- ホーム
- > 洋書
- > 英文書
- > Photo Essay
Full Description
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.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Notes on Illustrations
Notes on Transliteration
Introduction
Chapter 1: Situating Frank Scholten
The Frank Scholten Collection
Scholten's Outputs: From 'Palestine in Transition' to Palestine Illustrated
Scholten Prior to Palestine
Impacts on the Genesis of Scholten's Project
Chapter 2: On Reading the 'Holy Land'
The Modern 'Holy Land'
'Rebuilding' Jerusalem
Heritagization and the Modern Remaking of the Ancient 'Holy Land'
Interpreting the 'Holy Land'
Conclusion
Chapter 3: On Reading Through Scholten as Methodology
The Band Played 'God Save the King'
Reinventing Ritual and Reading the Changing Nation
Reading Queer Milieus Across Continents
Conclusion
Chapter 4: On Reading Social Performance
The 'Holy Peasant': Fellahin and the Biblical Lens
Identity Troubles: Performing Biblical Indigeneity
Dressed to Impress: Performing indigeneity?
The Lord Be Between Thee and Me: Queer Biblical Visions and the Fellahin
Conclusion
Chapter 5: On Reading Masculinity
Biblical Labour, Desire and Simon the Tanner
A Brotherhood of Man: Queering the Military through David
Jewish Labour and Building the Nation
Conclusion
Conclusion: Redefining the Biblical in a Modern World
