Between tradition and progress: portraying nurses on Muslim countries postage stamps

This article explores how Arab and Muslim states have represented nurses on postage stamps from 1940 through 2021. Postage stamps provide a visual medium through which states convey social, cultural, and political ideologies and messages. Employing visual analysis and contextual historical methods, this study reveals shifting perceptions of nurses within the interplay between tradition, religion, modernity, science, gender roles, and national identities in the Arab-Islamic world. Four prominent themes emerged from the analysis: nurses as professionals-agents of social and scientific progress, their symbolic roles during wartime, their depiction as compassionate caregivers emphasizing maternal values, and their portrayal as guardians of religious and cultural traditions. These themes highlight how nurses navigate dual expectations of embodying current healthcare practices and upholding traditional and religious norms. The findings indicate a notable gap between the social and medical significance attributed to nursing and its limited numerical representation, while the width of their professional representation is quite evident. This research offers a novel contribution to philatelic studies, cultural representation, and Middle Eastern gender studies, demonstrating how visual symbolism shapes and reflects collective national identities.