THIS ISSUE: IRAQ – People and Heritage the Rise and Fall Of

Home , Derek Plumbly, Kingdom of Hatra, Mar Behnam Monastery, Mosul Museum, Naseer Shamma, Nimrud

Volume 11 - Number 4 June – July 2015 £4

TTHISHIS ISSUEISSUE: IIRAQRAQ – PeoplePeople andand HeritageHeritage ● TThehe rriseise andand fallfall ofof tthehe nationnation ● TThehe KurdsKurds andand ISISISIS ● TThehe YYezidisezidis ofof SinjarSinjar ● TThehe artificeartifice ofof thethe destructiondestruction ofof aartrt iinn IraqIraq ● OObliteratingbliterating Iraq’sIraq’s ChristianChristian heritageheritage ● NNimrudimrud reducedreduced toto rubblerubble ● IInterviewnterview withwith SSaadaad al-Jadiral-Jadir ● SSupportingupporting humanitieshumanities andand cultureculture forfor a sustainablesustainable IraqIraq ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews aandnd eventsevents inin LondonLondon Volume 11 - Number 4 June – July 2015 £4

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Athier, Man Of War VIII. 175 X 190. Acrylic on canvas Courtesy of Ayyam Gallery About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI) © Athier Th e London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide Volume 11 - Number 4 teaching, training, research, publication, consultancy, outreach and other services related to the Middle June – July 2015 East. It serves as a neutral forum for Middle East studies broadly defi ned and helps to create links between individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations. Editorial Board With its own professional staff of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic Professor Nadje Al-Ali SOAS membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. Th e LMEI also Dr Hadi Enayat has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle AKU East. LMEI’s Advisory Council is the driving force behind the Institute’s fundraising programme, for which Ms Narguess Farzad it takes primary responsibility. It seeks support for the LMEI generally and for specifi c components of its SOAS programme of activities. Mrs Nevsal Hughes Association of European Journalists LMEI is a Registered Charity wholly owned by SOAS, University of London (Charity Registration Dr George Joff é Number: 1103017). Cambridge University Ms Janet Rady Janet Rady Fine Art Mission Statement: Mr Barnaby Rogerson Ms Sarah Searight British Foundation for the Study Th e aim of the LMEI, through education and research, is to promote knowledge of all aspects of the Middle of Arabia East including its complexities, problems, achievements and assets, both among the general public and with Dr Kathryn Spellman-Poots those who have a special interest in the region. In this task it builds on two essential assets. First, it is based in AKU and LMEI London, a city which has unrivalled contemporary and historical connections and communications with the Dr Sarah Stewart SOAS Middle East including political, social, cultural, commercial and educational aspects. Secondly, the LMEI is Mrs Ionis Th ompson at SOAS, the only tertiary educational institution in the world whose explicit purpose is to provide education Saudi-British Society and BFSA and scholarship on the whole Middle East from prehistory until today. Dr Shelagh Weir Independent Researcher Professor Sami Zubaida Birkbeck College Coordinating Editor LMEI Staff: SSubscriptions:ubscriptions: Megan Wang Director Dr Hassan Hakimian To subscribe to Th e Middle East in London, please visit: Listings Executive Offi cer Louise Hosking www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/affi liation/ Vincenzo Paci Events and Magazine Coordinator Vincenzo Paci Designer Administrative Assistant Valentina Zanardi Shahla Geramipour Letters to the Editor: Th e Middle East in London is published fi ve times a year by the London Middle East Institute at SOAS Please send your letters to the editor at Disclaimer: the LMEI address provided (see left panel) Publisher and or email [email protected] Editorial Offi ce Opinions and views expressed in the Middle East Th e London Middle East Institute in London are, unless otherwise stated, personal SOAS University of London views of authors and do not refl ect the views of their MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell organisations nor those of the LMEI and the MEL's LONDON Square, London WC1B 5EA United Kingdom Editorial Board. Although all advertising in the MIDDLE EAST T: +44 (0)20 7898 4490 magazine is carefully vetted prior to publication, the F: +44 (0)20 7898 4329 LMEI does not accept responsibility for the accuracy INSTITUTE E: [email protected] www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ of claims made by advertisers. ISSN 1743-7598 Contents

LMEI Board of Trustees 4 19 Professor Paul Webley (Chair) EDITORIAL Pasts and futures entwined: Director, SOAS supporting humanities and Professor Richard Black, SOAS Dr John Curtis 5 culture for a sustainable Iraq Iran Heritage Foundation INSIGHT Eleanor Robson Sir Vincent Fean Iraq: the rise and fall of the Professor Ben Fortna, SOAS nation 21 Mr Alan Jenkins Sami Zubaida REVIEWS Dr Karima Laachir, SOAS BOOKS Dr Dina Matar, SOAS Dr Barbara Zollner 7 Th e Rise of Islamic State: ISIS Birkbeck College IRAQ and the New Sunni Revolution Th e Kurds and ISIS Barnaby Rogerson LMEI Advisory Council Hamit Bozarslan 22 Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) 9 Contemporary Art from Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem Near and Middle East Department, SOAS Th e Yezidis of Sinjar: the the Middle East: Regional H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait aft ermath of catastrophe Interactions with Global Art Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani Christine Allison Discourse Arab International Women’s Forum Pamela Karimi Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa President, University College of Bahrain 11 Professor Tony Allan King’s College and SOAS Th e artifi ce of the destruction 23 Dr Alanoud Alsharekh of art in Iraq BOOKS IN BRIEF Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS Charles Tripp Mr Farad Azima NetScientifi c Plc 24 Dr Noel Brehony MENAS Associates Ltd. 13 OBITUARY Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna Obliterating Iraq’s Christian Leila Ingrams (1940-2015) British Egyptian Society heritage Th anos Petouris HE Mr Mazen Kemal Homoud Ambassador, Embassy of the Hashemite Erica C D Hunter Kingdom of Jordan 25 15 EVENTS IN LONDON Founding Patron and Nimrud reduced to rubble Donor of the LMEI Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber John Curtis MBI Al Jaber Foundation 17 Mosul’s music and rich cultural heritage Nadje Al-Ali

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 3 EEDITORIALDITORIAL © Athier

DDearear RReadereader

Athier, A New Kind Of Machine 1. 200 x 253. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of Ayyam Gallery

Nelida Fuccaro, SOAS and British Institute for the Study of Iraq

t seems timely and appropriate to devote of the consolidation and disintegration of apart Iraq’s ancient Christian communities this issue to the people and heritage the modern state. In what follows Hamit and culture. Curtis remembers the city of Iof Iraq a year aft er the dramatic fall of Bozarslan refl ects on the destiny of the Nimrud, blown up by ISIS in April. He Mosul to the so-called Islamic State of Iraq Kurds, debating the new opportunities examines this history both as one of the and Syria (ISIS). Th e articles included in of – and the challenges to – Kurdish self- great centres of the Assyrian Empire and this issue analyse some of the tragic events determination posed by ISIS’s occupation as an exceptionally rich archaeological site and consequences of the takeover of Iraqi of portions of Iraq and Syria. Zooming that attracted generations of archaeologists. territory by ISIS’s militias before and aft er in on rural Kurdistan, Christine Allison Nadje Al-Ali’s interview with Saad al-Jadir Mosul. As widely reported in the world provides an account of the terrible ordeal of is also a tale of loss which evokes the ancient media the violent actions and destructive the Yezidis of Sinjar, an ancient heterodox musical culture that animated Mosul’s behaviour of the ‘army of the Caliphate’ religious community facing a very uncertain thriving artistic and intellectual scene in the have targeted individuals and communities, future under ISIS threat, not least as a 20th century. and with them some of the extraordinary result of their ambiguous relations with the In this scenario of suff ering and archaeological, religious and artistic heritage Kurdish Regional Government. destruction Eleanor Robson off ers some of Iraq. Charles Tripp brings to light the hope by concentrating on the activities As MEL goes to press, the battle to retake contradictions of ISIS’ religious extremism of the British Institute for the Study of Ramadi – which fell to ISIS forces on 17 by discussing the very mundane politics Iraq, some of whose council members May – is about to begin. ISIS threatens to underpinning the spectacular acts of and affi liates have contributed to this forever change the political, demographic faiths staged in and around Mosul: from issue. Robson reminds us of what is being and religious confi guration of this diverse the destruction of museums, libraries and done in London to help Iraqi academics and complex region, and to obliterate archaeological sites to the looting and sale of and institutions to develop and maintain the historical memory of its peoples. To artefacts. Th e articles by Erica C D Hunter the skills and resources necessary for the rekindle this memory the insight piece by and John Curtis survey and remember country’s recovery. It is hoped that this Sami Zubaida revisits the trajectory of Iraq some of what has been lost. Hunter’s focus is recovery will not remain wishful thinking as a nation through the lens of sectarian on ISIS’s systematic desecration of Christian for long. politics and identities against the backdrop monasteries and heritage which has torn

4 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 IINSIGHTNSIGHT

Sami Zubaida chronicles the uniﬁ cation and fragmentation of the diverse peoples of Iraq IIraq:raq: tthehe rriseise aandnd ffallall ofof thethe nationnation

Map of Iraq showing distribution of various

e now witness the unravelling other countries were colonial creations Turkey and Iran. Th e Turkish Republic of the Iraqi state and the deep and comprised diverse populations. But and Atatürk were much admired, with Wfi ssures and fragmentation of there were many other colonial creations – aspirations to similar paths. Th e Iranian its people and territory. Th e spectacular notably India with its much greater ethnic, Constitutional Revolution of 1906 had many sweep of ISIS over Iraqi territory was made religious and linguistic diversity – which roots in the Shi’i shrine cities of Iraq and had possible by the hollowing out of the state have survived and, more or less, thrived. stimulated much ideological ferment and and the obsolescence of the corrupt military Iraq, too, over the course of the 20th century, aspirations. Many of the Shi’i intellectuals forces. Part of this failure is the political made advances in the formation of national and clerics identifi ed with the wider Islamic sectarianism at the heart of Iraq’s current consciousness, institutions, a civil society reform movement in the Arab world and regime. While elements of sectarianism had and a public sphere. espoused aspirations of Islamic unity against been variable features of politics and society Th e Iraqi intelligentsia – functionaries, colonial domination. in earlier times, they had never before educators, professionals, journalists and Sectarian, tribal and local communal been so central and deadly with each side artists – grew and prospered from Ottoman identities were, of course, powerful foci of negating the other. How did we get here? reforms, and even more so aft er the British solidarity and competition for resources. We are told that this is the inevitable Mandate and the formation of the modern But these were competing with identities product of the colonial creation of state. Colonial dominance was a stimulus generated by modern political and ‘artifi cial’ national entities, cobbled together and a model for national formation. Iraqis ideological affi liations and actions. For most from diverse and antagonistic elements. also had models of the struggle for political people, sectarian identity, while present, Inevitably, the Sykes–Picot agreement is and constitutional modernity from their was not primary. Th e Shi’a, for instance, cited as the arch-villain in this narrative: immediate and ascendant neighbours: were socially and ideologically diverse: a it drew arbitrary lines on the map of the Middle East, carving the Ottoman Empire into territorial spoils aft er WWI. It is, of For most people, sectarian identity, course, true that Iraq, Syria and many while present, was not primary

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 5 Shi’i was, typically, also something else Th e Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the ensuing Iran–Iraq war which was oft en more important. Tribal Shi’a were socially distinct from urban led to the sharpening and politicisation of sectarian boundaries middle classes which had regional and city affi liations between Baghdad, Basra and translating into political affi liations. Kurdish martyrdom and revolution. Prominent Karbala, for instance. Clerical networks demands varied between independence, writers, poets and artists celebrated the were, naturally, the most ‘Shi’a’, yet, many autonomy and cultural rights. Yet, for events and the struggles and mourned the adopted patriotic and anti-imperialist much of the 20th century the Kurdish martyrs. Muhammad Mahdi al-Jawahiri stances that brought them together with intelligentsia participated in Iraqi public was one such fi gure, and his rousing lines others in political affi liations. Sunnis life and contributed politicians, writers and were memorised and inspired a whole were equally diverse by class, tribe and artists. Th e common educational system, generation. His famous line, Ana al-‘Irâqu, region. Christians and Jews (those until while granting language rights to the lisânî qalbuhu, wa-damî furâtuhu, wa-kiyânî their mass departure in 1950-51), while Kurdish region, was conducted mostly in minhu ashtâru (I am Iraq, my tongue is marked as non-Muslim ‘minorities’ and Arabic, which facilitates a common universe her heart, my blood her Euphrates, my suff ering covert or overt discrimination, still of discourse. It may be said that educated being is one of her branches), expressed the participated prominently in public life and Iraqi Kurds, until the last decade of the sentiment of Iraqis aspiring to common supplied many notable writers, journalists century, shared more with equivalent Iraqi citizenship and national identity. Th ese and artists, as well as the spheres of business Arabs than with Kurds from neighbouring sentiments reached their height with the and the professions. Th ere were also the countries. revolution of 1958, opening the political ‘ethnic religions’, those that constituted A crucial element in the formation of fi eld to contention between left ists and pan- closed and esoteric communities, such as this common Iraqi sphere of discourse and Arab nationalists and culminating in the the Mandeans (Sabi`a) of the south, the participation from diverse elements was 1963 coup and massacre of the left . Th is was Yezidis in Kurdistan, and several other small the Iraqi Communist Party. While always then repeated in the Ba’thist coup of 1968 sects in the northern mountains. Th ese clandestine and persecuted, it continued, and the rise of Saddam, aided in repression are esoteric religions, intertwined with the nevertheless, to function, recruit and and military adventure by Iraq’s multiplying communal structure and with hereditary organise. In addition to its actual organised oil revenues. ritual functions, and tied to the particular members, it enjoyed wide sympathy and Th e Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the sacred sites of their territories. In the course support amongst many sections of the ensuing Iran–Iraq war led to the sharpening of the 20th century many members of these intelligentsia and the working classes. It and politicisation of sectarian boundaries, communities sought emancipation from became the national party par excellence. and the emergence of religious Shi’a parties communal ties and entered the modern It recruited from all the communities and and institutions as the main opposition. spheres of public life and politics. classes: Arab, Kurd, Sunni, Shi’i, Christian, Th at devastating war was followed by an Where do the Kurds fi t into this picture? Jewish and all others. It was the vehicle even more ruinous Kuwait adventure in Th e Kurdish national struggles continued, by which many Kurds could see their 1990-91, followed by the crippling sanctions. through many bloody episodes, for national struggle as part of a common Iraqi Th e decline of state capacity and services much of the 20th century. Th e Kurds, too, ‘progressive’ endeavour. It presided over the that followed, and the ever escalating are heterogeneous with tribal, regional, uprisings and agitations of the 1940s and violence of the state and associated gangs, religious and linguistic diversity, sometimes the 1950s, engendering legends of heroism, the policy of re-tribalisation and religious enforcements all forced people to seek security and livelihood in affi liations of kinship and patronage, of tribe, sect and local powers. Th e American and British invasion in 2003 and the disastrous policies it initiated furthered this process of sectarian and tribal fragmentation. Th is state of corruption and arbitrary power opened up the fi eld to ISIS and sectarian gangs.

