D Gershon Lewental, PhD—Professional biography
D Gershon Lewental, DGLnotes
D Gershon Lewental is a cultural historian of the Middle East, focusing on how societies use religion, memory, and conflict to define and maintain their identities. He teaches in the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, and in the Department of International & Area Studies at the University of Oklahoma (since 2012). He earned his bachelor of arts degree (
magna cum laude) from Cornell University and his doctorate in Middle Eastern history from Brandeis University. His
dissertation, on the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah during the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran and the changing perceptions of the engagement through time, received the Foundation of Iranian Studies Best Dissertation Award and the Brandeis University Glatzer Dissertation Prize. His fields of specialisation include early Islamic history and historiography, Iranian history, the Bahaʾi faith, Ottoman Jewry, and Israeli society.
He is preparing two book manuscripts, one on the interplay of religion, nationalism, and memory in the modern Middle East and the other on the rôle of narrative in early Islamic historiography. He has published articles on the literary development of Islamic Iranian identity in Iranian Studies (2017), the use and abuse of religious history by Ṣaddām Ḥusayn in Middle Eastern Studies (2014) and other articles, including a study of radical Islamists’ memory are forthcoming in other journals. He is also the English translator of numerous Hebrew academic works, including Yaron Harel’s Zionism in Damascus (I B Tauris, 2015). Other topics on which he is currently working include a broad study of the Bahaʾi community in Israel from 1917 to the present; and an analysis of the elaboration of Tajiki identity. His broad range of courses include Religion and society in the Middle East, Early Islamic history, Minorities in the Middle East, Pre-modern Iran, Jews and Christians under Islam, the Modern Middle East, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Introduction to Islam, and Israeli society.
Table of contents
Research interests
I am a cultural historian of the Middle East, focusing on how societies use religion, memory, and conflict to define and maintain their identities. In my publications and in my classes, I explore this theme in various chronological and geographical contexts, and the scarlet thread running through my research is an attention to shared heritages and historical continuities, which I find in what appear to be contradictory narratives or unconnected cultures through a comparative and transnational approach.
Teaching experience
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern StudiesJerusalem, Israel
Adjunct professor March 2023–present
Shalem College, Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic StudiesJerusalem, Israel
Assistant professor February 2017–September 2022
University of Oklahoma, Departments of History and International & Area StudiesNorman, Oklahoma
Visiting assistant professor; adjunct professor (since 2018) August 2012–present
Education
Brandeis University, Lown School of Near Eastern & Judaic Studies Waltham, Massachusetts
PhD, MA, modern Middle Eastern history; 4.0 GPA August 2003–August 2011
Dissertation title: ‘Qādisiyyah, then and now: A Case study of history and memory, religion, and nationalism in Middle Eastern discourse’; committee: Avigdor Levy (chair), Kanan Makiya, David S Powers (Cornell University).
Synopsis: I examined the perceptions of the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah, an engagement during the Arab-Muslim conquest of Iran in the 630s, as they changed already in the first centuries of Islam down to the contemporary Middle East. My thesis included a lengthy study of early Islamic historiography, a deconstruction of the traditional Qādisiyyah narrative, and an investigation of the modern manipulation of its memory with a particular focus on the discourse of Baʿthī Iraq under Ṣaddām Ḥusayn, as well as radical Islamists. My analysis explored the dynamic of religion and nationalism in modern identity, as well as the rôle of memory—such as that of al-Qādisiyyah—in connecting the two. In recognition of this dissertation, I was honoured with the Foundation of Iranian Studies Best Dissertation Award (2012) and the Brandeis University Glatzer Dissertation Prize (2012).
Academy of Sciences of the Rep. of Tajikistan, Inst. of Languages and Literature Dushanbe, Taj.
US Dept of State Critical Language Scholarship—Intensive Persian Summer Institute June–July 2009
University of Wisconsin, Department of Arabic & Persian Languages Madison, Wisconsin
Persian immersion programme June–August 2005
Cornell University, College of Arts & Sciences: Depts of Near Eastern Stds and Economics Ithaca, NY
AB magna cum laude; with distinction and a concentration in Int’l Relat.; Dean’s List Aug. 1999–May 2003
Editing and translating experience
Journal of Persianate Societies Leiden, The Netherlands
Associate editor January 2016–present
E J Brill Academic Press Leiden, The Netherlands
Translation editor and content editor March 2007–present
Freelance translator Tel-Aviv, Israel
Translator from Hebrew into English October 2010–present
Current projects
Seventh-Century redux: Religion, nationalism, and memory in conflict in the Middle East (a book manuscript examining the function of religious rhetoric and member in political discourse in the modern Middle East; near completion).
