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Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

 
Venue: 
Room 8, Facutlty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies
Event organiser: 

Hebrew Studies Seminar Series talk given by Yair Wallach, Pears Lecturer in Israeli Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Yair Wallach walked the streets of Jerusalem to consider the graffiti, logos, inscriptions, official signs, and ephemera that transformed the city over the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As these urban texts became a tool in the service of capitalism, nationalism, and colonialism, the affinities of Arabic and Hebrew were forgotten and these sister-languages found themselves locked in a bitter war. Looking at the writing of—and literally on—Jerusalem, Wallach will speak about the creative and expansive history of the city, a fresh take on modern urban texts, and a new reading of the Israel/Palestine conflict through its material culture.

Yair Wallach is Pears Lecturer in Israeli Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His research has explored the intersection between ideas and material culture in the everyday experience of modernity.

Contact
Professor Yaron Peleg: yp240@cam.ac.uk