Dr. Louise Bethlehem

Faculty of Humanities / English
Dr. Louise Bethlehem
South African Literary Studies, Cultural Studies, Postcolonialism

Louise Bethlehem is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and in the Program in Cultural Studies which she formerly chaired. She graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in 1984, as the top graduate in the Faculty of Arts. She then proceeded to obtain her M.A. and Ph.D. from Tel Aviv University. She held a Lady Davis Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1998, and is currently a fellow of the Africa Unit of the Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace there. Her fields of expertise include literary theory, poetics, history and historiography of South African literature, South African cultural history, cultural studies, postcolonialism, memory studies and trauma studies.

My Recent Work

Books and Co-Edited Volumes

My book, Skin Tight: Apartheid Literary Culture and its Aftermath (Unisa Press, Brill 2006), investigates the role of literature in contexts of severe political oppression and resistance. It traces the responses to this question provided by the emergent paradigm of South African literary studies from the 1970s onwards. The volume was recently published in Hebrew translation by the Tel Aviv publishing house, Resling, with a new preface which I wrote together with my translator, Oded Wolkstein, which positions it as an “emergent allegory” for this constituency (Resling 2011)

I have co-edited numerous volumes, including South Africa in the Global Imaginaryin collaboration with Leon de Kock and Sonja Narunsky Laden (Unisa 2004). Originally a themed issue of the journal, Poetics Today, it won the prestigious Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ) award for the best special issue of the year 2001. Other volumes includeViolence & Non-Violence in Africa, co-edited with Pal Ahluwalia and Ruth Ginio (Routledge, 2007); the special centenary edition of English Studies in Africa, co-edited with Reingard Nethersole and Michael Titlestad (2008); as well as Rethinking Labour in Africa, Past and Present, co-edited with Lynn Schler and Galia Sabar (Routledge, 2010). Most recently, Ashleigh Harris and I have co-edited a volume on Cultural Studies that emphasizes the South-North theoretical axis: “Unruly Pedagogies; Migratory Interventions: Unsettling Cultural Studies,” (Special edition of Critical Arts: A Journal of South-North Cultural and Media Studies). You can read our introduction to this volume here.

Selected Articles and Translations

In 2006, I wrote the entry on South African literature for the Edinburgh Companion to Twentieth Century Literature in English, edited by Brian McHale and Randall Stevenson, and subsequently contributed a chapter entitled “The Pleasures of the Political: Apartheid and Post-Apartheid South African Fiction” to the Modern Language Association’s prestigious volume Teaching the African Novel, edited by Gaurav Desai (2009). Over the course of the last decade, I have translated the works of prominent Israeli intellectuals, including Hannan Hever, Orly Lubin and Ariella Azoulay. My translation of Ariella Azoulay’s Civil Imagination: A Political Ontology of Photography was published by Verso in 2011. My own work has appeared in Hebrew translation in anthologies and academic journals in Israel.

International Editorial Boards

I serve on the international editorial boards of the following peer-reviewed journals: African Identities, African Studies, Critical Arts: A Journal of South-North Cultural and Media Studies, English Studies in Africa, Safundi and Scrutiny2: Issues in English Studies in Southern Africa.

I also serve on the international advisory board of Habitus: A Diaspora Journal, and first addressed my own migrant status in an early article published in the South Atlantic Quarterly in 1999.

The Long-Distance South African

I often describe myself as a “long-distance South African,” in the South African poet Denis Hirson’s phrase. (See his poem here). I maintain an active research presence in South Africa, where I have had a long association with WISER: The Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research. I participated in the 2010 session of the Johannesburg Workshop in Criticism and Theory (JWTC), speaking in a studio session and contributing a blog entry. I have also been featured in the JWTC’s online journal, The Johannesburg Salon, alongside leading postcolonial scholars, including Jean Comaroff and Achilles Mbembe.

Sharing Communities of Knowledge

I am deeply committed to creating interdisciplinary communities of knowledge, as reflected in the activities of the Program in Cultural Studies, where I have taught for over a decade. I see my students as integral partners in this endeavor, and am proud of the achievements of my graduate students in the local and international academic arenas.

African Studies in Israel

In Israel, I was a member of the original group of local scholars who successfully instituted an inter-university program in African Studies, funded by Yad Hanadiv and the Council for Higher Education in Israel, presently running between three Israeli Universities.

The London Consortium

I have served as an external Ph.D. supervisor for the London Consortium, a major program in Cultural Studies offering M.A. and Ph,D. degrees in collaboration between the Architectural Association; Birkbeck College, University of London; The Institute of Contemporary Art; The Science Museum; The TATE.

