We were delighted to welcome the new Swire Graduate Recruits at the end of August for a visit to the Archives. This is an annual event where recently appointed Swire staff are invited to participate in a series of seminars held at SOAS over three days. The seminars aim to introduce the new recruits to the history and culture of the countries where they are to be posted overseas. The
This week’s blog looks at the ‘India: A People Partitioned’ Oral Archive (ref: OA3) held at SOAS Archives – a significant collection of oral histories relating to the Partition of India in 1947. The 205 interviews in the collection were compiled by the broadcaster and historian Andrew Whitehead for the BBC World Service radio series India: A People Partitioned (1997; 2000) and his later radio and historical work on Kashmir, 1947. The oral archive represents an important social history
Visiting the SOAS archives is an important part of the course African Missionaries, convened by Dr Jörg Haustein of the Department of the Study of Religions, SOAS. The course is concerned with the historical analysis of published and unpublished missionary materials pertaining to Africa. It explores how these sources can be read critically in order to gain a better understanding of the complex dynamics between African societies and European missionaries
This week’s blog is from Dr Farouk Yahya in the Department of the History of Art and Archaeology at SOAS, and describes his recent hands-on workshop in SOAS Archives for students studying the half-unit MA course Illustrated Manuscript Cultures of Southeast Asia. The course is concerned with the arts of the manuscript in Southeast Asia, including those from Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and covers the artistic,
Are you interested in undertaking historical research? Would you like some help with navigating and using library and archive collections? This year SOAS Archives will be taking part in the History Libraries & Research Open Day being organised by the School of Advanced Study, University of London. Aimed at postgraduate students and early career researchers, the Open Day takes place in the Beveridge Hall on the ground floor of Senate House
On 8th October 2014, SOAS Archives opened its’ doors to all SOAS staff and students for the second Open Day of this year. Aimed particularly at reaching out to those who are new to SOAS, the Open Day followed fast on the heels of Welcome Week and saw 60 visitors who came on behind-the-scenes tours of the archive store rooms and took the opportunity to see the extensive display of
In May 2014, a group of 12 postgraduate students from the Kent Law School visited SOAS Archives as part of their ‘Legal Treasures Tour’, with course tutor, Professor Amanda Perry-Kessaris. Amanda, who has been developing the Legal Treasures Tour for some years, had previously brought a class to us in 2013. After a general introduction to the service and a tour of our archive store, the group were left free
This year SOAS is running a unique three-week summer school on Jawi and the Malay Manuscript Tradition, convened by Dr Mulaika Hijjas and Dr Ben Murtagh from the department of South East Asia at SOAS. Jawi is the adapted Arabo-Persian script used from the sixteenth century to the early twentieth century across Indonesia and the Malay world. Materials written in Jawi include indigenous chronicles and romances, Sufi poetry, letters between rulers of
SOAS Archives has recently hosted two specialist workshops showcasing beautiful examples of Asian art in the collections of rare books and manuscripts held by the section, with a focus on material relating to Japan. The most recent session, pictured here, took place on 4th June, for students taking the SOAS Diploma in Asian Art (Japan and Korea module). A separate session held in April, was for SOAS students taking the
