Railroads in the Middle East: Visual images from the late 19th century to the first half of the 20th century
Panel, 2024 Annual Meeting
On Tuesday, November 12 at 2:30 pm
Panel Description
This panel is dedicated to the railroads in the Middle East in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century as reflected in visual images, including photographs, postcards and drawings. It is a part of a bigger project dedicated to the multi-faceted role the railroads played in the history of the Middle East. Symbolizing modernization and yet intimately connected with colonial domination, facilitating nation-building and yet amplifying divisions among Middle Eastern peoples, stimulating economic integration and yet helping Western economic intrusion, the railroads present a unique but understudied lens to trace the complex trajectory of modern Middle East. The panel examines what visual images of the railroads in the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, Turkestan and Iran reveal about the people of the Middle East, their modern history, and their uneasy relationship with the West.
The first paper is dedicated to the Trans-Caspian Railroad: as Turkestan was opening up to the increasing Russian presence in the late 19th century, Russian photographers presented a version of Russian colonial history that was curiously blind to the struggles among local peoples and against the Russians. The paper will focus on the volatile, opportunistic, profit-grabbing ethos, the loose artistic ends and the fluid ideological market as revealed by those photographs.
The second paper analyses the Ottoman Anatolian Railroad in the late 19th century as shown in the photographs promoting modernization. The paper will argue that official images of technologies such as the railroad were routinely presented as sanitized ceremonial images in order to project a tidy and modern image, while the images of laborers and the process of railroad construction were ignored or hidden.
The third paper explores the multimedia visual representations of the Egyptian railroads from 1852 to 1952. Captured by both European and Egyptian observers, these images reveal the shifting aesthetic paradigms that have influenced the portrayal of rail-bound journeys and offer insights into the dynamic interplay between technology, culture, and aesthetics.
The last paper focuses on the Trans-Iranian Railroad in photographs taken by Americans and British during the interwar years and the WWII Allied occupation. The paper aspires to understand what motivated the photographers’ choice of subjects, mainly limited to the technological side of the railroad and images of Westerners, while generally overlooking the spectacular landscapes and images of local people.
The paper is dedicated to the Trans-Iranian railroad in photographs taken by Americans and British in the interwar period and during WWII. Built in 1927-1938, the railroad connected Tehran to the Caspian and the Persian Guld coasts. This first significant railroad in Iran was constructed relatively late due to the rivalry between the British and the Russians in what became known as the “Great Game.” As part of Reza Shah’s modernizing reforms, the railroad was perceived as a symbol of modernization and national strength – it was constructed under the supervision of a Danish company but financed by national taxes. According to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention of 2021, “The Trans-Iranian Railway represents the expansion of the modern state power in the 20th century in a specific non-colonised Asian context within active involvement of national capital and stakeholders.” And yet that very railroad prompted the Allied occupation during WWII with the goal of supplying the Soviets through the “Persian corridor,” with the railroad playing a key role.
The paper will analyze groups of photographs, including those taken by E. M. Crawford, an American engineer who in 1930-1932 served as Acting Assistant Chief Engineer and Officer Engineer for the Imperial Railways of Persia and supervised the design and purchasing of some 250 kilometers of railroad, as well as the development of the port at Bandar Shapour on the Persian Gulf. His photographs are complemented by those taken by the American and British military during WWII, for example by Sergeant Frederick Winterburn, who served in Iran with Number 159 Railway Construction Company of the Royal Engineers.
The paper aspires to understand what the photographs tell us about the men behind the camera, their views regarding Iran, its people, and their role in the war. For example, we shall examine their choice of subjects which were often limited to the technological side of the railroad, including locomotives, tunnels, runaway accidents and trains stations, and group images of Westerners with occasional local dignitaries. At the same time, the photographers generally overlooked the spectacular landscapes of Iran and images of Iranian people
The cover of an issue of Servet-i Fünun, a late Ottoman publication known as the favorite journal of modernity-embracing Istanbul elites, shows a photograph of the November 27, 1892 opening ceremony of the Ottoman Anatolian Railroad as it reached Ankara. The photo shows a gathering of local dignitaries, such as the provincial governor Abidin Pasha, representatives of the sultan’s government in Istanbul, and an array of well-dressed men who we can safely suppose represent the upper echelons of local society. A large arched gateway, adorned with flags and other Ottoman symbols demonstrating imperial pride, has been constructed above the rails on which the first train from Istanbul is about to arrive. The photographic form complements the occasion perfectly, as both it and the train are among the most emblematic of modern technologies.
Missing from the photo, however, are two important groups. The first is non-elite locals, who sources tell us came in large numbers from throughout the surrounding region, at least some of whom are said to have reacted in terror to the noise and appearance of the locomotive in the manner of those not yet conditioned to such machines. Even more notably absent are the railroad laborers. While photos of them do exist and are used for the purpose of demonstrating modernization, they nearly always show work in progress. When it comes to celebrating accomplishment and showing off the fruits of Ottoman modernization, photographs such as the one described from Servet-i Fünun are the rule. This paper will argue that images of technologies such as the railroad were separated into sanitized ceremonial images that hid labor in order to project an orderly and modern image, and those of laborers themselves and the process of construction which, while no less modern, lack the air of triumph seen in the former images.
Photography gives only passing mention to a chapter of the 19th century Russian colonial history that predated the Russian railroad boom and set the stage for further surveying steps. The earlier forbidden zone, the Russian Turkestan, was opening up to the Russian infrastructure, its scientific and political agenda, offering to photographs express a relatively coherent point of view. They were not railroad photographers: they pictured the Central Asian landscape as awe and horror inspiring in its grandeur and immensity, and as the iron will and technological prowess of the Russians. Seizing the advantage, they presented only a version of the Russian colonial history that was curiously blind to the struggles between and among peoples in Russian Turkestan.
Some revisions of the Transcaspian railroad history have raised doubts about how spectacular that revolution truly was, how much the line united and divided. Once seen as a great Emporium for artistic production, the construction scenes – painted, sketched, stitched into the moving panoramas – will focus on the volatile, opportunistic, profit-grabbing ethos, the loose artistic ends and the ongoing ideological market to conjure the process through the inventory of the photographic caches by the Russian photographic practitioners.
In this paper, I explore the multifaceted visual representations of the Egyptian railways over a century from 1852 to 1952. Through a wide array of mediums—from postcard collections and details of engineering drawings to the realism of photographs—this study paints a comprehensive picture of how the Egyptian railways were presented to experts as well as the public. This collection of visual representations illuminates diverse aspects of the rail experience: the architectural splendor of railway stations, the mechanical prowess of locomotives and wagons, the mosaic of travelers from all walks of life, the sweeping landscapes of deserts and the Nile River, and the contrast between bustling public spaces and the intimacy of private compartments. Each element contributes to an in-depth understanding of a century’s journey through change and continuity. Of note, these images, captured by both European and Egyptian observers, reflect a wide spectrum of intentions and perspectives. By exploring these visual representations, this study uncovers the shifting aesthetic paradigms that have influenced the portrayal of railways and rail-bound journeys, offering insights into the dynamic interplay between technology, culture, and aesthetics in the visual legacy of the Egyptian railway.
