Deserts:studies of arid lands

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Deserts are often considered as “empty” or “wastelands”. How come? What makes deserts into landscapes defined more by absence than by presence? Is it simply the relative absence of rain? About one third of our planet’s landmass is made of arid terrain. But unlike other geographies – such as forests, mountains, coastlines, rivers, oceans, or cities – deserts have remained largely understudied in the fields of environmental politics and in the Environmental Humanities. Compared to other environments, drylands seem to be somewhat insignificant sites that need to be “improved” or even “saved”. As a result of such environmental imaginations, deserts have become important for the extraction of resources. They serve, across the globe, as resource reservoirs, dumping grounds or testing sites for scientific experiments ranging from geo-engineering to nuclear tests. This course is a deep dive into interdisciplinary perspectives on arid lands. Looking from Qatar, from the heart of our planet’s largest desert belt, we bring arid terrain from the mere backdrop of colonial conquest, extractivism, securitization, and development to the forefront of the inquiry.