Prof. Yehoshua Cohen

(1937-1997)

Abstract

Born in Israel in 1937, Yehoshua Cohen grew up in a poor, working-class neighborhood of southern Tel Aviv.   In his adolescence, that part of the city absorbed waves of immigrants to the newly-established state, adding to its crowded ethnic mix.  Yehoshua’s mother had high aspirations for her son, enrolling him in a competitive, high-achieving secondary school (Levinsky Teachers’ Seminary) in more affluent Central Tel Aviv.   He went on to Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he completed the undergraduate and masters programs in geography, and began his teaching experience.  With the encouragement of his geography mentors, he pursued doctoral work at the University of Chicago, writing a dissertation entitled The Expansion of Innovation within the City System:  Planned Shopping Malls in the United States, 1919-1968 under the direction of Professor Brian Berry.  He then returned to the Hebrew University to pursue his academic career.

Cohen’s scholarly works reflected two major geographical streams – the diffusion of economic activities and social geography.  The first, an outgrowth of his work with Berry, included their co-authorship in 1975 of  The Spatial Component of Manufacturing Change, 1950 – 1960.  The second stream was influenced by his life experience growing up in the social mosaic of South Tel Aviv.  This led to the pursuit of themes revolving around the role of neighborhood networks in the absorption of immigrants into the Israeli socio-economic fabric.  The volumes on Neighborhoods and Friendship Networks (co-authored with Berry), and Jerusalem Neighborhoods and Friendship Networks (co-authored with Amnon Shinhar), both published in 1985, reflected his approach to geography as a system of relationships between mankind and the environment.

During the latter part of his career, Cohen examined the literary works of Israeli authors, many themselves immigrants, to probe the sense of place that expressed the perceptions and interactions of immigrant communities.  His posthumously published work Experience of Immigration – a Literary Perspective on Immigration to Israel, (Magnes Press, 1998), focused on the 1950s.  It highlighted the socio-cultural clashes between newcomers and old-timers as well as those among the various ethnic groups from the various corners of the Diaspora.  This work, completed as a hand-written manuscript while he was confronted with a fatal illness, displayed his heroic courage and spirit, and reflected his great inner strength.

This strength was a latent quality which came to the fore during his waning days.  While his body succumbed, his spirit never faltered.  Yehoshua Cohen is a worthy member of that circle of departed geographical friends and colleagues whom we so deeply mourn and miss.

• Berry B.J.L and Cohen Y.S.(1973), "Decentralization of Commerce and Industry: The Restructuring of Metropolitan America", in: LH. Masotti and J.K. Hadden, (eds.): The Urbanization of the Suburbs, (Urban Affairs Annual, Review Vol. 8), Beverley Hills: Sage Publications" pp. 431-455.
• Berry B. J.L.and Cohen Y.S.,( 1975) Spatial Components of Manufacturing Change 1950-1960 in the United States, Chicago: The University of Chicago, Department of Geography, Research Paper No. 172, 262p.
• Cohen Y.S. (1967), Urban Zones of Influence in the Southern Coastal Plain of Israel, Rehovot: Settlement Study Center, Publications on Problems of Regional Development, No.4, 112p.
• Cohen Y.S.(1972), A Review of David J. De Temple, A Space Preference Approach to the Diffusion of Innovations: The Spread of Harvestore Systems Through Northeast Iowa, Department of Geography, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 1971,Annals of the Association of American Geographers_ 62, (3.), 531-532.
• Cohen Y.S.(1972),Diffusion of an Innovation in an Urban System: The Spread of Planned Regional Shopping Centers in the United States 1949-1968, Chicago: The University of Chicago, Department of Geography, Research Paper No. 140" 136p. (Ph.D dissertation).
• Cohen Y.S.(1972), A review of M.J. Webber, Impact of Uncertainty on Location, The M.LT. Press, Geographical Review, 63, (4), 587-589.
• Cohen Y.S.(1972), "A review of J.e. Hudson, Geographical Diffusion Theory, Studies in Geography, No. 19, Geographical Review, 64(2) : 310-312.
• Gonen A., Cohen Y.S. and Shtarkshall M. (1978), The Geography of Dwelling Conditions of the Jewish Elderly in Jerusalem, Jerusalem: Brookdale Institute of Gerontology and Human Development, Discussion Paper 40, 35- 78.
• Cohen Y.S. (1979) Social Indicators: The Case of the Israeli Urban System, in J.Beaujeu-Garnier and S. Reichman, (eds.), Urbanisation Contemporaine et Justice Sociale,. Jerusalem: Consei1 National Pour la Recherche et Ie Development, Israel, pp. 95-113.
• Cohen Y.S. and Shinar A(1985), Neighborhoods and Friendship Networks. Chicago: The University of Chicago, Department of Geography Research PaperNo. 215,137 pp.
• Cohen Y.S.«1986), A review oflan Cullen, Applied Urban Analysis: A Critic and Synthesis, London and New York: Methuen 1984, Economic Geography, 60( 2), 188-189
• Cohen Y.S. (1986), Attachment to Place and Social Networks in Times of Change. In D. Morley and A Shachar (eds.), Planning in Turbulence_ Jerusalem: Magness Press, The Hebrew University, pp. 114-126.
• Cohen Y.S. (1987), "Attachment to the Residential Neighborhood: A Framework for Analysis", Geoforum 18, 371-377.
• Cohen Y.S. (1991), Geography and Literature: Past Approaches and Future Possibilities, The National Geographical Journal Of India, Vol. 37, 200-210.
• Cohen Y.S. (1998), The Experience of Immigration: A Literary Perspective on Immigration to Israel, Jerusalem: Magnes Press, the Hebrew University,163p.