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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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