Marina Mogilner Releases New Book on Jews & Racial Politics in Russian Empire
The UIC History Department congratulates Professor Marina Mogilner, Associate Chair of the History Department, on the publication of her brand new book, Jews, Race, and the Politics of Difference: The Case of Vladimir Jabotinsky Against the Russian Empire (Indian University Press, 2023).
The book explores how Russian Jewish thinkers like Vladimir Jabotinsky, used the idea of race as a way for Jews to navigate the evolving politics of late imperial Russia. As one of the reviewers writes, "Mogilner's fascinating and important study radically changes our perspective on Jews and race by showing how Jews in Imperial Russia used racial science to build the concept of Jews as a people, deserving of recognition. By focusing on Vladimir Jabotinsky as an imperial subject Mogilner shows that his Zionism, based on race as a unifying factor, was a response to his specific historical context. Thus, the study of race must be historicized, and the politics of race today must be distinguished from the politics of race a century ago."
Making all sorts of contributions about nation building, race making, and the life of people living within the confines of empire, the book also reminds us to pay particular attention to the historical context of our assumed categories.
Congratulations Professor Mogilner!