About

Background

Michail Kitsos is a historian specializing in Judaism and Christianity in Late Antiquity and the Middle Byzantine Period in the Eastern Mediterranean. They are currently the Koret Postdoctoral Fellow at The Koret Center for Jewish Civilization and the Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archaeology at Tel Aviv University. Kitsos holds a Ph.D. in Rabbinics: Jewish History of Late Antiquity, a Graduate Certificate in Judaic Studies, and a Masters in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, a Masters in Jewish Studies from Gratz College, a Masters in Biblical Archaeology and a Bachelors in Theology both from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, and a Graduate Certificate in Hellenic Paleography from the Center for History and Paleography, National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation, Athens, Greece.

In their research, Kitsos examines the social, intellectual, and cultural history of Jews and Christians, focusing on marginality, identity formation, polemics, and literary production of Jewish and Christian knowledge.

Selected Awards and Fellowships

Michael S. Bernstein Dissertation Award in Judaic Studies, Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies (2021)

  • Awarded by the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, University of Michigan, for the best dissertation in 2020 in Jewish Studies

Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship (2019-2020)

  • Awarded by Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan, as a dissertation completion fellowship

 Rackham Humanities Research Fellowship (2019)

  • Awarded by Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan, for dissertation research

 George F. and Celeste Hourani Dissertation Writing Fellowship (2018)

  • Awarded by the Department of Middle East Studies, University of Michigan, for the best dissertation chapter to conduct further research and writing

Middle East Studies Travel Grant (2016)

  • Awarded by the Department of Middle East Studies, University of Michigan, to study Syriac I&II at the Beth Mardutho Syriac Institute

Stanley Frankel Summer Fellowship (2016)

  • Awarded by the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, University of Michigan, to attend to the summer program offered by the Jewish Theological Seminary, “Nishma: A Summer of Torah Study in the JTS Beit Midrash.”

 Rackham International Student Fellowship (2016)

  • Awarded to outstanding international graduate students for research