Narratives in Conflict: Celebrating the Work of Paul Scham
Narratives in Conflict: Celebrating the Work of Paul Scham
Since the Oslo peace process of the 1990s, scholars have been analyzing and comparing the historical narratives of both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as well as their divergent internal narratives, to improve our understanding of the conflict’s roots and its motivations. Our esteemed colleague, Paul Scham, was one of the first to work on the subject when he was at the Truman Institute of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the 1990s, and he has frequently returned to the subject throughout his career. Prof. Scham is retiring this year and the Gildenhorn Institute has invited four scholars with whom he has worked closely with for a broad-ranging online discussion about the role of narratives in the study of the conflict. This special event will explore the impact he had on the field, particularly his work on competing historical stories and their role in shaping political realities, but also foster a deeper conversation about the role of history and memory in conflict transformation.
Speakers:
Moshe Ma’oz is Professor Emeritus of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a previous Director of the university’s Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace. Prof. Ma’oz is renowned for his expertise in Arab and Middle East affairs, and has published extensively on Islam and on the history and politics of the Middle East. He is a leading expert on Syria. Prof. Ma’oz has been a visiting professor, scholar and fellow at many leading universities and institutions around the world. He has served as an advisor on Arab Affairs for Israel’s Knesset, and was a member of official advisory committees that counseled Prime Ministers Shimon Peres and Yitzhak.
Yoram Peri is Professor Emeritus of Israel Studies (since 2020) was the Abraham S. and Jack Kay Chair in Israel Studies, and Director of the Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies, the University of Maryland at College Park. A former political advisor to the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, founder and former head of Chaim Herzog Institute for Media, Politics and Society and professor of Political Sociology and Communication at Tel Aviv University, and former Editor-in-chief of the Israeli daily, Davar. Born in Jerusalem, he earned his B.A. and M.A. in Political Science and Sociology at the Hebrew University and his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics.
Edy Kaufman is a foremost authority on the theory and practice of human rights and conflict resolution who consults widely with governments, intergovernmental organizations (including the UN), NGOs, and civil society activists. For more than twenty years, he has co-taught with a Palestinian scholar-diplomat a groundbreaking course on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Among Kaufman's most recent publications (co-edited with W. Salem and J. Verhoeven) is Bridging The Divide: Peacebuilding in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. An expert on democratization and ethnic, religious and resource (water and border) conflicts, his current research and teaching initiatives include "Bridging the Paradigms of Universal Human Rights and Conflict Transformation in Theory and Praxis" and "Diaspora and Conflict: Testing the 'Long Distance Nationalism' Theory."
Sandra Scham currently teaches courses on Countering Violent Extremism in UMD’s START program. Previously she has taught courses on Archaeology, Anthropology and International Development at Catholic University, Stanford University and Jerusalem University College in Israel. She is the author of close to 100 articles and 4 books including Extremism: Ancient and Modern: Insurgency, Terror and Empire in the Middle East (2018) and the recently published Archaeology of Persecuted Peoples (2024). She was the editor of Near Eastern Archaeology and is editor and co-founder of the Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies. She was an American Association for Advancement of Science Fellow in the Middle East and Asia Bureau of the United States Agency for International Development (Z"L) where she worked with the National Defense University to produce research reports on Civil Military Cooperation, Counter-Insurgency and Countering Violent Extremism. She has done fieldwork in Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, Afghanistan, Yemen, Morocco, and Oman. From 2001-2005 she was a co-leader of the first known cooperative Israeli-Palestinian archaeology project funded by the Department of State under the Wye River Accords.
Paul Scham is Associate Research Professor of Israel Studies at UMD. He was director of the Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies from 2020 until 2023, and previously was the Institute’s Executive Director 2008-2020, while also serving as co-editor of the Israel Studies Review . His primary academic focus has been to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from multiple perspectives, which led to his intensive study of the conflict’s narratives. He has published studies on Hamas, Israeli-Arab research cooperation, the Israeli religious right, Jordanian-Israeli relations, current Israeli politics, and other subjects, besides his extensive work on narratives. Originally an attorney, with a B.A. from Columbia and a J.D. from U.C. Berkeley, he quickly tired of practicing law and has worked on issues relating to Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for nearly forty years at NGO’s, think tanks, and universities, in Jerusalem and in Washington, D.C. In the early 1990s, he facilitated contacts in Washington with American and Israeli NGO’s to encourage Israeli-Palestinian contacts and dialogue. From 1996-2002, he lived in Jerusalem and, as a Research Fellow at the Truman Institute of the Hebrew University, coordinated its significant program of Arab-Israeli joint research, academic cooperation, and civil society projects.