Sami Zubaida is Emeritus Professor of Politics and Sociology at Birkbeck, University of London and a member of the Editorial Board. His most recent book is Beyond Islam: A New Understanding of the Middle East (2011)

Mosul, 1932. A Yezidi shrine can be seen on the left with the minaret of the Nouri Mosque on

6 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 IIRAQRAQ

Hamit Bozarslan examines the reconﬁ guration of the ‘Kurdish issue’ in light of ISIS aggression TThehe KKurdsurds aandnd IISISSIS © Persian Dutch Network, Wikimedia Commons

Kobane, in Syrian Kurdistan, during the US-led bombing of ISIS targets. Photograph by M. Akhavan, Persian Dutch Network

he summer 2014 will be remembered with the Turkish, Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian military strategy. ISIS is also displaying as a season during which the states. Iraqi Kurds have enjoyed autonomy nihilism by using suicide-bombings and Tcentury-long Kurdish issue in the since the 1991 Gulf War and Syrian Kurds wide-scale attacks that increase the number Middle East was entirely reconfi gured. Th e have had access to a de facto self-rule since of its enemies. de facto enlargement of the Iraqi Kurdish the regime’s withdrawal from Kurdish Furthermore, this force, which fi nds its region by the inclusion of Kirkuk, the oil- towns in the summer 2012. Even then, ultimate motive in intra-Arab sectarian rich city located in the so-called ‘disputed Baghdad and Damascus remained the main divisions and not in any Kurdish–Arab areas’ between Erbil and Baghdad, was references for Kurdish decision-makers confl ict per se, has been able to change not the main reason for this change. Th e who could not envision a secessionist the territorial confi guration of the Arab, brutal conquest of the Sinjar region – one scenario. In the summer 2014, however, and therefore Kurdish, lands: while of two main historical places of the Yezidi the Kurds discovered a new dominant Iraqi Kurdistan shares a 1,053 km-long community in Iraqi Kurdistan – by ISIS regional force which defi es the interstate frontier with the new ISIS ‘state’, offi cial forces and the fi ve-month long siege of borders established aft er WWI and Iraq becomes a territorially distant reality. the Kurdish city of Kobane in Syria have mobilises an international military force. Likewise, Kobane and Afrin, two of the provoked serious security problems in the ISIS distinguishes itself for its cruelty and three Kurdish cantons in Syria, which Kurdish regions of both Syria and Iraq. extreme rationality, the latter demonstrated share a common frontier with Kurdistan in From 1918/1919 on, the Kurds have by the construction of a quasi-state Turkey (but are isolated Kurdish localities in defi ned themselves in a dialectical relation administration and development of a Syria), have a new neighbour in ISIS. Th e sudden emergence of the ‘armies Th e sudden emergence of the ‘armies of the of the Caliph’ has unavoidably shocked the Kurds, who by 2014 had developed Caliph’ has unavoidably shocked the Kurds some narcissistic self-confi dence. Before

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 7 No society can live as an island in the political disintegration. In contrast with the Arab population, the Kurds, who come midst of a generalised state of violence from the region’s historical peripheries, seem to realise genuine social integration that summer, Iraqi Kurdistan had a half- military cooperation. Th e main question both in Iraq and Syria. One cannot deny patrimonial, half-democratic system; is existential: how will the Kurds integrate that, compared to their situation in the while in Syria, Kurdish areas, which were this episode into their national narrative 1980s when their very existence in Iraq was controlled by the PKK-affi liated PYD and redefi ne the Kurdish cause in the in danger, the Kurdish community has been (Party of Democratic Unity), had adopted a absence of the two Arab states that have so widely empowered throughout the region. hegemonic system of direct rule. Whatever overwhelmingly determined its evolution It is also true that the plight of the Kurds references Kurdish politicians had in mind, in the past? How will they imagine and has won worldwide sympathy. However, they considered Iraqi and Syrian Kurdistans describe themselves, historically and one should also admit that, no matter how a sort of Middle Eastern ‘Athens’, that is, geographically, in relation to this new actor, cohesive it is internally, no society can live as a ‘city’ spared by violence. In both cases, ISIS? Th roughout the 20th century, Kurdish an island in the midst of a generalised state the Kurdish armed resistance seemed to movements could translate Turkish, Persian of violence. Th e survival of the Kurds in Iraq belong to the past as the armed forces and Arab discourses (Western-centric, and Syria will therefore ultimately depend were in charge of the symbolic defence left -wing or even oppositional Islamist) into on the pacifi cation of the neighbouring of Kurdistan’s borders. With ISIS attacks, their own political language and project Arab societies. however, death returned to the Kurdish city, themselves in a universalistic framework. obliging it to reorganise itself in accordance How will they ever be able to communicate Professor Hamit Bozarslan teaches at the with a ‘Spartan model’ built around a with the Caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales in militarised society. Iraqi Kurds needed to which destroys any form of universalism Paris. He has recently published Révolution recognise the weaknesses of their armed and works to exacerbate sectarian divisions? et état de violence: Moyen-Orient 2011- forces and to professionalise them. In Syria, More importantly, how will the Kurds be 2015 (Paris, CNRS Editions) the Kurds had to accept that the battle might able to envision their future aft er 2014? well be conducted in Kurdish cities and not In a sense, the entire region fi nds itself necessarily on Kurdistan’s periphery. in an unprecedented situation: the collapse Th e challenge posed by ISIS has also of the central states, in Syria and in Iraq, aff ected the region-wide Kurdish political is followed by an extremely militarised space. In spite of the division of Kurdistan territorial fragmentation and the break- between four countries – and as a response up of societies. No one can be certain that to it – the trans-border dimension of the there still will be an Iraqi or Syrian society Kurdish issue has always been considered at the beginning of the 2020s. Th e lack of decisive by all Kurdish organisations. resistance at the fall of Mosul – a city of 1.3 Th roughout the 20th century, the Kurdish million inhabitants, including 86,000 heavily national narrative (which emerged between equipped soldiers and policemen – can Peshmerga (the military forces of Iraqi the 1920s and the 1940s) included a only be understood by taking into account Kurdistan) on a T-55-Tank outside Kirkuk in Iraq, common national map, a unifi ed history- the massive eff ects of on-going social and June 2014 writing, a fl ag and a national anthem, thus

posing a strong challenge to interstate © Boris Niehaus, Wikimedia Commons borders. By the end of the 1970s, the Kurdish issue imposed itself more and more as an interstate issue, giving birth to an unoffi cial trans-border Kurdish political and military space. But in the 1980s and the 1990s, this integrated space was aff ected by numerous violent internal confl icts. In the fi rst decade of the 21st century the Kurdish political-military arena still remained fragmented and confl ictual but acquired the means of self-regulation. Two organisations – the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) and the PKK – became the leading political actors. Challenged by ISIS in 2014, the KRG and the PKK were obliged to coordinate their military eff ort in the Makhmur Refugee Camp as well as in Sinjar and Kobane. From this point of view, the events of 2014 accelerated Kurdish integration. But the changes are not limited to

8 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 IIRAQRAQ

Christine Allison describes the plight of the Yezidis, a religious minority of Northern Iraq that ISIS threatens to decimate TThehe YYezidisezidis ooff SSinjar:injar: tthehe aaftermathftermath ooff ccatastropheatastrophe © UK Department for International Development, Wikimedia Commons

Iraqi Yezidi refugees receiving support from the International Rescue Committee at a refugee camp in northeastern Syria after ﬂ eeing ISIS militants through the Sinjar Mountains, 13 August 2014. Photograph by Rachel Unkovic, International Rescue Committee n 3 August 2014, ISIS seized Mount Th e Yezidis’ religion is probably ancient which has persisted for centuries. Perhaps Sinjar in Northern Iraq, bringing Iranian in origin but has incorporated surprisingly, the ISIS English-language Oviolence to the Yezidis, a religious many elements from the rich variety of publication Dabiq issued in October 2014 minority who form the majority of its faiths of the area. Th ey believe in one God prefers the label ‘polytheists’, but justifi es population. Hundreds of thousands of who has entrusted the world to the most the slavery of Yezidi women as legitimate. people evacuated the area in panic. Th ose senior of seven Holy Beings or ‘angels’; Chillingly, it adds that the continued who were unable to fl ee into the region these have sometimes appeared in the existence of Yezidis is something Muslims controlled by the Kurdistan Regional world in the form of saints venerated should ‘question’ as they may be called to Government faced a stark choice: convert in Islam or Christianity, and the Yezidis account for it on Judgment Day. With such to Islam or die. A small minority besieged revere them too, as well as many saints of a rationale given by the perpetrators, the on the mountain managed to survive with their own. Th eir sacred tradition has been Yezidis justifi ably use the term ‘genocide’ outside help, but many elderly people and orally transmitted for centuries; unlike In a society where the ‘honour’ of men children died. Th ousands of men were Christians and Jews they were not classifi ed and their families is defi ned by the sexual massacred, and about 7,000 women and as ‘people of the Book’ in the Ottoman modesty of their women, the abduction children were taken into slavery. Almost Empire. Th is lack of status made them and enslavement of girls hits the Yezidis one year on, of the 900,000 Internally vulnerable to attack and was exacerbated particularly hard. Kurds and Arabs have Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Kurdistan by the inaccurate label of ‘devil-worshipper’ sung for centuries of tribal warfare provoked region of Iraq, some 350,000 are Yezidis. Many live in makeshift shelters in appalling conditions. But the most serious damage to Of the 900,000 Internally Displaced Persons in the the community runs far deeper. Kurdistan region of Iraq, some 350,000 are Yezidis

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 9 by the abduction of women, especially Th is, the largest mass rape the community has seen since WWI, between the diff erent religious and ethnic communities of the area. Patriarchy strikes a deep blow to the whole of this close-knit community identifi es protection of ‘our women’ – sometimes referred to as ‘our honour’ – as Turkey) and later by the (Iraqi) Kurdistan President of the Kurdistan Region. It was a priority. Th e Sinjaris are seen by other Regional Government; despite their success, the KDP who garrisoned the peshmerga Yezidis as proud traditionalists, careful of the mountain is not yet secure. station at Sinjar whose commanding their honour and of the rules of Yezidism Yezidis once lived across much of Eastern offi cer left the area hours before civilians concerning marriage. Th e religion imposes Turkey and Northern Syria. Th e former were informed of the ISIS attack, followed a ban not only on marrying non-Yezidis migrated en masse to Armenia and Georgia shortly by his subordinates; and when but even on marrying those outside one’s in 1918, and in the post-Soviet economic Mosul was taken in June it was the KDP own social group or caste (all Yezidis belong crisis they spread across Russia and Europe. who had reassured Yezidis that they would to one of three social strata, determined Of those left in Turkey, most became ‘guest- be safe and there was no need to leave. by birth). So this, the largest mass rape workers’ in Germany a generation ago. Th e only eff ective outside support came the community has seen since WWI, Th ose of Syria were aff ected by the civil war. from militias belonging to the PYD (Syrian strikes a deep blow not only to the families All that remains of the traditional heartland Kurds, aligned to the PKK from Turkey) concerned but to the whole of this close- is the community of Northern Iraq, where who opened up an escape corridor for some knit community. Last October, the Yezidis, the holiest Yezidi site of Lalesh is located Yezidi refugees. KRG support for Yezidi unused to speaking to the international in the locality of Sheikhan on the fringes militias came later. community, sent an unprecedented – and of the Kurdish zone. ISIS also advanced on Despite Barzani’s stated intentions to ultimately unsuccessful – delegation to Sheikhan and the inhabitants fl ed, though punish the offi cers concerned, many Washington to request US help in targeting most have now returned. Th e heartlands of Yezidis remain angry and some activists the kidnappers and freeing the women. Sheikhan and Sinjar are vitally important have been arrested in the KRG zone. Most Meanwhile the women’s own stories have for Yezidis worldwide: many hope to visit disturbingly, divisions have opened between been pieced together from calls made the fl uted spires of Lalesh at least once in Haidar Shesho, leader of the Sinjari Yezidi to their families and the accounts of the their lives. And Lalesh is not the only holy militia, and the KRG over his political minority who escaped or were freed. In their place: with the loss of Sinjar comes the loss allegiances. At a very sensitive time in Iraqi desperation many of the women committed of countless smaller sites associated with Kurdistan Yezidi protests are not welcome, suicide whilst in captivity. Others have one saint or another. Th e landscape where especially aft er the initial outpouring of returned, sometimes reluctant to admit they Yezidism evolved remains its wellspring compassion and goodwill from the Kurdish have been raped, and are facing everyday and any loss of it is felt by the community at population immediately following the life as IDPs. Despite the eff orts of local large, as the demonstrations of solidarity by catastrophe. But many Sinjaris are not and international NGOs and the Kurdish Yezidis from Tbilisi to Hamburg show. currently identifying as Kurdish themselves. authorities, psychological and psychiatric Perhaps the most dangerous consequence Th ey say that they no longer want to facilities are severely limited. for the Yezidis’ security is the impact of last depend on Kurdish protection and, like the Aft er the catastrophe some Yezidis fought August’s events on the Yezidis’ relations displaced Christians, are requesting separate on in Sinjar, supported by Kurdish PYD with the Kurdistan Regional Government autonomy and security arrangements. militias from Syria linked to the PKK (the (KRG), especially the Kurdistan Democratic But such a settlement would need to be Kurdish Worker’s Party originating in Party (KDP), the party of Massoud Barzani, part of an integrated plan for Iraq which would allow the voices of small minorities to be heard, and, with the battle against ISIS still raging, it will be some time before settlements can be made which will allow this traumatised community to take the fi rst steps towards recovery.

Christine Allison is Professor of Kurdish Studies at the University of Exeter and has published extensively on the culture and folklore of the Yezidis

The Chilmera or “40 Men” Temple, a Yezidi temple in the Sinjar Mountains in Northern Iraq. Picture taken by an American Soldier from the 334th Signal Company, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry

10 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 IIRAQRAQ

Charles Tripp on ISIS, the spectacle of demolition, proﬁ t and piety TThehe aartirtiﬁ cece ooff tthehe ddestructionestruction ooff aartrt iinn IIraqraq © Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

The remains of several temples and the ancient walls that surrounded them can be seen from atop the highest temple in the center of the ancient city of Hatra, 2004. The buildings and statues have since been destroyed by ISIS. Photograph taken by the 101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Aﬀ airs

olitics is frequently about the Mosul Museum were destroyed, as they Museum the spokesman states ‘we do spectacular and in this, as in so much were at Nineveh, Nimrud and Khorsabad not care if we could have made billions of Pelse, the grouping ISIS is no diff erent where sections of the ruins were bulldozed. dollars’. Th e casual mention of a market from any other political organisation. A similar fate befell the Parthian ruins price (even if an infl ated one) for the For much of 2014 the world’s media of Hatra where buildings and statues artefacts that were being destroyed in the and the internet were saturated by ISIS were demolished. Th is is all presented as name of piety should alert one to what else generated images of shootings, beheadings, spectacle, to ensure as wide an audience as might be going on. Because ISIS has framed crucifi xions, defenestrations and mutilations possible, knowing the impact that this will these spectacular events in a language of of people whom the group had decided have on the outside world. Th e intention is religiosity, asserting that its adherents are should die and die most publicly. Th is was to shock, but also perhaps to be a riposte to acting as nothing less than the instruments intercut with fi lmed acts of destruction of the military setbacks suff ered by ISIS since of God’s will, the pietistic aspect has Shi’i, Christian and Yezidi places of worship, January 2015. coloured much of the coverage. as well as of Sufi shrines and of prophets’ In the fi lms, the acts of destruction are Yet spectacle can be used as much to tombs in Mosul. accompanied by voiceovers claiming that distract as to impress. So it is worth thinking In 2015, ISIS focused on other aspects of ISIS is doing the work of God by destroying about the other political features of these the rich cultural and archaeological heritage idols that ‘had been worshipped instead alleged acts of faith. In the fi rst place, far of Iraq. Assyrian and other statues in the of Allah’. In one video shot in the Mosul less spectacular, but considerably more profi table materially, has been the systematic Smuggling routes and networks have facilitated looting of countless archaeological sites in areas of Syria and Iraq controlled by the export of artefacts, creating a constant and ISIS. Th is has been going on for about two reliable income stream for ISIS leadership years, carried out by units of ISIS or farmed

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 11 Th e treasures of ancient Mesopotamia are authenticity through bodily re-enactment and can also be projected as external proof now paying the price for their 20th-century of inner commitment. incorporation into the national myth of Iraq Finally, the destroyed artefacts may have fallen victim to a political impulse out, under lucrative licenses, to the many could be called ‘competitive piety’ within stemming from the challenge that ISIS freelancers who have seen this as a golden ISIS. Th e organisation is not monolithic. It represents to the nation states of Iraq and opportunity for self-enrichment. is made up of a number of groupings that Syria. Th e treasures of ancient Mesopotamia Smuggling routes and networks have saw some strategic purpose, and possibly are now paying the price for their 20th- facilitated the export of artefacts, creating profi t, in coming together in 2013/14 and century incorporation into the national a constant and reliable income stream for internal tensions exist between ideologues, myth of Iraq. Successive Iraqi governments ISIS leadership and for the networks that opportunists and those who hope to use have done much to encourage the study of it has franchised. Th e use of graven images the destructive energy of ISIS for their own the extraordinary material legacies of Ur, as commodities, especially when this is purposes. Th ey have diff erent priorities, Babylon and Assyria. But they have also for personal profi t, as it oft en seems to be, but they share an insecurity common to used them in the project of Iraqi nation- scarcely conforms to any understanding all ideologically driven organisations: the building to persuade all the inhabitants of of sharia or the example of the Prophet fear that they will be thought insuffi ciently the valley of the two rivers that they share invoked by ISIS. Consequently, the acts of committed to the most extreme version a common national heritage, regardless spectacular destruction of what remains of the cause. Competitive destruction, like of present linguistic, ethnic and sectarian can be a way of redirecting the gaze and of competitive murder, becomes a way of diff erences. Part of the political project putting on a pious performance at the same allaying suspicions of backsliding. Th is may of ISIS is to dissolve any such notion time. be all the more necessary at a time when of national community, and so it is not Th ere are strong suspicions that this was there have been hints of internal unease surprising that the artefacts integral to precisely what has occurred at the Mosul about the propriety, but also the distribution it should become primary targets for library and at other institutions which of revenue from the sale of artefacts. Th eir destruction. house collections of rare manuscripts that destruction becomes a way for one faction are under the control of ISIS. Figuratively, to pre-empt its rivals. Charles Tripp is Professor of Politics with but also on some occasions literally, a In this respect, the salafi spirit of the reference to the Middle East and Vice-Chair pile of unremarkable printed books were re-enactment of piety within the politics of the Council of the British Institute for the burned in front of the library, whilst sacks of ISIS should not be discounted. For Study of Iraq full of manuscripts and valuable printed such adherents, performing what they material were taken out the back door. Th e imagine are the actions of those who helped whole operation was publicly justifi ed with to found the faith is a key part of their reference to the heretical or godless contents identity. Destroying the winged bulls and of much of the material in these libraries, other statues of gods and kings provides but it was the market value that was of them with a chance to emulate what they particular interest to the ISIS units charged imagine to have been the example of the with making the selection. earliest Muslims in casting down the idols Th e nature of these acts of destruction, of the jahiliyya. It is part of their search for their distribution and the timing of their occurrence would also suggest that they are © Michael Rakowitz the product of a developing politics within ISIS. Th e assault on statues in the Mosul Museum and at various archaeological sites seems to have occurred at least nine months aft er they came under ISIS control. It did not happen in the fi rst encounter when pious outrage and the signalling of the religious zeal of the new order might have been expected to be at the fore. It was then that human communities and their places of worship were spectacularly and cruelly targeted. It is likely, therefore, that some of these acts of destruction are the product of what

Michael Rakowitz, The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist (Recovered, Missing, Stolen Series), 2007-ongoing

12 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 IIRAQRAQ

Erica C D Hunter surveys the damage done by ISIS’s desecration of Christian monasteries in Iraq OObliteratingbliterating IIraq’sraq’s CChristianhristian hheritageeritage

Image of Qaraqosh cross, 1989. The Qaraqosh cross is decorated with ﬂ owers to celebrate the saint's day of St. Cyprianus which happens

SIS’s destruction of churches and ISIS has damaged or destroyed all 45 using sledgehammers destroyed its pictorial monasteries continues a pattern that Christian religious institutions in Mosul, tile façade depicting biblical scenes. Th e Ihas been on-going since 2006, following many of which are centuries old. Th e church bells were thrown to the ground. the sectarian violence that erupted with St. George monastery, located north of Such was the orgy of violence that even the bombing of the al-Askeri mosque in Mosul, was founded by the Church of the the dead in the adjacent cemetery did Samarra by Sunni extremists. To date, a total East (Nestorian) in the 10th century, but not escape. Crosses were wrenched from of 72 churches and ecclesiastical institutions was rebuilt in the mid-19th century by the graves, many of which commemorated war throughout various cities in Iraq have Chaldaean Catholic Church. In December dead. According to reports, however, the been targeted. Many of these attacks were 2014, militants removed the iron crosses monastery is still standing – albeit stripped perpetrated by Al-Qaeda. However, it might on the roof of the monastery and hoisted of its Christian symbols since ISIS is be said that ISIS has refi ned this agenda to the black fl ag of ISIS. Th ree months later currently using it as a detention centre. a previously unprecedented degree, equally the church was attacked once again; men While St. George’s monastery serves targeting all denominations: Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Catholic, Assyrian Church To date ISIS has damaged or destroyed all 45 Christian of the East, Chaldaean Catholic. religious institutions in Mosul, many of which are centuries old

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 13 the current needs of ISIS this is not the ISIS is imposing a puritanism that displays case with the Church of St. Ahoadamah in Tikrit. Otherwise known as the their ignorance of the rich Christian heritage ‘Green Church’, it was built in 700 by and inter-communal relationships of Iraq the Syrian Orthodox Maphrian, Denha II and was considered to be one of the most famous churches not only in the fortunately these had been digitised in a modern gatehouse and façade taking pride city, but in all of Iraq. Excavations by the programme initiated by the Hill Museum of place – the interior still featured ornately Iraqi Archaeological Service during the and Manuscript Library (Minnesota, USA). carved marble doorways with Estrangela 1990s made notable discoveries including Father Behnam Sony had also compiled a Syriac inscriptions, domed ceilings and several coffi ns, one of which belonged to catalogue of the monastery’s holdings. Th ere exquisite muqarnas. Th e monastery also a bishop who was still wearing his silver are no authenticated reports as to whether contained a unique 13th-century Syriac– seal ring. Th e recent destruction by ISIS the manuscripts have been destroyed, but Uighur (Old Turkic) inscription that was is merely another chapter in the long the chances that they have survived are slim. a legacy of the Mongols; some of their history of the Green Church. In 1089 the It is possible that these items may emerge on troops were Christian Uighurs. As the Muslim governor ordered the church to the international ‘art market’. Such trading most western example of the spread of be destroyed, but it was later restored and usually accompanies the anarchy in which Uighur, the inscription was unique, not just returned to usage in 1112. Although it was groups like ISIS fl ourish and abets the for Christianity or for Iraq but for world no longer a working institution, the Green desecration of cultural heritage. heritage. Church was an important reminder of the Worse was to follow the expulsion ISIS will undoubtedly continue to rich Christian history of Tikrit, which was, of the monks and the ransacking of desecrate and destroy churches and for many centuries, a metropolitanate of the the monastery’s library. In March 2015 monasteries, with the collective result Syrian Orthodox Church. militants allegedly blew up parts of the being the eradication of a unique strand of Another ancient institution to fall victim ancient monastery of Mar Behnam. Th e Iraq’s religious, architectural and cultural to ISIS is Mar Behnam Monastery south of monastery was built on the site of the heritage. Nicholas al-Jeloo, a young Assyrian Nimrud. Fighters stormed the monastery in 4th-century martyrdom of the Sassanid scholar recently summed up the bleak July 2014 and expelled its monks who were prince Behnam and his sister, Sarah, who situation saying, ‘IS[IS] is destroying the rich not allowed to take any of the monastery’s were Zoroastrian but were converted by St. cultural fabric of the area, the multilayered, ancient relics or their Bibles. Th ey literally Matthew, the eponymous founder of the multilingual, multi-ethnic aspects of society. left just with the clothes that they were Mar Matti monastery which is still standing It’s not just our heritage, it’s the heritage of wearing – and their faith. Th e monks were on the frontier between the KRG-controlled the world. It is part of our history and now forced to leave behind precious manuscript territories and ISIS occupied lands. Behnam it’s gone’. archives and holy books, although and Sara had refused to renounce their ISIS’s campaign to destroy the symbols of newly acquired faith and were martyred the common bonds that overcame religious on the orders of their father, the king, who and ethnic partisanship and cemented converted to Christianity on his deathbed. society for centuries is an outright assault on In addition to providing a real connection Iraq’s cultural heritage. In their aspiration with the earliest strata of Christianity in the to expunge all traces of ‘undesirable, Sassanid Empire, Mar Behnam monastery unethical’ strands in the history of Iraq – via was also part of the global emergence of ethnic cleansing, mass expulsions and the monasticism in the 4th century, following destruction of holy places – ISIS is imposing the initiatives and rules laid down by St. a puritanism that displays their ignorance Anthony and Pachomias in the Nitrian of the rich Christian heritage and inter- desert, Egypt, where ancient monasteries are communal relationships of Iraq, both of still functioning. Along with these venerable which contributed much to the fabric of the institutions, Mar Behnam monastery country under ‘rightly-guided’ Islamic rule. stood as testimony to the monastic way of life that is still is a major characteristic of Dr Erica C D Hunter is Head of the Christianity to this day. Department for the Study of Religions and ISIS’s destruction of Mar Behnam Senior Lecturer in Eastern Christianity. monastery is not the fi rst that the monastery She fi rst visited Iraq in 1987 and has since has experienced in its long history. During maintained a keen interest in its Christian the 13th century it suff ered under the communities Mongol incursions, but its rebuilding under the Il-Khanate marks it out as one of only a handful of buildings in all of Iraq to survive from this period. Whilst the exterior of the monastery was refurbished in the 1980s – a

14 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 IIRAQRAQ The best surviving example of an Assyrian palace has been destroyed by ISIS. John Curtis remembers what was lost NNimrudimrud rreducededuced ttoo rrubbleubble © J. E. Curtis

The reconstructed North-West Palace at Nimrud seen from the ziggurat

he world was stunned on Saturday, mound are a ziggurat, temples dedicated and popular books, attracted enormous 11 April when ISIS released a video to the gods Nabu, Ninurta and Ishtar, and interest amongst a British public well-versed Tshowing destruction at Nimrud. If various palaces, the chief of which was built in the Bible and hungry for information the intention was to shock they certainly Ashurnasirpal (the North-West Palace) and about the Ancient Near East. For the achieved their objective. Nimrud, now in is known to have measured at least 200 by fi rst time, people were introduced to the Northern Iraq, was one of the principal 130 metres. Nimrud may once have had a now-familiar carved stone panels showing cities – along with Nineveh, Khorsabad and population of more than 60,000 and, by any the Assyrian king in offi cial ceremonies, Ashur – of the great Assyrian Empire that standards, is one of the most important sites hunting bulls and lions, or leading his fl ourished between the 9th and 7th centuries in the whole of the ancient world. It should army into war, as well as the massive stone BC. It was here that Ashurnasirpal II certainly have been recognised as a world gateway fi gures showing winged human- (883-859 BC) established his capital which heritage site long ago; the fact that it was headed bulls and lions. It is said that the remained an important centre until it was not is a refl ection of the relations between Assyrian images of bearded fi gures inspired destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians Iraq and the international community in the the fashion for beards in Victorian England, in 612 BC. Th e walls of Nimrud – now time of Saddam Hussein. but this may be apocryphal. Th e main focus represented by earthen banks – enclose Th e fi rst excavations at Nimrud were of Layard’s excavations was the North- an area of 360 hectares, within which are undertaken by the great Victorian traveller, West Palace of Ashurnasirpal, where he a great citadel mound and the site of Fort archaeologist and politician Austen Henry worked mostly in the state apartments to Shalmaneser, a palace arsenal constructed Layard between 1845 and 1851. His the south of the main entrance. Many of by Ashurnasirpal’s son Shalmaneser III descriptions of Assyrian art and civilisation, the stone reliefs that he found, and some (858-824 BC). Crowded on to the citadel published through a series of well-written of the colossal gateway fi gures, together with miscellaneous smaller objects and Nimrud was one of the principal cities of the great Assyrian cuneiform tablets were sent to the British Museum in London where they now occupy Empire that fl ourished between the 9th and 7th centuries BC pride of place in the Assyrian galleries. Aft er

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 15 Th e contents of the tombs not only demonstrated the great once have looked. Also, some of the reliefs were of the highest quality and, in contrast wealth of the Assyrian empire, but also revolutionised our to the exported reliefs, still retained understanding of Assyrian technology and arts and craft s extensive traces of their original paint. On 2 April the entire North-West Palace was Layard’s time many other Nimrud reliefs or crown. Cuneiform inscriptions showed blown up by ISIS in a massive explosion, parts of reliefs were removed from Nimrud that the consorts of several Assyrian kings leaving only a pile of rubble. Th e world will and sent to museums around the world. were buried in these tombs. Th e contents be the poorer for the loss of this unique Other 19th-century excavators at Nimrud of the tombs not only demonstrated the cultural treasure. included Hormuzd Rassam, Willliam great wealth of the Assyrian empire, but Kennett Loft us and George Smith, but then also revolutionised our understanding of John Curtis is currently the President of there was a hiatus. Large scale excavations at Assyrian technology and arts and craft s. the British Institute for the Study of Iraq, the site were resumed by the British School Fortunately this mass of goldwork (together the Hon Secretary of the Friends of Basrah of Archaeology (now the British Institute with some of the ivories) was moved to a Museum, and the CEO of the Iran Heritage for the Study of Iraq) between 1949 and bank vault in Baghdad before the second Foundation. He was Keeper of the Middle 1963, led fi rst by (Sir) Max Mallowan and Gulf War in 2003 and is still in safe keeping East Department at the British Museum then by David Oates. During this time the there. 1989-2011 School made many important discoveries. Iraqi archaeologists also cleared Of three wells excavated in the North-West previously unexcavated parts of the Palace, one (NN) produced some of the North-West Palace and undertook a fi nest Phoenician ivory plaques yet to be lot of restoration work, rebuilding mud discovered including two showing female brick walls. Although many reliefs had heads – one very beautiful (nicknamed ‘the been removed to museums around the Mona Lisa’) and the other rather less comely world, there were about 50 panels still in (‘the ugly sister’) – and a pair of plaques position, together with a large number of each showing a lion killing an African. fragments. Consequently, apart from being Th ese ivories were carved in a centre or the only substantial building still standing centres in Phoenicia or Syria and brought to at Nimrud, the North-West Palace was Nimrud in antiquity as booty or tribute. the best surviving example of an Assyrian During his time at Nimrud, Mallowan palace and probably represented the only was always accompanied by his wife, the location where it was possible to get an Drawing of the winged lion of Nimrud by Austen celebrated crime writer Agatha Christie, impression of how such buildings would Henry Layard (1817-1894)

who not only wrote some of her thrillers at © Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons Nimrud but also helped on the excavation. In her autobiography Agatha describes how she had to sacrifi ce her precious face cream to help clean and preserve the ivories. Th e excavations of the British School will probably be chiefl y remembered, however, for the vast numbers of ivories discovered in Fort Shalmaneser, particularly in the storerooms SW 7 and SW 37. Th ereaft er, a Polish team excavated in the central part of the citadel mound between 1974 and 1976, and in the late 1980s British Museum and Italian teams worked in Fort Shalmaneser and, in the latter case, in the outer town. In recent years, however, the most important work at Nimrud has undoubtedly been done by the Iraq Department of Antiquities. Clearance of a well in Room AJ in the North-West Palace yielded another spectacular collection of ivories, but the most dramatic discoveries were made in four vaulted, subterranean tombs in the domestic wing of the North-West Palace. Th e tombs were discovered and excavated by Muzahim Mahmud between spring 1988 and November 1990 and were found to contain astonishing quantities of goldwork including bowls, jewellery and even a

