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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Digital nomads : space + narrative computing for the village of Al Araqib

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

For political reasons, the officially unrecognized Bedouin village of Al Araqib in Israeli's Negev desert is prevented from building permanent structures. While the state of Israel does not issue demolition warrants for new illegal houses, it instead demolishes these houses without a warrant, under the auspices of a law that allows the police to destroy new illegal structures within 30 days of construction. This situation has encouraged the people of Al Araqib to become familiar with different technologies. They use solar energy to provide electricity to the village, and smartphones to document and report demolitions. As an act of resistance as much as a practical measure, they repeatedly rebuild their houses, appropriating architecture as a political tool. This creates a situation where the Bedouin with their strong nomadic history, uses physical structures--the language and logic used by their oppressors--in the fight for their ancestral land.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master
Department dc:contributor.department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture
Grantor dc:publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Year dc:date.issued
2020

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Nathansohn, Nof.
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Lawrence Sass and Skylar Tibbits.

Subjects

dc:subject × 1

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.
Language dc:language.iso
eng

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127875
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/127875

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
MIT
Base URL
dspace.mit.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Nathansohn, Nof.. Digital nomads : space + narrative computing for the village of Al Araqib. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127875