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The Moorcroft Mystery - Additional Lecture Thursday 1st November

October 17, 2012, 3:34 am
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The astonishing William Moorcroft - gifted surgeon, England's first qualified vet, horse breeder, plant collector, information gatherer, pioneering Asiatic traveller and amateur spy. And if that were not enough for one lifetime, he died in Afghanistan in 1825 and lived for another thirteen years in Tibet. That is the Moorcroft Mystery!

The Society is looking forward to welcoming Dr. Garry Alder to the Society to speak about the fascinating life of William Moorcroft, in an additional lecture to our advertised programme, at 6pm on Thursday 1st November. Admission is free and everyone is welcome! For directions to the Society please visit our website or for more information contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org

        
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A Georgian evening of talks, film and song to celebrate Rustaveli

October 19, 2012, 5:45 am
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The RAS is delighted to announce, in association with the British Georgian Society, an evening of talks, film and song on October 30th to mark 100 years since the publication of the first English Translation of the epic Georgian poem 'A Man in a Panther's Skin' by the 12th century poet Shota Rustaveli.


Our programme centres on song which still thrives today amongst Georgia's cultural traditions.

6.45pm - Welcome by RAS Director Alison Ohta.
7.00pm - Introduction to Georgian music by Tamta Turmanidze (Leader of UK based Georgian Choirs Maspindzeli and Tabuni)
7.15pm - Screening of the film 'Songs of Georgia' directed by Jason Osborn
8.00pm - Talk by Robert Parsons who narrated the film
8.30pm - Questions followed by Georgian wine and snacks provided by Little Georgia restaurant and music by Maspindzeli Choir

The film 'Songs of Georgia' features some of the finest musicians in different regional communities in the Caucasus and explores a culture deeply rooted in the daily lives of the people. Despite an often harsh and precarious existence, a feast is nearly always on offer and a new generation performs the songs and dances of their ancestors. All the music for them film was recorded on location by the BBC World Routes team and narrated by Robert Parsons.

We are very pleased that Robert will be with us for the evening and will speak after the film. He first went to Georgia in the 1980s and has since become one of the most respected and knowledgeable journalists to cover Georgia. He is currently international affairs editor at France24 TV and recently spent 18 months in Tbilisi as head of the independent Georgian channel Kanal PIK TV. During his stays in Georgia he has found that nearly every family he visited could sing traditional songs in complex harmonies.

The event is free and everybody is welcome! For directions to the Society please visit our website or for more information contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org
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RAS Lecture Series: Thursday 8th November 6pm

October 30, 2012, 6:31 am
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We are delighted to welcome Dr Jon Thomspson to the Society on Thursday 8th November to present Some Thoughts on the Origins of the Artistic Style that emerged during the Reign of Suleyman 'the Magnificent'.


Dr Thompson has recently retired after six years of teaching and research as the May Hamilton Beattie Fellow in carpet studies at the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. His publications focus mainly on the carpets and textiles of the Islamic world.

In summary of his lecture he says: 
The history of the development of what has come to be known as the ‘Ottoman court style’ has been well documented by leading scholars in the field, and the proposed role of major figures involved in different stages in its formation is now widely accepted. However, the origin of the various elements that contribute to the style’s ensemble has proved difficult to disentangle. This presentation seeks to look in detail at the sources of some components of its design vocabulary and proposes a possible source for the origin of its dominant floral element.
The lecture will begin at 6pm and will be followed by a question and answer session and a drinks reception. It is free and open to everyone. For details of how to get to the Society please visit our website or for more information contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org

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Next RAS Student Series - Wednesday 14th November

October 31, 2012, 8:24 am
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The student series at the RAS returns on Wednesday 14th November with what looks to be another fascinating double lecture evening.
In the first lecture Richard McClary from Edinburgh University will speak about 'The Creation of a New Aesthetic: Early 12th Century Rum Saljuq Architecture in Anatolia'. Richard is currently undertaking doctoral research in Edinburgh having previously completed a Masters in Islamic Art and Archaeology at SOAS in 2011. His research focuses on the Islamic architecture of Anatolia in the late 12th and 13th centuries, with a particular focus on the synthesis of the newly emerging style and the working methods of the craftsmen responsible. Richard is also interested in the early Islamic architecture of India, particularly the mosques of Gujarat and Rajasthan.

The Aladdin Mosque Portal Konya, Pictured Oct 2005
In summary of his talk Richard says:

The architecture of Saljuq Anatolia in the late 12th and into the 13th century brought together disparate elements of the pre-established Islamic aesthetic and identity and introduces them firmly and monumentally into the fabric of a previously Christian domain. The manner in which this newly synthesised style effloresced is clearly demonstrated in the marble portal of the Karatay Madrasa in Konya. This paper will show how the myriad strands of Iranian, Syrian and Cairene Islamic architecture, along with elements of Late Antique motifs that had been filtered through the Christian tradition were combined in the search for a unique Islamicised aesthetic amidst the ruins of the formerly Byzantine lands in Anatolia.

