Nehemia Levtzion

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| name = Nehemia Levtzion

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| image = Nehemia Levtzion.jpg

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| caption = Nehemia Levtzion

| native_name = נחמיה לבציון

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|11|24}}

| birth_place = Be'er Tuvia, Mandatory Palestine

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|8|15|1935|11|24}}

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| nationality = Israeli

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President of the Open University of Israel (1987-1992)
Executive Director of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (1994-1997)

| workplaces = Hebrew University of Jerusalem

| doctoral_students = Amalia Levanoni

| children = 4

}}

Nehemia Levtzion ({{langx|he|נחמיה לבציון}}; November 24, 1935 — August 15, 2003) was an Israeli scholar of African history, Near East, Islamic, and African studies, and the President of the Open University of Israel from 1987 to 1992. He was also the Executive Director of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute from 1994 to 1997.{{Cite journal|jstor=40380164 |title=The Legacy of Nehemia Levtzion 1935-2003|year=2008|journal=Canadian Journal of African Studies |volume=42|issue=2/3|pages=230–249|doi=10.1080/00083968.2008.10751379|s2cid=219565300}}

Early and personal life

Levtzion was born in the moshav of Be'er Tuvia. His parents were Pnina (née Perlow) and Aron Lubetski, who later changed their surname to Levtzion, and he had an older sister named Hanna. He was Jewish, and had four children.[https://org.uib.no/smi/sa/14/14Levtzion.pdf "Nehemia Levtzion; 1935—2003,"] Sudanic Africa, 14, 2003, 21-32. His wife Tirtza was a teacher and deputy head of Jerusalem's Gymnasia Rehavia high school in Jerusalem.{{Cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Dr-Levtzion-Korach-is-first-female-to-run-a-state-owned-general-Hospital-504656|title=Dr. Levtzion-Korach is first female to run a state-owned general hospital|author=Judy Siegel-Itzkovich|date=September 10, 2017|work=The Jerusalem Post}} They lived for a time in Ghana, where he studied the spread of Islam in Africa; the family also lived in Beit Hakerem in Jerusalem. Levtzion completed a dissertation at the University of London in 1965.{{cite journal |last1=Wilks |first1=Ivor |s2cid=148738309 |author-link1=Ivor Wilks |title=Nehemia Levtzion and Islam in Ghana: Reminiscences |journal=Canadian Journal of African Studies |date=2008 |volume=42 |issue=2–3 |pages=250–264 |doi=10.1080/00083968.2008.10751380}}

Career

Levtzion was a scholar of African history, Near East, Islamic, and African studies, and especially Islam in Africa.{{Cite journal|jstor=40380163|title=Engaging with the Legacy of Nehemia Levtzion: An Introduction|author=McDougall, E. Ann|s2cid=219565283|year=2008|journal=Canadian Journal of African Studies|volume=42|issue=2/3|pages=213–229|doi=10.1080/00083968.2008.10751378}} He taught at (starting in 1965) and was Professor of History and Asian and African Studies and the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities (1978-1981) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Director of the Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the East (1982-1987), the President of the Open University of Israel (1987-1992), the Executive Director of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (1994-1997), and the Chairman of the Council for Higher Education in Israel’s Planning and Budgeting Committee (1997-2003).{{Cite web|url=https://www.ohioswallow.com/author/Nehemia+Levtzion|title=Nehemia Levtzion |publisher= Ohio University Press / Swallow Press}}

The Nehemia Levtzion Center for Islamic Studies was established at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2004.[https://openscholar.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/levtzion/files/glyvn_7.pdf "The Nehemia Levtzion Center for Islamic Studies"]

