Thanks to the Borns Jewish Studies Program for sharing this introduction of our new colleague, Irit Dekel: Prof. Dekel is a cultural sociologist whose research focuses on collective memory in Germany and Israel, on contemporary antisemitism in Germany, and on migration and exile. After studying for an MA in sociology and anthropology at Tel Aviv University, she completed a PhD in sociology at the New School for Social Research. Since then, she has held a variety of postdoctoral and research fellow positions at Bard University Berlin, the Humboldt University, Berlin, and at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. In 2013, her book Mediation at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin appeared with Palgrave Macmillan, a fascinating study that breaks with the traditional way of analyzing monuments and memorials. Her interest was not in the moral or aesthetic considerations that led to the Berlin Holocaust Memorial being created; rather, she conducted an ethnographic study of the way the memorial is experienced and used. Her innovative interest in the way in which different social and ethnic groups experience and make use of Holocaust memorial sites in Germany; and in who are the influential actors in shaping German memory, will also result in a second, broader, book, tentatively titled “Witnessing Positions.” Irit has also worked on philosemitism in Germany, on small home museums in Germany and Israel, and many other topics.
The College of Arts