January 27, 2010 (REVISED February 23, 2010) Indian-Israelis Are Subject of Book Talk At the Library of Congress on Feb. 9

Israelis of Indian descent continue to live on the periphery, where they were settled by the state of Israel between the 1950s and 1970s. The story of Indian migration, acculturation and identity in Israel is the subject of a new book by Maina Chawla Singh titled “Being Indian, Being Israeli: Migration, Ethnicity and Gender in the Jewish Homeland.”

Singh will discuss her book at a lecture to be held at the Library of Congress at noon on Wednesday, March 31 in the foyer of the Asian Reading Room located in Room 150 of the Thomas Jefferson Building at 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C. The free, public event is sponsored by the Asian Division, the Asian Division Friends Society and the Library of Congress Hebrew Language table in cooperation with the Embassy of India.

Maina Chawla Singh is an associate professor at the University of Delhi, India, and a Scholar-in Residence at American University in Washington, D.C. From 2005 to 2008, Singh conducted research and lectured in Israel at Bar-Ilan, Haifa and Tel Aviv universities. In 2008, she was a scholar-in-residence at Haddasah-Brandeis Institute in Waltham, Mass. The following year, she was a fellow at the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University. She holds a doctorate in history and a master’s in philosophy.

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