Over the past years I have examined how postage stamps serve as powerful tools of political messaging and historical storytelling. By analyzing the visual language of these stamps—their imagery, symbols, and geographic representations—I uncover how they have been used to assert national identity, promote territorial claims, and navigate shifting political landscapes in the Middle East. Taken together, my work demonstrates that postage stamps are not mere tools of correspondence, but potent vehicles for communicating national ideologies, asserting geopolitical positions, and preserving historical memory.
In “Visualizing Palestine in Arab Postage Stamps: 1948–1967” I argue that from 1948 to 1967, Arab regimes treated Palestine’s borders as flexible constructs: Egypt portrayed Gaza as part of a broader Arab nation, Jordan saw the West Bank as both part of its kingdom and a placeholder for a future Palestinian state, and all Arab states acknowledged that these areas had been part of British Mandatory Palestine.
I analyze how Jordan used stamps to project its religious and political authority over Jerusalem in “Jordanian Stamps of Islamic Holy Sites in Jerusalem: 1967–1989.” Featuring iconic Islamic sites such as the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, these stamps emphasized the Hashemite monarchy’s custodianship over Muslim holy places—an essential element of Jordan’s domestic legitimacy and international diplomacy.
In “The Hashemite Regime on Jordanian Postage Stamps: A Visual History of Nation-Building” I trace how Jordan systematically used stamps to cultivate a unifying national narrative centered on the Hashemite dynasty. Portraits of kings, national symbols, and historical references served to strengthen Hashemite rule and promote a unified Jordanian national identity during times of regional instability and internal transformation.
Additionally, in “Maps of the West Bank in Jordanian Postage Stamps, 1952–1985” I argue that Jordanian stamps aligned with official Hashemite policy by portraying the West Bank as both part of Jordan and Palestine. This dual representation posed no contradiction, as the territory symbolized a shared national and metaphysical identity. Historically, the West Bank had been a central part of Mandatory Palestine and was viewed as a trust under Hashemite protection until Palestine’s eventual liberation.
My latest study, “The Arab-Iranian Stamp War Over the Persian Gulf: 1949-1973” reveals how a heated geopolitical naming dispute—the “Persian Gulf” vs. the “Arabian Gulf”—played out not just in politics, but on postage stamps. Spanning 1949 to 1973, it shows how Iran used stamps to assert its claim and national identity, while Arab states, influenced by pan-Arabism, prioritized their philatelic messaging on anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian imagery.
Michael Sharnoff, PhD 