Academic Courses

Faculty at Brandeis teach a range of courses on Israel studies across several Brandeis departments. In Fall 2011, the following courses focus on Israel, backed up by multiple Brandeis courses that include an Israel studies element.

* All Israel Studies courses are offered via Brandeis departments and programs, as the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies is not a degree-granting program.

Fall 2011

Israel Studies

ANTH/NEJ 169B 1 - Digging for National Roots: The Politics of Israeli Archaeology
Michael Feige  - Visiting Faculty Anthropology/NEJS
Examines the uneasy encounter between archaeology and nationalism, with a focus on Israel. Archaeology, beyond being an established academic discipline, has been used and abused in the service of political power structures, among them religious, ethnic and national movements. Looking for "tangible proof" of the nation's ancient glories and past achievements, national movements have made use of archaeological findings and theories in the process of forging a national identity. The rich Israeli case enables discussion of many theoretical motifs and offers a unique gaze on Israeli society and the changes it is undergoing.
T,Th 5:00 PM–6:20 PM

NEJS 145B 1 - Ideology and Society in Contemporary Israel: Major Controversies
    Uri Bialer – Visiting Faculty History/NEJS
Provides advanced students with a comprehensive understanding of several major trends in contemporary Israeli society, by presenting and representing major controversies among scholars of different approaches, paradigms, and disciplines (sociology, political science, law, cultural studies, etc).
T 5:00 PM-7:50 PM

HIST 114A 1 - Israel's Foreign Policy
    Uri Bialer – Visiting Faculty History/Schusterman Center
Presents the historical contexts of Israel's diplomacy, including strategies for gaining regional and international recognition, increasing immigration, and acquiring arms, aid, oil, and water. This course will chart Israel's relations with the super powers, the European Community, and Arab and Afro-Asian States. Special one-time offering.
T,Th 3:30 PM–4:50 PM

FA 174A 1 - Art and Trauma: Israeli, Palestinian, Latin American and United States Art
    Gannit Ankori – Department of Fine Arts
A comparative and critical examination of the various ways in which personal traumas (illness, death, loss) and collective traumas (war, the Holocaust, exile) find meaningful expression in the work of modern and contemporary artists from diverse regions.
T,Th 5:00 PM–6:20 PM

NEJS 174A 1 - Minorities and Others in Israeli Literature and Culture
    Ilana Szobel – Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Prerequisite: HBRW 141a, 143a, 144a, 146a or permission of the instructor. Course is taught in Hebrew.
An exploration of poetics and identity in modern Hebrew literature. By offering a feminist and psychoanalytic reading of various Hebrew texts, this seminar explores questions of personal and national identity, otherness, visibility, and marginality in the Israeli context. 

T,Th 3:30 PM–4:50 PM

NEJS 180B 1 - Introduction to Israeli Literature, Film, and Culture
    Ilana Szobel - Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Examines trends and myths in modern Hebrew literature. Looking at both central, established and edgy, new stories, poems and films, the course examines various aspects of the way Israelis talk to each other and the world, and presents a multilayered--often conflicting--picture of Israeli culture through different voices and mediums. Taught in English.
T,Th 2:00 PM–3:20 PM

HS 258F - Transitional Justice: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in Comparative Perspective
   Michal Ben-Josef Hirsch – Heller School

 and Politics
Explores the applicability of the transitional justice framework and its different practices to historical and current aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Considers how developments in international law such as the International Human Rights Regime and the ICC affect the dynamic of the conflict. Drawing on other cases of international conflict (Northern Ireland, Indonesia/ East Timor) we will evaluate which, if any, of the transitional justice practices may advance or hinder an Israeli-Palestinian negotiation process and how useful might they be for longer-term peacebuilding and reconciliation. 

T 9:00 AM–11:50 AM

POL 164A 1 - Conflict and Peacemaking in the Middle East
   Shai Feldman - Politics
Evolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the efforts to resolve it. Focuses on key documents and developments with particular emphasis on the Palestinian-Israeli dimension, and the different narratives adopted by the parties on the conflict.
F 9:00 AM–11:50 AM

Middle East Studies

NEJS 190A - Describing Cruelty
    Kanan Mohamed Makiya - Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Grapples with the difficult subject of cruelty. Focus is on political or public cruelty in the non-Western world with a particular emphasis on the modern Middle East. The method is comparative and involves critical examination of the intellectual, visual, and literary works that engage with the phenomenon.
W 2:00 PM–4:50 PM

NEJS 196B 1 - The Middle Eastern City: Intersections of Art, Literature and History
    Kanan Mohamed Makiya - Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Begins with the pre-modern Middle Eastern city, old constructs that are constitutive of identity, and concludes by examining the culture and forms of Jerusalem, Mecca, Cairo, Tehran, Beirut and Baghdad.
T,F 9:30 AM–10:50 AM

