Palestine and Israel Studies: Guided Reading

Palestine and Israel Studies is/are among the most deeply contentious fields of research within Middle Eastern Studies, corresponding to the polarized politics the field studies. Even naming the subject is controversial. Does it constitute one research field or two? Which languages and traditions must one understand to research the subject? What are the appropriate frames of reference: Jewish history, Arab history, Ottoman Studies, Middle East Studies, nationalism, antisemitism, colonialism, racism? In this seminar, we read some of the latest and most field-defining works of scholarship in Palestine and Israel Studies.