Welcome to this, the second of the Welcome to this, the second of the Research Research Newsletters that has now Newsletters that has now been eXpanded to been eXpanded to incorporate both incorporate both PGR and general research PGR and general research news. The news. The purpose of the newsletter is to purpose of the newsletter is to keep you keep you up to date about research activities, up to date about research activities, news, and publications, including those of news, and publications, including those the Research Centres in the IAIS, and IAIS of the Research Centres in the IAIS, and staff. IAIS staff. This is your NeWsletter so please do send me This is your Newsletter so please do contributions for the next issue by Friday 17th send me contributions for the neXt issue September 2021. by Friday 17th September 2021. Professor Timothy Insoll, Director of Research The Treasury. Umayyad Mosque, Damascus, Syria (photo. T. Insoll) 1. Gizem Kahraman Aksoy I presented a paper entitled In Pursuit of a Modern Home: Shared Vernacular Temporalities and Modern Aspirations of the Nationals and Transnationals in Qatar at the conference: “The Modern House: Anthropological Perspectives on the Transformation of Vernacular Houses”, 9- 11 March at Heidelberg University, Institute of Anthropology (Online). 2. Lucy Barkley In March 2021 I presented a paper entitled Recipes for the Future: Culinary heritage, belonging and the national imaginary among Palestinians in Britain, at the Association of Social Anthropologists’ Annual International Conference. 1 Also in March, I presented at the University of Toronto’s Medusa Anthropology Conference, paper title Rebellious Hunger: Food, memory and futurity in the Palestinian diaspora. And in April I presented at the University of California, Irvine’s Anthropology in Transit Conference. This paper Was Culinary Constellations: Family recipes as spatio-temporal maps in the Palestinian diaspora. In September, I Will be presenting a neW paper at the Royal Geographical Society’s Annual International Conference. 3. Lara Fricke I published a photo essay on Roots Resistance. (https://WWW.rootsresistance.com/reflections/liberation-through-joy) 4. Alessandro Ghidoni I had this paper published: - Ghidoni, A. and Vosmer, T., 2021. Boats and Ships of the Arabian Gulf and the Sea of Oman Within an Archaeological, Historical and Ethnographic Context. In: Jawad, Laith, A. (Eds.), The Arabian Seas: Biodiversity, Environmental Challenges and Conservation Measures. pp. 957– 989. I also participated to the folloWing conferences and seminars: - EAC12, 12th EXperimental Archaeology Conference, World Tour (March 29 - April 1, 2021) with the paper titled: The value of experimental archaeology projects for the study of medieval boatbuilding in the western Indian Ocean. - 86th Society for American Archaeology (SAA) Annual Meeting (April 14-18, 2021), Lighting Round An Ocean of Connections: Tangible and Intangible Exchanges in the Indian Ocean World with the paper titled: The Ship Timbers from the Islamic Site of Al Baleed: A Case Study of Sewn-Plank Technology in the Indian Ocean. - Watercraft of the Islamicate World Lecture Series (May 18, 2021) organised by the Centre for Islamic Archaeology of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS), University of EXeter, With the paper titled: Materials, techniques and technology of medieval watercraft of the western Indian Ocean. 5. Lena Obermaier I published an article: https://mondoWeiss.net/2021/05/germanys-silence-on-israeli-violence- is-deafening/ 2 6. Hannah Parsons-Morgan I had a paper published in a conference proceedings: Parsons-Morgan, H. 2021. "The consumption of Chinese ceramics as architectures features on the SWahili Coast: eXamples from the Zanzibar Archipelago, Tanzania", in Giorgio, M. (ed).Storie [di] Ceramiche 7: Bacini Ceramici, Pisa: Edizioni All'Insegna del Giglio s.a.s, pp.13-21. And was co-author in: Insoll, T., Khalaf, N., MacLean, R., Parsons-Morgan, H., Tait, N., Gaastra, J., Beldados, A., Pryor, A., and Evis, L. 2021. “Material Cosmopolitanism: The Entrepot of Harlaa as Islamic GateWay to Eastern Ethiopia,” Antiquity 95: 487-507. Also, Dr. Nick Tait and I will be presenting at a conference neXt month: Parsons-Morgan, H. and N. Tait. Ceramic Materiality in Islamic Eastern Ethiopia: Consumption and Modification of local and Chinese Ceramics at Mediaeval Harlaa, Ceramics from Islamic Lands, Victoria & Albert Museum (Virtual), Monday 19 to Friday 23 July 2021. Due to advice from the SSIS Graduate Research School, We are not alloWed to list the names and PhD titles of all recent graduates or new starters, unless they specifically give their permission. Our congratulations are offered to the authors of these recently completed PhD theses who allowed their details to be included. Other PhD completions are referred to in the Research Centre Reports where included: Nathan Anderson. The Materiality of Islamisation as Observed in Archaeological Remains