D. Gershon Lewental is a cultural historian of the Middle East, focusing on how societies use religion, memory, and conflict to define and maintain their identities. He has been the Schusterman visiting assistant professor in the Departments of History and International & Area Studies at the University of Oklahoma since 2012. He earned his degrees from Cornell University and Brandeis University, writing a dissertation on the changing perceptions of the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran that received the Foundation of Iranian Studies Best Dissertation Award and the Brandeis University Glazter Dissertation Prize. His fields of specialization include early Islamic history and historiography, Iranian history, the Baha?i faith, and Israeli society.

Please RSVP to Golriz Farshi (gfarshi@umich.edu) for reading materials