Schusterman Center for Israel Studies

January 26 | February 23 | March 5 | April 16 | May 12
12:30-2 PM ET on Zoom

Learn more and register

This annual lecture series presents different experiences of Sephardi modernization across place and time. The 2026 series explores the concept of diaspora as a lens for understanding the modern and contemporary Sephardi world.  We will address the diversity of modern Sephardi Jewish experiences by considering diaspora as shaped by histories of migration and return, continuity and rupture, belonging and exclusion.

We will engage with the histories and experiences of Sephardi communities across imperial, colonial, and post-colonial landscapes in order to examine questions of multiple belongings, identity formation, and cultural transmission.

Organized by Angy Cohen (Spanish National Research Council) and Yuval Evri (Brandeis University). Sponsored by the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University and the Calgary Institute for the Humanities at the University of Calgary.

Wednesday, February 11
4:00-5:30 PM
Rapaporte Treasure Hall
Goldfarb/Farber Library

Join us for the Richard Saivetz ’69 Memorial Architectural Lecture, featuring Haim Yacobi, Professor of Development Planning at University College London (UCL). This talk will explore how planning, architecture, and urban design shape Jerusalem’s imagined colonial geographies beyond military occupation and exclusionary policy. Situating Jerusalem within a broader geopolitical framework, Prof. Yacobi will examine how architecture operates as a form of control in settler societies. Drawing on archival research, interviews, and fieldwork, Haim Yacobi will discuss how power, protest, and spatial counter-products intersect in the production of urban space and the politics of the built environment. 

This event is free and open to the public. No RSVP is required. Walk-ins are welcome!

Presented by the Brandeis Fine Arts Department and cosponsored by the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies. 

Thursday, March 19
12-2 PM
In person (Location TBA) and on Zoom

Join us to celebrate the release of "The Un-Chosen Body: Disability Culture in Israel" (Wayne State University Press) by Ilana Szobel! 

12-1 PM: Ilana Szobel in conversation with Julia Watts Belser, followed by a Q&A with the audience
In person - Open to the Brandeis community
On Zoom - Open to all

1-2 PM: Lunch and discussion with the author 
Open to the Brandeis community. Register before March 16 to participate. 

Register to attend in person      Register to attend on Zoom 

About the conversants: 

• Ilana Szobel is Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature and the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Chair in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department at Brandeis University. She is also Core Faculty in the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies and in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and currently serves as the Interim Director of the Mandel Center for the Humanities. Her previous books include "A Poetics of Trauma: The Work of Dahlia Ravikovitch" (Brandeis University Press, 2013); "Flesh of My Flesh: Sexual Violence in Modern Hebrew Literature" (SUNY Press, 2021),  a finalist for the Concordia University Library–Azrieli Institute Award for Best Book in Israel Studies. Learn more.

• Julia Watts Belser is Professor of Jewish Studies and Disability Studies at Georgetown University and a Senior Research Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. She is a scholar, rabbi, and longtime advocate for disability and gender justice, whose work brings classical Jewish texts into conversation with disability studies, feminist and queer theory, and environmental justice. She directs the Disability and Climate Change Public Archive Project, an initiative that documents the insights of disabled activists, artists, and first responders on the frontlines of climate crisis. Learn more.

Image courtesy of Wayne State University Press.