Below is a note from Professor Randall Geller (Brandeis 2011). This year Professor Geller will teach NEJS 185B and NEJS 189A.
I’m a Brandeis Ph.D. in Middle Eastern history with a specialization in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, and this will be my fifth year teaching in the Brandeis Summer School Program. Last summer (2017), both my Arab-Israeli Conflict and the Making of the Modern Middle East courses at the Brandeis Summer School were student-nominated for teaching awards; it’s great when you love what you do, and I love teaching at Brandeis in the summer! I look forward to meeting you in class!
I’ve spent significant time in the Middle East; before I became a professor I was a tour guide and journalist in Jerusalem, Israel. I speak Hebrew and Arabic, and this is a region that has long fascinated me and I’m sure always will. I’ll be teaching two courses this summer; in session 1 I’ll be teaching Arab-Israeli Conflict, and in session 2 I’ll be teaching the Making of the Modern Middle East.
I’m excited about the publication of my first book this past August, entitled Minorities in the Israeli Military, 1948-1958. It deals with the drafting of the Druze and Circassian minorities into the Israel Defense Forces and the recruitment of Muslim and Christian Arabs too; the dilemmas of drafting non-Jews suspect of potentially identifying with hostile forces in the neighboring Arab world made for fascinating research and writing! Here’s a link to the book’s website, which includes academic reviews:
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498541633/Minorities-in-the-Israeli-Military-1948%E2%80%9358#
I’m hard at work on new publications, and I’ll be happy to share my preliminary research with you. Perhaps most importantly, in keeping with the spirit of both courses, we’ll also have Middle Eastern food in the middle of as well as at the conclusion of the semester – if you haven’t tried it, I’m sure you’ll love it! (Gluten free and nut free options are available!)
See you in class!
