Alek Epstein
He divides his time between Jerusalem and Moscow, taking part in a number of academic, educational, social change, and civil rights activism projects in both countries.
During twelve years (from 1999 till 2010) he served as an adjunct professor of sociology of Israel at the Department of Jewish Studies, Institute of Asian and African Countries, Moscow State University.
His Ph.D. dissertation was dedicated to the study of “The Involvement of the Academic Community in the Public Discourse on the Formation of the Israeli Political Culture in the Period of Labor Movement Hegemony”.
His books Political and Ethnic Cleansings in the USSR, 1918–1953 (Raanana, Israel, 2007) and Russian-Speaking Israelis at ‘Home’ and ‘Abroad’: Identity and Migration (together with Zeev Khanin and Marina Niznik, Jerusalem – Ramat-Gan, 2011) were published in Hebrew.
He has contributed to and edited twelve volumes in various languages, among them Mass Migration and Its Impact on the Israeli Society (Moscow, 2000); Contemporary Israel: Politics and Society (Moscow/Jerusalem, 2002); The Zionist Imperative: An Anthology of Contemporary Thinking (Moscow/Jerusalem, 2003); The Palestine-Israeli Conflict in the Mirror of Public Opinion and International Diplomacy (Moscow, 2004); The Post-Soviet Jewry: Identity and Education (Jerusalem, 2008); The Jewish State at the Beginning of the 21st Century.
The presentation of the book featured speeches by Alexander Verkhovsky, Vsevolod Yemelin, Boris Stomakhin and others, and the Kasparov.ru portal published an extensive interview with the authors.
[11] In June 2012 the Free Marxist Publishing House headed by Kirill Medvedev published the follow-up book entitled Defending the Authorities against Criticism from Society: Ten Years of Anti-Extremism Campaign in Contemporary Russia (it also included articles by the philosophers Ilya Budraitskis and Aleksey Penzin who participated in the presentation that was organized as part of the VII Moscow International Book Festival in the Central House of Artists).
[12] In March 2012 the Moscow-based Umlaut Network publishing house issued Alek Epstein’s book Total ‘War’: Art Activism in the Age of Tandemocracy, a social and political analysis of the phenomenon of the "Voina" art-group throughout the five years of its existence starting with its first appearance in February, 2007.
[15][16] Along with the extensive preface (its fragments were published in two issues of the NZ: Debates on Politics and Culture journal) the album also includes over a hundred photos of actions and works of art created by Victoria Lomasko, Anton Nikolaev, Lena Hades, Aleskey Knedlyakovsky, Lusine Dzhanyan, Evgenia Maltceva, Leonid Danilov, Vladimir Kozin, Oleg Khvostov, Victor Bogorad and other contemporary Russian artists.
In late September 2012 the Russia for all foundation and the Kolonna publications issued the album entitled Victor Bondarenko and Evgeniya Maltceva’s Project ‘Spiritual Combat’ and the Struggle for the Christian Sacred Images’ New Life in Art, authored by Alek D. Epstein.
The speakers at the presentation included Victor Bondarenko, Marat Gelman, Roman Bagdasarov and others, while an extensive interview with the author was published on the website of the Radio Free Europe.
