Science and the Making of the Middle East

Catalog description

This course explores how the physical sciences have played a central role in the making of territory, citizenship, and rights in Palestine and for Palestinians for the past hundred years. From chemistry and climatology to archaeology and astronomy, these sciences have not only conditioned how humanity grasps the universe, but they have been key projects, strategies, and blueprints for communities in both historical and contemporary Palestine to claim legitimacy, authority, and power over land and the humans that populate it. It is through these physical sciences that political regimes have turned Israel/Palestine into the explosive terrain that we know today, and by tracking the co-evolution of science and society therein we will reapproach classic debates about equity, repair, and human rights that are central to the question of Palestine.