Epic encounters at al-Qādisiyyah: Narrative and identity in early Islamic historical texts (a book manuscript highlighting the literary nature of the historical texts of early Islamic civilisation).
The Development of the Bahāʾī faith in Israel and its relations with British and Israeli authorities, 1917–present.
Teaching interests and syllabi
Awards, fellowships, and grants
Best PhD Dissertation on a Topic of Iranian Studies, Foundation of Iranian Studies November 2012
Nahum & Anne Glatzer Endowed Dissertation Prize, Brandeis University May 2012
Graduate School Outstanding Teaching Prize, Brandeis University 2004–2005
Redstone Dissertation Year Fellowship, Brandeis University February 2010
US Department of State Critical Language Scholarship for Intensive Persian Study March 2009
Mellon Dissertation Research Grant March 2009
Assn for the Study of the Middle East and Africa conference travel grant, recipient
2013–15; 2017–19; 2021–22
Department of Near Eastern & Judaic Studies, Brandeis University, GTR grant recipient
Apr 2005; Aug 2007; Aug 2008; Oct 2009
Provost’s Dissertation Expense Award, Brandeis University April 2008
Sachar Travel Scholarship, Brandeis University March 2008
Gorgias Press Book Grant, runner-up January 2006
College of Arts & Sciences Dean’s List, Cornell University Fall 2002; Spring 2003
Languages and special skills
Languages
Bilingual: Hebrew, English. Fluent: Persian, Tajiki. Proficient: (Levantine) Arabic, Russian, French. Qualified: Latin. Elementary: Turkish. Able to read Greek and Urdu scripts.
Computing
Computing skills: Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, HTML, and CSS.
Professional membership
Papers presented at scholarly meetings
‘The Return of Iran: Iranian nationalist rhetoric during the Iran-Iraq War’, 14th biennial conference of the Association for Iranian Studies, 13 August 2024, Mexico City, Mexico.
‘The Arab-Israelite conquest’: Biblical models and the historiography of the Arab-Islamic expansion’, 16th annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, 04–06 November 2023, Washington, DC. [Withdrawn due to war.]
‘The State of Israel and the succession to Shoghi Effendi’, Shaykhi, Babi, and Bahaʾi Studies Oxford Seminar, 11 June 2023, Oxford, England (online).
‘Sāsānian war elephants and Islamic historical memory’, 9th biennial congress of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, 01 June 2023, Yerevan, Armenia.
‘A Bahāʾī leadership proclamation from 28 November 1957: The Israel State Archives as an insurance policy’, 46th annual conference of the Middle East & Islamic Studies Association of Israel, 27 April 2023, Haifa, Israel.
‘Sāsānian war elephants and Islamic historical memory’, 15th annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, 06 November 2022, Washington, DC.
‘Yaḥaséy ha-gōmelīn she-béyn ḥéqer ha-dāt ha-Bahāʾīt we-héqer Erets Yiśrāʾél: Meḥqār we-sīmbyōzāh [The Relations between Bahāʾī studies and Israel studies: Scholarship and symbiosis]’, 45th annual conference of the Middle East & Islamic Studies Association of Israel, 09 June 2022, Jerusalem, Israel.
‘“The People have multiplied”, the narrative has multiplied: A Matn-cum-isnād analysis of the Bajīlah’s “fourth”’, 14th annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, 15 November 2021, Washington, DC.
‘Hand of God or turn of fate? Christian and Zoroastrian responses to the Arab-Islamic conquests’, 55th annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, 28–31 October 2021, Montréal, Québec. [Withdrawn due to COVID-19.]
‘The Use and abuse of history in the Iran-Iraq War’, Forty years after the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War: Cultural history, remembrance, commemoration, an online symposium of the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies, Tel-Aviv University, 03 December 2020, Zoom.
‘Hand of God or turn of fate? Christian and Zoroastrian responses to the Arab-Islamic conquests’, 54th annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, October 2020, Washington, DC. [Withdrawn due to COVID-19.]
‘The Return of Iran: Iranian nationalist rhetoric during the Iran-Iraq War’, 13th biennial conference of the Association for Iranian Studies, 27 August 2020, Salamanca, Spain. [Cancelled due to COVID-19.]