16 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 IIRAQRAQ

Saad al-Jadir in conversation with Nadje Al-Ali about Mosul’s long history of musical inﬂ uence and intellectual life MMosul’sosul’s mmusicusic aandnd rrichich cculturalultural hheritageeritage © Saad al-Jadir

Saad al-Jadir

aad al-Jadir is an Iraqi intellectual, of his students was Zyriab (Abu l-Hasan ‘Ali music, who moved away from more businessman and musician who grew Ibn Nafi ’, 789-857), a musical genius, who traditional compositions in favour of more up in Mosul but has been living in is said to have improved the oud by adding experimental and innovative ones. S th London since the late 1960s. He studied a 5 string. He wound up in Al-Andalus More recently, there were other singers, classical guitar for over 25 years with the (Spain) where he not only infl uenced composers and performers – such as Sayyed concert guitarist Antonio Albanes. Al- southern Spanish music but also became a Ahmed, Sayyed Ismail Al Fahham and Jadir owns one of the most comprehensive fashion icon as the chief court entertainer in others – who became regular performers in collections of old music from Iraq. Cordoba. the modern Baghdad Radio. Much more recently, Mullah Uthman Can you tell us about the historical al-Mosuli (1854-1923), a very talented What about more contemporary music? signifi cance of Mosul in terms of its composer and poet famous for his maqam Did the infl uence of Mosul continue infl uence on Iraqi and Middle Eastern al-iraqi, had a huge infl uence on musicians during the modern era? music? in the region. He was particularly important to the Egyptian composer Sayed Darwish Mosul enjoyed its own modern music and Mosul has had a great infl uence, directly (1892-1923), the father of popular Egyptian popularised it through the Baghdad Radio, and indirectly on Iraqi and Middle Eastern music, even to some extent on European music. For example, in medieval times, Baghdad Radio, which was the only Iraqi radio available during the caliphate of Harun Al-Rasheed, at the time, acted as the medium that familiarised the composer, musician and musicologist Ishaac al-Mosuli was very infl uential. One people in general with music from most parts of Iraq

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 17 which was the only Iraqi radio available at Th e Iran–Iraq war, followed by the invasion of Kuwait, followed the time, but it acted as the medium that familiarised people in general with music by the sanctions; this has all destroyed the mood for creativity from most parts of Iraq. Some of the most famous contemporary Maybe because music was more of put on theatre performances. Th en there Iraqi musicians came from Mosul and they Christian tradition in terms of the chanting were regular art exhibitions as painting and were instrumental in producing generations in church as part of worship and sermons, sculpturing were very popular. Th ere were of Iraqi musicians. Among them is Munir which made singing and music making a number of world famous painters and Bashir (1930-1997). He, like many other much more acceptable to the Christians sculptors such as Rakan Dabdoub, Dhirar famous Iraqi musicians, was of Christian than the more conservative Muslims. Kaddo and Najeeb Younis. origin, a virtuoso oud player, composer Th ere was a substantial Christian Th ere were a number of bands in Mosul. and educationalist. One of his students community in Mosul, consisting of various I was playing the accordion with a couple is the currently well-known oud player churches such as the Orthodox, Catholics, of bands. Th ere were lots of local singers as Naseer Shamma, who himself has produced Chaldeans, Assyrians and the Armenians. well. We had public concerts several times generations of musicians. A well-integrated community that also during the year. Jamil Bashir (1920-1974), a lesser-known included Kurds, Turkmens, Yezidis and even Mosul was a very cultured city. It was brother of Munir, was also a very talented Jews. It did indeed feel like a well-integrated normal for people to read. You would fi nd musician, not only playing the oud but also and harmonious community. lots of literature and poetry books in homes. the violin. Both studied at the Baghdad Musicians generally came from working Actually many of us were writing literature Conservatory, founded by Hanna Petros in classes, and only occasionally from middle and poetry. We used to meet regularly 1936, under the famous Turkish classical classes. At the time, it was not prestigious in coff ee shops to read and to discuss musician and oud player Şerif Muhiddin to be a musician in Mosul. People would literature, art and culture more broadly. Targan (1892-1967). admire music, enjoyed listening to it, but Ghanim Haddad (1925-2010) is a they would not want their children to be When you say ‘we’ do you mean men, or virtuoso violinist and another student of musicians. For example, my family was not were women also going to cafés? Şerif Muhiddin Targan. He taught at the happy about my interest in music. Th ey Baghdad Conservatory and has composed a were dreading television coming to Mosul We were only men. Women did not join rich heritage of classical music. for fear that I might be seen on television in. In fact, almost all the artists, musicians Jamil Salim (1938-1980), another playing the accordion. and writers of the time were men. But musician from Mosul, composed a number we were mixed in terms of social classes, of famous muwashahat (Andalusian love What was the wider cultural and artistic ethnicity and religion. Men from all walks songs). Musicians who originated from scene of Mosul like when you grew up? of life would be sitting in cafés discussing Mosul made up the backbone of the literature. Baghdad Conservatory and later School of I remember in the 1950s and the Unfortunately none of this exists in Mosul Fine Arts. Some ended up playing in the 1960s our schoolteachers were very well anymore. Th e Iran–Iraq war, followed by Iraqi symphony orchestra and most were trained and many of them were actually the invasion of Kuwait, followed by the dedicated teachers. excellent musicians and music theorists sanctions; this has all destroyed the mood themselves. We had lots of school concerts, for creativity. Most artistic and creative Why do you think a disproportionately performances and choirs. Th e choirs would people either fl ed or stopped playing music high number of accomplished musicians sing muwashahat, for example. Most or making art. were of Christian background? schools also had drama classes and would A lot of the musical heritage in Mosul is lost or destroyed. I cannot think of any worthy documentation still existing locally. I probably have the largest collection of the music of Mosul and have some rare recordings of performances. Th e technology of recording at the time was not very good and people lacked the skill to record and document music. I worked on a lot of classic Mosul recordings and tried to improve them through equipment, but sadly, some historical performances went unrecorded or lost.

Nadje Al-Ali is a member of the Editorial Board and a Professor of Gender Studies at SOAS

The old zone of Mosul, the river Tigris and the remainder of an

18 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 IIRAQRAQ

Eleanor Robson details the work of the British Institute for the Study of Iraq PPastsasts aandnd ffuturesutures eentwined:ntwined: ssupportingupporting hhumanitiesumanities aandnd ccultureulture fforor a ssustainableustainable IIraqraq

Dr Nabeel Nooruldeen Hussein, Iraqi Visiting Scholar sponsored by the BISI. Photograph by

ince the summer of 2014, ISIS has archaeological remains, it will be even pace. Widening the focus of educational been bombarding the world with harder to knit together the fragile remnants priorities to include humanities and culture Sbrutal images of mass murder and the of communities that have been badly can help to rebuild Iraq in many direct and destruction of religious and cultural heritage traumatised by war aft er war in recent indirect ways. in northern Iraq. Christian churches, Yezidi decades. Yet the two projects must go Even in the UK, we are only just starting shrines, Shi’a mosques, museums, libraries hand in hand, for it is individuals and to acknowledge and quantify the skills and and archaeological sites have all been communities who create culture and who benefi ts that humanities-educated students targets. ISIS knows very well that culture is use, enjoy and make meaning from their bring to the workforce. Maybe because the glue that holds communities together built environment. the humanities are so well embedded in and that by wiping out the buildings at the Over the past decade the highest our own society, they are barely visible heart of communities it is eff ectively wiping priorities in Iraqi educational reform as distinct elements of the economic and out their ability to remain intact. How can have understandably been on sciences, cultural landscape. But we cannot assume we in London help Iraq resist this systematic technology, medicine and business – the that they will fl ourish through neglect. And erosion of human and cultural diversity? subjects most urgently needed and most if they need to be nurtured in the UK then Cultural and scientifi c organisations directly geared to enabling Iraq’s economic it is even more critical that we help foster all over the world, from UNESCO recovery. But it is becoming increasingly them in the much more fragile political to the American Association for the apparent that the country’s social and environment of contemporary Iraq. Advancement of Science, have recently been political development has not been keeping Th e British Institute for the Study of Iraq encouraging research on northern Iraq’s built heritage: what has been destroyed, Culture is the glue that holds communities together; what can and should be salvaged? While it will be a challenge to restore and replace wiping out the buildings at the heart of communities the lost mosques, churches, shrines and is eff ectively wiping out their ability to remain intact

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 19 BISI is helping to maintain and develop the in-country distinguished scholar of Syriac, the classical language of Middle Eastern Christianity. expertise that will enable Iraqi institutions and Qaraqosh, just south of Mosul, is an old individuals to harness the resources at their disposal and important Christian centre, with many churches and monasteries and where many people still speak a modern variety of Syriac (BISI) was originally set up as the British To help bridge that skills gap, each called Neo-Aramaic. His BISI scholarship School of Archaeology in Iraq. Based at the year BISI off ers two or three Visiting enabled him to come to London to take British Academy in central London, we have Scholarships to humanities academics, part in a programme organised by the been promoting the value of research and museum staff , librarians and other cultural British Library. He learned how to care education in the humanities, social sciences heritage professionals from Iraq. Th ey for, conserve and create a digital catalogue and culture in Iraq for over 80 years. As a come to the UK for a month or two with of the Seminary’s manuscript collection. small and dynamic charitable organisation a programme tailored to their particular Importantly, it includes the former holdings lacking external grants or sponsors, we needs. Th ey engage in research, training of nearby Mar Behnam monastery, now currently operate on a relatively small scale. and collaborative work with colleagues in feared destroyed by ISIS. Father Sony was But we have developed an ambitious yet universities, museums, and libraries all over also able to access documents relating to carefully phased and costed strategy for the country. We then maintain mentoring the early Christian writers of Qaraqosh growth over the coming years that puts Iraq relationships with them once they have which he had never seen before, thereby at the heart of all we do. We have plans for returned to their own place of work. In 2014 greatly contributing to the history of Iraqi bottom-up educational projects in Iraq at BISI sponsored two Iraqi Visiting Scholars Christianity he is currently writing. all levels, from primary to higher education. from northern Iraq, in the months before In these and other ways BISI is helping BISI copes with the challenges of working ISIS’s invasion of the region. to maintain and develop the ‘in-country’ in Iraq by focusing on individuals and local Th e fi rst was Dr Nabeel Nooruldeen expertise that will enable Iraqi institutions institutions that have the vision and energy Hussein, a Lecturer in Archaeology and individuals to harness the resources to make transformative change. at Mosul University and the Chief of at their disposal, so that humanities and We support archaeological projects in Excavations at Nineveh, the capital of the culture can thrive there again. As ISIS is Iraqi Kurdistan, for instance, and museum vast and powerful Assyrian empire in the driven out of northern Iraq, the needs of refurbishments in the southern cities of 7th century BC. Th rough his BISI visiting academics in Mosul and its surroundings Karbala and Basra. scholarship, he was able to survey the will become particularly acute. Here in the UK, we are working to British Museum’s collection of sculptures persuade British-Iraqi businesses that from king Ashurbanipal’s palace at Nineveh, More information about the BISI and its they can benefi t directly by investing to see how they relate to those that he and projects can be found at http://www.bisi. in humanities and culture and by co- his team have recently excavated. During ac.uk. operating with organisations such as BISI. the visit Dr Hussein was able to meet with Employers not only gain articulate, literate, UK academics in his area of expertise and Eleanor Robson is Professor of Ancient well-rounded staff who can put together to access the libraries at UCL’s Institute of Middle Eastern History at University College evidence-based arguments, make critical Archaeology and at SOAS. London and currently the voluntary Chair judgements and take appropriate decisions, Th e second visiting scholar was Father of the British Institute for the Study of Iraq’s they are also helping to create empathetic, Behnam Sony, a Priest and Lecturer at Saint governing Council tolerant citizens and communities who have Ephrem’s Seminary in Qaraqosh, and a pride and confi dence in the variety and © Eleanor Robson power of Iraq’s history, culture and identity. Another key component of BISI’s work is to protect, support and mentor Iraqi colleagues in humanities and cultural heritage, to help close a skills gap that is now a quarter of a century old. Th e Gulf War of 1991 and the subsequent UN sanctions against Iraq not only cut academics off from the huge technological changes brought about by the internet, but also denied them access to discoveries and methodological innovations made in their research fi elds elsewhere in the world. Even now, 12 years since the end of the Iraq War, universities, museums and libraries are still badly managed and under-resourced.

