ABSTRACT: As the field of Israel Studies continues to evolve and gain prominence in academic circles, it is crucial to examine its status beyond its traditional places of growth in North America, Europe, and Israel. This roundtable brings together a diverse group of experts to explore the current state of Israel Studies globally. It offers diverse insights into the unique challenges, opportunities, and contributions emerging from their positionalities. This comprehensive discussion of Israel Studies beyond the traditional Western context explores how scholars, institutions, and communities engage with and contribute to the field in regions marked by distinct geopolitical, cultural, and historical conditions.
ON AUGUST 18, 1975, JUST OVER 50 YEARS AGO, I ARRIVED WITH MY family on Aliya. We left the Midwest and an American university and were headed for the Negev and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev where I would teach American History. Although I had extensive training in Jewish history, I came as an American historian with special interests in the history of education and urban planning. I was curious then, and have continued to be curious throughout my life, about the institutionalization of ideas-that is, what happens to an idea, how it is altered, developed, and compromised in the course of its implementation. This very brief personal sketch will perhaps explain a bit of the development of the journal this volume is marking and the way I tell its history.
As the field of Israel Studies continues to evolve and gain prominence in academic circles, it is crucial to examine its status beyond its traditional places of growth in North America, Europe, and Israel. This roundtable brings together a diverse group of experts to explore the current state of Israel Studies globally. It offers diverse insights into the unique challenges, opportunities, and contributions emerging from their positionalities. This comprehensive discussion of Israel Studies beyond the traditional Western context explores how scholars, institutions, and communities engage with and contribute to the field in regions marked by distinct geopolitical, cultural, and historical conditions.
