Buchcover „A New Orient“
© Brandeis University Press
The book "A New Orient" by Amit Levy explores the history of Zionist and Israeli Oriental Studies, focusing on the transfer of knowledge about Islam, Arabic, and the Middle East from German universities to Mandatory Palestine. This migration involved scholars who arrived either as Zionists or refugees from Nazi Germany, joining the Hebrew University. The book traces how the field shifted from a textual-philological approach in Germany to a direct, often tense, encounter with the region's realities, shaped by the growing Jewish-Arab conflict.
Amit Levy is a Spinoza fellow in the Department of Israel Studies, University of Haifa. His research focuses on the history of knowledge and migration and their impact on cross-cultural encounters.