Assaf Shelleg: Recipient of the 2016 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award for his book “Jewish Contiguities and the Soundtrack of Israeli History”

AJS ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES AJS is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2016 Jordan Schnitzer Book Awards. Please join us in celebrating the recipients at a reception on Sunday, December 18, 2016 at 9:15pm in the Elevation Room of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel in San Diego, California during the 48th AJS Annual Conference. Support for this program is generously provided by the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation of Portland, Oregon. Information about the 2017 Jordan Schnitzer Book Awards will be available on the AJS website in early 2017. WINNERS Recipients of a $10,000 prize  In the category of Jews and the Arts (Visual, Performance, Music) Jewish Contiguities and the Soundtrack of Israeli History ASSAF SHELLEG, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Oxford University Press)

The Jordan Schnitzer Book Award was established in 2008 by the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation to honor scholars whose work embodies the best in the field: rigorous research, theoretical sophistication, innovative methodology, and excellent writing. In making this year’s award, the selection committee wrote about the book:

“Assaf Shelleg’s inspiring study of Israeli music is an impressive investigation and important contribution to Jewish Studies, Israel studies, music, and cultural studies. Shelleg problematizes the issues of Israeli culture through the aesthetic and cultural desires of composers searching for non-European based sounds and interrogates composers’ attempts to create Israeli musical culture in dialogue with Middle Eastern sound aesthetics. Shelleg’s methodology is sophisticated and his writing is eloquent. Jewish Contiguities and the Soundtrack of Israeli History casts the world of composers, their music and audience, as well as Israeli culture into the complex history of Israel in the twentieth century. We have no doubt this book will be read for years to come. It will be a catalyst for other conversations based on Shelleg’s intriguing inquiry into Israeli culture and music.”