PhD Columbia University
MA Columbia University
BA Beloit College
Avram Bornstein has been a professor in the Department of Anthropology at John Jay since 1997. He has served the College as Interim Dean of Graduate Studies, Director of the Criminal Justice Master of Arts Program, co-Director of the NYPD Leadership Program at John Jay, and Grievance Officer for the faculty union PSC-CUNY. He currently teaches in John Jay’s undergraduate and graduate programs. His research and teaching have focused on violence and ethnic conflict. He has done extensive ethnographic research in Israel-Palestine and published on issues such as border enforcement, work, political prisoners, healthcare, international intervention and ethnographic reflexivity. In recent years, Bornstein has also focused on New York City, with particular attention to community policing, police ethnicity and police education. Click here to listen to Audio Interview.
PUBLICATIONS
A. Books
2002. Crossing the Green Line between the West Bank and Israel, University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia.
B. Guest Edited Issue of Peer Reviewed Journal
2009. N30+10: Global Civil Society a Decade after the Battle of Seattle. Dialectical Anthropology Vol. 33, No. 2. (Includes contributions from Stanley Aronowitz, Deeadra Brown, Hilary Cunningham, Paul Durenberger, Marc Edelman, and Ron Hayduk.)
C. Peer Reviewed Articles and Chapters
2018. “Anthropological Lessons for Police.” The Anthropology of Police. Pgs. 82-97. Kevin Karpiak and William Garriott, eds. Routledge: New York.
2016. Co-authors Anthony Marcus, Ric Curtis, Sarah Rivera, & Rachel Swaner. “Tell It to the Judge: A Community Court and Procedural Justice in Brooklyn.” Political and Legal Anthropology Review (Polar) Vol. 39, No. 2, 206-225.
2015. “Institutional Racism, Numbers Management, and Zero-Tolerance Policing in New York City.” North American Dialogue Vol. 18, No. 2, 51-62.
2013. “Battle of Seattle.” In Encyclopedia of Globalization. George Ritzer and J. Michael Ryan, eds. New York: Wiley-Blackwell. Available online at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470670590.wbeog614/full
2012. Co-authors Sophine Charles, Jannette Domingo and Carmen Solis. “Critical Race Theory Meets the NYPD: an Assessment of Anti-racist Pedagogy for Police in New York City.” Journal of Criminal Justice Education Vol. 23, No. 2, 174‑204.
2010. “Hasbara, Health Care and the Israeli Occupied Palestinian Territories.” In The War Machine and Global Health: A Critical Medical Anthropological Examination of the Human Costs of Armed Conflict and the International Violence Industry. Pgs. 209-240. Merrill Singer and G. Derrick Hodge, eds. Altamira Press: Lanham, MD
2010. “Palestinian Prison Ontologies.” Dialectical Anthropology Vol. 34, No. 4, 459-472.
2010. “Policing terrorism in New York City post 9/11.” Pakistan Journal of Criminology Vol. 2, No. 1, 17-28.
2009. “Three Myths Cloaking the Violence of Occupation.” Anthropology Now Vol. 1, No. 2, 59-72.
2009. “N30+10: Global Civil Society a Decade after the Battle of Seattle.” Dialectical Anthropology Vol. 33, No. 2, 97-108.
2009. “In-Betweenness and Crumbled Hopes in Palestine: the Global in the Local of the Occupied Territories.” Dialectical Anthropology Vol. 33, No. 2, 175-200.
2009. “Military Occupation as Carceral Society: Prisons, Checkpoints and Walls in the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle.” In An Anthropology of War: Views from the Frontline. Alisse Waterston, editor. Pp. 106-130. Berghahn Books: New York. (Republication of 2008 Social Analysis article.)
2008. “Military Occupation as Carceral Society: Prisons, Checkpoints and Walls in the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle.” Social Analysis Vol. 52, No. 2, 106-130.
2007. “Antiterrorist Policing in New York City after 9/11: Comparing Perspectives on a Complex Process.”Annual Editions: Homeland Security, 2nd Edition. Thomas Badey, ed. McGraw Hill: Dubuque, IA. (Republication of 2005 Human Organization article.)
2005. “Political Violence.” In Encyclopedia of Social Measurement. Pp. 109-114. Academic Press, Elsevier, San Diego, CA.
