Orit Bashkin

Orit Bashkin
Mabel Greene Myers Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History
On leave 2023-2024
Pick Hall 223
773.834.8346
Ph.D., Princeton University, 2005
Teaching at UChicago since 2004

Academic Bio

I am a historian who works on the intellectual, social and cultural history of the modern Middle East. I got my Ph.D. from Princeton University (2004), writing a thesis on Iraqi intellectual history under the supervision of Professors Robert Tignor and Samah Selim, and my BA (1995) and MA (1999) from Tel Aviv University. Since my graduation, I have been working as a professor of modern Middle Eastern history in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. My publications deal with Iraqi history, the history of Iraqi Jews, the Arab cultural revival movement (the nahda) in the late 19th century, and the connections between modern Arab history and Arabic literature.  My current research project explores the lives of Iraqi Jews in Israel. My graduate students work on a range of issues: cultural history of Ottoman Iraq, the British mandates in Trans Jordan and Iraq, leisure in the Arab world, Mizrahi women, Syrian diplomacy, the Ottoman press, and Arab political thought. At the University of Chicago, I teach classes on nationalism, colonialism and postcolonialism in the Middle East, on modern Islamic civilization, and on Israeli history. 

 

Recent Public Talks

Orit Bashkin and Aviv Ben-Or present during the second session of this international conference "Between Baghdad and Haifa: A Tribute to Israeli Author Sami Michael" held at Northwestern University, October 7-9, 2015.

Selected Publications

Recent & Regularly Taught Courses

  • NEHC 10122 Nations in Crisis, Nations in Diaspora: the History of Palestine and Iraq
  • NEHC 26151 / 36151 History of Iraq in the 20th Century
  • NEHC 20937 / 30937 Nationalism & Colonialism in the Middle East
  • NEHC 26150 / 36150 The Modern Discovery of the Ancient Middle East: Archaeology
Affiliated Departments and Centers: Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Subject Area: Islamic History and Civilization