Sary Zananiri, "Photographing Biblical Modernity: Frank Scholten in British Mandate Palestine" (I.B. Tauris, 2026)

Feb 12, 2026

Sari Zananiri, scholar of visual culture and Middle East studies, discusses Frank Scholten’s vast Palestinian photo archive. She explores modernity, biblical visuality, and how Palestinians actively shaped tourist and pilgrimage imagery. The conversation highlights photography as a site of colonial, religious, and gendered encounters and the archive’s value for understanding Palestine’s layered modern history.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Scholten's Unique Positionality

Frank Scholten combined queer networks, elite upbringing, and a late Catholic conversion to form an unusual positionality in Palestine between 1921–23.
His unique background produced candid, documentary-style photos that differ from typical Orientalist posed imagery.

INSIGHT

An Illustrated Bible As Scholarly Project

Scholten pursued a 16-volume illustrated Bible project driven by religious curiosity and a scientific, taxonomic photographic method.
He foregrounded modern urban life alongside biblical sites, resisting purely touristic or romantic biblical imagery.

INSIGHT

Palestinian Agency In Biblical Mirroring

'Biblical mirroring' shows Palestinians actively shaped the Holy Land image for pilgrims and tourists, not just passively receiving Orientalist visions.
Local entrepreneurs, churches, and souvenir industries co-produced tourist expectations and urban transformations.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

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: Frank Scholten in British Mandate Palestine (I.B. Tauris, 2026) 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.

Access the book here: here

Roberto Mazza is currently a visiting scholar at the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs at Northwestern University. He is the host of the Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast and to discuss and propose a book for interview can be reached at robbymazza@gmail.com. Blusky and IG: @robbyref

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies