Ethnophotography, Nation Branding, and National Competition in Transylvania

Emil Sigerus’ Durch Siebenbürgen

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11048946
AutoresSacha E Davis (0000-0003-0827-1932, University of Newcastle Australia, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen51
Número6
Páginas1375-1396
Fecha de publicación2023-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaNationalities Papers (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0090-5992 • E-ISSN: 1465-3923
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/nps.2022.87
OpenAlexW4311636562
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas23

Scholars have treated images from the golden age of Transylvanian photography, recently elevated to prominence through the digitization of archives, as “authentic” portrayals of peasant culture. However, Hungarian, Romanian, and Saxon nationalists in Transylvania utilized photographs to brand place and nation in the global market, as well as to make claims to territory and assert competing national hierarchies. I examine here Saxon historian, folklorist and travel writer Emil Sigerus’ Durch Siebenbürgen: eine Touristenfahrt in 58 Bildern ( Through Transylvania: a Tourist Trip in 58 Pictures ), published repeatedly between 1905 and 1929. Sigerus’ photographic survey of Transylvania’s natural landscape, built environment and diverse populations branded Transylvania in general and Transylvanian Saxons in particular as a tourist destination unspoiled by the passage of time. Sigerus also projected an ethnically stratified social hierarchy on Transylvania’s heterogeneous population, with Saxons at the apex; asserted Saxon ownership of urban centers, thereby reinforcing Saxon claims to a “civilizing mission” in Transylvania; and laid claim to territory, simultaneously redirecting tourism from other parts of Transylvania to Saxon nationalists’ benefit. By careful curation, then, Sigerus projected a strong nationalist message often overlooked in the analysis of individual images as “objective” sources of evidence

Archaeology · Ethnology · Geography · Nationalism · Peasant · Political science · Population · Romanian · Sociology · Tourism · Central European national history · Demography · European Cultural and National Identity · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · History · Law