European Cultural Diplomacy and Arab Christians in Palestine, 1918–1948

1. Influencing the Other: European Private and Governmental Actors

   1. The International Centre for the Protection of Catholic Interests in Palestine: Cultural Diplomacy and Outreach in the British Mandate Period

      • Paolo Maggiolini

      Pages 353-379Open Access

   2. A “Significant Swedish Outpost”: The Swedish School and Arab Christians in Jerusalem, 1920–1930

      • Inger Marie Okkenhaug

      Pages 381-410Open Access

   3. French Cultural Efforts Towards Jerusalem’s Arab Population in the Late British Mandate in Palestine

      • Dominique Trimbur

      Pages 411-428Open Access

2. Conclusions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 429-429

      PDF

   2. Cultural Affiliation and Identity Constructs Under the British Mandate for Palestine

      • Tamara van Kessel

      Pages 431-438Open Access

   3. Epilogue

      • Idir Ouahes

      Pages 439-451Open Access

3. Back Matter

   Pages 453-465

   PDF

This open access book investigates the transnationally connected history of Arab Christian communities in Palestine during the British Mandate (1918-1948) through the lens of the birth of cultural diplomacy. Relying predominantly on unpublished sources, it examines the relationship between European cultural agendas and local identity formation processes and discusses the social and religious transformations of Arab Christian communities in Palestine via cultural lenses from an entangled perspective. 


The 17 chapters reflect diverse research interests, from case studies of individual archives to chapters that question the concept of cultural diplomacy more generally. They illustrate the diversity of scholarship that enables a broad-based view of how cultural diplomacy functioned during the interwar period, but also the ways in which its meanings have changed. The book considers British Mandate Palestine as an internationalized node within a transnational framework to understand how the complexity of cultural interactions and agencies engaged to produce new modes of modernity.

• Open Access
• British Mandate rule
• Religious networks
• Judaism
• Christianity
• Islam
• Cultural agenda
• Urban history
• Translation
• Knowledge transfer
• Trade
• European states
• Postcolonial
• Zionism

“In addition to some particularly impressive arguments presented here, the complete volume is invaluable for scholars in the field … . From the Swedish School to the politics and culture of archaeological exploration and dig sites, to an examination of the Palestinian novel, the shared effort [in this book] to better understand the history of Palestine’s Christians and their relationship to the broad world is an essential step in our understanding of this important minority group.” (Noah Haiduc-Dale, REMMM Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée, Vol. 150, 2021) “For students of cultural diplomacy, Mandate Palestine is marvellously complex. It involved not only Muslims and Jews but also manifold Christian communities, European governments, and foreign religious and secular missions, among others. And its cultural diplomatic actors helped shape various interplaying national, confessional, and imperial identities. Just as complex were the results, as this wonderful and wide-ranging volume shows. Varying wildly, state and non-state cultural diplomacy could be dialogue, dissent, propaganda, and more. A fascinating read for historians of the interwar Middle East and cultural diplomacy alike.” (Cyrus Schayegh, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies, Switzerland)

• Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

  Karène Sanchez Summerer, Sary Zananiri

​Karène Sanchez Summerer is Associate Professor at Leiden University, the Netherlands.  

Sary Zananiri is Postdoctoral Fellow at Leiden University, the Netherlands.