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BULLETIN OF THE BRITISH FOUNDATION FOR THE STUDY OF ARABIA (BFSA) (formerly the Society for Arabian Studies) Number 17 ISSN: 1361-9144 2012 £5.00 British Foundation for the Study of Arabia (BFSA) (formerly the Society for Arabian Studies) BFSA Trustees Outreach President Ms Beatrice de Cardi OBE Chair Dr Lloyd Weeks Chairman Dr Derek Kennet Lectures Dr Steffen Hertog, Dr Shelagh Weir, Treasurer Mr Simon Alderson Mrs Ionis Thompson (coordinator) Honorary Secretary Mr Michael Website coordinator Dr Lloyd Weeks Macdonald Conferences Dr Lucy Blue (coordinator), Ms Sarah Searight, Dr Rob Carter, Mrs Janet Dr Noel Brehony CMG Starkey Dr Rob Carter Mr William Facey Publications Dr Noel Guckian OBE Chair Dr St. John Simpson Dr Robert Hoyland Bulletin Dr Lucy Wadeson (editor), Ms Sarah Dr St John Simpson Searight (coordinator), Mr William Facey, Mrs Dr Lloyd Weeks Ionis Thompson, Monographs Dr Derek Kennet, Dr St John Grants Simpson (editors) Chair Dr Derek Kennet Dr Lucy Blue, Dr Nadia Durrani, Seminar (including PSAS) Chair Dr Lloyd Weeks Notes for contributors to the Bulletin The Bulletin depends on the good will of BFSA members and correspondents to provide contributions. News, items of general interest, details of completed postgraduate research, forthcoming conferences, meetings and special events are welcome. Please contact Ionis Thompson or Sarah Searight. Emails: [email protected] / [email protected] Grants in aid of research Applicants are advised to apply well ahead of the May and October deadlines. Full details on p. 4. Membership Membership details are available from the BFSA website www.thebfsa.org. For membership renewals contact William Deadman, BFSA Membership Secretary, St. John’s College, 3 South Bailey, Durham, DH1 3RJ, UK, or email: [email protected] For other enquiries, contact: The Hon. Secretary, Mr Michael Macdonald The British Foundation for the Study of Arabia c/o The London Middle East Institute School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Thornhaugh Street, London, WC1H 0XG, UK Website: www.thebfsa.org Bulletin of the British Foundation for the Study of Arabia ISSN: 1361-9144. BFSA Registered Charity No. 1003272 CONTENTS CONTENTS ............................................. 1 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES .................. 23 CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE ...................... 2 SAUDI ARABIA ...................................... 29 EDITOR'S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... 3 YEMEN .................................................... 34 AWARDS AND PRIZES ....................... 36 BFSA NEWS ............................................ 4 MONOGRAPH SERIES .................................... 4 AVAILABLE GRANTS AND BFSA GRANTS-IN-AID 2012 .......................... 4 PRIZES.....................................................36 GRANT-IN-AID REPORTS .............................. 4 CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS LECTURE REPORTS 2011 ............................... 7 2011–12 ................................................ 41 LECTURE PROGRAMME 2012 ..................... 10 COMPLETED CONFERENCES .................... 41 ARABIAN NEWS AND RESEARCH .. 11 UPCOMING CONFERENCES 2012 .............. 42 ARTS ................................................................ 11 BOOK REVIEWS .................................. 46 WILDLIFE ....................................................... 15 NEW PUBLICATIONS ON ARABIA .. 55 OTHER GENERAL NEWS ............................. 16 NEW BOOKS 2011–12 .................................... 55 NEWS AND RESEARCH BY COUNTRY ..... 18 JOURNALS AND MAGAZINES .................... 56 BAHRAIN ................................................. 18 SOCIETIES, ASSOCIATIONS AND KUWAIT ................................................... 18 OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES ........... 58 OMAN ....................................................... 18 QATAR ..................................................... 21 OBITUARIES ........................................ 60 Front Cover: Kuwaiti pearl divers ready for their sequence of ten dives, photographed by the Australian seaman and writer, Alan Villiers, in August 1939. From Dr Robert Carter's forthcoming book, Sea of Pearls: Arabia, Persia, and the Industry that Shaped the Gulf (Arabian Publishing, 2012. ISBN 978-0- 9571060-0-0). © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London (NMM V62-13). A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN Dear BFSA Members, we have been clearly told on numerous Over the past 50 or 60 years we have made occasions by the British Academy that so much progress in our understanding of funding would not be considered – Arabia, its culture and its heritage. In my own understandable perhaps in the current field, archaeology, we have moved from economic climate. scrabbling