Published!

Okay, so it’s only a book review, but I am very very happy to finally have something out there in the public domain aside from conference papers and this blog. 🙂

It’s a review of Nadav Shelef’s new book, Evolving Nationalism: Homeland, Identity, and Religion in Israel and you can read it here in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics. If you don’t have direct access to informaworld, you can access the review through most university library sites with a student or faculty ID and password. Unfortunately copyright laws keep me from simply posting the entire review here. For those of you with access, enjoy!

Now back to work on publishing a full refereed academic paper…

Review: Shelef’s Evolving Nationalism

I am happy to announce a small publication which will appear this summer in the quarterly journal, Nationalism & Ethnic Politics: a review of Nadav Shelef’s new book, Evolving Nationalism: Homeland, Identity, and Religion in Israel. Copyright laws prevent me from posting the review here as well, but I will provide a link to the review once the journal is released. 

I can say, however, that this is a book very much worth the read if you have any interest in Israeli politics or the study of nationalism. Thanks to Professor Dani Miodownik in the Political Science Department at Hebrew University who encouraged me to do the review and connected me with the journal’s editor. More often than not, a good kick in the pants coupled with a useful connection is a great incentive to finally get writing. In the meantime, I have a more substantial article in the works and am planning a research trip back to Serbia in the near future. The fieldwork progresses apace. Stay tuned for more “adventures.”

Slow Days

Here’s a quick update to let you all know that I am still alive. The last few days have been fairly slow, with no more interviews yet scheduled until mid-week. I spent the last half of last week doing my best to get a hold of new people to interview. Some have responded, some have not.

I have also been slowly working my way through Shlomo Sand’s controversial new book, The Invention of the Jewish People. It should be done by the end of the week, and with any luck I’ll write up a review for the blog shortly. I also hope to read soon a very recently released book by Nadav Shelef, Evolving Nationalism: Homeland, Identity, and Religion in Israel. The subject is uncomfortably close to my own, which could be a very good thing or a very bad thing. Either way, I am trying to obtain a copy.

Otherwise, life in Jerusalem has been very pleasant of late. I am finding my favorite cafes to hide in during the day to enjoy the air conditioning, and I am becoming increasingly familiar with the city as I pound the pavement every day. Research is progressing apace, writing is moving along bit by bit, my Hebrew is getting better, and I still have lots of time here to get it all sorted. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more interesting news.