Best Book in Israel Studies Award Event - "Dual Diaspora" by Alex Moshkin
Please join the Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies on Tuesday, September 1, 2026 at 1:00 PM ET for the Best Book in Israel Studies Award Event!
Zoom Option: https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/meeting/register/vX7JGkjNSAWks2Q9n4iQig
"Dual Diaspora" by Alex Moshkin
About the Book:
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union nearly one million Russian-speaking Jews have settled in Israel, reshaping its cultural, social, and political fabric. This influx has sparked a complex dialogue about the intersection of post-Soviet and Jewish identities in the Israeli context.
Dual Diaspora offers a groundbreaking exploration of the cultural contributions of Russian-speaking immigrants to Israel over the past thirty years. Through the lenses of literature, cinema, and visual art, Alex Moshkin investigates how immigrants reconcile their Soviet past with their Israeli present, and what role the Russian language – central to the identity of Soviet Jews in the second half of the twentieth century – plays today. Highlighting works in both Russian and Hebrew, Moshkin describes how authors, artists, and filmmakers navigate their dual identities and engage with Jewish history, religious life, and cosmopolitan ideals while confronting the traumas of displacement and immigration.
Expanding the study of contemporary Israeli life beyond its Hebrew-centric narratives, Dual Diaspora sheds light on a vibrant and overlooked cultural scene. It not only deepens our understanding of Russian-speaking Jews in Israel but also enriches a broader conversation about hybrid identities in an increasingly globalized world.
About the Author:
Alex Moshkin teaches English and World Literature at the International School Michel Lucius in Luxembourg. He received his PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Pennsylvania and then held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Toronto and the University of Michigan before serving as Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at Koç University in Istanbul. His book, Dual Diaspora: Post-Soviet Culture in Search of Israeli Identity, examines how Russian-speaking Jewish émigrés to Israel forged a distinct cultural identity in dialogue with Israeli society. His scholarship has also appeared in East European Jewish Affairs, Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, Canadian-American Slavic Studies, The Oxford Handbook of the Russian, Global Russian Cultures, and Iudaica Russica.