around (literally in the dirt) trying Of course, money is the lifeblood of to work out a basic chronology to an education and research and it therefore falls to increasingly sophisticated understanding of us to help find it if we want to build on the the environmental, social and economic progress and successes of the past 50 years. structures that have shaped Arabia and its We would all like to see more British and populations over the past 10,000 years. European students working on Arabia and we In other fields too progress has been great. would like to see more Arabian students I am reminded particularly of last year’s coming to British and European universities excellent May BFSA lecture by Professor to study and work on Arabian subjects. We Clive Holes, Language and identity in the would all like to see more research projects Arabian Gulf, where Professor Holes talked, under way in Arabia and more conferences in such an entertaining way, about the and workshops at which the results of current Baharna dialect, its origins and meaning. work are disseminated. Nonetheless, there is still much to learn and We have been very successful at much of there are huge areas about which we still this: the annual Seminar for Arabian Studies know very little. Meanwhile, building has just had 81 abstracts submitted for this development and change goes on apace in one year’s Seminar from all around the world - the of the wealthiest and fastest developing parts highest number since it began in 1968 and far of the world. It’s a race against time if we are more than can be accommodated during the to make sure that key aspects of Arabia’s three days in July at the British Museum. Last heritage (both tangible and intangible) are not year almost 200 people attended the Seminar lost forever. and that number has been increasing slowly As you know, the British Foundation for for some years now – fantastic for such a the Study of Arabia (BFSA) exists precisely relatively small part of the world that has to foster research into Arabia’s history, often been ignored as a cultural backwater. antiquities, archaeology, ethnography, On the other hand, in many ways research is languages, literature, art, culture, customs, in crisis: funding is increasingly difficult to geography, geology and natural history. It obtain in the current economic climate, does this through the raising of money, the students are turning to other subjects due to a organisation of events and the supporting of lack of fieldwork and research opportunities, research and publications. The BFSA aims to whilst very few universities in the UK now act as a focal point and advocate for the study teach Arabian-specific subjects. of Arabia's cultural heritage and to bring We therefore need to make progress in together students, scholars, government raising money and encouraging some of the organisations and – hopefully - funders, to massively wealthy institutions in the region to keep progress happening. invest in their own heritage and culture. We Arabia-philes are at a distinct Amongst the BFSA membership there must disadvantage compared to colleagues who be so many people who have excellent take an interest in places such as Italy, Egypt, contacts in the region. We really need to use Greece, Iran and India. Such parts of the these contacts to find ways in which we can world have dedicated ‘schools’ or ‘institutes’ encourage research and studentships. funded by the British government through the As you will know, the BFSA was only British Academy and these provide financial created in 2010 by the merger of the Society support, grants and infrastructure for students for Arabian Studies and the Seminar for and established scholars working in these Arabian Studies. In the short time that it has areas. But no such help for Arabia! Indeed, been in existence the volunteers that run the BFSA have been busy re-organising the 2 administration, sorting out the finances and EDITOR’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS getting ready to move forwards. The BFSA has already had the support of a generous As always, I would like to thank Ionis grant from the Altajir Trust, which was used Thompson and Sarah Searight for all their to design and establish a new website: wonderful help with the editing of the http://www.thebfsa.org/index.html and will Bulletin, and Will Facey for his work on the also be used to re-start the BFSA’s own reviews section. This year, I also had the help research grant programme this year. of Kathryn Price, who kindly offered her The BFSA hopes to make further progress assistance to gain further editing experience. this year in helping to establish and support Finally, thanks are due to all our research projects in Arabia as well as contributors, without whom the Bulletin continuing all of its other activities. On behalf would not exist. For those who would like to of the

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