Selected publications

{{cite book |last1=Levtzion |first1=Nehemia |title=Muslims and Chiefs in West Africa: A Study of Islam in the Middle Volta Basin in the Pre-Colonial Period |date=1969 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=228}}{{cite journal |last1=Hunwick |first1=J. O. |title=Muslims and Chiefs in West Africa: a study of Islam in the Middle Volta Basin in the pre-colonial period |journal=African Affairs |date=October 1969 |volume=68 |issue=273 |pages=363–364 |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a095936}}{{cite journal |last1=Brenner |first1=Louis |title=Nehemia Levtzion. Muslims and Chiefs in West Africa: A Study of Islam in the Middle Volta Basin in the Pre-Colonial Period. (Oxford Studies in African Affairs.) New York: Oxford University Press. 1969. Pp. xxvi, 228. $7.00 |journal=The American Historical Review |date=April 1971 |volume=76 |issue=2 |pages=533–534 |doi=10.1086/ahr/76.2.533-a}}
{{cite book |last1=Levtzion |first1=Nehemia |title=Ancient Ghana and Mali |date=1973 |publisher=Methuen and Company |pages=283}}{{cite journal |last1=Fagan |first1=Brian M. |title=Nehemia Levtzion. Ancient Ghana and Mali. (Studies in African History, 7.) London: Methuen and Company; distrib. by Barnes and Noble, New York. 1973. Pp. x, 283. Cloth $10.00, paper $6.50 |journal=The American Historical Review |date=April 1975 |volume=80 |issue=2 |pages=448–449 |doi=10.1086/ahr/80.2.448}}
{{cite book |editor1-last=Levtzion |editor1-first=Nehemia |title=Conversion to Islam |date=1979 |publisher=Holmes and Meier |pages=272}}{{cite journal |last1=Stewart |first1=C. C. |title=Conversion to Islam. Edited by Nehemia Levtzion. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1979. Pp. viii + 272. $29.50. |journal=The Journal of African History |date=October 1980 |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=570–571 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700018910|s2cid=163150052 }}
{{cite book |editor1-last=Levtzion |editor1-first=Nehemia |editor2-first=Humphrey J. |editor2-last=Fisher |title=Rural and Urban Islam in West Africa |date=1987 |publisher= Lynne Rienner Publishers |pages=176}}{{cite journal |last1=Ibrahim |first1=Jibrin |title=Rural and Urban Islam in West Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion and Humphrey J. Fisher Boulder and London, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1987 edn. Pp. vii + 176. £20.95. |journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies |date=December 1990 |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=715–716 |doi=10.1017/S0022278X00054884}}
{{cite book |editor1-last=Levtzion |editor1-first=Nehemia |editor2-first=James O. |editor2-last=Voll |title=Eighteenth-Century Renewal and Reform in Islam |date=1987 |publisher= Syracuse University Press |pages=200}}{{cite journal |last1=Brett |first1=Michael |title= Nehemia Levtzion and John o. Voll, editors. Eighteenth-Century Renewal and Reform in Islam. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. 1987. Pp. 200. $24.95|journal= The American Historical Review|date=June 1989 |volume=94 |issue=3 |pages=822–823 |doi=10.1086/ahr/94.3.822}}
{{cite book |last1=Levtzion |first1=Nehemia |title=Islam in West Africa: Religion, Society and Politics to 1800 |date=1994 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |pages=324}}{{cite journal |last1=Hawting |first1=G. R. |title=Nehemia Levtzion: Islam in west Africa: religion, society and politics to 1800. (Collected Studies Series, CS462.) x, [324] pp. Amersham Hants.: Variorum; Brookfield, Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Co., 1994. £49.50. |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |date=June 1995 |volume=58 |issue=2 |pages=435–436 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00011654|s2cid=155072536 }}{{cite journal |last1=Bangura |first1=Ahmed Sheikh |title=Islam in West Africa: Religion, Society and Politics to 1800 (by Nehemia Levtzion) (Book Review) |journal=American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences |date=1997 |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=91–92 |doi=10.35632/ajis.v14i3.2271 |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/37e490edb168546b48279b267045662f/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1819750|doi-access=free }}
{{cite book |last1=Levtzion |first1=Nehemia |last2=Pouwels |first2=Randall L. |title=The History of Islam in Africa |date=2000 |publisher=Ohio University Press |pages=592}}{{cite journal |last1=Mirzeler |first1=Mustafa |s2cid=143048787 |title=The History of Islam in Africa (review) |journal=Africa Today |date=2001 |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=168–170 |doi=10.1353/at.2001.0039}}{{cite journal |last1=Reese |first1=Scott |title=Book Review: The History of Islam in Africa |journal=Journal of Asian and African Studies |date=October 2004 |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=456–458 |doi=10.1177/002190960403900516|s2cid=143536672 }}
{{cite book |last=Levtzion |first=Nehemia|editor1-last=Abitbol |editor1-first=Michel|editor2-last=Nadan|editor2-first=Amos|title=Islam in Africa and the Middle East: Studies on Conversion and Renewal |date=2007 |publisher=Ashgate/Variorum |pages=336}}{{cite journal |last1=Last |first1=Murray |title=Islam in Africa and the Middle East: Studies on Conversion and Renewal BY NEHEMIAH LEVTZION. Edited by MICHEL ABITBOL and AMOS NADAN |journal=Journal of Islamic Studies |date=May 2008 |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=268–269 |doi=10.1093/jis/etn017}}