Amalia Sa’ar
October 2006
Curriculum Vitae
Areas of Interest






Palestinian society inside Israel
Feminist theory
Cultural anthropology
Urban anthropology
Informal economy, Gender and Development
Action research
Higher Education
Ph.D. Social-Cultural anthropology, Boston University, 2000
Department of Anthropology, University of Rochester, 1994-1995
MA
Social-Cultural anthropology, University of Haifa, 1994
BA
Sociology, Arabic language and literature, Hebrew University, 1987
Employment
2000
Post-Doctoral Fellow at Tel Aviv University
2001-present
Lecturer, University of Haifa
Ongoing Research
 Ongoing work draws on two periods of anthropological fieldwork in
two urban communities of Palestinian citizens of Israel, in 19931994 and in 1997-99. The theoretical focus of this work is the
intersections of gender and power, and their various ramifications.
My writings have addressed the following issues:
 Feminine and masculine identities (see my publications 2001,
2004a, 2006b, and manuscripts under review submitted in July
2006with Taghreed Yahya-Younis, and ms. submitted in August
2006 and in October 2006)
 Articulations of national and gender subordinations (2005)
 Sexualities (2004a, 2005b)
 Collective identities
 Civil society, consumption, and urban experience (2006a, 2004b)
 The formation of consciousness and subjectivity (2005a, 2007)
I am particularly interested in the gaps between formal and practical
(embodied) knowledge, and the dialectics of social reproduction and
social change that such gaps facilitate.
2
Amalia Sa'ar, Curriculum Vitae
 2002-2006, longitudinal evaluation research of a micro-enterprise
project among low-income women of diverse ethnic and national
backgrounds in Israel, sponsored by Israel's National Insurance
Institute. The project under evaluation is managed by Economic
Empowerment for Women, a feminist NGO located in Haifa. This
research escorted about 250 women who participated in an
economic empowerment / business management course and
obtained loans to open their own micro businesses. My theoretical
focus is the multiple links between personal and economic
empowerment, considering the intersections of culture, ethnicity,
gender, and class.
Final report was submitted in August 2006 and is forthcoming in
Israel's National Insurance Institute publications.
 2004-2005, a collaborative research project with Dr. Dalia Sachs and
doctoral student Sarai Aharoni on the impact of the armed conflict on
women of a variety of ethnic and national backgrounds in Israel. This
research was initiated as part of an effort to promote the
implementation, in Israel, of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on
gender mainstreaming of the management of armed conflicts and
peace negotiations. Preliminary findings were presented to the UN, at
the 49th meeting of the CSW (Beijing +10), March 2005. Two
academic papers are currently under review in refereed journals (see
list of publications, ms. submitted in June 2006)
 2005-06, preliminary research with Sigal Gooldin on young feminists in
Israel. Material includes 24 in-depth interviews with active feminists in
the age range of 20-34 and two focus groups with women of a wider
age range. As of Novemer 2006, data is being processed toward the
preparation of an article. The findings of this preliminary study are
intended to constitute the basis for a larger-scale study of the
meanings of and attitudes toward feminism among young women and
men in contemporary Israeli society.
The last three projects described here, which may be typified as action
research, have all come about through my involvement and interest in
feminist grassroots activism. All three have been conducted in
extensive collaboration with field activists, some of whom are also
academic partners.
Fellowships and Awards
2002
2000
1997-1998
1997-1998
1996-1997
1995-1996
Israel's National Insurance Institute three-year evaluation
research fund
Tel Aviv University Post Doctoral Fellowship
Lady Davis Graduate Fellowship at the Hebrew University.
Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.
Boston University GRS teaching fellow stipend.
Boston University GRS teaching fellow stipend.
3
Amalia Sa'ar, Curriculum Vitae
1994
1992
University of Rochester three-year tuition scholarship.
Scholarship from Research Center of Haifa and the Galilee,
University of Haifa.
Membership in Academic Associations
Israeli Anthropological Association
Israeli Sociological Association
Membership in Grassroots Associations
Isha-L-Isha, Haifa Feminist Center
Offices in University Academic Administration
2001-2004
2004-present
2001-2004
Member of the BA committee, Dept. Soc. Anth.,
Haifa U
Member of the MA committee, Dept. Soc. Anth.,
Haifa U
Organizer of the Anthropological Forum within the
Sociology and Anthropology Department, Haifa U
Scholarly Activities Outside the University
Representative in Academic Committees
2001-2006
Representative of the University of Haifa in the
organizing committee of the Annual conference of the Israeli
Anthropological Association
Referee in Academic Journals
10/2006
7/2006
4/2006
6/2005
4/2003
5/2003
6/2002
4/2002
Cultural Anthropology
American Journal of Sociology
Gender & Society
Hagar
Theory and Criticism
Israeli Sociology
J. of Historical Sociology
Theory and Criticism
Referee in Other Forums
6/2006
5/2006
Israel Ministry of Science
Israel Science Foundation
4
Amalia Sa'ar, Curriculum Vitae
5/2005
7/2004
6/2004
Israel Science Foundation
The Open University
Floersheimer Institute
External Judge of a PhD Dissertation and MA theses
6/2006, Technion, Dept. of Architecture and Urban Studies (MA thesis)
12/2005, Tel Aviv University
(MA thesis)
2/2005. U of Haifa History Dept.
