Professor Benjamin Harshav, the distinguished scholar of Hebrew and Yiddish literature, died on April 23rd 2015, aged 86. He was born in Vilna in Lithuania in 1928 (a town which he described as the “self-styled bastion of Yiddish culture“) but escaped across the Urals in 1941, along with his family, after the Germans ousted the Soviets from the city After the war, he moved to Israel, where he established the Department
Comparative & thematic A moving faith: mega churches go South / edited by Jonathan D. James Memento mori: the dead among us / Paul Koudounaris The attraction of religion: a new evolutionary psychology of religion / edited by Jason Slone, James Van Slyke. African religions The public face of African new religious movements in diaspora: imagining the religious other / edited by Afe Adogame Buddhism Spells, images, and mandalas: tracing
Palmyra panorama view shortly after sunrise (2005) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PalmyraPanoramaZoom.jpg In April 1926, the Manchester Guardian’s correspondent was in Beirut for a congress. After the exacting business of formal dinners and fetes, the party set out to explore the historic sites of the region, including Byblos, Tripoli and Krak des Chevaliers – and finally to Palmyra. This account (whilst coloured with some of the stereotypes of the day) gives a vivid depiction
Africa Writes is the Royal African Society’s annual literature festival. Every year we showcase established and emerging talent from the African continent and its diaspora in what is now the UK’s biggest celebration of contemporary African writing taking place over an exciting summer weekend. The festival features book launches, readings, author appearances, panel discussions, youth and children’s workshops, and other activities. This year’s programme is available at: http://africawrites.org/category/eventsprogramme/ About
Comparative & thematic Sapiens: a brief history of humankind / Yuval Noah Harari. The transformation of the world: a global history of the nineteenth century / Jurgen Osterhammel. [also available as an e-book] Africa North Africa Dividing the Nile: Egypt’s ‘economic’ nationalists in the Sudan, 1918-1956 / David E. Mills China & Tibet Fateful ties: a history of America’s preoccupation with China / Gordon H. Chang. Writing, publishing, and reading
Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations “From Gilead to Edom”: studies in the archaeology and history of Jordan in honor of Denyse Homès-Fredericq on the occasion of her eightieth birthday / edited by Ingrid Moriah Swinnen and Eric Gubel. Ur: the city of the moon god / by Harriet Crawford Cultures in comparison: religion and politics in ancient Mediterranean regions / edited by Thomas R. Kämmerer and Mait Koiv. Traditions of written
Kings India Institute is holding a book launch on the 18th June for a title co edited by Jahnavi Phalkey (King’s College London) and Rachel Dwyer (School of Oriental and African Studies) Bringing together ideas, issues, and debates related to modern Indian studies, this volume charts out the social, cultural, political, and economic processes at work in the subcontinent. Authored by internationally recognized experts, this work consists of over one
Punjabi (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ / پنجابی) The SOAS South Asia Institute is hosting a series of monthly meetings to explore the rich and diverse culture of Punjabi poetry. This will also include a journey through history and literature. The meetings are open to the general public of all ages and level. There is no need to be proficient in the Gurmukhi/Shahmukhi script and all are welcome to just listen and explore. For
BBC 2, Today, 4th June, 11:20pm iPlayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05xgvh0 Award winning producer Dan Edge created this film which tells the inside story on how and why the worst Ebola outbreak in history wasn’t stopped before it was too late. It traces the most recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa all the way back to the bat roost thought to be the virus’ first human contact. From there the human trail of infection is tracked
We now have a trial access to the online version of the Rare Journals of the Burma Research Society until the 2nd of July 2015. There are two options for you to access the online database: The link for on-campus access: http://portal.igpublish.com/iglibrary/ (no login required, when you are in SOAS buildings using SOAS Internet) The link for off-campus access: https://ezproxy.soas.ac.uk/login?url=http://portal.igpublish.com/iglibrary/ (login required with your normal SOAS Login) Note: external members
