David Guedj is an historian of the Jewish communities in Muslim countries, specializing in the cultural and intellectual history of the Maghreb Jewish communities in the 19th and 20th centuries. His research implements a trans-national perspective, with a focus on the interactions and ties of the Jews in the Muslim countries with their fellow Jews in Israel, Europe and North America.
David trained at Tel Aviv University (2013-2019). After completing his doctoral thesis, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (Inalco) in Paris (2019), The Kreitman School of Advanced Studies in Ben Gurion University of the Negev, (2020-2021), and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2022).
His research interests include the Intellectual history of Jews in Nort Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries; The development and modernization of a polyglot book culture in 20th century Morocco; The Maghreb community during WW2 and the Holocaust; Childhood, youth and family in Jewish communities across Muslim countries; and Visual and literary images of Jews from Muslim countries in their native lands and in Israel.His first book, The Hebrew Culture in Morocco (2022, The Zalman Shazar Center, Jerusalem) explores the Attitudes of Moroccan Jewry towards the Hebrew language and the construction of Hebrew culture during the colonial period (1912-1956). His current project is a monograph, tentatively titled: The development and modernization of a Jewish polyglot book culture in 20th century Morocco.
