“I remember how self-motivated she was and what a fine analytical mind she had,” says Emeritus Professor of Fine Arts Irene Winter.

Wilf turned in her thesis prospectus five months early, and the work, entitled “The Politics of Art: International Disputes over Ownership of Art and Cultural Artifacts,” “just sang” from the first draft, says Winter, who served as Wilf’s secondary thesis advisor.

“Einat Wilf had insights [in her thesis] that were 15 years ahead of her time,” Winter says.

Wilf delved into the relationship between national identity and cultural artifacts and the historical, structural, institutional, and ideological factors which account for contemporary international disputes over art and cultural artifacts.

“It will be interesting to me to see what ‘voice’ she adopts while in government service, and whether any of the issues on which she worked for this thesis emerge,” Winter says, “and then to see just how she brings her insights on national identity and culture to play without down-grading culture, as Israel and the Palestinian people move toward more productive discourse.”

For her part, Wilf sees a future for herself in the political arena—she hopes to remain there as long as she can.

—Staff writer Jillian K. Kushner can be reached at kushner@fas.harvard.edu.