Association For Israel Studies

Association for Israel Studies (AIS) is an international, interdisciplinary scholarly society devoted to the academic and professional study of modern Israel.

History

The Association for Israel Studies (AIS) was founded in the U.S. as an independent scholarly association by a group of scholars in 1985 to critically study Israel as an academic topic. Early involved scholars included Ian Lustick, a proponent of the one-state solution, and Gershon Shafir, a critical sociologists who studied Zionism as a form of colonialism. Since its founding, AIS has been affiliated with the Middle East Studies Association (MESA).

When MESA members voted in 2022 to endorse the BDS movement, AIS members were the only scholars to speak out against the proposal. At AIS's annual conference, its membership voted to officially disaffiliate from MESA.

Membership and Affiliates

The Association's membership is composed of individual scholars from multiple fields of study. The association also offers institutional membership to college and university programs, departments, research institutions, and cultural organizations that focus on Israel Studie
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Officials

AIS President for the 2021-2023 period is Professor Arieh Saposn
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Journal

In 1986, the AIS began to publish a scholarly journal, Israel Studies Review (ISR), published a few times a year by Berghahn Books. ISR explores modern and contemporary Israel from the perspective of the social sciences, history, the humanities, and cultural studies and welcomes submissions on these subjects. The journal also pays close attention to the relationships of Israel to the Middle East and to the wider world; it encourages scholarly articles with this broader theoretical or comparative approach provided the focus remains on modern Israel.

One of the main tasks of the ISR is to review in a timely manner recent books on Israel-related themes, published in English and Hebrew. Authors and publishers are invited to send their books for review consideration.

References

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External links

* http://www.aisisraelstudies.org/
* Mitchell Bard
Israel Studies in the United States: A Growth Industry
''Israelis'' 8 (2017), pp. 215–236.

The Woodman Scheller Israel Studies International Program (WSISIP)
of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,

The Ben-Gurion Research Institute

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Research institutes established in 1985
Learned societies of the United States
Middle Eastern studies in the United States
Middle Eastern studies organizations
Israeli studies
1985 establishments in the United States