THIS ISSUE: Endangered Languages

Volume 11 - Number 5 October – November 2015 £4

THIS ISSUE: Endangered Languages ● Losing our language diversity ● The death of Zoroastrian Dari in Kerman ● The Modern South Arabian languages ● Korandje from the 12th to the 21st century ● The case of Siwi ● The language of the ‘Middle Eastern Gypsies’ ● What if, 100 years on, school is not enough? ● PLUS Reviews and events in London Volume 11 - Number 5 October – November 2015 £4

Sadegh Tirafk an (1965-2013), Secret of Words #2, 2002, 66 X 90 cm (detail) © Estate of About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI) Sadegh Tirafk an, courtesy of Ghassem Tirafk an Th e London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide Volume 11 - Number 5 teaching, training, research, publication, consultancy, outreach and other services related to the Middle October – November 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 membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. Th e LMEI also SOAS has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle Dr Hadi Enayat 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 LMEI is a Registered Charity in the UK wholly owned by SOAS, University of London (Charity Association of European Journalists Registration Number: 1103017). Dr George Joff é Cambridge University Ms Janet Rady Janet Rady Fine Art Mission Statement: Mr Barnaby Rogerson Ms Sarah Searight Th e aim of the LMEI, through education and research, is to promote knowledge of all aspects of the Middle British Foundation for the Study of Arabia East including its complexities, problems, achievements and assets, both among the general public and with Dr Sarah Stewart those who have a special interest in the region. In this task it builds on two essential assets. First, it is based in SOAS London, a city which has unrivalled contemporary and historical connections and communications with the Mrs Ionis Th ompson Middle East including political, social, cultural, commercial and educational aspects. Secondly, the LMEI is Saudi-British Society and BFSA at SOAS, the only tertiary educational institution in the world whose explicit purpose is to provide education Dr Shelagh Weir Independent Researcher and scholarship on the whole Middle East from prehistory until today. Professor Sami Zubaida Birkbeck College Coordinating Editor Megan Wang LMEI Staff: SSubscriptions:ubscriptions: Listings Vincenzo Paci Director Dr Hassan Hakimian To subscribe to Th e Middle East in London, please visit: Executive Offi cer Louise Hosking www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/affi liation/ or contact the Designer Events and Magazine Coordinator Vincenzo Paci LMEI offi ce. Shahla Geramipour Administrative Assistant Valentina Zanardi Th e Middle East in London is published fi ve times a year by the London Middle Letters to the Editor: East Institute at SOAS Please send your letters to the editor at Publisher and Disclaimer: the LMEI address provided (see left panel) Editorial Offi ce or email [email protected] Th e London Middle East Institute SOAS Opinions and views expressed in the Middle East University of London in London are, unless otherwise stated, personal MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EA views of authors and do not refl ect the views of their United Kingdom organisations nor those of the LMEI and the MEL's LONDON T: +44 (0)20 7898 4490 Editorial Board. Although all advertising in the F: +44 (0)20 7898 4329 MIDDLE EAST E: [email protected] magazine is carefully vetted prior to publication, the www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ LMEI does not accept responsibility for the accuracy INSTITUTE ISSN 1743-7598 of claims made by advertisers. Contents

LMEI Board of Trustees 4 17 Baroness Valerie Amos (Chair) EDITORIAL What if, 100 years on, school is Director, SOAS not enough? Professor Richard Black, SOAS Dr John Curtis 5 Anke al-Bataineh Iran Heritage Foundation INSIGHT Dr Nelida Fuccaro, SOAS Losing our language diversity 19 Mr Alan Jenkins Mandana Seyfeddinipur REVIEWS Dr Karima Laachir, SOAS BOOKS Dr Dina Matar, SOAS 7 A Critical Introduction to Dr Hanan Morsy European Bank for Reconstruction Khomeini and Development ENDANGERED LANGUAGES Dr Barbara Zollner Th e death of Zoroastrian Dari Bijan Hakimian Birkbeck College in Kerman Saloumeh Gholami 20 LMEI Advisory Council BOOKS IN BRIEF 9 Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) Th e Modern South Arabian 23 Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem Near and Middle East Department, SOAS languages EVENTS IN LONDON H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait Janet Watson and Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani Miranda Morris Arab International Women’s Forum Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa President, University College of Bahrain 11 Professor Tony Allan King’s College and SOAS Gaining a language, losing a Dr Alanoud Alsharekh language: Korandje from the Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS 12th to the 21st century Mr Farad Azima NetScientifi c Plc Lameen Souag Dr Noel Brehony MENAS Associates Ltd. Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna 13 British Egyptian Society A gender-based language HE Mr Mazen Kemal Homoud Ambassador, Embassy of the Hashemite disparity in a conservative Kingdom of Jordan Mr Paul Smith society? Th e case of Siwi Chairman, Eversheds International Valentina Schiattarella Founding Patron and Donor of the LMEI 15 Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber MBI Al Jaber Foundation Domari: the language of the ‘Middle Eastern Gypsies’ Bruno Herin

October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 3 EEDITORIALDITORIAL © Google, map data provided by the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme

DDearear RReadereader

Map highlighting some of the endangered languages covered in this issue

Mandana Seyfeddinipur, SOAS

ough estimates indicate that only articles in this issue off er a kaleidoscope of language spoken in the Siwa oasis in Egypt. around 300 distinct languages remain diff erent circumstances and histories of the In the oasis women live isolated from men Rin all of Europe and the Middle East. speakers and communities that scholars are and converse mostly amongst each other. In But the reality is that we simply don’t know working with. Th ey off er a snapshot of the her piece Valentina Schiattarella investigates exactly how many languages are still spoken rich knowledge of these speakers and the the diff erences in speaking between the today – aside from the major ones – because complexity of the languages we are trying to genders to see if women preserve more of a lack of reliable information. preserve. traditional forms of the language. Bruno Th e Middle East has been an important Th e Insight piece provides the larger Herin shows us how it is possible to trace historic centre, but the languages and frame for the issue and lays out how the migration of the Dom, an Indo-Aryan dialects developed over centuries are speakers are aff ected by globalisation, ethnic group, via an analysis of their vanishing day by day with speakers dying what this means for our understanding language. And fi nally, Anke al-Bataineh and communities being displaced. Aside of linguistic diversity and the language sheds light on how Armenian diaspora from some notes, mentions here and ideologies we can observe today. communities in Lebanon are trying to there, and some specialist articles we do Saloumeh Gholami’s piece looks at the ensure that their language survives by not have a record of these fading aspects dismal situation of Zoroastrian Dari in establishing Armenian schools. But what if of our linguistic and cultural memory: Kerman (Iran) and discusses how and why school is not enough? instead knowledge remains locked inside the dialect is still going strong in Yazd. Janet For the past 13 years SOAS and the the languages, dialects and variants that Watson and Miranda Morris describe six Endangered Languages Documentation have evolved in many areas and in diaspora endangered languages spoken in eastern Project have been working to give communities. Yemen, southern Oman, Jiddat al-Harasis, communities a voice, to preserve their Th is issue of Th e Middle East in London the island of Soqotra, and southern stories and their myths. Th is issue of the endeavours to raise awareness and shed and eastern portions of Saudi Arabia. magazine is an attempt to put a small light on how the developments in the Lameen Souag reports about Korandje, a selection of these languages on the map, to Middle East are aff ecting the world’s language spoken by a Berber community raise awareness about them and to hopefully cultural heritage and how we are running in south-western Algeria that survived disrupt the silence. against time to preserve the knowledge for centuries…until the establishment encoded in the languages we are losing. Th e of centralised schooling. Siwi is a Berber

4 The Middle East in London October – November 2015 IINSIGHTNSIGHT

Mandana Seyfeddinipur discusses the dramatic, global decline in linguistic diversity and outlines the preservation eﬀ orts of SOAS and the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme LLosingosing oourur llanguageanguage ddiversityiversity

Taleshi speaker Rustaa Capazaad in Iran.

oday there are about 7,000 languages children speak the ‘more prestigious’, Th e Middle East is experiencing dramatic spoken worldwide, and we estimate dominant language that will allow them to political changes, and the onslaught on its Tthat half of these will have fallen succeed. cultural heritage is aff ecting its communities silent by the end of this century. Our Speakers adapt their languages all the dramatically. And when people are linguistic diversity is vanishing in front of time, and language change is the beauty displaced, take refuge or escape they will our eyes. Globalisation, climate change, of this living medium, but what we are most likely adapt to the majority language, political pressure and displacement aff ect observing today is language shift at an which will allow them to have social and people all over the world. In many areas of unprecedented speed. Th e speed at which economic mobility or just simply make the world, speakers leave their traditional we are losing the world’s languages has a living to survive. Th ese people are the ways of life behind, moving to new locations increased dramatically over the past few carriers of a unique cultural history encoded with dreams of building a better life. Once decades. Some compare it to the 5th mass in the languages they speak, in the languages they have arrived they make sure their extinction, when the dinosaurs died out. that will fall silent because their children do not learn them anymore. Now, wouldn’t it be better if we all had People are carriers of a unique cultural history encoded one language and wouldn’t that make our in the languages they speak, in the languages that will fall lives easier? We would no longer be lost in translation, but how would we choose? We silent because their children do not learn them anymore could all speak Chinese. Isn’t the Tower of

October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 5 SOAS is creating a lasting record of our linguistic which is oft en lacking in academic discourse. diversity and is building capacity by training scholars We were able to support the and students worldwide in language documentation documentation of a few languages in the Middle East like the project on Taleshi, a Babel metaphor telling us that it is a curse the world focussed on preserving vanishing language spoken in the North of Iran. Th e to have these many languages? So let’s make languages. Archives, funding initiatives and project started in Iran but was jeopardised a choice. How about a Turkic language, language centres were set up and began when the researcher could not go back which expresses whether you have directly their work. Most of these initiatives have for political reasons. He found a speaker witnessed/experienced an event or only now ended, and we are left with the ongoing here in London who could become a heard about it second-hand? Or what loss. major contributor in documenting his about Rotokas, which is made up of only SOAS, University of London set up the disappearing language while living in exile. 12 sounds? Or Chinese, of course, where Endangered Languages Documentation But we only have scratched the surface. the meaning of a word can change if it is Programme, the Endangered Languages Many minority languages in the Middle East spoken in a higher tone? Choosing is not Archive and an academic programme with are under threat: some have only a handful easy: when faced with giving up our own a generous donation from the Arcadia of elderly speakers left . We are racing against languages we come to realise how at home Fund. Th ese programmes support people time to record the invaluable knowledge we are in the unique languages we are able around the world who document these these speakers hold and to preserve these to speak. disappearing languages and bring the audio treasures of our cultural heritage. Ask a multilingual about words they and video recordings and the translations cannot translate and you will get a lot of and analysis back to preserve them in For more info visit www.eldp.net beautiful examples like the Japanese word the Endangered Languages Archive. Th e Komorebi: the sort of scattered light eff ect school is creating a lasting record of our Mandana Seyfeddinipur is a linguist and that happens when light shines through linguistic diversity and is building capacity the Director of the Endangered Languages trees. Why would we want to give this up? by training scholars and students worldwide Documentation Programme at SOAS, Here is another question to think about: in language documentation. We also bring University of London why does it have to be one or the other? this knowledge and expertise into the places Aren’t multilingual speakers the key to where the languages are disappearing and being ready for the challenges to come in a the areas where disappearing languages globalised, highly mobile and at the same are still being spoken: Ghana, Ethiopia and time fragmented world? Being multilingual, Cameroon or in Siberia and Yunnan. being able to express oneself and think Our digital archive – ELAR – at the SOAS in diff erent ways makes us highly agile in library not only preserves these collections responding to the challenges we are facing. of language recordings, but also gives It is diversity that makes a system robust, the speakers of these languages a voice. and in many places around the globe we can It allows them and their communities to observe multilingual agility being a response relay their past and their present to the to challenges in the environment. world. Th e archive makes the collections What makes this language loss even more publicly accessible, allowing scholars around dramatic is that many of these disappearing the world to draw on these materials and languages have never been described or helping them to add a locally informed recorded. Th e richness of human linguistic perspective to their work – a perspective diversity is disappearing without a trace. Th is is happening while millions of tourists al-Bataineh © Anke are visiting the British Museum to admire and learn about the treasures of our cultural heritage that are preserved there. How can we make sure we are not losing what we have today so that in the future our children and their children can learn about our linguistic heritage? A full-time teacher at For a start and given the urgency, an Armenian school we should document these languages. oﬀ ers Armenian- Archaeologists now try to take at least 3-D medium literacy lessons on Saturdays pictures of monumental ruins, which are to students who the remains of cultural centres of the ancient attend non-Armenian schools. In Lebanon, world. In the same way, we can record these these students languages, preserve the recordings and usually read best in make them available to the world. About 20 English or French and sometimes speak years ago, the outcry from linguists led to those languages the establishment of many initiatives around exclusively at home

6 The Middle East in London October – November 2015 EENDAGEREDNDAGERED LLANGUAGESANGUAGES

Saloumeh Gholami examines why the Dari dialect has survived in Yazd but withered in Kerman TThehe ddeatheath ooff ZZoroastrianoroastrian DDariari iinn KKermanerman © Saloumeh Gholami

