Dr Roberto Mazza
Assistant Professor
History of the Late Ottoman Empire
and the Modern Middle East
Western Illinois University
Department of History
Research Associate
SOAS, University of London
9 Heath Court
Macomb, IL 61455
Mobile: 309-826-8641
PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE:
Assistant Professor 2009
WIU (Western Illinois University), Assistant Professor in the History of the late Ottoman Empire and Modern Middle East
Courses taught:
“The Middle East” a survey course from the Rise of Islam to the 20th century, also taught as an on-line course
“The Modern Middle East” upper level course on the making of the modern Middle East
“The Modern Middle East and the Arab-Israeli Conflict” upper level course contextualising the Arab-Israeli conflict in the larger region
“The First World in the Middle East” upper level and graduate course on the First World War in the Middle East based on primary sources
“The Arab-Israeli Conflict” postgraduate course based on primary sources
“The End of the Ottoman Empire and its Legacy” postgraduate course based on primary sources and historiography
Teaching Fellow 2008/09
SOAS, Lecturer, “The First World in the Middle East and Jerusalem” (Advanced Course)
SOAS, Teaching Assistant, “The Making of the Modern Middle East”
Temporary Lecturer, 2007/08
SOAS, Lecturer, “The First World in the Middle East and Jerusalem” (Advanced Course)
SOAS, Teaching Assistant, “Introduction to the History of the Near and Middle East”
SOAS, Teaching Assistant, “The Making of the Modern Middle East”
Course Instructor, 2006/07
SOAS, “Approaches to History – Jerusalem in the Transition from Ottoman to British Rule” (Course for first year students)
Teaching Assistant, 2006/07
SOAS, “The Making of the Modern Middle East”
SOAS, “Introduction to the History of the Near and Middle East” (Course for first year students)
Teaching Assistant, 2005/06
SOAS, “The Making of the Modern Middle East”
ACADEMIC PREPARATION:
PhD, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of
London, History Department, November 2007
Dissertation: “Jerusalem During the First World War: Transition from Ottoman to British Rule.”
MA Government and Politics of the Middle East, SOAS, University of London, 2003
MA in International Relations, Bologna University, 2002
Laurea Degree (BA) in Political Science, Bologna University, 2001.
LANGUAGES:
Italian mother tongue
English fluent
Read in French and Spanish
Hebrew level Aleph-Bet
Basic knowledge of Arabic
Basic knowledge of Turkish
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE:
The National Archives, Public Record Office, London
National Archives and Records Administration, Washington
Lambeth Palace, Anglican Archives, London
Israel State Archives, Jerusalem
Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem
Spanish Foreign Office Archives, Madrid
Italian Foreign Office Archives, Rome
Vatican Secret Archive, Vatican City
French Foreign Office Archives, Nantes
Latin Patriarchate, Jerusalem
Custody of the Holy Land, Jerusalem
Ottoman Archives, Istanbul
PUBLICATIONS
Books:
Jerusalem in World War One: the Palestine Diary of a European Diplomat, (I.B.Tauris: London, 2011)
Jerusalem: from the Ottomans to the British, (I.B.Tauris: London, 2009)
Articles:
“Missing Voices in Late Ottoman and Early British Jerusalem” Submitted and accepted for publication to Jerusalem Quarterly
“For God and La Patrie: Antonin Jaussen Dominican and French Agent in the Middle East 1914-1920”, First World War Studies 3, No. 2 (October 2012), p. 145-164.
“Dining Out in Times of War: Jerusalem 1914-1918”, The Jerusalem Quarterly 41 (Spring 2010), p. 52-58.
“Antonio de la Cierva y Lewita: the Spanish Consul in Jerusalem 1914-1919”, The Jerusalem Quarterly 40, (Winter 2010), p. 36-44.
