Progressivism, Settler Colonialism, and the Birth of American Jewish Zionism

This dissertation examines how and where the language of settler colonialism emerged in the discourses and practices of American Jewish ‘general Zionist’ organizations during the 1910s and 1920s. While scholars often portray this Americanized Zionism as a benevolent project committed to democracy and social justice, they have largely failed to contend with how progressive projects such as this are often intertwined with the violence of settler colonialism. Drawing from settler colonial theory developed by those most impacted by Zionist violence, my dissertation rereads the archives of American Zionism, critiquing the historical and scholarly framing of the movement as a benevolent and uplifting project. By interrogating the contradictions of progressive democracy, this research offers a historical contribution to debates about democracy and empire at the turn of the twentieth century, while illuminating how American Jewish history was embedded in transnational projects of often-obscured colonial expansion.