Upcoming Events

A woman and a man grappling, their hands covering each other's faces
Photo from "Cut.Loose" performance, courtesy of Stav Marin and Neta Weiner.

At a Glance

February 11 - Haim Yacobi: Architecture, Everyday Life and the Urban Geopolitics of Jerusalem [The Richard Saivetz ‘69 Annual Memorial Architectural Lecture Series] 

February 23 - Fashioning Diaspora: Moroccan Jewish Histories in Los Angeles [Sephardi Modernities Seminar Series]

March 5 - From Morocco, Elsewhere: Jewish–Muslim Entanglements Through the Lens of Cultural Intimacy [Sephardi Modernities Seminar Series]

March 19 - SAVE THE DATE Book Launch: Ilana Szobel's "The Un-Chosen Body: Disability Culture in Israel" [Stay tuned for details!] 

April 13-14 - SAVE THE DATE Spring Conference: Diversifying the Israeli Diaspora [Stay tuned for details!] 

April 16 - Between Israel and Morocco: Jewish Moroccan Cultural Displays in the Homeland and the Diaspora [Sephardi Modernities Seminar Series]

May 12 - The Long Way Home: Key Themes in Sephardi and Mizrahi Diaspora Studies [Sephardi Modernities Seminar Series]

The Sephardi Modernities Seminar Series 2026, Diasporas: Sephardi Perspectives has an exciting slate of monthly lectures and runs through May 12. Learn more and register. 

 

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Coming up

"Shekhina" by Neta Elkayam: A folk-art painting of a faceless woman in a patterned blue kaftan and headscarf, centered before a white building with a red roof under a floral-patterned arch.

Shekhina, by Neta Elkayam

Sephardi Modernities Seminar Series 2026 - Diasporas: Sephardi Perspectives

January 26 | February 23 | March 5 | April 16 | May 12
12:30-2 PM ET on Zoom

Learn more and register


This annual lecture series presents different experiences of Sephardi modernization across place and time. The 2026 series explores the concept of diaspora as a lens for understanding the modern and contemporary Sephardi world.  We will address the diversity of modern Sephardi Jewish experiences by considering diaspora as shaped by histories of migration and return, continuity and rupture, belonging and exclusion.

We will engage with the histories and experiences of Sephardi communities across imperial, colonial, and post-colonial landscapes in order to examine questions of multiple belongings, identity formation, and cultural transmission.

Organized by Angy Cohen (Spanish National Research Council) and Yuval Evri (Brandeis University). Sponsored by the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University and the Calgary Institute for the Humanities at the University of Calgary.

Hill in Jerusalem stacked with small, stone homes, capped by a tower stretching into a blue sky above.

Photo Credit: Haim Yacobi

Haim Yacobi: Architecture, Everyday Life and the Urban Geopolitics of Jerusalem

Wednesday, February 11, 2026
4:00-5:30 PM
Rapaporte Treasure Hall
Goldfarb/Farber Library

Join us for the Richard Saivetz ’69 Memorial Architectural Lecture, featuring Haim Yacobi, Professor of Development Planning at University College London (UCL). This talk will explore how planning, architecture, and urban design shape Jerusalem’s imagined colonial geographies beyond military occupation and exclusionary policy. Situating Jerusalem within a broader geopolitical framework, Prof. Yacobi will examine how architecture operates as a form of control in settler societies. Drawing on archival research, interviews, and fieldwork, Haim Yacobi will discuss how power, protest, and spatial counter-products intersect in the production of urban space and the politics of the built environment. 

This event is free and open to the public. No RSVP is required. Walk-ins are welcome!

Presented by the Brandeis Fine Arts Department and cosponsored by the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies. 

Past Events

Visit our YouTube channel to watch recordings of a wide range of Schusterman Center events from 2020 to the present. You will find content useful to scholars, instructors, students, and the intellictually curious.  Subscribe if you would like to be notified when new recordings are posted.

Check out PAST events