By conducting a close analysis of the Karatay portal, and drawing comparisons with a number of structures in successive circles of proximity, in both time and space, it becomes clear that the portal in question is part of a complex interplay and exchange of decorative motifs and architectonic forms. These are found on structures in both brick and stone and demonstrate that a combination of migration, itinerant craftsmen, and enduring regional traditions that transcend religious boundaries combined to produce such rich monuments of material culture as survive across the Mediterranean basin and beyond.
Juha Komppa from the University of Oxford will present the second lecture of the evening 'Tibet in Chinese Han Imaginings' which is the subject of his doctoral research. Before Oxford Juha was educated in Beijing and Hong Kong and holds degrees in Art History, Comparative Literature, Material Anthropology and Museum Ethnography.  His doctoral research is based on extensive fieldwork in China between 2007 and 2011 and is supervised by Professor Charles Ramble. Juha is also interested more broadly in Tibetan folk beliefs and religious practises, secular material culture and cultural preservation in Amdo, Chinese and Asian antiques and contemporary Chinese frontier literature. He is an associate member of the Amdo Qinghai Project at the University of Helsinki and has published on Tibetan material culture and on various aspects of his field site, Xiahe/Labrang and has taught at Hong Kong, Macau, Oxford and Helsinki.
'Two versions of Tibet at Xiahe Labrang, Gansu' (Images by Juha Komppa)

Juha summarizes his talk as follows:
In the People's Republic of China, Tibet's image has changed from a distant Buddhist realm, somewhat otherworldly when beheld in China proper, into an area of national and private interests. Concurrently, it has evolved into a constellation of many 'Tibets': ranging from peaceful liberation to 'a hell on earth', to being absent from average Han notice during the Cultural Revolution, to the current Han fascination with and Chinese commodification of Tibet.

This paper represents an effort to understand the multifaceted Han Chinese experience of Tibet in contemporary China that is also reflected in the complexity of the actual Han-Tibetan relations, which compels us to engage in a new way of looking at their intricacy. Its purpose is to examine how Tibet and things Tibetan are perceived and represented today both by individual Han people and in the Chinese popular imagination.

Few Han Chinese had any personal experience of Tibet before the modern era; nor did a dramatic change in this regard occur until mid-late 1990s with the burgeoning domestic tourism industry. In the shadow of the official narrative, the Han imaginings of Tibet have unfolded in several different ways - foremost among them Tibet as monasteries, nomads, and the landscape.   
The evening will begin at 6.30pm, and will be followed by a drinks reception. It is free and open to all. For more information contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org and for directions to the RAS visit our website.
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Byzantine Bookbinding Lecture and Exhibition at the RAS

November 15, 2012, 7:48 am
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This evening, 15th November, the Society is delighted to welcome Professor Lucy-Anne Hunt (Professor Emerita, Manchester Metropolitan University) to present "Observations on some Byzantine and other Christian manuscripts and book covers from the medieval Eastern Mediterranean". This talk marks the opening of a two week exhibition of contemporary bookbindings inspired by Byzantine bookbindings which will also be held at the Society.



The bookbindings exhibited have been created in the last 12 months by art students and others at creative workshops in Bucharest, Budapest, Athens and Campobasso (Italy). This is a STUDITE project supported by the Culture Programme of the European Union and partnered with International Academic Projects.


The exhibition will draw to a close with a lecture by Prof. Konstantinos Choulis (Assistant Professor of Book and Paper Conservation, Technological Educational Institute, Athens) 'Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Bookbinding: History and Techniques of Manufacture'.



The lectures and exhibition are free and open to all. However to view the bookbindings please contact Camilla Larsen to make an appointment - Tel: 02073884539 or cl@royalasiaticsociety.org
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Next RAS Lecture: Confluence: Arabic and Chinese Calligraphy - Thursday 13th December

November 23, 2012, 3:00 am
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The Society's main lecture series continues on Thursday 13th December at 6.00pm, with a lecture by Professor Uta Lauer from University of Stockholm who will be speaking on 'Confluence: Arabic and Chinese Calligraphy.'

Uta Lauer is guest professor at Stockholm University, author of A Master of His Own: The Calligraphy of the Chan Abbot Zhongfeng Mingben (1262-1323) and numerous scholarly articles. Her main specialisation is traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting.

Summarizing her lecture she says:

Arabic and Chinese calligraphy are highly sophisticated writing systems and both have developed into art forms in their respective culture. This lecture will explore the differences and communalities. Of particular interest will be phenomena such as xiao'er jing, a method of transcribing Chinese in Arabic and Sini, a distinctly Chinese form of writing Arabic. Artworks which have arisen out of a confluence of both calligraphic traditions will be introduced and discussed as to their potential for future developments.

 

 
The lecture is free and open for all. It will be followed by a question and answer session and a drinks reception. For directions to the society visit our website or for further details contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org
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British Library Exhibition: Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire

November 27, 2012, 9:02 am
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The Royal Asiatic Society is very pleased that folios from its Persian manuscript 'Muhammad Juki's Shahnamah of Firdausi' are on display in the British Library's current major exhibition Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire. Running until 2nd April 2013 the exhibition will explore one of the most powerful and splendid of all the world's great dynasties which produced a great number of rulers of outstanding ability in statecraft and culture, whether in empire-building or as patrons of art and architecture. It is the first exhibition to document the entire historical period from the 16th to the 19th century, through more than 200 exquisite manuscripts and the finest paintings drawn almost exclusively from the British Library's extensive heritage collection.

