Today, SOAS is currently one of only two UK universities where the top four management positions (President, Director, Registrar, Chair of the Board of Trustees) are held by women. In 2012, renowned humanitarian and activist, Graça Machel, was appointed as the new President of SOAS and in 2015, Baroness Valerie Amos CH was appointed as the first female Director of SOAS. Our female alumni too have gone on to inspire people
Sir Philip Joseph Hartog (1864 – 1947) has now become the largely forgotten founder of SOAS after he campaigned for the parliamentary committee to consider starting an Oriental school in London. Even in the face of cynicism from Oxbridge wigs and crippling underfunding Hartog still managed to see the future of the school beyond being a post-war language training arm of the University of London. While the government was only
Pathé Film footage shot on the occasion of the opening of the School of Oriental Studies at the London Institute in Finsbury Circus. King George V was accompanied by Queen Alexandra and Princess Mary on 23 February 1917. According to its Royal Charter, the School’s purpose was “to give instruction in the Languages of Eastern and African peoples, Ancient and Modern, and in the Literature, History, Religion, and Customs of
Sir Edward Denison Ross had a much decorated career before becoming the School of Oriental Studies’ first director in 1916. He famously spoke thirty languages from the then called ‘Far East’ and spent almost two decades travelling India and Central Asia. His obituary in the School’s bulletin read “he contributed more than any Englishman of his generation to the encouragement of Oriental studies in this country.” Ross was well regarded
Earlier this month, SOAS buried a time capsule to celebrate its Centenary, which will be opened in 2116. But what’s it like to be on the other side and open a time capsule? Christine Wise, Assistant Director (Research Library Services) at SOAS, shares her memories of discovering a time capsule buried at The Women’s Library at LSE and the excitement of finding a link to the past. Some months ago, Centenary Project Manager Shoshanna Goodman and
Award-winning poet, artist and documentary film-maker Imtiaz Dharker, renowned for her work centring on freedom, cultural intolerance and gender politics, was this year awarded an Honorary Doctorate at SOAS University of London. In SOAS’ 100th year she delighted the audience at the 2016 graduation ceremony with her poem ‘The Elephants have come out of the Room and on to the Piccadilly Line’ that was in praise of SOAS. ———– The Elephants
Prof. Dr. Dewi Anwar is a renowned Indonesian academic and policy maker. She is a SOAS alumna and holds her BA Hons and MA from SOAS. Currently the Deputy for Government Policy Support to the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Dewi is also a Research Professor and held the position of the Deputy Chairman for Social Sciences and Humanities at The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) from 2001-2010.
Professor Adrian Mayer, 93, a major figure in the development of Indian social anthropology, shares his memories of rural India in the 1950s. Speaking to Professor Edward Simpson, he reveals how studying a language at SOAS started a remarkable career, leading him to the South Pacific and to rural India. When Professor Adrian Mayer joined SOAS in 1947 to study Hindi he had already spent two years in India, working
Desi Anwar is a renowned Indonesian national broadcaster in television journalism and news production. Ms Anwar was born in Bandung, Indonesia in 1962 and studied for her BA in French and European Studies at the University of Sussex. She is a SOAS alumna and holds an MA in Indonesian and Malay Studies. Ms Anwar started her television career as a reporter, anchor and producer with Indonesia’s first commercial television channel and pioneered the
Professor David Snellgrove, a leading SOAS scholar of the religion, languages and history of Buddhist India and Tibet, died earlier this year aged 95. He joined SOAS in 1950 and made a major contribution to Tibetan and Buddhist studies. Dr Tadeusz Skorupski, Emeritus Reader in the Department of Religions and Philosophies at SOAS; Cathy Cantwell, Associate Faculty Member, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford; and Francesca Fremantle, scholar and translator of Sanskrit and Tibetan works, share their stories