Katya Gibel Mevorach is Professor of Anthropology and American Studies at Grinnell College

Grinnell College

Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. known for its strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....

. Under the name Katya Gibel Azoulay, she is author of an explication and theory of identities, Black, Jewish and Interracial: It's Not the Color of Your Skin but the Race of Your Kin, and Other Myths of Identity.

Life and career

Gibel Mevorach was born to Inge Gibel (Miriam Lederer) and Ronald L.X. Gibel in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. She is an alumn of The Brearley School in New York and received a B.A. and M.A. in African Studies from Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...

 in Israel, where she lived between 1970 and 1991. In 1991 she returned to the United States. Four years later, Gibel Mevorach earned a Ph.D.

Ph.D.

A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University

Duke University

Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

. In January 1996, Gibel Mevorach was invited to Grinnell College as a Scholar-in-Residence and joined as an assistant professor the following year. She served as Chair of the Africana Studies Concentration from 1996–2000 and in 2003 helped initiate the transition of Africana Studies into an expanded American Studies Concentration, serving as the new Chair between 2004 and 2005. Gibel Mevorach also served on the Grinnell College Diversity Steering Committee between 2002 and 2005.

Gibel Mevorach is married to Paris-based visual artist and filmmaker, Yorame Mevorach (Oyoram, Films Hors Ecran/Offscreen Motion Pictures). She has three adult children from a previous marriage.

Books

• Black, Jewish and Interracial: Its Not the Color of Your Skin but the Race of Your Kin and Other Myths of Identity. [Honorable Mention for Outstanding Book Awards for books published in 1997 by The Gustavus Meyers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America, Boston University School of Social Work]

Chapters

• "When Words Have Failed and Political Rhetoric Turns Stale: Race, Racism and Caste."
• “Reflections on ‘Race’ and the Biologization of Difference.”
• “Interpreting the Census: The Elasticity of Whiteness and the Depoliticization of Race.”
• “Jewish Identity and the Politics of a (Multi)Racial Category.”
• “Personal Landmarks on Pedagogical Landscapes.”

Articles

• “Les identités juives au miroir de l’héritage du racisme aux Etats Unis.”
• “Race, racism, and academic complicity.”
• “Reflections on ‘Race’ and the Biologization of Difference.”
• “Not an Innocent Pursuit: The Politics of a ‘Jewish’ Genetic Signature.”
• Contribution to The Woman’s Table: A Passover Seder Sourcebook,
• “Jewish in America or the Search for an Identity.”
• “Jewishness After Mount Sinai: Jews, Blacks and the (Multi)Racial Category.”
• "(White) Women and (Racial) Diversity in the Academy: Reflections on Intentions and Interventions."
• "Experience, Empathy and Strategic Essentialism,"
• "Outside Our Parents' House: Race, Culture and Identity,"
• "Appropriating Anthropology: Epistemological Standpoints and the Space for Race"
• "'Why are You Pushing Me Away?'"
• "Historical Background of the African National Congress,"

Book reviews

• Review of Eric Sundquist, Strangers in The Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America.
• Review of Maureen Mahon, Right to Rock: The Black Rock Coalition and the Cultural Politics of Race.
• Review of Francisco Valdes, Jerome McCristal Culp, and Angela P. Harris, eds. Crossroads, Directions and a New Critical Race Theory.
• Review of Lorraine Delia Kenny. Daughters of Suburbia: Growing Up White, Middle-Class and Female.
• Review of Ed. David Parker and Miri Song. Rethinking ‘Mixed Race.’
• Review of Betty N. Hoffman. Jewish Hearts: A Study of Dynamic Ethnicity in the United States and the Soviet Union.
• Review of Rachel F. Moran. Interracial Intimacy: the Regulation of Race and Romance.
• Review of Oyekan Owomoyela, The African Difference: Discourse on Africanity and the Relativity of Cultures.
• Review of Emily Miller Budick, Blacks and Jews in Literary Conversation.
• Review of Crispin Sartwell, Act Like You Know: African-American Autobiography and White Identity.
• Review of Jon Michael Spencer, The New Colored People: The Mixed-Race Movement In America.

Op-Ed essays

• "Injustice, Prejudice and Peace,"
• "Reflections on the Failure of Feminist Rhetoric,"
• "South Africa: Reflections and Lessons,"
• "Inaccurate Equations: Racism vs. Nationalism,"
• "Rather than Curse the Darkness: A Call for Mobilization,"
• "Israel-South Africa Ties: Avoiding Real Sanctions"
• "Jews, Israel and South Africa"
• "Familiar Themes,"
• "Elitism in the Women's Peace Camp,"
• "Courting Pretoria,"
• "Stigma of Implicit Support,"
• "Raising Wrong Issues,"

External links

• http://www.akadem.org/sommaire/themes/histoire/3/6/module_1683.php - Les identités juives au miroir du racisme au États-Unis.” Ham et Sem, Juifs et Noirs du mythe à la réalité Symposium international. Collège des études juives de l’Alliance israélite universelle, Paris, France 3 décembre 2006.
• http://www.barnard.edu/sfonline/jewish/panel1_02.htm - Plenary Panelist, Jewish Women Changing America: Cross Generational Conversations, Barnard College, 29 October 2005