Research Group

fellow

Sorin Solomon

FELLOW
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Sorin Solomon is a professor at the Racah Institute of Physics of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He initiated the European Conferences on Complex Systems series, and the "European PhD Complexity Schools".
fellow

Gretchen Reydams-Schils

FELLOW
University of Notre Dame

Gretchen is a professor in the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Her research interests are: Plato, the traditions of Platonism and Stoicism, also in Philo of Alexandria and the Early Christian tradition.

poster

Stewart Shapiro

FELLOW
The Ohio State University
Stewart Shapiro is the O'Donnell Professor of Philosophy at The Ohio State University. His research interests are the philosophy of mathematics and logic, and philosophy of language.
William Adler

William Adler

FELLOW
North Carolina State University
William is a professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at North Carolina State University. His research interests are early Judaism and Christianity, Jewish and Christian historiography and the reception of texts from the Second Temple period.
men

Hagai Netzer

FELLOW
Tel Aviv University
Hagai Netzer is a professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at Tel Aviv University.

The Concept of Urban Change

[RG #116] The Concept of Urban Change

September 1, 2008 - August 31, 2009

Organizers:

Ronnie Ellenblum (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Gideon Avni (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

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The past fifty years have witnessed significant development in the study of the structure of urban centers. Dozens of cities in a variety of geographic regions and cultural environments have been studied, and their shape and society reconstructed.

Concurrently, the disciplines of urban archaeology, urban geography and urban history were defined and developed, enabling an integrated study of historical sources, archaeological remains and the analysis of geographic, architectural and regional data.

However, the theoretical interpretation of ancient and historic cities is still conditioned by the chronological and sociological paradigms established as far back as the 19th and early 20th centuries. Thus, for instance, the classification of cities into Eastern, i.e. "Oriental/Muslim/Middle or Far-Eastern" cities as opposed to "Occidental", i.e. European and North American ones is based, to a large extent, on the 19th century's neo-classical interpretation of historical economy. The accepted periodization of urban history into "Biblical", "Greek", "Roman", "Medieval" or "Early Modern" periods also reflects the ideologies, theologies and identities that created them. In many cases they are culturally or ethnically conditioned and cannot be justified outside of the specific culture that created them. Urban history is sufficiently complex and continuous to sustain different cultural definitions and different types of biased periodizations. As a result, the characterization of specifically defined types of cities such as "Muslim", "Medieval" or "greek" cities became almost self-evident, and the terms themselves, let alone the periodization that created them, was rarely contested.

In light of these conceptual paradigms, our research group will examine the processes of cultural, political, social and religious changes in both past and contemporary urban contexts. Adopting a multidisciplinary apprach and a wide chronological range, the members of the group will address an array of changes in urban structures, such as the formation of new centers of political might, structural changes of the public spaces, the creation of architectural icons, and the expansion and collapse of urban tissues, all in relation to major political, cultural and religious changes.

 

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Robert Schiestl

FELLOW
Freie Universität Berlin
Robert is a professor in the Department of Egyptology at Freie Universität Berlin. His research interests are: Egyptian archaeology, in particular 2nd millennium BCE; funerary culture; pottery; and Egyptian-Levantine relations and interactions.
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Dean Foster

FELLOW
University of Pennsylvania

Dean is a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, USA. His research interests are machine learning, game theory and variable selection.

Willem van der Molen

Willem van der Molen

FELLOW
Universitas Indonesia
Willem van der Molen is a senior researcher at KITLV and professor of philology and Old Javanese at Universitas Indonesia in Depok, Indonesia.
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Within the field of his interest, the languages and literatures of Indonesia, his focus is on the history of Javanese literature. He participates in the Tokyo-based project ‘Transformation of religions as reflected in Javanese texts'. 


2018-2019 Fellow: New Directions in the Study of Javanese Literature

Read more about Professor Molen here.

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