A folio from RAS Persian 239  (c) Royal Asiatic Society
 some of which is on display at the current British Library Exhibition
Curated by Dr. Malini Roy, Curator of Visual Arts at the British Library, the exhibition will invite visitors into the sumptuous world of the Mughals, which at its peak stretched from Kabul in the east and over most of the South Asian subcontinent. It will reveal the extravagant lives of the emperors, their strategic methods of managing their vast and culturally diverse empire and their active role as patrons of art, literature and sciences, as well as builders of legendary monuments such as the Taj Mahal. Behind the stunning visual imagery are dramatic stories of the empire, rife with poisonings, love affairs and a constant hunger for knowledge and power. Dr Roy comments "We are so pleased to be displaying these stunning manuscripts, paintings, and jewelled objects from Mughal India, some never before exhibited, opening a window into a long-diminished world. The objects in our collection span four centuries, from the foundation of the Mughal dynasty by Babur in the 16th century, through the heights of the empire and the ‘Great’ Mughal emperors of the 17th century, into the decline and eventual collapse in the 19th century. It is with great pleasure that we are able to share our collection’s beauty with a wider audience."

Highlights of the exhibition include:

Akbar ordering the slaughter to cease in 1578 (below) - a folio from an imperial manuscript on the history of Emperor Akbar (r.1556-1605) attributed to the artist Miskina, circa 1595. One of the greatest rulers of the Indian subcontinent, an intellectual skilled in statecraft, Akbar was an advocate of understanding and inclusiveness of all religious faiths. The scene pictures Akbar in contemplation during an organised hunt; in a moment of divine or mystical intervention, he asks for the animals to be set free.


Akbar ordering the slaugher to cease in 1578 (c.1595). Artwork from Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire (c) British Library Board, Johnson Album 8,4
A newly identified portrait of Prince Dara Shikoh (1615-59), the favourite son and heir-apparent of Emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1627-58) attributed to the artist Murar, circa 1631-32. This portrait features in the only surviving album compiled by Dara Shikoh, a passionate connoisseur of the arts and scholar of religion. The album was personally dedicated by Dara Shikoh to his beloved wife Nadira Banu Begum in 1641-42; they were married in 1633.

 
Portrait of Prince Dara Shikoh (1631-32). Artwork from Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire (c) British Library Board, Add.Or.3129 folio 59v
The exhibition will be accompanied by a selection of events such 'An evening of sorcery and seduction' a night of stories, poetry and music.

Text and British Library images courtesy of British Library Press and Policy http://pressandpolicy.bl.uk/
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Royal Asiatic Society on Flickr

December 4, 2012, 5:26 am
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The RAS is excited to announce that it is now using Flickr to create online exhibitions of material from our collections. The first of which presents highlights of the pre-1820 printed book collection which was recently catalogued with funds gratefully received from the Mercers' Company. The exhibition is available to view by clicking here. To read more about the pre-1820 book cataloguing project see our earlier blog post.  Also look out for more news about future exhibitions here.

 


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First Royal Asiatic Society lecture of 2013 - Thursday 10th January, 6.00pm

January 3, 2013, 9:27 am
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The Royal Asiatic Society is very pleased to welcome Prof. Sanjoy Bhattacharya (University of York) to deliver the first lecture of 2013 on Thursday 10th January - 'Bhutan's Smallpox Eradication Programme: International Health and the Limits of Global Influence'. 


WHO PHOTO 10984. The WHO smallpox vaccination team at work in Bodnath, a famous place of
pilgrimage in the Kathmandu Valley.
Image used with kind permission of the WHO.
Prof. Bhattacharya is the Director of the Centre of Global Health Histories and a Professor in the History of Medicine at York. He specialises in the medical, environmental, political and social history of nineteenth and twentieth century South Asia, as well as the history of international and global health programmes. He is very involved in the WHO's Global Health Histories project since it began in 2004. His work connects history and policy, explores inter-disciplinary perspectives in medical history and humanities and offers independent and critical assessments of global health policy. Prof. Bhattacharya is the editor of Medical History published by Cambridge University Press, with support from the Wellcome Trust.

In summary of his talk Prof. Bhattacharya writes:

Histories of the global smallpox eradication programme and its national chapters have tended to focus on the larger national formations in Africa and Asia. The choice of subject is justified by chroniclers by the fact that these locations contributed a major share of the world's annual tally of variola, which ensured that agencies such as the United States' Centers of Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) paid a lot of attention to working with national and local governments on anti-smallpox campaigns. Such historiographical trends have led to the marginalisation of the histories of smallpox eradication programmes in smaller nations, which are either presented as peripheral in a heroic trope or unaffected by sustained, organised activities. Using the case study of Bhutan, a small Himalayan kingdom sandwiched between India and China, an effort is made to reclaim its contributions to the global smallpox eradication programme, to examine the limited powers of agencies such as the WHO and CDC, to assess the role of Indian government influence and, not least, provide a rare, carefully researched insight into the healthcare profiles in this isolated nation in the 1970s. This, in turn, allows us to propose new ways of looking at the intricate links between national, international and global health programmes, as they were conceptualised and run in different locales in the period after the Second World War.

The lecture starts at 6pm, is free and all are welcome, it will be followed by a question and answer session and a drinks reception. For more information contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org and for directions to the society visit our website.
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Next RAS Student Series Lecture - Wednesday January 16th

January 4, 2013, 4:08 am
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The first student series event of the new year will take place on Wednesday January 16th at 6.30pm with a double lecture evening. We will welcome Yin Hwang from SOAS to speak about 'Chinese visuality and Europe in the modern period' and Tanmayee Banerjee from the University of Westminster to lecture on 'Nationalism and internationalism in Indian English fiction, 1909-1930'.

Yin Hwang is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of the History of Art and Archaeology at SOAS having graduated from its Postgraduate diploma in Asian art and MA in Archaeology programmes. She has worked for Orientations magazine and was its managing editor from 2005 to 2009. Her broad areas of interest include Chinese painting and printmaking, visual print and popular culture, the historiography of Chinese art history and comparative modernaties in Asia. She has published articles on Chinese painting and printmaking, contemporary Asian art and the art market.


Summarizing her talk she says:
"The binary of China and the West has been and continues to be a provocative one. As with all other areas of Chinese life, trade and globalization had, by the mid-19th century, exerted a tremendous impact on the art of painting in China. By drawing parallels between export painting and works of the Shanghai School, the phenomenon of Chinese artists painting ‘China’ for European consumers and depicting the west (i.e. modernity) for Chinese viewers is examined here. Both instances presented challenges to traditional Chinese pictorial depiction that had long been conditioned by convention and historical precedent. How was the familiar depicted for an unfamiliar audience and the unfamiliar depicted for a familiar audience? Realistic representation was the key. This paper examines how an ‘art of describing’ evolved to satisfy the desires of these diverse audiences."
Tanmayee Banerjee has an MA, MPhil in English Literature from the University of Calcutta and is presently a PhD student at the University of Westminster, London. Her research interests include Indian English Literature; history of nineteenth and early twentieth century India, with special focus on Bengal; African-American literature; and Cinema Studies. She has also translated a number of nineteenth century Bangla short stories including one by Rabindranath Tagore. She has presented papers at conferences held at Calcutta, Hong Kong and London.


In summary of her talk Tanmayee says:

"While Tagore’s concept of greater nationalism is much discussed today in the nationalist discourse, and the controversy regarding the plausibility of Gandhi’s idea of ahimsa or non-violence is relevant even today, history has forgotten some extremely significant Indian English literary texts and their authors for some unknown reason. Through their fictional works these authors had professed the same ideas long before Tagore or Gandhi popularized them.

If novels and nation-building are really connected to each other in a mutually symbiotic relationship, there is no denying the fact that the development of the sense of nationalism and that of the Indian English novel took place simultaneously. The novels are of utmost importance for their socio-political context. It is because the publication of these novels or the period of action in their narrative space, were concurrent with the Proclamation of the Queen, the Partition of Bengal, the Rowlatt Act on one hand and the Sepoy Mutiny, foundation of Indian National Congress, Swadeshi Movement, Non Cooperation Movement and numerous localized reactionary movements throughout the country, on the other. Promoting the sense of nationalism, constructing the “Indian” identity and introducing India with her traditions and customs to the intellectuals of the West were the primary objectives of these novels. Myths and history of India and comparative analyses of various religious ideas were interwoven throughout the narratives.

But how does the evolving idea of Indian nationalism leave its impressions on the novels published through the various phases from the nineteenth century through to twentieth century? The novels published since the 1930s have been widely discussed by scholars. Therefore I will limit my analysis within the novels published before 1930. I will begin with Shoshee Chunder Dutt’s Shunkur: A Tale of the Indian Mutiny of 1857 (1874), possibly the only English novel on the theme of the mutiny ever written by any Indian. I will then take up The Prince of Destiny: The New Krishna (1909) by Sarath Kumar Ghosh and Hindupore, A Peep Behind the Indian Unrest (1909) by Siddha Mohana Mitra. I will show how the reconciliatory disposition of these authors were misinterpreted as pro-imperialistic or even as abject slavery to the British, while they were trying to profess the idea of greater nationalism, to use Tagore’s expression. Lastly, I will discuss My Brother’s Face (1924) by Dhan Gopal Mukerji and Towards the Dawn (1922) by Jatindranath Mitra, in which the emergence of Gandhi as a national hero has been narrativised.

Pseudo-nationalism, greater nationalism and anti-colonial nationalism – this is how we can describe the changing pattern of the sense of nationalness in these obscure, yet highly significant, Indian English novels of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Whatever might be the reasons behind their slipping into oblivion, there would remain an immense void if this phase of literary evolution is neglected in the discourse of Indian English Writings."
The lectures will be followed by a question and answer session and a drink reception, they are free and open to all. For more information contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org and for directions to the Society visit our website. 
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Next RAS Lecture - Thursday 14th February

February 1, 2013, 2:14 am
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We are delighted to welcome Stuart Laing, Master of Corpus Christi College, to deliver the next lecture of our main series "Unshook till the end of time": Relations between Britain and Oman, 1650 - 1975. Stuart is the Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He took office in October 2008, after a first career in the British Foreign Service. He specialised in Arab and Middle Eastern affairs, serving in Saudi Arabia and in Cairo early in his career, and then as Deputy Ambassador in Riyadh. He was appointed High Commissioner to Brunei (1998-2002), Ambassador to Muscat (2002-2005), and Ambassador to Kuwait (2005-2008). In addition to his duties as Master, he researches and writes on Arab and East African history.   



