Zachary Levine

  

My background is as eclectic as the background of anybody else who might attend THATCamp. I've been engaged in the humanities on an academic level for some time, at the crossroads of political science, history, and Jewish studies. Much of my interest has been focused on central Europe in the 18th-20th centuries, especially during the Cold War. I have also nursed a complimentary interest in the history and theories of scientific development, and the multifaceted role of technology as social media. These various interests converged on my dissertation topic (still in process) on the clandestine aid regimen that developed to help hundreds of thousands of impoverished Jews in eastern Europe in the 1950s. This project is part of a broader interest in how indirect economic and humanitarian relationships reveal paths for communication and cooperation between even ostensibly bitter enemies.

Insofar as my academic resume is concerned, it started at the University of Maryland I completed degrees in Government and Politics with a focus on political thought, and Jewish studies. I then received an MA in history with a focus on Jewish history on from Central European University in Budapest. Most recently I was a PhD candidate in the departments of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and History at New York University. I am ABD, but I recently decided to no longer peruse the degree. That said, I continue to work on my dissertation project and intend to publish it for a popular audience.

Most recently I joined Yeshiva University Museum as a curator where I've developed exhibitions on a variety of topics ranging from the amateur travel films of Jews visiting their families in Poland in the 1920s and 1930s, to fine arts exhibitions, to an exploration of Jewish autobiographical comic books. Ultimately, I hope to focus on developing projects that integrate museum exhibitions and collections with artifacts in private collections, other museums and archives, and in the lives of people.

In terms of Nicholas Carr or Slavoj Žižek, I have only had some interaction with Nicholas Carr's work as part of a graduate school course and through my wife who had to read one of his articles for her MA, and I covered some of Žižek's in school and after, but not in any great dept. I did see him speak at Occupy Wall Street. I found their ideas initially inspiring, but always with a healthy compliment from different thinkers and historians.