The festival of Tirgan in the Fire Temple in Kerman

ari (also known as Behdini, Gavri between 1879 and 2011, the number because they fi nd the dominant culture of or Gavruni) is an Iranian language of Zoroastrians in Kerman and Yazd the new society more prestigious, useful and Dspoken by the religious minority of declined dramatically, while it increased widespread. Zoroastrians, who live mostly in the cities by more than 5,745 per cent in Tehran Th e survival of Zoroastrian Dari, the of Yazd and the surrounding areas, and during the same period. Th is change in language of the Zoroastrians in Iran, is in Kerman and Tehran. Aft er the coming numbers is evidence of the mass migration under threat. Many Zoroastrian parents of Islam, the Zoroastrian community was of Zoroastrians to Tehran. Most of the speak only Persian with their children, under considerable pressure to convert migrants who came to Tehran were and the intergenerational transmission to Islam. For this reason, between the 8th either looking for jobs or continuing their of Dari has thus ceased, especially in the and 10th centuries, some of the followers of education. In recent years, a large number communities in Tehran and Kerman. As Zoroastrianism left Iran for India, where of Zoroastrians have migrated to other a consequence, it is imaginable that in the today the largest and most important countries, mostly to the USA, Canada future there will no longer be any speakers Zoroastrian community in the world is and France. Th e younger generations of who use Dari as a fi rst or even as a second found. Zoroastrians naturally gravitate towards the language. Dari has gradually been losing Before the Mongol invasion of Iran in new culture in those countries, leaving their signifi cant communicative functions as 1219-1224 CE, there were Zoroastrian culture behind. Th ey have stopped following it falls under the shadow of Persian, the communities in diff erent regions of Iran, their heritage of religious and cultural dominant and offi cial language of the especially in Khorasan and Sistan. But practices and are becoming assimilated, country. by the 16th century the location of these communities was gradually reduced to two regions, Kerman and Yazd, with their In the locations where Dari has kept such functions in surrounding areas. During the period daily activities the language has been better preserved

October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 7 Th ere are two primary reasons for Dari’s Th e community in Kerman has not preserved the status as an endangered language. Th e fi rst of these is the fact that only Persian is observance of many rituals nor maintained the use of their considered to be a prestigious language in dialect to the degree to which the Zoroastrians in Yazd have Iran. For this reason, many other languages and dialects have also reached endangered status, slowly becoming dormant and are proud of their dialect and perceive Dari, because it is the dialect of the priests extinct. Th e accent of non-Persian speakers it as the best and most unique one of and their families. Malati is generally treated is oft en ridiculed, and these speakers feel all. Th is situation is found more oft en in as a dialect with high prestige, and it is the ashamed of their ancestral languages and villages and quarters with a predominance language of both business and religion. As it avoid speaking them. Th is is the main of Zoroastrian residents, for example, in possesses a large number of terms in every reason that many Zoroastrian young people Qāsem Ābād, a Zoroastrian village in Yazd, semantic fi eld, it can be used in all kinds of who have migrated to Tehran have stopped or in Maḥale-ye Mubedān, the priests’ social and linguistic contexts. Such factors using Dari and instead use only Persian. quarter in Yazd. Such a positive attitude contribute to its high degree of preservation. Th e second reason is that Dari has lost its has contributed to the preservation of the Th e Zoroastrian community in Kerman functions in everyday life. In the locations individual ceremonies and subdialects in diff ers in several ways from that in Yazd. where Dari has kept such functions in Yazd. Furthermore, Yazdi Dari has kept In Kerman, the community has been more daily activities the language has been better its function in many aspects of daily life: open to the non-Zoroastrian society around preserved. Th is is why the status of the Zoroastrians in Yazd wear traditional it. It has been strongly infl uenced in many Yazdi dialect of Dari is comparatively better clothing and hold special ceremonies, cultural and linguistic respects by the than the status of the Kermani dialect. Th e preserving their cultural heritage better than predominant Persian culture and language. reasons for the diff erence in degrees of those in Kerman. Also, the number of these Th e community in Kerman has not endangerment of these dialects can also be ceremonies held is higher in Yazd than in preserved the observance of many rituals found in the social and cultural context of Kerman. Such ceremonies are one of the nor maintained the use of their dialect to the Zoroastrian community in Yazd and main contexts for the use of Dari language the degree to which the Zoroastrians in Kerman. in Yazd. Another crucial context is the Yazd have. In Kerman, there are no longer In many ways Yazd is a traditional city domain of the family: a number of parents any people who speak this language as in which communal boundaries between in Yazd still speak Dari with their children. either a fi rst or second language, and thus Zoroastrians and Muslims have endured. Th ere are more than 25 Dari subdialects the language is no longer used. Th e last Zoroastrian communities in Yazd can be spoken in the area of Yazd, and of these the context for using this dialect was for ritual characterised as isolated islands with their dialect of Malati is the best preserved. Many purposes in the religious ceremonies. own rituals and subdialects existing within Zoroastrians believe that Malati must be Th e best speakers of Kermani Dari used a Muslim society. Dari speakers in Yazd taught and standardised and used as ‘high’ to be three elderly ladies, but aft er they passed away only three other speakers have remained, and they do not actively use the language at all. In my research project I have been documenting Zoroastrian Dari in Kerman. Unfortunately, one of my best informants has become ill and has lost her ability to recall the language. Th rough my project, I was able to record about two hours of her speech. Th ese recorded materials represent the very last traces of her language, Zoroastrian Dari in Kerman.

Saloumeh Gholami is a Lecturer in Iranian languages and Academic Researcher at the Institute of Empirical Linguistics at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. She directs three international projects focusing on various aspects of the Zoroastrian language and culture

Zoroastrian ladies baking Siro, a type of traditional Zoroastrian bread in the ceremony

8 The Middle East in London October – November 2015 EENDAGEREDNDAGERED LLANGUAGESANGUAGES

Janet Watson and Miranda Morris work with native speakers to document and preserve the MSAL TThehe MModernodern SSouthouth AArabianrabian llanguagesanguages © Janet Watson

Miranda Morris and Ali al-Mahri in Raysut, Dhofar

he Modern South Arabian languages coast; the Batahirah kept goats and camels of traditional cultural activities. Until the are six endangered Semitic languages and lived predominantly from fi shing; 1970s, there were no schools or hospitals Tspoken in the southern extremities Hobyot speakers on the coast practised in the region, transport was by foot, water of the Arabian Peninsula: eastern Yemen, fi shing and in the mountains herded cows, was collected by foot from natural sources, southern Oman, Jiddat al-Harasis, the camels and goats. Multilingualism between and people lived in caves and brushwood island of Soqotra and southern and eastern the communities has always been common, or stone huts they constructed themselves. portions of Saudi Arabia. Th ese are: Mehri, at least in terms of comprehension. Th is Today the region enjoys all the trappings spoken over the largest area, spanning is particularly so among Hobyot speakers, of the modern age. Younger generations eastern Yemen, southern Oman and who understand Mehri and Jibbali/Shahri. no longer require, have or understand the reaching into southern and eastern Saudi Th e languages vary in endangerment from extensive knowledge and practical skills of Arabia; Shahri (also known as Jibbali), critical to moderate. In terms of speaker their elders and much earlier expertise has spoken in the mountains and coastal regions numbers they range from 12 to 20 for been lost or is disregarded, with imported of Dhofar; Hobyot, spoken in a small Bathari to c. 180,000 for Mehri. Th e precise alternatives replacing locally manufactured area spanning the Yemen–Oman border; number of speakers is, however, impossible items. Traditional methods of natural Harsusi, spoken in Jiddat al-Harasis; the few to ascertain: there are no census fi gures resource and water management are no Bathari speakers based around the coast of relating to MSAL speakers specifi cally, longer passed to the next generation, and eastern Dhofar; and Soqotri, spoken on the and many members of the language signifi cant degradation of the environment island of Soqotra. Mehri, Soqotri, Hobyot communities no longer speak the languages has occurred, with overgrazing and and Shahri/Jibbali exhibit a number of fl uently or at all. mismanagement of increasingly scarce distinct dialects. Th e languages have no traditional script, water supplies accompanied by severe Traditionally, the Mahrah and Harasis which means any script-based education overfi shing. One result is that plants and were nomadic camel and goat herders; the or communication is conducted through animals that once played a signifi cant role mountain and coastal-based Jibbali/Shahri Arabic. Since the 1970s, the spread of Arabic in everyday life are now extinct or rare. speakers led a more settled existence, built has meant that the MSAL have increasingly Language and culture are intrinsically temporary shelters and herded cows and fallen into disuse. Th is has been hastened linked, and this loss of traditional goats in the mountains, and fi shed on the by rapid social change and the collapse knowledge, skills and habitat is one of the key factors in language endangerment in the Language and culture are intrinsically linked, and the region, particularly, but not exclusively, in the lexis. loss of traditional knowledge, skills and habitat is one of Th e MSAL are thus threatened by the key factors in language endangerment in the region intense social, economic, cultural and

October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 9 Th e project aims to promote language revitalisation by institutions, schools and public groups. Several have been presented with one or encouraging speakers to speak their language and to write it more community members, including lectures and workshops held in Paris, environmental change. In a push to the hopes that they, in turn, will encourage Erlangen, Frankfurt, Muscat, Salford, document and revive interest in the their children to speak their own language Jedda, Newcastle, Roehampton, Leeds and languages, we are conducting a community- as well as Arabic and will teach them to London. Presentations with community based project funded by the Leverhulme write it. Th e aim is to raise the profi le and members raise the value of the project Trust 2013-2016. Th e principal aim is to status of the languages not only amongst in the eyes of both audiences and local provide audio, audio-visual, photographic speakers themselves but also in the wider participants. Th is initiative has led to our and textual documentation of fi ve of the Arab community. co-presenters discussing the project with six endangered Modern South Arabian Th is attempt to raise the status of the community members throughout Dhofar languages (MSAL) spoken in Oman languages has already had a marked eff ect and with academics and interested people and mainland Yemen: Mehri, Shahri/ on the small Bathari community. A formerly outside Oman, and gaining respect and Jibbali, Harsusi, Hobyot and Bathari. In disadvantaged people of low status, with academic credibility. our plans to document and revitalise the feelings of shame about their former poverty MSAL, we recognise that success can only and lowly position, they had been quick to Details of the project are available at http:// occur with the direct contribution and embrace Arabic and adopt new skills. Th e www.leeds.ac.uk/arts/homepage/462/ interest of community members. Th e UK small number of men and women who still modern_south_arabian_languages investigators see themselves as part of a speak Bathari, all illiterate and elderly, were catalyst, decreasing their direct involvement initially unenthusiastic about the project, Janet Watson studied Arabic and Islamic as community members become more and early recordings were stiff and lacking Studies at the University of Exeter, and involved. To date the project has recruited in fl uency. However over a period of two completed a PhD on Yemeni Arabic dialects over 100 speakers, several data collectors years, this attitude has changed markedly. at SOAS, London. She has worked at according to language and dialect, local Th ey now speak with some pride of how the universities of Edinburgh, Durham, transcribers and translators for work into they managed in earlier times, and younger Salford and Leeds, and currently holds the Arabic, data interpreters, and a principal family members are increasingly present at Leadership Chair of Language at Leeds. She local researcher who has been part of the recording sessions, interested in learning was elected Fellow of the British Academy project since its inception. something of their past and to wonder at in 2013; Miranda Morris, St Andrew’s the ingenuity and survival skills of their University, has worked on many projects Training forebears. Th e enthusiasm of the Bathari in southern Arabia, and has published and data collector for this language continues carried out research on the ethnography and Th e majority of our older data collectors to grow, and to date over 2,000 sound fi les non-Arabic languages of the area. and speakers have had very little, if any, have been recorded of ever increasing formal schooling. Nevertheless we have fl uency and interest. trained several community members to explain the purpose of the project to their Community-based dissemination communities, to obtain informed ethical consent from speakers, to record with digital Th e project has delivered over 20 recorders, label recordings, save and backup presentations about the project to academic Zakat auction in Dhahbun, Dhofar data and upload material into Dropbox folders. Community participants now train © Janet Watson others in the use of digital recorders. Th e project has also developed a new Arabic- based script for the languages, which is being used by community members associated with the project. Th e local research assistant, Saeed al-Mahri, trains data collectors in ethical methods and use of digital recorders and trains community members to transcribe in the new script and translate from the languages into Arabic. He is also developing his own research profi le and has also produced an article on water in Dhofar.

Language revitalisation

Th e project aims to promote language revitalisation by encouraging speakers to speak their language and to write it, with

10 The Middle East in London October – November 2015 EENDAGEREDNDAGERED LLANGUAGESANGUAGES

Korandje survived for centuries in a desert oasis, but centralised schooling seems to have dealt it a mortal wound. Lameen Souag explains GGainingaining a llanguage,anguage, llosingosing a llanguage:anguage: KKorandjeorandje ffromrom tthehe 1122tthh toto thethe 2121sstt centurycentury

A saint’s tomb with a mosque in the

n the small desert town of Tabelbala is iri, ground is gandza and sky is bini.’ If diff erent from anything else in North Africa, in south-western Algeria, a language they’re in a less good mood, they might and belongs to a language family spoken Iis falling silent. It’s easy for a casual respond with a contemptuous rhymed much further south – Songhay. How did visitor to miss its presence entirely: wander proverb that everyone seems to know: it happen that a little-known oasis in the through the market or visit the school and ‘Shilha is no more speech than oil is animal middle of nowhere has its own unique what you’ll hear, by and large, is dialectal fat.’ language? And why is it disappearing, aft er Arabic. It’s rude to speak anything else in If you’re lucky enough to get invited to having lasted so many centuries? front of a stranger. their homes or palm groves, you’ll hear Few North African oases are as isolated Get to know some people better, though, them shout to their children to go and get as Tabelbala. Th e nearest town is a trying and you might notice them speaking tea for the guests and notice that the words four-hour ride away, while to the south between themselves in a language that are in Arabic. Th is is no coincidence: hardly stretch over 1,000 kilometres of barren sand. sounds completely diff erent. Ask them any families still speak to their children in It might seem only appropriate, given this about it, and they’ll tell you it’s called Shilha Korandje. Looking it up when you get back, isolation, that some 3,000 of its inhabitants – which is what they call any non-Arabic you realise with surprise that Korandje is still speak a language used nowhere else on local language. Press them, and they might a language in its own right, profoundly earth. Yet, on closer examination, the very add that it’s nothing like the Shilha of other towns and also has a more specifi c name – Korandje (kwạrạ n dzyəy, literally ‘village Korandje is profoundly diff erent from anything talk’.) If they’re feeling expansive, they might summarise its vocabulary with the else in North Africa, and belongs to a language traditional ditty: ‘Couscous is ṭ ạzu , water family spoken much further south – Songhay

