Nina Spiegel
Nina Spiegel
Rabbi Joshua Stampfer Associate Professor of Israel Studies
Contact:
(503) 725-3055
nspiegel@pdx.edu
Office: UCB 465F
Courses Taught:
- HUM 299: Exploring Careers in the Humanities
- JST 333U: Israeli Culture and Society
- JST 335U: Sex, Love, and Gender: Israeli and Palestinian Experiences
- JST/ WS 336U: Gender and Judaism
- HST 461/561: Topics in Jewish History: History of Jewish Dance
- JST 407: Public History Seminar: Museums and Memory in Israel and the United States
About
Nina Spiegel is a cultural historian whose work explores the intersections of performance studies, public space, and the construction of memory. Specializing in Jewish dance, her research investigates the complex dynamics and influences that shape cultural production. Her book, Embodying Hebrew Culture: Aesthetics, Athletics, and Dance in the Jewish Community of Mandate Palestine, was a finalist for two major awards. Spiegel’s recent scholarship further explores the influence of Middle Eastern Jewish traditions, particularly Yemenite Jewish dance, on Israeli identity.
Beyond the classroom—where she teaches courses on Israeli society, gender, museums, and careers in the humanities—Spiegel is a dedicated public historian. Her professional background includes a fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution and a curatorship at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History. She is currently writing her next book, which examines Israeli culture during the 1950s and 1960s.
Degrees
Ph.D., Stanford University
M.A., Stanford University
B.A., Brown University
Research Interests
- Social and cultural history of Israel
- Public history and culture in Israel and the United States
- Dance history
- Arts and performance studies
- Gender history
Representative Publications
Embodying Hebrew Culture: Aesthetics, Athletics and Dance in the Jewish Community of Mandate Palestine. (Wayne State University Press, June 2013). Finalist for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature; Finalist for a 2013 National Jewish Book Award.
"Mapping a Mizrahi Presence in Israeli Concert Dance: Representations and Receptions of Yemenite Jewish Life on Stage from 1920 to the Present" in the Oxford Handbook of Jewishness and Dance in Contemporary Perspective, edited by Naomi Jackson, Rebecca Pappas and Toni Shapiro-Phim. (Oxford University Press, 2021).
“Dance in Jewish Studies,” Oxford Bibliographies in Jewish Studies, edited by Naomi Seidman. (Oxford University Press, 2018, online).
“The City as Subject and Stage: Dance and the Formation of Tel Aviv,” Israel Affairs. (Routledge 2017).
"Constructing the City of Tel Aviv: Urban Space, Physical Culture, and the Natural and Built Environment," Rethinking History: The Journal of Theory and Practice. (Routledge, 2012).
"American Jewish Dance," The Cambridge Dictionary of Jewish History, Religion, and Culture, edited by Judith Baskin. (Cambridge University Press, 2011).
Representative Public History Experience
Former Curator, Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia
Visiting Professional Fellowship, Smithsonian Institution