A History of Shaar Haaliya, Israel’s Ellis Island; Health and Zionism; Between Bombs and Bread: Working for Co-Existence in Israel during the Second Intifada; The History of Medicine in Israel.
Dr. Rhona Seidelman’s field of expertise is in quarantine, disease, and immigration in Israel. She received her Ph.D. in Israeli History and the History of Medicine from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and her dissertation is the first scholarly work written on the history of Shaar Haaliya, “Israel’s Ellis Island.” She has published widely on the subject of health and immigration in Israeli history. Her recent publications include “Immigrants, Disease and the 'Zionist Ethos'" in Haaretz (2009) and “That I Won’t Translate: The Experiences of a Family-Member Medical Interpreter in a Multi-Cultural Environment” in the Mt. Sinai Journal of Medicine (with Bachner, forthcoming). Professor Seidelman challenges conventional definitions of quarantine and highlights the contradictions involved in the quarantine of immigrants during Israel’s foundational years. She uses the issues of health, disease and medicine as an entry into discussion on belonging, exclusion and power.