{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fafikra.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Fsamuel-dolbee-J8nQOLbS","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"How Locust Swarms Reshaped Empire & Human Movement | Prof. Samuel Dolbee","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/1ce0a58c-3e05-4d4b-a2e7-f3ffb869b215/29decdd8-9ed2-413f-87ee-5362994ea4a1/the_afikra_podcast.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"<iframe src=\"https://player.simplecast.com/a703f2a2-d67e-480a-a0df-981db9cb7d95\" height=\"200\" width=\"100%\" title=\"How Locust Swarms Reshaped Empire &amp; Human Movement | Prof. Samuel Dolbee\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>","height":200,"description":"Ottoman agricultural officials once warned that local locust invasions posed a greater threat to the empire than the Allied powers during World War I. Dr. Samuel Dolbee, Assistant Professor of History at Vanderbilt University, talks about his book Locusts of Power: Borders, Empire, and Environment in the Modern Middle East. He explores how shifting environmental dynamics reshaped human history across the Jazira borderlands, from the bizarre Ottoman reliance on Sufi-blessed water to attract locust-eating starlings to the conscription of hundreds of thousands of women and children for pest control. The conversation also delves into how agricultural expansion eliminated native habitats to alter pest ecology."}