Roy Holler, PhD

I am an Assistant Professor of Israel Studies at the University of Florida. I received my M.A. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Jewish Studies from Indiana University, Bloomington, and my B.A. in English from the City University of New York.

My main area of interest is the comparative study of Israeli and African American literatures, and my research incorporates the concept of passing to the literary criticism of Israeli fiction. For this line of work I was awarded with the 2020 Baron New Voices in Jewish Studies Prize, by Columbia University and Fordham University.

At UF, I teach courses on Israeli culture and Hebrew literature in correspondence with broad global trends, and on the intersection of the Black/Jewish experience.

Before moving to the US and joining the ranks of academia, I worked as culture reporter for the IDF Radio and as a journalist at Yediot Aharonot.

Chronicle Vitae

Education

2020 Indiana University, Bloomington

Ph.D., Comparative Literature, Doctoral Minor in Jewish Studies

Dissertation: “All Things Must Pass: Negotiating Identity/Difference in Modern Hebrew Literature"

Committee: Eileen Julien, Chana Kronfeld, Stephen Katz, Dov-Ber Kerler, Akin Adesokan

2015 Indiana University, Bloomington

M.A., Comparative Literature

2011 City University of New York

B.A., English, cum laude

Appointments

2020 University of Florida, Gainesville

Assistant Professor of Israel Studies

2016 University of California, Berkeley

Visiting Student Researcher, Near Eastern Studies and Jewish Studies

Publications

“Multiple Identity Politics: Dahn Ben-Amotz and Biased Readings of Hebrew Literature,” In: Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History (forthcoming)

Awards, Fellowships & Grants

2018 ... Knapp Family Foundation Grant, Association of Jewish Studies (AJS)

2017 ... College of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Year Research Fellowship, Indiana University, Bloomington

2018 ... ACLA Travel Grant Recipient

2016 ... Annual Tutungi Award for Best Master’s Essay, Indiana University, Bloomington

2016 ... Hebrew Teaching Fellowship, Indiana University Program in Language Studies

2015 ... Glazer Family Research Grant, Indiana University, Bloomington

2014 ... International Student Grant-in-Aid or Research, Indiana University, Bloomington

2014 ... Rueben Doctoral Grant in Support of Holocaust Studies, IU Bloomington

2012 ... Graduate Fellow, Borns Jewish Studies Program, IU Bloomington

Invited Presentations & Workshops

The Feuilleton and Jewish Cultures Symposium, University of Michigan, Ann-Arbor (2019)

"Multiple Identity Politics: Dahn Ben-Amotz’s To Remember, To Forget and Biased Readings of Hebrew Literature." Purdue University (2019)

Select Conference Activity

Discussant

“In the Valley of Shaveh and the Limits of Comparison: Reevaluating Comparative Literature through Jewish and African-American Studies Association of Jewish Studies Annual Meeting (AJS), Boston, December 2018

“The Talk of the Yeshuv – Seeking Jewishness in Dahn Ben-Amotz’s Hebrew Feuilletons,” Association of Jewish Studies Annual Meeting (AJS), Boston, December 2018

Presentations

"Split: Double Identity Politics in Israeli Fiction,"AJS Annual Conference, San Diego, 2019

“All Things Must Pass – The Passing Narratives of Dahn Ben-Amotz,” Association of Israel Studies (AIS) Annual Meeting, Kinneret College, Israel, 2019

“A Pretty Pass: Exchanging Concepts Between African-American and Hebrew Literatures.”, American Comparative Literature Annual Meeting (ACLA) Los Angeles, 2018

“You Can Take The Jew Out Of The Diaspora, But You Can’t Take The Diaspora Out Of The Jew: Finding a Reversed Coming-of-Age Narrative in Dahn Ben-Amotz’s ‘Piccolina’” AJS Annual Conference, Washington, DC. 2018

“Passing Strange: Creating Race through Proximity in Hebrew Literature.”, American Comparative Literature Annual Meeting (ACLA), Universiteit Utrecht, 2017

Invited Seminars

2018-2017 The Yale Annual Seminar: Modern Hebrew Literature and Jewish

Campus and Departmental Talks

“Passing for Sabra, Passing for Jew: Multiple Identity Politics in Modern Hebrew Literature,” Faculty Workshop, Borns Jewish Studies Program, Indiana University, Bloomington 2019

“How Do You Say Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta in Hebrew? Looking at Leah Goldberg’s Translations of Petrarch.” The C. Clifford Flanigan Memorial Colloquium, Indiana University, Bloomington, 2015

“’Please Accept My Resignation’ Anton Shammas, A.B. Yehoshua, and the Israeli Identity Club,” Johnston Memorial Colloquium, Indiana University, Bloomington, 2013

Teaching Experience

Associate Instructor, Student Academic Center, IU, Bloomington

Spring 2020 Key Strategies for Academic Success

Associate Instructor, Comparative Literature Department, IU Bloomington:

Fall 2019 Intro to Composition: Writing the World

Fall/Spring ‘13-‘18 Literature and the Other Arts

Fall 2017 Topics in Television and Literature

Summer 2016 High Culture Vs. Low Culture: Comparative Studies in Lit, Art and Film

Summer 2015 Intro to Pop-Culture

Associate Instructor, Borns Jewish Program, IU Bloomington:

Fall 2016 Advanced Modern Hebrew

Associate Instructor, Student Academic Center, IU, Bloomington

Spring 2019 Key Strategies for Academic Success

Additional Teaching and Research Areas:

Modern Hebrew, Israeli and African-American Literature

Identity Studies, Immigration and Comparative Racialization

Black/Jewish Experience

Professional And Institutional Experience

2014 – 2015 Co-Chair, Student Association Board, Comparative Literature Department, IU Bloomington

2015 Co-Organizer, 1st Annual Graduate Conference, Comparative Literature Department, IU Bloomington

2014 Social Coordinator, Comparative Literature Department, IU Bloomington

Related Professional Skills

2006 – 2012 Columnist. Yedioth Ahronot, New York, NY

2004 – 2005 Reporter. Ynet, Yedioth Ahronot, Tel Aviv, Israel

2001 – 2004 Culture Reporter. IDF Radio, Jaffa, Israel

Languages

Hebrew - Native Proficiency

English - Native Proficiency

Yiddish - Reading Proficiency

Italian - Reading Proficiency

Google Sites

Report abuse