Associate Professor Hannah Kosstrin has published her second book, Kinesthetic Peoplehood: Jewish Diasporic Dance Migrations (Oxford University Press, 2026). Kinesthetic Peoplehood shows how people connect with a diasporic community through dance. Integrating archival materials, interviews, ethnographic research, and theories from dance, Jewish, Israel, migration, diaspora, and gender studies, this book demonstrates how dance practices embody the cultural migrations at the heart of Jewish experience. Kinesthetic Peoplehood argues that diaspora and migration manifest in the body in addition to being defined through geography, shared histories of exile and displacement, and feelings of kinship. It shows how people’s interactions with Jewish practices that resonate with or rub against their familiarity with Jewish cultures determine how they feel part of or estranged from the Jewish diaspora. The book illuminates how American Jewish audiences connected with Israel between the Cold War and COVID through watching performances and taking classes with Israeli choreographers who immigrated to or toured through the United States. Kinesthetic Peoplehood focuses on Sara Levi-Tanai and Inbal Dance Theater, Margalit Oved, Barak Marshall, Ze’eva Cohen, Idan Cohen, Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor, Dana Sapir, Adi Shildan, Lior Tavori, Alon Karniel, Ruth Eshel and Eskesta Dance Theater, and Dege Feder. These choreographers’ work introduced audiences to multifaceted ideas about global Jewish culture through dance. Reception indicated how Jewish dance migrations from the Middle East, South Asia, Africa, and queer contexts complicated diasporic hierarchies. Kinesthetic Peoplehood expands conversations about Israeli theatrical dance by centering Mizrahi, Ethiopian, and queer Jewish dance histories often marginalized in historical discourses. Kinesthetic Peoplehood poses diaspora as a bodily experience in which people find home.

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