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Avishai Ben-Dror, Lecturer

Contact Info

The Open University of Israel Department of History, Philosophy and Judaic Studies One University Road, P.O.B. 808 Ra’anana 4353701, Israel
Office: 972-9-7781366 Fax:972-9-7781415 Email:avishai@openu.ac.il

Areas of Interest
  • Social, cultural, political, and environmental history of Muslim societies in the Red Sea Basin, the Horn of Africa, and the Middle East
  • Nineteenth-century colonialism and its impact on intercultural relations and global dynamics
  • Transnational heritage and the reactivation of Ottoman-era sites in Africa and the Middle East
  • Heritage diplomacy and the role of soft power in Middle East–Africa relations

Dr. Avishai Ben-Dror is a lecturer and faculty member in the Department of History, Philosophy, and Judaic Studies at the Open University of Israel. His research explores the social, cultural, political, and environmental histories of Muslim societies in the Red Sea Basin, the Horn of Africa, and the broader Middle East during the modern period. In recent years, Dr. Ben-Dror has launched several projects focusing on nineteenth-century colonialism, intercultural dynamics, spatial representations and their socio-cultural implications, and the far-reaching impact of globalization. His most recent work investigates transnational heritage practices that shape the historical experiences of Muslim communities in Ethiopia and Eritrea, with particular attention to imperial memory and the contemporary reactivation of Ottoman-era sites across the Middle East and Africa. 

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2008
Ph.D. Middle East and African Studies, Tel Aviv University. 
2003
M.A. (magma cum laude) Middle Eastern History, Tel Aviv University.  
1998
B.A. Modern Middle East and Political Science, Tel-Aviv University.
2023
Lecturer, Department of History, Philosophy and Judaic Studies, the Open University of Israel.
2012-2014
Research fellow, Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  
2010-2012
Post-doctoral fellow, Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

2021-2023 - Rank 4 on the rank scale for junior faculty of the Open University, Department of History, Philosophy and Judaic Studies, the Open University of Israel.

2000- 2023 - Academic coordinator and administrator of various courses at the Department of History, Philosophy and Judaic Studies, the Open University of Israel.

2011- 2014 - Head of Africa Unit, Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

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Ph.D. Dissertation
The Egyptian Hikimdāriya of Harar and its Hinterlands – Historical Aspects, 1875-1887, Tel-Aviv University 2008 [Hebrew].

M.A Thesis
Reflecting the Diversity of the Egyptian "Self"- Discussion of Eritrea 1954-1981", Tel-Aviv University 2003 [Hebrew].

EMIRATE, EGYPTIAN, ETHIOPIAN: Colonial Experiences in late nineteenth century Harar and its Environs (New-York: Syracuse University Press, August 2018). 

“Introduction: from the Margins to the Front of the Stage: New perspectives on the Red Sea’s Histories”, in Avishai Ben-Dror (co. ed.), Zmanim 150: Special Issue: Rethinking the histories of the Red Sea Basin (July 2024), pp. 4-7 [Hebrew].

“The Egyptian Cartography of Harar, 1875-1885: Knowledge, Space, Territoriality”, in Avishai Ben-Dror (co. ed.), Zmanim 150: Special Issue: Rethinking the histories of the Red Sea Basin (July 2024), pp. 44-55 [Hebrew].

“Cartographic Knowledge, Colonized-Colonizer Spaces: Egyptian Maps of Harar, 1875-1885”, Journal of Historical Geography, 77 (2022), pp. 85-100.

“Arthur Rimbaud in Harär: Images, Reality, Memory”, Northeast African Studies 14, no. 2 (2014), pp. 159-182. 

“Poet in the East? Rethinking the French poet Arthur Rimbaud in Harar 1880-1890”, Hamizrach Hehadash 50 (2011), pp. 49-65 [Hebrew]. 

“Islam and Modernization – The Egyptian Occupation of Harar, 1875-1885”, Zmanim 92 (2005), pp. 88-95 [Hebrew].

"The Rise and Fall of Harar's last Emir", in Liat Kozma, Cyrus Schayegh and Avner Wishnitzer (eds.), The Middle East and the Age of Globalization: Mobility, Materiality and Culture, 1880-1940 (London: IB Tauris, 2015), pp. 55-78.  

"Their Old Mosques Are Shivering – Europeans and Muslims in the Late 19th Century's Harar" in Yair Oron and Yitzhak Lubelski (eds.), Racism and genocide in the Modern Age (Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism, Tel Aviv University and the Open University of Israel (2011), pp.161-184 [Hebrew].

“Red Sea’s Histories”, Avishai Ben-Dror (co. ed.), Zmanim 150: Special Issue: Rethinking the histories of the Red Sea Basin (July 2024) [Hebrew].

Ephraim Nissan, Quaderni di Studi Indo-Mediterranei, 11 (2019).

Shane Balzano, Northeast African Studies, 19, no. 2 (2020), 115-118. 

Ruth Ginio, Hamizrach Hehadash, 59 (2020), 223-225 [Hebrew].

Leonardo Cohen, Zmanim, 146 (March 2022), 114-116 [Hebrew]. 

"Arthur Rimbaud" in David Thomas and John Chesworth (eds.), Africa South of the Sahara and Latin America (1800-1914) (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2022), pp. 250-255.  

Mustafa Minawi, The Ottoman Scramble for Africa: Empire and Diplomacy in the Sahara and the Hijaz (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2016) - Journal of African History 58, no.  3 (2016), pp. 509-510.