‘Sāsānian war elephants and Islamic historical memory’, 9th biennial congress of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, 13 March 2020, New Delhi, India. [Cancelled due to COVID-19.]
‘From Muʾtah and the Bridge to al-Yarmūk and al-Qādisiyyah: Echoes of defeats and victories in the literature of Islamic historical writing’, 12th annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, 02 November 2019, Washington, DC.
‘Religion or state? Symbols, rhetoric, and identity in wartime Iran’, The Iranian Revolution at 40: A Reappraisal, a conference of the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies, Tel-Aviv University, 03 June 2019, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
‘Between Byzantium and Iran: Caucasian peoples and the Arab-Islamic conquests’, 11th annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, 03 November 2018, Washington, DC.
‘The “Fighting Persians” and the “Fighting Romans”: “Seventh-Century Madness” in later Muslim annals’, 12th biennial conference of the Association for Iranian Studies, 16 August 2018, Irvine, California.
‘Remembering the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah: History and memory in early Islamic civilisation’, 5th World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, 20 July 2018, Seville, Spain.
‘Armenians, Georgians, and Albanians and the initial Sāsānian response to the Arab-Islamic expansion’, 8th biennial congress of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, 17 March 2018, Tbilisi, Georgia.
‘Call-and-response battles in Syria and Iraq: The Literary construction of Islamic collective memory’ (and panel organiser, ‘Echoes of battle: Legitimation, memory, and the distant past in Islamic narratives’, 51st annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, 21 November 2017, Washington, DC.
‘Iranian exiles in Istanbul and Ottoman–Qājār relations’, 10th annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, 20 October 2017, Washington, DC.
‘Iranians, Ottomans, and Europeans in the Nineteenth-Century entrepôt of Istanbul’, 9th annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, 28 October 2016, Washington, DC.
‘Under the banner of Iran: The Derafsh-e kāveyān as a changing emblem of Iranian identity from the Sāsānian era to the present’, 11th biennial conference of the International Society of Iranian Studies, 04 August 2016, Vienna, Austria.
‘Beyond “Israel studies”: The Case of Bahāʾīs and Jews in the Holy Land, 1917–1957’, 32nd annual meeting of the Association for Israel Studies, 21 June 2016, Jerusalem, Israel..
‘From Israelites to Muslims: Biblical paradigms in the Futūḥ literature’ (and panel organiser, ‘Imagining the ummah: Texts, culture, and the creation of community in early Islam’, 49th annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, 22 November 2015, Denver, Colorado.
‘The Derafsh-e kāveyān: The Pre-Islamic Iranian national standard in myth, history, and memory’, 8th annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, 30 October 2015, Washington, DC.
Symbols of (Iranian) empire: Banners, thrones, carpets, and pearls in Arab-Islamic conquest narratives’, 7th biennial congress of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, 09 September 2015, İstanbul, Turkey.
‘The (Gem) star-spangled banner yet waves’: Iranian priceless treasures in early Islamic history and memory’, 225th meeting of the American Oriental Society, 14 March 2015, New Orleans, Louisiana.
‘Bahāʾīs and Jews in the Holy Land, 1917–1957: Symbiosis and scholarship’, 46th annual conference of the Association for Jewish Studies, 14 December 2014, Baltimore, Maryland.
‘Hero and Trickster in early Islamic historiography: The Case of the Qādisiyyah narratives’ (invited panelist), 48th annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, 23 November 2014, Washington, DC.
‘From Settlement to Symbol: al-Qadisiyyah and the dehistoricisation of memory in mediæval narratives, sermons, and poetry’ and panel organiser (‘Narratives and perceptions of the mediæval world’), 7th annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, 01 November 2014, Washington, DC.
‘Myth and memory in Islamic narratives: Saʿd and Abū Miḥjan at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah’ and panel organiser (‘Narratives and memory of early Islamic society’), 7th annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, 31 October 2014, Washington, DC.
‘Rostam’s death at al-Qādisiyyah: Early representations of Iranian identity in Islamic narratives’, 10th biennial conference of the International Society of Iranian Studies, 08 August 2014, Montréal, Québec.
‘Rustam’s death at al-Qādisiyya and the development of an Islamic Iranian identity’, 224th meeting of the American Oriental Society, 15 March 2014, Phoenix, Arizona.
‘Iranian and Islamic heritage and the formation of Tajiki national identity’ (invited participant), After the Persianate: Cultural heritage and national transformation in modern Iran and India, a conference of the Iranian Studies Program, College of International Studies, University of Oklahoma, 08 March 2014, Norman, Oklahoma.
