Dr. Oded Abt

Historical anthropology; soical religious and ethnic history of Late Imperial and Modern China; Cross strait relations; ethnic and religious minorities in China and Israel. 

His research focuses on historical anthropology, and ethnic and religious heritage of descendants of Muslims in China and overseas. Between 2013 and 2016 he carried out fieldwork and research in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Manila as a post-doctoral fellow and a research fellow of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (2013-2015), the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Hebrew University (2014-2016), the Area of Excellence Scheme: The Historical Anthropology of Chinese Society, Centre for Historical Anthropology in the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2016), and the Gerda Henkel Foundation Research Scholarship (2016). His current project is based on anthropological and historical research into the ethnic and religious heritage of descendants of Muslims in Southeast China, Taiwan and the Philippines. 

2016 – present 

Department of East Asian Studies and Department of Multidisciplinary Studies Tel-Hai Academic College. 

Faculty member (since 2017), lecturer  

East Asian Studies:

Religion in China

Religious policies in China and Taiwan

China in the Asian Arena

Ethnicity and nationalism in Asia

Society and Culture in late Imperial China

Tourism and Pilgrimage from East Asia to Israel

Multidisciplinary studies:

Intercultural Encounters: World Explorers and the Shaping of Religion, Culture and Consciousness in Asia and Europe

How do Anthropologists Study the Past?  - Lessons in Historical Anthropology

Ethnographies of National and Ethnic Minorities in Israel and East Asia  

2021-2022: “Excellent Teacher,” Department of East Asian Studies, Tel-Hai College.

September – October 2016

Changing Narratives of Muslim Descent across the South China Sea

Gerda Henkel Foundation Research Scholarship

Research trip to Manila and Fujian

 

2016

Historical Anthropology of communities of Descendants of Muslims in China

CUHK-SYSU Centre for Historical Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Post-doctoral research fellow in the Area of Excellence Scheme: The Historical Anthropology of Chinese Society

 

2014 – 2016

Descendants of Muslims in Southeast China

The Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace

Post-doctoral research fellow

 

2013 – 2015

Descendants of Muslims in Southeast China and Taiwan

Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange     

Post-doctoral research fellow

 

August - October 2013

Muslim lineages in Guangdong Province

CUHK-SYSU Centre for Historical Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong Kong  

Research associate

 

2008-2009

Muslim Ancestry and Chinese Identity 

Rothschild Fellowship      

Grant for carrying out research at Harvard, China and Taiwan  

 

January 2008 – April 2008

Muslim Ancestry and Chinese Identity

The Center for Chinese Studies (ccs), the National Taiwan Library, Taipei

 

2007-2008

Muslim Ancestry and Chinese Identity

The Dan David Prize Scholarship

Edited Book

2020.Ma Jianxiong, Oded Abt, Yao Jide (Eds.). Islam and Chinese Society: Genealogies, Lineage and Local Communities. London: Routledge.

 

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

• 2014. "Muslim Ancestor, Chinese Hero or Tutelary God: Changing Memories of Muslim Descendants in China, Taiwan and the Philippines." Asian Journal of Social Science 42(6):747-776.
• 2014. "Nation, Ethnicity and Lineage: Historical Memories of Zheng He in Fujian." Ming Qing Yanjiu 18(1):159-189.
• 2015. "Chinese Rituals for Muslim Ancestors." Review of Religion and Chinese Society 2(2):216-240.
• Accepted 2022. "Unlocking the Gates of Memory: The Role of Family Narratives in Muslim-Chinese Identity Formation." Monumenta Serica Journal of Oriental Studies.

Peer-Reviewed Articles in Edited Volumes

• 2014. "Muslim Memories of Yuan-Ming Transition in Southeast China". In Francesca Fiaschetti, Julia Schneider (Eds.), Political Strategies of Identity Building in non-Han empires in China [Asiatische Forschungen 157] (pp. 147-167). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
• 2020. "Genealogy Compilation and Identity Formation: Muslims' Descendants in Guangdong and Fujian". In Ma Jianxiong, Oded Abt and Jide Yao (Eds.), Islam and Chinese Society: Genealogies, Lineage and Local Communities. London: Routledge.

