Celebrate Afghanaid’s 30th Anniversary

By Farzana Whitfield|October 17, 2013|Art and Archaeology, Development Studies, Middle East, Central Asia & Islamica, South Asia|0 comments

Afghanaid started working in Afghanistan in 1983. This year they are celebrating 30 years of continuous work through a photographic exhibition – bringing to life the resilience of the Afghan people and the way in which their lives have been transformed. The exhibition will be held at Gallery Different (14 Percy Street, London W1T 1DR) and open to the public from Tuesday, 5th November to Saturday, 9th November. The exhibition will also include a 30-year timeline of

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History – September 2013

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|October 9, 2013|History|0 comments

e-books The rise of fiscal states: a global history, 1500-1914 / edited by Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla, Patrick K. O’Brien ; with Franciso Comín Comín. [e-book from Dawsonera] Akbar / André Wink [e-book fro Dawsonera] The Crusades: a very short introduction / Christopher Tyerman [e-book from ebrary] Western imperialism in the Middle East 1914-1958 / D.K. Fieldhouse. [e-book from ebrary] Books Empire, global coloniality and African subjectivity / Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni. Homer’s Turk: how classics

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Prince Bertie’s holiday snaps …

By Mary Fisk|July 11, 2013|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica, Art and Archaeology, History, Middle East, Central Asia & Islamica|0 comments

Prince Edward, photograph take between 1860 and 1865  Image from WikiMedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prince_Edward_1860.jpg Also public domain in the US (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:PD-1923) In 1862, “Bertie”, Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII), was sent on an “improving” 4-and-a-half month tour of the Middle East, visiting Egypt, the Holy Land and Constantinople. Accompanying him was the photographer, Francis Bedford, who took over 190 prints of the region – one of the earliest photographic records

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Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica – June 2013

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|July 2, 2013|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica|0 comments

Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations Iron Age hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions / by Annick Payne. Administrative Ur III texts in the British Museum / Marcel Sigrist, Tohru Ozaki  The photographs of the American Palestine Exploration Society / [compiled] by Rachel Hallote, Felicity Cobbing, and Jeffrey B. Spurr. Beyond Hatti : a tribute to Gary Beckman / edited by Billie Jean Collins and Piotr Michalowski. A glossary of Hurrian and Kassite / Arnaud

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New blog on the history and culture of Iraq

By Mary Fisk|June 20, 2013|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica, Art and Archaeology, History, Middle East, Central Asia & Islamica|0 comments

  Boat on the Euphrates By Christiaan Briggs (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq (TAARI) has just launched a blog aimed at “institutions, scholars and other individuals” interested in the history and culture of Iraq from ancient times until the present. The blog includes a thread where current  TAARI research fellows share reports from the field and

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A Pictorial Story of a Tamil Community in North London

By Farzana Whitfield|January 4, 2013|Anthropology and Sociology, Art and Archaeology, South Asia|0 comments

Chiara Contrino has worked closely with the Hindu Sri Lankan Tamil communities in North London since 2006 to produce an exhibition that documents aspects of their culture and religious rituals, and to explore their significance for the participants. According to an old Tamil proverb, there cannot be a place called home without a Temple. Wherever in the world a Tamil community establishes itself, statues of the Gods will follow the

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Africa – August 2012

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|September 13, 2012|Africa|0 comments

African literature : gender discourse, religious values, and the African worldview / Safoura Salami-Boukari. AMAL : shelter for the poor in Khartoum, Sudan / [research, Ding Wowo ; editors, Ding Wowo, Carol McEowen, Zhao Chen.] Anglo-Zulu War, 1879 : a selected bibliography / Harold E. Raugh, Jr. Architecture and tourism in Italian colonial Libya : an ambivalent modernism / by Brian L. McLaren.  Belgium and the Congo, 1885-1980 / Guy

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Africa – July 2012

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|August 13, 2012|Africa|0 comments

e-books Africa Yearbook Online [Available to all users on-campus, and to SOAS staff/students only off-campus] Books A.B.Xuma : autobiography and selected works / ed. by Peter Limb. Africa since independence : a comparative history. Bolya : nomade cosmopolite mais sédentaire de l’éthique / sous la direction de Françoise Naudillon. Economic development of Africa, 1880-1939 / general editor, David Sunderland ; advisory editor, Godfrey N. Uzoigwe. Les fantômes de Jérusalem :

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History – July 2012

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|August 4, 2012|History|0 comments

Arming the periphery: the arms trade in the Indian Ocean during the age of global empire / by Emrys Chew Posing for posterity: royal Indian portraits / Pramod Kumar K.G. ; foreword by H.R.H. Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur. (isbn 9781780762494) The company-state: corporate sovereignty and the early modern foundation of the British Empire in India / Philip J. Stern. Best of enemies: a history of US and Middle

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Exploring the Art of Sri Lanka- a recent Digital Photgraphy Archive

By Farzana Whitfield|August 1, 2012|Art and Archaeology, South Asia|0 comments

During the1970’s it was Professor Howard Wilson’s vision to view all Museum and Archive photographic collections, through the power of ‘video technology’. Wilson, managed to photograph caves, museum images and private collections before his death in 1998. Wilson’s dream was carried through by his wife, who found a home for the project at the Ancient India and Iran Trust in Cambridge. The Howard Wilson Archive can be searched through a

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