About Me
I teach in the History Department and the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. I am a historian and commentator who seeks to write and speak about the critical history of the present. That is, I attempt to give in-depth, evidence-based historical analysis on questions of evident contemporary relevance, forcing us to step away from what we think we know to consider other deeper causal factors and multiple possible outcomes. My work focuses on modern Europe and the Mediterranean, with specialties in the history of modern France and its empire, modern Jewish history, and Muslim-Jewish relations.
Publications and Collaborations
My first book was a history of Jewish-Muslim relations in France entitled The Burdens of Brotherhood: Jews and Muslims from North Africa to France (Harvard University Press, 2015). The book traces Jewish-Muslim encounters in France from their beginnings in World War I all the way up to the 2015 Paris attacks at Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher. The Burdens of Brotherhood won five prizes, including a National Jewish Book Award and the J. Russell Major Prize for the best book in French history from the American Historical Association. I have also published three co-edited collections: Secularism in Question: Jews and Judaism in Modern Times, with Ari Joskowicz (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) reconsiders the so-called secularism debate from the standpoint of the Jewish experience and vice versa. Colonialism and the Jews, with Lisa Moses Leff and Maud Mandel (Indiana, 2017) offers the most robust treatment to date of the relationship between Jews and colonialism throughout modern history. It includes a section on "Zionism and Colonialism" that has been widely praised as among the most rigorous and balanced treatments of that complex topic and the book was honored as a Finalist for a 2019 National Jewish Book Award. "Judeophobia and Islamophobia in France Before and After Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher," a special issue of Jewish History (October 2018), addressed the short- and long-term meaning of the 2015 attacks in Paris with unprecedented breadth and depth -- from historical, anthropological, media, gender, and class perspectives.
Currently, I am writing a new book provisionally entitled Freeing the Empire: The Uprising of Jews and Muslims That Helped Win the World War II. This book seeks to chronicle the riveting and fascinating yet little-known story of an uprising in Algiers from 1940 to 1943 that proved vital to the success of Operation Torch. In the process, the work will examine larger issues such as the meaning of the choice to resist and the complexity of the relationship between colonialism and the Holocaust.
As someone who believes history can be at once rigorous, interesting, and accessible to the larger public, I have also authored or co-authored a number of pieces in venues like The Atlantic, CNN, LA Review of Books, the Forward, and the Jewish Review of Books, on issues including Black-Jewish relations in contemporary America, antisemitism in France, and the French presidential elections.
Leadership
At UC-Berkeley, I serve as the Vice Chair of the Chancellor’s Committee on Jewish Life and Campus Climate. Since the spring of 2019, I have helped found and lead an Antisemitism Education Initiative on the Berkeley campus (for more information about the initiative, see here) In this initiative I have collaborated with university administrators, designed and run trainings for staff and students, brought distinguished speakers to campus, and helped create multimedia presentations. With the support of a national grant from the Academic Engagement Network (AEN), this initiative is now being rolled out as a pilot program for other campuses (for more see here). I serve as member of the Task Force on the Nexus of Antisemitism & Israel in American Politics at the Knight Program in Media and Religion at USC’s Annenberg School. Previously, at the University of Cincinnati, where I taught for 8 years, I played a critical role in the creation and establishment of a joint PhD program in Jewish history between Cincinnati and the Hebrew Union College. I also was the initiator and co-creator of a program that became an annual symposium entitled "Conversations in the City," that each year treats a question of public history in Cincinnati, and honors the distinguished career of the late Zane Miller, a major urban historian and longtime history faculty at Cincinnati.
Teaching
At UC-Berkeley, I teach courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level on Jewish history, Muslim-Jewish encounters, Zionism and Israel, modern France and its empire, the Middle East and North Africa, and historical methodologies. I also regularly lead workshops for staff, faculty, students, and community members about historical and contemporary antisemitism. I have been invited to offer guest lectures at universities throughout the United States, as well as in Europe and Israel. I have also taught classes in many Jewish communities on topics ranging from Jews and the stranger to Torah and science.
Scholarships and Awards
I am grateful for numerous fellowships and awards. These include, most notably: The Lady Davis Visiting Professor Fellowship from the Hebrew University; the inaugural scholar-in-residence fellowship from the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism; the National Jewish Book Award; the J. Russell Major Prize from the American Historical Association for best book in French history; the David S. Pinkney Prize from the Society of French Historical studies for the best book in French History; the American Library in Paris Book Award; faculty research fellowships from the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan (declined), the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (declined), and the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center at the University of Cincinnati; a Chateaubriand Fellowship of the French Embassy to the United States;.
