Yigal S. Nizri

Yigal S. Nizri

First Name: 
Yigal
Last Name: 
S. Nizri
Title: 
Associate Professor, Teaching Stream
Phone : 
416-978-4705
Office Location : 
Jackman Humanities Building, Room 202, 170 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5R 2M8
Biography : 

My research focus on the cultures and histories of Arabic-speaking Jews and Mizrahi history in Israel. Specifically, my work explores the emergence of a Jewish Moroccan scribal culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries within the context of trans-Mediterranean Maghribi-Jewish diasporic networks. My research contributions have been featured in various volumes, including The Sephardic Atlantic: Colonial Histories and Postcolonial Perspectives (2018), From Something to Nothing: Jewish Mysticism in Contemporary Canadian Jewish Studies (2019), and Textual Transmission in Contemporary Jewish Cultures (2020). Moreover, I have contributed to Hebrew publications focusing on visual art, cinema, foodways, and language. Notably, in 2004, I published an edited volume in Hebrew titled Eastern Appearance: A Present that Stirs in the Thickets of its Arab Past. The essays were devoted to the cultural politics of Mizrahim from the 1950s through the 2000s, shedding light on the complex dynamics and transformations experienced by Mizrahi communities during that period.

Education: 
PhD, New York University
Personal Website: 
https://utoronto.academia.edu/YigalSNizri

People Type:

Research Area:

Areas of Interest: 
  • Modern Jewish History
  • Maghribi halakhic traditions
  • Jewish itineraries into Muslim lands
  • Israel/Palestine
  • Hebrew instruction
Cross-Appointments: 
Department for the Study of Religion and Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies (ATCJS)
Administrative Service: 
Undergraduate Director, ATCJS