Educational material about Israel from a geographical perspective

July 13, 2016 8:13 AM

Where can I find audio/videos to listen to while looking at maps of Israel? Specifically, I have an awesome wall map (6 feet tall). I'd love to listen to lectures about the regions, cities, migrations, rivers, seas, mountains, borders, etc... while studying the map. For example: Why was Tel Aviv selected as a place to develop especially? What role has the Port of Haifa played in military success? Where are the tunnels used by terrorists? Where were the borders at various times in history? What is the climate like in different regions, and how does this affect those region's cultures? What are the distances various air weapons can travel, both from and to Israel? Where do emigrants cluster (e.g. Russians, Americans, Ethiopians, etc.)? Where were famous Israeli personalities from and raised? Etc, etc, etc...
posted by daniel.poynter to Education (2 answers total)

I would recommend that you begin by looking through the list of episodes of the highly regarded Ottoman History Podcast. There are several that not only provide the answers you are looking for, but also provide answers to questions you fail to ask.

Also, perhaps watch Contested Terrain: A Lecture with Eyal Weizman and Rebel Architecture - The architecture of violence.

Although you did not ask for texts, as a scholar of Middle Eastern studies I cannot help but recommend: Edward Said, The Question of Palestine (New York: Vintage Books, 1992), Saree Makdisi, Palestine Inside Out (New York and London: W.W. Norton & Co, 2008), Joseph A. Massad, The Persistence of the Palestinian Question (London and New York: Routledge, 2006). Also, you might be interested in digging through the archives of the British Palestinian Exploration fund, of which you will find many remarkable maps and documents from the late 19C that are notable for many things, including informing the later 1917 Balfour Declaration and subsequent Nakba.
posted by standardasparagus at 10:16 AM on July 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

Maybe this lecture about the borders of the State of Israel and how they've changed over the years? (Dr. Henry Abramson has a lot of lectures about Jewish history and Jewish topics on YouTube - there may be others that would interest you.)
posted by SisterHavana at 7:52 PM on July 13, 2016