Healing the Land and the Nation
Malaria and the Zionist Project in Palestine, 1920-1947
9780226779355
9780226779386
Healing the Land and the Nation
Malaria and the Zionist Project in Palestine, 1920-1947
A novel inquiry into the sociopolitical dimensions of public medicine, Healing the Land and the Nation traces the relationships between disease, hygiene, politics, geography, and nationalism in British Mandatory Palestine between the world wars. Taking up the case of malaria control in Jewish-held lands, Sandra Sufian illustrates how efforts to thwart the disease were intimately tied to the project of Zionist nation-building, especially the movement’s efforts to repurpose and improve its lands. The project of eradicating malaria also took on a metaphorical dimension—erasing anti-Semitic stereotypes of the “parasitic” Diaspora Jew and creating strong, healthy Jews in Palestine. Sufian shows that, in reclaiming the land and the health of its people in Palestine, Zionists expressed key ideological and political elements of their nation-building project.
Taking its title from a Jewish public health mantra, Healing the Land and the Nation situates antimalarial medicine and politics within larger colonial histories. By analyzing the science alongside the politics of Jewish settlement, Sufian addresses contested questions of social organization and the effects of land reclamation upon the indigenous Palestinian population in a decidedly innovative way. The book will be of great interest to scholars of the Middle East, Jewish studies, and environmental history, as well as to those studying colonialism, nationalism, and public health and medicine.
Taking its title from a Jewish public health mantra, Healing the Land and the Nation situates antimalarial medicine and politics within larger colonial histories. By analyzing the science alongside the politics of Jewish settlement, Sufian addresses contested questions of social organization and the effects of land reclamation upon the indigenous Palestinian population in a decidedly innovative way. The book will be of great interest to scholars of the Middle East, Jewish studies, and environmental history, as well as to those studying colonialism, nationalism, and public health and medicine.
384 pages | 34 halftones, 7 line drawings, 5 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2007
History: Middle Eastern History
Reviews
Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables
List of Measures and Currency
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
INTRODUCTION A History of Malaria and Zionist Nationalism in Mandatory Palestine
CHAPTER 1. Archetypal Landscape: Healing the Land and the Nation in the Zionist Imagination
I. Draining the Swamp to Heal the Land
CHAPTER 2. Pathological Landscape: Epidemiology and Medical Geography of Malaria in Palestine
CHAPTER 3. Potential Landscape: Swamp Drainage Projects and the Politics of Settlement
CHAPTER 4. Technological Landscape: The Jezreel Valley and the Huleh Valley Projects
CHAPTER 5. Perceptual Landscape: Scientific Experimentation, Colonial Medicine and the Medicalization of Palestine
II. Fighting Malaria to Heal the Jewish Nation
CHAPTER 6. Cultural Landscape: Creating a Culture of Health through Antimalaria Education
CHAPTER 7. Contested Landscape: Arab-Jewish Conflict and Cooperation in Antimalaria Projects
CONCLUSION Ecological Landscape: Old Paradigms, New Meanings
Bibliography
Index
List of Measures and Currency
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
INTRODUCTION A History of Malaria and Zionist Nationalism in Mandatory Palestine
CHAPTER 1. Archetypal Landscape: Healing the Land and the Nation in the Zionist Imagination
I. Draining the Swamp to Heal the Land
CHAPTER 2. Pathological Landscape: Epidemiology and Medical Geography of Malaria in Palestine
CHAPTER 3. Potential Landscape: Swamp Drainage Projects and the Politics of Settlement
CHAPTER 4. Technological Landscape: The Jezreel Valley and the Huleh Valley Projects
CHAPTER 5. Perceptual Landscape: Scientific Experimentation, Colonial Medicine and the Medicalization of Palestine
II. Fighting Malaria to Heal the Jewish Nation
CHAPTER 6. Cultural Landscape: Creating a Culture of Health through Antimalaria Education
CHAPTER 7. Contested Landscape: Arab-Jewish Conflict and Cooperation in Antimalaria Projects
CONCLUSION Ecological Landscape: Old Paradigms, New Meanings
Bibliography
Index
Be the first to know
Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!