(MA thesis)
12/2005 Tel Aviv University
(MA Thesis)
11/2003, The Hebrew University
(PhD dissertation)
Organizing Panels in Conferences
"Strangerhood within Intimacy"
IAA Annual Meeting
Ashdod
June 2006
"Feminist and Humanist Approaches for Working with Women Living in
Poverty"
The Annual Conference of Women and Gender Studies
Tel Aviv University
February 2003
"Gender and Power under Ethnic Nationalism"
IAA Annual Meeting
Jerusalem
May 2000
Active Participation in Scholarly Conferences
 "Masculinity in crisis: The case of Israeli-Palestinians" (with T. YahiaYounis)
Seventh Med. Social and Political Research Meeting
Florence, European University Institute
March 2006
 "Post-colonial feminism, the politics of identification and the liberal
bargain"
Crossroads: Debating Women's Rights, Racism, and Religion
Oslo
May 2005
 "Maneuvering between state, nation, and tradition; an IsraeliPalestinian woman decides to become a second wife"
IAA Annual Conference
Israel, Sapir College
5
Amalia Sa'ar, Curriculum Vitae
May 2005
 "The liberal bargain or what makes the residents of peripheral towns in
southern Israel black?"
IAA Annual Conference
Israel, Sapir College
May 2005
 "The symbolic self-exclusion of women from public space through
language use"
Gender in the Mediterranean
Nicosia, Intercollege
March 2004
 "An evaluation research on women's micro-enterprises in Israel"
Time for Micro-Businesses
Haifa, EEW
November 2003
 "Virginal articulations of modernity the case of unmarried IsraeliPalestinian women"
Sexuality after Foucault
U of Manchester
November 2003
 "The symbolic self-exclusion of women from public space
through language use"
Gendered Space in Middle Eastern Societies and Cultures
Jerusalem, Truman Institute
June 2003
 "The relevance of U.N. SCR 1325 to the Israeli- Palestinian case, an
Israeli perspective"
Where are all the women? SCR 1325 Gender Perspectives of the
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Ramat-Gan Academic Campus
April 2003
 "From politics of identity to politics of identification"
Israeli Society of Gender Studies Annual Meetings
Haifa. U of Haifa
March 2001
 "On the role of gender in the production of ethnic Identity"
ISA Annual Meeting
Jerusalem
February 2001
 "Ethnicized civil society: grassroots Jewish and Palestinian activism in
Jaffa"
Ass. Israel Studies Annual Meeting
6
Amalia Sa'ar, Curriculum Vitae
Tel Aviv University
June 2000
 "Strong but not powerful: gender and power in Israeli-Palestinian
culture"
IAA Annual Meeting
Jerusalem
May 2000
 "The politics of suffering: the intersection of class, gender and nation in
Jaffa
IAA Annual Meeting
Nazareth
March 1999
 "Is femininity conditioned upon marriage? On single Palestinian women
in Jaffa"
Women's Studies Forum Annual Conference
Tel Aviv University
April 1998
Colloquium Talks and other Invited Addresses
Invited Talks
 Humphrey Forum, Ben-Gurion University
"Doing feminist action research from within the academy – contradictory
implications of empowerment and disempowerment"
November 2006
 Dept. of Middle East History, U of Haifa
"Praxis, meaning, power: Political anthropology and the
Middle East"
December 2005
 University of Rochester, Jewish Faculty Forum
"Reflections on gender relations in Israeli society"
October 1999
 U of Rochester, Dept. of Anthropology
"Neither girl nor women: femininity and social adulthood among
unmarried Israeli Palestinian women"
October 1999
Invited Commentator
 Panel title: "Bargaining with Patriarchy"
Conference title Palestinian Women in Israel
7
Amalia Sa'ar, Curriculum Vitae
Van-Leer Institute, Jerusalem
November 2006
 Talk Title: "Bedouin women in higher education"
(Lecturer, Sarab Abu-Rabia-Queder)
Humphrey Forum, Ben-Gurion University
Spring 2006
Courses Taught in Recent Years
MA level seminars
Ethics and Practice in qualitative ethnographic research
Contemporary Issues in Anthropological Theory
BA level lectures
Anthropological Theory
Gender and Culture
Femininities and Masculinities in Middle Eastern Cultures
BA level seminars
The Politics of Gender
Urban Anthropology
Research Projects Supervised (MA)
Student’s
Name
Title of Thesis
Degree
Date
Adi Romano
Amir Givol
Drag in Israel
MA
2004
Overt Homos in Haifa
MA
2004
Miryam
Koten-Peled
New Perenthood in Israel
MA
2004
Ma'ayan
Agmon
Conception of Self among young
disabled
MA
2006
Anat Levi
Transnational motherhood of
Philippina Migrant Workers in
Israel
MA
2006
Guy Broker
Israeli men's sex tourism in
Thailand
MA
Expected
completion Dec.
2006
Shiri Yeruham
Women rabbais in the reform
movement in Israel
MA
Expected
completion Nov.
2007
Inbal Maman
Musical style of resistance
among adolescents in Israel
MA
Expected
completion Nov.
2007