IMES 104A 1 - Islam: Civilization and Institutions
    Joseph Lumbard – Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Provides a disciplined study of Islamic civilization from its origins to the current state of affairs. Approaches the study from a humanities perspective. Topics covered will include the Qur'an, tradition, law, theology, politics, Islam and other religions, modern developments, women in Islam, and Islam and Middle Eastern politics.
M,W,Th 12:00 PM–12:50 PM

POL 133A 1 - Contemporary Politics in the Middle East
   Eva R. Bellin – Politics
Examines the Western impact on the Middle East state system, and the key challenges to the stability of these states and to the regional order. Topics include Arab nationalism; religion and minorities, the Arab-Israeli conflict and other issues.
M,W 3:30 PM–4:50 PM

Language-based studies

HBRW 34A 1, 2 - Intermediate Hebrew II: Aspects of Israeli Culture
    Guy Antebi – Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Prerequisite: Any 20-level Hebrew course or the equivalent as determined by placement examination. Two 30-level Hebrew courses may be taken for credit. Four class hours and one lab hour per week.
A continuation of HBRW 20b. An intermediate- to mid-level course that helps students strengthen their skills at this level. Contemporary cultural aspects will be stressed and a variety of materials will be used.
M,W,Th,F 9:00 AM–9:50 AM
M,W,Th,F 10:00 AM–10:50 AM

HBRW 44B 1 - Advanced Intermediate Hebrew: Israeli Culture and Media
    Bonit Porath - Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Prerequisite: Any 30-level Hebrew course or the equivalent. Students may not take this course and HBRW 49b for credit. Four class hours per week.
Reinforces the acquired skills of speaking, listening comprehension, reading, and writing at the intermediate to mid/high level. Contemporary cultural aspects are stressed; conversational Hebrew and reading of selections from modern literature, political essays, and newspaper articles. Required for NEJS majors and Hebrew majors and recommended for others who would like to continue studying Hebrew beyond the foreign language requirement. It is a prerequisite for many upper-level Hebrew courses.
M,T,W,Th 11:00 AM–11:50 AM

HBRW 161B 1 - What's Up? Hebrew through Israeli News Media
    Bonit Porath - Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Prerequisite: Five semesters of Hebrew or permission of the instructor. Four class hours per week.
For advanced students who wish to enhance proficiency and accuracy in writing and speaking. Israeli newspapers, films, clips from Israeli TV series and shows, and on-line resources will be used to promote language and cultural competency.
M,T,W,Th 10:00 AM–10:50 AM

 Past Courses

Topics in Israel studies across campus departments

Gannit Ankori

  •     Israeli Art and Visual Culture: Forging Identities Between East and West
  •     Art and Trauma: Israeli, Palestinian, Latin American
        and United States Art

Maoz Azaryahu, Schusterman Center Visiting Faculty in Anthropology

  •    Mythic Tel-Aviv

Yoram Bilu, Schusterman Center Visiting Faculty in Anthropology

  •    The Sanctification of Space in Contemporary Israel

Esther Carmel-Hakim, Lecturer in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

  •     Jewish Women in Pre-State Israel, 1882-1948

Gordon A. Fellman, Professor of Sociology

  •     Sociology of the Israeli-Palestinian Confrontation

Benjamin Gidron, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Hornstein Professional Jewish Leadership Program

  •    Topics in Sustainable Development
  •     The Third Sector in Society & Non Profit Organization
        and Society

Michal Ben-Josef Hirsch, Schusterman Center and Politics Post-Doctoral Fellow

  •     U.S- Israeli Relations: Interests, Values, Lobbies, and the "Special Relationship"
  •     Transitional Justice and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Motti Inbari, Schusterman Center and NEJS Post-Doctoral Fellow

  •     Fundamentalism in a Comparative Perspective
  •     Messianism and the State of Israel

Yuval Jobani, Schusterman Center and NEJS Post-Doctoral Fellow

  •     Jewish Political Thought

Edward Kaplan, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

  •    Abraham Joshua Heschel: Spirituality and Action

Yehuda Kurtzer, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

  •   Diaspora and Jewish Identities

Hanna Naveh, Visiting Professor, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

  •     Family Myths: Imagining the Family in Modern Hebrew
        Literature
  •     Heroes and Anti-Heroes in Modern Hebrew Literature

Benjamin Ravid, Jennie and Mayer Weisman Professor of Jewish History

  •     Anti-Judaism, Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism

 Sharon Rivo, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Film Studies

  •     Jews on Screen

Ambassador Dennis Ross, Fred and Rita Richman Distinguished
Visiting Professor

  •     The Arab-Israeli Conflict

Eugene Sheppard, Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History and Thought; Associate Director of the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry

  •     Major Trends in Modern Jewish Philosophy
  •     Trials of Truth, Power, and Justice
  •     Zionism and Its Critics: Contested Visions of Jewish
        Nationalism
  •     Seminar on Modern Jewish History and Historiography