Visiting the Museum of Imam Hussein in Kerbala to plan a staﬀ training programme with BISI. Photograph by Eleanor Robson

20 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: BOOKSBOOKS TThehe RRiseise ooff IIslamicslamic SState:tate: IISISSIS andand tthehe NNewew SSunniunni RRevolutionevolution

By Patrick Cockburn

Verso Books, January 2015, £9.99

Reviewed by Barnaby Rogerson

his book reads like a series of born without anyone having an inkling. Cockburn tells us that an analysis of the extended journalist features that How could this have happened? For language in these propaganda clips reveals Thave been stapled together with an Patrick Cockburn the signals were already that it seldom rises above the most childish updated aft erword. It has the feel of a work discernible. He argues that ISIS, although abuse of the Shi’a enemy and formulaic in progress, with some repetitions and an its leader might be Iraqi in origin, must be boasts of future victories. uneven narrative that loops back to look seen as a product of the Syrian civil war. Patrick Cockburn helps his readers repeatedly at certain key events, such as It grew out of the Sunni resistance to the understand the murderous mess that arose the fall of Mosul. But these faults are also Assad regime of Syria, which was strongly in the aft ermath of 9/11 and the invasion of the virtues of this work: its structure is a supported by the democratically elected Iraq in 2003, which threatens to overwhelm necessary refl ection of the search for truth Islamist regime of Turkey, and lavishly both Syria and Iraq and to destabilise the amongst the smoke of rumour, conspiracy funded by the monarchies of Saudi Arabia Middle East in an unprecedented way. By theories, polemic and propaganda. It also and the Gulf. the end of this book readers will fear that looks to the horizon, providing insight into To understand ISIS’s success we must Iraq and Syria are in danger of becoming the nature of media coverage, the role of the look at the organisation’s skilful use of the cockpit of another Th irty Years War: the modern war-reporter as well as a reading of propaganda. Th e ISIS leadership used Sunni states of Turkey, the Gulf and Saudi the key players in the modern diplomatic scenes of public violence, especially Arabia (with its ally Pakistan) on one side game of chess. In this respect, Th e Rise the execution of prisoners of war and with Russia, Iran and Shi’i Lebanon on the of Islamic State: ISIS and the New Sunni humiliation of the Shi’a, to demoralise other. Revolution by Patrick Cockburn – an award- their enemy. Patrick Cockburn has sift ed winning journalist and prolifi c writer – is a through this nebulous world to identify Barnaby Rogerson has written North Africa welcome addition to the growing number of the verifi able acts of propaganda terrorism – A History, Th e Prophet Muhammad – a publications on ISIS. from the false, identifying footage of biography, Th e Last Crusaders, Th e Heirs of Th e date at the centre of Cockburn’s atrocities borrowed from Afghanistan and the Prophet Muhammad and guidebooks to book is the fall of Mosul on 10 June 2014. the chainsaw-wielding drug-barons in Tunisia and Morocco. He is a member of the Like all political events that have captured Mexico. He also looks at the importance of Editorial Board and his day job is Publisher the world’s imagination – be it the fi rst false but still powerful stories, quoting the at Eland (www.travelbooks.co.uk) Palestinian Intifada (December 1987), tale of babies being thrown out of hospital 9/11 (2001) or the Arab Spring (December incubators in Kuwait and the Viagra-fuelled 2010) – it came like a bolt from the blue, rape of prisoners by Qaddafi ’s soldiers as catching intelligence chiefs and analysts examples of incidents that did not happen without briefi ng papers to hand. Even the but helped guide decision-making at the offi cial ISIS spokesman (Abu Mohammed time. ISIS propaganda is also a recruiting al-Adnani) confessed that our ‘enemies tool, attracting both Chechen veterans and and supporters alike are fl abbergasted’. thousands of youthful volunteers from A new Islamic Empire was about to be such countries as Morocco and Tunisia.

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 21 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: BOOKSBOOKS CContemporaryontemporary AArtrt ffromrom tthehe MMiddleiddle EEast:ast: RRegionalegional IInteractionsnteractions wwithith GGloballobal AArtrt DiscoursesDiscourses

Edited by Hamid Keshmirshekan

IB Tauris, January 2015, £59.50

Reviewed by Pamela Karimi

hat is the location of constitute an alternative to elite and thin. Inconsistent with its title, the book is contemporary Middle Eastern art scholarly texts or formal archiving remains primarily concerned with the art of Iran and Win the broader context of global to be further explored and scrutinised the Arabic-speaking Middle East. Turkey art or in light of such concepts as diaspora, against other similar global trends. and Israel are occasionally addressed, deterritorialisation, transnationalism, Calling once more for systematic but their artistic achievements are not hybridity and cosmopolitanism? Are historicisation, Keshmirshekan’s own substantially studied. ‘local’ and ‘global’ opposites or are they contribution – aside from his earlier Th ese minor criticisms, however, in no interdependent? Th e essays in Hamid introductory comments – marks the way detract from the worth of this volume. Keshmirshekan’s edited volume, originally beginning of Section Two, in which he In recent years there has been an abundance presented at a 2013 conference at the demonstrates how local traditions and of published work on contemporary Middle London Middle East Institute at SOAS, history inform current and future art. Eastern art. However, few go beyond off er fresh responses to these queries. Sarah Rogers follows a similar trajectory by descriptive accounts, engaging the region’s Together they make one of the fi nest recent exploring Beirut’s post-civil-war art against recent artistic trends in a dialogue with volumes on contemporary Middle Eastern the broader context of modern Lebanese broader philosophical and theoretical art, examining local artistic aspirations in and Western art. Somewhat incongruent is frameworks. Furthermore, due largely to relation to mainstream global art trends. Abbas Daneshvari’s article, which exposes the recent revolutions and civil wars and Essential theoretical debates surface in the the complexity of motifs in contemporary the ensuing inability to access the archives, fi rst two chapters: Hamid Dabashi envisages Iranian art, seeing them through the lens of few scholars have had the privilege to the binaries of ‘local’ and ‘global’ irrespective post-structuralist theory. rely on sources in regional languages. of old colonial associations and Irit Rogoff It is oft en implied that since the early Consequently, most valuable to the broader accentuates the symbiotic relationship of the 1990s scores of Western art exhibitions fi eld in Keshmirshekan’s edited volume are two concepts. Next, Nada Shabout explores have inadvertently perpetuated stereotypes those essays that are attentive to theoretical the expansion of modern and contemporary associated with the Islamic world. In Section frameworks (Chapters 1 and 2) and original art of the Arab world as a scholarly Th ree, Fereshteh Daft ari and Venetia Porter, sources (e.g. Severi’s article on lesser- discipline in the English-speaking world themselves curators of major UK and known Iranian publications). However, (and the lack thereof). Hamid Severi refl ects US shows, demonstrate how most recent this well-researched, clearly written and on how Iran’s Persian-language publications regional and international venues have richly illustrated collection is on the whole have unexpectedly surpassed the restrictions actually helped bridge the gap between impressive. Scholars, curators, students, imposed on the press industry, allowing the regional and the global, rather than and art practitioners as well as Middle- ample room for discussions of global art. the other way around. Conversely, Helia Eastern art enthusiasts will fi nd the book Considering civil war and lack of state Darabi’s brief history of the Tehran Museum informative and stimulating. support, Shaheen Merali argues that in the of Contemporary Art in the fi nal chapter absence of systematic archiving, textual shows how mainstream Western art can be Pamela Karimi is Assistant Professor of Art or visual memory and oral history play a both exposed and censored, depending on a History at the University of Massachusetts signifi cant role in safeguarding the history given political situation in the region. and IHF Visiting Fellow in Iranian Studies at of Middle Eastern art. Art education, Th e book as a whole could benefi t from the London Middle East Institute, SOAS. She if properly fashioned, can be equally a more balanced distribution of content. is the author of Domesticity and Consumer infl uential, as contributor James Allan While Section One holds most of the Culture in Iran: Interior Revolutions of the asserts. How local oral history and schooling chapters, the other two sections are rather Modern Era (Routledge, 2013)

22 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 BBOOKSOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF TThehe MMiddleiddle EEastast iinn tthehe WWorld:orld: AAnn IIntroductionntroduction

Edited by Lucia Volk

Th e Middle East in the World off ers students a comprehensive, multidisciplinary entry point to the broader Middle East. Aft er a brief introduction to the study of the region, the early chapters of the book survey the essentials of Middle Eastern history; important historical narratives; and the region’s languages, religions and global connections. Students are guided through the material with relevant maps, resource boxes and text boxes that support and guide further independent exploration of the topics at hand. Th e second half of the book presents interdisciplinary case studies – each of which focuses on a specifi c country or sub- region and a salient issue – off ering a taste of the cultural distinctiveness of the particular country while also drawing attention to global linkages.

February 2015, Routledge, £24.99 AArabrab MMediaedia MMogulsoguls

Edited by Naomi Sakr, Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen, Donatella Della Ratta

Transformations in the Arab media landscape are a key element in the regional dynamics of political change. Where do the private owners of Arab media outlets stand on the scene? What part, if any, have they played in weakening dictatorships, countering sectarianism and political polarisation, and reforming business practices in the Arab world? Arab Media Moguls charts the rise of some leading investors and entrepreneurs in Arab media, examining their motives, management styles, fi nancial performance and links to political power. Responding critically to scholarship on Western moguls, this book uncovers the realities of risk and success for Arab media potentates and billionaires.

March 2015, IB Tauris, £15.99 IInsidenside tthehe IIslamicslamic RRepublic:epublic: SSocialocial CChangehange iinn PPost-Khomeiniost-Khomeini IIranran

Edited by Mahmood Monshipouri Th e post-Khomenei era has profoundly changed the socio-political landscape of Iran. Since 1989, the internal dynamics of change in Iran, rooted in a panoply of socioeconomic, cultural, institutional, demographic and behavioral factors, have led to a noticeable transition in both societal and governmental structures of power, as well as the way in which many Iranians have come to deal with the changing conditions of their society. Th is is all exacerbated by the global trend of communication and information expansion, as Iran has increasingly become the site of the burgeoning demands for women’s rights, individual freedoms, and festering tensions and confl icts over cultural politics. Th ese realities, among other things, have rendered Iran a country of unprecedented – and at time paradoxical – changes.

May 2015, Hurst, £25.00

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 23 OOBITUARYBITUARY LLeilaeila IIngramsngrams ((1940-2015)1940-2015)

Thanos Petouris

published under the title Seven Across the humans and their cultures allowed her to Sahara: From Ash to Accra. Aft er fi nishing develop her own interests independently of her studies, she worked for CAABU, her her parental past. Her name is inextricably mother being one of its founding members. linked with Ethiopia, a country that she Since then, she remained committed to the came to know intimately and that she Palestinian cause and the defence of human wrote about. Her philanthropic spirit found rights in the Arab world. In the 1970s Leila expression in the support of grassroots lived in Muscat, working for the Omani relief work in Ethiopia, and in Hadhramaut government’s adviser, John Townsend, through the Friends of Hadhramaut as well as for the Omani Director of organisation, of which she was a patron. Information Shaykh Nasir Seif al-Bu ‘Ali, Leila was an existential link to the past later to become Oman’s fi rst ambassador to of Yemen and the Hadhramaut and a London. delightful person. She passed away on 22 It was aft er Oman that Leila’s literary March near her home in Kent, and she will career began: in 1988 she and Professor be mourned by her many friends at home Richard Pankhurst jointly published and overseas. She generously provided help Ethiopia Engraved. During the same period and support to many a scholar with an she worked with her mother to compile interest in either Ethiopia or Yemen. I shall the 16-volume opus Records of Yemen miss our aft ernoons at her regular haunt, 1798-1960, a truly monumental task. the Royal Geographical Society, with a ‘stale Yemen Engraved, a companion volume to cup of tea’ but always fresh conversation Ethiopia Engraved, appeared in 2006. Leila about her beloved Hadhramaut. found a hospitable environment for her eila Ingrams was born in 1940 in multifaceted activities at SOAS, where in Th anos Petouris is a Yemen Researcher and Cairo with the help of a Jewish 2007 she convened the Yemen Film Festival; a member of the British-Yemeni Society. His Lmidwife, a fact she oft en pointed it is diffi cult to think of any Yemeni cultural work focuses on the anti-colonial movement out to those who only saw discord in event to which she was not, in some way, in South Arabia and the British colony of the modern Middle East. She was the linked. At the time of her death she was Aden daughter of Harold and Doreen Ingrams, working on this year’s Nour Festival. the fi rst Europeans to make their home She dedicated the latter part of her life to in Hadhramaut, part of modern Yemen, the custodianship of her parents’ legacies, during Harold’s tenure as Resident Adviser maintaining links with people across the and British Agent to the Qu’ayti and Kathiri Indian Ocean from Zanzibar and Mauritius Sultanates. Her mother, née Shortt, was an to Singapore. She oversaw the reprint of her actress before joining her husband in his mother’s Palestine Papers, 1917-1922: Seeds fi rst colonial posting in Mauritius. Leila of Confl ict and A Time in Arabia, which was (Above) Leila Ingrams spent her early childhood in Aden and also translated into Arabic by her friend, (Below) Leila Ingrams and her sister Zahra carried al-Mukalla, making her fi rst trip through the Hadhrami poet Najib Ba Wazir. She on the back of a mule in the Yemen in 1941 the Yemen in 1941 together with her organised the permanent exhibition of her older sister Zahra, whom her parents had parents’ photographs at the Say’un Museum, © Doreen Ingrams adopted in 1937 from a woman of the Se’iar and donated the artefacts they had collected tribe. from their various postings to the British Leila’s early experience of South Arabia Museum. In 2004 she set up a scholarship and the burden of a parental legacy, which is in her mother's memory for Palestinian still remembered in the form of the Ingrams female students, who would otherwise have Peace in Hadhramaut, were to defi ne her no access to higher education, at Birzeit life. Still a child, she travelled with her University. family to Ethiopia and later by car from Leila’s compassionate nature and England to the Gold Coast, an adventure profound understanding of her fellow

24 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 LISTINGS EEventsvents iinn LLondonondon

HE EVENTS and Submitting entries and updates: JUNE EVENTS WC1H OPY. T 020 8349 5754 W organisations listed please send all updates and www.aias.org.uk Tbelow are not necessarily submissions for entries related Monday 1 June endorsed or supported by The to future events via e-mail to 7:00 pm | Out of Focus Middle East in London. The [email protected] 6:00 pm | Advertising and (Documentary) Dir Shahriar accompanying texts and images Promotion of Medicine and Siami, 51 min. Film about the are based primarily on information BM – British Museum, Great Public Health in Roman Palestine Iranian born British artist based provided by the organisers and do Russell Street, London WC1B (Lecture) Estee Dvorjetski, Oxford in London Afshin Nagouni (Ash). not necessarily reflect the views 3DG Brookes University and University Considered a child prodigy, Ash of the compilers or publishers. SOAS –SOAS, University of of Haifa. Organised by: Anglo won a number of regional and While every possible effort is London, Th ornhaugh Street, Israel Archaeological Society and national painting competitions made to ascertain the accuracy of Russell Square, London WC1H the Institute of Archaeology, UCL. between the ages of 9 and 12 and these listings, readers are advised 0XG AGM Lecture. Admission free. has not stopped painting since. to seek confirmation of all events LSE – London School of Lecture Th eatre G6, Ground Floor, Admission free. Khalili Lecture using the contact details provided Economics and Political Science, Institute of Archaeology, UCL, Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 7898 4330 for each event. Houghton Street, London WC2 31-34 Gordon Square, London / 4490 E [email protected] W www. 2AE

Th e 2015 * Travel portraits: People working, playing, celebrating LONDON * Outdoor scenes: Landscapes, aerials, wildlife, waterscapes MIDDLE EAST Middle East in London INSTITUTE * Sense of place: Buildings & architecture, culture & food Photo Competition * Current aff airs: Political and social events, protests, demonstrations

As the summer holidays approach, the London Middle East By submitting a photograph, each entrant confi rms and accepts Institute at SOAS is pleased to announce a photo competition the following terms and conditions: for its bimonthly magazine, Th e Middle East in London. * Th e photograph, in its entirety, is a single work of original Harness the power of photography and share your experiences material taken by the contest entrant. from around the Middle East. A selection of entries will be * Th e entrant warrants that the photograph submitted is their published in a future edition of Th e Middle East in London own work, that they own the copyright for it and that no other magazine. Th e winner, chosen by members of the Editorial party has any right, title, claim or interest in the photograph. Board, will be awarded £100 worth of Amazon tokens. * Th e entrant accepts the responsibility to ensure that any Entries should be emailed to [email protected] images submitted have been taken with the permission of the by 5:00pm on 29 September 2015 and should include your subject and do not infringe the copyrights, trademarks, moral name, email address or telephone number, photo title and rights, rights of privacy/publicity and/or intellectual property photo-caption including place and date. Th is information is rights of any entity, third party or any laws. mandatory; we are unable to consider entries without it. * Copyright in all images submitted for this competition remains with the respective entrants. However, each entrant Photographs must be in digital format (JPEG or .jpg) and digital grants a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual license to London fi les must be 5 megabytes or smaller and at least 1,600 pixels Middle East Institute at SOAS, University of London to feature wide (if landscape/horizontal) or 1,600 pixels tall (if portrait/ any or all of the submitted images in any of their publications, vertical). We are unable to consider print or fi lm submissions. their websites and/or in any promotional material with full You may submit as many entries as you wish, although we credits given to the photographer. recommend sending a separate email for each individual entry. Th emes are not restricted, but the following categories may Th e Middle East in London will not enter into correspondence serve as helpful guidelines: regarding the fi nal decision.

