My first foray into historical sociology published in Middle Eastern Studies (with Ronen Shamir). Our study traces the politics of census-making in British-ruled Palestine surrounding the question of Arab landlessness. Based on archival work, we demonstrate how Jewish statistical expertise and British adherence to their colonial experience in India allowed them to shape the 1931 Census of Palestine, and the type of data it would collect, without appearing political.
Abba Ahimeir, member of the Zionist Revisionist Movement, standing next to wall graffiti urging Jews not to participate in the census. November 1931, unknown photographer, Jabotinsky Institute in Israel.