in the Mozambique Channel (Timothy Insoll S1, Emily Selove S2). Alessandro Ghidoni. The Ship Timbers from the Islamic Site of al-Balid: A Case Study of Sewn- Plank Technology in the Indian Ocean (John Cooper S1, Timothy Insoll S2). On Saturday 12th June there Was a picnic for the IAIS PGR students and their families in the walled garden next to the IAIS building, with funding for the catering kindly provided by the IAIS. We had glorious weather and it was so nice to get together for a social for the first time this academic year - in fact, it Was the first time many of us met in person - and in total we Were around 25 people. We hope to have another one toWards the end of the summer, or perhaps in September once the neW PGR's arrive on campus, COVID Willing. Thank you all for attending, Hannah Parsons-Morgan 3 The last session of the current series is on: 29th June 2-4pm Nur Efeoglu - Reading the Hidden Stories in Museum Galleries: Analysis of the Displays and Labels Rob Fuller - Orientation and Decoration of Synagogues of Late Antiquity Dr Nathan Anderson - The Materiality of Islamisation Observed in Archaeological Remains in the Mozambique Channel Enquiries Please contact the organising committee for any queries: Vito Morisco ([email protected]) Hannah Parsons-Morgan ([email protected]) Lena Obermaier ([email protected]) Francesco Buono ([email protected]) The centres currently in the IAIS and their directors are: 4 Maqam for Arabic Studies (MAS) Ms Abla Oudeh Mahmoud Centre for the Study of Islam (CSI) Prof. Sajjad Rizvi Centre for Persian and Iranian Studies Vacancy (CPIS) Centre for Kurdish Studies (CKS) Prof. Christine Robins Centre for Gulf Studies (CGS) Prof. Marc Valeri European Centre for Palestine Studies Prof.Ilan Pappe (ECPS) Dr Nadia Naser-Najjab Centre for Islamic Archaeology (CfIA) Prof. Timothy Insoll 1. The European Centre for Palestine Studies The Centre’s activity can be divided into two phases in the period March to June 2021. Until the second week of May, the Center was busy together with Exeter Decolonization Network with organizing a series of conversations on Palestine and decolonization between the Director of the ECPS, Professor Ilan Pappe and known scholars and public figures. Among them Angela Davis, Noam Chomsky, Yanis Varoufakis, Judith Butler, Nadine El-Enany and Paul Gilroy. Alongside these conversation there Were guest lectures on more focused topic related to Palestine (by Mezna Qato, Dana El-Kurd, Emil Badarin, Hana Suleiman and Francesco Saveiro Leopardi. The second phase Was influenced by the events in Palestine and Were covered by several webinars and PGR discussions on the topic. Ilan Pappe 2. Centre for the Study of Islam The Centre for the Study of Islam continues to run regular Weekly seminars and teXt reading groups for the CSI community online. Alongside those activities, our Facebook live seminar series joint With Habib University on Islam After Colonialism in South Asia continues to be successful With a large vieWing (averaging 25,000 vieWs) and impact and Will conclude at the end of June. A neW series on the same theme going beyond South Asia Will start in the autumn. We have also continued to organise special and timely lectures online on Uyghurs with Sean Roberts (George Washington University), on religious practice in Jerusalem With Kenny Schmitt (Al-Quds Bard), and on the art and architecture of al-Aqsa mosque With Mohammad Ghosheh. The culmination of this year’s activities Will be our research afternoon on 30 June on Pierre Hadot and the Decolonial Study of Islam With a range of speakers in North America on zoom and a small attendance in person in the IAIS; We are planning a series of such Workshops on the decolonial study of Islam that Will continue neXt year. Sajjad Rizvi 5 3. Centre for Kurdish Studies Although We haven’t been hosting in-person events during the past 3 months, it has been a busy time for all members of the Centre for Kurdish Studies. We maintained an online presence, With the continuation of our various online series of seminars, most of which began in February. ‘Curating Kurdishness: EXeter/AUIS conversations,’ jointly organized by Christine Robins With Dr Alana Marie Levinson LaBrosse of the American University of Iraq at Sulaimani (AUIS), hosted Dr Bushra Kasnazani on ‘The History of Taboo in Kurdish Literature’ and took an extended Newroz break but returned in June with ‘Dengî Gelî Kurdistan: Kurdish Radio in 20th- Century Iraq’, a discussion With ethnomusicologist Jon Bullock. The final event, on 30 June, Will focus on Slêmani City of Literature. Both EXeter and Slemani are part of the UNESCO netWork of Cities of Literature; With the deepening of our relationship With the Kashkul arts and research collective in Slemani, and the activities in EXeter of poet, ‘Kashkuler’ and PhD researcher Bryar Bajalan, (such as the Shubbak festival https://www.shubbak.co.uk/bringing- images-home/) we hope this network will play a greater part in our work in the future.