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Christian anti-communism and the history of refugee relief — Refugee History.

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Reposted by Benjamin Thomas White

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 9d

A first post of the new academic year for RefugeeHistory.org:

refugeehistory.org/blog/2025/9/...

The history of post-World War II refugee relief is often presented as part of the triumph of modern ideas about human rights and the spread of humanitarian values. A closer examination of some of the ...

refugeehistory.org

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Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 9d

A first post of the new academic year for RefugeeHistory.org:

refugeehistory.org/blog/2025/9/...

Christian anti-communism and the history of refugee relief — Refugee History.

The history of post-World War II refugee relief is often presented as part of the triumph of modern ideas about human rights and the spread of humanitarian values. A closer examination of some of the ...

refugeehistory.org

3 4

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 26d

A final repost for this:

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

I've written a piece about the bomber's view of the past: how aerial archaeologists of the Middle East have looked at the region's past through the eyes (and lenses) of people who bomb it in the present. In fact they're sometimes the same people.

www.historyworkshop.org.uk/empire-decol...

Discover the influence of Antoine Poidebard on aerial archaeology and his complex role in French colonial history.

2

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 26d

For the evening crowd.

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

I've written a piece about the bomber's view of the past: how aerial archaeologists of the Middle East have looked at the region's past through the eyes (and lenses) of people who bomb it in the present. In fact they're sometimes the same people.

www.historyworkshop.org.uk/empire-decol...

Discover the influence of Antoine Poidebard on aerial archaeology and his complex role in French colonial history.

Reposted by Benjamin Thomas White

History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 27d

Archaeology’s tools were forged in war: from spy planes to satellites, the line between research and militarisation has always been thin.

Benjamin Thomas White (@btwhite.bsky.social) considers the role of Antoine Poidebard in pioneering aerial archaeology.

Discover the influence of Antoine Poidebard on aerial archaeology and his complex role in French colonial history.

3 8

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

Thank you, Matt!

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

🙏🏼

Reposted by Benjamin Thomas White

Sadiah Qureshi @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social · 27d

I’ve heard much about this project as it develops, and it is amazing! A preview of the bigger story here.

History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 27d

From spy planes to satellites, archaeology has long shared a sky with empire. What does that mean for the knowledge it produces?

Benjamin Thomas White (@btwhite.bsky.social) considers the colonial history of aerial archaeology.

Discover the influence of Antoine Poidebard on aerial archaeology and his complex role in French colonial history.

1 5 15

Reposted by Benjamin Thomas White

History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 27d

From spy planes to satellites, archaeology has long shared a sky with empire. What does that mean for the knowledge it produces?

Benjamin Thomas White (@btwhite.bsky.social) considers the colonial history of aerial archaeology.

Discover the influence of Antoine Poidebard on aerial archaeology and his complex role in French colonial history.

1 7 14

Reposted by Benjamin Thomas White

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

I've written a piece about the bomber's view of the past: how aerial archaeologists of the Middle East have looked at the region's past through the eyes (and lenses) of people who bomb it in the present. In fact they're sometimes the same people.

www.historyworkshop.org.uk/empire-decol...

Discover the influence of Antoine Poidebard on aerial archaeology and his complex role in French colonial history.

1 25 40

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

🙏🏼

A. Poidebard, La trace de Rome dans le désert syrien (Bibiothèque archéologique et historique, 1934)

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

(I studied Arabic there before I started my masters, and was based there for a good chunk of my PhD research.)

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

And the title page of his book comes from the Flickr of the Institut français du Proche-Orient, the descendant of the colonial-era French archaeological institute in Damascus.

www.flickr.com/photos/ifpo/...

A. Poidebard. La trace de Rome dans le désert de Syrie. Le Limes de Trajan à la conquête arabe, recherches aériennes 1925-1932. Texte. Introduction de France Cumont. Bibliothèque archéologique et historique, ouvrage publié avec le concours de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres et du Ministère de l'Air, 1934.

www.flickr.com

Site Internet de l'USJ - Exposition "Antoine Poidebard" - Musée virtuel

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

The additional photos in this thread are from a virtual exhibition at the Université St-Joseph in Beirut, the Jesuit university where Poidebard's papers are held:

www.usj.edu.lb/poidebard/s2...

www.usj.edu.lb

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

More here!

⬇️

www.historyworkshop.org.uk/empire-decol...

Discover the influence of Antoine Poidebard on aerial archaeology and his complex role in French colonial history.

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

...which is how I unexpectedly found myself reading up on the American CORONA spy satellite programme of the 1960s, a good long way from the French mandate in Syria, but not so far away as all that.

A wall or a road? A remote sensing-based investigation of fortifications on Rome's eastern frontier | Antiquity | Cambridge Core

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

And his thesis about the Roman east is still generating debate among archaeologists. Some of whom appear to be rather less aware of their role in an imperial project of domination than Poidebard was.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

A wall or a road? A remote sensing-based investigation of fortifications on Rome's eastern frontier - Volume 97 Issue 396

www.cambridge.org

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

An interesting chap, as you can see.

There are good historical articles about him by Sarah Griswold (whose book on archaeology and the French mandate has just come out) and Daniela Helbig.

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

Poidebard had also used this experience to bomb Syrians during their uprising against French colonial rule in 1925–27.

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

Archaeologists around the world applauded his innovative and rigorous methodology, directly borrowed from his military experience as an aerial reconnaissance officer, for using aerial photography to detect and interpret archaeological evidence that was invisible or incomprehensible on the ground.

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

But even more than his contribution to Roman history, it was Poidebard's contribution to archaeological methods that really struck his contemporaries.

Benjamin Thomas White @btwhite.bsky.social · 27d

The Roman empire, Poidebard argued, had used a network of desert forts to extend its territorial control deep into the Syrian steppe and defend itself against attack from the east.