Water on Sand: Environmental Histories of the Middle East and North Africa

347 Pages·2012·3.09 MB·English

by  Alan Mikhail

Water on Sand
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Water on Sand
Environmental Histories of the Middle East
and North Africa

EDITED BY ALAN MIKHAIL
1
1

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Water on sand : environmental histories of the middle east and north africa /
edited by Alan Mikhail.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–976867–7 (hardcover : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978–0–19–976866–0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Human ecology—Middle East—History.
2. Human ecology—Africa, North—History.
3. Middle East—Environmental conditions.
4. Africa, North—Environmental conditions.
I. Mikhail, Alan
GF670.W48 2013
304.20956—dc23
2012022534
ISBN 978–0–19–976867–7
ISBN 978–0–19–976866–0
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
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We made from water every living thing.
Quran 21:30
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Contributors xi
Introduction—Middle East Environmental History:
The Fallow between Two Fields 1
ALAN MIKHAIL
1. The Eccentricity of the Middle East and North Africa’s
Environmental History 27
J. R. MCNEILL
2. History and Animal Energy in the Arid Zone 51
RICHARD W. BULLIET
3. The Little Ice Age Crisis of the Ottoman Empire: A
Conjuncture in Middle East Environmental History 71
SAM WHITE
4. Fish and Fishermen in Ottoman Istanbul 91
SURAIYA FAROQHI
5. Plague and Environment in Late Ottoman Egypt 111
ALAN MIKHAIL
6. Through an Ocean of Sand: Pastoralism and the Equestrian
Culture of the Eurasian Steppe 133
ARASH KHAZENI
7. Enclosing Nature in North Africa: National Parks and the
Politics of Environmental History 159
DIANA K. DAVIS
viii CONTENTS
8. Building the Past: Rockscapes and the Aswan High Dam in
Egypt 181
NANCY Y. REYNOLDS
9. The Rise and Decline of Environmentalism in Lebanon 207
KARIM MAKDISI
10. State of Nature: The Politics of Water in the Making of Saudi
Arabia 231
TOBY C. JONES
11. Expanding the Nile’s Watershed: The Science and Politics of
Land Reclamation in Egypt 251
JESSICA BARNES
Bibliography 273
Index 309
Acknowledgments
This book is fi rst and foremost a collective effort, and I therefore
very happily and profusely thank all of the contributors to this pro-
ject. Their professionalism and patience and, much more impor-
tantly, their ideas and hard work make this book possible. For their
early advice and support of this book, I thank Edmund Burke III,
Beshara Doumani, Timothy Mitchell, and Amy Singer. My col-
leagues at Yale University make being a historian a true pleasure
every day. I thank Abbas Amanat, Ned Blackhawk, Laura Engelstein,
Valerie Hansen, Naomi Lamoreaux, Mary Lui, Joe Manning, Joanne
Meyerowitz, Peter C. Perdue, Paul Sabin, Francesca Trivellato, and
Charles Walton. At Yale, I must also thank Seven Ağ ı r, Frank Griffel,
Kishwar Rizvi, James C. Scott, and Harvey Weiss for their collegiality
and generosity of spirit. I am very fortunate to also benefi t from the
support and friendship of Christine Philliou and Edith Sheffer.
Richard P. Tucker and two anonymous reviewers each read ear-
lier versions of this book and helped to shape it in signifi cant ways.
In Istanbul, I thank Arzu Ö zt ü rkmen of Bo ğ azi ç i University and Esra
M ü yessero ğ lu of the Topkap ı Palace Museum Library for their work
on behalf of this project. Publication of this book was generously sup-
ported by the Frederick W. Hilles Publication Fund of Yale University.
Thank you. Stacey D. Maples of the Yale University Map Department
skillfully and patiently made the wonderful maps for this book.
Maureen Cirnitski’s keen eye and hard work helped make this book
a reality. Water on Sand only exists because of the expert shepherding
of Susan Ferber at Oxford University Press. From beginning to end,