With the support of the Graduate School, the Center for Judaic Studies has awarded four, faculty nominated, graduate students with $1500 predoctoral fellowships for their summer research. Congratulations!
Adane Zawdu (Department of Sociology):
Managing Differences in Everyday Life: Ethnoracial Categories, Social Boundaries, and National Belonging in Israel
My project is based on 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Israel, in which I explore the different ways Ethiopian-Israelis’ gain group distinctiveness in three different contexts: everyday lives; State institutions and bureaucracy; and political mobilization. More broadly, I look at processes, mechanisms, and practices that structure why and how certain categories of difference become consequential for social relations and political mobilization, while others do not.
Jessica Strom (Department of History):
Adriano Lemmi: Banker of the Italian National Revolution
My project reconstructs Adriano Lemmi’s activities and position in the clandestine networks that funded revolutionary leaders during the period known as the Risorgimento, explaining why this Tuscan merchant was willing to commit his money and influence to fund revolutionary nationalist projects aimed at unifying Italy and secure its political independence. While scholars have disagreed about whether or not Lemmi’s family was Jewish, it is clear that both in Livorno and in Constantinople he came into close contact with many Jewish merchants who were part of wide-reaching business networks. Relationships cultivated with these Jewish merchants were instrumental to the success of Lemmi’s mercantile activities, yet they remain largely unexplored.
Mohammed Kadalah (Department of Literatures, Cultures and Languages)
My project undertakes a study of contemporary Syrian literature within the context of modern trauma studies. This summer I will be preparing for my comprehensive examinations in the fields of trauma studies, war literature and testimony, and contemporary Arabic literature.
Kerry Carnahan (Department of English):
My project is to undertake a new translation of the Song of Songs accompanied by an exegetical commentary. This summer I will prepare a scholarly word study on the Song, explore its Kabbalistic interpretations, and immerse myself in the ancient cultic origins of the text.