A view of the old British Embassy in Muscat

In summary of his talk he says:

"In the British-Omani Agreement of 1800, the parties agreed “that the friendship of the two States may remain unshook till the end of time”. The aim of this lecture is to trace the British-Omani relationship through just over 300 years, and to analyse how each partner used - and was used by - the other, until under the present Sultan, Qaboos bin Saʿid, Oman emerged into mature statehood, left behind a connection which had been almost exclusive for many years, and developed its present wide cross-section of international relations.
The British relationship with Oman goes back further than that with any other Gulf country; the first agreement was signed with the people of Sohar in 1646. A connection based on commercial interests and on a shared wish to keep the Gulf open to trade, became more intense in the late 18th and early 19th century, when British-French competition for control of the Indian Ocean led to rivalry for primacy in Muscat. The British gained ascendancy through a qawlnamah (commitment) made by the Ruler in Muscat in 1798, and the 1800 agreement mentioned above, and for the first half of the 19th century the British and the renowned Saʿid bin Sultan had enough shared interests to build a relationship which served both sides well. In the late 1800s, as Muscat’s economy declined, British policy increasingly saw the Gulf as a protective buffer on the western flank of the Indian Empire. The British felt it necessary to support the al-Busaʿidi leadership through crises of weak administration and then the revival of the Imamate which led to virtual autonomy of the Omani interior from the signature of the Treaty of Seeb in 1920. Active British military involvement in Oman came with the action on Jebel Akhdar in 1959, and the Dhofar war from 1968 until 1975. These were the last exemplars of a British conduct of affairs which had become exclusive and possessive, though not actually colonial, in the first half of the 20th century and which disappeared after 1970."
The lecture will take place on Thursday 14th February at 6.00pm, followed by a question and answer session and a drinks reception. It is free and everybody is welcome. If you need further details please contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org or 02073884539 and for directions to the Society, please visit our website.
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Catch Up with RAS Lectures Online

February 1, 2013, 2:18 am
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If you have missed any of the Royal Asiatic lectures then please visit the Backdoor Broadcasting website where you can find recordings of many of recent lectures including - 'Bhutan's smallpox eradication programme: international health and the limits of global influence', 'Confluence: Arabic and Chinese Calligraphy' and 'Byzantine and Post-Byzantine bookbinding: history and techniques of manufacture'.
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Additional Lecture at the RAS - Tuesday 19th February 6.30pm

February 4, 2013, 4:48 am
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We are pleased to announce an additional lecture will take place at the RAS on Tuesday February 19th at 6.30pm, when Dr Henk Vynckier will present 'Men who loved books: the literary legacy of Robert Hart and the Chinese Maritime Customs Service'.

‘Chinese Customs’ Caricature of Sir Robert Hart, Vanity Fair, December 1894.

Henk Vynckier is the Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Tunghai University in Taichung, Taiwan.  His interests in research include nineteenth-century foreign residents in China, George Orwell, and the act of collecting as a literary theme and cultural practise.  Vynckier's publications include "Museifying Formosa: George Mackay's From Far Formosa," in Sinographies: Writing China (ed. Eric Hayot, Steve Yao, and Haun Saussy, 2008), with Chihyun Chang, “Life Writing of Hart, Inspector-General of the Imperial Maritime Customs Service," CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 14.5 (2012), and "Veiled Autobiography: George Orwell, Winston Smith and Nineteen Eighty-four," George Orwell: Critical Insights (ed. John Rodden, 2013).  He is currently co-editing a special issue of Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies on “Orienting Orwell: Asian and Global Perspectives on George Orwell” scheduled for publication in Spring 2014. Dr Vynckier is also a member of a research team working on Robert Hart and the Chinese Maritime Customs Service at the Institute for History and Philology of the Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan.

'Robert Hart in His Study' published in The Sphere, July 28 1900
In summary of his talk Dr Vynckier writes:  
The Chinese Maritime Customs Service, though admittedly not a literary concept, represents an effective angle to research the literary legacy of the foreign community in East Asia from 1860 to 1930.  Robert Hart, the long-serving CMCS Inspector-General, and many of the Europeans and Americans he employed, were - in the words of  Customs Commissioner Paul King - “men who loved books”.   H. B. Morse, J. O. P. Bland, Putnam Weale, Paul King, E. B. Drew, Augustine Henry, and others produced a voluminous body of writings, including memoirs, novels, historical studies, biographies, essays, collections of poetry, scientific papers, diaries and other texts.  In consequence, over time the CMCS became an informal research and publishing power house with an output similar to that of a major modern academic institution.  Efforts to bring into sharper view the CMCS literary legacy also make possible further reflections on Jürgen Osterhammel’s thesis in his Die Entzauberung Asiens (1998) that the exotic and mysterious China of the seventeenth century was thoroughly “disenchanted” in the West during the course of the eighteenth century.  Although the image of the Middle Kingdom was not as glorious or mysterious as before, the passion for research into and writings about China/East Asia among the CMCS authors indicates that the fascination remained very much alive.
The lecture is free and open for all, it will be followed by a question and answer session and a drinks reception. For directions to the Society visit our website  or for further details please contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org
 
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Next Student Series Lecture at the RAS - Wednesday 20th February

February 13, 2013, 2:22 am
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The next Student Series event at the RAS will take place on Wednesday 20th February at 6.30pm when Sarah Ashraf will be presenting the paper 'Understanding the education and training provided by madaris in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region'and in a change to the lecture advertised Emily Hannam will talk about 'Image and essence in the Akbarnama'.

Sarah Ashraf has a BA (Hons) in International Relations (IR) from Sussex University and a Masters in Theory and History of International Relations from the LSE, where she focused especially on Political Islam. Her Masters thesis looked at Pakistan's role in creating the Taliban in Afghanistan. She is now reading her PhD in the International History Department at the LSE focusing on "The Military and Islamic Militancy in Pakistan". Sarah is generally interested in working on demystifying concepts of Islamic extremism, militancy and political Islam including their influence on foreign policy and regional politics."