October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 11 existence of Korandje refl ects long-distance Teachers simplistically saw Korandje as a ties formed when Tabelbala was part of a trade network spanning the Sahara, and its major obstacle in the way of their education and name was familiar to Spanish mystics and were quick to tell the parents so. Th ey listened Italian bankers. Th e core of Korandje – its basic grammar travels accordingly; he studied and taught Korandje with their children. Yet infl uence and most frequent vocabulary – derives both in West Africa and in Morocco, where from other languages was nothing new in from Northern Songhay, spoken nearly he succeeded in attracting royal patronage Tabelbala. What made the diff erence this 1,700 km away in Mali and Niger. It’s always before returning home in 1533 to die. time? been hard to imagine how it ended up so Th e transition was oft en hard: in about Th e crucial factor seems to have far from home. Recent research, however, 1600, a major village was destroyed by Arab been schooling. Th is began slightly suggests a scenario reminiscent of the Gulf nomads aft er it refused to pay its customary before Algeria’s independence in 1962 today. It was probably brought in around tribute, and many survivors emigrated to but expanded massively following the 12th century by workers imported to safer regions. Ultimately, however, a new independence as the new government tend gardens – making a new caravan order was established, reinforced by the channelled Algeria’s oil revenues into route between southern Morocco and Mali maraboutic ideology that had become development. Th e children of Tabelbala easier – and to work the nearby copper dominant throughout the wider region: the could now not only access free education mines, satisfying a huge demand in West idea that saints’ power extended beyond but aspire to fi nd salaried jobs if they did Africa. Th is seems to have been a planned the grave. Th e safety bought by tribute was well enough, rather than depending on infrastructural investment by the group that thus reinforced by the perceived sanctity their unreliable harvests. Th e teachers, for knew these desert spaces best – the Saharan of the tombs of Tabelbala’s holy men: Sidi their part, simplistically saw Korandje as a Berber nomads of the Masufa tribe. Sure Zekri, who named Tabelbala for the tree major obstacle in the way of their education enough, several important concepts, such under which his camel stopped; Sidi Larbi, and were quick to tell the parents so. Th ey as tsəksi ‘goat’ or təzbəṛ̣ ṛ əṇ ‘noon prayer’, are pious ancestor of one of the larger families; listened: around 1980, one village council expressed in Korandje by loanwords from the mysterious Seven Men, who came only decreed that all parents should henceforth western Saharan Berber, although today no to die and told no one their names; even speak only Arabic to their children. Others such language is spoken anywhere nearby. ancient giants, whose superhuman height is followed suit over the following decades. During Europe’s Age of Discovery, proved by the length of their graves. During Th e fate of Korandje is not yet sealed. however, newly opened sea routes sent the this period the language took on a number As they hit their teens, children oft en start formerly crucial Saharan caravan routes of borrowings from Moroccan Berber, such using it as a mark of adulthood, picking into a long-term decline. Th e far-fl ung as as ạmạ m əḍ ̣ ‘marabout’ or tsafəlləs ‘chick’. it up piecemeal by listening in on adult Masufa were reduced to a marginal group, Arabic infl uence was already substantial conversations. Th eir fl uency is noticeably and Tabelbala was forced to reach a new by 1905-1910, when the French conquered limited, however, and this alone is unlikely accommodation with closer neighbours – Tabelbala; a 1907 wordlist includes such to secure the language’s future. If a language Berber and Arab nomads coming from the basic Arabic borrowings as ḍha ̣ ‘back’ is not spoken in the home with children, north, and, more distantly, the state powers and ṛ əbʕa ‘four’. Before the end of the 20th even massive eff orts to teach it usually fail of North Africa. Tabelbala’s most famous century, this infl uence would become – and in Tabelbala, Korandje has no place son, Makhluf ibn Ali Al-Balbali, lived at overwhelming. By now, practically all in school at all. Unless people’s attitudes the cusp of this transition and arranged his families in Tabelbala have stopped speaking change profoundly and quickly, Korandje will probably be extinct within a century. What the people of Tabelbala lose and gain by this is for them to say; the rest of us will lose a key body of evidence on Saharan history and a reminder of the trans-national links that once bridged the Sahara.

Lameen Souag is a researcher at LACITO (CNRS) in France, studying historical linguistics in northern Africa. His fi rst book is Berber and Arabic in Siwa (Egypt): A Study in Linguistic Contact

Belbalis lined up to greet returning pilgrims,

12 The Middle East in London October – November 2015 EENDAGEREDNDAGERED LLANGUAGESANGUAGES

Valentina Schiattarella investigates the linguistic diﬀ erences between the Siwi spoken by men and women A gender-basedgender-based llanguageanguage ddisparityisparity iinn a cconservativeonservative ssociety?ociety? TThehe ccasease ooff SSiwiiwi

A Siwi girl working with silver. Women do not wear traditional silver jewellery anymore in the oasis even though some local associations and NGOs organise workshops and training to teach young women the art of

iwi is a Berber language (Afro-asiatic many Siwis go to Libya or other Egyptian research focussing on women of diff erent phylum) spoken in the Siwa oasis, cities to study or work. ages, married with Siwi or Arabic speakers. SEgypt. Th e population consists of about From a socio-cultural perspective, Siwa 25,000 Siwis and 5,000 foreigners (coming is a highly conservative, gender-segregated Th e level of endangerment of the language mainly from other Egyptian cities). Siwi is society. Aft er marrying very young, women also spoken in another small oasis – 130 km are not allowed to have contact with men While Siwi is the language used far from Siwa – called El Gara. outside their family. Instead they spend all everywhere in Siwa – and it is still passed Because of long-standing contact with their time caring for family members, rarely on from generation to generation – Arabic Arabic, Siwi has lost many Berber linguistic going outside their home. is used in offi cial contexts, at school and features. Arab interaction with Siwa has a Given the rapid loss of the unique in communicating with Arabic-speaking long history: according to the geographer Al attributes of their traditional society and foreigners. With the exception of children Idrisi, there have been Arabs living within the endangerment of the language, does it under school age and some very old people, the Berber population in the oasis since make sense to talk about language disparity almost the entire population of Siwa is the 12th century. Nowadays, many workers between men and women? Th e following bilingual. (mainly from Upper Egypt) live in Siwa and observations are mainly based on linguistic UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger and Ethnologue, tools that collect mainly information Siwa is a highly conservative, gender-segregated society about the degree of endangerment of a

October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 13 Women and men sometimes diff er in the vocabulary they use, specifi c phenomenon and refl ects more social and behavioural attitudes than real and the type of production can also diff er. But this refl ects more linguistic diff erences. social and behavioural attitudes than real linguistic diff erences Documenting data from Siwi-speaking women was important because it created an opportunity to understand at what point language and the size of its population, give is the attitude of speakers toward their all the dynamics that aff ect the vitality of a confl icting data. Ethnologue classifi es Siwi language (for example, to what degree they language are stronger than its conservatism. as ‘vigorous’: meaning that it is still used in consider it prestigious or useful) and/or the It gave the opportunity to research whether communication among all ages. UNESCO's sum of several factors, like the ones listed there are strong contact-induced infl uences Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger previously for Siwi. on the language spoken by women and to says that it is ‘defi nitely endangered’ Given the conservatism of the society observe the main factors that lead to the and not learned as a mother tongue at and the fact that Siwi-speaking women endangerment of the language, such as the home anymore by children. Th e truth is are not exposed to the same number of choice not to use Siwi in communication somewhere in between: Siwi is used by Siwis Arabic speakers as Siwi-speaking men, between mother and child in mixed couples. of all ages in everyday communication, it seems reasonable to wonder if socio- Moreover, collecting folktales became an but there are important reasons why the cultural factors could lead to a gender-based occasion, for some women, to gather all the language should now legitimately be language disparity. children together and revive the practice considered endangered. Investigation indicated that there is no of storytelling which has for the most Th e facts that, to diff erent extents, indicate real diff erence linguistically between the part disappeared because of television. In that the threat to the language is very high language spoken by men and that spoken general, the data documented is testimony include: (1) Siwa was made part of Egypt in by women. Indeed, the language of women to a language that still feels alive to its 1820 by Muhammad Ali. Th e only offi cially is not more ‘conservative’ than that used by speakers – even if it is facing strong threats recognised language of Egypt is Arabic; (2) men, and it was somewhat disappointing to to its vitality. a fi rst Arabic-only school was established in discover that some aspects of the language, the oasis in 1928; (3) travel and contact with clearly induced by the contact with Arabic, Valentina Schiattarella has a PhD in foreigners has signifi cantly increased in the were found more frequently in women’s Linguistics (EPHE, Paris) with a thesis on last 30 years; (4) the fi rst road connecting speech while men sometimes retained more the Siwi language. She was awarded a small Siwa to the coastal city of Marsa Matruh conservative ones. grant from ELDP for a project entitled: was built in the 1980s; (5) electricity and Th is generalisation has not been ‘Linguistic Documentation of the variety of subsequently television arrived in the statistically validated, but it does show Berber spoken in the Siwa Oasis of Egypt’ 1980s; (6) intermarriage between Arabic that, even in a very conservative society, speakers and Siwi speakers has become very all members can be exposed to the same common in the last few years. infl uence from the predominant language. Th e last point seems to be the most Taking a closer look at the factors of relevant when explaining the endangerment endangerment listed above, it is clear that, of the language. Intermarriage (in this with the exception of travel and contact case between Siwi and Arabic speakers) with foreigners (because in general women is a critical factor. It impacts a key to the do not travel unless they have to move with survival of any language: its transmission their husband and do not have contact with from parents to children. If a Siwi woman foreigners who are not family members), all © ValentinaSchiattarella marries an Arabic-speaking man, Arabic the other factors infl uence women as much becomes the language used at home and as men – especially schooling, television and with children. When a Siwi man marries an intermarriage. Arabic-speaking woman, Siwi is used but to Nevertheless, diff erences must clearly a much lesser extent, especially if the couple be noted elsewhere: women and men emigrate to a city where this language is not sometimes diff er in the vocabulary they use spoken at all – such as Marsa Matruh on (there are specifi c parts of the lexicon that the Egyptian Mediterranean coast or other are more likely to be found among women Egyptian or Libyan cities. than among men and vice versa) and the type of production can also diff er: the Is there really a gender-based language transmission of tales (i.e. storytelling) is, for disparity in a conservative society? example, a domain that generally belongs to Berber women. But this is not a language- Siwi’s endangerment is obviously linked to contact with Arabic, the predominant major language. But it should be clear that, in general, language contact does not necessarily lead to the endangerment of a A view of the dunes near Siwa. This desert region language. Unless there are very strong forces is called The Great Sand Sea and stretches from acting from the top, what is oft en crucial eastern Libya to western Egypt

14 The Middle East in London October – November 2015 EENDAGEREDNDAGERED LLANGUAGESANGUAGES

Bruno Herin traces the journey of the Dom through time and space via their language DDomari:omari: tthehe llanguageanguage ooff tthehe ‘‘Middle-EasternMiddle-Eastern GGypsies’ypsies’

Dom man crafting a tabbeliyya (musical

he Dom (or the ‘Gypsies of the other terms oft en collocate with ‘Gypsy’ specialise in niche economies ranging from Middle-East’) have recently received such as Travellers, Bohemian, Roma, entertainment to the production of highly increasing media coverage. Most Sinti-Manouche, Romanichal, etc. Let’s specifi c goods. At some point in history, T th th of it deals with social issues such as leave these names and what they may refer probably between the 4 and 6 centuries marginalisation, poverty and exclusion. to aside and travel back through time and CE, some Domba communities started Language is a key issue when trying to space to the Indian subcontinent during late migrating from Central India to the north, apprehend minority groups. Antiquity/early Middle Ages. before venturing further to the west. Th ese ‘Gypsy’ is a cover-term and as such India is famous for the existence of a communities were speakers of Indo-Aryan doesn’t mean much. It probably comes from strong caste system. Amongst these castes, languages. the distortion of the adjective ‘Egyptian’, one fi nds the Domba. Th e members of this Indo-Aryan is a branch of the Indo- used in the late Middle Ages to refer to caste are typically commercial nomads who European linguistic family. Historical what were in all likelihood the ancestors of the Roma. While the term is oft en used in When leaving India, what used to refer to a derogatory way, it is also associated with a caste (Domba) was later reinterpreted as a wide range of romantic stereotypes such as freedom, mobility and sensuality. Many an ethnonym (the name of an ethnic group)