Publications and Collaborations
My first book was a history of Jewish-Muslim relations in France entitled The Burdens of Brotherhood: Jews and Muslims from North Africa to France (Harvard University Press, 2015). The book traces Jewish-Muslim encounters in France from their beginnings in World War I all the way up to the 2015 Paris attacks at Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher. The Burdens of Brotherhood won five prizes, including a National Jewish Book Award and the J. Russell Major Prize for the best book in French history from the American Historical Association. I have also published three co-edited collections: Secularism in Question: Jews and Judaism in Modern Times, with Ari Joskowicz (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) reconsiders the so-called secularism debate from the standpoint of the Jewish experience and vice versa. Colonialism and the Jews, with Lisa Moses Leff and Maud Mandel (Indiana, 2017) offers the most robust treatment to date of the relationship between Jews and colonialism throughout modern history. It includes a section on "Zionism and Colonialism" that has been widely praised as among the most rigorous and balanced treatments of that complex topic and the book was honored as a Finalist for a 2019 National Jewish Book Award. "Judeophobia and Islamophobia in France Before and After Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher," a special issue of Jewish History (October 2018), addressed the short- and long-term meaning of the 2015 attacks in Paris with unprecedented breadth and depth -- from historical, anthropological, media, gender, and class perspectives.
Currently, I am writing a new book provisionally entitled Freeing the Empire: The Uprising of Jews and Muslims That Helped Win the World War II. This book seeks to chronicle the riveting and fascinating yet little-known story of an uprising in Algiers from 1940 to 1943 that proved vital to the success of Operation Torch. In the process, the work will examine larger issues such as the meaning of the choice to resist and the complexity of the relationship between colonialism and the Holocaust.
As someone who believes history can be at once rigorous, interesting, and accessible to the larger public, I have also authored or co-authored a number of pieces in venues like The Atlantic, CNN, LA Review of Books, the Forward, and the Jewish Review of Books, on issues including Black-Jewish relations in contemporary America, antisemitism in France, and the French presidential elections.
Leadership
At UC-Berkeley, I serve as the Vice Chair of the Chancellor’s Committee on Jewish Life and Campus Climate. Since the spring of 2019, I have helped found and lead an Antisemitism Education Initiative on the Berkeley campus (for more information about the initiative, see here) In this initiative I have collaborated with university administrators, designed and run trainings for staff and students, brought distinguished speakers to campus, and helped create multimedia presentations. With the support of a national grant from the Academic Engagement Network (AEN), this initiative is now being rolled out as a pilot program for other campuses (for more see here). I serve as member of the Task Force on the Nexus of Antisemitism & Israel in American Politics at the Knight Program in Media and Religion at USC’s Annenberg School. Previously, at the University of Cincinnati, where I taught for 8 years, I played a critical role in the creation and establishment of a joint PhD program in Jewish history between Cincinnati and the Hebrew Union College. I also was the initiator and co-creator of a program that became an annual symposium entitled "Conversations in the City," that each year treats a question of public history in Cincinnati, and honors the distinguished career of the late Zane Miller, a major urban historian and longtime history faculty at Cincinnati.
Teaching
At UC-Berkeley, I teach courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level on Jewish history, Muslim-Jewish encounters, Zionism and Israel, modern France and its empire, the Middle East and North Africa, and historical methodologies. I also regularly lead workshops for staff, faculty, students, and community members about historical and contemporary antisemitism. I have been invited to offer guest lectures at universities throughout the United States, as well as in Europe and Israel. I have also taught classes in many Jewish communities on topics ranging from Jews and the stranger to Torah and science.
Scholarships and Awards
I am grateful for numerous fellowships and awards. These include, most notably: The Lady Davis Visiting Professor Fellowship from the Hebrew University; the inaugural scholar-in-residence fellowship from the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism; the National Jewish Book Award; the J. Russell Major Prize from the American Historical Association for best book in French history; the David S. Pinkney Prize from the Society of French Historical studies for the best book in French History; the American Library in Paris Book Award; faculty research fellowships from the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan (declined), the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (declined), and the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center at the University of Cincinnati; a Chateaubriand Fellowship of the French Embassy to the United States;.
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