Summarizing her talk she says:
This paper looks at the form and substance of the education and training provided at madaris in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. It undertakes an analysis of information and data regarding the activities of these madaris and their potential contribution towards the rise of Islamic militancy both in the regional and international context.

Research on this issue suffers from a crucial lack of empirical data and information-based study as opposed to popular, opinion-based speculative accounts. Much of this paper therefore aims to facilitate a contextual understanding of the actual education and training imparted by Pakistani madaris. The analysis also includes exploring the impact of historical, demographic and political factors on accentuating sectarian tensions and religious extremism in the region.

Recent studies show that the perceived function of Pakistani madaris as ‘terror schools’ or ‘jihad factories’ may be exaggerated. In fact none of the masterminds of major contemporary terrorist attacks actually attended a madrassa. To understand this phenomenon we look at the impact of socio-political events and subsequent international interference in the Af-Pak region, its contribution towards rising sectarian tensions in madaris and emerging ‘jihadist’ militant organisations."
Emily is reading for an M.Phil. in Islamic Art and Archaeology at the University of Oxford where she specialises in Mughal Painting. She recently presented this paper, which draws on her M.A. dissertation recently completed at the University of Edinburgh, to the South Asia Archive and Library Group Conference and we are delighted she will speaking again at the RAS.


Akbar orders the slaughter to cease - currently available to view in the British Library
Exhibition 'Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire. Image copyright of the British Library

In summary of her talk she says:
The emperor Akbar ruled over northern India from 1556-1605, during which time he was an exceptional patron of the arts. The painters of his imperial atelier worked primarily on the illustration of manuscripts. This paper discusses the Akbarnama, a biography of his reign dating from around 1590, 116 illustrations from which can be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum. A further illustration from the same manuscript is on display in the current Mughal exhibition of the British Library collection. In these, the emperor Akbar is depicted as an extraordinary, semi divine, powerful and benevolent ruler.

Modern European art historians, like the early European travellers to the Mughal courts, have drawn attention to the apparently ‘Western’ aesthetic values in Mughal painting. Using this painting and other examples from the Akbarnama, the paper demonstrates how Akbar’s artists in fact fashioned new and intelligent ways of constructing form and meaning appropriate to the specific text the paintings accompany. The result was the creation of a highly symbolic visual language that went beyond mere illustration to communicate complex allegorical sentiment.

The evening will start at 6.30pm and is free for all to attend. The evening will start at 6.30pm and is free for all to attend. The lectures will be followed by a question and answer session and a drinks reception. For more information contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org and for directions to the Society please visit our website.
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The Jiv Daya Foundation awards funding to the RAS for its Jain collection

February 13, 2013, 6:28 am
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The Royal Asiatic Society is very grateful to the Jiv Daya Foundation in the US for awarding funding for the conservation and digitization of selected items from the Society's collection of Jain material. The digital images will subsequently be made freely available for scholars and the general public to view through the Institute of Jainology's JAINpedia project website.



The three items included in the project are the rarest and most beautiful items from the Jain collections at the RAS - a meditation diagram on cloth dating, according to the diagram, from the mid-15th century, a Jain map of the universe on cloth (c.1816) and a paper manuscript dated 1404, presented to the Society by Col. James Tod on his return from India, where he had served as British Political Agent at the Rajput courts.
The funding will ensure that necessary conservation work is undertaken on two of the three items so that they can first of all be digitized safely and then preserved in the long term. The high quality digital images will then be included on the JAINpedia website with full descriptions and contextual information.
Although these items can be viewed in the Society’s library, Kathy Lazenbatt, RAS Librarian, who is coordinating the work says 'This project will help to fulfill the Society's aims of increasing the visibility of its collections and so making them accessible to a much wider audience'.

Making high resolution images of the below items available to view on JAINpedia will enable researchers across the world to analyse the items in detail and also enable those interested in Jain culture or Asian art to appreciate the full beauty of each piece.

RAS 069.001 Jain map of the universe
The above painting represents Adhaidvipa ("two continents and a half"), which in the Jain cosmology is the realm of human beings. It shows the continents and oceans, mountains and rivers and at the centre is Mount Meru, a sacred mountain in Jain, as well as Buddhist and Hindu cosmology, which is considered to be the centre of the spiritual and physical universe. Monks use this type of painting as a visual representation for teaching and an object of meditation. This example includes text which details exactly when the diagram was made and the names of the pandits who made and owned it.
RAS 065.001 A Jain yantra
The diagram above is known as a suri-mantra-pata, used for recitation and meditation by monks when they are initiated into the higher grades of religious hierarchy. It comes from the Svetambara monastic order known as the Kharataragaccha, which is still established in Western India, especially Rajasthan. The diagram includes the names of successive heads of the order and includes a date which corresponds to 1449 CE, although it is not possible to verify this date conclusively. The text includes homage to aspects of Jain knowledge and belief, the planets, Jain deities, and various types of supernatural beings. Professor Nalini Balbir, editor in chief of JAINpedia, who assessed the collections believes it may be the only one of its type in a European collection.
   
Folio 17A of RAS MS Tod no.34

The image above is taken from the third item which will be included on JAINpedia, a very old and valuable manuscript Kalakacarya-kathanaka (MS Tod no.34), the story of the legendary Jain ascetic Kalaka) and part of the Kalpasutra. The text states that it was copied in 1404 CE and this early date makes it an extremely significant copy of the Kalaka story. The manuscript includes exquisite coloured illustrations, typical of the Western India Jain tradition, which shows scenes from Kalaka's life. 

