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Middle Eastern Studies
Middle Eastern Studies May 13, 2022

A Liminal Church

Refugees, Conversions and the Latin Diocese of Jerusalem, 1946–1956

Maria Chiara Rioli

Hosted by Roberto Mazza
The history of the Palestine War does not only concern military history. It also involves social, humanitarian and religious history, as in the case of the Roman Catholic Diocese of …

Middle Eastern Studies

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Interviews with scholars of the Middle East about their new books.

Indian Ocean World May 12, 2022

Islamic Law in Circulation

Shafi'i Texts Across the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean

Mahmood Kooria

Hosted by Kelvin Ng
Analyzing the spread and survival of Islamic legal ideas and commentaries in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean littorals, Islamic Law in Circulation: Shafi'i Texts across the Indian Ocean …
Middle Eastern Studies May 10, 2022

Jews and Palestinians in the Late Ottoman Era, 1908-1914

Claiming the Homeland

Louis Fishman

Hosted by Roberto Mazza
Uncovering a history buried by different nationalist narratives (Jewish, Israeli, Arab and Palestinian) the book by Louis Fishman looks at how the late Ottoman era set the stage for the …
Israel Studies May 5, 2022

Searching for Peace

A Memoir of Israel

Ehud Olmert

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
Written almost entirely from inside a prison cell, Searching for Peace: A Memoir of Israel (Brookings Institution, 2022) is the compelling memoir of former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert. The …
General History May 4, 2022

The Politics of Maps

Cartographic Constructions of Israel/Palestine

Christine Leuenberger and Izhak Schnell

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
The land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan Valley has been one of the most disputed territories in history. Since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 …
Israel Studies May 3, 2022

Can Academics Change the World?

An Israeli Anthropologist's Testimony on the Rise and Fall of a Protest Movement on Campus

Moshe Shokeid

Hosted by Akin Ajayi
AD KAN (NO MORE) was founded in 1988 by a group of academics at Tel Aviv University. The initiative, a public pressure group, was prompted by public indifference (at best) …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel April 27, 2022

Ramadan Violence

A Conversation with Ambassador Dore Gold

Dore Gold

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
A hilltop at the heart of Jerusalem, Israel, is known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. It has been the site …
Environmental Studies April 22, 2022

Rivers of the Sultan

The Tigris and Euphrates in the Ottoman Empire

Faisal H. Husain

Hosted by Mohamed Gamal-Eldin
Rivers of the Sultan offers a history of the Ottoman Empire's management of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the early modern period. During the early sixteenth century, a radical …
Islamic Studies April 18, 2022

The Words of the Imams

Al-Shaykh Al-Saduq and the Development of Twelver Shi'i Hadith Literature

George Warner

Hosted by Adam Bobeck
Ibn Babawayh – also known as al-Shaykh al-Saduq – was a prominent Twelver Shi'i scholar of hadith. Writing within the first century after the vanishing of the twelfth imam, al-Saduq …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel April 14, 2022

Agnon’s Tales of the Land of Israel

Jeffrey Saks and Shalom Carmy

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
"As a result of the historic catastrophe in which Titus of Rome destroyed Jerusalem and Israel was exiled from its land, I was born in one of the cities of …
Film April 8, 2022

Hollywood and Israel

A History

Tony Shaw and Giora Goodman

Hosted by Nathan Abrams
From Frank Sinatra’s early pro-Zionist rallying to Steven Spielberg’s present-day peacemaking, Hollywood has long enjoyed a “special relationship” with Israel. This book offers a groundbreaking account of this relationship, both …
Central Asian Studies April 6, 2022

Hammer and Anvil

Nomad Rulers at the Forge of the Modern World

Pamela Kyle Crossley

Hosted by Lance Pursey
This groundbreaking book examines the role of rulers with nomadic roots in transforming the great societies of Eurasia, especially from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries. Distinguished historian Pamela Kyle Crossley …
On Religion April 6, 2022

New Rome

The Empire in the East

Paul Stephenson

Hosted by Gregory Soden
As modern empires rise and fall, ancient Rome becomes ever more significant. We yearn for Rome's power but fear Rome's ruin--will we turn out like the Romans, we wonder, or …
Islamic Studies April 1, 2022

Hajj to the Heart

Sufi Journeys Across the Indian Ocean

Scott Kugle

Hosted by Shobhana Xavier
In his new book, Hajj to the Heart: Sufi Journeys Across the Indian Ocean (University of North Carolina Press, 2021) and is available as an open-access enhanced edition, Scott Kugle follows …
Anthropology April 1, 2022

Does Skill Make Us Human?

Migrant Workers in 21st-Century Qatar and Beyond

Natasha Iskander

Hosted by Fulya Pinar
Skill—specifically the distinction between the “skilled” and “unskilled”—is generally defined as a measure of ability and training, but Does Skill Make Us Human?: Migrant Workers in 21st-Century Qatar and Beyond (Princeton …
Middle Eastern Studies March 29, 2022

Arab-Israeli Diplomacy Under Carter

The US, Israel and the Palestinians

Jørgen Jensehaugen

Hosted by Sidney Michelini
The history of U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East is marked by numerous stark failures and a few ephemeral successes. Jimmy Carter's short-lived Middle East diplomatic strategy constitutes an exception …
On Religion March 29, 2022

On Israel, Palestine, and Christian Zionism

A Discussion with Daniel Hummel

Daniel Hummel

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Dr. Daniel Hummel is a scholar, writer, researcher, and teacher of religion, politics, and foreign policy in the United States and the modern Middle East. He is currently a Robert …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel March 28, 2022

Under Jerusalem

The Buried History of the World's Most Contested City

Andrew Lawler

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World's Most Contested City (Doubleday, 2021) takes readers into the tombs, tunnels, and trenches of the Holy City. It brings to life the …
Islamic Studies March 25, 2022

Revolutionary Bodies

Technologies of Gender, Sex, and Self in Contemporary Iran

K. S. Batmanghelichi

Hosted by Kristian Petersen
Gender and sexuality in modern Iran are frequently examined through the prisms of nationalist symbols and religious discourse. In Revolutionary Bodies: Technologies of Gender, Sex, and Self in Contemporary Iran …
Intellectual History March 24, 2022

Ripe for Revolution

Building Socialism in the Third World

Jeremy Friedman

Hosted by Thomas Kingston
In the first decades after World War II, many newly independent Asian and African countries and established Latin American states pursued a socialist development model. In Ripe for Revolution: Building Socialism …