期刊名称：CyberOrient : Online Journal of the Virtual Middle East
印刷版ISSN：1804-3194
出版年度：2011
卷号：5
期号：2
页码：1-2
语种：English
出版社：CyberOrient
摘要：Besides its value as an excellent introduction to the early history of photography in the Ottoman Empire, Nimet Șeker’s book Die Fotografie im Osmanischen Reich provides the reader with valuable insights into Muslim debates about images and Islamic theology and the transformation of the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th and early 20th century. Even though it is possible to argue that the development of the art of photography clashed with the prohibition against images it is difficult to find a stark homogenous opposition against photography among the Ottomans. For example, in his analysis of fatwas from the 19th century Șeker demonstrates convincingly that the Muslim authorities often came to different conclusions. Without going into any theological details in this review, it is more plausible that local contexts and social factors were of greater importance than theological considerations. For example, in the Ottoman Empire the Sultans’ and the power elite had no problems with miniature paintings and this acceptance was a positive driving force for the recognition of photography. Together with other technological innovations, new ideological and political influences, and a novel fashion, the introduction of the camera and the photography was part of a general modernisation of the Ottoman Empire. From this point of view the photography could be seen as an epitome of the western world, an understanding that also could be contrasted to the backward Orient.
