Project description
National humanism and transnational Zionist thought
Traditional historiography tends to interpret Zionism through the lens of the formation of a nation state, culminating in the year 1948, without considering the visions that informed its trajectory between the two World Wars. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the NatHum project is creating a framework for the study of national humanism as a transnational ideology in Zionism during the interwar period. The project investigates how German-speaking Zionist thinkers like Hans Kohn, Hugo Bergmann and Max Brod formed cross-border networks to develop political alternatives such as federal or binational Jewish self-determination in Europe and Mandatory Palestine. The project’s goal is to offer fresh perspectives on the role of ideas, networks and displacement in shaping political identities.
Objective
The overarching objective of the NatHum project is to establish a new, comprehensive framework of national humanism, a little-studied Zionist current in the interwar period with the aim of contributing to a more accurate understanding of Zionism itself. Contrary to the still prevailing Zionist historiography, which identifies this movement with the establishment of Israel in 1948, NatHum will stress the importance of global networks and displacement of actors thus transcending the nation-state narrative. National humanism was, indeed, a legitimate offshoot of cultural Zionism that was developed between Europe and Palestine by German-speaking Zionist intellectuals, including Hans Kohn, Hugo Bergmann, Max Brod, Felix and Robert Weltsch. Their objective was to differentiate post-Balfour Zionism from European nationalism and to encourage political federal alternatives to statism by promoting a challenging synthesis of the ethical ideals of Judaism and the political aspirations of Zionism. Indeed, NatHum is based on the initial assumption that a number of little-studied federal, multinational and binational plans developed during the 1920s are historical evidence of a cross-border plural debate within Zionism on the practical application of the principle of Jewish self-determination.
The project will thereby examine Zionist theories and actions through a comparative analysis of a vast array of archival and periodical sources. The methodology will be based on a close reading of sources, the historical-philological method, a critical-deconstructive approach in line with post-colonial studies, and a transnational perspective. This will ensure the achievement of the research and innovative objectives of the project. The ultimate objective of NatHum involves examining how global networks, the dissemination of ideas, and the movement of individuals have shaped the development of new theories, actions, attitudes, and interests across Europe, the U.S. and Mandatory Palestine.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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41121 Modena
Italy
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