Abstract
Albeit what can be described as the “European” contributions to world modernities (with Arab modernity included) are often perceived as a self-evident fact, a scrutinizing look is useful in shedding more light on the mostly ignored European cultural contributions to the Arab Nahḍah (Arab Renaissance) and modernity that were neither colonial nor orientalist, especially during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, with particular focus on Egypt and the Levant. This study examines the contributions of Europeans who settled in Egypt and the Levant, such as the Hungarian photographers Otto Schoefft (1833-1890s) and Zoltan Kluger (1895- 1977), Hungarian illustrator and painter Éric de Nemès (1910-??), the Spanish cartoonist Juan Santez and the Armenian cartoonist Alexander Saroukhan (1898-1977), to name a few. It also challenges the perception that the Europeans who migrated to and settled in the Arab region (especially in the early twentieth century) were living in “cultural ghettos.” Instead, the work of the above artists, literati and others shows that the European communities in Egypt and the Levant were cultural agents who contributed to the literary and artistic landscapes in their respective fields of expertise.
Highlights
Albeit what can be described as the “European” contributions to world modernities are often perceived as a self-evident fact, a scrutinizing look is useful in shedding more light on the mostly ignored European cultural contributions to the Arab Nahḍah (Arab Renaissance) and modernity that were neither colonial nor orientalist, especially during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, with particular focus on Egypt and the Levant
Especially in connection to those Europeans who immigrated and settled in Egypt and the Levant starting from the second half of the nineteenth century and culminating in the interwar period, the various contributions made in pedagogy, theater, photography, journalism, caricature, painting and book illustration by foreign teachers and artists to the “indigenous” Ottoman/Arab modernity have often been overlooked or overshadowed by highlighting the indebtedness “world” modernities have to the so-called “European” modernity following the colonial and/or orientalist encounter
It is evident that the Europeans who originated from countries with no recent colonial history with Egypt and the Levant, such as Greece or countries with no colonial history with the region like Hungary, Austria, Italy and Malta, can lay claim to their solid cultural contributions to the Arab modernity in their respective fields of expertise
Summary
Albeit what can be described as the “European” contributions to world modernities (with Arab modernity included) are often perceived as a self-evident fact, a scrutinizing look is useful in shedding more light on the mostly ignored European cultural contributions to the Arab Nahḍah (Arab Renaissance) and modernity that were neither colonial nor orientalist, especially during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, with particular focus on Egypt and the Levant. The modern Arab journalism and art scene, notably in Egypt during the interwar period, were representative in terms of “collaboration” between national (Egyptian) and foreign (varyingly naturalized at times) contributors.
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