Orian Zakai

Dr. Orian Zakai is Associate Professor of Hebrew/Israeli Literature and Culture at George Washington University's Columbian College of Arts & Sciences, where she also coordinates the Hebrew program. Her scholarship examines modern Hebrew literature through frameworks of gender, nationalism, and cultural identity, employing interdisciplinary approaches that connect literature with history and politics.

Publications include a monograph analyzing women's writing in Zionist imagination and a Hebrew short fiction collection. Her research explores:

• Gender representations in national narratives
• Intersectional identity formations
• Literary-artistic interdisciplinary connections
• Israeli cultural politics

Teaching emphasizes contextual understanding of Hebrew literature within socio-political frameworks, with language instruction methods prioritizing communicative competence and diverse learning styles.