About Roberto Mazza

I am currently a visiting professor at Northwestern University with seventeen years of academic experience (researching, publishing, teaching and supervising). I mostly work on the history of the modern Middle East with a specialization on Palestine - I have developed a successful podcast Jerusalem Unplugged dedicated to the history and politics of the city. I recently developed courses on the global history of conspiracy theories and I am interested in developing a podcast dedicated to this topic. I am the current executive editor of the Jerusalem Quarterly and I am very much involved in peer-reviewing articles and manuscripts for other journals and publishers. In relation to my interest in podcasting, I believe this is a form of connecting academia to the wider world and attract the general audience to more complex historical debates.

Roberto Mazza is visiting professor at Northwestern University. He is the host of the Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast and to discuss and propose a book for interview can be reached at robbymazza@gmail.com. Twitter: @robbyref

Roberto's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Roberto:

Oren Kroll-Zeldin, "Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine" (NYU Press, 2024)

September 6, 2024

Unsettled

Oren Kroll-Zeldin
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine (NYU Press, 2024) digs into the experiences of young Jewish Americans who engage wi…

Fida Jiryis, "Stranger in My Own Land: Palestine, Israel and One Family's Story of Home" (Hurst, 2022)

July 18, 2024

Stranger in My Own Land

Fida Jiryis
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

In this very moving and heartwarming interview I had the opportunity to discuss with Fida Jiyris her work, a beautifully written memoir that tells the…

Asaf Elia-Shalev, "Israel's Black Panthers: The Radicals Who Punctured a Nation's Founding Myth" (U California Press, 2024)

June 7, 2024

Israel's Black Panthers

Asaf Elia-Shalev
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Asaf Elia-Shalev's book Israel's Black Panthers: The Radicals Who Punctured a Nation's Founding Myth (U California Press, 2024) tells the story of the…

On the History and Evolution of Zionism: A Discussion with Arie Dubnov

April 22, 2024

On the History and Evolution of Zionism

Arie Dubnov
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

On today's episode of the New Books Network, we are privileged to have Professor Arie Dubnov joining us for an in-depth discussion on the multifaceted…

Claudio Ferlan, "The Jesuits: A Thematic History" (Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2023)

April 6, 2024

The Jesuits

Claudio Ferlan
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

In The Jesuits: A Thematic History (Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2023), Claudio Ferlan provides an exploration of the tradition of the Society of Jesu…

Loren D. Lybarger, "Palestinian Chicago: Identity in Exile" (U California Press, 2020)

April 3, 2024

Palestinian Chicago

Loren D. Lybarger
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Chicago is home to one of the largest, most politically active Palestinian immigrant communities in the United States. For decades, secular nationalis…

Jörg Matthias Determann and Shoaib Ahmed Malik, "Islamic Theology and Extraterrestrial Life: New Frontiers in Science and Religion" (I. B. Tauris, 2024)

March 19, 2024

Islamic Theology and Extraterrestrial Life

Jörg Matthias Determann
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Over the last thirty years, humanity has discovered thousands of planets outside of our solar system. The discovery of extraterrestrial life could be …

Mara Albrecht and Alke Jenss, "The Spatiality and Temporality of Urban Violence: Histories, Rhythms and Ruptures" (Manchester UP, 2023)

March 10, 2024

The Spatiality and Temporality of Urban Violence

Mara Albrecht and Alke Jenss
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

The Spatiality and Temporality of Urban Violence: Histories, Rhythms and Ruptures (Manchester UP, 2023) asks how the city, with its spatial and tempor…

Refqa Abu-Remaileh, "Country of Words: A Transnational Atlas for Palestinian Literature" (Stanford UP, 2023)

February 4, 2024

Country of Words

Refqa Abu-Remaileh
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Country of Words: A Transnational Atlas for Palestinian Literature (Stanford UP, 2023) is a digital-born project that retraces and remaps the global s…

Bedross Der Matossian, "The Armenian Social Democrat Hnchakian Party: Politics, Ideology and Transnational History" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

February 3, 2024

The Armenian Social Democrat Hnchakian Party

Bedross Der Matossian
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Bedross Der Matossian's The Armenian Social Democrat Hnchakian Party: Politics, Ideology and Transnational History (Bloomsbury, 2023), based on new re…

Geoffrey Levin, "Our Palestine Question: Israel and American Jewish Dissent, 1948-1978" (Yale UP, 2023)

January 16, 2024

Our Palestine Question

Geoffrey Levin
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

American Jews began debating Palestinian rights issues even before Israel’s founding in 1948. Geoffrey Levin recovers the voices of American Jews who,…

