The second talk of the lecture series “Promised Land“ took place on November 22, 2021. Just like the opening lecture, the event was initially planned as an in-person event, but due to the Covid-19 situation had to be switched to an online format. Dr. Julie Grimmeisen, Academic Director of the Consulate of the State of Israel, Munich, talked about “Frauen in Israel: Soldatinnen und Mütter“. 
Dr. Noam Zadoff welcomed the guests and lead through the evening. In her talk, which was supported by the Research Platform Center Interdisciplinary Gender Studies Innsbruck (CGI) at the University of Innsbruck, Dr. Grimmeisen first talked about the historical developments of the role of women in Israeli society.
She stated that the Zionist movements at the beginning of the 20th century aimed to build a society based on equality between the sexes. With the founding of the state, a number of revolutionary laws were put in place to strengthen the status of women in society. These included compulsory military service for women. Dr. Grimmeisen pointed out that Israeli society today, is still a very family-oriented society and that motherhood had always remained one of the main tasks of women.
“For a long time, a traditional division of roles also determined their duties in the Israeli army. Gender equality in Israel today is complex, like the country itself”, so Dr. Grimmeisen. The lecture was an introduction to Israel and its society from the perspective of the achievements and challenges of Israeli women – a very exciting, but often unmentioned, side.

On November 11, 2021, AIANI had the pleasure to host the opening lecture of the lecture series “Promised Land - Israel between Vision and Reality“. 
Initially planned as an in-person event, Prof. Dachs lecture was held online due to the current corona situation in Austria.

Prof. Dr. Gisela Dachs is a journalist and media scientist. She received her PhD on immigrant identities and news consumption at Tel Aviv University and has been working for different newspapers, including “Die Zeit” and “NZZ am Sonntag”, for more than twenty years. Since 2016, she has been teaching and researching at the DAAD Center for German Studies and the European Forum at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Prof. Dachs focused in her talk on the Israeli society, which consisted and still consists of very different groups whose coexistence is characterized by antagonism in many respects. Prof. Dachs pointed out the resulting difficulties as well as forms of overlapping affiliations.

Dr. Ingrid Böhler and Dr. Noam Zadoff from the Department of Contemporary History at the University of Innsbruck welcomed the guests virtually and moderated the discussion afterwards.

The positive effects of such an online event could be seen in the participation of about 45 people from Austria, Germany and Israel, including some Innsbruck students, currently spending their semester in Israel and therefore getting a first-hand-insight into the topic.  All listened to Prof. Dachs' interesting talk and many participated in the discussion that followed.

AIANI hopes to welcome Prof. Dachs to Innsbruck as soon as the conditions allow for such a stay.
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Special thanks to Dr. Ingrid Böhler and Dr. Noam Zadoff from the Department of Contemporary History at the University of Innsbruck, all participants and of course, Prof. Gisela Dachs for this engaging evening event!

​The positive effect of an online venue is that people from afar can join as well. So did some of our exchange students that are currently studying in Israel. Thank you for sending us this lovely picture! We hope you can get a great first-hand insight into the topic during your stay.

Yesterday, we were able to welcome numerous guests to the opening of the photo exhibition "Promised Land -Israel between Vision and Reality".

The exhibition opening in attendance by the artist Israel Ariel took place at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Innsbruck.
Prof. Gabriele Werner-Felmayer from the Institute of Biological Chemistry at the Medical University of Innsbruck together with Prof. Josef Quitterer from the Department of Christian Philosophy at the University of Innsbruck, welcomed the guests.
Photographer Israel Ariel talked about his pictures, the story behind and his views of the "Promised Land". In his work, he mainly aims to show the beauty of diversity and differences of people and landscapes.

If you are interested in seeing the pictures yourself, the exhibition will be shown until January 2022, at the Faculty of Theology (Karl-Rahner-Platz 1, 1st Floor, corridor area).

Find all information about the lecture series "Promised Land - Israel between Vision and Reality" here:
Photo Exhibition and Lecture Series Winter Semester 2021-2022

In October 2021, AIANI welcomed Dr. Tal-Chen Rabinowitch from the School of Creative Arts Therapies, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences at University of Haifa to Innsbruck.
Dr. Rabinowitch was hosted by Prof. Tobias Greitemeyer from the Department of Psychology at the University of Innsbruck.

The purpose of the visit was to kick-start a unique and exciting collaborative research project between Prof. Greitemeyer’s lab and Dr. Rabinowitch's lab called the music and social development lab" in Israel.

In this research project, they want to study the effects of a synchronous intervention on the social relationships and behaviors within a group. "Interpersonal synchrony has repeatedly been shown to strengthen social bonds and enhance positive social interaction. However, very few studies have also explored the potential negative effects of interpersonal synchrony, and in particular, inducing hostile or non-collaborative attitudes towards out-group members", says Dr. Rabinowitch.
During her research visit, Prof. Greitemeyer and her have discussed the details of the study and trained four research assistants in running the study.

AIANI was happy to welcome Dr. Rabinowitch to Innsbruck and is looking foward to read about the results of the research project.

