DeepSummary
In this episode, Dara Nartash interviews Samuel Dolbee about his book titled 'Locusts of Power: Borders, Empire, and Environment in the Modern Middle East.' Dolbee discusses how he came to focus on locusts while researching the Jazeera region for his dissertation and the significance of locusts in shaping the environment and people's imaginations from the late Ottoman Empire to the Second World War.
Dolbee explains how he structured the book around comparisons made between different groups of people and locusts, such as nomadic pastoralists, Armenian deportees, and Assyrian refugees. He highlights the continuities and ruptures in the Jazeera region, transcending the focus on the collapse of the Ottoman Empire or the creation of nation-states.
The conversation delves into the relationship between humans and non-human animals, the cultural construction of pests, and the impact of state policies and technologies on locust management. Dolbee also discusses the experiences of individuals like Havannes Toros Dumanian, an Armenian agronomist who survived the genocide while exterminating locusts in the Jazeera.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Dolbee's book provides a new perspective on the modern Middle East by examining the role of locusts and their relationship with people in motion in the Jazeera region.
- The book explores the comparisons made between different groups of people, such as nomadic pastoralists, Armenian deportees, and Assyrian refugees, and locusts.
- Dolbee highlights the continuities and ruptures in the Jazeera region, transcending the focus on the collapse of the Ottoman Empire or the creation of nation-states.
- The book examines the changing attitudes and approaches towards locust management, from traditional methods to the use of chemical insecticides.
- Dolbee's work sheds light on the entanglement of human and non-human experiences, challenging the separation between nature and culture.
- The book provides insight into the everyday experiences of ordinary people and their interactions with the environment in the Jazeera region.
- Dolbee explores the relationship between state power, violence, and environmental change in the modern Middle East.
- The book presents a nuanced understanding of how different groups and individuals perceived and interacted with locusts, shaping their imaginations and experiences.
Top Episodes Quotes
- βPeople are talking about animals. And therefore, we, as historians should figure out what they're talking about.β by Samuel Dolby
- βAnd he survives. He survives the genocide. And so there's something so striking about the fact that he survives the genocide at the very heart of the place where so much violence is happening.β by Samuel Dolby
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Episode Information
New Books in Environmental Studies
Marshall Poe
7/3/24