‘“First”, “second”, and “third” battles of al-Qādisiyyah in Iraq, Palestine, and Syria: Early Islamic history and memory in radical Islamist discourse’, 6th annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, 22 November 2013, Washington, DC.
‘The Death of Rostam: Literary representations of Iranian identity in early Islam’, 6th biennial congress of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, 03 September 2013, Sarajevo, Bosnia.
‘History for a purpose: An Analysis of “Ṣaddām’s Qādisiyyah”’, 5th annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, 12 October 2012, Washington, DC.
Public lectures
‘Crisis of authority and authority during crisis: Shoghi Effendi’s succession and the State of Israel’, Hebrew University Chair in Bahaʾi Studies Public Lecture, Jerusalem, Israel, 06 June 2024.
‘Historical scholarship on ʿAbd al-Bahāʾ: On Joshua Lincoln’s ʿAbduʾl-Bahā ʿAbbās: Head of the Bahāʾī faith: A Life in social and regional context (2024)’, Hebrew University Chair in Bahaʾi Studies Book Launch, Jerusalem, Israel, 15 February 2024.
‘The Middle East: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam’, Parents’ campus lectures, ha-Ḥiṭṭah State School, Zikhron Yaʿaqov, Israel, 09 February 2024.
‘Israel-Hamas war’, Oklahoma International Law Society panel, University of Oklahoma College of Law, Norman, Oklahoma, 01 February 2024.
‘The Israel-Hamas war: Q&A’, Rashi Israel Kehillah Community talk, Rashi School, Dedham, Massachusetts, 05 January 2024.
‘Welcome and introduction: A Festschrift for Prof. Avigdor Levy’, Department of Near Eastern & Judaic Studies, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, 14 December 2023.
‘The Israel-Hamas war and where do we go from here?’, Rashi Israel Kehillah Community talk, Rashi School, Dedham, Massachusetts, 08 December 2023.
‘“Black Sabbath” and the Israel-Gaza War’, OLLI special lecture, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 24 October 2023.
‘The Religion and world of Islam’, Parents’ campus lectures, ha-Ḥiṭṭah State School, Zikhron Yaʿaqov, Israel, 16 June 2023.
‘Iran from the Constitutional Revolution to the protests today’, ‘Modern Middle East’ guest lecture, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 29 September 2022.
‘The Jewish experience under Islam’, Via Sabra tour: ‘Following the footsteps of Jews from Arab lands’, Jerusalem, Israel, 22 January 2020.
‘Myths and facts of the modern Middle East’, Wiesbaden High School, Hainerberg Army Base, Wiesbaden, Germany, 08 February 2019.
‘Radical Islam: What makes it “radical”?’, Oriental Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic, 09 October 2018.
‘Arab-Israeli conflict: Where to now?’, Center for Middle East Studies brown-bag lecture series, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 06 September 2018.
‘What is radical Islam and why is it so “radical”?’, University of Oklahoma in the United Kingdom, Lakenheath Air Force Base, Lakenheath, England, 11 April 2018.
‘Tajikistan between Iran and Islam: Nationalism and identity in post-Soviet Central Asia’, Farzaneh Family Center for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 15 November 2017.
‘Minorities and the Jewish state: The Druze, Circassian, and Bahāʾī communities of Israel’, International Studies Lecture, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 07 November 2017.
‘What is radical Islam and why is it so “radical”?’, Institute for International and Immigration Law, Texas Southern University, Houston, Texas, 07 November 2017.
‘‘Micro-minorities’ in Israel: Druze, Circassian, and Baháʾí communities and the Jewish State’, International Studies Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 06 November 2017.
‘Jewish and Christian minorities in the mediæval Islamic world’, Medieval Fair Lecture Series, Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, University of Oklahoma, Norman Public Library West, Norman, Oklahoma, 03 November 2017.
‘What is the Middle East?’, Moore Baháʾí Cultural Event, Moore, Oklahoma, 01 April 2017.
‘The Holocaust and our world today’ (panel participant), Holocaust Remembrance and Restitution Society’s Holocaust Remembrance Week, Norman, Oklahoma, 04 May 2016.
‘Jews, Christians, and Ottoman society: Minorities under Islam’, Second Wind Ministries and Episcopal Student Association, Norman, Oklahoma, 03 May 2016.
‘Israel: Ask me anything’, Hillel at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 14 April 2016.
