Immigrant Narratives: The Ottoman Sultans' Portraits in Elisabeth Leitner's Family Photo Album, circa 1862-72
This article is a study of the family photo album of Elisabeth Leitner (ca. 1842?-1908), a Hungarian immigrant in the Ottoman empire. The album contains a complete set of cartes de visite portraits of the Ottoman sultans by the Abdullah Frères. As the only surviving example of such a collection with...
| Published in: | Muqarnas |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
[2018]
|
| In: |
Muqarnas
|
| Further subjects: | B
Elisabeth Leitner
B Ottoman sultans B Immigrant B cartes de visite B Connected Histories B family album B Abdullah Frères B Leopold Amery B Photography B Missionaries B Bursa B Hungarian B Istanbul |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This article is a study of the family photo album of Elisabeth Leitner (ca. 1842?-1908), a Hungarian immigrant in the Ottoman empire. The album contains a complete set of cartes de visite portraits of the Ottoman sultans by the Abdullah Frères. As the only surviving example of such a collection with a known provenance, it provides a rare opportunity for understanding how such images were used in the context of identity formation and social mobility undertaken by a member of the immigrant population. The album, which has never been studied before, is also a fascinating source for investigating the history of Hungarian immigrants in the Ottoman empire who were displaced after the 1848 Revolution. The article approaches the intriguingly autobiographical album by means of a close reading of Elisabeth Leitner's diaries and unfinished autobiography. My interpretation serves to dismantle notions of a carefree global cosmopolitanism and exposes a historiographical bias that privileges men and their collections of images and ethnographic artifacts over those of women. Elisabeth Leitner's writings and photographic collection also represent a vast and entirely untapped resource for investigating cultural contacts between Europe and the Ottoman empire in the second half of the nineteenth century. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2211-8993 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Muqarnas
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/22118993_03501P009 |