2005. “Antiterrorist Policing in New York City after 9/11: Comparing Perspectives on a Complex Process.” Human Organization Vol. 64, No. 1, 52-61.
2002. “Borders and the Utility of Violence: State Effects on the ‘Superexpoitation’ of West Bank Palestinians.” Critique of Anthropology Vol. 22, No. 2, 201-220.
2001. “Border Enforcement in Daily Life: Palestinian Day Laborers and Entrepreneurs Crossing the Green Line.” Human Organization Vol. 60, No. 3, 298-307.
2001. “Ethnography and the Politics of Prisoners in Palestine-Israel.” Journal of Comparative Ethnography Vol. 30, No. 5, 546-574.
D. Academic Book and Film Reviews
2015. “The Security Archipelago: Human Sexuality States, Sexuality Politics, and the End of Neoliberalism, by Paul Amar (Duke, 2013). American Ethnologist Vol. 42, No. 2: 374-375.
2014. “Back Stories: US News Production & Palestinian Politics, by Amahl Bishara (Stanford, 2013).” American Ethnologist Vol. 41, No. 4: 780-781.
2013. “The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America, by Khalil Gibran Muhammad (Harvard, 2010).” Transforming Anthropology: Journal of the Association of Black Anthropologists Vol. 21, No. 2: 199–201.
2013. “Caring for the ‘Holy Land’: Filipina Domestic Workers in Israel, by Claudia Liebelt (Berghahn Books, 2011).” American Ethnologist Vol. 40, No. 3: 598–599.
2012. “Reconstructing Beirut: Memory and Space in a Postwar Arab City, by Aseel Sawalha (University of Texas, 2010).” American Anthropologist Vol. 114, No.2, 385-386.
2011. “Governing Gaza: Bureaucracy, Authority, and the Work of Rule, 1917‑1967, by Ilana Feldman (Duke, 2008).” Journal of World History Vol. 22, No. 3: 645-647.
2010. “This Way Up, by George Lazarevski (Icarus Films, 2008).” Anthropology Review Database. Electronic document. Electronic document http://wings.buffalo.edu/ARD/cgi/showme.cgi?keycode=3687
2010. “My Home ‑ Your War, by Kylie Grey (Women Make Movies, 2006).” Anthropology Review Database. Electronic document http://wings.buffalo.edu/ARD/cgi/showme.cgi?keycode=3431
2009. “Argentina: Turning Around, by Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin (Bullfrog Films, 2008).” Anthropology Review Database. Electronic document http://wings.buffalo.edu/ARD/cgi/showme.cgi?keycode=3241
2009. “Postcolonial Disorders, by Mary‑Jo DelVecchio Good, Sandra Teresa Hyde, Sarah Pinto and Byron J. Good (University of California, 2008).” Journal of Anthropological Research Vol. 65: 340-342.
2009. “Globalization in Rural Mexico, by Frances Rothstein (University of Texas Press, 2007).” Anthropology of Work Review Vol. 30, No. 3: 109-111.
2008. “Dispossession and Empowerment in the Ethnography of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories: Resistance, Repression, and Gender Politics in Occupied Palestine and Jordan, by Frances Hasso (Syracuse University Press, 2005), & Law, Violence and Sovereignty Among West Bank Palestinians, by Tobias Kelly (Cambridge University Press, 2006).” Dialectical Anthropology Vol. 32, No. 4, 341-351.
2008. “Paradise Lost, by Ebtisam Mara'ana (Women Make Movies, 2003).” Anthropology Review Database. Electronic document http://wings.buffalo.edu/ARD/cgi/showme.cgi?keycode=2346
2008. “Raised to Be Heroes, by Jack Silberman (Bullfrog Films, 2006).” Anthropology Review Database. February 7. Electronic document http://wings.buffalo.edu/ARD/cgi/showme.cgi?keycode=3212
2007. “Palestine, Israel, and the Politics of Popular Culture, by Rebecca L. Stein and Ted Swedenburg, eds. (Duke, 2005).” International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol.39, No.2, 315-317.
2006. “Imagined Differences: Hatred and the Construction of Identity, by Günther Schlee, ed. (Palgrave, 2002).” American Anthropologist Vol. 108, No.2, 437-438.
2005. “Confronting the Occupation: Work, Education, and Political Activism of Palestinian Families in a Refugee Camp, by Maya Rosenfeld (Stanford University, 2004).” American Anthropologist Vol.107, No.4, 741.
