The Norman and Bernice Harris Center for Judaic Studies will host Louis Fishman, associate professor of history at Brooklyn College of City University of New York on October 29 at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required and available at: https://forms.gle/utFZGLCsSY6aXSLy8
Fishman will deliver the Krivosha Lecture on Judaic Studies, "Jews and Palestinians in the late Ottoman Era 1908-1914, Claiming the Homeland," the topic of his new book.
“I’m incredibly excited not only that we will be able to hear from a terrific scholar on an important new book, but also that the Harris Center is able to make this year’s Krivosha Lecture available to people across the community via Zoom,” Ari Kohen, Schlesinger Professor of Social Justice in the Department of Political Science and director of the Harris Center, said. “I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to engage many people who would be very interested in a topic related to Israel/Palestine but who ordinarily might not come to campus to hear this important lecture.”
Fishman’s research demonstrates how the Palestinian identity emerged prior to WWI and emphasizes that Zionists imagined a homeland within the framework of the Ottoman Empire. A regular contributor to the Haaretz newspaper, his research uses Ottoman, Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew, and French primary sources.
“Fishman is considered one of the most important scholars on Jewish-Palestinian relations during the late Ottoman period,” Bedross der Matossian, Hymen Rosenberg Associate Professor in Judaic Studies in the Department of History, said. “He is a renowned commentator on Israeli and Turkish contemporary politics.”
The Krivosha Lecture Series, established through a generous gift by Norman and Helene Krivosha, features lectures and readings by award-winning writers and artists, as well as lectures about Jewish law, history, literature, music, and art. The series is one of several offered by the center.
The Norman and Bernice Harris Center for Judaic Studies promotes and supports scholarship in Jewish Studies at Nebraska. Founded in 1991 with an emphasis on educating the Great Plains region about Jewish civilization and antisemitism, the Harris Center administers an interdisciplinary minor in Jewish Studies, supports undergraduate and graduate research, and fosters a scholarly community for faculty.
