Photographic Archives, Nationalism and the Foundation of the Jewish State, 1903-1948

Although the histories of Zionism are heavily researched, little scholarly attention had been given to the institutional photographic archives that articulated, preserved and distributed the Zionist movement’s narratives, extending their impact and outreach during the first half of the twentieth century. Existing scholarship has further neglected analysis of the ways in which photographic archives played a pivotal role in the formation of the Zionist subject, as an embodied reality and as an imagined ideal. Photographic archives were also central to the promotion of Zionism in the Middle East and globally, since it was through archival systems that Zionism’s propaganda mechanisms and forms of public appeal were shaped. A reading of the histories of the Zionist nationalist movement in relation to photographic practices, archival systems and distribution technologies reveals crucial aspects of the movement’s activity in pre-1948 Palestine that still resonate in the cultural, social and political landscape of the region today. The study thus begins in the folders and file cards of the Jewish National Fund, the fundraising mechanism for the Zionist movement. It is here, in the first photographic archive established by the Zionist Movement, that initial parameters and coordinates were outlined for the visual construction of the Zionist subject, the territory in which it will dwell, and the financial mechanisms that will assure its existence. The dissertation also, however, moves beyond the institutional archive in order to contextualize the visual language articulated in the archive and embedded in the landscape. This involves analysis of photographic activity in Palestine prior to the intervention of Zionism, including an exploration of the role of photography in the establishment of colonial regimes in the region. Given the status and functions of the Zionist photographic archive both internationally and locally, the dissertation then turns to a reading of other public and private photographic collections created in the Jewish world and the Zionist sphere in order to trace the impact of the Zionist photographic archive on the private domain during the height of its activity and still today, as seen in the works of contemporary artists.