Abstract

This paper explores the role of timber in articulating a modern American project in nineteenth-century Lebanon. It focuses on the architecture of the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut, an educational institution founded by American missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1866. The paper examines the evolving role of timber within this foreign missionary project—deployed in multiple forms and scales—and traces the shifting values ascribed to its use. I argue that the missionaries used timber to elaborate specific relationships towards students and the city, reflecting cultural, racial, and religious notions of superiority, carving out an American “garden” in the “wilderness” of Ras Beirut. I analyze these theological aims and their practical application through the conceptual lens of Edward Said’s “modern Orientalism”. The deployment of timber as a claim-making and space-making device frames the construction of the Syrian Protestant College as a modern, imperial project.

摘要

本文探讨了木材在阐明 19 世纪黎巴嫩的现代美国项目中的作用。它侧重于贝鲁特的叙利亚新教学院的建筑，这是一个由美国外交使团委员会的美国传教士于 1866 年创立的教育机构。 本文考察了木材在这个外国传教项目中不断演变的作用——以多种形式部署和规模——并追踪归因于其使用的变化价值。我认为传教士使用木材来阐述与学生和城市的具体关系，反映了文化、种族和宗教的优越观念，在拉斯贝鲁特的“荒野”中开辟了一个美国“花园”。我通过爱德华·赛义德的“现代东方主义”的概念镜头来分析这些神学目标及其实际应用。将木材作为一种主张和空间制造装置的部署将叙利亚新教学院的建设构建为一个现代的帝国项目。