Dr. Keren Abbou Hershkovits

My life before BGU:
I was born, grew up, and finished high school in Beer-Sheva. I earned all my degrees at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, then went to Montreal, Canada, for a change of scene for my postdoctoral research. At McGill University, I was part of a research group studying the transmission of knowledge across periods, languages, and societies. My own work explored how medical knowledge took shape during the early centuries of Islam and how the medical profession developed during that period.

Why BGU?
Joining Ben-Gurion University feels like coming home. The University shaped significant parts of my academic journey, and its connection to the Negev, with its human and social diversity, means a great deal to me. I am therefore particularly happy to return and join the Department of Middle East Studies. For me, this return offers both a sense of continuity and a new beginning.

My research:
I study the social and intellectual history of the medieval Muslim world. I came to the field through an interest in the history of science, and the connection to the Muslim world, an important center of original scholarship, translation, and knowledge transmission, felt almost natural.
Over the years, my research expanded from scientific knowledge to other forms of knowledge, particularly religious knowledge. I became interested in broader processes of religious and social change: how sources described religious conversion, how they explained resistance to conversion, and what these writings reveal about scholars’ understanding of identity and belonging, including how they defined themselves and others.
Later, I also became interested in how women were portrayed in writings about early Islam. Given the nature of the sources, it is difficult to know how women experienced or acted within their historical circumstances. I therefore ask somewhat different questions: what was written about them, what roles were attributed to them, and what these portrayals reveal about the society that produced and preserved them. In this sense, I study not only the events recounted in the texts, but also the social and intellectual world from which those texts emerged.

An insight from my research:
One insight from my research is that we should ask not only what a text tells us, but also what it leaves unsaid. Which figures are given a name and a voice, and which remain nameless and voiceless? Often, what is missing from a text is precisely what makes it most interesting.

Something you won’t find on my CV:
I enjoy stargazing and long-distance running.

In brief:

• Summer or winter? Winter, definitely winter. But a proper winter, with rain, wind, and temperatures close to freezing.
• Steak or tofu? Tofu, gluten-free and dairy-free. (I’m fun to have around.)
• Trekking or lounging on the beach? The more challenging, the better.
• Car or train? Bicycle.
• Movie theater or streaming? A book.