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Papers by Zozan Pehlivan

Research paper thumbnail of BEYOND "THE DESERT AND THE SOWN": PEASANTS, PASTORALISTS, AND CLIMATE CRISES IN OTTOMAN DIYARBEKIR, 1840-1890

This dissertation refocuses attention from a 'clash of cultures' to a 'clash of environmental eco... more This dissertation refocuses attention from a 'clash of cultures' to a 'clash of environmental economies' within the eastern regions of the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire, particularly the province of Diyarbekir. An account of changing patterns of climate provides an alternative vantage point on the origins of inter-social relationships within this region. In the aftermath of intermittent climate-induced environmental crises, peasants and pastoralists confronted different challenges. Overall, crop-based economies could recover more quickly than herding-based economies. Given enough water and seed, and normal weather conditions, farmers could replant and expect good harvests the following season. However, pastoralists, who either lost or sold most of their animals as a result of lack of food and water needed many seasons of abundant grass and water to rebuild their herds to their former size. Examining episodes of severe climate in the Ottoman east in the 1840s and 1880s, this study presents evidence that the different timetables for recovery following episodes of environmental crisis were consequential for understanding changing relationships between people, land, and animals as well as relations between communities.

Research paper thumbnail of El Niño and the Nomads: Global Climate, Local Environment, and the Crisis of Pastoralism in Late Ottoman Kurdistan

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient , 2020

This article explores the impacts of environmental crises on pastoral nomads in Ottoman Kurdistan... more This article explores the impacts of environmental crises on pastoral nomads in Ottoman Kurdistan/Armenia in the late nineteenth-century. It demonstrates that the climatic fluctuations characterizing these environmental crises were synchronized with global climatic oscillations, specifically the El Niño Southern Oscillation. Recurrent episodes of severe drought and cold dramatically affected these groups, who were unable to withstand extreme changes in temperature and precipitation. Back-to-back drought episodes created a shortage of water, dried up pastures and damaged forage, while severe cold resulted in high rates of premature death among herd animals. These climatic events thus had devastating economic and social consequences.

Research paper thumbnail of Küresel Perspektifle Bölgesel Olana Bakmak: Osmanlı Kürdistanı’nın Çevre Tarihi

Research paper thumbnail of Bayezid 1877: EGEMEN ANLATIDA GORUNMEYEN KATLIAM

Research paper thumbnail of "Abandoned Villages in Diyarbekir Province at the end of the 'Little Ice Age', 1800-1850".pdf

Research paper thumbnail of The rich and the poor: wealth polarization in late eighteenth-century'Ayntab

The rich and the poor: wealth polarization in late eighteenth-century'Ayntab

Book Reviews by Zozan Pehlivan

Research paper thumbnail of Pehlivan on Gratien, 'The Unsettled Plain: An Environmental History of the Late Ottoman Frontier'

H-Environment, 2023

Commissioned by Daniella McCahey (Texas Tech University) "Köylü milletin efendisidir" (villagers ... more Commissioned by Daniella McCahey (Texas Tech University) "Köylü milletin efendisidir" (villagers are the master of the nation) is one of the most popular and well-known sayings of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey. Atatürk made this statement in the conclusion of a speech before

Research paper thumbnail of H-Environment Roundtable Reviews

H-Environment Roundtable Reviews, 2020

Talks by Zozan Pehlivan

Thesis Chapters by Zozan Pehlivan

Research paper thumbnail of BEYOND "THE DESERT AND THE SOWN": PEASANTS, PASTORALISTS, AND CLIMATE CRISES IN OTTOMAN DIYARBEKIR, 1840-1890

This dissertation refocuses attention from a 'clash of cultures' to a 'clash of environmental eco... more This dissertation refocuses attention from a 'clash of cultures' to a 'clash of environmental economies' within the eastern regions of the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire, particularly the province of Diyarbekir. An account of changing patterns of climate provides an alternative vantage point on the origins of inter-social relationships within this region. In the aftermath of intermittent climate-induced environmental crises, peasants and pastoralists confronted different challenges. Overall, crop-based economies could recover more quickly than herding-based economies. Given enough water and seed, and normal weather conditions, farmers could replant and expect good harvests the following season. However, pastoralists, who either lost or sold most of their animals as a result of lack of food and water needed many seasons of abundant grass and water to rebuild their herds to their former size. Examining episodes of severe climate in the Ottoman east in the 1840s and 1880s, this study presents evidence that the different timetables for recovery following episodes of environmental crisis were consequential for understanding changing relationships between people, land, and animals as well as relations between communities.

Books by Zozan Pehlivan

Research paper thumbnail of The Political Ecology of Violence: Peasants and Pastoralists in the Last Ottoman Century

The Political Ecology of Violence: Peasants and Pastoralists in the Last Ottoman Century, 2024

In this innovative, interdisciplinary work, Zozan Pehlivan presents a new environmental perspecti... more In this innovative, interdisciplinary work, Zozan Pehlivan presents a new environmental perspective on intercommunal conflict, rooting slow violence in socioeconomic shifts and climatic fluctuations. From the nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries, recurrent and extreme climate disruptions became an underlying yet unacknowledged component of escalating conflict between Christian Armenian peasants and Muslim Kurdish pastoralists in Ottoman Kurdistan. By the eve of the First World War, the Ottoman state's shifting responses to these mounting tensions transformed the conflict into organized and statesponsored violence. Pehlivan upends the "desert-sown" thesis and establishes a new theoretical and conceptual framework drawing on climate science, agronomy, and zoology. From this alternative vantage point, Pehlivan examines the impact of climate on local communities, their responses and resilience strategies, arguing that nineteenth-century ecological change had a transformative and antagonistic impact on economy, state, and society.

