Dartmouth Events

Is Zionism a colonial movement? This question has long been a subject of debate and was the title of the classic article by Derek Penslar, professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard University, nearly two decades ago. Prof. Penslar will join Yael Berda, professor of Sociology at Hebrew University, to discuss this still-contentious issue, in a conversation moderated by Dartmouth’s Jonathan Smolin, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies.

Prof. Penslar has argued that Zionism and the State of Israel do not reproduce classic European colonialism but represent a case of settler colonialism that is constantly shifting, therefore challenging the usefulness of static concepts such as “colonial.” Yael Berda’s book Colonial Bureaucracy and Contemporary Citizenship presents the state of Israel in comparative context, asking how the legacy of European colonialism functions after the empire has withdrawn. She compares three former British colonies, Israel, India, and Cyprus, to see how colonial-era laws and bureaucracies continue to dominate the post-colonial state.

This is an event of the Middle East Initiative and Dartmouth Dialogues, a collaborative effort of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding and the Middle Eastern Studies and Jewish Studies Programs at Dartmouth.

Derek Penslar is the William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History at Harvard University.  He is based in the Department of History, where he is the Director of Undergraduate Studies.  Penslar is a resident faculty member at the Center for European Studies and is affiliated with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

Dr. Yael Berda is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Hebrew University and Academy Scholar for International and Area Studies at Harvard University. She received her PhD from Princeton University; her MA from Tel Aviv University, and her LLB from Hebrew University faculty of Law.

Free and open to the public. Tickets required, get yours here.

The event will be livestreamed, sign up to attend online here.

A recording of the event will be posted on YouTube.