We are pleased to highlight the work of Dr. Danny B. Admasu, a postdoctoral fellow at the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (SICSA) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Dr. Admasu is an interdisciplinary scholar of modern Jewish and Israeli cultural history whose research bridges Israel Studies, Jewish Studies, African and Black Studies, and the comparative study of racism and antisemitism. He completed his PhD in 2023 at Bar-Ilan University and has received prestigious recognition, including the State President's Scholarship for Excellence in Science and Innovation and the Council for Higher Education Award for Excellence.

His recent monograph, Blackness and Jewishness – Ethiopian Jewry's Durability (De Gruyter Oldenbourg), offers a groundbreaking analysis of the history of Beta Israel from the nineteenth century to the present. The study challenges dominant narratives by placing Ethiopian Jewish voices at the center and examining how racialization, modern Jewish thought, and institutional responses have shaped debates about identity, belonging, and recognition.

Dr. Admasu’s broader research explores the intersections of race, religion, and citizenship in Jewish and Israeli contexts, with a particular focus on Ethiopian Jews, diaspora, and migration. His current project, Israel in an Afro-Levantine Space, expands this inquiry by rethinking Israeli society through the lenses of Global South epistemologies, cultural hybridity, and “liminal modernity.”

In addition to his academic work, Dr. Admasu is also a poet. His book Tmuna / A Picture At (2023) reflects on identity, embodiment, and the complexities of minoritarian existence.

We are proud to support Dr. Admasu’s innovative scholarship and look forward to the continued contributions of his work to the study of antisemitism and contemporary Jewish life.

 

 

Gruyter website" About this book

How did Israeli and Western Jews react to Ethiopian immigrants in Israel who are referred to as “Black Jews”? The book addresses the question of what occurs when Jews choose whiteness and Black individuals choose Blackness by examining the case of Ethiopian Jews and their immigration to Israel from the mid-19th century to today. This in-depth, holistic analysis of Ethiopian Jewish experience in Israel by an Ethiopian Jewish scholar provides a fresh, necessary perspective on “Black” Jewish diaspora experiences, on Jewish Studies and Black Studies theory."

 

Direct link to the book in the Gruyter Brill: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111508009