Research paper thumbnail of BEYOND "THE DESERT AND THE SOWN": PEASANTS, PASTORALISTS, AND CLIMATE CRISES IN OTTOMAN DIYARBEKIR, 1840-1890

This dissertation refocuses attention from a 'clash of cultures' to a 'clash of environmental eco... more This dissertation refocuses attention from a 'clash of cultures' to a 'clash of environmental economies' within the eastern regions of the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire, particularly the province of Diyarbekir. An account of changing patterns of climate provides an alternative vantage point on the origins of inter-social relationships within this region. In the aftermath of intermittent climate-induced environmental crises, peasants and pastoralists confronted different challenges. Overall, crop-based economies could recover more quickly than herding-based economies. Given enough water and seed, and normal weather conditions, farmers could replant and expect good harvests the following season. However, pastoralists, who either lost or sold most of their animals as a result of lack of food and water needed many seasons of abundant grass and water to rebuild their herds to their former size. Examining episodes of severe climate in the Ottoman east in the 1840s and 1880s, this study presents evidence that the different timetables for recovery following episodes of environmental crisis were consequential for understanding changing relationships between people, land, and animals as well as relations between communities.

Research paper thumbnail of El Niño and the Nomads: Global Climate, Local Environment, and the Crisis of Pastoralism in Late Ottoman Kurdistan

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient , 2020

This article explores the impacts of environmental crises on pastoral nomads in Ottoman Kurdistan... more This article explores the impacts of environmental crises on pastoral nomads in Ottoman Kurdistan/Armenia in the late nineteenth-century. It demonstrates that the climatic fluctuations characterizing these environmental crises were synchronized with global climatic oscillations, specifically the El Niño Southern Oscillation. Recurrent episodes of severe drought and cold dramatically affected these groups, who were unable to withstand extreme changes in temperature and precipitation. Back-to-back drought episodes created a shortage of water, dried up pastures and damaged forage, while severe cold resulted in high rates of premature death among herd animals. These climatic events thus had devastating economic and social consequences.

Research paper thumbnail of Küresel Perspektifle Bölgesel Olana Bakmak: Osmanlı Kürdistanı’nın Çevre Tarihi

Research paper thumbnail of Bayezid 1877: EGEMEN ANLATIDA GORUNMEYEN KATLIAM

Research paper thumbnail of "Abandoned Villages in Diyarbekir Province at the end of the 'Little Ice Age', 1800-1850".pdf

Research paper thumbnail of The rich and the poor: wealth polarization in late eighteenth-century'Ayntab

The rich and the poor: wealth polarization in late eighteenth-century'Ayntab

Research paper thumbnail of Pehlivan on Gratien, 'The Unsettled Plain: An Environmental History of the Late Ottoman Frontier'

H-Environment, 2023

Commissioned by Daniella McCahey (Texas Tech University) "Köylü milletin efendisidir" (villagers ... more Commissioned by Daniella McCahey (Texas Tech University) "Köylü milletin efendisidir" (villagers are the master of the nation) is one of the most popular and well-known sayings of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey. Atatürk made this statement in the conclusion of a speech before

Research paper thumbnail of H-Environment Roundtable Reviews

H-Environment Roundtable Reviews, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of BEYOND "THE DESERT AND THE SOWN": PEASANTS, PASTORALISTS, AND CLIMATE CRISES IN OTTOMAN DIYARBEKIR, 1840-1890

This dissertation refocuses attention from a 'clash of cultures' to a 'clash of environmental eco... more This dissertation refocuses attention from a 'clash of cultures' to a 'clash of environmental economies' within the eastern regions of the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire, particularly the province of Diyarbekir. An account of changing patterns of climate provides an alternative vantage point on the origins of inter-social relationships within this region. In the aftermath of intermittent climate-induced environmental crises, peasants and pastoralists confronted different challenges. Overall, crop-based economies could recover more quickly than herding-based economies. Given enough water and seed, and normal weather conditions, farmers could replant and expect good harvests the following season. However, pastoralists, who either lost or sold most of their animals as a result of lack of food and water needed many seasons of abundant grass and water to rebuild their herds to their former size. Examining episodes of severe climate in the Ottoman east in the 1840s and 1880s, this study presents evidence that the different timetables for recovery following episodes of environmental crisis were consequential for understanding changing relationships between people, land, and animals as well as relations between communities.

Research paper thumbnail of The Political Ecology of Violence: Peasants and Pastoralists in the Last Ottoman Century

The Political Ecology of Violence: Peasants and Pastoralists in the Last Ottoman Century, 2024

In this innovative, interdisciplinary work, Zozan Pehlivan presents a new environmental perspecti... more In this innovative, interdisciplinary work, Zozan Pehlivan presents a new environmental perspective on intercommunal conflict, rooting slow violence in socioeconomic shifts and climatic fluctuations. From the nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries, recurrent and extreme climate disruptions became an underlying yet unacknowledged component of escalating conflict between Christian Armenian peasants and Muslim Kurdish pastoralists in Ottoman Kurdistan. By the eve of the First World War, the Ottoman state's shifting responses to these mounting tensions transformed the conflict into organized and statesponsored violence. Pehlivan upends the "desert-sown" thesis and establishes a new theoretical and conceptual framework drawing on climate science, agronomy, and zoology. From this alternative vantage point, Pehlivan examines the impact of climate on local communities, their responses and resilience strategies, arguing that nineteenth-century ecological change had a transformative and antagonistic impact on economy, state, and society.