Netta Cohen - When climate takes command: Jewish-Zionist scientific approaches to climate in Palestine 1900-1948

Netta Cohen presents her doctoral research which occupies the intersection between modern Jewish history, climate and environmental history, the history of knowledge, and colonial history. Her talk focuses on Jewish physicians, architects, and botanists as they examined the potential ramifications of climate on the success of the Zionist project in Palestine between 1900 and 1948. Through the prism of climate, she explores the ways in which Jewish experts transported scientific knowledge from Europe and its colonies to Palestine. In addition to analysing the transfer of knowledge concerning climate, she also explores the role of climate – both as an abstract concept and a concrete condition – in shaping Jewish national, racial, cultural, and spatial identity in Palestine.