October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 15 linguists distinguish three periods in the Th ere are no written records of the history of the Domba history of the Indo-Aryan sub-branch: Old Indo-Aryan (1500 BCE to 300 CE), outside India. Th is makes the language itself the most important Middle Indo-Aryan (300 CE to 1500 CE) source of knowledge we have about the history of the Dom and New Indo-Aryan (1500 CE to present). Indo-Aryan languages are further classifi ed became ‘r’ in Romani, ‘l’ in Lomavren, and Aryan. Th e verb lwa k- ‘open’ is derived on a geographical basis. Th e area relevant plain ‘d’ in Domari. from Kurdish va kirin and qapi ‘door’ is to our discussion is the so-called Central Th e Dom, who speak Domari, are thus derived from Turkish kapı. Zone that now includes languages such as in some way the descendants of a particular Th ere are no written records of the Hindi, Gujarati, Rajasthani and Punjabi. group of Domba who left India probably in history of the Domba outside India and Th e Domba, being a caste and not an ethnic the beginning of the Middle Indo-Aryan these diff erent layers of borrowings enable group, spoke diff erent idioms across India. period. Th e language itself tells us that its linguists to trace back their migrations. Diff erent Domba communities migrated speakers moved into Dardic lands in north- Th is makes the language itself the most at diff erent times and from diff erent places western India, before moving westward into important source of knowledge we have from the Central Zone. When leaving Persian speaking areas until they reached about the history of the Dom. India, what used to refer to a caste (Domba) Anatolia. In the current state of knowledge, Domari has, until now, been transmitted was later reinterpreted as an ethnonym it is believed that a group stayed in Anatolia from generation to generation since (the name of an ethnic group). Th e word while another moved southwards to the Dom left India. Like other minority Domba thus evolved and resulted in the Arabic speaking zones, probably as far as languages, intergenerational transmission names we know today: Roma and their Sudan. From the group(s) that remained is nowadays severely challenged in many language Romani (Europe), Lom and their in Anatolia, one subsequently branched communities. In the case of Lebanon, language Lomavren (Armenia) and the off and migrated to the northern Levant transmission has ceased: virtually no Dom and their language Domari spoken (Syria and Lebanon). At present, dialects of children are able to speak Domari. Syria was in the Middle East. Linguistic studies have Domari are known to be spoken in Turkey, until recently the country where the Dom shown that although all these languages Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. It was seemed to have better preserved the use of belong to the central group of Indo-Aryan, probably also spoken in western Iran and Domari, but most have left because of the they do not descend from a hypothetical Iraq but no recent account can confi rm that civil war and sought refuge in neighbouring ‘proto’ Domba language. Such a language, as it is still spoken in these two countries. countries. Many of them live in miserable noted above, does not exist because Domba At least two things make Domari conditions in refugee camps in Lebanon, refers to caste and not language or ethnicity. fascinating for linguists. Th e fi rst is the fact Turkey and Jordan with limited access to Th e initial ‘d’ in Domba is what linguists it remained surprisingly archaic compared basic facilities. Th is puts heavy pressure on call a retrofl ex ‘d’: a ‘d’ pronounced moving to Central Indo-Aryan languages spoken language transmission because families are top-down the tip of the tongue. Th is sound in India. Archaic means that Domari kept oft en scattered across diff erent locations. linguistic features found in the idioms of the Th e future of the language is therefore very early Middle Indo-Aryan period that have uncertain; hence the need to document been lost or severely eroded in present-day Domari while it still has speakers, both languages such as Hindi. Compare the for scholarly purposes and the Dom number three (in a simplifi ed transcription) themselves. in Sanskrit (Old Indo-Aryan), Domari and Hindi: trini, trin, tin. Th is simple example Bruno Herin is a lecturer at INALCO shows that Domari kept the initial cluster (Paris). His research is on Arabic dialects and ‘tr’ found in Old Indo-Aryan. In New minority languages of the Middle East Indo-Aryan ‘tr’ was reduced to ‘t’, suggesting that Domari went its own way very early in history. Secondly, speakers of Domari have always been at least bilingual: Domari and the language(s) of the host society. Th is has led to the incorporation of many words from previous and current contact languages – Persian, Kurdish, Turkish and Arabic – into the lexicon of Domari. If one wants to express a simple sentence such as ‘open the door’ in Syrian or Lebanese Domari, one should say lwa ka qapy-is. In this example, only ka and -is are Indo-

Shareefeh, 83 yrs old. The oldest speaker in

16 The Middle East in London October – November 2015 EENDAGEREDNDAGERED LLANGUAGESANGUAGES

Anke al-Bataineh spotlights Armenian schools in Lebanon to elucidate the challenges of language maintenance WWhathat iif,f, 110000 yyearsears oon,n, sschoolchool iiss nnotot eenough?nough? © Anke al-Bataineh © Anke

A sign marks a main street in Beirut’s Bourj Hammoud, a neighbourhood built and historically dominated by Armenian refugees from Anatolia. The neighbourhood is a working-class one and its composition has changed signiﬁ cantly in recent decades

estern Armenian is a distinct language and culture that circulate within the language on to children, as well as dialect of Armenian (an Indo- are translated abroad and held up as norms participating in Armenian institutions and WEuropean language) that is for Western Armenian speakers globally. especially the school, are measures used to spoken by survivors of the 1915 genocide in It is rare that a minority language defi ne one’s membership in the community. the Ottoman Empire and their descendants. benefi ts from many centuries of literature, Th e role of the school is unique and twofold. Lebanon and Syria, specifi cally Beirut and its own alphabet and a long history of First, it off ers particular types and levels of Aleppo, have been centres of the Armenian community-run schools. In this regard, language acquisition. Second, enrolment in diaspora for the past century. Th e Armenian Western Armenian is a frontrunner in the school grants entry to social networks communities in these cities are large, a movement for language maintenance and institutional affi liations that enable dense and socially cohesive; in fact, most and diversity that is growing on a global active community participation. On both Armenian families worldwide have had scale, and the experiences of Armenian of these points, concerns are increasing members living in these communities at schools in Lebanon, particularly, shed light in Lebanon, particularly given its central some point, and most diasporic cultural on possibilities and challenges that other role internationally. Teachers and parents institutions are tied to central organisations minority language schooling initiatives may increasingly question whether students located in Beirut and Aleppo. Th ese do well to anticipate. are fully competent in ‘proper Armenian’ communities serve as models: the ways of In the Lebanese Armenian community, when they graduate, and enrolment has speaking and attitudes about preserving knowing, actively speaking and passing fallen since the 1970s, causing many school closures and chronic problems such as staffi ng quality and facilities upkeep. It is a particular source of frustration that many middle Schools keep their tuition comparatively low and off er large numbers of scholarships, and upper-class families choose to enrol their children as they are private and many families cannot in more expensive, non-Armenian private schools aff ord tuition. Th us, it is a particular source

October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 17 In the Lebanese Armenian community, knowing, actively possible clientele of the school and what are their measures for desirability in a school? speaking and passing the language on to children are measures How will language change and the hybrid used to defi ne one’s membership in the community practices that result from language contact be approached in the discourse of the school? Th e Armenian schools in Lebanon of frustration that many middle and upper- mixing and hybridising languages are boast longevity and a multidimensional class families choose to enrol their children ubiquitous and oft en positively viewed in importance in the community and in more expensive, non-Armenian private ‘polite society’. Eff orts made in Armenian provide examples of language and identity schools. schools to correct and stigmatise the mixing discourses that encourage language When discussing why families choose or of languages are thus at odds with many maintenance. But their own future depends do not choose an Armenian school, we can people’s idea of what it means to be or to on innovation in response to changing speak generally about two groups of parents ‘speak’ Lebanese. Th is creates a rift between educational and linguistic landscapes. who are largely talking past one another. members of the ‘core’ community, who Enrolled families tend to describe non- see correcting one another’s mixing as a Anke al-Bataineh is a PhD candidate at enrolled families as devaluing or even being supportive act that protects Armenian’s INALCO, Paris who is based in Beirut, ashamed of their Armenian heritage. Instead vitality, and more ‘peripheral’ members Lebanon. Her research combines language they are seen as seeking social advancement who may not have attended Armenian change and contact, pragmatics and language through schools with elite clientele and schools and may use Armenian in a highly learning, and alternative models of education high tuition costs. Enrolled families assert mixed fashion at home. Being corrected that a true Armenian identity cannot be can cause feelings of rejection or exclusion instilled in a child without immersion in an and can reinforce the idea that the ‘core’ Armenian environment and formal history community is old-fashioned, conservative and language classes. Importantly, they also and segregated from mainstream society. tend to assert that while Armenian schools As Lebanon’s Armenian schools close and may not be the cream of the crop, they are consolidate they face the same challenge perfectly good schools with large numbers that Armenian schools elsewhere in the of successful alumni, and the higher tuition diaspora have been struggling to surmount of other private schools is largely an eff ort for several decades: what to do about to generate prestige. Many non-enrolled students who have not acquired Armenian families, on the other hand, strongly defend as a primary language in the family? In their Armenian identity and insist that more monolingual countries, even students weekly language courses or private history with two Armenian-speaking parents lessons fulfi l the same function as the become more confi dent speakers of the school. Oft en, these families state that the dominant language (English, French, etc.) calibre of education is inferior in Armenian before the end of primary school, and A very popular verse attributed to Armenian- American William Saroyan is displayed on the schools: a student-centred pedagogy is oft en the traditional, teacher-centred model of door of a closed Beirut shop on 24 April. cited as a missing element, as Armenian education does not provide them with Saroyan did not write in Armenian, but this verse can be found displayed across the global schools depend more on lecturing, testing enough speaking practice to maintain Armenian diaspora and memorisation than on group work, Armenian in their daily life. Without projects or independent exploration. a more eff ective approach to language al-Bataineh © Anke A certain discursive stalemate occurs transmission, the school unwittingly with regard to the future of the schools becomes a transitional institution, ensuring because, on the one hand, the schools do not receptive competence in the language of confront the challenge of modernising their parents and grandparents but not creating teaching in ways that meaningfully refocus a community of Armenian-speaking peers. the student experience and address the Th e challenges that this poses for notions of learning styles of contemporary students. identity, marketing of the school to families On the other hand, non-enrolled parents and language pedagogy are the same that do not directly confront the inevitable must be faced if Lebanese schools hope limitations on language acquisition and to revive enrolment by including students socialisation that result from leaving the from mixed families or families who have Armenian school. It is a decision, it must be left the Armenian school. noted, that is almost never reversed, neither For endangered languages around the in present nor subsequent generations. world, many of which are still developing Furthermore, the Lebanese linguistic the instructional materials and programmes context is uniquely complicated since that Armenian already had to draw on Armenian, Arabic, French and English a century ago, two challenges are worth are all widely used, and each exhibits its considering at the design stage of vitality own pull in terms of either prestige or interventions as they will undoubtedly social access, sometimes both. Habits of be encountered further along: who is the

18 The Middle East in London October – November 2015 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: BOOKSBOOKS A CriticalCritical IIntroductionntroduction ttoo KhomeiniKhomeini

Edited by Arshin Adib-Moghaddam

Cambridge University Press, May 2014, £18.99

Reviewed by Bijan Hakimian

t a time when Iran and the United this form of esoteric debate, the interested the volume is its greatest strength, then at States have reached an agreement public has too oft en had to rely on popular the same time it serves as a slight Achilles Aof historic signifi cance over the soundbites when forming their perception heel. Th e reader without any background former’s nuclear programme, an exploration of Ayatollah Khomeini. knowledge of Khomeini may stand to of Ayatollah Khomeini’s life and legacy Th e book is at its strongest when benefi t from contextual analysis that is would seem especially pertinent. Th e challenging the orthodox understanding slightly broader than what is off ered in founder of the Islamic Republic in 1979, of the Ayatollah, one that has become the book. For if we are to gain a fi rm Khomeini’s vision continually infl uences almost common sense in Western political introduction to Ayatollah Khomeini, surely the politics of contemporary Iran. Adib- discourse. Typically seen as nothing we must fi rst need an even more robust Moghaddam’s edited collection, A Critical more than a theocratic reactionary, understanding of 20th century Iran and the Introduction to Khomeini, unpacks in Adib-Moghaddam’s compilation skilfully prevailing conditions which allowed such a greater detail one of the 20th century’s ‘giants substitutes this reductionist understanding character to emerge. Anyone approaching of history’, who has somewhat surprisingly of Khomeini, providing in its stead a richer Iran for the fi rst time via this volume may been under-researched from an academic analysis of the Ayatollah’s complexities and therefore be trying to run before he/she perspective. contradictions. Th e result is a collection of can walk, one suspects, in analysing the Comprising 13 articles that address articles that force us to reconsider what the Ayatollah without an understanding of various facets of Khomeini’s life, this Ayatollah’s contribution to Iranian politics, the much broader historical backdrop of volume is a welcome addition to the fi eld and Islamist politics more generally, truly is. Iranian politics of Middle Eastern studies. Khomeini is Particular chapters that may be of interest Th is is a minor issue however, as each assessed through both a historical and in this regard are those tackling Khomeini’s article’s individual context setting does go philosophical lens, ensuring that the stance towards the West, as well as assessing some way to informing the reader. Th e rest Ayatollah is dealt with in a comprehensive the relationship of his social thought to of the analysis off ered is thought-provoking, and conceptually rich manner. Any scholar debates on gender and decolonisation dynamic and clearly of high interest in both interested in exploring in greater detail the respectively. academic and non-academic contexts. As Ayatollah’s life, whether set in historical Indeed, these chapters serve as refreshing Political Islam maintains its monopoly on context or through an examination of his and innovative attempts at a reinterpretation the public imagination of the Middle East, political philosophy, is well served by Adib- of Khomeini’s legacy, moving beyond this volume goes a long way in addressing Moghaddam’s collection. At the same time, a solely religious framing and instead where the original Islamic revolutionary fi ts however, the non-academic reader may seeking to show how his thinking still in this picture. also profi t from this volume, as the writing has implications in the overtly political is accessible to the non-specialist. It is this questions at stake in the Middle East today. Bijan Hakimian graduated from SOAS in cross-cutting nature of the book which Th e volume is therefore highly successful 2014 and recently completed a Master’s furthers its appeal at a time when ‘expertise’ in not just adding to the existing resources Degree in Political Th ought and Intellectual on the Middle East is too oft en packaged we have on Khomeini, but on substantially History from the University of Cambridge, in academic jargon that is uninviting to contributing to this fi eld. specialising in Iranian Political Th ought. He the interested layperson. Turned off by If the intellectually creative nature of is now working in the public sector

October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 19 BBOOKSOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF TThehe 5511 DDayay WWar:ar: RRuinuin aandnd RResistanceesistance iinn GGazaaza

By Max Blumenthal

Beginning 8 July 2014, Israel launched air strikes and a ground invasion of Gaza that lasted 51 days, leaving over 2,000 people dead, the vast majority of whom were civilians. During the assault, at least 10,000 homes were destroyed and, according to the United Nations, nearly 300,000 Palestinians were displaced. Max Blumenthal was on the ground during what he argues was an entirely avoidable catastrophe. In this book Blumenthal reveals the harrowing conditions and cynical deceptions that led to the ruinous war.