Peer-Reviewed Articles in Conference Proceedings 

• 2014. Locking and Unlocking the City Gates; Muslim Memories of Song - Yuan - Ming Transition in Southeast China. Harvard Conference on Middle Period China, 800-1400. (Pre-circulated and peer-reviewed).
• 2017. "A Cycle of the South China Sea." Second Conference on Middle Period Chinese Humanities (Pre-circulated and peer reviewed).

Organizer of International Academic Events

• Organizer of Tel Hai and Truman Institute international workshop on "Cross Border Ethno-histories in Asia." Tel Hai College, March 2017.
• Organizer of Colloquium on Local Histories in China and the Middle East. Tel Hai College, 30-31 May 2018.
• Organizer of special Colloquium on Israel, Taiwan and China relations. Tel Hai College, December 2019.

INVITED LECTURES

November 2022. Ben- Gurion University – History Department Seminar.

Invited lecture: "The Historical Legacy of Muslims' Descendants in Southeast China."

1 June 2022. Tel-Hai Academic College – Multidisciplinary Studies Department Seminar.

Invited Lecture: "Borders and Identities: Religion and Ethnicity on Both Sides of the Taiwan Strait." (in Hebrew)

17-20 November 2019. Jerusalem - 11th GERMAN-ISRAELI FRONTIERS OF HUMANITIES SYMPOSIUM “Positioning Self and Society”. Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities - Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Invited lecture: "Nation, Kinship and the Reordering of Ethnic Identities in China".

10 May 2016. AoE Seminar, CUHK-SYSU Centre for Historical Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Invited lecture: "Muslim Ancestor, Chinese Hero or Tutelary God; Changing Memories of Muslim Descent across the South China Sea."

28 December 2015. Haifa University – Department of Asian Studies Seminar.

Invited lecture: "Family, Ethnicity and Nation: Changing Boundaries of Chinese Identities in China, Taiwan, Singapore and the Philippines." (in Hebrew)

3-4 December 2015. Centre for the Study of Islamic Culture, the Chinese University of Hong Kong – Chinese Muslim (Hui) in Diaspora: Culture, Gender, Identity, and Religious Traditions.

Invited lecture: "Superscribing Symbols of Identity: Changing Narratives of Muslim Descent across the South China Sea."

23-24 October 2015. European University Institute, Florence – 3rd EURASIATRAJECO Conference «Empires, Migrations and Trade—10th-20th Century».

Invited lecture: "The Great Pu Lineage of Southeast China."

29-30 July 2015. Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore – The Second Alagil Arabia Asia Annual Conference - Silk Roads, Muslim Passages: The Islam Question in China’s Expansion.

Invited lecture: "Muslim Descent and Kinship Networks across the South China Sea."

9 June 2015. The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (National Center for Scientific Research), Paris – seminar on Asia's networks: 16th-20th century

Invited lecture: "Muslim Memories of Song-Yuan-Ming Transition in Southeast China"

10-12 January 2015 - Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Centre for Historical Anthropology – Conference on the Hui in Yunnan and Guizhou

Invited lecture: "Nation, Ethnicity and Lineage; Historical Memories of Zheng He in Fujian"

26 February 2014. The Hebrew University – East Asian Studies Department Seminar.

Invited lecture: "Memories of Forced Assimilation: Changing Narratives of Muslims' Descendants in South East China"

18 September 2013. CUHK-SYSU Centre for Historical Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Invited lecture: "Muslim Narratives of Forced Assimilation."

9 January 2013. The Chinese University of Hong Kong – Sun Yat-sen University Centre for Historical Anthropology – Conference on The Hui Genealogy in the Ming and the Qing.