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 25 soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/events/ http:// Chair: Steff en Hertog, LSE. politics. Beaugrand examines the Organised by: Th e Mosaic Rooms. afshinnaghouni.com Admission free. Sheikh Zayed forms of opposition and advocacy Dirs Amer Shomali and Paul Th eatre, Lower Ground Floor, New that were built on previous exile Cowan (2014), Canada/France/ 7:30 pm | Exiled Lit Cafe Academic Building, LSE. T 0207 experiences and analyses the Palestine, 75 min. In Arabic, (Reading) Organised by: Exiled 955 6198 E [email protected] W novelty of diff erent modes of Hebrew and English with English Writers Ink. Launch of Eyes Closed www.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ action. Chair: John Chalcraft , LSE. subtitles. Animated documentary by the Algerian writer Soleiman home.aspx Admission free. Room 9.05, Tower that looks at the Israeli army’s Adel Guémar, a collection of 2, Clement's Inn, LSE. T 0207 pursuit of 18 cows, whose poems written in exile in the UK. 955 6198 E [email protected] W independent milk production Tickets: £5/£3 EWI members and Wednesday 3 June www.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ on a Palestinian collective farm asylum seekers. Plus On Women home.aspx was declared “a threat to the with Suhrab Sirat, Kadija George, 3:00 pm | Th e Politics of national security….”. Tickets: Mabel Encinas and Fatemeh Human Rights and Religious 6:30 pm | Iran’s Diverse £6.50 advance booking/£7.50 on Shams. Poetry Place, 22 Betterton Mobilization in Asian Turkey Musical Traditions (Lecture) the door W http://mosaicrooms. Street, London WC2H 9BX. E (Lecture) Jack Snyder, Saltzman Ameneh Youssefzadeh, Graduate org Th e Mosaic Rooms, A M [email protected] Institute of War and Peace Studies, Center, CUNY, New York and Qattan Foundation, Tower House, W www.exiledwriters.co.uk Columbia University. Organised Encyclopedia Iranica. Organised 226 Cromwell Road, London SW5 by: Centre for the International by: Iran Heritage Foundation. 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 E info@ Politics of Confl ict, Rights and Youssefzadeh looks at Iran's rich mosaicrooms.org Tuesday 2 June Justice, SOAS (CCRJ). Admission and diverse musical traditions. free. Room: 4426, SOAS. W www. On the one hand, there is Persian 7:30 pm | Yasmine Hamdan 6:00 pm | Saudi Islamists on soas.ac.uk/ccrj/events/ classical music, cultivated mostly (Concert) Th ough Lebanese Peaceful Revolution: Divine in the centre of the Iranian plateau singer-songwriter Yasmine Politics Reconsidered (Lecture) 4:30 pm | Bahraini Activism in the cities and on the other, Hamdan's vocals are connected Madawi al-Rasheed, LSE. in Exile: Legacies and ‘regional musical traditions’. to traditions of Arabic music, to Organised by: LSE Middle East Revolutionary Ruptures Followed by a reception. Tickets: which she takes a personal and Centre. Madawi al-Rasheed looks (Lecture) Claire Beaugrand, £10 W www.iranheritage.org Asia unconventional approach, the at mutations of Saudi Islamism Institut Français du Proche Orient. House, 63 New Cavendish Street, structures and arrangements of during the Arab uprisings and Organised by: LSE Middle East London W1G 7LP. T 020 3651 the songs are very remote from its examines the responses of Centre. Bahrain’s 2011 political 2121 E [email protected] codes and might be described as Salman al-Ouda, one of the most uprising marked a new phase in a kind of mutant strain of electro infl uential Saudi Islamist scholars. Bahraini outmigration and exile 7:30 pm | Th e Wanted 18 (Film) folk pop. Tickets: £16 advance

TTRAINRAIN TOTO TEACHTEACH ARABICARABIC from their subsequent employers. For more information contact: SOAS, University of London, Language Centre is pleased to off er its renowned programme of professional Th e Programme Convenor, Ilham Salimane development leading to a post-graduate qualifi cation Email: [email protected] (Certifi cate and Diploma levels) in teaching Arabic as Telephone: +44 (0)20 7898 4870 a Foreign Language. Th ese awards have contributed or substantially to the professionalising of Arabic teaching Th e Programme Offi cer, Mandy Payne in the UK and elsewhere and to the recognition of the Email: [email protected] expertise of teachers of Arabic. Telephone: +44(0)20 7898 4595 or New Arabic Teacher Training Programme Follow the link: Starting October 5th 2015 - Full-Time (2/3 days http://www.soas.ac.uk/languagecentre/languages/arabic/ attendance per week) 5-10-15 to 8-7-16 postgraduate-certifi cate-diploma-in-teaching-arabic-as- a-foreign-language.html SOAS, University of London, is the only place that trains teachers of Arabic in the latest communicative methods We also run full-time SOAS accredited Certifi cate and that enable learners to use the language eff ectively right Diploma courses in Arabic language (MSA) and Persian from Beginners level. Our fees for these University of 28-9-15 to 8-7-16 London accredited programmes are very reasonable and http://www.soas.ac.uk/languagecentre/languages/persian/ we have had excellent feedback, both from trainees and certifi cate-and-diploma-in-communicative-persian.html

26 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 Heydarian and the SOAS Daf [email protected] by Society. Tickets: £15/£10 conc./£6 Friday 5 June. Portland Room, SOAS students. DLT (formerly International Students House, 229 G2), SOAS. E events.santur@ Great Portland Street, London yahoo.com W www.thesantur.com W1W 5PN.

Saturday 6 June Tuesday 9 June

2:00 pm | 1177 BC: Th e Year 5:30 pm | In Pursuit of Stability Civilization Collapsed & Th e (Lecture) Sir Derek Plumbly, Birth of the International Age: former British Ambassador to Th e Ongoing Excavation of a Riyadh. Organised by: Th e Saudi- Middle Bronze Age Palace at British Society. AGM Lecture. Tel Kabri Organised by: Petrie Sir Derek Plumbly will draw Museum and the Palestine on his experience as a diplomat Exploration Fund (PEF). Two and international offi cial in lectures by Eric Cline, Th e George the Middle East, most recently Michael Keating 'Abu Dis - The Wall at Dusk', 2005, Chromogenic print. The Washington University. Saturday as the UN Secretary General's Map is Not the Territory (see Exhibitions, p. 34) Summer Lecture Series. Tickets: Special Coordinator for Lebanon, £25/£20 PMF & PEF members/£10 against the backdrop of the war booking/£20 on the door W http:// Friday 5 June full-time students. Lecture Th eatre in Syria and turmoil elsewhere. scala.co.uk/events/yasmine- 1, Cruciform Building, UCL, Tickets: £5 (free for Society hamdan/ Scala, 275 Pentonville 5:00 pm | A Bilingual Evening Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT. Members) Pre-registration Road, London N1 9NL. T 020 with Hoda Barakat (Talk) T 07761 823129 E j.picton@ucl. required E ionisthompson@ 7833 2022 Organised by: Department of ac.uk W www.friendsofpetrie.org. yahoo.co.uk Arab-British the Languages and Cultures of uk Chamber of Commerce, 43 Upper the Near and Middle East, SOAS. Grosvenor Street, London W1K Th ursday 4 June Hoda Barakat is an acclaimed 7:00 pm | Iranian Poetry and 2NJ. T 01372 842788 W www. Lebanese writer. She has written Classical Music Night (Concert) saudibritishsociety.org.uk 10:00 am | Painting and fi ve novels, three of which are Organised by: Poetry and Music Illumination in Persian and available in English: Th e Stone of Chamber of Iranians in the UK Wednesday 10 June Mughal Books: An exclusive look Laughter, Disciples of Passion and in association with the London at Manuscripts in the British Th e Tiller of Waters. Shortlisted Middle East Institute, SOAS 5:30 pm | Managing Palestinian Library with Dr Barbara Brend for the 2015 Man Booker (LMEI). Programme divided in Cultural Heritage: Between (Seminar) One-day seminar with International Prize for Fiction. two parts: the fi rst part features Th reats and Opportunities a morning session at the British Chair: Wen-chin Ouyang, SOAS. poetry in Persian chaired by (Lecture) Osama Hamdan, al- Library with the curators and Admission free. Room G3, SOAS. Maestro Dr Esmayil Khoyi with Quds University. Organised by: Barbara Brend, viewing illustrated W www.soas.ac.uk/nme/events/ presentations by prominent young Centre for Palestine Studies and and illuminated works from the Iranian poets in the UK and the the Department of the History collection. Followed by pigment 6:30 pm | An experience in second part features a performance of Art and Archaeology, SOAS. and technical demonstrations multilateralism in the Middle of Iranian classical music with Chair: Scott Redford, SOAS. with Anita Chowdry in her studio. East, from the chemical weapons the voice of Dr Maziar Sadri Admission free. Room B104, Tickets: £135. British Library, 96 elimination programme in accompanied by eight Iranian and SOAS. T 020 7898 4330 / 4490 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB Syria to UN engagement in non-Iranian musicians. Tickets: E [email protected] W www.soas. & Studio 3, 1-7 Woburn Walk, Lebanon (Lecture) Sigrid Kaag, £20/£15 (students) advance ac.uk/lmei-cps/events/ London WC1H 0JJ. T 020 3556 Under Secretary-General and booking/£25 on the door W http:// 7075 E [email protected] UN Special Coordinator for store.soas.ac.uk/ Brunei Gallery 7:00 pm | Th e Kaaba and the W https://anitachowdry.wordpress. Lebanon. Organised by: Centre Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 Kiswa (Lecture) Simon O’Meara, com/british-library-seminar- for International Studies and 7898 4330/4490 E [email protected] SOAS. Organised by: Islamic with-barbara-brend/ Diplomacy, SOAS (CISD). CISD W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ Art Circle at SOAS. Part of the Annual Lecture. Followed by a Islamic Art Circle at SOAS Lecture 5:30 pm | Recent Discoveries in reception. Admission free. Pre- Sunday 7 June Programme. Admission free. DLT and around Petra (Lecture) Lucy registration required W https:// (formerly G2), SOAS. T 0771 408 Wadeson, Université Libre de cisdannuallecture.eventbrite.co.uk 10:30 am | WZO Seminar on 7480 E rosalindhaddon@gmail. Bruxelles. Organised by: British Brunei Gallery Lecture Th eatre, Zoroastrian Religion, History com W www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/ Foundation for the Study of Arabia SOAS. E [email protected] W www. and Culture Organised by: (BFSA). AGM Lecture. Admission soas.ac.uk/cisd/events/ World Zoroastrian Organisation 7:00 pm | Th e Mongol Shahnameh free. Room G6, Institute of (WZO). With Mobedyar Mahshad (Lecture) Organised by: Th e Iran Archaeology, UCL, 31-34 Gordon 8:30 pm | Jashn-e Tirgan Khosraviani, Kersi Bhikhaji Society. Robert Hillenbrand. Square, London WC1H OPY. E Celebrations with Persian Shroff and Leon Goldman. Admission free for Society [email protected] W Classical and Folk Music Admission free. Pre-registration members and one guest. Pall Mall www.thebfsa.org/ (Concert) Organised by: Peyman required T 01844 352 887 E Room, Th e Army & Navy Club, 36-

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 27 registration required E eth22@ availability). Purcell Room at cam.ac.uk Room B102, SOAS. W Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank www.woolf.cam.ac.uk / www.soas. Centre, Belvedere Road, London ac.uk/cclps/events/ SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W www.southbankcentre.co.uk Saturday 13 June Sunday 14 June 10:00 am | Minorities and Popular Culture in Modern 10:00 am | Iran's Medical Middle East: Representation Heritage: Symposium on a and Participation (Two-Day Millennium of Contributions Workshop: Friday 12 - Saturday 13 Organised by: Iran Heritage June) Workshop concludes with Foundation & the British Iranian the screening of Jews and Muslims: Medical Association. A one- Intimate Strangers. Followed by a day symposium looking at the Q&A with the fi lmmaker, Karim contribution of Iranians in the Miské. See above listing for Friday fi eld of medicine from the ninth to 12 June. the twenty-fi rst century providing an account of how medicine has 12:00 pm | Permaculture in evolved over the ages and more Palestine (Talk) Organised by: recently through the diaspora. Th e Mosaic Rooms. Alice Gray, Includes guided tours of the freelance permaculture teacher Hunterian Anatomy Museum. and designer, discusses the role Tickets: £50 W www.iranheritage. of trees in the Israeli-Palestinian org Royal College of Surgeons, confl ict: both as a tool for London WC2A 3PE. E info@ colonisation and displacement, iranheritage.org, T 020 7493 4766 Hasan Dhamish 'Tripoli'. Tripoli - The Melting Pot (see Exhibitions, p. 34) and as a land-based resistance strategy used by Palestinians. Monday 15 June Admission free. Pre-registration 39 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5JN and tenth centuries for ailments required E rsvp@mosaicrooms. 6:30 pm | Turkey and the UK: (Dress code calls for gentlemen ranging from asthma and hay org Th e Mosaic Rooms, A M Th eir Policies towards the EU to wear jacket and tie). T 020 fever to cataracts and embedded Qattan Foundation, Tower House, aft er their General Elections 7235 5122 E [email protected] arrowheads. Admission free. Pre- 226 Cromwell Road, London (Panel Discussion) Organised by: W www.iransociety.org / www. registration required W www.bisi. SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 E British Institute at Ankara (BIAA) therag.co.uk ac.uk. British Academy, 10 Carlton [email protected] W http:// and the Centre for Policy and House Terrace, London, SW1Y mosaicrooms.org Research on Turkey (Research Th ursday 11 June 5AH. T 020 7969 5274 E bisi@ Turkey). Turkey and the UK both britac.ac.uk 7:00 pm | Kurdish Aid have complex relations with the 4:00 pm | Not for the Greed of Foundation's Charity Concert European Union. Listen to, and Gold: A Tribute and Biography of Friday 12 June Organised by: Peyman Heydarian question, two former foreign the Life and Career of J L Starkey and the SOAS Kurdish Band. ministers with long experience at (Lecture) John Starkey, Son of 9:00 am | Minorities and Popular Tickets: £20/£10 conc. and the forefront of their countries’ James Leslie Starkey. Organised Culture in Modern Middle East: students. St Marylebone Parish relationship with the EU and by: Palestine Exploration Fund Representation and Participation Church, Marylebone Road, two commentators on European (PEF). AGM Lecture. Admission (Two-Day Workshop: Friday 12 - London NW1 5LT. E events. aff airs. With Hikmet Çetin, Jack free. Pre-registration required Saturday 13 June) Organised by: [email protected] W www. Straw, Quentin Peel and Soli Özel. T 020 7323 8181 W www. Th e Woolf Institute, Cambridge thesantur.com Chair: Sir David Logan. Tickets: britishmuseum.org BP Lecture and the Centre for Cultural, £10 (free for BIAA Members). Th eatre, BM. T 020 7935 5379 E Literary and Postcolonial Studies, 7:45 pm | Sonia M'Barek Wolfson Auditorium, British [email protected] W www.pef. SOAS (CCLPS) with the support of (Performance) Organised by: Academy, 10 Carlton House org.uk the London Middle East Institute, Southbank Centre. Tunisian, Terrace, SW1Y 5AH. T 020 7969 SOAS (LMEI). Workshop Classical and Arabic Music. Vocal 5204 W www.biaa.ac.uk/events 6:00 pm | Surgeons and Physicians exploring the contribution of all performance by Tunisian singer in Medieval Iraq (Lecture) Emilie religious and ethnic minorities Sonia M'Barek, a rare female soloist Th ursday 18 June Savage-Smith, formerly Oriental to the popular culture industries in a traditionally male-dominated Institute, Oxford University. and how popular culture products genre of Tunisian classical music 5:45 pm | Architecture that "Fills Organiser: Th e British Institute for have represented minorities and (malouf). Dating back to fi ft eenth the Eye": building traditions in the Study of Iraq (Gertrude Bell dealt with the minority question century courts in Andalusia, highland Yemen (Lecture) Trevor Memorial) – BISI. Savage-Smith in modern Middle East during the malouf has long been an emblem Marchand, SOAS. Organised by: discusses the treatments available twentieth century and at present. of Tunisian national identity. MBI Al Jaber Foundation. Part in Baghdad during the ninth Tickets: £20/£10 students. Pre- Tickets: £17/50% off conc. (limited of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation

