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Event Details

Wed, February 22, 2017

18:00 – 19:30

VILLA SASSETTI
Villa La Pietra
Via Bolognese, 120
50139 Firenze, Italy

A dialogue with Guy-Ben Porat, University of Negev and Marcella Simoni, Professor, Università Ca´ Foscari, Venezia.

Ethiopian protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv in 2015 after a video of a young Ethiopian soldier beaten by police officers was aired, echoing protests in Baltimore following the death of an African American man after being taken into police custody. Guy Ben-Porat will discuss trust and distrust between police forces and the civilian population and the consequences of distrust, particularly in a multicultural society.

Featured Biographies

Guy Ben-Porat

PROFESSOR

Guy Ben-Porat is an associate professor at Ben-Gurion University, Israel. His first book, Global Liberalism, Local Populism; Peace and Conflict in Israel/Palestine and Northern Ireland was published by Syracuse University Press (2006). His second book, Between State and Synagogue, the secularization of contemporary Israel was published by Cambridge University Press (2013). He is currently working on a new book engaging with relations between police and minorities.

Marcella Simoni

PROFESSOR

Marcella Simoni , Ph.D. (London 2004), lectures at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Between 2004 and 2010 she taught at NYU in Florence. Her field of expertise is the Middle East in general and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular about which she has published a number of books and articles in various scientific journals ; among them «Middle Eastern Studies», «Jewish History», «Passato e Presente» and others. She is currently working on the history of conscientious objection in Israel. She is also in the board of two journals “Passato e Presente” and “Quest – Issues in contemporary Jewish history”. Since 1998 she has extensive experience lecturing in international conferences and forums. Her research interests include civil society in Israeli-Palestinian history, history of medicine, and youth. She speaks English and Hebrew fluently and her Arabic reaches an intermediate level.