Malachi Haim Hacohen

Malachi Haim Hacohen is Professor of History and Bass Fellow at Duke University’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, with additional appointments in Religious Studies and German Studies. He also directs the Religions and Public Life Initiative at the Kenan Institute for Ethics and is a member of the faculties of Jewish Studies and Slavic & Eurasian Studies. Previously he taught at Columbia University, New York University and Reed College.

Education

• Ph.D. Columbia University, 1993
• M.Phil. Columbia University, 1983
• M.A. Columbia University, 1982
• B.A. Bar-Ilan University (Israel), 1979

Research Interests

Hacohen’s scholarship integrates intellectual history, Jewish European history, social theory and political philosophy, focusing on Central Europe from the Habsburg Empire to the Cold War. He explores rabbinic culture from Midrash to Kabbalah to halakhic responsa, the Central-European Jewish intelligentsia, nation-state versus empire, Jewish–Christian relations, Viennese science and culture, émigré networks, and trans-Atlantic liberalism. His work is simultaneously rooted in traditional Jewish sources and cosmopolitan European perspectives.

Major Publications & Themes

Across books and articles, two grand narratives dominate: the intellectual biography of Karl Popper and the two-millennia Jewish European experience refracted through the Jacob & Esau typology. Recent writings further examine Austrian identity, the university’s engagement with the Talmud, and comparative minority histories of Jews and Roma.

Awards & Honors

• Herbert Baxter Adams Prize (AHA, 2001)
• Victor Adler-Staatspreis (Austrian State Prize)
• Frederick Burkhardt Fellowship (ACLS)
• Fulbright, Mellon and Whiting Fellowships
• Fellowships at Oxford Centre for Hebrew & Jewish Studies, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, National Humanities Center, IFK Vienna

Advising & Collaborative Leadership

Hacohen currently supervises PhD students including Eric W. Brandom and Daniel Bessner. He coordinates the Triangle Intellectual History Seminar (Duke, NCSU, UNC Chapel Hill, Wake Forest), the North Carolina Jewish Studies Seminar, and leads an international project on Empire, Socialism and Jews with conferences in Vienna and Duke.

Institutional & Editorial Service

He has served on editorial boards of leading journals and on international boards such as the House of History–Austria, Vienna International Summer University, IFK, and the Adler & Vogelsang Austrian State Prize jury.