David Motzafi-Haller | University of Neuchâtel (original) (raw)
Papers by David Motzafi-Haller
Journal of Israeli History, 2019
View related articles View Crossmark data mastery of an intimidatingly vast corpus of documentary... more View related articles View Crossmark data mastery of an intimidatingly vast corpus of documentary materials, and it has not been executed as such in this English version.
Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East & North African Migration Studies
This paper looks at careers, families, and households as a way to explore the relationship betwee... more This paper looks at careers, families, and households as a way to explore the relationship between two forms of movement—physical and social. Privileging the account of a family over the more traditional androcentric historical narrative, it utilizes the correspondence of one Zionist-Yishuvi family, the Muchniks, during World War II. The analysis points to the Muchniks’ adoption of a coherent family strategy, one that attempted to harness the extensive wartime profits that flowed to the Zionist Yishuv during this period to attain lasting upward mobility for the family. By adopting a split household pattern, the article argues, the Muchnik family strategy consisted of two interdependent cogwheels of physical movement. In the first, Rosa and the children dissolved all semblance of a nuclear household and instead constantly moved between their extended family’s farmsteads in the Zionist agricultural settlement of Nahalal. In the second, Pinchas was temporarily freed from the obligation...
Mashriq&Mahjar, 2022
This paper looks at careers, families, and households as a means to explore the relationship betw... more This paper looks at careers, families, and households as a means to explore the relationship between two forms of movement-physical and social. Privileging the account of a family over the more traditional androcentric historical narrative, it utilizes the correspondence of one Zionist-Yishuvi family, the Muchniks, during World War II. The analysis points to the Muchniks' adoption of a coherent family strategy, one that attempted to harness the extensive wartime profits that flowed to the Zionist Yishuv during this period to attain lasting upward mobility for the family.
The scholarly context for the Pierre du Bois Annual Conference 2022 is a fascinating development... more The scholarly context for the Pierre du Bois Annual
Conference 2022 is a fascinating development in the
discipline of history in the last decade: the rising interest in
trans- and interimperial histories. These build on studies
showing that a single empire’s metropole and colonies
need to be empirically and conceptually integrated. In the
first decade of the 21st century, such more contextualized
and decentered histories of empire started evolving into
trans- and interimperial histories proper. Inspired by an
earlier turn to transnational and global histories, respective
historians have been critiquing a deeply rooted and
ultimately nationally-biased tendency, by many historians
of empire, to focus empirical research and even conceptual
conclusions on one single empire. The rise of trans- and
interimperial histories crystallized by the 2010s—though it
was, one may say, predated by older studies of non-
European modern empires. While methodologically
dissimilar to present trans- and interimperial studies, these
studies quasi by necessity paid considerable attention to
(often unequal) relationships especially with modern
European and American empires.
The fundamental objective of the present conference is
to take stock of this fascinating, partly old though mainly
new field of historical inquiry as it regards the modern
period; to bring together people who work on diverse transand
interimperial themes, approaches, and geographical
areas; and to chart possible future research synergies,
prospects, and trajectories.
To this effect, the conference, which will feature a keynote
by a preeminent scholar of the Japanese Empire,
Louise Young, brings to the Graduate Institute in Geneva
about forty participants whose studies involve the Belgian,
British, Qing Chinese, French, German, Habsburg, Qajar
Iranian, Italian, Japanese, Ottoman, Portuguese, Russian,
and US-American empires, and who will speak on themes
ranging from methodological and historiographical reflections
to regions, labor, economy, settlers and agriculture,
war and violence, culture, institutions and knowledge,
race, law, and nation(alism)s.
where she teaches Middle East and Islamic Studies. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Mi... more where she teaches Middle East and Islamic Studies. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. Her research focuses on the history of the Ottoman Empire and Southeastern Europe with a focus on migrations, Muslim modernities, empires and their legacies. Leyla Amzi-Erdogdular's forthcoming book titled, Afterlife of Empire, explores Ottoman continuities in Habsburg Bosnia Herzegovina and the imperial imprint on modern institutions, citizenship, and allegiance.
The scholarly context for the Pierre du Bois Annual Conference 2022 is a fascinating development ... more The scholarly context for the Pierre du Bois Annual Conference 2022 is a fascinating development in the discipline of history in the last decade: the rising interest in trans-and interimperial histories. These build on studies showing that a single empire's metropole and colonies need to be empirically and conceptually integrated. In the first decade of the 21st century, such more contextualized and decentered histories of empire started evolving into trans-and interimperial histories proper. Inspired by an earlier turn to transnational and global histories, respective historians have been critiquing a deeply rooted and ultimately nationally-biased tendency, by many historians of empire, to focus empirical research and even conceptual conclusions on one single empire. The rise of trans-and interimperial histories crystallized by the 2010s-though it was, one may say, predated by older studies of non-European modern empires. While methodologically dissimilar to present trans-and interimperial studies, these studies quasi by necessity paid considerable attention to (often unequal) relationships especially with modern European and American empires.
Journal of Israeli History , 2020
A case study of one nuclear family, the Mutchniks from Nahalal, focusing on the dynamic between i... more A case study of one nuclear family, the Mutchniks from Nahalal, focusing on the dynamic between its dominant patron, Pinchas, and its dominant matron, Rosa, and a spatial analysis of the “home away from home” they had built in Yeruham from 1956 to 1969. These two aspects tie together an article concerned with several interlocking questions. What kind of decisions make up an intergenerational family strategy, and what role do women play in planning and carrying it out? How can a history that is (mis)represented by contemporary sources produce a valuable analysis? How were patronage networks micromanaged? And how is keeping the privileged access to professional and financial opportunities in the frontier to certain groups of settlers related to long-term social climbing avenues?
Middle Eastern Studies , 2020
The article focuses on the early stages of the colonization of the Israeli Negev during the 1950s... more The article focuses on the early stages of the colonization of the Israeli Negev during the 1950s. It reconstructs the early stages of the settlement of Yeruham from the perspective of one local administrator, Shlomo Tamir, who managed the settlement for a one-year period, 1952–1953. Conceptualizing Tamir’s role as that of a mediator, it draws attention to the forming political structure of patronage and clientelism on the local level and the concomitant changes in the ‘big-man’ networks of pre-state elite networks as they expanded into Israel’s southern frontier. A micro historical analysis focused on Tamir’s deputies furnishes a discussion on the social make-up of the Israeli frontier, comprising of a typical frontier mixture of fortune seekers, opportunity hunters, semi-indentured laborers and upwardly mobile colonists.
Drafts by David Motzafi-Haller
Building on a resurgent interest in transnational studies detailing the interplay of capitalism, ... more Building on a resurgent interest in transnational studies detailing the interplay of capitalism, colonialism, development and nationalization, I propose to pursue a PhD research project which would reinsert the political economy of Zionism into the global history of capitalism and empire. As a point of entry into the study of the networks of private venture capitalism, union collectivism, nation building, imperialism, social mobility and consumerism I suggest Solel Boneh, an Israeli syndicate-controlled construction contractor. Building roads, bridges, refineries, pipelines, shipyards, electric grids, and airstrips throughout the Middle East, Africa and Europe from the 1920s to the late 1970s at the service of imperial capitalist and post-independence socialist governments alike, Solel Boneh became a major infrastructure subcontractor on the global stage and a crossroads of techno-political knowledge, social climbers and multilateral economic and political ties.
Book Reviews by David Motzafi-Haller
הזמן הזה, 2020
המחקר ההיסטורי נוהג לבחון מקרים של חלוקה טריטוריאלית כתהליכים לאומיים, מקומיים וייחודיים. ספרה הח... more המחקר ההיסטורי נוהג לבחון מקרים של חלוקה טריטוריאלית כתהליכים לאומיים,
מקומיים וייחודיים. ספרה החדש של פני סיננוגלו, העוסק בפלשתינה המנדטורית,
דוחה טענה זו ומציב את עקרון החלוקה בהקשר אימפריאלי רחב יותר. סיננוגלו מראה
כי עקרון החלוקה בפלשתינה קודם במידה רבה על ידי פקידים בריטים שהשתמשו בו
ככלי מתוך תיבת הכלים האימפריאלית – פתרון מן המוכן המבוסס על ניסיון
מטריטוריות אחרות של האימפריה. כמו דורות של מומחי "תהליך השלום" שבאו
אחריהם, הפקידים שעמלו על תוכנית החלוקה הגו בביטחון חסר עכבות תוכניות לא
מבוססות ושרטטו גבולות בזירה שאותה לא הבינו במידה מספקת, ועיצבו כך את גורלם
של עמים לדורות
קתדרה, 2020
ביקורת ספר: אילנה רוזן, "חלוצים בפועל: קריאות בספרות תיעודית של ותיקי יישובי הדרום בישראל"
Journal of Israeli History Politics, Society, Culture, 2019
Talks by David Motzafi-Haller
Talk Presented at the "Beyond Borders" conference, Seit-Stiftung, Berlin, May 2018
Conferences by David Motzafi-Haller
The scholarly context for the Pierre du Bois Annual Conference 2022 is a fascinating development ... more The scholarly context for the Pierre du Bois Annual Conference 2022 is a fascinating development in the discipline of history in the last decade: the rising interest in trans- and interimperial histories.
Journal of Israeli History, 2019
View related articles View Crossmark data mastery of an intimidatingly vast corpus of documentary... more View related articles View Crossmark data mastery of an intimidatingly vast corpus of documentary materials, and it has not been executed as such in this English version.
Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East & North African Migration Studies
This paper looks at careers, families, and households as a way to explore the relationship betwee... more This paper looks at careers, families, and households as a way to explore the relationship between two forms of movement—physical and social. Privileging the account of a family over the more traditional androcentric historical narrative, it utilizes the correspondence of one Zionist-Yishuvi family, the Muchniks, during World War II. The analysis points to the Muchniks’ adoption of a coherent family strategy, one that attempted to harness the extensive wartime profits that flowed to the Zionist Yishuv during this period to attain lasting upward mobility for the family. By adopting a split household pattern, the article argues, the Muchnik family strategy consisted of two interdependent cogwheels of physical movement. In the first, Rosa and the children dissolved all semblance of a nuclear household and instead constantly moved between their extended family’s farmsteads in the Zionist agricultural settlement of Nahalal. In the second, Pinchas was temporarily freed from the obligation...
Mashriq&Mahjar, 2022
This paper looks at careers, families, and households as a means to explore the relationship betw... more This paper looks at careers, families, and households as a means to explore the relationship between two forms of movement-physical and social. Privileging the account of a family over the more traditional androcentric historical narrative, it utilizes the correspondence of one Zionist-Yishuvi family, the Muchniks, during World War II. The analysis points to the Muchniks' adoption of a coherent family strategy, one that attempted to harness the extensive wartime profits that flowed to the Zionist Yishuv during this period to attain lasting upward mobility for the family.
The scholarly context for the Pierre du Bois Annual Conference 2022 is a fascinating development... more The scholarly context for the Pierre du Bois Annual
Conference 2022 is a fascinating development in the
discipline of history in the last decade: the rising interest in
trans- and interimperial histories. These build on studies
showing that a single empire’s metropole and colonies
need to be empirically and conceptually integrated. In the
first decade of the 21st century, such more contextualized
and decentered histories of empire started evolving into
trans- and interimperial histories proper. Inspired by an
earlier turn to transnational and global histories, respective
historians have been critiquing a deeply rooted and
ultimately nationally-biased tendency, by many historians
of empire, to focus empirical research and even conceptual
conclusions on one single empire. The rise of trans- and
interimperial histories crystallized by the 2010s—though it
was, one may say, predated by older studies of non-
European modern empires. While methodologically
dissimilar to present trans- and interimperial studies, these
studies quasi by necessity paid considerable attention to
(often unequal) relationships especially with modern
European and American empires.
The fundamental objective of the present conference is
to take stock of this fascinating, partly old though mainly
new field of historical inquiry as it regards the modern
period; to bring together people who work on diverse transand
interimperial themes, approaches, and geographical
areas; and to chart possible future research synergies,
prospects, and trajectories.
To this effect, the conference, which will feature a keynote
by a preeminent scholar of the Japanese Empire,
Louise Young, brings to the Graduate Institute in Geneva
about forty participants whose studies involve the Belgian,
British, Qing Chinese, French, German, Habsburg, Qajar
Iranian, Italian, Japanese, Ottoman, Portuguese, Russian,
and US-American empires, and who will speak on themes
ranging from methodological and historiographical reflections
to regions, labor, economy, settlers and agriculture,
war and violence, culture, institutions and knowledge,
race, law, and nation(alism)s.
where she teaches Middle East and Islamic Studies. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Mi... more where she teaches Middle East and Islamic Studies. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. Her research focuses on the history of the Ottoman Empire and Southeastern Europe with a focus on migrations, Muslim modernities, empires and their legacies. Leyla Amzi-Erdogdular's forthcoming book titled, Afterlife of Empire, explores Ottoman continuities in Habsburg Bosnia Herzegovina and the imperial imprint on modern institutions, citizenship, and allegiance.
The scholarly context for the Pierre du Bois Annual Conference 2022 is a fascinating development ... more The scholarly context for the Pierre du Bois Annual Conference 2022 is a fascinating development in the discipline of history in the last decade: the rising interest in trans-and interimperial histories. These build on studies showing that a single empire's metropole and colonies need to be empirically and conceptually integrated. In the first decade of the 21st century, such more contextualized and decentered histories of empire started evolving into trans-and interimperial histories proper. Inspired by an earlier turn to transnational and global histories, respective historians have been critiquing a deeply rooted and ultimately nationally-biased tendency, by many historians of empire, to focus empirical research and even conceptual conclusions on one single empire. The rise of trans-and interimperial histories crystallized by the 2010s-though it was, one may say, predated by older studies of non-European modern empires. While methodologically dissimilar to present trans-and interimperial studies, these studies quasi by necessity paid considerable attention to (often unequal) relationships especially with modern European and American empires.