It is hoped that the high resolution images will be able to view on JAINpedia with full contextual information by the end of June 2013 when we will post further details.
We would like to thank our partners - the Jiv Daya Foundation, the Institute of Jainology and the JAINpedia team - for all their support and cooperation which have brought us to the point where this project can become a reality.  
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Seetha's Tamil Recipes - Book Launch and Food Tasting - Thursday 7th March

February 25, 2013, 3:43 am
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There will be an exciting opportunity to come and taste some Tamil dishes at the Society on Thursday 7th March from 6 to 8pm as we celebrate the recent publication of Seetha's Tamil Recipes which was released in September 2012 by Century House (UK).



The book is a unique collection of traditional family recipes of Jaffna Tamil cookery from Sri Lanka. It has been compiled and illustrated by Uma Mahadeva who presents a complete set of dishes from the repertoire of Dr. Seethadevi Mahadeva. It includes over 60 recipes of classic Jaffna dishes such as Thosai (Lentil and Rice Pancakes), Sambar (Vegetable Hotchpotch), Crab Curry and variations of popular dishes such as Fried Noodles and Chicken Curry.


The event is free and open for all but please RSVP to the author at umamahadeva@hotmail.com if you would like to come.
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Next RAS Lecture - Gender and Sexuality in Indonesian Cinema - Thursday March 14th 6pm

March 4, 2013, 2:47 am
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The main RAS lecture series continues on Thursday March 14th with Dr. Ben Murtagh, Senior Lecturer in Indonesian and Malay at SOAS, speaking on 'Gender and Sexuality in Indonesian Cinema: New Order Constructions of gay, lesbi and waria Identities on Screen.'
Image from the film poster for the 1978 Indonesian Film Betty Bencong Slebor 
Dr. Murtagh's current research focuses on constructions of non-normative sexual and gender identities in Indonesian film and literature. His forthcoming book, Genders and Sexualities in Indonesian Cinema, will be published by Routledge in August 2013. Ben is also managing editor of the journal Indonesia and the Malay World.
In summary of his talk he says:
"A number of films made in Indonesia since 1998 have been noted for their positive images of alternative genders and sexualities. Many commentators and critics have welcomed these movies as representing a welcome break from constructions of gay, lesbi and waria (male to female transgender) identities during the New Order period (1966-98), which are often written off as universally negative and pathologising. This lecture will take a fresh look at a number of those films and propose that it is time for a reappraisal of this view. Not only do the films reflect the emergence and growing visibility of sexual and gender minorities in Indonesian cities, but so too they often suggest a genuine desire to engage with social prejudices and difficulties which gay, lesbi and waria Indonesians were perceived to face. Drawing on archival research, interviews, focus groups and analysis of the films themselves, the lecture will invoke new and queer ways of looking at cinematic constructions of alternative genders and sexualities in Indonesia.The Lecture will be accompanied by a number of images and short clips from representative films."
The lecture will start at 6pm and will be followed by a question and answer session. It is free and all are welcome. For more information contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org and for directions to the society visit our website.
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British Georgian Society - Annual Rustaveli Lecture at the RAS - Tuesday 12th March

March 4, 2013, 4:44 am
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The Royal Asiatic Society is delighted to host the British Georgian Society's  first annual Rustaveli lecture on Tuesday 12th March at 7pm. Prof. Rudi Matthee, from the Department of History, University of Delaware, will deliver the lecture 'Safavid Iran and Georgia: How the Dominated Came to Dominate'.
Prof. Matthee teaches Middle Eastern history, with a research focus on early modern Iran and the Persian Gulf. His recent publications include Portugal, the Persian Gulf and Safavid Persia co-edited with Jorge Flores and published by Peeters in 2011 and The Monetary History of Iran, 1500-1925 due for publication in the spring of 2013. He was the President of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, 2009-2011.

Summarizing his lecture says:
"In the course of the sixteenth century the rulers of Safavid Iran incorporated much of the southern Caucasus, including the lowlands of Georgia, into their realm. This conquest had momentous repercussions for Georgia as well as for Iran. It gave the Georgians one more outside party to deal with and play off against other foreign power with an interest in the Caucasus, the Ottomans and the Russians. Iran, in turn, was flooded with Georgians. Iran’s rulers sought to strengthen their hold over Georgia by intermarrying with its elite. This practice filled the harems of the Safavid elite, including that of the shah himself, with Georgian spouses and concubines.  Eager to offset the domineering and frequently destructive influence of the tribal Qezelbash, they also used the Caucasus as a recruiting ground for the formation of an alternative administrative and military slave elite. Many of these so-called gholams were Georgian as well. In the course of the seventeenth century their numbers would grow to the point where, by century’s end, the most prominent administrative and military positions in the Safavid realm were held by Georgians.
This talk offers an overview and analysis of this process of reverse “colonisation.” It will address the ways in which Georgian women, holding on to their Christian beliefs, came to influence religious practices at the royal court.  It will chart the entry of the gholams into the ranks of the Safavid bureaucracy and military. And it will show how, ultimately, the introduction of the Georgians created as many problem as it solved: it helped Iran’s rulers sideline the unruly Qezelbash, strengthening the country’s military, but it also complicated the system’s already complex ethno-religious makeup, with repercussion that would play out most dramatically on the early eighteenth-century Afghan frontier." 
The event is free for British Georgian Society and Royal Asiatic Society members. Non members will be charged £5. Th lecture will be followed by Georgian wine and canapes. If you need further details please contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org and for directions to the Society please visit our website.
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Next RAS Lecture - Thursday April 11th 6pm 'African Soldiers, Governors, Nawabs and Cultural Brokers in South Asia'

March 27, 2013, 3:54 am
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We look forward to welcoming Dr Shihan de Silva from the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (University of London) to the RAS to deliver the next lecture of our main series on Thursday 11th April 'African Soldiers, Governors, Nawabs and Cultural Brokers in South Asia'.