Invited lecture: "Genealogy Compilation and Identity Formation; Muslims' Descendants in South East China"

 

CONFERENCE PAPERS

15 June 2022. Tel Hai Academic College – Food in Asia: A Journey through Space and Time.

Paper presented: "Pure and True: Kosher (Halal) and Muslim Chinese Identity." (in Hebrew)

10-11 January 2020. Miriam College, the Philippines - International Conference on The State of Scholarship on the Chinese in the Philippines: Problems, Perspectives, and Possibilities.

Paper presented: "Narratives of Kinship and Ethnicity across the South China Sea: The Manila Muslim Five-Surname Association".

30 June - 3 July 2019. Bangkok - AAS-in-ASIA 2019 – Asia on the Rise?” (Annual Conference of the Association of Asian Studies).

Paper presented: "Memories of Muslim Descent across the South China Sea"

28-29 November 2018. Truman Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem - A Taiwanese Soft Power? Taiwanese Contemporary Politics, Society and Culture.

Paper presented: "Chinese Memories of Muslim Descent in Taiwan and the Philippines".

23-24 May 2018. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem - The 14th Conference of Asian Studies in Israel (ASI 2018).

Paper presented: "Muslim Ancestor, Chinese Hero or Tutelary God".

23-24 March 2018. Centre for the Study of Islamic Culture, the Chinese University of Hong Kong – Islam in the China Seas.

Paper presented: "Muslim Memories and Chinese Identities across the South China Sea"

11-12 March 2018. Bar Ilan University - The 2nd yearly conference of the Israeli Association for the Study of Religions.

Paper presented: "Genealogical Compilation and Ethnic Identification: Family Histories of Descendants of Muslims in South China". (in Hebrew)

14-17 September 2017. Leiden University - Second Conference on Middle Period Chinese Humanities.

Paper presented: "A Cycle of the South China Sea; Historical Memories of Muslim Descent."

May 2017. Tel Aviv University - Asian Spaces: Border-Crossing Dialogues.

Paper presented: "Ancestral Spaces and Communities of Muslim Descent in

China, Taiwan and the Philippines."

27-29 March 2017. SOAS, University of London. Ethnographies of Islam in China.

Paper presented: "Traversing Time, Crossing Seas: Beyond the minzu Paradigm - Descendants of Muslims in Fujian, Taiwan and the Philippines."

6-7 March 2017. Tel Hai Academic College.

Organizer: International Workshop on Cross Border Ethno-histories in Asia.

Paper presented: "Cultural and Political Boundaries of Chineseness in China Taiwan and the Philippines"

 24-26 June 2016. Doshisha University, Kyoto – Association for Asian Studies in Asia.

Paper presented: "Ancestral Cult and Southeast China's Muslim Spirits"

22-24 June 2015. Academia Sinica, Taipei (Taiwan) – Association for Asian Studies in Asia.

Chair: panel on The Reception and Localization of Foreign Religions in Yuan and Ming China.

Paper presented: "Chinese Rituals for Muslim Ancestors"

29 March 2015. Chicago – Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies.

Paper presented: "Glory, Shame, and Muslim Descent: Genealogical Narratives of Identity in Southeast China"

5-7 June 2014. Harvard University – The International Interdisciplinary Conference on Middle Period China, 800-1400.

Paper presented: "Locking and Unlocking the City Gates: Muslim Memories of Song - Yuan - Ming Transition in Southeast China"

25 May 2014. Haifa University – The 12th Biennial Conference of Asian Studies in Israel.

Panel Organizer: Changing Interpretations of Asian Traditions; Myth, Ritual and Identity in India, Vietnam, China & Japan

Paper presented: "Genealogical Compilation and Ethnic Identification: Family Histories of Descendants of Muslims in South China." (in Hebrew)

28 March 2014. Philadelphia – Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies.

Paper presented: "Re-imagining Sinicization: Muslim Narratives of Becoming Chinese in Contemporary East Asia."

21 April 2013. The Ezri Center for Iran & Persian Gulf Studies, University of Haifa. The Annual Conference of the Persian Gulf Studies in Israel: The Persian Gulf and the Far East.

Paper presented: "The Historical Legacy of Muslims' Descendants in Southeast China."