Oren Yiftachel
Encyclopedia
Oren Yiftachel teaches political geography, urban planning and public policy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
.
Yiftachel studied during the 1980s in Australian and Israeli universities. He has subsequently taught in urban planning, geography, political science and Middle East departments, at various institutions, including: Curtin University, Australia; the Technion, Israel; the University of Pennsylvania
, Columbia
, and UC Berkeley, in the US; University of Cape Town, South Africa and the University of Venice, Italy. He was a research fellow at RMIT, Melbourne; the US Institute of Peace, Washington DC; and the Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem.
Yiftachel is the founding and past editor of the journal “Hagar: Studies in Culture, Politics and Place”, and serves on the editorial board of Planning Theory (essay editor), Society and Space, IJMES, MERIP, Urban Studies, Journal of Planning Literature, and Social and Cultural Geography.
Yiftachel works on critical theories
of space and power; minorities and public policy; 'ethnocratic' societies and land regimes. In urban and planning studies he's focused on the ‘dark side’ of urban planning
and has contributed to opening up planning theory to critical theory in general, and to issues of identity, colonising power and space in particular. In political geography
, his work formulated the concept of ‘ethnocratic’ regimes, which has generated debates in ethnic and racial studies, regime theories and research in Israel/Palestine. His comparative work has focused on analyzing spatial policy towards minorities in a range of 'ethnocratic' states and cities, most particularly Australia
, Sri Lanka
, Estonia
and South Africa
.
In a series of books and articles, Yiftachel conceptualizes the Israeli regime as an ethnocracy
, promoting a dominant project of ‘ethnicization’ throughout Israel/Palestine. He documents the various practices of this project, and the manner in which it has constructed ethno-class identities and stratified citizenship through the process of expansion, development and politicization in the different regions of Israel/Palestine. A major focus of his work has been the ‘Zionist-Palestinian dialectic’, and the evolution of Zionist 'colonialism,' Palestinian resistance and counter mobilization. His work has also focused on other marginalized ethno-classes such as the Mizrahim (Eastern Jews), ‘Russian’ Israelis, Orthodox Jews, the Druze and the Bedouins.
Yiftachel uses a multi-disciplinary approach, inspired by Neo-Gramscianism
thinking and by a range of 'related' Marxian and postcolonial critical theorists. In the study of Israel/Palestine he was one of the first to break the traditional scholarly divisions between analysis of Arab-Jewish relations and internal Jewish dynamics, and one of a handful of scholars to question whether Israel acts as a democratic state within the Green Line
(Israeli pre-1967 borders). The Israeli regime, according to Yiftachel, has presided over the entire historic Palestine for over four decades, and should be analyzed according to the power structures he claims it imposed over the entire territory. Yiftachel developed the ‘settler-ethnocratic’ model to highlight the regime’s main historical-material logic, and the concept of ‘creeping apartheid’ to describe its recent manifestation.
Yiftachel’s work is rich in spatio-political theorization, with development of concepts such as ‘trapped minorities’, ‘fractured regions’, ‘ruptured demos’, ‘internal frontiers’, ‘frontiphery’, ‘creeping apartheid’, and ‘gray urbanism’. He attempts to ‘theorize from the South-East’ by providing alternative conceptualizations to the dominant theories and discourses generated by American and European academic centers.
Yiftachel has worked as a planner and activist in a range of institutions, including the Perth City Council in Australia and the Kibbutz
Movement in Israel. He specialized in advocacy planning and land consultancy. Recently he has worked on an Israeli-Palestinian plan for a bi-national Jerusalem, an alternative plan for the unrecognized Bedouin
villages in southern Israel, and a plan for a multicultural Beer Sheva.
Yiftachel is also a board and founding member of several activist and professional organizations, including Faculty for Israel-Palestine Peace (FFIPP), PALISAD, The Coexistence Forum, Adva (centre for social equality), the Israeli Planning Association, Ekistics and Habitat International. He is a regular op-ed contributor to leading Israeli newspapers, including Haaretz, Ynet and Ma'ariv.
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is a university in Beersheba, Israel, established in 1969. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has a current enrollment of 17,400 students, and is one of Israel's fastest growing universities....
.
Yiftachel studied during the 1980s in Australian and Israeli universities. He has subsequently taught in urban planning, geography, political science and Middle East departments, at various institutions, including: Curtin University, Australia; the Technion, Israel; the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, Columbia
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, and UC Berkeley, in the US; University of Cape Town, South Africa and the University of Venice, Italy. He was a research fellow at RMIT, Melbourne; the US Institute of Peace, Washington DC; and the Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem.
