A Distant Face: Inside Beirut's Postcard City

Dados, NN

A Distant Face: Inside Beirut's Postcard City

Dados, NN

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Publisher:: Common Ground Publishing Pty Ltd
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: The International Journal of the Humanities, 2008, 6 (6), pp. 1 - 10
Issue Date:: 2008-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Dados, NN https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1708-4805	en_US
dc.date.issued	2008-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	The International Journal of the Humanities, 2008, 6 (6), pp. 1 - 10	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1447-9508	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/16056
dc.description.abstract	This paper focuses on the various semblances of the postcard in Beirut. It traces the path of the postcard in order to arrive at the paradox of its enduring colonial legacy. Taking Barthes notion of the photograph as `a certificate of presence, the paper explores the boundaries between photograph and postcard in representations of Beirut. It focuses on the exchange between the `postcard city and the city itself that takes place in the evolution of the postcard from black and white photograph (old postcards of Beirut) to iconic colour landscapes (classic tourist postcards) The text is staged as a set of postcards: the practice of writing is spatialised and the paper is inflected with the iconography and the vernacular of the postcard. By spatialising the textual and textualising the visual, the paper attempts to negotiate the boundaries between critical theory and cultural practice and to raise questions about representation, memory and history.	en_US
dc.publisher	Common Ground Publishing Pty Ltd	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	The International Journal of the Humanities	en_US
dc.title	A Distant Face: Inside Beirut's Postcard City	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	6	en_US
utslib.for	2002 Cultural Studies	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/Social and Political Sciences Program
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	6	en_US
pubs.volume	6	en_US

Abstract:

This paper focuses on the various semblances of the postcard in Beirut. It traces the path of the postcard in order to arrive at the paradox of its enduring colonial legacy. Taking Barthes notion of the photograph as `a certificate of presence, the paper explores the boundaries between photograph and postcard in representations of Beirut. It focuses on the exchange between the `postcard city and the city itself that takes place in the evolution of the postcard from black and white photograph (old postcards of Beirut) to iconic colour landscapes (classic tourist postcards) The text is staged as a set of postcards: the practice of writing is spatialised and the paper is inflected with the iconography and the vernacular of the postcard. By spatialising the textual and textualising the visual, the paper attempts to negotiate the boundaries between critical theory and cultural practice and to raise questions about representation, memory and history.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/16056