Beyond Suspicion: The Moral Clash between Rootedness and Progressive Liberalism
When and Where
Speakers
Description
Dr. Max and Gianna Glassman Israel Exchange Scholar
Nissim Mizrachi (Tel Aviv University)
Date: Monday, November 25 at 4PM
Location: JHB100 (170 St. George Street)
Beyond Suspicion: The Moral Clash between Rootedness and Progressive Liberalism
The lecture will focus on the key insights from my new book, Beyond Suspicion: The Moral Clash Between Rootedness and Progressive Liberalism (University of California Press). I will discuss the emerging insights from the study regarding the roots of resistance among marginalized Mizrahi Jews (those of Middle Eastern and North African origin) in Israel toward the liberal-progressive agenda. In the lecture, I will discuss the central insight derived from the research findings in the book: Understanding the “paradoxical” response of disadvantaged Mizrahim (as well as many other populations in Israel and beyond) to the values of equality and freedom necessitates acknowledgment of their need for belonging. The research and political implications of this insight will be discussed.
Nissim Mizrachi is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University and the director of the Challenge of Living Together Center at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. He completed his PhD with a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his postdoctoral studies at Harvard. His research interests include the sociology of knowledge, medicine and culture, social boundaries, moral identity, liberalism, ethnic studies, and stigma. He co-edited the book Responses to Stigmatization in Comparative Perspective (Routledge, 2013) with Michele Lamont of Harvard. Together, they co-authored Getting Respect: Responding to Stigma and Discrimination in the United States, Brazil, and Israel (Princeton University Press, 2016) alongside other international scholars. For over a decade, Mizrachi has been exploring the inability of the progressive left to resonate with the hearts and minds of marginalized groups. In his recent book, Beyond Suspicion: The Moral Clash Between Rootedness and Progressive Liberalism published in 2024 with University of California Press, he explores limits of the liberal-progressive moral, political and cognitive vision of global order through the eyes of his illiberal Mizrahi subjects. By doing so, the book aims to shed new light on one of the most acute contemporary political and scholarly challenges of our time.
