Hebrew Orientalism in Late Ottoman and British Palestine | Mostafa Hussein

E595 | Zionism, as a cultural and political movement of Hebrew revival, sought to forge a connection between the modern Jewish people and a deep past located in the geography of late Ottoman and British Palestine. As our guest in this episode, Mostafa Hussein, explores in a new book, this revival in turn birthed an intellectual project of intimate and often contradictory engagement with Arabo-Islamic culture, a process that he describes as Hebrew Orientalism. As we discuss, Jewish orientalists from diverse backgrounds between East and West developed an interest in a variety of medieval Arabic texts, drawing on history, geography, botany, literature, and linguistics to forge cultural exchange in service of Zionist aspirations. Whether these scholars imagined a future of conflict or coexistence in Palestine, their work illuminates how Arab cultural heritage was integral to the remaking of modern Jewish identity. More at https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2026/09/mostafa-hussein.html Mostafa Hussein is an Assistant Professor of Jewish-Muslim studies in the Judaic Studies Department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His scholarship focuses on Jewish-Muslim intersectionalities, shedding light on the complex cultural and historical interconnections between these communities. Chris Gratien is Associate Professor of History at University of Virginia, where he teaches classes on global environmental history and the Middle East. His first book, The Unsettled Plain: An Environmental History of the Late Ottoman Frontier, explores the social and environmental transformation of the Adana region of Southern Turkey during the 19th and 20th century. His current project, provisionally titled The Book and the Sword: Civil War and Reconstruction in Late Ottoman Syria, offers a global microhistory of the Tanzimat period, centered on the unsolved murder of an American missionary in the Ottoman Empire. CREDITS Episode No. 595 Release Date: 12 September 2026 Sound production by Chris Gratien Closing music by kara güneş Bibliography courtesy of Mostafa Hussein at https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2026/09/mostafa-hussein.html