Senior Lecturer
חבר/ת סגל אקדמי בכיר
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Middle East Studies
72 - Cukier, Goldstein-Goren (Humanities & Social Sciences) Building Floor 5 Room 522, Marcus Campus
Dr. D Gershon Lewental
Departments
Staff member contact section
About
D Gershon Lewental is a cultural historian of the Middle East, focusing on how societies use religion, memory, and conflict to define and maintain identity. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Middle East Studies at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and has also taught at the University of Oklahoma (since 2012) and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (since 2023). Since 2015, he has served as the the Associate Editor of the Journal of Persianate Studies. He earned his bachelor of arts degree (magna cum laude) from Cornell University and his doctorate in Middle Eastern history from Brandeis University. His dissertation, on the changing perceptions of the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran through time, received the Foundation of Iranian Studies Best Dissertation Award (2012) and the Brandeis University Glatzer Dissertation Prize. His fields of specialisation include Iranian and Persianate history, early Islamic historiography, the history of the Baha?i community in Israel, modern Central Asian identities, and Middle East minorities.He resides in Zikhron Ya?aqov, Israel, with his wife Sitora and two daughters, Yasminah and Nozdonah (Danah). He is an active member of his community, serving on the town?s Environmental Committee, its Education Council, as vice-chair of the Parents Steering Council at his daughters? school, and on their classes? parents? committees. He has also served as chair of the Israel Cornell Club since 2010.
His personal website, with publications, scholarship, public lectures, and more is: https://DGLnotes.com
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Courses
ד?ר לונטל מלמד מגוון רחב של קורסים, ובהם כיום: איראן המודרנית, מיעוטים במזרח התיכון, תולדות הדת הבהאאית, דת וחברה במזרח התיכון, היסטוריה וזיכרון במזרח התיכון, ועוד.
He teaches a broad range of courses, which currently include Modern Iran, Minorities in the Middle East, History of the Baha?i faith, Religion and society in the Middle East, History and memory in the Middle East, and more.
He teaches a broad range of courses, which currently include Modern Iran, Minorities in the Middle East, History of the Baha?i faith, Religion and society in the Middle East, History and memory in the Middle East, and more.
Publications
לונטל מכין שני ספרים: האחד עוסק ביחסי הגומלין בין דת, לאומיות, וזיכרון במזרח התיכון המודרני (עתיד לראות אור בהוצאת Edinburgh University Press), והשני עוסק בתפקידו של הנרטיב בהיסטוריוגראפיה האסלאמית המוקדמת. הוא פרסם מאמרים על התפתחות הזהות האיראנית?אסלאמית הספרותית ב?Iranian Studies, על המשמעויות המשתנות של הדגל האיראני הקדם?אסלאמי ב?History & Memory, ועל השימוש והניצול לרעה של ההיסטוריה הדתית בידי צדאם חוסין ב?Middle Eastern Studies, וכן מאמרים נוספים, ובהם מחקר על זיכרון בקרב אסלאמיסטים רדיקליים העתיד להתפרסם בכתבי?עת אחרים. הוא גם המתרגם לאנגלית של יצירות אקדמיות רבות מעברית, ובהן ספרו של ירון הראל,Zionism in Damascus (I B Tauris, 2015). הוא גם כתב למעלה משבעים ערכים אנציקלופדיים, ובהם ערכים מקיפים, ל?Encyclop?dia Iranica (2013) ול?Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World (Brill, 2010).
נושאים נוספים שעליהם הוא עובד כיום כוללים מחקר רחב על הקהילה הבהאאית בישראל משנת 1917 ועד ימינו, וכן ניתוח של עיצוב הזהות התאג?יכית. בנוסף, הוא עורך ספר זיכרון לזכרו של פרופ? אביגדור לוי (עתיד לראות אור בהוצאת Brill) וכותב ספר לימוד על ההיסטוריה של מדינת ישראל (עתיד לראות אור בהוצאת Bloomsbury).
Lewental is preparing two book manuscripts, one on the interplay of religion, nationalism, and memory in the modern Middle East (forthcoming with Edinburgh University Press) and the other on the r?le of narrative in early Islamic historiography. He has published articles on the literary development of Islamic Iranian identity in Iranian Studies (2017), the changing meanings of the pre-Islamic Iranian flag in History & Memory (2024), the use and abuse of religious history by ?add?m ?usayn in Middle Eastern Studies (2014) and other articles, including a study of radical Islamists? memory are forthcoming in other journals. He is also the English translator of numerous Hebrew academic works, including Yaron Harel?s Zionism in Damascus (I B Tauris, 2015). He has also contributed over seventy numerous encyclop?dia entries, including lengthy ones, to Encyclop?dia Iranica (2013) and the Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic world (Brill, 2010).
Other topics on which he is currently working include a broad study of the Baha?i community in Israel from 1917 to the present; and an analysis of the elaboration of Tajiki identity.
נושאים נוספים שעליהם הוא עובד כיום כוללים מחקר רחב על הקהילה הבהאאית בישראל משנת 1917 ועד ימינו, וכן ניתוח של עיצוב הזהות התאג?יכית. בנוסף, הוא עורך ספר זיכרון לזכרו של פרופ? אביגדור לוי (עתיד לראות אור בהוצאת Brill) וכותב ספר לימוד על ההיסטוריה של מדינת ישראל (עתיד לראות אור בהוצאת Bloomsbury).
Lewental is preparing two book manuscripts, one on the interplay of religion, nationalism, and memory in the modern Middle East (forthcoming with Edinburgh University Press) and the other on the r?le of narrative in early Islamic historiography. He has published articles on the literary development of Islamic Iranian identity in Iranian Studies (2017), the changing meanings of the pre-Islamic Iranian flag in History & Memory (2024), the use and abuse of religious history by ?add?m ?usayn in Middle Eastern Studies (2014) and other articles, including a study of radical Islamists? memory are forthcoming in other journals. He is also the English translator of numerous Hebrew academic works, including Yaron Harel?s Zionism in Damascus (I B Tauris, 2015). He has also contributed over seventy numerous encyclop?dia entries, including lengthy ones, to Encyclop?dia Iranica (2013) and the Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic world (Brill, 2010).
Other topics on which he is currently working include a broad study of the Baha?i community in Israel from 1917 to the present; and an analysis of the elaboration of Tajiki identity.