Read the report here:
Research Fellowship for Dr. Rabinowitch at the University of Innsbruck

Begrüßung: Dr. Ingrid Böhler, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Universität Innsbruck
Moderation: Dr. Noam Zadoff, Assistenzprofessor, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Universität Innsbruck

Abstrakt: Was einst angedacht wurde als Schmelztiegel für Jüdinnen und Juden aus aller Welt, sah in der Realität immer schon anders aus. Die israelische Gesellschaft bestand und besteht aus ganz unterschiedlichen Gruppierungen,  deren Zusammenleben in vielerlei Hinsicht von Antagonismen geprägt ist.  Der Vortrag zeigt deren Bruchlinien auf, ebenso wie Formen von übergreifenden Zugehörigkeiten, die sich wie in einem Kaleidoskop durchaus flexibel organisieren können.  

Biografie: Prof. Dr. Gisela Dachs ist Publizistin und Medienwissenschaftlerin. Sie hat an der Tel Aviv University zu Einwandereridentitäten und Nachrichtenkonsum promoviert. Seit 2016 lehrt und forscht sie am DAAD-Center for German Studies und am European Forum der Hebräischen Universität in Jerusalem. Ihre journalistische Karriere begann sie bei der französischen Tageszeitung Liberation, bevor sie ins politische Ressort der Zeit nach Hamburg wechselte, für die sie anschließend mehr als zwanzig Jahre exklusiv aus Israel berichtete. Heute arbeitet sie unter anderem als Korrespondentin der NZZ am Sonntag und des Berliner Hauptstadtbriefs. Sie ist Autorin mehrerer Bücher und unter anderem auch Herausgeberin des Länderbericht Israel, der 2016 im Auftrag der Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung erschien. Sie lebt in Tel Aviv.

​Frauen in Israel: ​Soldatinnen und Mütter

​Dr. Julie Grimmeisen, Akademische Leiterin im Generalkonsulat des Staates ​Israel in München
​22. November 2021, 18:00   •   ONLINE (in deutscher Sprache)

Moderation: Prof. Dora Lisa Pfahl, Department of Educational Science, University of Innsbruck
 
Abstract: In 1998, the Equal Rights for People with Disabilities Act was passed in Israel and in 2007 Israel joined the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Since then, regulations have been issued regarding accessibility standards that enable people with disabilities to integrate more equally into Israeli society. In her talk, Dr. Adi Finkelstein will discuss how transnational human rights norms and principles have been introduced and implemented in different parts of Israeli society. 

​Biography: ​Dr. Adi Finkelstein is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, Jerusalem College of Technology, as well as at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.  Her publications are in the fields of disability studies, the experiences of illness of patients with chronic diseases, communication between doctors and patients, and women's health. Her most recent publications deal with needs and communication with disabled people and their relatives and what realizing autonomy means in the context of disability.

Abstract: A dynamic science and technology scene, a society with very different communities, values and world views, and the visions of modern medicine on personalization and digitization turn bioethics in Israel into a particularly complex and exciting topic. In this conversation, the focus will be put on Yael Hashiloni Dolev’s newest sociological research in the fields of gender medicine, on new fertility technologies such as fetal genetic tests, fetal gender selection, birth after death and egg freezing, and on the sociopolitical dimensions of genetic tests to trace ethnic relatedness of immigrants. Furthermore, the unique Israeli Jewish view of the beginning and the end of life and how Covid-19 challenged the sanctity of life principle among Orthodox communities will be discussed.

​Biography: Prof. Yael Hashiloni Dolev received her bachelor's degree in Social Work at Tel Aviv University in Israel and her master's degree in Theory of Television and Cinema at Amsterdam University. After working as a journalist, she went back to Tel Aviv University for a doctorate in Sociology. She was a post-doc and a visiting fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, King's College in London and the universities of Cologne and Göttingen in Germany. ​
Dolev's studies revolve around new reproductive technologies, genetics, gender, bioethics and contemporary forms of parenthood.  Additionally, she studied repro-genetics in Germany and Israel, sex selection, the moral status of the embryo and egg freezing.
In recent years, she shifted her research focus to the end of life, studying the subject of Posthumous Reproduction. The wide range of technologies allows her to ask sociological questions about the relationship between science and society, about gender, about family and the attitudes to disability and illness. Yeal Hashiloni Dolev is currently an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Biography: Prof. Gabriele Werner-Felmayer is Associate Professor of Medical Biochemistry at the Institute of Biological Chemistry, Medical University of Innsbruck. Her research focuses on ethical, cultural and social dimensions in biomedicine, particularly in context of new technologies and data-driven medicine.  Other activities include membership of Austria’s bioethics commission since 2017, the development of a compulsory ethics curriculum for medical students at Medical University of Innsbruck, and chairing the bioethics network ethucation.

The Austria-Israel Academic Network Innsbruck thanks all Partners and Sponsors for their support!

The events were organized in cooperation with the Faculty of Theology, the Institute of Contemporary History and the focus on Disability Studies at the University of Innsbruck.