July 2015, Verso Books £14.99 RReturn:eturn: A PalestinianPalestinian MMemoiremoir

By Ghada Karmi

Having grown up in Britain following her family’s exile from Palestine, doctor, author and academic Ghada Karmi leaves her adoptive home on a quest to return to her homeland. She starts work with the Palestinian Authority and gets a fi rst-hand understanding of its bizarre bureaucracy under Israel’s occupation. In this book she takes the reader on a journey into the heart of one of the world’s most intractable confl ict zones. Visiting places she has not seen since childhood, her insights reveal a militarised and barely recognisable homeland. Her encounters with politicians, fellow Palestinians and Israeli soldiers cause her to question what role exiles like her have in the future of their country and whether return is truly possible.

April 2015, Verso Books £16.99 TThehe AArabrab UUprisings:prisings: TTransformingransforming aandnd CChallenginghallenging SStatetate PPowerower Edited by Eberhard Kienle and Nadine Sika Th e uprisings which spread across the Middle East and North Africa in late 2010 and 2011 irrevocably altered the way in which the region is now perceived. But in spite of the numerous similarities in these protests, from Tunisia and Egypt to Yemen and Bahrain, their broader political eff ects display important diff erences. Th is book analyses these popular uprisings, as well as other forms of protest, and the impact they had on each state. Why were Mubarak and Bin Ali ousted relatively peacefully in Egypt and Tunisia, while Qaddafi in Libya and Saleh in Yemen fought violent battles against their opponents? Why do political transformations diff er in countries that were able to shed their autocratic presidents? And why have other regimes, including Morocco and Saudi Arabia, experienced only limited protests or managed to repress and circumvent them? Looking at the aft ermath and transitional processes across the region, this book is a retrospective examination of the uprisings and how they can be understood in the light of state formation and governmental dynamics.

June 2015, IB Tauris, £58.00

20 The Middle East in London October – November 2015 BBOOKSOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF IIran’sran’s PPoliticalolitical EEconomyconomy ssinceince tthehe RRevolutionevolution By Suzanne Maloney

Over three decades aft er the Iranian Revolution reconfi gured the strategic landscape in the Middle East, scholars are still trying to decipher its aft ereff ects. Suzanne Maloney provides a comprehensive overview of Iran’s political economy since the 1979 revolution and off ers detailed examinations of two aspects of the Iranian economy of direct interest to scholars and non-specialist readers of Iran: the energy sector and the role of sanctions. Based on the author’s research as both a scholar and government advisor, the book features interviews with American and Iranian government offi cials. Moving chronologically from the early years under Khomeini, through the economic deprivations of the 1980s during the Iran– Iraq war, through liberalisation under Khatami to the present, Maloney off ers insights into Iran’s domestic politics and how economic policies have aff ected ideology, leadership priorities and foreign relations.

August 2015, Cambridge University Press, £22.99 TThehe RRiseise ooff tthehe IIsraelisraeli RRight:ight: FFromrom OOdessadessa ttoo HHebronebron By Colin Shindler

Th e Israeli Right fi rst came to power nearly four decades ago. Its election was described then as ‘an earthquake’, and its reverberations are still with us. How then did the Right rise to power? What are its origins? Colin Shindler traces this development from the birth of Zionism in cosmopolitan Odessa in the 19th century to today’s Hebron, a centre of radical Jewish nationalism. He looks at central fi gures such as Vladimir Jabotinsky, an intellectual and founder of the Revisionist movement and Menahem Begin, the single-minded politician who brought the Right to power in 1977. Both accessible and comprehensive, this book explains the political ideas and philosophies that were the Right’s ideological bedrock and the compromises that were made in its journey to government.

August 2015, Cambridge University Press, £22.99 AArabrab WWaterater SSecurity:ecurity: TThreatshreats aandnd OOpportunitiespportunities iinn tthehe GGulfulf SStatestates

By Hussein A. Amery

Th is book explores the national security implications of the Arab Gulf states reliance on desalination plants and their related infrastructure. It provides a systematic and comprehensive discussion of current and future threats to the supply of freshwater from a desalination plant, including actual and virtual attacks by terrorists, mechanical failure, contamination, sabotage by aggrieved workers, attacks relating to regional confl icts, as well as their vulnerability to natural disasters. It also provides a detailed analysis of the eff ects of a potential disruption to the water supply and proposes possible measures, both political and technological, that can be used to increase resilience to these threats.

July 2015, Cambridge University Press, £64.99

October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 21 BBOOKSOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF WWritingriting tthehe OOttomans:ttomans: TTurkishurkish HHistoryistory iinn EEarlyarly MModernodern EEnglandngland By Anders Ingram

Histories of the Turks were a central means through which English authors engaged in intellectual and cultural terms with the Ottoman Empire, its advance into Europe following the capture of Constantinople (1454), and its continuing central European power up to the treaty of Karlowitz (1699). Writing the Ottomans examines historical writing on the Turks in England from 1480-1700. It explores the evolution of this discourse from its continental roots, and its development in response to moments of military crisis such as the Long War of 1593-1606 and the War of the Holy League 1683-1699, as well as Anglo-Ottoman trade and diplomacy throughout the 17th century. From the writing of central authors such as Richard Knolles and Paul Rycaut, to lesser known names, it reads English histories of the Turks in their intellectual, religious, political, economic and print contexts, and analyses their infl uence on English perceptions of the Ottoman world.

August 2015, Palgrave Macmillan, £55.00 TThehe PPoliticalolitical EEconomyconomy ooff EEUU TTiesies wwithith IIraqraq aandnd IIran:ran: AAnn AAssessmentssessment ooff tthehe TTrade–Peacerade–Peace RRelationshipelationship

By Amir M. Kamel Using a theoretical and empirical perspective, this book analyses how and why the EU’s plan to maintain peace and prevent confl ict in Iraq and Iran through trade has failed. Between 1979 and 2009, EU trade with Iraq and Iran increased before, during and aft er periods of confl ict. Th e author uses case studies of both countries to demonstrate the eff ects of the peace-through-trade-policy before and aft er the implementation of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy in 1992, and shows how the policy failed. Th is book adds to the trade-peace theory debate and provides evidence supporting the need to review the EU’s peace-through-trade policy towards Iraq and Iran.

July 2015, Palgrave Macmillan, £75.00 FFromrom DDeepeep SStatetate ttoo IIslamicslamic SState:tate: TThehe AArabrab CCounter-Revolutionounter-Revolution aandnd iitsts JJihadiihadi LLegacyegacy By Jean-Pierre Filiu In this political history of the ‘Deep State’ in the Middle East, Jean-Pierre Filiu reveals how the autocracies of Syria, Egypt and Yemen crushed the democratic uprisings of the ‘Arab Revolution’. Th ey did so by turning to the shadowy intelligence agencies and internal security arms of the so-called ‘Deep State’ who had decades of experience in dealing with internal dissent, as well as to street gangs (the Baltaguiyya in Egypt) or death squads (the Shabbiha in Syria) to enforce their will. Alongside intimidation, imprisonment and murder, the Arab counter-revolutionaries released from prison and secretly armed and funded many hardline Islamists, thereby boosting Salafi –Jihadi groups such as Islamic State, in the hope of convincing the Western powers to back their dictatorships. Th ey also succeeded in dividing the opposition forces ranged against them, going so far as to ruthlessly discard politicians and generals from among their own elite in the pursuit of absolute, unfettered, power.

July 2015, Hurst, £15.99

22 The Middle East in London October – November 2015 LISTINGS EEventsvents iinn LLondonondon

in Room 55: Mesopotamia 1500–539 BC (Gallery Talk) Irving Finkel, British Museum. Organised by: BM. Admission free. Room 55, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org

Monday 5 October

6:15 pm | Th e Schøyen Collection’s Cuneiform Tablets: Changing How We Understand Mesopotamia in the Second Millennium (Seminar) Andrew George, SOAS. Organised by: Th e London Centre for the Ancient Near East. Ancient Near East Seminar series. Admission free. L67, SOAS. E [email protected] W http://banealcane.org/lcane/

Joy Stacey, The Tourist (still) (2013). Autonomy of Self (See Exhibitions, p. 34) Tuesday 6 October

10:00 am | Caesar Photos: Inside HE EVENTS and Russell Square, London WC1H discuss Mackenzie's fi nds. the Syrian Authorities' Prisons organisations listed 0XG Admission free. Pre-registration + Panel Debate Organised by: Tbelow are not necessarily LSE – London School of required T 020 7323 8181 W www. Frontline Club In collaboration endorsed or supported by The Economics and Political Science, britishmuseum.org BP Lecture with the Syrian Association for Middle East in London. The Houghton Street, London WC2 Th eatre, BM. T 020 7935 5379 E Missing and Conscience Detainees accompanying texts and images 2AE [email protected] W www.pef. and the National Coalition of are based primarily on information org.uk Syrian Revolution and Opposition provided by the organisers and do Forces. Exhibition opens at not necessarily reflect the views OCTOBER EVENTS 4:30 pm | Other 'gentrifi cations': 10:00am and ends at 6:00pm of the compilers or publishers. remaking Ras Beirut (Seminar) with the panel debate starting at While every possible effort is Th ursday 1 October Fran Tonkiss, LSE and Mona 7:00pm. Th e Caesar Exhibition at made to ascertain the accuracy of Khechen, AUB. Organised by: the Frontline Club for one day only. these listings, readers are advised 4:00 pm | In the Footsteps of LSE Middle East Centre. Based on Admission free. Pre-registration to seek confirmation of all events a Pioneer Archaeologist in the culmination of a collaborative for the panel debate required. using the contact details provided Palestine: One Hundred Years research project between LSE Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, for each event. aft er Duncan Mackenzie at Tel and the American University of London W2 1QJ. T 020 7479 8940 Beth-Shemesh, Israel (Lecture) Beirut the seminar explores the E [email protected] W Submitting entries and updates: Shlomo Bunimovitz and Zvi remaking of Ras Beirut from www.frontlineclub.com please send all updates and Lederman, Tel Aviv University. the standpoint of comparative submissions for entries related Organised by: Palestine urbanism. Admission free. Pre- 5:45 pm | Hidden Light: A View to future events via e-mail to Exploration Fund. In 1911 the registration required. Room 9.04 from Cosmopolitan Kuwait [email protected] Palestine Exploration Fund sent (TBC), LSE. T 020 7955 6198 (Lecture) Mai Al-Nakib, Kuwait archaeologist Duncan Mackenzie E [email protected] W www.lse. University. Organised by: London BM – British Museum, Great to excavate Beth-Shemesh in order ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ Middle East Institute, SOAS Russell Street, London WC1B to determine who the mysterious (LMEI) and the Near & Middle 3DG Philistines that migrated to Friday 2 October East History Seminar. What SOAS –SOAS, University of Canaan in the twelft h century BC can fi ction do in the context of London, Th ornhaugh Street, were. Bunimovitz and Lederman 1.15 pm | Breaking New Ground the fraught Middle East? Join

October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 23 LONDON LONDON MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE MIDDLE EAST SOAS, University of London INSTITUTE

TUESDAY LECTURE PROGRAMME ON THE CONTEMPORARY MIDDLE EAST AUTUMN 2015 6 October Hidden Light: A View from Cosmopolitan Kuwait Mai Al-Nakib, Kuwait University Lecture organised jointly with the Near & Middle East History Seminar 13 October Qatar – Small State, Big Politics Mehran Kamrava, Center for International and Regional Studies, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar 20 October Return: A Palestinian Memoir Ghada Karmi, University of Exeter Lecture organised jointly with the Centre for Palestine Studies 27 October Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate Abdel Bari Atwan, Rai al-Youm 3 November Reading Week 10 November The Creative Enterprise and Alternative Spaces of Imagination in Iran Peninsula Pamela Karimi, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and former IHF Visiting Fellow, Centre for Iranian Studies Lecture organised jointly with the Centre for Iranian Studies 17 November*5:30pm start Title TBC 24 November The Music Culture of the Arabian Peninsula Rolf Killius 1 December Title TBC 8 December 7sides of A Cylinder - 7 shorts by 7 Iranian Filmmakers Haleh Anvari Film Screening organised jointly with the Centre for Iranian Studies TUESDAYS 5:45 PM KHALILI LECTURE THEATRE, MAIN BUILDING, SOAS The Lectures are free and open to all. Tea and biscuits are available from 5:15 pm For further information contact: The London Middle East Institute at SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, WC1H OXG, T: 020 7898 4330; E: [email protected], W: www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/

