Islam, Trade and Politics across the Indian Ocean

 

We are very proud and excited to be hosting a beautiful travelling photographic exhibition, on loan from the British Library, Islam, Trade and Politics across the Indian Ocean.

The exhibition runs from 7th-21st November 2012 and is open from 9-1, Monday-Thursday; 9.30-1.30 Friday. Afternoon visits by appointment only (please contact the Librarian on 01223 702095, or library@indiran.org to arrange).

Website for the project: http://www.ottomansoutheastasia.org/

Islam, Trade and Politics Across the Indian Ocean is a research project funded by the British Academy over the period 2009–2012 and administered by the Association of South-East Asian Studies in the United Kingdom (ASEASUK) and the British Institute at Ankara (BIAA). Islam, Trade and Politics Across the Indian Ocean was initiated because research by many scholars has stressed how Southeast Asia has long been connected by trade, religion and political links to the wider world across the Indian Ocean, and especially to the Middle East through the faith of Islam. However, little attention has been paid to the ties between Muslim Southeast Asia – encompassing the modern nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and the southern parts of Thailand and the Philippines – and the greatest Middle Eastern power, the Ottoman empire.

Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Lectures

Lecture list for the FAMES (Sidgwick Site, University of Cambridge) Michaelmas lecture series. Please contact the Centre for Islamic Studies (cis[AT]cis.cam.ac.uk) for further information.

Download the poster here: Wright Lectures Poster-2012

New issue of INDIRAN – Spring 2012

A new issue of  the Ancient India and Iran Trust’s newsletter, INDIRAN, is now available.

This issue includes interviews with one of the Trust’s newly appointed Trustees and long time supporter of the AIIT, Professor Sam Lieu and our previous Pakistan Visiting Fellowship recipient, Dr Zakirullah Jan.  There is an excellent piece on Whitley Stokes, by Dr Elizabeth Boyle and Dr Paul Russell, who gave our final Friday lecture before Christmas and a review of two fascinating new books on FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat, by the Chairs of our Friends of the Trust, Bill Martin and Sandra Mason. Also in this issue, we remember the late Dr Gregory Possehl, former Trustee, distinguished archaeologist and expert on the rise of the Indus civilisation.

Download a digital version of INDIRAN SPRING 2012 from:

http://www.indiran.org/news.htm

Forthcoming lectures

27 April	Professor Jean KELLENS, (Collège de France, Paris)
	Some Thoughts on Young Avestan Polytheism
04 May	Professor Julius LIPNER (Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge)
	A Hostage to Fortune? Hinduism and the Classical
11 May

Nehru Trust for the Indian Collections at the V&A – India Travel Awards 2012-13

The Nehru Trust for the Indian Collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum proposes to make up to three awards for the year April 2012 to March 2013 to UK-based scholars or professionals employed by museums, galleries, or other specified institutions concerned with the preservation, study and display of India’s art and cultural heritage for short visits to India for the purpose of research, training, scholarship or professional collaboration.

The awards are intended to be a contribution towards the costs of maintenance and internal travel expenses within India. Applicants are expected to fund international travel costs from other sources.

Further details and application forms can be obtained from the Nehru Trust website www.nticva.org

 Completed application forms must be returned to Rosemary Crill, Asian Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London SW7 2RL no later  than January 31^st 2012

 

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New Lectureships in Asian Art at the Courtauld

The Courtauld Institute of Art has announced the establishment of two new faculty teaching and research posts in Asian art history.

Supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the first post will be based chronologically in the period from 1000 to 1750 AD.  It will be defined thematically and focus on questions of imperialism and artistic patronage from the perspective of empires outside the Western world, from any major region of Asia.

Supported by Manuela and Iwan Wirth, co-Presidents of Hauser & Wirth, the second post is in the field of Asian modern and contemporary art and will respond to the immensely exciting developments in those areas.  It will build on existing expertise in the modern and contemporary faculty, one of the fastest growing areas of teaching and research at The Courtauld.

With these additional posts, The Courtauld will introduce teaching on aspects of Asian art into both the undergraduate courses leading to the BA degree in Art History, the MA in Art History, and in its graduate Diploma by the start of the 2012 academic year.

Further details of the posts are available on the Courtauld Institute of Art website: http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/vacancies/LectureshipsinHistoryofAsianArt.shtml

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New issue of INDIRAN

A new issue of  the Ancient India and Iran Trust’s newsletter, INDIRAN, is now available.

This issue includes an account by Bi Bo, visiting scholar from Renmin University of China, Beijing, of her work on Sogdian  manuscripts from Khotan, Xinjiang. Ian Proudfoot, Australian National University, describes exciting finds of unique Malay printed books. Deborah Sutton, University of Lancaster, examines the Hindu temple in terms of political and cultural encounter during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The newsletter also includes reports of a joint presentation by Annabel Gallop and Venetia Porter which accompanied their travelling exhibition ‘Lasting impressions: the world of Islamic seals’, Frantz Grenet’s Bailey memorial lecture ‘The rediscovery of the court culture of the Qarakhanids’, and events held in Cambridge to celebrate 1000 years of Firdawsi’s epic poem the Shahnama.

Download a digital version of INDIRAN from: http://www.indiran.org/Indiranapril2011.pdf

Research and Grants for scholars of India

CRASSH (The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) is inviting applications for:

The Charles Wallace India Visiting Fellowship for the academic year 2012/13.

The CWIT fellowship offers funding to allow for one term of study and residence (9-12 weeks) in Cambridge, between October 2012 and June 2013.

The scheme is intended for earlier-career academics from India (defined as resident and domiciled in India, between the ages of 25 and 45 years). Applicants should have been in full-time academic employment in an Indian university or research institute of equivalent standing for at least five years and have completed a PhD.

Research proposals may be in any field within the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, with an emphasis on disciplinary innovation and cross-disciplinary enquiry.  Where the focus includes India, it is expected that projects will adopt an interdisciplinary approach (incorporating, for example, post-colonial, comparative, translation, or trans-regional studies). Proposals need not adhere to the Centre’s annual theme, although applicants might wish to take account of it. The theme for 2012-13 will be the Cultures and Politics of the Transregional.

Further information regarding the criteria for this fellowship and details of the online application process are available on the CRASSH website: http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/page/799/charles-wallace-india-trust-visiting-fellowship.htm

and related link:

http://www.britishcouncil.org/india-scholarships-cwit-full-visiting.htm

Deadline for applications is midday (12pm GMT) on Monday 31st October 2011.

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Forthcoming lectures

18 March	Dr Zakirullah JAN, (University of Peshawar)
	In Quest of the Indus Civilization in the Gomal plain, Northwest Pakistan
SPECIAL EVENT	In association with the Britain-Nepal Academic Council, CRASSH and the Centre for South Asian Studies
19 April	Professor Robin CONINGHAM (University of Durham)
	Lumbini: preserving and protecting a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Nepal.  NB: This lecture starts at 5.30pm and a reception will follow.