Ellen Smith, Lecturer in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program; Associate Director of Hornstein’s Gralla Fellows Program for Religion Journalists

  •     Foster Seminar in Israel on Contemporary Jewish Life

Sammy Smooha, Schusterman Visiting Professor in Sociology

  •    Israeli Society
  •    Ethnic Relations

Asher Susser, Senior Fellow on the Myra and Robert Kraft Chair in Arab Politics; Former Director of the Dayan Center, Tel Aviv University

  •     Contemporary Politics in the Middle East
  •     Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinians: Between War and
        Peace

Ilana Szobel, Assistant Professor on the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Chair
in Hebrew Literature

  •     (Re)Imagining Israel: Narrative, Identity, and Zionism
        in Hebrew Literature
  •     Representing the Holocaust in Hebrew Literature
  •     When a Man Loves a Woman: Love, Power, and Gender in
        Modern Hebrew Literature
  •     The Howl of Simple Words: Reading Gender in Israeli
        Literature and Cinema
  •     Promises and Fulfillment: Israeli Life in Hebrew
        Literature
  •     Line of Resistance: Israeli Women Writers on War
        and Peace
  •     Trauma and Violence in Israeli Literature and Film

Ilan Troen, Director, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies; Karl, Harry, and Helen Stoll Family Chair in Israel Studies

  •     Conflict and Controversies in Israeli History: graduate
        seminar
  •     Divergent Jewish Cultures: Israel and America
  •     History of the State of Israel, Zionism to the Present
  •     Topics in Israeli Social and Political History
  •     War and Peace in Israeli Thought and Praxis

David Wright, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

  •     The World of the Ancient Near East

Middle East Studies

Shai Feldman, Director, Crown Center for Middle East Studies   

  •     Arms Control in the Middle East
  •     Conflict and Peacemaking in the Middle East
  •     The Middle East in International Relations

Eric S. Graber, Lecturer on the Henry J. Leir Chair on the Economics of the Middle East; Senior Fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies

  •     The Economics of the Middle East

Nader Habibi, Henry J. Leir Professor of the Economics of the Middle East; Fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies; Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics

  •     The Economics of the Middle East

Banu Eligur, Madeleine Haas Russell Visiting Assistant Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies; Research Fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies

  •     Civil Society in the Middle East
  •     Political Islam: Introduction to Islamist Social
        Movements in the Middle East

Avigdor Levy, Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies;  Director of the Graduate Program in Middle East Studies, NEJS

  •     The Destruction of the Ottoman Empire, 1800-1923
  •     Jews in the World of Islam
  •     Religion and Society in the Modern Middle East
  •     The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1800
  •     Seminar on States and Minorities in the Middle East

Kanan Makiya, Sylvia K. Hassenfeld Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies

  •     Describing Cruelty
  •     The Monument and the City
  •     Political Cultures of the Middle East
  •     War and Revolution in the Middle East

Yitzhak Nakash, Associate Professor of Modern Middle East Studies

  •     History and Memory of the Modern Middle East
  •     The Making of the Modern Middle East
  •     Political Cultures of the Middle East

Lawrence Rubin, Lecturer Crown Center for Middle East Studies

  •     Contemporary Politics in the Middle East

Franck F. Salameh, Lecturer in Arabic

  •     Societies in Conflict: Exploring the Middle East through
        Authentic Materials

Cengiz Sisman, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

  •     Political Islam
  •     Islam, the Middle East and the West

Nagmeh Sohrabi, Lecturer in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

  •     Modern Middle East through Art and Culture
  •     History of the Modern Middle East

Language-based Israel Studies

Bracha Mazola

  •     Israeli Cinema

Guy Antebi, Lecturer in Hebrew Language

  •     Intermediate Hebrew II: Aspects of Israeli Culture
  •     Israeli Culture and Media

Sara Hascal, Lecturer in Hebrew Language

  •     Introduction to Modern Hebrew Literature I
  •     Introduction to Modern Hebrew Literature II
  •     Intermediate Hebrew II: Aspects of Israeli Culture
  •     Israeli Theater
  •     Portrait of the Israeli Woman 
  •     The Voices of Jerusalem

Bonit Porath, Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Language

  •     Introduction to Modern Hebrew Literature II
  •     Israel Today: Advanced Conversation and Writing

Vardit Ringvald, Professor of Hebrew Language; Director of the Hebrew
& Arabic Language Program

  •     Israeli Cinema
  •     Societies in Conflict: Exploring the Middle East through
        Authentic Materials

   
Guy Abutbul Selinger, Lecturer in Hebrew Language

  •     Conversation: Israel, The Early Years

Esther Shorr, Lecturer in Hebrew Language

  •     Intermediate Hebrew II: Aspects of Israeli Culture