2005. “Frontiers and Ghettos: State Violence in Serbia and Israel, by James Ron (University of California Press, 2003).” American Anthropologist Vol. 107, No.1, 163-164.
2003. “Reviving Class Analysis: Epidemic of Globalization: Ventures in World Order, Arab Nation and Zionism, by Adel Samara (Palestine Research and Publishing Foundation, 2001).” Journal of Palestine Studies Vol.32, No.2, 110-112.
2002. “Cultures Under Siege: Collective Violence and Trauma, by Antonius Robben, and Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco, eds. (Cambridge University Press, 2000).” American Anthropologist Vol.103, No. 3, 883-884.
2001. “Death Squad: The Anthropology of State Terror, by Jeffrey Sluka ed. (University of Pennsylvania, 2000).” American Anthropologist Vol. 103, No.1, 43-44.
2001. “Dancehall Ethnography in Jamaica: a Review of Wake the Town and Tell the People, by Norman Stolzoff (Duke University, 2000).” Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism No. 10, 183-185.
E. Other Articles and Chapters
2015. “The Scope of the Problem.” Clarion January. Available online at: http://psc-cuny.org/Bornstein
2004. “Anthropologists Tackle Shooting and Homicides in Brooklyn.” Anthropology News Vol. 45, No. 6, 35.
2003. “Martyrdom in the Palestinian West Bank.” Dispute Resolution in Context: Cross-cultural and Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives. Pp. 100-114. CUNY Dispute Resolution Consortium Working Papers Series: New York.
2002. “Anthropologist as Middle East Expert.” Anthropology News Vol. 43, No. 7, 22.
1999. “They Look at Them as Different Political Animals: Stereotypes of Arabs and Anti-Terrorist Laws in the United States.” Al-Milad Vol. 34, No. 1, (Arabic).
PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
A. Professional Sessions Organized
October 28, 2011 “Roundtable on the Arab Spring: Anthropological Perspectives.” Anthropology Department Colloquium Series, CUNY Graduate Center.
March 19, 2003 “Dealing with Disease and Violence: Toward an Anthropology of Public Service.” Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Portland, Oregon.
November 20, 2002 “Engaged, Activist and Applied Anthropology: What Is To Be Done?” Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana.
March 9, 2002 “Responses to Terrorism after 9-11.” Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Atlanta, Georgia.
November 28, 2001 “Anthropology of Criminal Justice in the Twenty-First Century.” Co-organized with Kirk Dombrowski. Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C.
B. Presentations to Professional Audiences
December 3, 2017 “Engaging Police and Transforming Police: Roundtable.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC.
November 18, 2016 “Paranoid Compassion: Affect in Police and Security Ethnography: Roundtable.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Minneapolis.
November 19, 2015 “The Anthropology of Police: Challenges and Opportunities: Roundtable.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Denver, Colorado.
November 19, 2015 Respondent to “Borderline: State Power and People on the Edge.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Denver, Colorado.
December 3, 2014 “Making Race & Ethnicity in Policing and Police Fraternal Organizations.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C.
March 16, 2012 “Critical Race Theory Meets the NYPD: an Assessment of Anti-racist Pedagogy for Police in New York City.” Invited Research Forum Poster at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, New York City.
November 17, 2011 “Flexible Labor in Academia.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Montreal, Canada.
September 23, 2011 Chair, AMoving Beyond Global Terror.” Annual Conference of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists in North America, New York City.
September 22, 2011 “Police Narratives about Racial and Ethnic Identities on Patrol.” Co-authors Sophine Charles, Jannette Domingo, and Carmen Solis. Paper Commissioned for Understanding Crime Decline in NYC Conference, John Jay College, CUNY, New York City.
November 18, 2010 “Policing, Race and ‘Color‑Blindness’ in the US.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, New Orleans.
November 14, 2009 “Rational-management, political and psycho-cultural aspects of anti-terrorist policing: US national and local policy and practice in the post-9/11 era.” Turkish National Police Academy, International Symposium on Terrorism and Transnational Crime. Antalya, Turkey.
February 19, 2009 “Ethics of Fieldwork in a War Zone.” Anthropology and the Military Symposium. Society for Anthropological Studies, Columbia University, New York.
