Uncertain Empire: Jews, Nationalism, and the Fate of British Imperialism – Elizabeth E. Imber

Following the British conquest of Ottoman Palestine, Jews across the British Empire—from Jerusalem to Johannesburg, and London to Calcutta—found themselves at the heart of global Jewish political discourse. As these intellectuals, politicians, activists, and communal elites navigated shifting political landscapes, some envisioned Palestine as a British dominion, leveraging imperial power for Jewish state-building, while others fostered ties with anticolonial movements, contemplating independent futures. This talk, based on Imber’s new book Uncertain Empire: Jews, Nationalism, and the Fate of British Imperialism (Stanford University Press, 2025), will explore this intricate interplay between British imperialism, Zionism, and anticolonial movements from the 1917 British conquest of Palestine to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. In doing so, it will show how the British Empire’s fate became central to Zionist and broader Jewish political thought during a time marked by profound urgency and exigency.

Elizabeth Imber is Associate Professor of History and the Michael and Lisa Leffell Chair in Modern Jewish History at Clark University. Her work examines the cultural and political dimensions and intersections of Jewish history and European imperial history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her first book, Uncertain Empire: Jews, Nationalism, and the Fate of British Imperialism (Stanford University Press, 2025), received the 2025 National Jewish Book Award for Writing Based on Archival Material and the 2025 Salo Baron Book Prize from the American Academy for Jewish Research, and was co-winner of the 2026 Shapiro Award from the Association for Israel Studies.

Thursday, November 19, 2025 • 306 Royce Hall • 2 PM  
Uncertain Empire: Jews, Nationalism, and the Fate of British Imperialism
Elizabeth E. Imber (Clark University)
Moderator: Sarah Abrevaya Stein (UCLA)
Viterbi Program in Mediterranean Jewish Studies

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