CASAW-RSE Lecture Series: Perspectives on the Arab World
This public lecture series is running from November 2008 until March 2009.
All lectures will be held at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 22-26 George Street. Lectures will begin at 18.00.
A Report on this lecture series can be downloaded here:
Lecture_Series_Report.pdf
Perspectives on the Arab World gives the interested public an insight into this troubled and complex region through a series of high-profile lectures. The lectures will be delivered by eminent experts from academia and the military. Each speaker will focus on a different aspect of Arab history, culture, religion or politics, introducing listeners to the most important new ideas in their field. The series is jointly organised by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) and the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW).
Registration is free and should be done through the online booking system. The online booking system is available at: http://websiterepository.ed.ac.uk/news/eventbookings/ For security purposes, we require all guest to bring your e-ticket and photographic ID to the event venue. Each lecture will be followed by a drinks reception at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
LECTURES IN THIS SERIES
Friday 7 November 2008, 6.00pm: Jihad and the Surge in Iraq Major General Simon Mayall, Assistant Chief of the General Staff, Ministry of Defence
Click on the link to hear the lecture and view the powerpoint of this lecture: http://www.rse.org.uk/events/video/arab_world1.htm
Major General Simon Mayall is a cavalryman who was commissioned into the 15th/19th Hussars in 1979 after taking a degree in Modern History at Balliol College, Oxford. Between commissioning and command of 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards in 1997-1999, he served in Germany, Cyprus, UK, Oman and Belgium. In this time he was ADC to the UK Corps Commander, squadron led on loan service in the Middle East, was operations officer for the UK armoured division in the first Gulf War, MA to DSACEUR at SHAPE, and completed a book on Turkish security policy during a Defence Fellowship at St Antony’s College, Oxford. Since regimental command, Major General Mayall has commanded an all-arms brigade, including an operational tour in Kosovo, and has served twice in the MOD in the Resources and Plans Division, responsible for aligning Army structures and capabilities with Defence Policy and resources. In addition he has attended the Higher Command and Staff Course, and the Royal College of Defence Studies in London where he took a further degree in International Relations. Major General Mayall spent a period of time in Iraq as the Deputy Commanding General of the Multinational Corps (Iraq) in late 2006 and early 2007. Major General Mayall was appointed as the Assistant Chief of the General Staff in January 2007. Major General Mayall is a bachelor with a keen interest in politics, history and the theatre. He has considerable experience in the Middle East, and speaks reasonable Arabic. He has written several articles on crusading history, Turkey, and jihad philosophy.
*In conjunction with this event, there will be a free screening of the documentary “No End in Sight” at the University of Edinburgh, David Hume Tower, Faculty Room North at 12.00 on Friday 7 November.*
Wednesday 10 December 2008, 6.00pm: Images of Saladin: Past and Present Professor Carole Hillenbrand FRSA FRSE, University of Edinburgh
Click on the link to hear the lecture and view the powerpoint of this lecture: http://www.rse.org.uk/events/video/arab_world2.htm
Carole Hillenbrand was educated at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh. She was appointed Professor of Islamic History in 2000 and served as Head of the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, from 1997-2002 and from 2006-2008. She was Visiting Professor at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA in 1994 and 2005 and at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands in 2002. In 2005 she was awarded the King Faisal Prize for Islamic Studies, 2005 (the first non-Muslim to be awarded this prize). She has been Vice-President of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies since 2003, Islamic Advisory Editor at Edinburgh University Press since 1983 and Editor of the series entitled “Studies in Persian and Turkish History”, published by Routledge since 1999. She is Head of Sub-Panel L48 in the Research Assessment Exercise, 2008. Her research interests include the Seljuqs of Iran and Turkey, the Crusades, medieval Muslim political thought, especially the work of al-Ghazali.
Wednesday 14 January 2009, 6.00pm: What makes Islamic art Islamic? Professor Robert Hillenbrand FRSE, University of Edinburgh
Click on the link to hear the lecture: http://www.rse.org.uk/events/video/reflections_on_Islamic_Art.mp3
Professor Robert Hillenbrand was educated at the universities of Cambridge and Oxford (D.Phil. 1974); he has been teaching at the Department of Fine Art, University of Edinburgh , since 1971 and was awarded a chair of Islamic art in 1989. His travels have taken him throughout the Islamic world. He has held visiting professorships at Princeton, UCLA, Bamberg , Dartmouth College and Groningen . He has written books on Imperial Images in Persian Painting, Islamic Architecture in North Africa (co-author), Islamic Art and Architecture , The Architecture of Ottoman Jerusalem . An Introduction, Studies in Medieval Islamic Art and Architecture (2 vols.) and the prize-winning Islamic Architecture. Form, Function and Meaning (translated into Persian in 1998). He has also edited Proceedings of the 10th Congress of the Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants, The Islamic Book, The Art of the Saljuqs in Iran and Anatolia , Persian Painting from the Mongols to the Qajars, The ‘Amiriya in Rada‘. The History and Restoration of a Sixteenth-Century Madrasa in the Yemen , Shahnama. Text and Image in the Persian Book of Kings and Image and Meaning in Islamic Art; and co-edited The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Persia . New Light on the Parthian and Sasanian Empires and Ottoman Jerusalem . He has also published some 120 articles on aspects of Islamic art and architecture. In 1977 he curated one of the largest exhibitions of Persian miniature painting ever held. His scholarly interests focus on Islamic architecture, painting and iconography, with particular reference to Iran and to Umayyad Syria . He has served on the editorial boards of Art History, Persica, Assaph, Islamic Art and the David Collection, Bulletin of the Asia Institute and Studies in Islamic Art and Architecture and Oxford Studies in Islamic Art. He was Islamic art adviser to the 36-volume Macmillan Dictionary of Art . He has also served on the Councils of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem , British Research in the Levant , and the British Institute of Persian Studies (Vice-President).
Thursday 12 February 2009, 6.00pm: Islam and the Day of Judgement Professor Mona Siddiqui FRSA FRSE, University of Glasgow
Mona Siddiqui started her academic life with a BA in Arabic and French, which led eventually to a PhD in Classical Islamic Law. She came to the University of Glasgow in 1996 and two years later founded the Centre for the Study of Islam, which she directs. She provides invaluable consultancy work to institutions such as museums, local government and educational institutions, and also provides advice in legal cases, including anti-terrorism cases. Professor Siddiqui is well known for her broadcasting work, including regular radio appearances, and writes frequently for the Scottish and British press. She has also travelled the world at the invitation of diverse institutions to talk about her life and work. Her research interests include classical Islamic law, law and gender, early Islamic theology and thought, contemporary legal and ethical issues in Islam and modern Arabic literature.
Thursday 12 March 2009, 6.00pm: Writing the First Qur’ans: Running the Early Islamic State Professor Robert Hoyland, St Andrews University
Robert Hoyland is Professor in Arabic and Middle East Studies at St. Andrews University’s School of History. His research interests include: relations between Muslims, Jews and Christians in the pre-modern Midde East; the links between identity, religion and ethnicity (in particular, the forging of an Arab identity) in the pre-Islamic and early Islamic period; the transmission of knowledge from the Ancient world to the Islamic world and the reforging of that knowledge by Muslim scholars; the change in material culture from the Ancient world to the Islamic world and the emergence of an Islamic style of art and architecture; and the use of Arabic inscriptions for understanding Islamic history and culture.
