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.
"1101612236"
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.
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Healing the Land and the Nation: Malaria and the Zionist Project in Palestine, 1920-1947

Healing the Land and the Nation: Malaria and the Zionist Project in Palestine, 1920-1947

by Sandra M. Sufian
Healing the Land and the Nation: Malaria and the Zionist Project in Palestine, 1920-1947

Healing the Land and the Nation: Malaria and the Zionist Project in Palestine, 1920-1947

by Sandra M. Sufian

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Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780226779386
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication date: 11/15/2008
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 384
File size: 5 MB

About the Author

Sandra M. Sufian is assistant professor of medical history and the humanities at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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
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