Talk: "Iranian Jews in the Twentieth Century: Between Iranian Nationalism, Communism, and Zionism," Lior Sternfeld (Penn State University)

In the early 20th century, the Iranian Jewish Communities were largely disenfranchised, marginalized, and impoverished. By the 1979 revolution, the situation had changed. Jews played roles in every Iranian political camp: as supporters of the monarchy and of various revolutionary movements. Dr. Sternfeld will analyze the institutional history of Iran’s Jewish communities and the pivotal role they played in facilitating Jewish integration and other social developments. He will further explain how Iran’s Jews adjusted to a rapidly changing post-revolutionary society, in light of the conflict between their respective spiritual and national homelands, Israel and Iran.

Event details: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/scjs/events/event.php?id=48665

For parking: Nearest garages is San Jacinto Garage (SJG). See link: Google Maps

Sponsored by: Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Institute for Historical Studies in the Department of History, and Department of Religious Studies

About Lior Sternfeld:

Dr. Sternfeld is an Assistant Professor of history and Jewish studies at Penn State University. He is a social historian of the modern Middle East with particular interests in the histories of Jews and other minorities. His first book, Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth-Century Iran, examines, against the backdrop of Iranian nationalism, Zionism, and constitutionalism, the development of Iran’s Jewish communities and their integration into the nation building projects of the last century.