Contrary to popular perceptions of North Korea as a hermit kingdom, its capital city used to be a hotspot for international travel. During the Cold War an eclectic mix of politicians, soldiers,... Show moreContrary to popular perceptions of North Korea as a hermit kingdom, its capital city used to be a hotspot for international travel. During the Cold War an eclectic mix of politicians, soldiers, journalists, and students travelled to Pyongyang for conferences, meetings, and training courses. Of particular importance was the stream of African visitors to North Korea, a largely overlooked but nonetheless important phenomenon in the history of the Global South. The connections that were forged between Africans and North Koreans were part of a larger framework of Afro-Asian cooperation that sought to change the global order. Show less
The story of Joseph, in the Islamic tradition known as Yusuf, is widely known both from the Bible and the Qur’an. It found great popularity in the Turko-Persian world between 1000 and 1500, when it... Show moreThe story of Joseph, in the Islamic tradition known as Yusuf, is widely known both from the Bible and the Qur’an. It found great popularity in the Turko-Persian world between 1000 and 1500, when it started to appear in a growing variety of genres. This culminated in the 15th century, when the poet ʿAbd al-Rahman Jami composed his famous version of the narrative in the Timurid capital Herat. Earlier in the 15th century, the story became connected to one of the great names of Persian poetry: Abu’l-Qasim Firdausi, the poet who composed the Shahnama or Book of Kings, around the year 1000. The glorious pre-Islamic past as presented in the Shahnama was embraced in many ways by the Turkic and Mongol rulers who reigned over much of the Islamic world since the year 1000, and so was the moving and pious narrative of Joseph. How and why were the two brought together? This article explores the story of Joseph and its role in the cultural production of the Turko-Persian world, and discusses the connections between the story of Joseph, Firdausi, and the court culture of the Timurids. Show less
As international newspaper headlines increasingly focus on energy and security issues, one could almost forget that the main ties that bind states and regions of the world together are trade and... Show moreAs international newspaper headlines increasingly focus on energy and security issues, one could almost forget that the main ties that bind states and regions of the world together are trade and economic relations. Show less
When photography is discussed as a colonialist imaging practice, two obvious notions of seeing and being seen come into play. Seeing implies empowerment; being seen does not.
Accounts of colonial photography in the Dutch East Indies focus on European photographers and exceptional figures like Kassian Cephas, the first (known) native Javanese photographer.1 Yet... Show moreAccounts of colonial photography in the Dutch East Indies focus on European photographers and exceptional figures like Kassian Cephas, the first (known) native Javanese photographer.1 Yet photography was not simply a ‘European’ technology transplanted from the European metropole to the Asian colony. Decentring European photographers from the history of photography in the Indies reveals the more circuitous - and Asian - routes by which photography travelled to and within the archipelago. Show less
Photography was first introduced to India in 1840, only a year after the announcements of the daguerreotype and calotype processes in France and England. The fragility of this early material, the... Show morePhotography was first introduced to India in 1840, only a year after the announcements of the daguerreotype and calotype processes in France and England. The fragility of this early material, the uniqueness of the daguerreotype and the harshness of the Indian climate mean that photographs from this time are scarce, leaving us with a fragmented picture of the development of the medium. Show less
Since the late 1980s, scholars have viewed China’s progress towards market capitalism with great optimism, but in the last ten years intellectuals, both in China and abroad, have begun to voice... Show moreSince the late 1980s, scholars have viewed China’s progress towards market capitalism with great optimism, but in the last ten years intellectuals, both in China and abroad, have begun to voice reservations. Critics have pointed out China’s growing problems of income inequality, unemployment and environmental degradation. In this context of critical reflection, Viren Murthy argues that the work of the late Qing intellectual Zhang Taiyan is especially meaningful. Show less
Jan George Mulder, a salesman from Haarlem, left a legacy of over 2000 stereo photographs, more than half originating from his time in French colonial Indochina. Yet not one of them contains a... Show moreJan George Mulder, a salesman from Haarlem, left a legacy of over 2000 stereo photographs, more than half originating from his time in French colonial Indochina. Yet not one of them contains a caption or even a hint about the contents. What’s more, Mulder’s life in Vietnam remains something of a mystery. John Kleinen immersed himself in this unique collection, determined to learn more about the images and the man behind them. Show less
At the end of the Spanish-American War, Spain ceded the Philippine Islands to the United States. The U.S. engaged in a three-year war against the Filipinos, who fought fiercely for their... Show moreAt the end of the Spanish-American War, Spain ceded the Philippine Islands to the United States. The U.S. engaged in a three-year war against the Filipinos, who fought fiercely for their independence, and in 1902 it took possession of a country half a world away. Show less
Postcards from French colonies are sold today as nostalgic evocations of a vanished world. The erotic, opiuminfused images of Indochina have been particularly popular since the elegant fiction of... Show morePostcards from French colonies are sold today as nostalgic evocations of a vanished world. The erotic, opiuminfused images of Indochina have been particularly popular since the elegant fiction of exotic utopia they depict was carefully constructed to justify the colonial enterprise. Show less
While Chinese authorities closely monitor artists, artistic venues and performances, they give free rein to commercial culture as long as stability, prosperity and consumerism are sustained. The... Show moreWhile Chinese authorities closely monitor artists, artistic venues and performances, they give free rein to commercial culture as long as stability, prosperity and consumerism are sustained. The result, given China’s blistering urban economic growth, is that commercial pressure, more than government restriction, determines the conditions of cultural production and export. This has led to a kind of mass production of the art and culture the state approves of and a snuffing out of what it does not. This is how Chinese communist kitsch has transformed into a kitsch of globalised capitalism. Show less
They seem like shards of flash-frozen reality compacted into two dimensions, putative proof of having been there and seen that. They move over various forms of distance and time, while carrying... Show moreThey seem like shards of flash-frozen reality compacted into two dimensions, putative proof of having been there and seen that. They move over various forms of distance and time, while carrying with them ephemeral yet precious moments or sights to be appreciated, and then possibly forgotten. Viewing postcards of colonial Korea as visual records, art objects, or propaganda has generated useful insights; at the same time, Hyung Gu Lynn suggests that postcards of colonial Korea encapsulate and embody the multiple notions of mobility that emerged in the early 20th century. Show less
Is the immediacy of our knowledge an epistemological ideal or merely a psychological reassurance that our senses don’t misguide us? If we disregard immediacy in favour of other means to determine... Show moreIs the immediacy of our knowledge an epistemological ideal or merely a psychological reassurance that our senses don’t misguide us? If we disregard immediacy in favour of other means to determine all of our knowledge including sensation, how can we discern sensation from knowledge? Conversely, if we regard immediacy as a physiological event (sense stimulation), how can we prove that it’s part of the cognitive process? Immediacy-related problems arise in any epistemological discourse – Western or Eastern, ancient or modern. What is immediacy according to Buddhist epistemological tradition (pramanavada) represented by Dignaga (480-540) and Dharmakirti (600-660)? Show less
