Best Book in Israel Studies

Sapir faculty member, Dr. Inbal Ben-Asher Gitler awarded First Annual Best Book in Israel Studies by Concordia University Library - Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies

Last week, senior lecturer of Architecture and Visual Culture, Dr. Inbal Ben-Asher Gitler's book, Architectural Culture in British Mandate Jerusalem, 1917-1948*, (Edinburgh University Press, 2020) won the First Annual Prize Best Book in Israel Studies. Her book won along with with Haggai Ram, author of Intoxicating Zion: A Social History of Hashish in Mandatory Palestine and Israel (Stanford University Press, 2020).

Dr. Ben Asher Gitler's book examines British Mandate-era architecture through an exploration of four iconic buildings: the YMCA, The Palace Hotel, the Jewish Agency and the Rockefeller Museum, all of which have had a lasting impact on Jerusalem's environment. These projects evolved as an outcome of cross-cultural influences and relationships between the British, American, Jewish-Zionist and Muslim-Palestinian communities.

When asked by the prize committee what she had learned from writing this book, she responded: "I learned that cities and regions don't have to be defined only by their conflicts and, after working on the book, the role of architecture in constructing national identity and communal identity seems to me even more important than when I embarked on this project. I hope that this is reflected in its pages and images."

*Research for this book and its production were funded by generous grants from the Israel Science Foundation (#503/18 and #33/20).