Photographing Biblical Modernity

Frank Scholten in British Mandate Palestine

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

1 489 kr

Beställningsvara. Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar. Fri frakt för medlemmar vid köp för minst 249 kr.

This open access book offers the first in-depth appraisal of the photographic archive of Frank Scholten (1881–1942), a queer Dutch photographer and Catholic convert whose work in Palestine between 1921 and 1923 provides a remarkable lens on the intersecting dynamics of modernity, religion, colonialism, and visual culture. Drawing on over 26,000 photographs, it situates Scholten’s work within transnational religious, colonial, and nationalist networks.Employing a relational methodology, Photographing Biblical Modernity treats photography not merely as visual documentation but as a site of layered cultural encounters shaped by the movements of people, ideas, and ideologies. It interrogates biblical visuality, the performance of indigeneity, intercommunal relations, and the gendered politics of labour and nationalism. Through interdisciplinary engagement with visual culture, Middle East studies, and gender theory, this book considers how Scholten’s positionality offers insights into both the granular details of Palestinian society and broader macro-historical shifts during a period of profound transition.Rather than framing Palestine as a biblical relic, Scholten’s photographs reveal a socially and politically complex society under early British Mandate rule. Ultimately, this book positions Scholten’s archive as a vital historical source for understanding the layered and contested narratives that have defined Palestine’s modern history.The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2026-01-22
Mått158 x 236 x 16 mm
Vikt585 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SerieI.B. Tauris
Antal sidor216
FörlagBloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN9780755650538

Tillhör följande kategorier

Sary Zananiri is a Senior Lecturer at Monash Art, Design and Architecture. Zananiri co-edited Imaging and Imagining Palestine: Photography, Modernity and the Biblical Lens 1918-48 (2021), European Cultural Diplomacy and Arab Christians in Palestine: Between Contention and Connection (2021), Palestine in Transition: Frank Scholten’s Visual Archive of the British Mandate (2025) and has produced exhibitions in Europe, the Arab World and Australia.

List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsNotes on IllustrationsNotes on TransliterationIntroductionChapter 1: Situating Frank ScholtenThe Frank Scholten CollectionScholten’s Outputs: From ‘Palestine in Transition’ to Palestine IllustratedScholten Prior to PalestineImpacts on the Genesis of Scholten’s ProjectChapter 2: On Reading the ‘Holy Land’The Modern ‘Holy Land’‘Rebuilding’ JerusalemHeritagization and the Modern Remaking of the Ancient ‘Holy Land’Interpreting the ‘Holy Land’ConclusionChapter 3: On Reading Through Scholten as MethodologyThe Band Played ‘God Save the King’Reinventing Ritual and Reading the Changing NationReading Queer Milieus Across ContinentsConclusionChapter 4: On Reading Social PerformanceThe ‘Holy Peasant’: Fellahin and the Biblical LensIdentity Troubles: Performing Biblical IndigeneityDressed to Impress: Performing indigeneity?The Lord Be Between Thee and Me: Queer Biblical Visions and the FellahinConclusionChapter 5: On Reading MasculinityBiblical Labour, Desire and Simon the TannerA Brotherhood of Man: Queering the Military through DavidJewish Labour and Building the NationConclusionConclusion: Redefining the Biblical in a Modern World