About
Amit Levy is a Spinoza Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department for Israel Studies, School of Regional and Historical Studies, University of Haifa. He previously held affiliations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Center. His research focuses on transnational encounters, migration of knowledge and professions, and their impacts on cross-cultural interactions in 20th-century colonial settings, with a particular interest in German-Jewish visual history.
- PhD in History (2021), Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- MA in History (2016), Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Levy's research explores the history of knowledge production in Mandatory Palestine, emphasizing how Jewish, Arab, and British scholars interacted in shared institutions like museums and scholarly societies. His work analyzes the transformation of German Orientalist scholarship into Israeli Mizrahanut (Oriental Studies) and its role in mediating political, ethnic, and religious divides. Key themes include colonial vocabularies, intercultural communication, and the ambivalence of knowledge in conflict zones.
His recent publications and book chapters highlight trends in historiography, visual history, and archival studies, with a focus on German-Jewish scholars, Zionist Arabists, and Sephardi/Mizrahi communities. His 2024 book A New Orient (Brandeis University Press) won the Jordan Schnitzer First Book Publication Award.
Scientific Awards:
- M. Ish-Shalom Award for First Book in History of the Land of Israel (2025)
- Am Ve’Olam Honorable Mention (2025)
- Zalman Shazar Honorable Mention (2024)
- Jordan Schnitzer First Book Award (2024)
- Naomi and Bernard Frieden Best Dissertation (2023)
Levy's grants include the Israel Science Foundation Book Translation Grant (2023) and fellowships from the Leo Baeck Institute, World Union of Jewish Studies, and Arieh Lubin Foundation. He serves as Managing Editor for Naharaim: Journal for German-Jewish Literature and Cultural History.