24 The Middle East in London October – November 2015 Kuwait writer and academic Mai E [email protected] W www. Persian Gulf region and in the from Fustat: A Presentation in Al-Nakib for a discussion and iransociety.org / www.therag. larger Middle East. Part of the Memory of George T Scanlon reading of her award-winning co.uk LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture (Lecture) Jere Bacharach, collection of short stories, Th e Programme on the Contemporary University of Washington, Seattle. Hidden Light of Objects. Part of the Tuesday 13 October Middle East. Admission free. Organised by: Islamic Art Circle LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T at SOAS. Part of the Islamic Programme on the Contemporary 5:00 pm | Jet Set Frontiers: 020 7898 4330/4490 E vp6@soas. Art Circle at SOAS Lecture Middle East. Admission free. Tourism, Hijackings, Petrodollars, ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ Programme. Chair: Scott Redford, Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T and the Politics of Aeromobility events/ SOAS. Admission free. Venue 020 7898 4330/4490 E vp6@soas. from Beirut to the Gulf (Seminar) TBC. SOAS. T 0771 408 7480 E ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ Waleed Hazbun, American Wednesday 14 October [email protected] W events/ University of Beirut. Organised www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/ by: Department of Anthropology 6:00 pm | Pursuing Atrocity Sunday 11 October and Sociology, SOAS. Part of the Accountability in Syria (Panel Th ursday 15 October Anthropology of Tourism and Discussion) Chris Engels, 11:00 am | how to: Ari Shavit Travel Seminar Series. Admission Commission for International 5.45 pm | Digitising British on Israel. From Negotiations free. Room 4426, SOAS. E nl15@ Justice and Accountability and Imperialism in the Gulf: with Iran to Settlements (Talk) soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/ Toby Cadman, 9 Bedford Row Th e British Library - Qatar Organised by: How To Academy. anthropology/events/ International. Organised by: Foundation Partnership (Lecture) Israeli journalist and writer Ari LSE Middle East Centre. Th e Louis Allday, British Library. Shavit will talk about some of 5:45 pm | Qatar – Small State, Commission for International Organised by: MBI Al Jaber the challenges and opportunities Big Politics (Lecture) Mehran Justice and Accountability (CIJA) Foundation and the British currently facing Israel, and off er Kamrava, Center for International will present its work, methodology Foundation for the Study of a global insight into the forces and Regional Studies, Georgetown and fi ndings of the completed case Arabia (BFSA). Allday will give a shaping the Middle East today. University School of Foreign fi les relating to the large-scale talk on the Qatar Digital Library Tickets: £30 Premium (includes a Service in Qatar. Organised by: violations of international criminal (www.qdl.qa), a bilingual online paperback copy of Shavit’s book My London Middle East Institute, and humanitarian law taking place portal that provides access to Promised Land RRP £14.99)/£20 SOAS (LMEI). Despite its small in the Syrian confl ict. Admission previously un-digitised British Standard. Th e Tabernacle, 35 size and demographic limitations, free. Room TBA, LSE. T 020 7955 Library archive materials related Powis Square, London W11 2AY. over the last two decades or so 6198 E [email protected] W www. to the history of the Persian Gulf E john.gordon@howtoacademy. Qatar has emerged as one of the lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ and a selection of the Library’s com W www.howtoacademy.com most consequential, and in many Arabic scientifi c manuscripts. Part respects infl uential, actors in the 7:00 pm | Numismatic Evidence of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation Monday 12 October

7:00 pm | From Site to Showcase: Erbil Citadel, Iraqi Kurdistan © Richard Wilding (See November Events Kurdistan: A Dream Suspended on Archaeology, Collecting and the Wednesday 4 November, p. 31) Great Debate (Lecture) Mark Merrony, Ariadne Galleries, London & New York. Organised by: Anglo Israel Archaeological Society and the Institute of Jewish Studies. Lecture to be preceded by a reception at 6:30pm. Admission free. Garden Room, Wilkins Building, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT. T 020 8349 5754 W www.aias.org.uk

7:00 pm | Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis (Lecture) Sussan Babaie, Courtauld Institute. Organised by: Th e Iran Society. Doors open 6:30pm. Admission free for Society Members and one guest. Pall Mall Room, Th e Army & Navy Club, 36-39 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5JN (Dress code calls for gentlemen to wear jacket and tie). T 020 7235 5122

October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 25 Lecture Series. Admission free. the state’s existence. By focusing Admission free. Samsung Centre, political economy analyses of the Pre-registration required E info@ on specifi c political behaviours BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www. Palestinian people as a whole and mbifoundation.com MBI Al and trends, the conference hopes britishmuseum.org rejects the dominant, conventional Jaber Conference Room, London to uncover longer term, more approach that has fragmented Middle East Institute, SOAS fundamental logics, which are 7:45 pm | Sima Bina: Iran's Living the Palestinians into separate (LMEI), University of London, based on the settler colonial nature Legend - A celebration of 50 Years and distinct groups and reduced MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell of the state. Tickets: £35/£25 conc. on Stage (Performance) Iran's folk those regarded as 'the Palestinian Square, London WC1B 5EA. W Pre-registration required W http:// legend performing some of her all people' to only those who reside www.mbifoundation.com / www. soasunion.org/ents/event/552/ time greats. Sima Bina's prolifi c within the occupied territory. thebfsa.org Room TBC, SOAS. E soaspalsoc. career began age 7 with a protest Admission free. G3, SOAS. T 020 [email protected] W www. song in Radio Iran's Children 7898 4330/4490 E [email protected] 7:30 pm | English Chamber soas.ac.uk/lmei-cps/events/ programme against corporal W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cps/ Orchestra: Th e Spirit of the punishment, and continued in events/ Moors (Concert) An evening 1.15 pm | Th e Pharaoh Iran until the 1979 revolution of music from Morocco and Amenhotep III's Life and when the solo female voice was 6:15 pm | Title TBA: on Neo- Spain. Pre-concert talk at 6:15pm Monuments (Gallery Talk) banned. Tickets: £25/£35/£45. Babylonian tablets in the Schøyen on Th e Music of Morocco with George Hart, independent speaker. LSO St Luke’s, 161 Old St, London Collection (Seminar) Cornelia Ahmed Aydoun. Tickets: Various. Organised by: BM. Admission EC1V 9NG. T 020 7638 8891 W Wunsch, SOAS. Organised by: Th e Cadogan Hall, 5 Sloane Terrace, free. Room 55, BM. T 020 7323 www.barbican.org.uk London Centre for the Ancient London SW1X 9DQ. T 020 7730 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org Near East. Ancient Near East 4500 W www.cadoganhall.com Monday 19 October Seminar series. Admission free. Sunday 18 October L67, SOAS. E [email protected] W Saturday 17 October 6:00 pm | Decolonizing http://banealcane.org/lcane/ 9:00 am | Settlers & Citizens: A Palestinian Political Economy: 9:00 am | Settlers & Citizens: Critical View of Israeli Society De-development and Beyond Tuesday 20 October A Critical View of Israeli (Two-Day Conference: Saturday (Book Launch) Mandy Turner, Society (Two-Day Conference: 17 - Sunday 18 October) See event Kenyon Institute (Council for Until 8 November | Nour Festival Saturday 17 - Sunday 18 October) listing above. British Research in the Levant) of Arts 2015 Th e sixth annual Organised by: SOAS Palestine and Omar Shweiki, University of Nour Festival of Arts showcasing Society in association with the 11:00 am | Exploring Egyptian Oxford. Organised by: Centre for contemporary arts and culture Centre for Palestine Studies, Mummies (Digital Workshop) Palestine Studies. Event to mark the from across the Middle East and SOAS. Th e conference will aim to Organised by: BM. Explore digital launch of Decolonizing Palestinian North Africa (MENA). Taking highlight the continuities in Israeli skills used by Museum scientists to Political Economy: De-development place over 20 days, Nour presents politics both between diff erent uncover the secrets of the ancient and Beyond (Palgrave, 2014) with 50 events in 18 venues across segments of Israeli society as well Egyptians, and see if you can make the editors Mandy Turner and Kensington and Chelsea. See as between diff erent epochs of your own Museum discovery. Omar Shweiki. Th e book provides website for the full programme, ticket and venue details. T 020 7361 3618 E [email protected] W www.nourfestival.co.uk

5:15 pm | Between Hegemony and Resistance: Towards a Moral Economy of the Tunisian Revolution (Seminar) Sami Zemni, Middle East and North Africa Research Group. Organised by: LSE Middle East Centre. Part of the Social Movements and Popular Mobilisation in the MENA event series. Zemni presents his paper, co-written with Habib Ayeb, in which he uses a ‘moral economy’ approach in order to understand the massive mobilizations that led to Ben Ali’s disappearance and the nature of political change in the post-Ben Ali era. Admission free. Pre-registration required. Room 9.04, Tower 2, Clement's Inn, LSE. T 020 7955 6198 E s.sfeir@ lse.ac.uk W www.lse.ac.uk/ middleEastCentre/

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

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www.soas.ac.uk October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 27 5:45 pm | Return: A Palestinian for Algerian Studies. Admission El Saadawi has been a prominent HE Edmund Fitton-Brown, Memoir (Lecture) Ghada Karmi, free. Room TBA, LSE. T 020 7955 fi gure and activist in Egypt and British Ambassador to Yemen University of Exeter. Organised 6198 E [email protected] W www. will be in conversation with a Organised by: British-Yemeni by: London Middle East Institute, lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ special guest. Part of the Nour Society. Drinks from 5:30pm. SOAS (LMEI) and the Centre for Festival. Admission free. Pre- Tickets: £10/£5 Members. Pre- Palestine Studies. Talk by Karmi Th ursday 22 October registration required E rsvp@ registration required T 020 7731 on her latest book Return: A mosaicrooms.org Th e Mosaic 3260 E [email protected] St Palestinian Memoir (Verso 2015) 7:00 pm | Arab Human Rooms, A.M. Qattan Foundation, Matthew's Conference Centre, 20 in which she takes the reader on Development Report Panel Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, Great Peter Street, London SW1P a fascinating journey into the Discussion Organised by: London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 2BU. W www.al-bab.com/bys/ heart of one of the world’s most London Middle East Institute, 9990 E [email protected] W intractable confl ict zones and SOAS (LMEI). Event to mark the http://mosaicrooms.org/ Monday 26 October one of the major issues of our publication of this year's Arab time. Part of the LMEI's Tuesday Human Development Report Friday 23 October 7:00 pm | Nawal El Saadawi in Evening Lecture Programme on which focuses on youth with Nadje Conversation with Wendell the Contemporary Middle East. Al-Ali, SOAS and Jad Chaaban, 1:15 pm | Conserving the British Steavenson Organised by: Admission free. Khalili Lecture American University of Beirut Museum’s Papyri (Gallery Talk) Frontline Club. Four and a half Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 7898 (AUB), who both contributed to Bridget Leach, BM. Organised by: years ago, Egypt dominated 4330/4490 E [email protected] W the report. Admission free. Khalili BM. Explore digital skills used by headlines globally with scenes of www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 Museum scientists to uncover the hope and change in Tahrir Square, 7898 4330/4490 E [email protected] secrets of the ancient Egyptians, now the country garners attention Wednesday 21 October W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ and see if you can make your own for a very diff erent reason - the Museum discovery. Admission imprisonment of journalists. 6:00 pm | Algeria's Belle Epoque: 7:00 pm | Nawal El Saadawi (Talk) free. Room 61, BM. T 020 7323 Nawal El Saadawi refl ects on the Memories of the 1970s (Lecture) Organised by: Th e Mosaic Rooms. 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org situation in Egypt and will be Ed McAllister. Organised by: LSE An evening with celebrated joined in conversation with the Middle East Centre and the Society Egyptian writer Nawal El Saadawi. 6:00 pm | Talk on Yemen with journalist Wendell Steavenson,

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED? The Crisis of International Intervention SIMON JENKINS

Why do politicians send troops to foreign soil, to ﬁght battles they rarely win? Is it old-fashioned imperialism tainted with a crusader complex? Or is the West a partisan for the helpless? By exposing interventionist rhetoric and highlighting past mistakes, Jenkins gives us an invaluable contribution to the active and essential debate on the West’s role in global conﬂicts.

‘A rare and intriguing voyage. Most of us would not dare to do what Simon Jenkins has done, revisit what he wrote of still current issues. Too often journalists out to be right in their reporting, and the decision makers prove to be wrong. Here’s a book that proves it.’ – JON SNOW, Channel 4 news anchor

www.ibtauris.com 216 Pages 198 x 126mm ISBN 9781784531324 Paperback £9.99 August 2015 release

28 The Middle East in London October – November 2015

Barjeel Art Foundation collection

Display 1, Gallery 7

who was in Tahrir four years E [email protected] W www.lse. ago. Tickets: £12.50/£10 conc. ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, London W2 1QJ. T 020 7479 8940 7:00 pm | Th e Trials of Spring E [email protected] W (Film Screening/Panel Discussion) www.frontlineclub.com Organised by the London Middle East Institute, SOAS (LMEI), the Tuesday 27 October Centre for Gender Studies, SOAS, the Centre for Media Studies, 5:45 pm | Islamic State: Th e SOAS and Women Living Under Digital Caliphate (Lecture) Muslim Laws (WLUML). Feature- Abdel Bari Atwan, Rai al-Youm. length documentary and a series Organised by: London Middle of shorts that chronicle the stories East Institute, SOAS (LMEI). of nine women who played central Based on extensive fi eld research roles in the Arab uprisings and and exclusive interviews with IS their aft ermaths in Egypt, Tunisia, insiders, Atwan discusses his latest Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen. book Islamic State: Th e Digital Followed by a discussion and Caliphate (Saqi Books, 2015) Q&A. Admission free. Khalili which off ers a comprehensive Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 review of the group’s 7898 4330/4490 E [email protected] organisational structure and W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ leadership, strategies, tactics and diverse methods of recruitment. Th ursday 29 October Part of the LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture Programme on 4:00 pm | Why is Syria so the Contemporary Middle East. Statist? Revisiting Ideas and Admission free. Khalili Lecture Economic Change in Historical Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 7898 Institutionalism (Lecture) Daniel 4330/4490 E [email protected] W Neep, Georgetown University. www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ Organised by: LSE Middle East Centre. Why did Syria transition from a laissez-faire to a statist Ervand Demerdjian Nubian Girl Undated, Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm. Image Wednesday 28 October courtesy of Safarkhan Art Gallery, Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah. Barjeel economy between 1946 and Art Foundation Collection: Part 1 (See Exhibitions, p. 34) 3:00 pm | Race, Religion and the 1954? Neep explains the shift by Lost Tribes of Israel (Seminar) using a constructivist historical of academic research related to celebrates the completion of its Yulia Egorova, Durham University. institutionalist approach to the Gaza Strip. Tickets: Special Narratives of Conversion to Islam Organised by: Department of emphasise the importance of ideas Student rate of £25 for both the in Britain research project with an Anthropology and Sociology. in producing economic shift s. day conference and evening event. evening of discussion and poetry Anthropology Departmental Admission free. Pre-registration For full price admission book by performance featuring spoken- Seminar Series. Admission free. required. Vera Anstey Room, Old Friday 9 October for the early-bird word artist Tommy Evans. Part Room G52, SOAS. E nl15@ Building, LSE. T 020 7955 6198 rates: £30 Conference/£10 Evening of Cambridge Festival of Ideas. soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/ E [email protected] W www.lse. Event/£35.00 Conference and Admission free. Keynes Room, anthropology/events/ ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ Evening Event. Pre-registration King’s College, King’s Parade, required W www.soas.ac.uk/ Cambridge CB2 1ST. E cis@cis. 6:00 pm | Th e Other Saudis: Saturday 31 October lmei-cps/events/ Brunei Gallery cam.ac.uk W www.cis.cam.ac.uk Shiism, Dissent and Sectarianism Lecture Th eatre and Brunei Suite, (Book Launch) Toby Matthiesen, 9:00 am | Th e Gaza Strip: History, SOAS. T 020 7898 4330/4490 E University of Cambridge. Future and New Directions for [email protected] Wednesday 28 October Organised by: LSE Middle East Research (Conference) Organised Centre. Drawing on little-known by the Centre for Palestine Studies. 5:30 pm | Bridging the Middle Arabic sources, extensive fi eldwork It has been almost eight years EVENTS OUTSIDE East with the Rest of the World in Saudi Arabia and interviews since Israel’s military blockade LONDON through Perfumery (Lecture) with key activists Matthiesen of the Gaza Strip, during this Organised by: Centre of Islamic launches his new book titled Th e time, repeated aerial and ground Studies, University of Cambridge. Other Saudis: Shiism, dissent and invasions have killed thousands of Tuesday 27 October Christopher Chong presents sectarianism in which he traces Palestinians. Nonetheless, despite an informal lecture about his the politics of the Shia in the these enormous diffi culties, 6:00 pm | Rapping Our Way to creative process for Amouage, Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia Gaza remains an integral part of Islam (Discussion/Performance) an international perfume house from the nineteenth century until future trajectories in Palestine. In Organised by: Centre of Islamic originating from Oman. Part the present day. Admission free. this context the conference will Studies, University of Cambridge. of Cambridge Festival of Ideas. Room TBA, LSE. T 020 7955 6198 aim to address various aspects Th e Centre of Islamic Studies Admission free. Keynes Room,

