Camera Orientalis

Reflections on Photography of the Middle East

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Asian, Middle Eastern, Nonfiction, History, Middle East, Art & Architecture, Photography
Cover of the book Camera Orientalis by Ali Behdad, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ali Behdad ISBN: 9780226356549
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: August 22, 2016
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Ali Behdad
ISBN: 9780226356549
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: August 22, 2016
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

In the decades after its invention in 1839, photography was inextricably linked to the Middle East. Introduced as a crucial tool for Egyptologists and Orientalists who needed to document their archaeological findings, the photograph was easier and faster to produce in intense Middle Eastern light—making the region one of the original sites for the practice of photography. A pioneering study of this intertwined history, Camera Orientalis traces the Middle East’s influences on photography’s evolution, as well as photography’s effect on Europe’s view of “the Orient.”

Considering a range of Western and Middle Eastern archival material from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Ali Behdad offers a rich account of how photography transformed Europe’s distinctly Orientalist vision into what seemed objective fact, a transformation that proved central to the project of European colonialism. At the same time, Orientalism was useful for photographers from both regions, as it gave them a set of conventions by which to frame exotic Middle Eastern cultures for Western audiences. Behdad also shows how Middle Eastern audiences embraced photography as a way to foreground status and patriarchal values while also exoticizing other social classes.

An important examination of previously overlooked European and Middle Eastern photographers and studios, Camera Orientalis demonstrates that, far from being a one-sided European development, Orientalist photography was the product of rich cultural contact between the East and the West.
 

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In the decades after its invention in 1839, photography was inextricably linked to the Middle East. Introduced as a crucial tool for Egyptologists and Orientalists who needed to document their archaeological findings, the photograph was easier and faster to produce in intense Middle Eastern light—making the region one of the original sites for the practice of photography. A pioneering study of this intertwined history, Camera Orientalis traces the Middle East’s influences on photography’s evolution, as well as photography’s effect on Europe’s view of “the Orient.”

Considering a range of Western and Middle Eastern archival material from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Ali Behdad offers a rich account of how photography transformed Europe’s distinctly Orientalist vision into what seemed objective fact, a transformation that proved central to the project of European colonialism. At the same time, Orientalism was useful for photographers from both regions, as it gave them a set of conventions by which to frame exotic Middle Eastern cultures for Western audiences. Behdad also shows how Middle Eastern audiences embraced photography as a way to foreground status and patriarchal values while also exoticizing other social classes.

An important examination of previously overlooked European and Middle Eastern photographers and studios, Camera Orientalis demonstrates that, far from being a one-sided European development, Orientalist photography was the product of rich cultural contact between the East and the West.
 

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book The Daily Henry James by Ali Behdad
Cover of the book The Calling of History by Ali Behdad
Cover of the book Nice Guys Finish Last by Ali Behdad
Cover of the book Ordinary Meaning by Ali Behdad
Cover of the book The Book of Orchids by Ali Behdad
Cover of the book The Roots of Radicalism by Ali Behdad
Cover of the book Family Life and School Achievement by Ali Behdad
Cover of the book Say No to the Devil by Ali Behdad
Cover of the book Lost Mars by Ali Behdad
Cover of the book In the Watches of the Night by Ali Behdad
Cover of the book Traveling in Place by Ali Behdad
Cover of the book Seeing Like a Rover by Ali Behdad
Cover of the book The Worldmakers by Ali Behdad
Cover of the book Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime by Ali Behdad
Cover of the book Money, Capital, and Fluctuations by Ali Behdad
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy