Donna Robinson Divine
Encyclopedia
Donna Robinson Divine is Morningstar Family Professor in Jewish Studies and Professor of Government at Smith College
. She holds a B.A. from Brandeis University
, 1963, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University
, 1971, in Political Science. Divine is interested in Comparative Politics, Middle East Politics, and Political Theory.
Divine is fluent in three of the major languages of the Middle East, Arabic, Hebrew, and Turkish, this enables her to conduct research across the region, studying both historical developments and contemporary trends.
She has written on Zionist immigration to Palestine during the British Mandate, analyzing how exile functioned as a contrast to the society created in Palestine during the period of British rule.
According to Efraim Karsh
Divine sees many common links between Zionist state building and the situation facing the Palestinians, comparing the roles of the Histadrut in Israel with that of Hamas and other voluntary bodies in the Palestinian "entity." She asserts that the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza "have created a more vibrant civil society than at any other time in their history."
Divine believes that with their attention directed to explaining the loss of a Palestinian state in 1948, scholars have failed to appreciate Palestine’s nineteenth century history as a period of significant development.
Divine is a committed feminist, she has criticized those who perceive the social activities of women’s colleges but fail to perceive that “As important as social activities may be, we have no mission but that of promoting scholarship.”
Academic Fellow, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, 2003-2004
Smith College Grant for Curriculum Development: Multicultural Curriculum Development
Jean Picker Fellowship, 1982–1985
Andrew Mellon Foundation Grants 1978–1980, 1981–1984. Principal Investigator, Smith Research Project on Women and Social Change
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for Senior Scholars, 1982–1983
Social Science Research Council Grants, 1978–1979; 1982–1983
Department of State Middle East Scholar in Residence, January 1978
American Association of University Women Fellowship, 1976–1977
Smith College Grants
Israel Government Award, 1967–1968
Fulbright-Hayes Fellowship, 1967–1968
National Defense Foreign Language Fellowships, 1963–1967
Columbia University Grant, 1966–1967
Columbia University Presidential Fellow, 1965–1966
New York State Regents Fellowship for College Teachers, 1964–1965
Columbia University Middle East Scholar, 1964–1965
Woodrow Wilson National Fellow, 1963–1964
Phi Beta Kappa, 1962
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
. She holds a B.A. from Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
, 1963, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, 1971, in Political Science. Divine is interested in Comparative Politics, Middle East Politics, and Political Theory.
Divine is fluent in three of the major languages of the Middle East, Arabic, Hebrew, and Turkish, this enables her to conduct research across the region, studying both historical developments and contemporary trends.
She has written on Zionist immigration to Palestine during the British Mandate, analyzing how exile functioned as a contrast to the society created in Palestine during the period of British rule.
According to Efraim Karsh
Efraim Karsh
Efraim Karsh is professor and head of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies at King's College London, and director of the Philadelphia-based think tank, the Middle East Forum...
Divine sees many common links between Zionist state building and the situation facing the Palestinians, comparing the roles of the Histadrut in Israel with that of Hamas and other voluntary bodies in the Palestinian "entity." She asserts that the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza "have created a more vibrant civil society than at any other time in their history."
Divine believes that with their attention directed to explaining the loss of a Palestinian state in 1948, scholars have failed to appreciate Palestine’s nineteenth century history as a period of significant development.
Divine is a committed feminist, she has criticized those who perceive the social activities of women’s colleges but fail to perceive that “As important as social activities may be, we have no mission but that of promoting scholarship.”
Books
- Women Living Change: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Essays from the Smith College Research Project on Women and Social Change. Edited with Susan C. Bourque. Temple University Press, 1985.
- Politics and Society in Ottoman Palestine: The Arab Struggle for Survival and Power. Lynne Rienner, 1994.
- Postcolonial Theory and the Arab-Israeli ConflictPostcolonial Theory and the Arab-Israeli ConflictPostcolonial Theory and the Arab-Israeli Conflict is a 2008 book edited by Philip Carl Salzman and Donna Robinson Divine and published by Routledge Press....
. Edited with Philip Carl SalzmanPhilip Carl Salzman-Research:Salzman received his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1972. He has done field research among pastoral peoples, in Baluchistan , Rajasthan , and Sardinia ....
Routledge, 2008.
- Exiled in the Homeland, University of Texas Press, 2010.
Fellowships, Grants, Awards
Organizing Fellow, Kahn Institute for the Liberal Arts 2005-2006Academic Fellow, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, 2003-2004
Smith College Grant for Curriculum Development: Multicultural Curriculum Development
Jean Picker Fellowship, 1982–1985
Andrew Mellon Foundation Grants 1978–1980, 1981–1984. Principal Investigator, Smith Research Project on Women and Social Change
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for Senior Scholars, 1982–1983
Social Science Research Council Grants, 1978–1979; 1982–1983
Department of State Middle East Scholar in Residence, January 1978
American Association of University Women Fellowship, 1976–1977
Smith College Grants
Israel Government Award, 1967–1968
Fulbright-Hayes Fellowship, 1967–1968
National Defense Foreign Language Fellowships, 1963–1967
Columbia University Grant, 1966–1967
Columbia University Presidential Fellow, 1965–1966
New York State Regents Fellowship for College Teachers, 1964–1965
Columbia University Middle East Scholar, 1964–1965
Woodrow Wilson National Fellow, 1963–1964
Phi Beta Kappa, 1962