European Cultural Diplomacy and Arab Christians in Palestine, 1918–1948

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiii

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2. Introduction

   • Karène Sanchez Summerer, Sary Zananiri

   Pages 1-27Open Access

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3. Turning the Tables? Arab Appropriation and Production of Cultural Diplomacy

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 29-29

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   2. Introduction Part I Indigenising Cultural Diplomacy?

      • Sarah Irving

      Pages 31-36Open Access

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   3. Orthodox Clubs and Associations: Cultural, Educational and Religious Networks Between Palestine and Transjordan, 1925–1950

      • Norig Neveu

      Pages 37-62Open Access

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   4. The Making Stage of the Modern Palestinian Arabic Novel in the Experiences of the udabāʾ Khalīl Baydas (1874–1949) and Iskandar al-Khūri al-BeitJāli (1890–1973)

      • Sadia Agsous

      Pages 63-78Open Access

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   5. Sound Power: Musical Diplomacy Within the Franciscan Custody in Mandate Jerusalem

      • Maria Chiara Rioli, Riccardo Castagnetti

      Pages 79-104Open Access

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   6. The Melkite Community, Educational Policy and French Cultural Diplomacy: Archbishop Grigorios Hajjar and Mandatory Galilee

      • Charbel Nassif

      Pages 105-125Open Access

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   7. Cultural Diplomacy in Mandatory Haifa: The Role of Christian Communities in the Cultural Transformation of the City

      • Maayan Hilel

      Pages 127-150Open Access

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4. Showing and Telling: Cultural and Historical Entanglements under the Mandate

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 151-151

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   2. Introduction Part II Colonial Hegemony, Arab Virtù and the Philosophy of History: Excavating, Exhibiting and Cultural Diplomacy in the Palestine Mandate

      • Philippe Bourmaud

      Pages 153-159Open Access

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   3. Palestinian Christians in the Mandate Department of Antiquities: History and Archaeology in a Colonial Space

      • Sarah Irving

      Pages 161-185Open Access

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   4. Between Diplomacy and Science: British Mandate Palestine and Its International Network of Archaeological Organisations, 1918–1938

      • Mathilde Sigalas

      Pages 187-211Open Access

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   5. Competition in the Cultural Sector: Handicrafts and the Rise of the Trade Fair in British Mandate Palestine

      • Nisa Ari

      Pages 213-246Open Access

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5. Influencing the Other: European Private and Governmental Actors

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 247-247

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   2. Introduction Part III European Soft Power and Christian Cultures at the Crossroads in Mandate Palestine

      • Heather J. Sharkey

      Pages 249-254Open Access

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   3. Diaspora-Building and Cultural Diplomacy: The Greek Community of Jerusalem in Late Ottoman Times and the Mandate

      • Konstantinos Papastathis

      Pages 255-272Open Access

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   4. The Palestine Society: Cultural Diplomacy and Scholarship in Late Tsarist Russia and the Soviet State

      • Lora Gerd

      Pages 273-302Open Access

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   5. Continuities and Discontinuities in the Austrian Catholic Orient Mission to Palestine, 1915–1938

      • Barbara Haider-Wilson

      Pages 303-330Open Access

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   6. A Coherent Inconsistency: Italian Cultural Diplomacy in Palestine, 1918–1938

      • Roberto Mazza

      Pages 331-352Open Access

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This open access book investigates the transnationally connected history of Arab Christian communities in Palestine during the British Mandate (1918-1948) through the lens of the birth of cultural diplomacy. Relying predominantly on unpublished sources, it examines the relationship between European cultural agendas and local identity formation processes and discusses the social and religious transformations of Arab Christian communities in Palestine via cultural lenses from an entangled perspective. 


The 17 chapters reflect diverse research interests, from case studies of individual archives to chapters that question the concept of cultural diplomacy more generally. They illustrate the diversity of scholarship that enables a broad-based view of how cultural diplomacy functioned during the interwar period, but also the ways in which its meanings have changed. The book considers British Mandate Palestine as an internationalized node within a transnational framework to understand how the complexity of cultural interactions and agencies engaged to produce new modes of modernity.

• Open Access
• British Mandate rule
• Religious networks
• Judaism
• Christianity
• Islam
• Cultural agenda
• Urban history
• Translation
• Knowledge transfer
• Trade
• European states
• Postcolonial
• Zionism

“In addition to some particularly impressive arguments presented here, the complete volume is invaluable for scholars in the field … . From the Swedish School to the politics and culture of archaeological exploration and dig sites, to an examination of the Palestinian novel, the shared effort [in this book] to better understand the history of Palestine’s Christians and their relationship to the broad world is an essential step in our understanding of this important minority group.” (Noah Haiduc-Dale, REMMM Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée, Vol. 150, 2021) “For students of cultural diplomacy, Mandate Palestine is marvellously complex. It involved not only Muslims and Jews but also manifold Christian communities, European governments, and foreign religious and secular missions, among others. And its cultural diplomatic actors helped shape various interplaying national, confessional, and imperial identities. Just as complex were the results, as this wonderful and wide-ranging volume shows. Varying wildly, state and non-state cultural diplomacy could be dialogue, dissent, propaganda, and more. A fascinating read for historians of the interwar Middle East and cultural diplomacy alike.” (Cyrus Schayegh, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies, Switzerland)

• Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

  Karène Sanchez Summerer, Sary Zananiri

​Karène Sanchez Summerer is Associate Professor at Leiden University, the Netherlands.  

Sary Zananiri is Postdoctoral Fellow at Leiden University, the Netherlands.  

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