Ibrahim Fraihat and Isak Svensson, "Conflict Mediation in the Arab World" (Syracuse UP, 2023)

December 5, 2023

Conflict Mediation in the Arab World

Ibrahim Fraihat and Isak Svensson
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Today I talked to Isak Svensson (editor) and Laurie Nathan (contributor) about Conflict Mediation in the Arab World (Syracuse UP, 2023), a very import…

Noa Shaindlinger, "Displacement and Erasure in Palestine: The Politics of Hope" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)

October 22, 2023

Displacement and Erasure in Palestine

Noa Shaindlinger
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Noa Shaindlinger's Displacement and Erasure in Palestine: The Politics of Hope (Edinburgh UP, 2023) explores the ways in which Palestinians negotiate …

Benoît Challand, "Violence and Representation in the Arab Uprisings" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

October 9, 2023

Violence and Representation in the Arab Uprisings

Benoît Challand
Hosted by Roberto Mazza
Listen:

Providing a longue durée perspective on the Arab uprisings of 2011, Benoît Challand narrates the transformation of citizenship in the Arab Middle East…

Vincent Lemire, "In the Shadow of the Wall: The Life and Death of Jerusalem's Maghrebi Quarter, 1187-1967" (Stanford UP, 2023)

September 19, 2023

In the Shadow of the Wall

Vincent Lemire
Hosted by Roberto Mazza
Listen:

The Maghrebi Quarter of Jerusalem long sat in the shadow of the Western Wall, the last vestige of the Second Temple. Three days after the June '67 War…

Hans-Lukas Kieser, "When Democracy Died: The Middle East's Enduring Peace of Lausanne" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

August 28, 2023

When Democracy Died

Hans-Lukas Kieser
Hosted by Roberto Mazza
Listen:

The Treaty of Lausanne, signed in Switzerland in July 1923, officially settled the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Allied forces. Not only…

Yoni Furas, "Educating Palestine: Teaching and Learning History Under the Mandate" (Oxford UP, 2020)

August 7, 2023

Educating Palestine

Yoni Furas
Hosted by Roberto Mazza
Listen:

Through the story of education and the teaching of history in Mandate Palestine, Yoni Furas reframes our understanding of the Palestinian and Zionist …

Melis Hafez, "Inventing Laziness: The Culture of Productivity in Late Ottoman Society" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

August 4, 2023

Inventing Laziness

Melis Hafez
Hosted by Roberto Mazza
Listen:

Neither laziness nor its condemnation are new inventions, however, perceiving laziness as a social condition that afflicts a 'nation' is. In the early…

Anne Irfan, "Refuge and Resistance: Palestinians and the International Refugee System" (Columbia UP, 2023)

June 24, 2023

Refuge and Resistance

Anne Irfan
Hosted by Roberto Mazza
Listen:

In the decades after World War II, the United Nations established a global refugee regime that became central to the lives of displaced people around …

Gabriel Schwake, "Dwelling on the Green Line" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

June 17, 2023

Dwelling on the Green Line

Gabriel Schwake
Hosted by Roberto Mazza
Listen:

Today I talked to Gabriel Schwake about his book Dwelling on the Green Line (Cambridge UP, 2022). Concealed within the walls of settlements along the…

Hilary Frances Aked, "Friends of Israel: The Backlash Against Palestine Solidarity" (Verso, 2023)

May 30, 2023

Friends of Israel

Hilary Frances Aked
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Is there such a thing as “the Israel lobby,” and how powerful is it really? Hilary Frances Aked's book Friends of Israel: The Backlash Against Palesti…

Bedross Der Matossian, "Denial of Genocides in the Twenty-First Century" (U Nebraska Press, 2023)

May 12, 2023

Denial of Genocides in the Twenty-First Century

Bedross Der Matossian
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Throughout the twenty-first century, genocide denial has evolved and adapted with new strategies to augment and complement established modes of denial…

Awad Halabi, "Palestinian Rituals of Identity: The Prophet Moses Festival in Jerusalem, 1850-1948" (U Texas Press, 2023)

April 23, 2023

Palestinian Rituals of Identity

Awad Halabi
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Members of Palestine's Muslim community have long honored al-Nabi Musa, or the Prophet Moses. Since the thirteenth century, they have celebrated at a …

Jacob Norris, "The Lives and Deaths of Jubrail Dabdoub: Or, How the Bethlehemites Discovered Amerka" (Stanford UP, 2023)

March 25, 2023

The Lives and Deaths of Jubrail Dabdoub

Jacob Norris
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

This is the fantastical, yet real, story of the merchants of Bethlehem, the young men who traveled to every corner of the globe in the nineteenth cent…