Ethnophotography, Nation Branding, and National Competition in Transylvania

Emil Sigerus’ Durch Siebenbürgen

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11048946
AutoresSacha E Davis (0000-0003-0827-1932, University of Newcastle Australia, autor correspondente)
Ano2023
Volume51
Fascículo6
Páginas1375-1396
Data de publicação2023-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoNationalities Papers (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0090-5992 • E-ISSN: 1465-3923
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/nps.2022.87
OpenAlexW4311636562
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências 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