The Photograph of ‘Abd al-Rahman Musa in Paris (1867): A Sudanese Veteran of the Egyptian Army in Mexico
This article examines the photograph of ‘Abd al-Rahman Musa, a Sudanese officer in the Egyptian Army who stopped in Paris in 1867 on his way back to Egypt, while returning from Mexico where he served in the French military intervention. Possibly the earliest portrait photograph of a person of Sudane...
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| Veröffentlicht in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/esma, |
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| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprache: | Anglais |
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Égypte Soudan mondes arabes
2023
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| Online Zugang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Zusammenfassung: | This article examines the photograph of ‘Abd al-Rahman Musa, a Sudanese officer in the Egyptian Army who stopped in Paris in 1867 on his way back to Egypt, while returning from Mexico where he served in the French military intervention. Possibly the earliest portrait photograph of a person of Sudanese origin, this material is approached in an effort to understand how one soldier moved locally and on world stages, with consequences for the making of history in many places and on various scales. As an exercise in biography, the article features ‘Abd al-Rahman Musa as a “subaltern elite”: a soldier who wore a ribbon bestowed by an emperor and had his portrait taken in a Parisian studio using the most advanced technology, but who then vanished without a trace in the historical record. The effort to extract and assemble the fragmentary evidence associated with his photograph ultimately makes this article a study in method – in this case for historical reconstruction in light of the opportunities and limitations of sources. |
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