Current Research Areas: history of technology; Yiddish; religion; material culture; gender
Alona is interested in cultural histories of technology, particularly from the perspective of users (and non-users). Her dissertation project focuses on representations of electric light in interwar Yiddish-language print culture. Surveying the New-York-based Orthodox Yiddish daily newspaper The Jewish Morning Journal (Der morgen zshurnal), the project examines the newspaper’s interwar engagement with electric lights within religious, literary, and economic frameworks.
Alona holds an MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge and a BA in History of Science and Dramatic Arts from Harvard University. As a Yiddish-language instructor, she has taught at Brandeis University, Oberlin College and Conservatory, and various community organizations. Prior to HASTS, she worked as a curatorial assistant and actor.