Contact

Dr. Louise Bethlehem

Department of English &

Program in Cultural Studies

Tel: 02-588-3983

louise.bethlehem@mail.huji.ac.il

CV, Prizes and Publications

Virtual Bookshelf

Gallery: Images and Interviews

Contact



Virtual Bookshelf CV Gallery
Faculty of Humanities / English Dr. Louise Bethlehem South African Literary Studies, Cultural Studies, Postcolonialism Louise Bethlehem is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and in the Program in Cultural Studies which she formerly chaired. She graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in 1984, as the top graduate in the Faculty of Arts. She then proceeded to obtain her M.A. and Ph.D. from Tel Aviv University. She held a Lady Davis Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1998, and is currently a fellow of the Africa Unit of the Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace there. Her fields of expertise include literary theory, poetics, history and historiography of South African literature, South African cultural history, cultural studies, postcolonialism, memory studies and trauma studies. My Recent Work Books and Co-Edited Volumes My book, Skin Tight: Apartheid Literary Culture and its Aftermath (Unisa Press, Brill 2006), investigates the role of literature in contexts of severe political oppression and resistance. It traces the responses to this question provided by the emergent paradigm of South African literary studies from the 1970s onwards. The volume was recently published in Hebrew translation by the Tel Aviv publishing house, Resling, with a new preface which I wrote together with my translator, Oded Wolkstein, which positions it as an “emergent allegory” for this constituency (Resling 2011) I have co-edited numerous volumes, including South Africa in the Global Imaginaryin collaboration with Leon de Kock and Sonja Narunsky Laden (Unisa 2004). Originally a themed issue of the journal, Poetics Today, it won the prestigious Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ) award for the best special issue of the year 2001. Other volumes includeViolence & Non-Violence in Africa, co-edited with Pal Ahluwalia and Ruth Ginio (Routledge, 2007); the special centenary edition of English Studies in Africa, co-edited with Reingard Nethersole and Michael Titlestad (2008); as well as Rethinking Labour in Africa, Past and Present, co-edited with Lynn Schler and Galia Sabar (Routledge, 2010). Most recently, Ashleigh Harris and I have co-edited a volume on Cultural Studies that emphasizes the South-North theoretical axis: “Unruly Pedagogies; Migratory Interventions: Unsettling Cultural Studies,” (Special edition of Critical Arts: A Journal of South-North Cultural and Media Studies). You can read our introduction to this volume here. Selected Articles and Translations In 2006, I wrote the entry on South African literature for the Edinburgh Companion to Twentieth Century Literature in English, edited by Brian McHale and Randall Stevenson, and subsequently contributed a chapter entitled “The Pleasures of the Political: Apartheid and Post-Apartheid South African Fiction” to the Modern Language Association’s prestigious volume Teaching the African Novel, edited by Gaurav Desai (2009). Over the course of the last decade, I have translated the works of prominent Israeli intellectuals, including Hannan Hever, Orly Lubin and Ariella Azoulay. My translation of Ariella Azoulay’s Civil Imagination: A Political Ontology of Photography was published by Verso in 2011. My own work has appeared in Hebrew translation in anthologies and academic journals in Israel. International Editorial Boards I serve on the international editorial boards of the following peer-reviewed journals: African Identities, African Studies, Critical Arts: A Journal of South-North Cultural and Media Studies, English Studies in Africa, Safundi and Scrutiny2: Issues in English Studies in Southern Africa. I also serve on the international advisory board of Habitus: A Diaspora Journal, and first addressed my own migrant status in an early article published in the South Atlantic Quarterly in 1999. The Long-Distance South African I often describe myself as a “long-distance South African,” in the South African poet Denis Hirson’s phrase. (See his poem here). I maintain an active research presence in South Africa, where I have had a long association with WISER: The Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research. I participated in the 2010 session of the Johannesburg Workshop in Criticism and Theory (JWTC), speaking in a studio session and contributing a blog entry. I have also been featured in the JWTC’s online journal, The Johannesburg Salon, alongside leading postcolonial scholars, including Jean Comaroff and Achilles Mbembe. Sharing Communities of Knowledge I am deeply committed to creating interdisciplinary communities of knowledge, as reflected in the activities of the Program in Cultural Studies, where I have taught for over a decade. I see my students as integral partners in this endeavor, and am proud of the achievements of my graduate students in the local and international academic arenas. African Studies in Israel In Israel, I was a member of the original group of local scholars who successfully instituted an inter-university program in African Studies, funded by Yad Hanadiv and the Council for Higher Education in Israel, presently running between three Israeli Universities. The London Consortium I have served as an external Ph.D. supervisor for the London Consortium, a major program in Cultural Studies offering M.A. and Ph,D. degrees in collaboration between the Architectural Association; Birkbeck College, University of London; The Institute of Contemporary Art; The Science Museum; The TATE. Contact Dr. Louise Bethlehem Department of English & Program in Cultural Studies Tel: 02-588-3983 louise.bethlehem@mail.huji.ac.il CV, Prizes and Publications Virtual Bookshelf Gallery: Images and Interviews Contact