October – November 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 October – November 2015 King’s College, King’s Parade, and their aft ermath requires a Richard Wilding in collaboration Street, London W1K 2NJ. W www. Cambridge CB2 1ST. E cis@cis. deeper examination of the Middle with Gulan and the Ismaili Centre. saudibritishsociety.org.uk cam.ac.uk W www.cis.cam.ac.uk East political economy. Tickets: Doors open 7:45pm. Wilding £3/£2 conc. (on the door). Th e presents his contemporary 8:15 pm | Chaplin of the Saturday 31 October Gallery, Alan Baxter & Associates photography of the heritage and Mountains (Film) Organised LLP, 75 Cowcross Street, London people of the Kurdistan region of by: Gulan in collaboration with 2:00 pm | Islamophobia: New EC1M 6EL. E enquiries@ Iraq, touching on its troubled past the Ismaili Centre. Doors open Findings, New Perspectives mondediplofriends.org.uk W and the current refugee crisis. Part 7:45pm. UK Film Premier. A (Panel Discussion) Organised www.mondediplofriends.org.uk of the Nour Festival. Admission road trip across the Kurdish by: Centre of Islamic Studies, free. Pre-registration required landscape, from the plains of the University of Cambridge. A 7:30 pm | Writing Out of War and E [email protected] Th e Ismaili region’s capital to the highest discussion on Islamophobia in Exile (Reading) Organised by: Centre, Cromwell Gardens, South Zagros peaks and ending in the twenty-fi rst century Britain. Exiled Writers Ink. Exiled Lit Cafe. Kensington, London SW7 2SL. Qandil mountains. Q&A with Current research undertaken by With Shabibi Shah Nala, Yvonne E [email protected] / richard@ director Jano Rosebiani. Part of the Centre is presented alongside Green, May Al-Issa, Abbas Faiz, richardwilding.com W www. the Nour Festival. Tickets £8/£6 expert opinion and debate and Abdul Sulamal. Tickets: £5/£3 gulan.org.uk / www.nourfestival. conc. W www.thelittleboxoffi ce. from Chris Allen, University of Exiled Writers Ink Members and co.uk / www.richardwilding.com com/nour2015 Th e Ismaili Birmingham, Daniel Zeichner asylum seekers. Poetry Place, 22 Centre, Cromwell Gardens, South MP, local community leaders and Betterton Street, London WC2H Th ursday 5 November Kensington, London SW7 2SL. E the Cambridgeshire Constabulary. 9BX. T 020 8458 1910 E jennifer@ [email protected] W www.gulan. Part of Cambridge Festival of exiledwriters.fsnet.co.uk W www. 9:00 am | SOAS-Nohoudh org.uk / www.nourfestival.co.uk Ideas. Admission free. Keynes exiledwriters.co.uk Muslim Integration Conference Room, King’s College, King’s 2015: Engaging with the Friday 6 November Parade, Cambridge CB2 1ST. E Tuesday 3 November Discourse (Two-Day Conference: [email protected] W www.cis. Th ursday 5 - Friday 6 November) 9:00 am | SOAS-Nohoudh Muslim cam.ac.uk 6:00 pm | Th e Image of God in the Organised by: Centre of Islamic Integration Conference 2015: Art of Ancient Assyria (Lecture) Studies at SOAS and the Nohoudh Engaging with the Discourse Paul Collins, Ashmolean Museum Endowment for Development (Two-Day Conference: Th ursday NOVEMBER EVENTS of Art and Archaeology, University Studies. New annual conference 5 - Friday 6 November) See event of Oxford. Organised by: Anglo series on ‘Muslim Integration in listing above. Israel Archaeological Society Britain’, the inaugural conference Monday 2 November and the Institute of Archaeology, will commence with two crucial 3:00 pm | Curator's Introduction UCL. Followed by refreshments. questions: what is integration?, to Egypt: Faith aft er the Pharaohs 1:00 pm | Nour Midday Music Admission free. Lecture Th eatre and what is meant by Muslim (Lecture) Elisabeth O'Connell, (Performance) Organised by: G6, Ground Floor, Institute of integration in Britain? Convened exhibition curator. Organised by: Gulan in collaboration with the Archaeology, UCL, 31-34 Gordon by: M A S Abdel Haleem, BM. See Exhibitions for details of Ismaili Centre. Until Friday 6 Square, London WC1H OPY. T SOAS. Admission free. Pre- Egypt: Faith aft er the Pharaohs. November. Musicians from the 020 8349 5754 W www.aias.org.uk registration required. Brunei Admission free. Pre-registration Taqasim Music School together Gallery Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. required T 020 7323 8181 W www. with Kurdish musicians Behroz Wednesday 4 November E muslimintegration@soas. britishmuseum.org BP Lecture Rahimiyan, Awat Afroozi, and ac.uk W http://www.soas.ac.uk/ Th eatre, BM. Zana will play contemporary 7:30 pm | A Syrian Love Story islamicstudies/conferences/ music from the Middle East. Part (Film) Organised by: Th e 5:30 pm | Nadine Khouri of the Nour Festival. Admission Mosaic Rooms. Screening of 5:30 pm | Saudi Youth and Performance by Nadine Khouri, free. Th e Foyer, Th e Ismaili Sean McAllister’s documentary Societal Transformation: the Lebanese-born singer- Centre, Cromwell Gardens, South A Syrian Love Story. Th e fi lm Aspirations and Challenges songwriter currently based in Kensington, London SW7 2SL. E follows comrades and lovers (Lecture) Mark Th ompson, King London whose sound draws [email protected] W www.gulan. Amer and Raghda, who met in a Fahd University of Petroleum and on folk, shoegaze, moody org.uk / www.nourfestival.co.uk Syrian prison cell 15 years ago. Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. soundtracks and spoken word. As the ‘Arab Spring’ sweeps the Organised by: Saudi-British Admission free. Central Bar at 6:45 pm | Continuity or Change? region, their fate shift s irrevocably. Society. Annual Ghazi al Gosaibi Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Mapping the Political Economy Followed by a Q&A with director Memorial Lecture. Th ompson will Centre, Belvedere Road, London of the Middle East (Talk) Adam Sean McAllister. Part of the Nour give a talk about some of the issues SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W Hanieh, SOAS. Organised by: Festival. Tickets: £6.50. Th e Mosaic that concern Saudi youth today, www.southbankcentre.co.uk Friends of Le Monde Diplo. Part Rooms, A.M. Qattan Foundation, in particular the challenges facing of Cafe Diplo. Th e Arab uprisings Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, young people as they transition 6:30 pm | Egypt: Th e Frontier in 2010-2011 have typically been London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 from education into society. of Meaning (Lecture) Karen presented through the narrow lens 9990 E [email protected] W Tickets: £5 for non-members Armstrong, BM. Organised of dictatorship versus democracy. http://mosaicrooms.org/ of the Society. Pre-registration by: BM. Armstrong explores In a region now wracked by required E ionisthompson@yahoo. interreligious relations between confl ict, Hanieh argues that a full 8:15 pm | Kurdistan: A Dream co.uk Arab-British Chamber of Jews, Christians and Muslims understanding of the uprisings Suspended (Talk) Organised by: Commerce, 43 Upper Grosvenor in the fi rst millennium AD.

October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 31 Positioning Egypt as a leader and 6198 E [email protected] W www. Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 7898 the fi ndings of a research project pioneer in the region, she conveys lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ 4330/4490 E [email protected] W between the LSE and Birzeit how its population creatively www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ University which looks at the challenged the frontiers that 7:00 pm | Th e Meeting Place health-related impacts of confl ict traditionally separated humanity of Th ree Worlds? Ahlat and 6:30 pm | Helen of Troy - Goddess, in the occupied Palestinian from the divine. Tickets: £5/£3 BM its Artistic Networks in Princess, Seductress (Lecture) territory focusing specifi cally on Members & conc. Pre-registration Th irteenth-century Anatolia Organised by: British Institute the gender associations of these required T 020 7323 8181 W www. (Lecture) Antony Eastmond, at Ankara (BIAA). Following a impacts. Admission free. Room britishmuseum.org BP Lecture Courtauld Institute of Art, decade of research Bettany Hughes TBA, LSE. T 020 7955 6198 E Th eatre, BM. London. Organised by: Islamic will explore the fi gure of Helen of [email protected] W www.lse. Art Circle at SOAS. Part of the Troy in her cultural, literary and ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ Monday 9 November Islamic Art Circle at SOAS Lecture historical guises.Tickets: £10/free Programme. Chair: Scott Redford, for BIAA Members. Th e British 6:00pm | Gertrude Bell and the 6:15 pm | How the Other Half SOAS. Admission free. Venue Academy, 10 Carlton House ‘Woman Question’ (Lecture) Lived: Th e Ur III Workers’ TBC. SOAS. T 0771 408 7480 E Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH. T Helen Berry. Organised by: Th e Rosters in the Schøyen [email protected] W 020 7969 5204 E [email protected] British Institute for the Study Collection (Seminar) Jacob www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/ W http://biaa.ac.uk/events of Iraq. Admission free. Pre- Dahl, Oxford. Organised by: Th e registration required W www.bisi. London Centre for the Ancient Th ursday 12 November 7:00 pm | Th e Heritage of ac.uk Th e British Academy, 10 Near East. Ancient Near East Javanmardi in Iran (Lecture) Carlton House Terrace, London, Seminar series. Admission free. 4:00 pm | Hisham's Palace in Lloyd Ridgeon, Glasgow SW1Y 5AH. T 020 7969 5274 E L67, SOAS. E [email protected] W Context: Th e Archaeological University. Organised by: Th e [email protected] http://banealcane.org/lcane/ Survey and Excavations in the Iran Society. Doors open 6:30pm. Hinterland of Khirbat al Mafj ar, Ridgeon will talk about the idea 7:00 pm | Treasures from the Tuesday 10 November Jericho (Lecture) Mahmoud of javanmardi, loosely translated Neville Kingston Collection: Hawari, BM. Organised by: as chivalry, a concept that has Piled and Flatwoven Rugs of 5:45 pm | Th e Creative Enterprise Palestine Exploration Fund. permeated Iranian culture for Central Asian Nomads (Talk) and Alternative Spaces of Admission free. Pre-registration centuries and will focus on how Elena Tsareva, Russian Federation Imagination in Iran (Lecture) required E 020 7323 8181 W www. javanmardi has been understood Kunstkamera Museum, St Pamela Karimi, University of britishmuseum.org BP Lecture by a range of thinkers, both Petersburg. Organised by: Th e Massachusetts Dartmouth and Th eatre, BM. T 020 7935 5379 E medieval and modern. Admission Oriental Rug and Textile Society former IHF Fellow, Centre for [email protected] W www.pef. free for Society Members and (ORTS). Tsareva has published Iranian Studies. Organised by: org.uk one guest. Pall Mall Room, Th e over one hundred works on London Middle East Institute, Army & Navy Club, 36-39 Pall archaeological and ethnographic SOAS (LMEI) and the Centre Friday 13 November Mall, London SW1Y 5JN (Dress textiles of Northern Eurasia and for Iranian Studies. Part of the code calls for gentlemen to wear conducted fi eld expeditions to LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture 7:00 pm | A Cosmopolitan jacket and tie). T 020 7235 5122 Central Asia. Tickets: £7 non- Programme on the Contemporary Journey Around the E [email protected] W www. members/£5 non-member Middle East. Admission free. Mediterranean and Beyond: iransociety.org / www.therag. students (£20 for membership Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T Melange (Concert) Organised co.uk of one year for 11 events). St 020 7898 4330/4490 E vp6@soas. by: Department of Music, SOAS. James Conference Room, 197 ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ Formed by cellist Shirley Smart, 7:30 pm | Manu Katché + Ibrahim Piccadilly, London W1J 9LL. T events/ Melange is a refl ection of modern Maalouf (Performance) Jazz 020 7639 7593 E membership@ cosmopolitanism and comprises double bill with the drummmer orientalrugandtextilesociety. musicians from Greece, Spain, Manu Katché and the trumpeter/ org.uk / ortscup@ Wednesday 11 November Morocco, Iraq, Italy and the UK. composer Ibrahim Maalouf. orientalrugandtextilesociety. Part of the SOAS Concert Series. Tickets: £10-£27.50. Hall, Barbican org.uk W www. 6:00 pm | Rentier Islamism: Th e Admission free. Brunei Gallery Centre, Silk Street London EC2Y orientalrugandtextilesociety.org. Role of the Muslim Brotherhood Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 8DS. T 020 7638 8891 W www. uk / www.orts.org.uk in the Gulf (Lecture) Courtney 7898 4500 E musicevents@soas. barbican.org.uk Freer, LSE. Organised by: Kuwait ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/music/ Programme, LSE Middle East events/concerts/ Wednesday 18 November Th ursday 19 November Centre. Based on fi ndings from fi eld work in Kuwait, Qatar, and Tuesday 17 Novembe 6:00 pm | Women's Health in the 5:45 pm | Th e Abraham Path: the UAE, the lecture examines Occupied Palestinian Territory: A Trail of Dignity Across the the historical and current 5:30 pm | Title TBC (Lecture) Inclusion and Exclusion Middle East (Lecture) Stefan political role of the Ikhwan in Organised by: London Middle (Lecture) Tiziana Leone and Szepesi, Th e Abraham Path states traditionally considered East Institute, SOAS (LMEI). Ernestina Coast, LSE; Rita Initiative. Organised by: MBI Al impenetrable to Islamist Part of the LMEI's Tuesday Giacaman and Doaa Hammoudi, Jaber Foundation. Th e Abraham movements due to their status as Evening Lecture Programme on Institute of Community and Path Initiative created the fi rst wealthy rentier states. Admission the Contemporary Middle East. Public Health. Organised by: LSE long distance walking trail free. Room TBA, LSE. T 020 7955 Admission free. Khalili Lecture Middle East Centre. Discussion on across the Middle East, Szepesi

