معرفی
Professor Milette Shamir serves as Vice President of Tel Aviv University, overseeing international academic collaboration. She is a faculty member in the Department of English and American Studies within the Faculty of Humanities, where she has held significant administrative roles including Vice Dean of Humanities for Academic Affairs (2015-2019), head of the American Studies program for thirteen years, and chair of the Department of English and American Studies (2006-2009). She co-founded TAU's American Studies program in 2006 and established the pioneering BA in Liberal Arts for international students in 2012, serving as its academic director until 2016.
Shamir's research focuses on 19th-century American literature and culture, with particular expertise in privacy studies, masculinity narratives, Holy-Land travel narratives, and American cultural history. Her scholarly work explores the intersections of gender, religion, and national identity in American literary production. She regularly teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Antebellum American literature, American Realism and Naturalism, gender and sexuality, orientalism, transnationalism, and travel narratives.
Her recent publications demonstrate a consistent engagement with American cultural formations, particularly examining how religious narratives, privacy concepts, and gender identities shaped 19th-century American literature. The articles reveal her methodological range across literary criticism, cultural history, and interdisciplinary approaches to American studies. Her work frequently addresses the relationship between American literary production and religious or spiritual frameworks, especially regarding Holy Land narratives.
- ISF research grant
- Alon scholarship
- Outstanding Academic Title by Choice Magazine, 2006 (for Inexpressible Privacy)
- Teaching excellence prize from TAU's rector
- Teaching excellence prize from Dean of Humanities
Shamir has supervised numerous PhD and MA students in areas related to American literature, gender studies, and cultural history. She has received research funding including an ISF grant and Alon scholarship. As editor-in-chief of Poetics Today and former member of the editorial board of American Literature (2012-2015), she plays a significant role in shaping scholarly discourse in literary studies. Her leadership extends to founding innovative academic programs that have expanded TAU's international academic profile.
Shamir leads research initiatives focused on American literary history and cultural production, particularly through her ongoing work on Protestant-Americans and the Holy Land (1865-1910). Her scholarship bridges literary analysis with cultural history, creating interdisciplinary connections between American studies, religious studies, and gender studies.
