Schusterman Center for Israel Studies

Ethiopian Israelis and the Creation of Knowledge: Encounters of Homeland and Diaspora

Sunday, April 23 - Monday, April 24, 2023
Brandeis University, Waltham, MA

FREE Concert with Gili Yalo – Sunday, April 23 
Sunday photos
FREE Academic Workshops – Monday, April 24
Monday photos
Parking
About the conference
Conference Committee
 


About the conference

The story of Ethiopian immigration to Israel has been told many times, but often from the perspective of the non-Ethiopian onlooker as a story of the “rescue” of African Jews and how open (or resistant) they have been to change after two generations in Israel.

This conference takes a different approach: we will bring Ethiopian scholars, activists and artists into the center of the picture. Understanding this encounter as malleable and contingent, we will examine not just how Israel affected Ethiopian Jews, but how these immigrants changed Israeli society.

Cosponsored by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education. We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, under the auspices of the Ilan Troen Lecture on Contemporary Israel Affairs. With thanks to the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute.


Parking

Sunday: Parking will be available in Hassenfeld Lot, with overflow parking in the Theater Lot and the Tower Lot.
Monday: Parking will be available in the North Lot.

Sunday, April 23 - Concert: Ethiopian Israeli rockstar Gili Yalo and his band

7:00 - 9:00 PM (Check in 6:15 - 7:00 PM)
Sherman Hall, Hassenfeld Conference Center, Brandeis University
Free

Gili YaloJoin us for a free concert with Ethiopian Israeli rock star Gili Yalo, who returns to North America this Spring with his 5-piece band. Yalo thrills with his exciting brew of Ethiopian roots music fused with soul, funk, psychedelic and jazz, singing in Amharic, English and Hebrew. A natural performer and storyteller, he invariably finds himself surrounded by dancing, singing, adoring audiences, brought to their feet by the sheer joy of his talent and personality. 

He has toured and performed on some of the biggest stages and festivals around the world and collaborated with top music producers, including Balkan Beat Box, Niles City Sound, and UBK. Want to warm up for the concert? Watch the videos for "Africa" and "Selam," or clips from his live performances at the 27th Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow and at the Sukiyaki Meets the World music festival in Japan. To learn more about the captivating Gili Yalo, visit his website. 

Parking will be available in the Hassenfeld Lot, with overflow parking in the Theater Lot and the Tower Lot.

Cosponsored by Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Consulate General of Israel to New England, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education. We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, under the auspices of  the Ilan Troen Lecture on Contemporary Israel Affairs. 

This concert is part of the The Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts at Brandeis University, April 21-30, 2023.

Photo by Hadrien Daudet.

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To scroll through the photos, click on faint white arrows at the sides of each image:

Man singing passionately into a microphone and a man playing guitar
Woman in a large concert audience holds up smart phone photographing or video-recording the performers on the stage
People seated smiling and clapping
Man singing into a microphone while another plays the trumpet
Man singing to a standing audience
Man in blue suit dances next to man in dark suit amidst dancing people
A concert audience standing and clapping while a man sings onstage and another man plays the trumpet
Two men shake hands

Gili Yalo and Prof. Alexander Kaye

Two men and two women pose with their arms around eachother

Left to right: Dr. Shayna Weiss, Prof. Yuval Evri, Dr. Shula Mola, Gili Yalo

Monday, April 24 - Academic panels and pedagogy workshop 

8:45 AM - 3:30 PM (Check: 8:15 - 8:40 AM)
Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library, Brandeis University
FREE

8:15-8:40 AM - Check-in

8:45 AM - Introduction
Shula Mola, Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Scholar in Residence, and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Brandeis University

9:15 AM - Whose story is this?: Scholars and communities in the creation of knowledge
Chair: Yuval Evri, Assistant Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies on the Marash and Ocuin Chair in Ottoman, Mizrahi, and Sephardic Jewish Studies, Brandeis University

Participants: 

  • Danny B. Admasu, Lecturer and Researcher at Bar-Ilan and Ben-Gurion Universities

  • Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism, Suffolk University

  • Avishai Mekonen, Filmmaker; Photographer

  • Shula Mola, Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Scholar in Residence, and Post-doctoral Fellow at the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Brandeis University 

10:45 AM - Break

11 AM - Israel in Africa, Africa in Israel: Diasporas and homelands in the Zionist imagination
Chair: Alexander Kaye, Director, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies; Karl, Harry, and Helen Stoll Chair in Israel Studies; Associate Professor, Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University 

Participants:

  • Batia Eyob-Serrette, Founder & CEO, Eyob Serrette Consulting 
  • Adane Zawdu Gebyanesh, Polonsky Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute
  • Steven Kaplan '75, MA'75, Gail Levin de Nur Professor of Comparative Religion (Emeritus), Hebrew University of Jerusalem

12:30 PM - Lunch

1:30 PM - Special pedagogy workshop for educators: Ethiopian Israelis and global Blackness
Priority will be given to Summer Institute for Israel Studies alumni and Brandeis faculty.

Participants:

  • Ulka Anjaria, Director, Mandel Center for the Humanities; Professor of English, Brandeis University

  • LeManuel “Lee” Bitsóí, President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Associate Research Professor of Health: Science, Society and Policy, Brandeis University

  • Shula Mola, Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Scholar in Residence, and Post-doctoral Fellow at the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Brandeis University 

 3:30 PM - Conference concludes

 Parking will be available in the North Lot.

Cosponsored by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education. We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, under the auspices of  the Ilan Troen Lecture on Contemporary Israel Affairs. With thanks to the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute.  

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To scroll through the photos, click on faint white arrows at the sides of each image:

A man at a podium speaks to an audience

Dr. Adane Zawdu Gebyanesh speaks

An audience of seated people
Four people seated at a table with microphones

Left to right: Dr. Shula Mola, Dr. Danny B. Admasu, Avishai Mekonen, and Prof. Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber

A woman speaking into a microphone

Dr. Batya Eyob-Serrette

Three people seated at a table with microphones

Left to right: Dr. Shula Mola, Prof. Ulka Anjaria, Dr. LeManuel “Lee” Bitsóí

A group of people seated in a circle.

A breakout group in discussion during the pedagogical workshop

Conference Committee

Chair: Shula Mola, Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Scholar in Residence, and Post-doctoral Fellow at the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Brandeis University

Yuval Evri, Assistant Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies on the Marash and Ocuin Chair in Ottoman, Mizrahi, and Sephardic Jewish Studies, Brandeis University

Alexander Kaye, Director, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies; Karl, Harry, and Helen Stoll Chair in Israel Studies; Associate Professor, Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University 

Shayna Weiss, Associate Director, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Brandeis University 


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