U of C launches Kahanoff chair in Israel Studies

The University of Calgary is now part of a small but growing field of academic organizations offering modern Israel studies.

On October 20 the new Kahanoff Chair in Israel Studies will be officially inaugurated; together with a new Israel Studies Program also supported by the Kahanoff Foundation, this development makes the U of C one of the centers of this emerging multidisciplinary analysis of Israeli history, politics, society, and culture.

“ To the best of my knowledge, there are only four Chairs of Israel Studies in the academic world outside of Israel,” says Alan Dowty, the first holder of the Kahanoff Chair. “The fact that two of these Chairs are in Canada (in Calgary and Toronto) is eloquent testimony to the dynamism and openness of the Canadian academy. The establishment of a Chair at the University of Calgary is testimony to the vision and acumen of a university leadership that recognizes an underdeveloped focus of scholarly attention.”

Dowty (left) says the academic study of modern Israel has not kept pace with the growth of the nation’s objective importance on the world scene. The study of Israel has not found a home either in the broader geographic context of Middle Eastern studies or in the broader cultural context of Jewish studies – though both of those fields have flourished in recent decades. Israel Studies has now begun to emerge as an independent field of inquiry.

Yet, Dowty argues, “it is precisely because of the politics and the controversy, and the challenge of insuring objectivity, that honest academic analysis is more necessary than ever.”

Dowty comes to the University of Calgary from the University of Notre Dame, where he has served as Professor of Political Science since 1975.

On Oct. 20, Dowty will take part in a special lecture, Israel Studies: Challenges & Vision, to mark the inauguration of the Kahanoff Chair in Israel Studies. A panel discussion, "Modern Israel from Nation Building to Peace," will be included, with a reception to follow. The event will be held at the Husky Oil Great Hall, Rozsa Centre, beginning at 645 pm. For more information, call 220-5288.