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Mohamed S. Farsi-Lindenbaum Associate Professor of听Jewish-Muslim Relations
Tel:听020 7679 2766
Biography
Seth Anziska is the Mohamed S.听Farsi-Lindenbaum听Associate Professor of Jewish-Muslim Relations at University College London, where he is the founding director of the Middle East Research Centre. His research and teaching focuses on modern Middle Eastern history, Israeli and Palestinian society and culture, and contemporary Arab and Jewish politics.
He is the author of听Preventing Palestine: A Political History from Camp David to Oslo听(Princeton University Press, 2018; Arabic edition, Institute for Palestine Studies, 2022), which was awarded the British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies Book Prize. His writing has appeared in听The New York Times,听The New York Review of Books,听+972 Magazine, and the 55th Venice Biennale.
Seth听received his PhD in International and Global History with distinction from Columbia University, his听M. Phil. in Modern Middle Eastern Studies from St. Antony鈥檚 College, Oxford, and his BA in history from Columbia University.听He was a Fulbright Scholar at the Norwegian Nobel Institute and visiting professor at Dartmouth College, and has held fellowships at New York University, the London School of Economics, and the American University of Beirut.
Research
Seth鈥檚 research is focused on the international history of the Middle East in the 20th听century, particularly Israel and Palestine, Lebanon, and US relations with the wider region. His first book,听Preventing Palestine,听examined the emergence of the 1978 Camp David Accords and the consequences of international diplomacy in circumscribing Palestinian self-determination. He is also interested in archival practices and visual culture of the Middle East, as well as the legacy of Arab-Jewish encounters in Europe and the Levant.
Current projects include an international history of Israel鈥檚 1982 Lebanon War, which听explores the possibility and limitations of historical research across national borders given the afterlife of political violence.听His research has been supported by the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust, and his work has appeared in Humanity Journal, the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History, the Jewish Quarterly Review, and the Journal of Palestine Studies. He is a member of the editorial board of the Statelessness and Citizenship Review.
Teaching
- History of the Modern Middle East
- Israel and Palestine
- Jewish-Muslim Relations in the Modern Middle East
- Sources, Methods, Skills
Public Engagement
Seth is a visiting fellow at the , and his research into the history of US-Israeli relations and Palestinian statelessness has informed policy discussions about political horizons for Israel and Palestine with diplomats in the US and Europe, and Israeli and Palestinian officials.听
His uncovering of vital new sources about the 1978 Camp David Accords and the 1982 Lebanon War has led to the publication of over 400 pages of primary material as an online archival resource in听The New York Review of Books听(), the听,听,听and听.听
Seth鈥檚 historical work on Israel鈥檚 invasion of Lebanon in 1982 catalyzed a collaboration with the Lebanese artist Akram Zaatari and an accompanying text for Zaatari鈥檚 (2013), a mixed media installation first presented in the Lebanese Pavilion of the 55th Venice Biennale.
He has been interviewed for France 3鈥檚 television documentary 鈥楥amp David: le prix de la paix鈥�; Lebanon鈥檚 ; Switzerland鈥檚 ; and the , among others.
From 2020-2021, Seth chaired UCL鈥檚 Academic Board Working Group on Racism and Prejudice and he was a member of the coordinating group of the .
Recent public presentations include:
- September 2022: Book Launch for the Arabic edition of Preventing Palestine with Professor Rashid Khalidi (Institute for Palestine Studies), .
- May 2022: Roundtable Reflections on 鈥楧efining Antisemitism between History and Politics鈥� (Van Leer Institute), .
- September 2018: In Conversation with Peter Beinart (Occupied Thoughts Podcast),听.
- September 2018: 鈥楶reventing Palestine: How 40 Years of U.S.-Led Peacemaking Have Failed the Palestinians鈥� (Middle East Institute),听.
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