Dalsheim to talk ‘Unsettling Gaza’ for Personally Speaking

Joyce Dalsheim will discuss her groundbreaking study of Israeli settlers in the Gaza Strip and the resulting book about her enthographic work at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 12, at UNC Charlotte Center City, as part of the 2012-13 Personally Speaking lecture series.

An assistant professor in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Department of Global, International and Area Studies, Dalsheim is a cultural anthropologist who studies nationalism, religion and the secular and the conflict in Israel/Palestine. She earned a doctorate from the New School for Social Research and has taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ben Gurion University of the Negev and Wake Forest University.

Dalsheim’s book “Unsettling Gaza: Secular Liberalism, Radical Religion and the Israeli Settlement Project” considers one of the most contentious issues in the Middle East: the Israeli settlement project. Based on fieldwork in the settlements of the Gaza Strip and surrounding communities during the year prior to the Israeli withdrawal, “Unsettling Gaza” poses controversial questions about the settlement of Israeli occupied territories in ways that move beyond the usual categories of politics, religion and culture.

Critics have called “Unsettling Gaza” fascinating, lucid, unsettling and altogether readable. Jonathan Boyarin, Kaplan Distinguished Professor of Modern Jewish Thought at UNC-Chapel Hill, wrote in a review that “Joyce Dalsheim’s book is rich in critical acumen, yet closely grounded in the realities it depicts and altogether readable… It directly addresses core aspects of the Zionist project and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without rancor, and it adroitly moves beyond the stereotypes of actors in that conflict as it depicts the multiform anxieties underlying what Waldheim calls ‘the desire to differentiate.’”

The Feb. 12 talk is free and open to the public; it is the third in the 2012-13 Personally Speaking lecture series presented by UNC Charlotte’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and J. Murrey Atkins Library.

The Personally Speaking lecture series further connects the community with College of Liberal Arts & Sciences faculty members and their research. “We support the University’s mission to serve as a resource to the greater Charlotte area, and this series is an excellent way to share with the community the knowledge and expertise of our faculty,” said Nancy Gutierrez, dean of the college.

The setting for each Personally Speaking event is casual, with the author presenting and then engaging in a discussion with attendees. A reception and book signing follow. Reservations are requested via email to clas-event@uncc.edu or by calling 704-687-0085.