Reframing the Past:

African American Influence
on American Society

Books by Prof. Mechal Sobel on display in The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Library.

Prof. Emeritus Mechal Sobel received the 2019 EMET Prize in Humanities for her pioneering
research and bold interdisciplinary approach to the evolution of American society.

“Mechal Sobel is a rare academic scholar and one of the leading researchers of American history in Israel and worldwide,” noted Dr. Sharon Halevi, Chair of the Department of Multidisciplinary Studies. “Her groundbreaking approach to the study of African- American culture, and its influence on early American society is among the most insightful and influential in the field.”

Using a variety of disciplines to support her theories, including anthropology, sociology, history of religion and psychoanalysis, Sobel traces the cultural traits brought over by black slaves from their African homelands and its impact on white American values, religion and political views in the post-slavery era. “In each of her five major works, Prof. Sobel blends research methods from different fields of study with historical materials to address the social construction of race relations in the US,” adds Dr. Halevi. “Her novel and powerful theories challenge the historical assumption that only white traditions influenced black culture. In Trabelin’ On, for example, she demonstrates how the emergence of the Afro-Baptist faith – under the tremendous pressures and hardships of slavery – is a fusion of African beliefs in the spirit world, such as the notion of ‘soul-travels’, with Christian understandings of Jesus and individual salvation.

In one of her other major works, The World They Made Together, she persuasively establishes how thoroughly whites and blacks intermixed within the system of slavery and how the resulting cultural interaction gave rise to what is known as ‘Southern culture’ in the United States.”

Prof. Sobel, who was born in the US, has lived in Israel for most of her adult life.
She conducted her entire academic career at the University of Haifa, where she
founded and headed The Center for the Study of the United States (2001-2006)
as well as the Graduate Program in American Studies. In 2011, she became the
first honorary foreign member of the American Historical Association (AHA).
In addition to her research activities, she was active in promoting international
conferences bringing together scholars from around the world.
Over the years, she has mentored and inspired generations of historians.