“Churches at War: The Impact of the First World War on the Christian Institutions of Jerusalem 1914-20”, Middle Eastern Studies 45, No. 2 (March 2009), p. 207-227
“Le Chiese Cristiane di Gerusalemme nella Guerra Mondiale 1914-1920” (Italian) Contemporanea 4 (October 2008), p. 613-638
Chapters:
“A Diplomat in the Holy City: the Spanish Consul and World War One in Jerusalem” in Palestine and World War I: Grand Strategy, Military Tactics and Culture of War (forthcoming 2013/14)
“Transforming the Holy City: from Communal Clashes to Urban Violence, the Nebi Musa Riots in 1920” (tentative title) in Rethinking Urban Violence in Middle Eastern Cities: From Empire to Nation States (forthcoming 2013/14)
Book Reviews:
Eve. M. Troutt Powell, Tell This in My Memory, in DOMES
V. Lemire, Jerusalem 1900, in The Jerusalem Quarterly
M. Keren & S. Keren, We Are Coming, Unafraid: The Jewish Legion and the Promised Land in the First World War, in Journal of Modern Jewish Studies
A. Jacobson, From Empire to Empire: Jerusalem Between Ottoman and
British Rule, in Insight Turkey, Vol. 15, No. 1, (January 2013), p. 183
C. Emrence, Remapping the Ottoman Middle East, in Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 48, No. 4, (July 2012), p. 677-679
R. Miller ed., Britain, Palestine and Empire: The Mandate Years, in Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. 32, No. 2, (2012), p. 450-451
E. Tzfadia and H. Yacobi, Rethinking Israeli Space: Periphery and Identity, in Int. J. Middle East Stud. 44 (2012), p. 374-376
A. Cohen, Studies on Ottoman Palestine, in Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 48, No. 2, (March 2012), p. 313-315
I. Khuri-Makdisi, The Eastern Mediterranean and the Making of Global Radicalism 1860-1914, in Journal of World History 22, No. 4, (December 2011), p. 883-886
V. Lemire, La Soif de Jérusalem: Essai d’Hydrohistoire (1840-1948), in The Jerusalem Quarterly 46, (Summer 2011) p. 68-70
M. Campos, Ottoman Brothers: Muslims, Christians and Jews in Early Twentieth-Century Palestine, in The Middle East in London, Vol. 7, No. 8, (April-May 2011) p. 22
A. Safieh, The Peace Process: From Breakthrough to Breakdown, in DOMES 20, No. 1, (Spring 2011) p. 142-144
M. Ma’oz ed., Muslims Attitudes to Jews and Israel, in DOMES 20, No. 1, (Spring 2011) p.132-35
M. Abu-Nimer, A.I. Khoury and E. Welty eds., Unity in Diversity: Interfaith Dialogue in the Middle East, in Peace and Change 36, No. 4, (2011) p. 600-603
P. Satia, Spies in Arabia, in Insight Turkey 13, No. 1, (Jan-March 2011) p. 220-222
K. Katz ed., A Young Palestinian’s Diary, 1941-1945: The Life of Sami ‘Amr, in Review of Middle East Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2, (Winter 2011) p. 253-254.
D. Lynch, A Divided Paradise, in DOMES 19, No. 2, (Fall 2010) p. 319-321
P. Sluglett, The Urban Social History of the Middle East, in Int. J. Middle East Stud. 42, No. 2, (2010) p. 332-334
J.M. Hammond, Battle in Iraq, in The Middle East in London, Vol. 6, No. 8, (March 2010) p. 17
G. Lewis, Balfour & Weizmann, in The Middle East in London, Vol. 6, No. 4, (October 2009) p. 13
E. Molinaro, The Holy Places of Jerusalem in Middle East Peace Process, in Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 45, No. 5, (September 2009) p. 850-851
M. Aksakal, The Ottoman Road to War in 1914, in Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 45, No. 4, (July 2009) p. 681-683
J. Renton, The Zionist Masquerade, in Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, Issue 9.1, 2009
T. Mayer and S. Ali Mourad eds., Jerusalem Idea and Reality, in Bulletin of SOAS, Vol. 72, No. 1 (2009) p. 171-173
H. Ozdemir, The Ottoman Army 1914-1918, Disease and Death on the Battlefield, in Bulletin of SOAS, Vol. 72, No. 1 (2009) p. 168-169
PAPERS PRESENTED
“Remember Remember: the Changing Memory of World War One in Palestine” SOAS (2013)
“Jerusalem a City in Transition: from the Ottomans to the British 1910-1920.” Kenyon Institute Jerusalem (2010) and Northern Illinois University (2010)
“Renegotiating Identity: The Nebi Musa Riots in Jerusalem, April 1920.” University of Chicago (2010)
“For God and la Patrie: Antonin Jaussen Dominican and French Agent in the Middle East 1914-1919.” Western Illinois University (2009)
“The British Conquest of Jerusalem: 9 December 1917.” SOAS (2008)
“The Nebi Musa Riots: Jerusalem 4-7 April 1920.” SOAS (2007), London School of Economics (2007)
“Dining out in the Holy City: the Spanish Consul in Jerusalem 1914-1920.” SOAS (2008), Illinois State University (2009)
CONFERENCES
Middle East Studies Center (Portland State University), Minorities of the Modern Middle East, “Between Rome and Jerusalem: Catholics in Palestine 1850-1930”, April 2013.
