Na'ama O. Arom
Personal Project:
"A Bridge to the East": A Study of Ilkhanid Diplomacy
The PhD dissertation, supervised by Prof. Reuven Amitai, focuses on the foreign relation of the IlKhanate – the diplomatic activity, as well as the less official connections, between the Mongols of the Middle East and the lands around them. Based mainly on Persian and Latin sources, this study attempts to trace the changes in the IlKhanid relationship with other forces, and to define the mechanics of the 'diplomatic civil service' of the Il-Khans - in case it did exist.
CV
Education
2008 – 2017 – The Hebrew University, PhD studies in the department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. Dissertation's title – “Beyond Bow Range – the Formation of Mongol Foreign Relations in the Middle East”; under the supervision of Prof. Reuven Amitai.
2008 – Central European University, Budapest – a summer course titled “From Holy War to Peaceful Co-habitation: Diversity of Crusading and the Military Orders.”
2005 – 2008 – Bar Ilan University – M.A studies, Department of the Land of Israel and Archaeology Studies. Thesis title – “The People of the Horse and the People of the Book – Mongol-Jewish Connections in the 13th and 14th Centuries”; supervisors – Prof. Yvonne Friedman and Prof. Reuven Amitai.
2000-2004 – B.A studies in Tel Aviv University, Faculty of Humanities; History of Israel, and East Asian Studies (graduated with honors in both).
1998-2000 – Open University Language Department – spoken Arabic course (three semesters).
Experience
2016-17: Postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in the project "Mobility, Empire and Cross-Cultural Contacts in Mongol Eurasia", under the supervision of Prof. Michal Biran.
2011- today: Teaching in the department of the Land of Israel and Archaeology Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Israel.
2015 - today: taking part in "Mada baKtana", the Hebrew University's project of introducing academic studies to high school pupils.
2012-2013: taking part in the project "Mobility, Empire and Cross-Cultural Contacts in Mongol Eurasia"(Persian texts), under the supervision of Prof. Michal Biran.
2002-2004, 2007 - today: writer and group guide in the “Hagana” Museum. The work includes composing lectures based on studies and archive documents, as well as delivering them to groups of foreign tourists, soldiers and pupils.
Conferences
2017: "Animals and Human Society in the Asian Sphere", The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; title – "Unicorn in the Woods, Tigers at the Gates: Different Stages in the Contacts between the Il-Khanate and the Delhi Sultanate".
2016:
13th conference for East Asian Studies, Tel-Hai College, Israel; "Mongol Middle Eastern Diplomacy, 1255-1282: Between Advisers and Khans".
Paper given at the seminar Mobility, Empire and Cross-Cultural Contacts in Mongol Eurasia", Hebrew University of Jerusalem; title - "Faith in the Hands of the Envoy – Religious Imge of the Early Il-Khans in Europe and in Tibet".
The workshop "Diplomacy in the Age of Mongol Globalization", The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; title – " 'In-Ger' and 'Outer' Diplomacy: Il-Khanid Contacts with the Mongol and the Outside Worlds".
Graduate seminar, the Department of the Land of Israel Studies, Bar Ilan University; title: "A Robe with no Belt: Clothes and Mongol Middle Eastern Foreign Relations in the 13th Century" .
2015: School of Mamluk Studies, University of Liège, Belgium; title – "From Infidel Dogs to Mere Babylonians – the Mamluks in the Latin Letters of Abaqa Khan, 1268-1279".
2014: Il-Khanid Conference, the National University of Mongolia, Ulan Baatar; "Arrowheads of Hülegü Khan – Envoys and Diplomacy in his Invasion of the Middle East, 1255-1262".
April 13th, 2013: Symposia Iranica, St. Andrews University; title – "A Land of Colours – Religion in Mongol Iran under the Il-Khan Arghun, 1284-1291".
April 24th, 2013: "Gallop on Water – the Persian Gulf and Mongol Iran", The Fifth Annual Persian Gulf Studies Conference in Israel, Haifa University.
May 21st, 2014: "Arrowheads of Hulegu Khan – Envoys and Diplomacy in his Invasion of the Middle East, 1255-1262", New Approaches on the Il-Khans, National University of Mongolia.
June 29th, 2014: Poster "Our Word' – Foreign Advisers and Il-Khanid Diplomacy", Mobility and Transformations – New Directions in the study of the Mongol Empire, the Hebrew University (Jerusalem).
2012: "Storm crows – Mongol Diplomacy in Hulagu's Invasion to the Middle East", Annual Conference of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Association of Israel (Bar-Ilan University).
2010: "No Fear - Mongol-Jewish Connections in the 13th and 14th centuries", National University of Mongolia (Ulan Baatar, 2010).
2010: World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES), University of Barcelona; title – “Trails of Fire, Trails of Hope – the Mongols in Four Hebrew Texts”.
2008:
The Middle East & Islamic Studies Association (MEISAI) 32nd conference, Haifa University; title – “Threshold – a Hebrew source about the Mongol Advance in Syria and the Land of Israel”.
The 7th Conference of East Asian Studies, The Hebrew University; title – “Sa’d al-Daula – a Jewish physician in the Mongol scene”.
List of publications
"Jews and the Mongol Empire", in Timothy May and Michael Hope (eds.), The Mongol World (under contract).
" 'In-Ger' and 'Outer' Diplomacy: Il-Khanid Contacts with the Mongol and the Outside Worlds, 1260-1282", Eurasian Studies 14 (forthcoming, fall 2017).
"Hebrew sources", in Michal Biran and Hodong Kim (eds.), The Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire, vol. II (forthcoming).
"Arrowheads of Hulegu Khan – Envoys and diplomacy in his Invasion of the Middle East, 1255-1262", in Christopher Atwood and Bayarsaikhan Dashdondog (eds.), Proceedings of the Il-Khanid Conference in Ulan Baatar, 2014 (Ulan Baatar: The National University of Mongolia, 2016), pp. 327-340.
“Steppe Tracks – A Journey to Mongolia” (Hebrew; written alongside Amir Ben-Cohen) East Wind vol. 50 (2011), pp. 133-144.
”No Fear – Different Images of the Mongols in Three Mediaeval Hebrew Texts” Acta Mongolica vol. 10 (2010), pp. 151-156.
Scholarships
2014 – Mandel School for Advanced Studies, Travel grant
2009-2013 – The President Scholarship for Humanities PhD candidates
2013 – David ("Dave") Kimche scholarship, by Israel Foreign Ministry
2010 – MA thesis "The People of the Horse and the People of the Book" awarded by “Misgav Jerusalem”, Reseach Centre for the Legacy of the Jews of Sepharad and the East).
2009 – Scholarship by the Nehemia Levtzion Center for Islamic Studies
During MA studies (2005-2008) - the Miriam and Aaron Gutwirth scholarship for excellence.
Languages
Fluent Hebrew and English; reading Persian and French at a good level; basic knowledge in Latin, Arabic and Chinese.