Yiftachel is the founding and past editor of the journal “Hagar: Studies in Culture, Politics and Place”, and serves on the editorial board of Planning Theory (essay editor), Society and Space, IJMES, MERIP, Urban Studies, Journal of Planning Literature, and Social and Cultural Geography.
Yiftachel works on critical theories
Critical theory
Critical theory is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism...
of space and power; minorities and public policy; 'ethnocratic' societies and land regimes. In urban and planning studies he's focused on the ‘dark side’ of urban planning
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
and has contributed to opening up planning theory to critical theory in general, and to issues of identity, colonising power and space in particular. In political geography
Political geography
Political geography is the field of human geography that is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures...
, his work formulated the concept of ‘ethnocratic’ regimes, which has generated debates in ethnic and racial studies, regime theories and research in Israel/Palestine. His comparative work has focused on analyzing spatial policy towards minorities in a range of 'ethnocratic' states and cities, most particularly Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
In a series of books and articles, Yiftachel conceptualizes the Israeli regime as an ethnocracy
Ethnocracy
Ethnocracy is a form of government where representatives of a particular ethnic group hold a number of government posts disproportionately large to the percentage of the total population that the particular ethnic group represents and use them to advance the position of their particular ethnic...
, promoting a dominant project of ‘ethnicization’ throughout Israel/Palestine. He documents the various practices of this project, and the manner in which it has constructed ethno-class identities and stratified citizenship through the process of expansion, development and politicization in the different regions of Israel/Palestine. A major focus of his work has been the ‘Zionist-Palestinian dialectic’, and the evolution of Zionist 'colonialism,' Palestinian resistance and counter mobilization. His work has also focused on other marginalized ethno-classes such as the Mizrahim (Eastern Jews), ‘Russian’ Israelis, Orthodox Jews, the Druze and the Bedouins.
Yiftachel uses a multi-disciplinary approach, inspired by Neo-Gramscianism
Neo-Gramscianism
Neo-Gramscianism applies a critical theory approach to the study of International Relations and the Global Political Economy that explores the interface of ideas, institutions and material capabilities as they shape the specific contours of the state formation...
thinking and by a range of 'related' Marxian and postcolonial critical theorists. In the study of Israel/Palestine he was one of the first to break the traditional scholarly divisions between analysis of Arab-Jewish relations and internal Jewish dynamics, and one of a handful of scholars to question whether Israel acts as a democratic state within the Green Line
Green Line (Israel)
Green Line refers to the demarcation lines set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and its neighbours after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War...
(Israeli pre-1967 borders). The Israeli regime, according to Yiftachel, has presided over the entire historic Palestine for over four decades, and should be analyzed according to the power structures he claims it imposed over the entire territory. Yiftachel developed the ‘settler-ethnocratic’ model to highlight the regime’s main historical-material logic, and the concept of ‘creeping apartheid’ to describe its recent manifestation.
Yiftachel’s work is rich in spatio-political theorization, with development of concepts such as ‘trapped minorities’, ‘fractured regions’, ‘ruptured demos’, ‘internal frontiers’, ‘frontiphery’, ‘creeping apartheid’, and ‘gray urbanism’. He attempts to ‘theorize from the South-East’ by providing alternative conceptualizations to the dominant theories and discourses generated by American and European academic centers.
Yiftachel has worked as a planner and activist in a range of institutions, including the Perth City Council in Australia and the Kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
Movement in Israel. He specialized in advocacy planning and land consultancy. Recently he has worked on an Israeli-Palestinian plan for a bi-national Jerusalem, an alternative plan for the unrecognized Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
villages in southern Israel, and a plan for a multicultural Beer Sheva.
Yiftachel is also a board and founding member of several activist and professional organizations, including Faculty for Israel-Palestine Peace (FFIPP), PALISAD, The Coexistence Forum, Adva (centre for social equality), the Israeli Planning Association, Ekistics and Habitat International. He is a regular op-ed contributor to leading Israeli newspapers, including Haaretz, Ynet and Ma'ariv.
Books
Yiftachel has published over 100 books, papers and book chapters. Among his books:- Planning a Mixed Region: Political Geography in Galilee, Ashgate, 1991.
- Urban and Regional Planning in Western Australia (with D. Hedgcock), Paradigm Press, 1992.
- Planning and Social Control: Policy and Resistance in a Divided Society, Pergamon, 1995.
- Ethnic Frontiers and Boundaries (with A. Meir eds), Westview, 1997.
- The Power of Planning (with Hedgcock, Little, Alexander eds), Kluwer, 2002.
- Israelis in Conflict (with Kemp, Newman, Ram eds), Sussex, 2004.
- Ethnocracy: Land and Identity Politics in Israel/Palestine, Pennpress, 2006.