and the conditions of everyday life in Ottoman Palestine.

Laura Ligouri, Anthropology

Laura's work examines the ways in which Israeli and Palestinian theatre influence the social fabric of the region as both forms of cultural production as well as grassroots methods of conflict management while simultaneously addressing trauma and the development of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) within participating populations.

Ari Moshkovski, NEJS

A student of Israeli and Middle Eastern history and politics, Ari's research interests focus on the roles of security, religion and nationalism in Arab-Israeli relations. He holds a BA (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and an MA from Queens College, CUNY. Ari co-founded the Queens College Center for Ethnic, Racial and Religious Understanding, funded by a US Department of Education grant.

 

Jason Olson, NEJS

Jason completed his undergraduate degree (cum laude) in Hebrew Bible, and is planning to build on that knowledge by studying how religious Zionism affects politics in Israel and the greater Middle East.  He is particularly interested in the development of the US-Israel military alliance.

 

Shay Rabineau, NEJS

Shay's doctoral studies are on the modern Middle East with a focus on Israel. He is a National Merit Scholar and award-winning writer, proficient in both Hebrew and Arabic. He is spending the 2011-12 academic year in Israel researching the Israel trail network.

 

Gangzheng She, NEJS

A native speaker of Mandarin, Gangzheng's language skills include both modern and biblical Hebrew, Arabic and Cantonese. He intends to study Israeli society and Jewish civilization, examining Israel's multi-ethnic and transitional society through a socio-political comparison with other countries in the region.

 

Karen Spira, NEJS

Karen will examine the reconstruction of Jewish family life in Israel among young Holocaust survivors, focusing on a group of child survivors from Slovakia and surrounding areas. She is particularly interested in strategies for effective Holocaust education. Karen’s languages include Hebrew, German and Spanish; she plans to pursue Yiddish and Czech/Slovak, to facilitate her research in Israel and Europe.

 

Amber Taylor, NEJS

Amber graduated Cum Laude from Brigham Young University in Spanish Translation, and completed her MA at Brandeis in 2012, with her thesis, “Ezra Taft Benson and the State of Israel: A Mormon American Leader's Support for the Jewish State.”  Her doctoral studies will continue to examine the history of American Christian relations with Israel.  In addition to Spanish, Amber knows modern Hebrew, and plans to master Biblical Hebrew for her research.