A Presentation by WISC Fellow-in-Residence Linda Dittmar at Temple Beth Shalom
Photo Credit: Deborah Bright
WHO WISC Fellow-in-Residence Linda Dittmar
WHAT A WISC Fellows Presentation: Linda Dittmar shares from her book “Tracing Homelands: A Memoir of Israel’s Becoming” concerning Israel’s war of 1948 and its aftermath for the Palestinians who were expelled at Temple Beth Shalom.
WHEN Thursday November 16, 2017 5:30pm
WHERE Temple Beth Shalom 205 E Barcelona Street Santa Fe, NM 87505
HOW REGISTRATION IS CLOSED FOR THIS EVENT. $20 Suggested Donation at the door
About the Presentation
Linda Dittmar will be in residence at the Women’s International Study Center for the month of November. She will be working on her memoir which includes childhood memories of Israel’s “War of Independence” (1948) and her recent travel there with an American photographer. The childhood memories are of war, and the adult memories concern several years’ work locating and photographing what little remains of destroyed Palestinian villages. Woven into this account are questions regarding the consequences of that war—triumphal for Israel and yet devastating for the Palestinians.
Linda will talk about her work on Thursday November 16, 2017 5:30pm at Temple Beth Shalom.
REGISTRATION IS CLOSED FOR THIS EVENT.
About Linda Dittmar
Linda Dittmar grew up in in Israel during its formative years (1939-1960) as the country transitioned from British Mandatory rule, through World War II, into Israel’s “War of Independence” (1948) that is the “Nakba”—the catastrophe—for the Palestinians. She served in the Israeli military, attended the Hebrew University, and moved to the U.S. in 1961, studying at CCNY and Stanford University (English Ph.D.1970). The U.S. she found was not the glossy image projected abroad. Living on the outskirts of New York’s Harlem, she saw Freedom Riders recruited on campus. At Stanford she heard echoes of Berkley’s Free Speech movement, the Black Panthers’ organizing in Oakland, the farm workers striking, and the anti-war movement erupting. This was not the America she imagined.
Prof. Dittmar’s life as a scholar, educator, and member of society were shaped by this experience. Her doctoral dissertation’s focus on modernist narration, already raised questions of ethics, politics, and engagement—questions that continued to inform her scholarship and teaching of both literature and film. Her books, From Hanoi to Hollywood; The Vietnam War in American Film, and Multiple Voices in Feminist Film Criticism, are indebted also to an NEH funded seminar in film theory. In all her writing, including editorial work for the magazine, Radical Teacher, intersections of gender, ethnicity, social class, and post-colonialism are key concerns.
Linda Dittmar taught at the young, vibrant, urban University of Massachusetts-Boston (UMB) for almost forty years, where her innovative and cross-disciplinary teaching was welcome. Between 1969 and 2007 she pioneered courses for her department, English, as well as American Studies, Women’s Studies, and a Law and Justice Program. Most recently, she taught Israeli and Palestinian fiction. Winner of UMB’s Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and two Fulbright grants to India, the latter as Distinguished Chair, she also taught twice at Tel Aviv University and at the University of Paris and Turfts University. Having Chaired a Task Force on Race for the Society for Cinema studies (SCS), she was elected to the SCS’s Executive Council, and chaired its Annual Program.
Now Professor Emerita, Dittmar is writing a memoir of Israel’s “War of Independence” (1948) and the catastrophe it meant to the Palestinians. It based on collaboration with photographer Deborah Bright, there they combed the country to locate depopulated Palestinian villages. Two short segments are now in print with three other chapters accepted for publications in Concerns and Jewish Currents.
WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM MANAGER’S NOTE We bring you incredible scholars, artists and others to Santa Fe as fellows-in-residence. We hope you will attend their presentations, meet our fellows, and support this important work by becoming a member. Sincerely, Jordan Young Program Manager Women’s International Study Center