Zozan Pehlivan, assistant professor of history at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, on ”The Political Ecology of Violence: Peasants and Pastoralists in the Last Ottoman Century” (Cambridge University Press).
The book explores how extreme climate disruptions played into socioeconomic shifts and became a major underlying factor behind rising tensions ... Show More
Feb 2023
S2E6 - Season Finale Part 2 - The Annihilation of the Fellah
<p>Last episode we saw how the notables of Palestine cleverly adjusted to the demands of modernity, emerging as winners in the Ottoman reform era. But just as the sky parted above the urban elite, storm clouds began to gather over the fellahin of the countryside. This, then, is t ... Show More
45m 27s
Dec 2023
Age of Coexistence w/ Ussama Makdisi
Featuring Ussama Makdisi on the late Ottoman Empire’s Arab culture of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish coexistence—an ecumenical frame that was interrupted by European colonialism and Zionism, which exacerbated and exploited sectarianism. This is the first of a two-part interview. S ... Show More
1h 57m
Oct 2024
Peter Schwartzstein: Climate Violence in the Middle East
This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Peter Schwartzstein, an environmental journalist who reports on water, food security, and the conflict-climate nexus in around 30 countries, mainly in the Middle East and Africa. Together, they discuss Mr. Schwartzstein's new book, The ... Show More
36m 8s
Dec 2023
Ilkay Yilmaz, "Ottoman Passports: Security and Geographic Mobility, 1876-1908" (Syracuse UP, 2023)
In Ottoman Passports: Security and Geographic Mobility, 1876-1908 (Syracuse University Press, 2023), İlkay Yılmaz reconsiders the history of two political issues, the Armenian and Macedonian questions, approaching both through the lens of mobility restrictions during the late Ott ... Show More
55m 26s
Mar 2023
Volcanoes & nuclear armageddon: humanity’s long relationship with nature
For thousands of years, humans have been in thrall to climate – it has dictated the crops we grow, the water we drink and even the diseases to which we might succumb. Rhiannon Davies speaks to Peter Frankopan about his new book that examines this crucial relationship, The Earth T ... Show More
38m 53s