UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, July 22, 2020 – The UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center’s new issue of Currents: Briefs on Contemporary Israel was published this week, featuring an essay by Dr. Uri Dorchin, “The History, Politics and Social Construction of ‘Blackness’ in Israel.” An anthropologist specializing in cultural interactions, Dr. Dorchin analyzes how Blackness in Israel has shaped ties between Jews and Arabs, Mizrahim and Ashkenazim, Ethiopians and other immigrants from Africa. Click here to read the latest issue of Currents.

"This issue of Currents couldn't be more timely given the Black Lives Matter protests that recently spread across the United States and around the world," Professor Dov Waxman, the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Chair in Israel Studies, director of the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center, and editor-in-chief of Currents: Briefs on Contemporary Israel. "As the United States and other societies confront their histories of racism and the ways in which systemic racism continues to impact the lives of their Black citizens, Dr. Dorchin's insightful article shows that 'Blackness' is also a salient issue in Israel and has been for a very long time."

Between 2018-2020, Uri Dorchin was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. His edited book Blackness in Israel: Rethinking Racial Boundaries is forthcoming from Routledge (2020). Dorchin holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and Anthropology from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.

Covering Israel’s society, politics, economy, and culture, Currents aims to disseminate scholarly expertise, cutting-edge research, and innovative analyses of Israel to a wide audience.