Israel studies in the UK: the history of an idea

Abstract

ABSTRACT Through oral testimony from the major figures in the discipline, this article traces the narrative- and intellectual history, and development of the discipline of Israel Studies in the United Kingdom, using the three universities – Oxford, SOAS, and Sussex – that have dedicated Chairs in the field. It further seeks to seek to locate the discipline of Israel Studies both practically and ideologically in the minds of the scholars interviewed, and within the greater intellectual canon. It concludes that the discipline of Israel Studies in the UK has entered a new phase, in which a new generation of scholars is happy to shed any Zionist “agenda,” and meet Israel on its own terms, thereby normalizing the study of Israel.