Professor Adia Mendelson Maoz
Adia Mendelson Maoz is a professor of Israeli literature and culture in the Department of Literature, Language, and Arts at the Open University of Israel.
She served as the chair of the Department of Literature, Language, and Arts at the Open University of Israel; chair of the MA program of cultural studies and as the head of the DHSS Hub, the center for digital humanities and social sciences at the Open University. Mendelson Maoz is a co-chief editor of Israel Studies Review. She was a post-doc fellow in University of California, Berkeley (2002-2204) and a research fellow at Harvard University (2015-2016). Mendelson Maoz investigates the multifaceted relationships between literature, ethics, politics, and culture, mainly in the context of Hebrew Literature and Israeli culture. Her recent books include ‘Multiculturalism in Israel – Literary Perspectives’ (Purdue UP, 2014); ‘Borders, Territories, and Ethics: Hebrew Literature in the Shadow of the Intifada’, (Purdue UP, 2018); and her Hebrew books: ‘Territories and Borders in the Shadow of the Intifada: Ethical Reading of Hebrew Literature 1987-2007’ (Magnes press, 2021); ‘Center or Periphery: Identity Discourse in Israeli Literature’ (Open University press, 2021). Mendelson Maoz research project, funded by an ISF (Israeli science foundation) grant, presents a comprehensive picture of the Hebrew author Yoram Kaniuk’s literary endeavor, based on his personal estate. Her manuscript, ‘Yoram Kaniuk: Other than Biography’ has been awarded the Bahat award, Haifa University, and is forthcoming in 2025. Mendelson Maoz is currently working on Digital Humanities projects that seek to shed new light on the history of Hebrew Literature. Her project, with Avi Shmidman, Bar Ilan University, “Computational Stylistic Profiles for the Analysis of Modern Hebrew Prose” won the Israel Ministry of Science grant for Digital Humanities in 2020.
At Clare Hall, Adia is accompanied by her husband, Shahar Maoz, Professor at Tel Aviv University, School of Computer Science, specializing in Software Engineering. Prof. Maoz is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King’s College, London (2024-2025).
Select publications
Selected Books:
- Mendelson Maoz, Adia. Borders, Territories and Ethics –Hebrew Literature in Shadow of the Intifada. Purdue University Press, 2018 (242 pp) https://www.press.purdue.edu/9781557538208/borders-territories-and-ethics/
- Mendelson Maoz, Adia. Multiculturalism in Israel – Literary Perspectives, Purdue University Press, 2014 (360 pp). https://www.press.purdue.edu/9781557536808/multiculturalism-in-israel/
Selected Articles:
- Mendelson Maoz, Adia. “Kaniuk’s Canine Writings” AJS Review, 48.1 (April 2024): 127-145 . https://doi.org/10.1353/ajs.2024.a926060
- Mendelson Maoz, Adia. “The Testimonies of the Land: Amos Oz’s and Amozs Gitai’s Journeys in the Land of Israel.” Dibur Literary Journal 14 (Spring 2023): 25-36. https://arcade.stanford.edu/dibur/testimonies-land-amos-oz%E2%80%99s-and-amos-gitai%E2%80%99s-journeys-land-israel
- Mendelson Maoz, Adia.”Memory and Space in the Autobiographical Writings of Amos Oz and Ronit Matalon” Journal of Israeli History, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/13531042.2020.1865320
- Mendelson Maoz, Adia. “Jerusalem Time: Reading Contemporary Israeli Dystopias” Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 2020 https://doi.org/10.1080/00111619.2020.1858747
- Mendelson Maoz, Adia. “Fragments from the Past – Kaniuk’s Witnessing and the Poetics of Displacement”, Prooftexts 39.1 (2022) https://doi.org/10.2979/prooftexts.39.1.05
- Mendelson Maoz, Adia. “The Fallacy of Analogy and the Risk of Moral Imperialism: Israeli Literature and the Palestinian Other.” Humanities 2019, 8(3), 119 https://doi.org/10.3390/h8030119
Select Awards
- 2024 – Bahat Award, Haifa University, Yoram Kaniuk: Other Than Biography, 2024
- 2020 – Ministry of Science, Digital Humanities (with Avi Shmidman, Bar Ilan University), “Computational Stylistic Profiles for the Analysis of Modern Hebrew Prose.”
- 2015- ISF – Israeli Israel Science Foundation, Yoram Kaniuk: Life and Work
Further links
Prof. Mendelson Maoz Personal site:
https://www.openu.ac.il/en/personalsites/ProfAdiaMendelsonMaoz.aspx