28 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 Lecture Series. Admission free. Haj Ahmad of Tatreez Café Q&A with the director Morgan Wednesday 24 June Pre-registration required E info@ Organised by: Th e Mosaic Rooms. Knibbe. Tickets: £10/£8 conc. mbifoundation.com MBI Al With stories and discussions guests Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, 9:15 am | BRISMES Annual Jaber Conference Room, London will have the opportunity to learn London W2 1QJ. T 020 7479 8940 Conference 2015: Liberation? Middle East Institute, SOAS about and sample a seasonal taste E [email protected] W (Th ree-Day Conference: (LMEI), University of London, of Palestine. Tickets: £35 (includes www.frontlineclub.com Wednesday 24 – Friday 26 June) MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell a three course meal with wine). Organised by: British Society Square, London WC1B 5EA. W Pre-booking required. Th e Mosaic for Middle Eastern Studies www.mbifoundation.com Rooms, A M Qattan Foundation, Saturday 20 June (BRISMES). Liberation has been Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, a recurrent theme in the Middle 7:30 pm | Cechanok London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 6:30 pm | I Am Th e People East for millennia and together (Documentary) Part of the Open 9990 E [email protected] W (Documentary) Part of the Open with ‘bread and dignity’, it was City Documentary Festival. http://mosaicrooms.org City Documentary Festival. Dir one of the central principles of Dir Maziyar Moshtagh Gohari Anna Roussillon (2014), France, the Arab Spring. Th e BRISMES (2014), Iran, 72 min. Th is almost Friday 19 June 111 min. Portrait of a family, far Annual Conference 2015 will wordless documentary looks at from Tahrir Square in Egypt’s explore the multitude of meanings the strange and fascinating world 7:00 pm | Th ose Who Feel the rural South, as they follow the that the concept has for the region of Arabic Falconry, from the Fire Burning + Q&A (Film) Tahrir uprising via television news today. Tickets: Various. Pre- catching of a fi eld mouse in Iran Organised by: Frontline Club. and local papers. Th e fi lm charts registration required W http:// to the bizarre competitive falcon Confl ict, economic crisis, and their progression from amused brismes2015.com LSE. T 0207 955 shows in Abu Dhabi. Tickets: depleting environmental resources distant observers of the events in 6553 E [email protected] £5/£3.50 conc. Deptford Cinema, are driving increasing numbers of Cairo through their increasing 39 Deptford Broadway, London people to attempt the treacherous engagement and politicisation. Th ursday 25 June SE8 4PQ. T 020 7679 4907 E journey across the Mediterranean Tickets: £10/£8 conc. Cine [email protected] W to Europe. Morgan Knibbe's fi lm, Lumiere, 17 Queensberry Place, 9:00 am | BRISMES Annual www.opencitydocs.com / www. places viewers in the perspective London SW7 2DT. T 020 7679 Conference 2015: Liberation? opencitydocsfest.com of a person who has begun this 4907 E [email protected] (Th ree-Day Conference: dangerous and desperate journey W www.opencitydocs.com / www. Wednesday 24 – Friday 26 7:00 pm | Supper Club with Hana to Europe by sea. Followed by a opencitydocsfest.com

PEACE NEGOTIATIONS IN PALESTINE From the Second Intifada to the Roadmap Ahmed Qurie (Abu Ala)

The start of the twenty-ﬁrst century in Palestine saw the breakdown of the Oslo Accords give way to a turbulent period of dashed hope, escalating violence and internal division. Tracking developments from the Second Intifada of 2000 to Hamas’ 2006 electoral victory, former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie provides revealing and ﬁrst- hand detail of the monumental changes that have rocked the peace process and the region as a whole.

www.ibtauris.com 336 pages 234 x 156mm 9781780760933 Hardback £25.00

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 29 CENTRE FOR IRANIAN STUDIES – SCHOLARSHIPS

SOAS, University of London, is pleased to announce the availability of several scholarships in its Centre for Iranian Studies (CIS). The Centre, established in 2010, draws upon the range of academic research and teaching across the disciplines of SOAS, including Languages and Literature, the Study of Religions, History, Economics, Politics, International Relations, Music, Art and Media and Film Studies. It aims to

build close relations with likeminded p 25 . of the School Oriental and African Studies, London, 2007, Treasures institutions and to showcase and foster the best of contemporary Iranian talent in art and culture. MA in Iranian Studies *OCISNFNCFSTTVDDFTTGVMMZ launcIFEBOinterdisciplinary MA in Image: Anvār-i Suhaylī (Lights of the Canopus) Manuscript (Ref: MS10102) from: Anna Contadini (ed.) Objectsof Instruction: Image: Anvār-i Iranian Studies, UIFGJSTUPGJUTLJOE which will be off ered BHBJOJO2015/16. Thanks to the generosity of the Fereydoun Djam Charitable Trust, a number of Kamran Djam scholarships are available for BA, MA and MPhil/PhD studies. MA in Iranian Studies For further details, please contact: Dr Nima Mina (Department of the Languages and Culture of the Middle East) Scholarships Offi cer E: [email protected] E: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7898 4315 T: +44 (0)20 7074 5091/ 5094 W: www.soas.ac.uk/nme/programmes/ W: www.soas.ac.uk/scholarships ma-in-iranian-studies Centre for Iranian Studies Student Recruitment Dr Arshin Adib-Moghaddam (Chair) T: +44(0)20 7898 4034 E: [email protected] E: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7898 4747 W: www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis

30 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 June) See above event listing for EVENTS OUTSIDE settlement of Zoroastrians on Friday 3 July Wednesday 24 June. LONDON the west coast of India to either the eighth or tenth centuries 9:00 am | Crisis Th rough the 7:00 pm | A Useless Man (Book CE. Th is talk will discuss the Ages (Conference) Jill Cook, Launch) Organised by: Th e Friday 5 June development of Parsi identity Jonathan Tubb, Mario Liverani, Mosaic Rooms and Archipelago. on Indian soil, which was both David Kennedy, Mahmoud Event to mark the launch of A 10:30 | Th e ‘Arab Spring’ shaped and challenged by feelings Hawari, Eugene Rogan, and Colin Useless Man (English translation), and Contemporary Cultural of allegiance to the old country Renfrew. Organised by: Palestine a collection of autobiographical Production from the Maghreb mixed with a desire to put down Exploration Fund (PEF). PEF and highly symbolic stories from (Conference) Organised by: roots in the new. Tickets: £10 W 150th Anniversary Conference. renowned Turkish author Sait Maghreb Academic Network www.iranheritage.org Asia House, Admission free. Pre-registration Faik Abasiyanik translated by Postgraduate Conference. 63 New Cavendish Street, London required T 020 7323 8181 W www. Maureen Freely. Admission free. Admission free. Pre-registration W1G 7LP. T 020 3651 2121 E britishmuseum.org BP Lecture Pre-registration required E rsvp@ required E [email protected] [email protected] Th eatre, BM. T 020 7935 5379 E mosaicrooms.org Th e Mosaic / kaya.davieshayon@postgrad. [email protected] W www.pef. Rooms, A M Qattan Foundation, manchester.ac.uk St Antony’s 7:00 pm | Insight with Samar org.uk Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, College, 62 Woodstock Road, Yazbek: My Journey to the London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 Oxford OX2 6JF. Shattered Heart of Syria (Talk) 7:00 pm | London Festival of 9990 E [email protected] W Organised by: Frontline Club. Kurdish Music Organised by: http://mosaicrooms.org Saturday 6 June Samar Yazbek's new book Th e Peyman Heydarian and the SOAS Crossing documents several Kurdish Band. 5th Festival of Friday 26 June Until 14 June | Liverpool Arab dangerous clandestine trips Kurdish music. Tickets: £10/£8 Arts Festival (LAAF) Annual she took into the North of her conc./£6 SOAS students. DLT 9:00 am | BRISMES Annual festival showcasing the richness country and is testimony to the (formerly G2), SOAS. E events. Conference 2015: Liberation? of Arab culture at various venues reality that is Syria today. Yazbek [email protected] W www. (Th ree-Day Conference: across Liverpool featuring visual shares her observations and what thesantur.com Wednesday 24 – Friday 26 art, music, dance, fi lm, theatre, she heard from the Syrian people June) See above event listing for literature and special events. W about their hopes and fears for the Wednesday 24 June. http://www.arabartsfestival.co.uk future. Tickets: £12.50/£10 conc. Saturday 11 July Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, Monday 29 June Monday 8 June London W2 1QJ. T 020 7479 8940 Until 26 July | Shubbak E [email protected] W Festival 2015: A Window on 10:00 am | Digging up Jericho: TBC | Researching the Middle www.frontlineclub.com Contemporary Arab Culture Past, Present & Future (Two-Day East: Fieldwork, Archives, Issues, Symposium: Monday 29 - Tuesday and Ethics (Two-Day Symposium: 30 June) Organised by: Council for Monday 8 - Tuesday 9 June) 'Untitled', 25 x 25 cm, © Corinne Silva, 2014. Corinne Silva: Garden State the British Research in the Levant, Organised by: Institute of Arab (see Exhibitions, p. 34) the Institute of Archaeology and Islamic Studies, Exeter UCL, and the Non-Professional University. A symposium Archaeological Photographs- examining the various dimensions project. Once dubbed the ‘Oldest of conducting research on, and in City in the World’, Jericho has been the Middle East, from fi eldwork the focus of intense archaeological and archives to issues and activity and media interest in the ethics. Tickets & Venue: TBC. E 150 years since its discovery. Th is [email protected] W two-day symposium will draw http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/ on the heritage, archaeology iais/ and history of the Jericho Oasis. Tickets: £40/£20 students. Pre- registration required. Institute of JULY EVENTS Archaeology, UCL, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY. W http://npaph.com/symposium Wednesday 1 July

6.30pm | Remembering Iran: Tuesday 30 June Zoroastrian themes in Pahlavi, Persian and Gujarati texts 9:30 am | Digging up Jericho: (Lecture) Sarah Stewart, SOAS. Past, Present & Future (Two-Day Organised by: Iran Heritage Symposium: Monday 29 - Tuesday Foundation. Parsi tradition dates 30 June) See above event listing for the migration from Iran and early Monday 29 June.

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 31 London’s largest biennial festival Tuesday 21 July availability). Purcell Room at SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W of contemporary Arab culture Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank www.southbankcentre.co.uk featuring the visual arts, fi lm, 6:00 pm | Forbidden Marriages in Centre, Belvedere Road, London music, theatre, dance, literature, the Holy Land (Film) Organised SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W 12:00 pm | Poetry in Confl ict architecture and debate and over by: Th e Mosaic Rooms. Dir Michel www.southbankcentre.co.uk Talks Pass (Talk) Organised 60 events taking place across Khleifi (1995), Palestine/Belgium/ by: Southbank Centre. An various venues. W www.shubbak. UK, 66 min. A documentary on Saturday 25 July aft ernoon of three talks tells the co.uk mixed marriages between inter- stories of poets and poetry from faith and inter-racial couples from 11:00 am | Introduction to Afghanistan to Pakistan via Iraq. Israeli and Palestinian societies. Iranian Poetry Past and Tickets: £15/50% off conc. (limited Sunday 12 July Admission free. Pre-registration Present (Workshop/Discussion) availability). Purcell Room at required E rsvp@mosaicrooms. Organised by: Southbank Centre. Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank 11:00 am | Disappearing Cities org Th e Mosaic Rooms, A M An introduction to both traditional Centre, Belvedere Road, London of the Arab World (Symposium) Qattan Foundation, Tower House, and contemporary Persian poetry. SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W A symposium exploring issues of 226 Cromwell Road, London Ted Hodgkinson and Stephen www.southbankcentre.co.uk architecture, post-colonialism, SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 E Watts explore how poets have globalisation and psycho- [email protected] W http:// responded to the modernisation of 2:00 pm | Out of the Shadows: geography. It brings together mosaicrooms.org Iran and translations of European Translating Unknown Iranian writers, artists, historians, poetry. Tickets: £10/50% off Poets (Workshop/Discussion) architects and urbanists to explore Friday 24 July conc. (limited availability). Hubert Moore and Nasrin Parvaz. the complex space that is the Level 3 Function Room at Royal Organised by: Southbank Centre. contemporary Arab city. Tickets: TBC | Th e 2015 Seminar for Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Poet Moore and translator £20. BP Lecture Th eatre, BM. T 020 Arabian Studies (Th ree-Day Belvedere Road, London SE1 Parvaz discuss the challenge of 7370 9990 E info@mosaicrooms. Conference: Friday 24 - Sunday 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W www. translating some of the less well- org W http://mosaicrooms.org 26 July) 49th Seminar for Arabian southbankcentre.co.uk known poems in modern Iranian Studies Conference. International literature. Tickets: £10/50% 2:00 pm | Visions of Palestine: forum that meets annually for the 11:15 am | How to Write Ghazals off conc. (limited availability). A homage to Michel Khleifi presentation of the latest academic (Workshop) Organised by: Level 3 Function Room at Royal (Documentary/Panel Discussion) research in the humanities on Southbank Centre. Learn how to Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Organised by: Institute of the Arabian Peninsula. Tickets: write ghazals, the ancient Arabic Belvedere Road, London SE1 Contemporary Arts (ICA). A triple Various. BM. E seminar.arab@ verse form similar to the sonnet. 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W www. bill of seminal documentaries, thebfsa.org W www.thebfsa.org Tickets: £20/50% off conc. (limited southbankcentre.co.uk followed by a panel discussion availability). Sunley Pavilion at with director Michel Khleifi , 5:45 pm | Activism and Poetry Royal Festival Hall, Southbank 4:45 pm | Close Reading: Paul Peter Kosminsky and Ilan Pappe. Writing Workshop Organised Centre, Belvedere Road, London Batchelor (Reading) Organised Tickets: £11/£8 conc./£7 ICA by: Southbank Centre. Working Members. Cinema 1, Institute of with Palestinian performance Contemporary Arts (ICA), Th e poet and human rights activist 'The Light is Fading Slowly Slowly and Slower, The Time Being in the Mall, London SW1Y 5AH. T 020 Shadow of Hyperobjects', oil on canvas, 200 x 220 cm, 2015. Yeşim Akdeniz: Rafeef Ziadah, an opportunity to The Secret Life of My Coﬀ ee Table (see Exhibitions, p. 34) 7930 3647 W www.ica.org.uk/ look at examples of activist poetry and create some of your own. Tickets: £20/50% off conc. (limited Monday 13 July availability). Sunley Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank 6:00 pm | Canticle of the Stones Centre, Belvedere Road, London (Film) Organised by: Th e Mosaic SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W Rooms. Dir Michel Khleifi (1990), www.southbankcentre.co.uk Palestine/Belgium, 110 min. Khleifi ’s second feature fi lm tells 7:45 pm | Poets on the Frontline the story of star-crossed lovers, (Reading/Discussion) Choman Bushra and Makram. Parted in Hardi, Ghareeb Iskander and Kei the 1960s when Bushra emigrates Miller. Organised by: Southbank to the US, the pair meet again Centre. Poets Choman Hardi years later at the height of the (from Iraqi Kurdistan) and fi rst Intifada. Admission free. Ghareeb Iskander (from Iraq) are Pre-registration required E rsvp@ reunited with UK-based Jamican mosaicrooms.org Th e Mosaic poet Kei Miller, who visited the Rooms, A M Qattan Foundation, Kurdistani capital Erbil for last Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, year's literary festival. Together, London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 they discuss the challenges 9990 E [email protected] W of capturing confl ict in verse. http://mosaicrooms.org Tickets: £10/50% off conc. (limited

