Overview

Reveals the significance of photography in modern Jewish history and memory. Rethinking Jewish History and Memory Through Photography highlights the significant role of photography in modern Jewish history and memory. Considering photographs as unique documents that not only depict reality but also shape how it is perceived and remembered, the volume emphasizes the importance of careful photographic analysis in understanding modern Jewish experiences, self-perceptions, and memories. Bringing together leading and emerging scholars, the book offers a range of innovative approaches to central themes in modern Jewish history, including nationalism, migration, race, and antisemitism. In addition to the discussion of various case studies, a variety of methodological approaches for the current and future use of photoanalysis by scholars are presented.

Full Product Details

Author:   Ofer Ashkenazi (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) ,  Thomas Pegelow Kaplan (University of Colorado Boulder)
Publisher:   State University of New York Press
Imprint:   State University of New York Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 22.90cm
ISBN:  

9798855803457

Pages:   428
Publication Date:   02 February 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction Ofer Ashkenazi and Thomas Pegelow Kaplan Part I. Reading, Curating, and Teaching ""Jewish"" Photography: Theory and Practice 1. What Is Jewish Photography and What Can We Learn from It? A Discussion with Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer Ofer Ashkenazi and Thomas Pegelow Kaplan 2. Invisibly Jewish: Lotte Jacobi, Photography, and the Boundaries of Jewish Cultural Studies Lisa Silverman 3. Photographs, Jews, and Nazis: The Politics of a Visual Archive, Historically and Today Maiken Umbach and Jonathan Stafford Part II. Probing the Boundaries of Documentation: Jewish Photographic Memory 4. Theodor Herzl Is Yael Bartana Noam Gal 5. Paper Tombstones: Photographic Inventory and German Jewish Cemetery Books Daniel H. Magilow 6. Displaced and Dreaming in Postwar Germany: The Lure of the Motorcycle and the Briefcase Dora Apel 7. Reactivating Nineteenth-Century Jewish Portrait Albums in Institutions: Cultural Memory and Connected Histories Michele Klein Part III. The Photographed Jewish Body: Agency, Race, Nation 8. Zionism and the ""Jewish Pathos Formula"" in Helmar Lerski's Type Photographs Amos Morris-Reich 9. Photography and Racism in Israel: A Telegraphic Sketch of Three Processes Ktzia Alon Part IV. Jewish Photography as a Commentary on Crisis and Violence 10. Photography as Agency: Self-assurance through Urban Documentation in the Works of Roman Vishniac and Abraham Pisarek Joachim Schlor 11. Capturing Blind Spots: The Photographed and the Not-to-Be-Photographed in Nazi Germany Christoph Kreutzmuller and Theresia Ziehe 12. The Afterlife of the Barefoot Rabbi and the Making of an Iconic Holocaust Photograph Yechiel Weizman Part V. The Jewish Gaze on the Other ""Others"": Migration, Colonialism, Minorities 13. Moving Views: Global Routes of Jewish Refuge as Spaces of Early Humanitarian Seeing Rebekka Grossmann 14. Politics and Pictures: Jewish American Photographers and Black Americans, 1938–1964 Deborah Dash Moore 15. Beyond Black and White: Jews, African Americans, and Africa in Photography, Film, and Television Michael Berkowitz Contributing Authors Index

Reviews

""This is, to my knowledge, the most comprehensive, most broadly based, and likely the most useful and accessible book on Jewish photography. Well written, richly illustrated, and intelligently and comprehensively constructed and edited, it is extremely important to the field of Jewish studies but also serves as a model for anyone who wishes to engage with photographic material."" — Ellen Smith, Brandeis University

Author Information

Ofer Ashkenazi is Professor of History and the Director of the Koebner-Minerva Center for German History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Thomas Pegelow Kaplan is Professor of History and the Louis P. Singer Endowed Chair in Jewish History at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions