{"product_id":"camera-orientalis-ali-behdad-9780226356402","title":"Camera Orientalis: Reflections on Photography of the Middle East","description":"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, \u003ci\u003eCamera Orientalis \u003c\/i\u003etraces the Middle East's influences on photography's evolution, as well as photography's effect on Europe's view of \"the Orient.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e An important examination of previously overlooked European and Middle Eastern photographers and studios, \u003ci\u003eCamera Orientalis \u003c\/i\u003edemonstrates that, far from being a one-sided European development, Orientalist photography was the product of rich cultural contact between the East and the West. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Ali Behdad\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 022635640X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226356402\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/12\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.10lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 6.90w x 0.60d","brand":"Ali Behdad","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44227506176255,"sku":"9780226356402","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_755091f4-42a8-482b-a4ba-f2ed60822133.jpg?v=1692809059","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/camera-orientalis-ali-behdad-9780226356402","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}