Introduction to Topics in History (292-0-24)

Topic

Fossil Fuels and Climate Change in Palestine/Israe

Instructors

Shira Pinhas
Crowe 5-167
Office Hours: Wednesdays 10:00 – 12:00

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-339: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

With a warming rate double the global average and half of the world's oil reserves, the Middle East is a
pivotal site for understanding the history, present, and future of climate change. Although Israel/Palestine
is not today an oil-producing country, historically it was imagined differently: in the 19th and 20th
centuries it was considered a promising frontier for oil exploration and became a regional hub of fossil fuel
infrastructures, channeling Middle Eastern oil and North African gas to Europe. This seminar examines
how the rise of fossil fuels and the dynamics of climate change played out in Palestine/Israel and shaped
both the Zionist-Palestinian struggle and Palestine's place within the Middle East. We will consider how
the Middle East became "Middle" through the interplay between energy sources, infrastructures, and
colonial powers. We will explore how carbonization in the region gave rise to new forms of political rule,
reshaping identities and altering environments, and how seemingly mundane infrastructures - from
coaling depots to automobility - enabled and managed colonial power as well as resistance to it. Drawing
on archival materials alongside fiction, poetry, and film in Arabic and Hebrew (all provided in English
translation), we will analyze the intimate, everyday, and affective dimensions of carbonization and
warming, exploring how these forces shaped subjectivities and societies. Finally, we will consider how
different notions of heat and cooling technologies were tied to specific constructions of gender, race, and
class.

Evaluation Method

Participation: 20%
Quizzes: 30%
Class presentation: 10%
Midterm: 20%
Final exam: 20%

Class Attributes

Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
SoC Additional Distro