Gesher

The Author: Olga Gershenson is Assistant Professor of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She earned her doctorate in communication from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, her master's in communication and journalism from Hebrew University in Israel, and her bachelor's in Russian philology from Ural State University in Russia. Her research on Israeli cultural studies and critical ethnography has appeared in major academic journals.

« Working within the traditions of cultural studies and postcolonial theory, Olga Gershenson shrewdly uses the hybrid character of Gesher, the Russian-Israeli theater company, to reveal how the recent Russian immigration to Israel navigates between colonial and colonized identities. This fascinating book has much to teach all those interested in contemporary migrations and diasporas.

«Working within the traditions of cultural studies and postcolonial theory, Olga Gershenson shrewdly uses the hybrid character of Gesher, the Russian-Israeli theater company, to reveal how the recent Russian immigration to Israel navigates between colonial and colonized identities. This fascinating book has much to teach all those interested in contemporary migrations and diasporas.» (David Biale, Emmanuel Ringelblum Professor of Jewish History, University of California-Davis; Editor of 'Cultures of the Jews')
«'Gesher: Russian Theater in Israel - A Study of Cultural Colonization' is a compelling analysis of a particular form of theatre as it performs across and within boundaries established by colonialism, modernity, and the nation state. Emphasizing both the aesthetic-performative dimension of Gesher theater as well as its ideological and political trajectories, Olga Gershenson provides the reader with a nuanced account of how the travel of theatrical production both internalizes and challenges the colonial model. Interdisciplinary in its orientation, this work will be of interest to scholars in cultural, theater, and postcolonial studies.» (Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of California-Irvine; Author of 'Diasporic Mediations: Between Home and Location' and 'Theory in an Uneven World')