Dr. Shira Klein opens an interdisciplinary pathway centered on Italian and Italian Jewish memories regarding the experiences of Fascism and World War II. This pathway is poised to explain contradictions contained in both Italian and Jewish identity and to chart an increasingly global map of Italian Jews’ modern hegemonic dynamics.
Dr. Klein’s pioneering study Italy's Jews from Emancipation to Fascism (Cambridge University Press, 2018), which provided a systematic deconstruction of the popular myth of Italian benevolence in World War II, is now leading to the investigation of the role that Jews themselves played in the myth’s creation, and of their involvement in Italy’s African empire (Libya, Somalia, and Ethiopia). This unique perspective provides a lens to describe the triangular relationship between Italian Jews, indigenous Jews in the colonies (the Beta Israel, sub-Saharan black Jews), and the colonial authorities, and therefore understand novel facets of Italian colonial history and the relationship between Jews and race.
Dr. Klein encourages interested students and colleagues from history and areas such as literary and film studies, music and art history, and cultural studies, to reach out and explore the Italian Jewish case study and join the effort of giving a voice to ordinary people often left out of the historical record.
Lead: Dr. Shira Klein
Klein, Shira. Italy's Jews from Emancipation to Fascism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018.