Tal
Yehezkely

Tal Yehezkely is a PhD student in the Program of Comparative Literature of the School of Cultural Studies at Tel Aviv University under the joint supervision of Prof. Galili Shahar (Tel Aviv University) and Dr. Chiara Caradonna (Hebrew University of Jerusalem).

Tal examines expressions of smell in Hebrew and Italian literature and explores the intersections between the sensory, the literary, and the political.

Her research focuses on Hebrew and Italian literary texts that react to social and political conflicts. Given the difficulty of expressing smell in words, Tal traces the diverse creative strategies through which writers have overcome this challenge. She also explores how smell is used to express various forms of otherness, be it ethnic, political, or gendered. Her research is interdisciplinary and combines comparative literature, critical theory, and critical phenomenology along with scientific findings. Tal hopes to articulate the potential of smell for both political and literary theory through the very challenges it presents.

Tal grew up in Jerusalem and moved to Tel Aviv for her studies. She worked as a journalist for GLZ radio, covering religious, immigration, and legal affairs. She obtained her MA in the Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary Program at Tel Aviv University, where she wrote her thesis in philosophy on the theory and poetics of smell. Tal co-coordinates the humanities program of the Polyphony Foundation for young Jewish and Arab musicians and the interdisciplinary research group, The Sense of Smell. She has taught courses in philosophy and literature in both academic institutions and high school programs and completed a year-long research fellowship at Yale University. Tal is a translator of Italian theory and poetry and a cat lover. She is devoted to the promotion of humanities as a tool for social change.