Hi Patricia,

At UChicago there is the CAMEL Lab (Center for Ancient Middle Eastern Landscapes) in the Oriental Institute. Much of the lab’s collections are searchable through the OI’s collections by clicking the first drop down and choosing CAMEL. She may find that a lot of what’s available is remote sensing data and aerial photography, but she could contact the head of the CAMEL lab for a better sense of the collection.

The UChicago library map collection also has holdings in her area of interest, but she may need to do some digging in the library catalog to find ones that meet the time range and perspective specified. She can do an advanced search in the library catalog by doing Limit To>Format>Map. If she needs help searching for these maps, she can consult the finding maps LibGuide, or she can contact me directly.

If she sees anything of interest in the library catalog, I can send a scan, or I can help her get in contact with the director of the CAMEL Lab.

Best,

Taylor Hixson

Resident Librarian for GIS

The University of Chicago Library

773-702-7567

[log in to unmask]

Dear Colleagues,

I am currently helping a PhD student who has a very interesting request for historic maps of the Kurdish homeland (Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria). Her research focuses on comparing the "Western" perspective with the "Eastern" perspective. She has been able to get plenty of maps from the Western perspective, but has had a very hard time finding the Eastern ones. She wonders if the only option she has is to go physically to the national libraries in those countries or if there is any resource online that she is missing.

Has anybody has or know of any online resources or librarians that might point her in the right direction?

Below is her request.

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"As a PhD Candidate at Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design at Clemson University, my current research examines the cartographic representations of Middle East, both in Western and Eastern perceptions, from the early twentieth century to the early twenty-first century by adapting a critical cartographic and rhetorical approach. The main purpose is to unpack the heterogenous geo-spatial, geo-political, and geo-cultural patterns of this vast and ambiguous region. The central argument is to prove that how the Eurocentric/Western notions of nation-states and forming colonial/mandate borders have caused long term conflicts and chaos in the region due to how the region’s diverse and different ethnic, cultural, and religious formations do not fit into the borders that were drawn by the West. To show how these external Western borders have been clashing with the internal Eastern borders, I am currently seeking cartographic representations/maps of the region constructed/composed by Middle Eastern countries and their own institutions/agencies. Especially, maps during the decolonization process, after WWII, such as propaganda or different forms of countertops, to show how the internal resistance to the external borders and identifications had been shaped is a focus this research takes on. In addition, I intend to conduct a casey study focusing on the geo-cultural Kurdish homeland to prove a more specific and focused example on how legitimized borders of nation-states are being crossed and disrupted by the stateless internal borders of the diverse ethnic groups in the region. In this light, I am also seeking Middle/Eastern Maps (maps constructed within the region) depicting or not-depicting the Kurdish homeland and how the nation-states (Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria) obtaining legitimate ownership over the different parts of the Kurdish homeland presents the cartographic reality of the region. To conduct my research effectively, I kindly ask assistance, help, ad guidance on finding and having access to internal/Eastern maps of the region to successfully depict the geopolitical and geo-socio-cultural resistance and conflict between the West and Middle/East.

King Regards,

Eda Ozyesilpinar”

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Any help is very much appreciated.

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Patricia Carbajales-Dale

Co-Director, Clemson Center for Geospatial Technologies

Advanced CyberInfrastructure Research Education Facilitator, ACI-REF

clemsongis.org | @ClemsonGIS