‘What makes radical Islam so radical? Understanding radical Islam and Salafism in the Middle East’, Cleveland County Democrats Corn Bread and Beans lecture series, Norman, Oklahoma, 01 April 2016. [Norman Transcript article] [Red Dirt Report article]
‘Vernacular Islam’, Interdisciplinary Islamic Studies Seminar workshop, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 18 March 2016.
‘Epic encounters? Narrative, archetypes, and myth in Islamic historiography’, Interdisciplinary Islamic Studies Seminar and Islamic Studies Program lecture series, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 17 March 2016.
‘Reflections on the future: How societies use religion, memory, and conflict to define and maintain their identities’, Tulsa Jewish United Fund Campaign kickoff lecture and reception, Jewish Federation of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 06 March 2016.
‘Israel: Ask me anything’, Hillel at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 29 February 2016.
‘Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2015—A Retrospective’, Center for Middle East Studies brown-bag lecture series, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 08 February 2016.
‘Recent trends and tensions in Israeli politics and society’, Jewish University adult education series, Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 09 November 2015.
‘Israel 101’, Hillel at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 20 October 2015.
‘The Rise of Islam and the Arab-Islamic conquests in their historical perspective’, Episcopal Student Association, St Anselm of Canterbury Episcopal Student Center, Norman, Oklahoma, 07 October 2015.
‘Finding truth in the Futūḥ: Challenges in studying the Arab-Islamic conquests’, Department of Near Eastern Studies colloquium series, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 04 May 2015.
‘From Protective Edge to pre-emptive elections: Israeli news and analysis’, Jewish University adult education series, Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 23 March 2015.
‘Radical Islam and the Arab-Israeli conflict’, ‘Arab-Israeli conflict’ guest lecture, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, 16 March 2015.
‘Israeli elections primer: Understanding and interpreting the 17 March 2015 elections’, Department of International & Area Studies, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 10 March 2015.
‘Israeli culture and cuisine’, Faculty-in-Residence country culture night, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 08 March 2015.
‘Narratives of Islamic historiography: Reading historical texts as literature’, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies brown-bag lecture series, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 11 February 2015.
‘The Iran-Iraq war of words: Enlisting nationalism and religion in combat’, Center for the Study of Nationalism lecture series, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 18 April 2014.
‘Israel and the US’, Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions series, Norman Public Library, Norman, Oklahoma, 03 April 2014.
‘The Tumultuous Seventh-Century: The Arab-Islamic conquests and the reshaping of the world’, Medieval Fair Lecture Series, Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, University of Oklahoma, Norman Public Library, Norman, Oklahoma, 28 February 2014.
‘Creating and constructing heroes and anti-heroes in early Islamic historiography’, 1st meeting of the Iranian Studies Research Group, Institute for the Study of Asia and Africa and the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, 05 January 2014.
‘The Iran-Iraq War of words, memory, and religious history’, Iran Forum, Alliance Center for Iranian Studies, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel, 26 December 2013.
‘The Baháʾí faith and the State of Israel’, Edmond Baháʾí Center, Edmond, Oklahoma, 17 November 2013.
‘Jews, Judaism, Israel, and the Middle East’, Norman Baháʾí Center, Norman, Oklahoma, 18 October 2013.
‘Between Egypt, Syria, and the Palestinian Territories: Israel in today’s Middle East’, Norman Jewish Community Organization, Norman, Oklahoma, 06 October 2013.
‘History of the Baháʾí community in the Holy Land, 1917 to the present’, Moore Baháʾí Cultural Event, Moore, Oklahoma, 01 February 2013.
‘An Israeli elections primer: Understanding and interpreting the 22 January 2013 elections’, Department of International & Area Studies, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 18 January 2013.
‘The Rise of Jewish national identity in the modern world’, Israel Cornell Club, Ḥaderah, Israel, 07 January 2013.
‘The Baháʾí faith in the Holy Land and Baháʾí-Israeli relations’, Norman Baháʾí Center, Norman, Oklahoma, 08 December 2012.
‘The Art of Zionism: Jewish national identity in the modern world’, Jewish University adult education series, Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 12 November 2012.
‘The Bahāʾī faith in Israel and its community’s relations with the Jewish state’, JuSt Lunch Brown-Bag Lecture Series, Schusterman Program in Judaic & Israel Studies, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 03 October 2012.
‘History and development of the Bahāʾī faith’, Senior Adult Department Lecture Series, Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center, Newton Centre, Massachusetts, 04 June 2008.
Publications
For a full list of my publications, click
here.
