2104, 2016

Educational events for ‘Everlasting Flame’ at the National Museum in Delhi are fully booked

By Sohinee Sen|April 21, 2016|Uncategorized|0 comments

By Dr Sarah Stewart, Lecturer in Zoroastrianism A month after SOAS’s first international centenary exhibition Everlasting Flame, Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination opened at the National Museum in Delhi educational events and guided tours are well underway. In addition, the diary for school visits, themed walks and workshops for families is already booked through until the exhibition closes on 29th May. Below are pictures from a school visit on Saturday 16

1404, 2016

The SOAS Bletchley Girls

By Vesna Siljanovska|April 14, 2016|Uncategorized|16 comments

By Dr Barbara Pizziconi, Reader in Applied Japanese Linguistics, SOAS and Dr Helen Macnaughtan, Senior Lecturer in International Business and Management (Japan), SOAS In 1942, after efforts to alert the War Office to the shortage of Japanese speakers, SOAS had started putting together Japanese language courses for the Armed Forces. When the war broke out and requests for personnel suddenly became urgent, short courses were quickly organised to provide service personnel with very

1803, 2016

Gilgamesh and SOAS: 30 years of scholarly contribution to the ‘world’s oldest story’

By Sohinee Sen|March 18, 2016|Uncategorized|16 comments

The Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the masterpieces of world literature. Exploring mankind’s universal longing for immortality, the poem tells the story of a Babylonian hero’s quest for glory and flight from death. The genesis of the story stretches back almost 4000 years, when an anonymous Babylonian poet composed the epic tale in the Akkadian language. Centuries of war, upheavals, , conquest and empire across the region we

0403, 2016

The battle for Woburn Square

By Katie Price|March 4, 2016|Uncategorized|41 comments

Andy Davies, Director of London Universities Purchasing Consortium, on the protests against the demolition of Georgian buildings in 1969 It was a very clear sign of the times. At just before 8pm on Thursday, 20 February 1969, a university community was quite literally divided on an issue that would determine the future of architecture and planning in this part of London. A Georgian square faced obliteration, while part of

1902, 2016

Alice Werner, one of the School’s first lecturers, who pioneered the study of Swahili language and literature

By |February 19, 2016|Uncategorized|0 comments

Professor Alice Werner (1859 – 1935) was one of the pioneers in African Studies in the early twentieth century. As one of the original staff at the School, she played an important role in the School adding Africa to its title in 1938. This week Angelica Baschiera, Manager for the Centre of African Studies, discusses her influence in the field . I came across the work of Alice Werner when

0502, 2016

I never met Malcolm Caldwell

By Katie Price|February 5, 2016|Uncategorized|0 comments

Steve Heder, Research Associate in SOAS Department of Politics and International Studies, recalls the circumstances surrounding the murder of SOAS history lecturer Malcolm Caldwell in Southeast Asia in 1978 Phnom Penh, 25 July 2015 — I never met Malcolm Caldwell. Before I could, in December 1978, he was killed in circumstances that have never been convincingly explained. He was on a trip to “Democratic Kampuchea,” the name the Communist Party

0801, 2016

‘The ultimate phonetician’: Ida Ward (1880-1949), pioneering scholar of African linguistics

By Katie Price|January 8, 2016|Uncategorized|0 comments

1932-1937 Lecturer in African Languages – Department of African Studies – SOAS 1937-1948 Head of Department of African Studies – SOAS ‘It is largely through her work and her personality that the African Department of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, has become a world-famous institution in the field of African linguistics. Her name will forever be connected with the study of African languages, and in

1812, 2015

Edith Penrose, world-leading economist who drove the study of social sciences at SOAS

By Katie Price|December 18, 2015|Uncategorized|0 comments

”I don’t take sides. I just gather the facts and if people don’t like my work, they just don’t like the facts” Dr Edith Penrose – 1976. “Edith Penrose was a visionary whose work contributed to a new general theory of the growth of firms. The scale of her contribution can be gauged by its influence on current research in management and economics and by the fact that the practical

1111, 2015

The Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art

By Katie Price|November 11, 2015|1950s, The World at SOAS, Uncategorized|17 comments

Dr Stacey Pierson, Senior Lecturer in the Department of the History of Art and Archaeology, remembers treasures, now housed in the British Museum, that drew collectors and specialists from around the world to SOAS. In 1952, a new museum opened at SOAS, showcasing one of the finest collections of Chinese ceramics in the world. The Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, at 53 Gordon Square, was named after its founder,

3010, 2015

SOAS’ incognito academic inspires world’s most famous fictional archaeologist

By Katie Price|October 30, 2015|1920s, SOAS in the world, Uncategorized|0 comments

Remembering a diplomatic spat caused by Japanese lecturer William McGovern In 2015, few places in our world are inaccessible to the daring field academic or discerning traveller. Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet in the Himalayas, is one of the world’s highest and remotest cities; yet, if you charter a plane from London, it can be reached in approximately 17 hours. The story in the early 1920s, however, was very different.