June 11, 2008 “Teaching Multi-Cultural Policing in New York City.” International Conference on Justice and Policing in Diverse Communities, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
December 10, 2007 “Globalization and Mobilization: Transnational Activists in the Israeli‑Palestinian Struggle.” New York Academy of Sciences - Scheps Lecture Series, Columbia University, New York.
November 30, 2007 “Passion and Engagement: Toward a Sensualist Understanding of Political Activism in Israel-Palestine.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C.
November 16, 2006 “Suffering and the Contradictions of Redemption: Reading Sider as a Reluctant Rabbi.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, San Jose, CA.
October 13, 2006 “Paradox in the Midrash of Gerald Sider.” Department of Anthropology’s Friday Colloquium, CUNY Graduate Center, New York.
December 2, 2005 “Blood and Redemption: a Case for Political Necrophilia Set in Israel-Palestine.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C.
February 27, 2004 “Lessons of Power: International Activists and Militarism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” Department of Anthropology’s Friday Colloquium, C.U.N.Y. Graduate Center, New York.
November 21, 2003 “Getting Over the Wall: Anthropology and the Al-Aqsa Uprising.” Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago.
June 3, 2003 “The Road Map: Discussion on the Arab-Israeli Conflict” Democracy at a Critical Juncture: The Ongoing Implications of 9-11, Summer Seminar at Pace University, New York.
May 2, 2003 “Accountability from Below: Grassroots Monitoring in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” Accountability in 21st Century Conference, University of Connecticut, Storres, Connecticut.
March 19, 2003 “Racial Sensitivity Training and the Realities of Policing” Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Portland, Oregon.
November 20, 2002 “Documenting the Israeli Occupation and the Palestinian Struggle.” Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana.
May 4, 2002 “What Came Out of Pandora’s Box, Mentality or Technology?” Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research Conference on Terrorism and the Psychoanalytic Space, International Perspectives from Ground Zero, New York.
May 3, 2002 “An Anthropologist’s Perspective.” Commentary on speaker John Esposito at the Conference on Terrorism and 9/11: Religion, Politics, and Justice, at John Jay College, CUNY, New York.
April 25, 2002 “Reflections on Violence in Israel/Palestine.” Guest lecture for Russell Sage Foundation Fellows, New York..
April 12, 2002 “Borders as State Violence in Palestine/Israel.” Conference on Terror and Violence in the State and Institutional Context: Social Science Perspectives, New York Academy of Sciences, New York.
March 9, 2002 “Policing Terrorism after the Act.” Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Atlanta, Georgia.
February 11, 2002 “Humanistic Anthropology, Its Uses and Limits.” Comparative Cultures Faculty Seminar, Columbia University, New York.
November 28, 2001 “Anti-Terrorism and Hollywood Stereotypes of Arabs.” Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C.
May 3, 2001 “Anthropology: Good for What and for Whom?” Joint meetings of the American Ethnological Society and the Canadian Anthropological Society. McGill University, Montreal.
December 18, 2000 “Violence in the Occupied Territories.” Culture, Power, Boundaries Faculty Seminar, Columbia University, New York.
November 17, 2000 “The Dilemmas of Palestinian Self-Determination in a New World Order.” Human Rights for the Twenty-First Century Symposium. C.U.N.Y. Graduate Center, New York.
January 2000 “Customs at the Border: Marking Internal Differences Among Palestinians.” Race, Class and Gender Conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
November 1999 “Vanguard or Vanquished: Political Prisoners and the Making of the Palestinian Authority.” Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago.
March 1999 “Border Struggles in the Palestinian West Bank.” Department of Anthropology’s Friday Colloquium, CUNY Graduate Center, New York.
December 1998 “Cultural Stereotypes and Policing Immigrants: New Terrorist Laws in the United States.” International Association for the Study of Forced Migration Conference, Jerusalem.
May 1998 “Surveillance Techniques and Cultures of Resistance in the Palestinian Occupied Territories.” American Ethnological Association and the Canadian Anthropological Association Joint Meeting, Toronto.
March 1997 “Women and Democracy in the Middle East: Enfranchisement and Peripheralization.” Women and Democratization Conference, School of International and Political Affairs, Columbia University, New York.
March 1997 “Gender and Culture in the Palestinian West Bank: Manhood and the Border.” Boas-Benedict Symposium, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University, New York.
November 1996 “Borders, Workers and the Politics of Everyday Life in the Palestinian West Bank.” Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, San Francisco.