MESA, Denver CO, “Once Upon a War: Memories of World War One in Palestine”, November 2012.
The Greater War: Imperial Mobilization, Demobilization, and Unrest in the Era of the First World War, UCD Dublin, “Jerusalem: from the Ottoman to the British”, May 2012.
ZMO, Berlin, Workshop on Urban Violence in the Middle East (follow up of MESA), “Transforming the Holy City: From Communal Clashes to Urban Violence 1920”, December 2011.
MESA, Washington DC, “Transforming the Holy City: From Communal Clashes to Urban Violence 1920”, December 2011.
Food and Drink Histories Conference, Preston (UK), “Food, Games and Leisure: the Spanish Consul in Jerusalem 1914-1920”, June 2011.
Urban Conflicts Conference, Belfast, “Urban Violence in the Holy City: A Test of National Struggle, the Nebi Musa Riots in 1920”, May 2011.
MEHAT, University of Chicago, “For God and la Patrie: Antonin Jaussen, Dominican and French Agent”, May 2011.
Symposium: Christians and the Middle East Conflict, Langley (British Columbia), “Challenges and Responses of Christianity in the Holy Land: 1914-1920”, March 2011.
MESA, San Diego, Organiser of the Panel: “A Land in Transition: Palestine and Jerusalem from Ottoman to British Rule 1900-1948” – Paper “Adapting and changing: the renegotiation of alliances in post-Ottoman Jerusalem - Christian-Muslim Associations and Nebi Musa Riots 1920”, November 2010.
WOCMES III, Barcelona, “Tradition and Modernity: The Custody of the Holy Land”, July 2010
British Academy, Rethinking the Middle East? Values, Interests, and Security Concerns in Western Policies toward Iraq and the Wider Region, 1918-2010, “Antonin Jaussen Dominican and French Agent in the Middle East 1914-1919”, March 2010
Second Workshop Christian in the Middle East, St Andrews Scotland, “For God and la Patrie: Antonin Jaussen Dominican and French Agent in the Middle East 1914-1919”, February 2010
Workshop on Violence, Trauma, and Displacement in the Middle East and Eurasia, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, “The Effects of the First World War upon the Identities of Jerusalem”, January 2010
Second Annual California State University Middle East and Islamic Studies Conference, San Francisco, “The Christian institutions of Jerusalem and Palestine from the late 19th century to the early 1920s”, October 2009
BRISMES, London, “Archival Research in the Middle East: Practical and Ethical Issues”, September 2008
MESA, Montreal, Roundtable “Re-thinking Nationalism and Inter-Communal Relations in Late Ottoman Palestine”, November 2007
Tel-Hai Academic College (Israel), Palestine and the First World War – a New Perspective, “The Spanish Consul in Jerusalem 1914-1920 a new perspective on Jerusalem in the First World War”, September 2007
BRISMES, Oxford, “A New Source in History: The Spanish Consul in Jerusalem 1914-1920”, July 2007
GRANTS-PRIZES RECEIVED AND AFFILIATIONS:
Western Illinois University, Provost Travel Grant 2011
Western Illinois University Research Grant 2009/10
Western Illinois University, Provost Travel Grant 2009
SOAS Director’s Teaching Prize 2008, runner up
Council of British Research in the Levantine (CBRL), Travel Grant, awarded 2004
Senate House, University of London, Travel Grant, awarded 2004
Italian Foreign Office, Turkish language course, Istanbul, awarded summer 2004
Websites Reviews Chair
DOMES (Digest of Middle East Studies)
Member of:
AHA, American Historical Association
MESA, Middle East Studies Association
CBRL, Centre for British Research in the Levantine
BRISMES, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies
LMEI, London Middle East Institute
PARC, Palestinian American Research Center
NON-ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE:
2011 Freelance journalist for www.7per24.it (Middle East expert)
2009 Basketball Referee, IHSA (Illinois High School Association)
1992-2009 Basketball Referee, officiating at National level both England Basketball and the Professional BBL (British Basketball League).
2002-2005 Assistant Manager, SOAS Union Shop.
1992-1995 Sport journalist for local newspapers and radio.
REFEREES:
Dr. Nelida Fuccaro
Reader in the History of the Modern Middle East
SOAS, Department of History
020 7898 4618
Dr. Lee Brice
Professor in the History of the Ancient World
WIU, Department of History
+1 309 298 2982