32 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 by: Southbank Centre. 'So Th at Minotaur' is a modernist poem about confl ict by Babak Khoshjan. Join the poem's translator Paul Batchelor and Modern Poetry in Translation editor Sasha Dugdale for a close reading of the poem. Tickets: £5/50% off conc. (limited availability). Sunley Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W www.southbankcentre.co.uk

5:15pm | Close Reading: Hubert Moore and Nasrin Parvaz (Reading) Organised by: Southbank Centre. Hubert Moore and Nasrin Parvaz are the translators of Sabeer Haka's short poems. Join them for a close reading of their translations and learn more about their working method. Tickets: £5/50% off conc. (limited availability). Sunley Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 on the three northern sources of the UK. Tickets: £350 (includes Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W www. the river Jordan (the Dan, Baniyas, tuition, workshop materials, 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W www. southbankcentre.co.uk and Hasbani streams) and the lunch and refreshments). Pre- southbankcentre.co.uk area of the Sea of Galilee and the registration required by Friday Sunday 26 July Jordan river’s southern course up 5 June. Oxford Quaker Meeting 6:30 pm | Turning the world to where it enters the Dead Sea. Room, 43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 upside down: the emergence of 3:00 pm | Th e House is Black Tickets: TBC. Oriental Institute, 3LW. T 01865 428655 E admin@ camel caravans and overland and Forugh Farrokhzad (Film) University of Oxford, Pusey Lane, oxfordrightsworkshops.co.uk W trade in the Ancient Near East Organised by: Southbank Centre. Oxford OX1 2LE. T 01865 514041 www.oxfordrightsworkshops. (Lecture) Peter Magee, Bryn Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad E [email protected] W www. co.uk/product/Palestine-refugees/ Mawr College. Th e Annual MBI made her documentary about aramsociety.com Al Jaber Lecture at the Seminar a leper colony for Ebrahim for Arabian Studies. Magee Golestan's fi lm company in 1963 Monday 20 July EXHIBITIONS presents the latest evidence and paved the way for Iranian for the timing and location of New Wave cinema. Followed by 9:00 am | Religious Off erings and dromedary domestication in a discussion with Aras Khatami. Sacrifi ces in the Ancient Near Until 5 June | The Dangerous Arabia and explores how the use Tickets: £10/50% off conc. (limited East (Th ree-Day Conference: Frontier Works by the Moroccan of dromedaries for overland trade availability). Spirit Level at Royal Monday 20 - Wednesday 22 July) photographer Lalla Essaydi whose reconfi gured the political and Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Organised by: ARAM Society photographs are the result of economic landscape of the ancient Belvedere Road, London SE1 for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies. a complex performance-based Near East. Admission free. Pre- 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W www. Tickets: TBC. Oriental Institute, medium comprising painting, registration required T 020 7323 southbankcentre.co.uk University of Oxford, Pusey Lane, calligraphy, interior design, 8181 W www.britishmuseum. Oxford OX1 2LE. T 01865 514041 costume design, stage directing, org Clore Education Centre, BM. E [email protected] W www. and fi nally photography with the E [email protected] W EVENTS OUTSIDE aramsociety.com uncropped white borders of the www.thebfsa.org LONDON fi lm with the Kodak brand made Monday 27 July visible emphasising the fabrication 7:00 pm | Scorched Glass: Iranian of her settings. Admission free. Poetry (Reading) Organised by: Monday 13 July 8:45 am | Palestine refugees and Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, 22 Southbank Centre. Leading Iranian the interpretation of article Eastcastle Street, London W1W and UK poets come together to 9:00 am | Th e River Jordan (Th ree- 1D of the 1951 Convention 8DE. T 020 3588 1195 E info@ read poems from Modern Poetry Day Conference: Monday 13 - relating to the Status of Refugees kashyahildebrand.org W www. in Translation. Tickets: £8/50% Wednesday 15 July) Organised by: (Workshop) Organised by: Oxford kashyahildebrand.org off conc. (limited availability). ARAM Society for Syro- Rights Workshops. A workshop Level 5 Function Room at Royal Mesopotamian Studies. Th e on the legal issues relating to Until 20 June | Th e Tent Makers Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, conference will focus its attention Palestinians who seek asylum in of Islamic Cairo: A Photographic

June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 33 study by Massimiliano Fusari In with depictions of the buildings’ the milieu of old Cairo craft smen interiors, these seemingly post- have been producing textiles apocalyptic scenes suggest a of both utility and beauty for potential future where our centuries. Intended originally buildings and design objects in for tents, these decorative pieces their various forms remain as our of stitched cotton - known as sole survivors. Admission free. Pi khayamiyya - have long attracted Artworks London, 55 Eastcastle local Cairenes as well as distant Street, London W1W 8EG. T 020 travellers. Fusari's images capture 7637 8403 E [email protected] the tentmakers at work as stitchers W www.piartworks.com and sellers, their medieval street and its changing neighbourhood. Until 11 July | Nascent States Admission free. Brunei Gallery, Group exhibition bringing SOAS. T 020 7898 4046 E gallery@ together the diverse practices soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/ of eight female artists including gallery/ Judith Barry‘s ‘…Cairo Stories’, a series of recorded stories, based on Cechanok (see June Events, p. 29) Until 20 June | Garden State personal interviews. Initiated in Photography exhibition in which 2003 at the beginning of the Iraq Corinne Silva off ers an unexpected War, the project explores the many of the Festival of Arts Shiraz- London WC1N 3AL. T 020 7242 view on gardening, exploring diff erent ways that Cairene women Persepolis, a ground-breaking 7367 W www.octobergallery.co.uk Israel’s suburban gardens, parks negotiate the ideological, cultural international arts festival held and public places. Silva encourages and economic conditions that around Shiraz, Iran, every summer Saturday 11 July visitors to view gardening not are specifi c to Cairo. Admission from 1967–1977. Admission free. simply as the act of nurturing a plot free. Waterside Contemporary, Whitechapel Gallery, 77 – 82 Until 22 August | I Spy With My of land, but potentially as a tool 2 Clunbury Street, London N1 Whitechapel High Street, London Little Eye… Exhibition exploring used in aggressive state expansion, 6TT. T 020 3417 0159 W www. E1 7QX. T 020 7522 7888 E info@ the practices of a new generation territory marking and occupation. waterside-contemporary.com whitechapelgallery.org W www. of Beirut artists most of whom See website below for various whitechapelgallery.org are in their late twenties to early events around the exhibition. Until 31 July | Th e Bridge thirties and all born aft er the break Admission free. Th e Mosaic An East-West travelling art Friday 12 June out of the war in 1975. Admission Rooms, A M Qattan Foundation, exhibition organised and curated free. Th e Mosaic Rooms, A M Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, by CARAVAN, an interreligious Until 25 July | Th e Map is Not Qattan Foundation, Tower House, London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 and intercultural peacebuilding the Territory A group exhibition 226 Cromwell Road, London 9990 E [email protected] W NGO and showcasing the work looking at relationships and SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 E http://mosaicrooms.org of 47 contemporary artists from commonalities in Palestinian, [email protected] W http:// 15 countries. Admission free. St Native American, and Irish mosaicrooms.org Until 20 June | Th e Art of Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar experiences of invasion, Integration ‘Islam in England's Square, London WC2N 4JJ. T 020 occupation, and colonization – Monday 13 July green and pleasant land': 7766 1100 E [email protected] W not as novelty or polemic, but Photographs by Peter Sanders www.smitf.org as history and current events. Until 23 July | Tripoli - Th e Melting Sanders shows an alternative Admission free. P21 Gallery, 21 Pot Featuring works that represent picture of Muslims integrated Until 25 September | Faith and Chalton Street, London NW1 1JD. the diff erent interpretations of the completely within British society, Fortune Exhibition focussing on T 020 7121 6190 E [email protected]. artists exhibited as they consider a reminder that Muslims have the use of Late Antique coinage uk W www.p21.org.uk the concept of a City in the been part of British life for well as a platform for the promotion case of Tripoli, Libya. Includes over a century, and have made and of the respective political and Th ursday 2 July paintings, photography, fi lms and continue to make an important religious ideals of the Byzantine, installation art, each depicting contribution to the United Umayyad and Sasanian Empires. Until 1 August | Brion Gysin: the artist’s special relationship Kingdom’s rich cultural diversity. Admission free. Th e Street Gallery, Unseen Collaborator Reopens with this metropolis. Admission Admission free. Brunei Gallery, Institute of Arab and Islamic 8 September – 3 October 2015. free. Th e Arab British Centre, SOAS. T 020 7898 4046 E gallery@ Studies, University of Exeter, Painter, writer, sound poet, 1 Gough Square, London EC4a soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/ Stocker Road, Exeter EX4 4ND. E tape composer, lyricist, and 3DE. T 020 7832 1310 E info@ gallery/ [email protected] W http:// performance artist, Gysin is arabbritishcentre.org.uk W www. socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/iais/ remembered particularly for his arabbritishcentre.org.uk Until 27 June | Yeşim Akdeniz: events/exhibitions/ evocative paintings of the North Th e Secret Life of My Coff ee African desert in the 1950s and his Table Akdeniz has produced a Until 4 October | A Utopian original calligraphic abstractions series of paintings of the exteriors Stage: Festival of Arts Shiraz- based on Japanese and Arabic of iconic stone buildings partially Persepolis New archive display scripts. Admission free. October submerged by bodies of water which documents the history Gallery, 24 Old Gloucester Street,

34 The Middle East in London June – July 2015 Middle East Summer School 2422 JuneJune-23 – 26 July July 2015 2013

An intensive five-week programme which includes two courses: an Arabic Language Course (introductory or intermediate) and another on ‘Government' and Politics of the Middle East.' or 'Culture and Society in the Middle East'.

BeginnersArabic 100 Arabic (Level 1) Government andand PoliticsPolitics of of the Middle East This is an introductory course in Modern Standard Arabic. It teaches students the Arabic script and This coursecourse provides serves as an an introduction introduction to theto the politics politics of the provides basic grounding in Arabic grammar and ofMiddle North East Africa and (TheNorth Maghreb), Africa (MENA) the Arab region. East It gives(The on a syntax. On completing the course, students should Mashriq)country by including country basis,the Gulf, an overview the Arabian of the Peninsula, major political be able to read, write, listen to and understand simple Israel,issues andTurkey developments and Iran. It ingives, the region on a country since the by Arabic sentences and passages. This course is for countryend of the basis, First anWorld overview War and of addressesthe major keypolitical themes complete beginners and does not require any prior issuesin the studyand developments of contemporary in theMiddle region East since politics, the knowledge or study of Arabic. endincluding: of the the First role World of the War military, and addresses social and key economic themes indevelopment, the study of political contemporary Islam, and Middle the recent East uprisingspolitics, Arabic 200 including:(the ‘Arab Spring’). the role of the military, social and economic Beginners Arabic (Level 2) development, political Islam, and the recent uprisings (the ‘Arab Spring’). This coursecourse is focuses a continuation on reading, of Beginners writing Arabicand grammar Level 1. Itand completes provides the training coverage in listening. of the grammar The course and syntax will also of Culture and Society in the Middle East Its main aim is to develop the students’ understanding introduce modern media Arabic to prepare students to Modern Standard Arabic and trains students in reading, Thisof the course major examines trends in the Middle major Easterncultural politicspatterns and and read newspapers, magazines and internet news sources comprehending and writing with the help of a dictionary institutionstheir skills ofof politicalthe MENA analysis region through. It is taught critical through reading, a study published in the Arab world today. On completing the more complex Arabic sentences and passages. oflectures, some lively presentations topics such and as religious informed and discussion. ethnic diversity, course, students should be able to read and understand impact of the West, stereotyping, the role of tradition, texts of an intermediate level, compose short texts in education (traditional and modern), family structure and Arabic on a variety of topics and be able to follow oral To qualify for entry into this course, students should value, gender politics, media, life in city, town and village, communication in Arabic. Students will also be trained have already completed at least one introductory labour and labour migration, the Palestinian refugee in the basic skills necessary to read and understand course in Arabic. problem and Arab exile communities, culinary cultures, Arabic news media with the aid of a dictionary. music and media, etc. This is an intermediate course. To qualify for entry into this course, students should have already completed at least one introductory course in Arabic.

FEES Session (5 weeks) Programme fee* Accommodation fee** 2224 June–26June-23 July July 2015 2013 (two (two courses)courses) £2,500 from £300/week

* Early bird discounts of 10% apply to course fees before 1 March 2013. ** Accommodation fees must be paid by 1 March 2013 to secure accommodation. * Rooms Please can check be bookedour website at the from Intercollegiate mid-October Halls 2012 which for areconﬁ located rmed prices. in the heart of Bloomsbury: www.halls.london.ac.uk.

For more information, please contact Louise Hosking on [email protected]. Or check our website www.soas.ac.uk/lmei June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 35 Photograph © Iselin-Shaw

NEW MA PALESTINE STUDIES Ŕ Develop an understanding of the complexities of modern and contemporary Palestine

Ŕ Explore history, political structure, development, culture and society

Ŕ Obtain a multi-disciplinary overview

Ŕ Enrol on a ﬂexible, inter-disciplinary study programme For further details, please contact: Wen-chin Ouyang, Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature E: [email protected] www.soas.ac.uk 36 The Middle East in London June – July 2015