PhD honors 2012/13

Supervisor: Dr. Rivka Rabinovich

Abstract: My Ph.D. dissertation focus on sites in a restricted geographical area, the HulaValley, in north Israel. The HulaValley encompasses a complex of distinct water bodies, including the LakeHula and its swamps, numerous springs and streams which has yielded important archaeological records of human occupation dating from one million years ago. That research will concentrate on three excavated, well-dated sites: Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (GBY) – a Lower Paleolithic site (Early-Middle Pleistocene, ca. 780,000 B.P.),Nahal Mahanayeem Outlet (NMO) – A Mousterian site (Late Pleistocene, ca. 70,000 B.P.), Ain Mallaha/Eynan – A Natufian site (Late Pleistocene, ca. 12,000 B.P.) excavated by Prof. F. Valla

The study has two main objectives

Taxonomic identification of amphibian and reptile species present in the Hula Valley from the Lower Paleolithic to the Natufian period

To shed light on the nature of the human- amphibian and reptile relationships throughout the different periods and cultures within those chronological contexts. Were amphibian and reptile species collected and utilized by hominins and, if so, how may they have been utilized

Snakes, tortoises, pond turtles, lizards and amphibians are present at all sites, and their taxonomic identification will make a major contribution towards the understanding of paleonvironment and paleoclimate of the Hula Valley during the Pleistocene and Early Holocene

It is already obvious that the species distribution and the number of bones retrieved varies significantly from site to site, indicating a unique story for each, a story that will hopefully shed light on the as yet unknown relationship between humans and herpetofauna during the prehistoric periods in Israel

Presidential Stipend 2012/13

Supervisors: Prof. Dror Wahrman (History) and Prof. Ruth HaCohen (Musicology)

Abstract: My research aims to illuminate cultural perceptions and structures of thought in British society of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, by tracing the changes in the public image of opera singers. My premise is that the rich and largely vitriolic discourse concerning these singers can reveal deep-seated and dominant cultural notions in British society, in relation to the underlying categories of body, gender and nationality which shaped this discourse and the overarching question of representation on stage as a key cultural site.

In contrast to the myth of the “land without music”, 18^th century Britain saw the rise of a variety of musical genres of different types, most importantly the oratorios of G. F. Händel, which quickly became the musical canon of British national identity. On the other hand, opera, originally an Italian theatrical-musical medium, was continuously attacked as a form of foreign and senseless luxury. I focus on the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, since during this time fundamental changes in the political climate and in cultural sensibilities opened up new possibilities for the operatic medium in Britain, whether as a vehicle for national sentiment or as part of a romantic-cosmopolitan ideal. However, this process was continually undermined by deep-seated suspicions towards the singer and his craft – as a distorter of language and common sense, as a “scandalous” corporeality whose vocalizing is pathological, or as a privileged member of society who employs his status in a destructive manner. All of these attributes pointed towards the singer's false essence, frustrating opera's claims to higher truths. In this respect, I would argue that British society's vexed relations with the operatic medium were predicated, to a large degree, on its difficulty in negotiating the image of the singer. This realization, in turn, will help shed new light on British society’s inner codes and sensibilities in that era.

Publications:

Erman, Uri. “The Operatic Voice of Leoni the Jew: Between the Synagogue and the Theater in Late Georgian Britain.” Journal of British Studies 56, no. 2 (2017): 295–321. doi:10.1017/jbr.2017.3.

Rotenstreich Stipend 2015/16

Polonsky Stipend 2012/13

Supervisor: Prof. Carl Posy

Abstract: I examine the relation between formality and normativity in logic, claiming that there is an inherent tension between the two. I seek to defuse that tension (so to speak) by providing phenomenological foundations for logic.

Rotenstreich Stipend 2014/15

Presidential Stipend 2012/13

Supervisor: Prof. Elhanan Yakira and Dr. Tatiana Karachentseva

Abstract: A philosophical-systematical description of the Marburg School and its main three philosophers: Hermann Cohen, Paul Natorp and Ernst Cassirer.

Objectives: 

1. To expose the inner philosophical way of reasoning of the Marburg neokantian systems. That in order to : (a) achieve a better articulation of some key concepts of these systems which are presently still ambiguous, (b) offer new answers to some old questions, (c) situate better the school’s philosophical direction within the history of philosophy in the beginning of the 20th century.
2. To give a clearer answer to the question what is ‘Kantiansm’ and ‘Neo-Kantianism’ according to school and to emphasise and examine their concept of kantianism as a clearly defined philosophical methodology.
3. To show the complexity and problematicalness in understanding the relation between ‘subjectivity’ and ‘objectivity’ in their philosophy, and to present this as a key to articulate deep differences between the three thinkers - a difference which is deeper than what is usually attributed to them.

To reveal the above mentioned inner differences under the following categories: as differences (a) in their ontological premises and ontolgical commitment [‘Being’], (b) in defining the basic principle of objectification and scientificity [‘Prinicple’], (c) in defining what gives a unity to all directions of objectification [‘System’], (d) in defining the objective “material” from which the ways of objectification are to be extracted and how should they be extracted  [‘Method’] (e) the meaning of ‘Subject’ when it becomes a distinct object of their systematical inquiry 

Presidential Stipend 2012/13

Supervisor: Prof. Edwin Seroussi, Prof. Galit Hasan-Rokem

Abstract: The aim of the present study is to provide a general frame of reference for understanding basic characteristics of the Yiddish folksong. The documented song-corpus is examined from three points of view, dictated by the quality of the existing documentation, by the present state of the Yiddish folksongs' tradition, and by the state of research: typological, historical and the inner-cultural perspective.

Presidential Stipend 2012/13