Journal of Israeli History , 2020
A case study of one nuclear family, the Mutchniks from Nahalal, focusing on the dynamic between i... more A case study of one nuclear family, the Mutchniks from Nahalal, focusing on the dynamic between its dominant patron, Pinchas, and its dominant matron, Rosa, and a spatial analysis of the “home away from home” they had built in Yeruham from 1956 to 1969. These two aspects tie together an article concerned with several interlocking questions. What kind of decisions make up an intergenerational family strategy, and what role do women play in planning and carrying it out? How can a history that is (mis)represented by contemporary sources produce a valuable analysis? How were patronage networks micromanaged? And how is keeping the privileged access to professional and financial opportunities in the frontier to certain groups of settlers related to long-term social climbing avenues?
Middle Eastern Studies , 2020
The article focuses on the early stages of the colonization of the Israeli Negev during the 1950s... more The article focuses on the early stages of the colonization of the Israeli Negev during the 1950s. It reconstructs the early stages of the settlement of Yeruham from the perspective of one local administrator, Shlomo Tamir, who managed the settlement for a one-year period, 1952–1953. Conceptualizing Tamir’s role as that of a mediator, it draws attention to the forming political structure of patronage and clientelism on the local level and the concomitant changes in the ‘big-man’ networks of pre-state elite networks as they expanded into Israel’s southern frontier. A micro historical analysis focused on Tamir’s deputies furnishes a discussion on the social make-up of the Israeli frontier, comprising of a typical frontier mixture of fortune seekers, opportunity hunters, semi-indentured laborers and upwardly mobile colonists.
Building on a resurgent interest in transnational studies detailing the interplay of capitalism, ... more Building on a resurgent interest in transnational studies detailing the interplay of capitalism, colonialism, development and nationalization, I propose to pursue a PhD research project which would reinsert the political economy of Zionism into the global history of capitalism and empire. As a point of entry into the study of the networks of private venture capitalism, union collectivism, nation building, imperialism, social mobility and consumerism I suggest Solel Boneh, an Israeli syndicate-controlled construction contractor. Building roads, bridges, refineries, pipelines, shipyards, electric grids, and airstrips throughout the Middle East, Africa and Europe from the 1920s to the late 1970s at the service of imperial capitalist and post-independence socialist governments alike, Solel Boneh became a major infrastructure subcontractor on the global stage and a crossroads of techno-political knowledge, social climbers and multilateral economic and political ties.
הזמן הזה, 2020
המחקר ההיסטורי נוהג לבחון מקרים של חלוקה טריטוריאלית כתהליכים לאומיים, מקומיים וייחודיים. ספרה הח... more המחקר ההיסטורי נוהג לבחון מקרים של חלוקה טריטוריאלית כתהליכים לאומיים,
מקומיים וייחודיים. ספרה החדש של פני סיננוגלו, העוסק בפלשתינה המנדטורית,
דוחה טענה זו ומציב את עקרון החלוקה בהקשר אימפריאלי רחב יותר. סיננוגלו מראה
כי עקרון החלוקה בפלשתינה קודם במידה רבה על ידי פקידים בריטים שהשתמשו בו
ככלי מתוך תיבת הכלים האימפריאלית – פתרון מן המוכן המבוסס על ניסיון
מטריטוריות אחרות של האימפריה. כמו דורות של מומחי "תהליך השלום" שבאו
אחריהם, הפקידים שעמלו על תוכנית החלוקה הגו בביטחון חסר עכבות תוכניות לא
מבוססות ושרטטו גבולות בזירה שאותה לא הבינו במידה מספקת, ועיצבו כך את גורלם
של עמים לדורות
קתדרה, 2020
ביקורת ספר: אילנה רוזן, "חלוצים בפועל: קריאות בספרות תיעודית של ותיקי יישובי הדרום בישראל"
Journal of Israeli History Politics, Society, Culture, 2019
Talk Presented at the "Beyond Borders" conference, Seit-Stiftung, Berlin, May 2018
The scholarly context for the Pierre du Bois Annual Conference 2022 is a fascinating development ... more The scholarly context for the Pierre du Bois Annual Conference 2022 is a fascinating development in the discipline of history in the last decade: the rising interest in trans- and interimperial histories.