32 The Middle East in London October – November 2015 will discuss how, in retracing Tuesday 24 November traditional music of the Arabian [email protected] W http:// the journey made by Abraham, Peninsula. He shows these (mostly blogs.city.ac.uk/music/ the project aims to bring socio- Until 29 November | Fringe! Queer young) nations as multi-ethnic economic development to the 115 Film & Arts Fest Fringe! returns societies as refl ected in their Saturday 28 November communities along the way. Part to East London with a programme rich musical culture. Part of the of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation of fi lms, art, performance, parties LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture 7:30 pm | Mashrou' Leila Lecture Series. Admission free. and more. Th is year's programme Programme on the Contemporary (Performance) New material Pre-registration required. MBI Al includes Th e Turkish Boat, a Middle East. Admission free. from the band labelled the voice Jaber Conference Room, London documentary on the fi rst Turkish Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T of the Arab Spring – combining Middle East Institute, SOAS fl oat in Amsterdam's Gay Pride, 020 7898 4330/4490 E vp6@soas. traditional Lebanese sounds with (LMEI), University of London, and Alex & Ali, which tells the ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ off -beat guitars and electronica. MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell epic love story of an American events/ Tickets: £20-£25. Hall, Barbican Square, London WC1B 5EA. E and Iranian gay couple reunited Centre, Silk Street London EC2Y [email protected] W aft er a 35 year separation. Tickets: Friday 27 November 8DS. T 020 7638 8891 W www. www.mbifoundation.com Various. Venues across East barbican.org.uk London. E hi@fringefi lmfest.com 9.45am | Middle East and Central Monday 23 November W http://fringefi lmfest.com/ Asia Music Forum Organised by: Music Department, City EVENTS OUTSIDE 6:15 pm | Th e Sumerian Literary 5:45 pm | Where the Sea Kisses University London in conjunction LONDON Texts in the Schøyen Collection the Desert – Multi-ethnic with the Institute of Musical (Seminar) Konrad Volk, Musical Impressions from the Research. Th e Forum is open to Tübingen. Organised by: Th e Arabian Peninsula (Lecture) Rolf researchers, students and anyone Th ursday 12 November London Centre for the Ancient Killius. Organised by: London interested in the music and culture Near East. Ancient Near East Middle East Institute, SOAS of the region. Admission free. 5:15 pm | Professor Madawi Seminar series. Admission free. (LMEI). Ethnomusicologist, Pre-registration required. Room Al-Rasheed, LSE, Discusses L67, SOAS. E [email protected] W fi lmmaker and museum curator AG09, College Building, St John Religion, Politics and State in http://banealcane.org/lcane/ Killius elaborates on the rich Street, London EC1V 4PB. E Saudi Arabia Organised by: AL SAQI BOOKSHOP Voted 2nd in the Telegraph’s top 50 independent bookshops

‘A beacon for intellectual enquiry and ‘Anyone interested in Arab culture in open-mindedness ’ Financial Times London today is aware of the invaluable role Saqi plays, not only as a focal point for the city’s Middle Easterners, but also Located in the heart of Notting Hill, the Al Saqi in making available pioneering, specialist bookshop is Europe’s largest Middle Eastern and often controversial books’ The Times specialist bookseller with the most comprehensive stock of books on the Middle East in English, as well as books on all subjects in Arabic. Since opening in 1978, the bookshop has become a centre of Arab life in London, catering for Arab residents in the UK as well as for travellers keen to obtain books banned in their own countries. We have a worldwide mail ordering facility. The Bookshop spawned the creation of a publishing wing, Saqi Books and its sister company in Beirut, Dar al Saqi. We also stock their current releases as well as backlist titles.

www.alsaqibookshop.com 26 Westbourne Grove, London W2 5RH; Tel: 020-7229 8543

October – November 2015 The Middle East in London 33

Barjeel Art Foundation collection

Display 1, Gallery 7

Centre of Islamic Studies and using the human image to refuse Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Wednesday 21 October POLIS, University of Cambridge. violence and confl ict. Includes a Whitechapel High Street, London Part of the Turbulent World symposium with the artists and a E1 7QX. T 020 7522 7888 E info@ Until 29 November | Th e Lecture Series which focuses on series of fi lm screenings and public whitechapelgallery.org W www. Guardians (of the Prophet’s the upheaval and turbulence in talks. Admission free. P21 Gallery, whitechapelgallery.org Mosque) Photographer Adel the Arab world. Admission free. 21 Chalton Street, London, NW1 Quraishi is the only man to have Th omas Gray Room, Pembroke 1JD. T 020 7121 6190 E info@p21. Until 13 December | Jumana been permitted to photograph College, Cambridge CB2 1RF. E org.uk W www.p21.org.uk Manna Th e Berlin and Jerusalem the eight remaining ‘Guardians’ [email protected] W www.cis. based artist Jumana Manna’s fi rst of the Prophet’s Mosque (Al- cam.ac.uk Until 8 November | From the UK solo exhibition. Th e exhibition Masjid al-Nabawī), the last of Figurative to the Abstract: comprises a newly commissioned their generation, with three Modern Art from the Arab feature-length fi lm, A magical having since passed away. Once EXHIBITIONS World Works on paper recently substance fl ows into me (2015), in numbered in the hundreds, the acquired by the BM by eight artists which she explores the diff erent Guardians are the keepers of the – Shafi q Abboud, Michel Basbous, musical traditions of myriad keys to the Prophet Muhammad’s Th ursday 1 October Safeya Binzagr, Sadik Kwaish communities living in and around burial chamber. Part of the Nour Alfraji, Tahar M'Guedmini, Jerusalem, presented alongside Festival. Tickets: £7/£5 conc. Until 4 October | A Utopian Marwan, Nabil Nahas and Rafa Al an installation of sculptures. (includes entry to Leighton Stage: Festival of Arts Shiraz- Nasiri. Born in diff erent countries Admission free. Chisenhale House Museum). Leighton House Persepolis Archive display which of the Middle East and North Gallery, 64 Chisenhale Road, Museum, 12 Holland Park Road, documents the history of the Africa, these artists studied in London E3 5QZ. T 020 8981 4518 London W14 8LZ. T 020 7602 Festival of Arts Shiraz-Persepolis, Europe and elsewhere, absorbing E [email protected] W 3316 E [email protected] W an international arts festival held diff erent traditions into their http://chisenhale.org.uk/ www.leightonhouse.co.uk / www. around Shiraz, Iran, every summer work. Admission free. Room 34, nourfestival.co.uk from 1967–1977. Admission BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www. Until 3 January | Emily Jacir: free. Whitechapel Gallery, 77–82 britishmuseum.org Europa First UK survey of Th ursday 29 October Whitechapel High Street, London Palestinian artist and fi lmmaker E1 7QX. T 020 7522 7888 E info@ Until 6 December | Barjeel Art Emily Jacir which brings Until 7 February | Egypt: Faith whitechapelgallery.org W www. Foundation Collection: Part 1 together almost two decades aft er the Pharaohs Tickets: TBC. whitechapelgallery.org Th e fi rst display from the Barjeel of sculpture, fi lm, drawings, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www. Art Foundation collection large-scale installations and britishmuseum.org Until 31 October | Autonomy explores the emergence and photography. Th e exhibition of Self: Rejecting Violence with development of a modern Arab art focuses on Jacir’s multifaceted Saturday 31 October the Lens in Former Ottoman aesthetic through drawings and relationship to Europe, Italy and Territories Autonomy of Self paintings from the early twentieth the Mediterranean in particular Until 7 November | Confl ict and brings together moving image century to 1967 with works by and explores various histories Hope: Art in Troubled Times and photography from across artists from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, of migration, resistance and Syrian artist Tareq Razzouk and the former Ottoman territories Lebanon, Palestine and elsewhere exchange. Admission free. Kurdish artists Mariwan Jalal, to explore how individuals are in the region. Admission free. Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Jamal Penjweny, Ali Raza and Whitechapel High Street, London Rebwar Saed present a personal E1 7QX. T 020 7522 7888 E info@ response to the on-going confl ict whitechapelgallery.org W www. Kadhim Hayder Fatigued Ten Horses Converse with Nothing (The Martyrs in Syria and Iraq. Complementing Epic) 1965, Oil on canvas, 95 x 130 x 3.5 cm, Barjeel Art Foundation, whitechapelgallery.org this is Colouring the Dream, Sharjah. Barjeel Art Foundation Collection: Part 1 (See Exhibitions, p. 34) featuring paintings by children Friday 9 October in Barike refugee camp, Iraqi Kurdistan, together with British Until 28 November | Marwan: photographer Richard Wilding’s Not Towards Home, But Th e record of daily life in the refugee Horizon First UK solo exhibition camps. Curator’s tours daily by Syrian artist Marwan, featuring 2:00pm. Part of the Nour Festival. paintings, etchings and works on Admission free. Th e Ismaili paper with the main motif always Centre, Cromwell Gardens, South remaining the human head. Th e Kensington, London SW7 2SL. E exhibition includes his 99 Heads [email protected] W www.gulan. series of etchings which reference org.uk / www.nourfestival.co.uk Sufi sm and the 99 names of God. Admission free. Th e Mosaic Rooms, A.M. Qattan Foundation, Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 E [email protected] W http://mosaicrooms.org/

34 The Middle East in London October – November 2015 Middle East Summer School 242327 JuneJune-24June-28 – 26 July July 20162014 2013

AnAn intensive intensive five-week five-week programme programme which which includesincludes atwo choice courses: of two courses: a language one (Persian or Arabic, the latter at two levels) andan Arabicanother Language on the 'Government Course (introductory and Politics or intermediate)of the Middle andEast' or 'Cultureanother and on ‘GovernmentSociety in the and Middle Politics East'. of the Middle East.

Beginners Persian (Level 1) Government and Politics of the Middle East This is an introductory course which aims to give the students a reasonable grounding in the basics of Persian grammar This course provides an introduction to the politics of the and syntax as well as to enable them to understand simple Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It gives on a and frequently used expressions related to basic language country by country basis, an overview of the major political use. They will be able to hold uncomplicated conversations issues and developments in the region since the end of the on topics such as personal and family information, shopping, First World War and addresses key themes in the study of hobbies, employment as well as simple and direct exchanges contemporary Middle East politics, including: the role of the of information related to familiar topics. By the end of the military, social and economic development, political Islam, and course they will also progress to read simple short texts. the recent uprisings (the ‘Arab Spring’). Beginners Arabic (Level 1) Culture and Society in the Middle East

This is an introductory course in Modern Standard Arabic. This course examines the major cultural patterns and It teaches students the Arabic script and provides basic institutions of the MENA region. It is taught through a study of grounding in Arabic grammar and syntax. On completing some lively topics such as religious and ethnic diversity, impact the course, students should be able to read, write, listen to of the West, stereotyping, the role of tradition, education and understand simple Arabic sentences and passages. This (traditional and modern), family structure and value, gender course is for complete beginners and does not require any politics, media, life in city, town and village, labour and labour prior knowledge or study of Arabic. migration, the Palestinian refugee problem and Arab exile communities, culinary cultures, music and media, etc. Beginners Arabic (Level 2) Timetable: This course is a continuation of Beginners Arabic Level 1. It completes the coverage of the grammar and syntax of Courses are taught Mon-Thu each week. Language courses Modern Standard Arabic and trains students in reading, are taught in the morning (10am-1pm) and the Politics and comprehending and writing with the help of a dictionary Culture Courses are taught in two slots in the afternoon more complex Arabic sentences and passages. (2:00-3:20 and 3:40-5:00pm).

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** 2427 June–26June-28 JulyJuly 2016 2013 (two(two courses)courses) £2,500 from £300/week

* Early bird discounts of 10% apply to course fees before 1 March 2013. ** AnAn earlyearly birdbird discountdiscount of 10% applies to course fees beforebefore 3015 AprilApril 2016.2014. ** Accommodation fees must be paid by 1 March 2013 to secure accommodation. ** ** RoomsRooms Please cancheckcan bebe our bookedbooked website at the from Intercollegiate mid-October Halls 2012 whichwhich for areconﬁare locatedlocated rmed prices. inin thethe heartheart of of Bloomsbury:Bloomsbury: www.halls.london.ac.uk.www.halls.london.ac.uk.

For more information, please contact Louise Hosking on

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