Dr de Silva is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies having completed a PhD in Linguistics, an MSc in Finance and a BSc Hons in Economics from the University of London.  She is a member of the International Scientific Committee of the UNESCO Slave Route Project:  Liberty, Resistance and Heritage and also served in the bureau as the elected Rapporteur of the Project. Migration and diasporas in the Indian Ocean have been central to Dr de Silva’s research and she has published widely in peer-reviewed international academic journals.  She is the author of six monographs including:  The Portuguese in the East:  A Cultural History of a Maritime Trading Empire (I B Tauris, London, 2008),  African Identity in Asia: Cultural Effects of Forced Migration (Markus Wiener Publishers: Princeton, New Jersey, 2008) and The African Diaspora in Asian Trade Routes and Cultural Memories (Edwin Mellen Press, UK, 2010).  

 


In summary of her lecture she writes:
"Unlike African movement across the Atlantic, the easterly migration of Africans to Asia has been far less recognised. African traders and missionaries moved voluntarily to Asia.  Free movement of Africans did not stop whilst the slave trade moved Africans involuntarily. African soldiers were a valuable asset in South Asia.  From being palace guards and elite slaves, Africans rose to positions of authority and even governed parts of India.  Through their strategic capabilities and democratic system of electing leaders based on ability rather than purely on heredity, Africans entrenched power and ruled, until India’s independence,  the States of Sachin (for over hundred and fifty years) and Janjira (for three hundred and thirty years).  African elites lost political power but they still live in India.  Assimilation and marginalisation have made Africans invisible.  Their cultural traits have been transformed or lost, but their cultural memories are strong in music and dance,  codes and signifiers of their African heritage.  More importantly music and dance enable them to carve out a niche and negotiate a place for themselves in contemporary society."
The lecture will start at 6pm and will be followed by a Q and A session and a drinks reception. It is free and open for everyone! For more information please contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org or telphone 02073884539.
 
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Next Student Series Evening Wednesday April 17th

April 5, 2013, 11:36 am
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Wednesday April 17th sees the continuation of our student series with a double lecture evening starting at 6.30pm. Dhara Anjaria from Royal Holloway will be speaking on 'Marginalised colonials? Non-British European Powers in India vis-à-vis the British' and Katherine Hughes from SOAS will talk about 'Birds and the Bevelled Style: Early Islamic Carved Wood from the Upper Zerafshan Valley'. 

Dhara Anjaria read History at the University of Melbourne, and completed her doctorate at Royal Holloway College, University of London, UK. Her research interests are nineteenth century European imperialism in Asia and the nature of the colonial state, in particular its administrative and political facets. She is currently working on an account of George Curzon’s Indian Viceroyalty (1899–1905) as well as researching a comparative account of the diverse European colonial powers in South East Asia between 1800–1914. She is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

From the Royal Asiatic Sociery Collection 090.007
Madhu Rao Narayan in Durbar 6 August, 1790.
Artist, Thomas Daniell. Engraver, Thomas Daniell.

Summarizing her talk she says:

The Portuguese, French, Dutch and Danish maintained colonies on a subcontinent that was largely under British rule; in fact, many of these powers preceded the British, and  the British had to beat them to gain the mastery of India. These colonial powers, and their enclaves, came to be viewed as a space that was different from, and perhaps a counterpoint to, British India- for instance a fugitive from British justice might flee to a princely state, but he could also flee into any of the other European territories.

Over time, however, it was the British who came to constitute the ‘colonial mainstream;’ however fiercely these powers defended their territories and their jurisdictions, by the late nineteenth century, the British exercised an overall hegemony over the subcontinent, creating a situation where the other colonial powers occupied simultaneously positions of power and submission.  How did the inhabitants of these enclaves, whether ‘native’ or European, view themselves vis-à-vis those who lived in British India?

This paper thus posits that it was not just ‘colonised’ peoples who were subject to the British colonial gaze. From the early accounts of harried English traders and factors complaining of attempts on their lives and goods by Portuguese and French rivals to the Viceroy George Curzon rendering as exotic and ‘disordered’ the officials and dignitaries of  the Estado da India in the same manner that he did the Indians, European powers in India were placed on a continuum of non-Englishness that also included ‘Eurasians' and the Indians."
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Our second speaker, Katherine Hughes, is currently a PhD candidate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Here thesis is entitled Samanid material culture and identities formation in post-Soviet Tajikistan. She completed an MA in Museum Studies at University College London (UCL) and before that a BA in Archaeology of Western Asia, also at UCL. She worked as a digital curator in museums in London and France, including the London Transport Museum and the Museum of London. She then managed the Institute of Ismaili Studies website, where she was lucky to meet and work with many Tajiks. She spent over nine months in Central Asia in 2010-11 on fieldwork. During this time she investigated Samanid period architecture and museum displays in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as well as discussing Samanid material culture with different interest groups. She has also been researching modern material culture and how it is used in identity formation in post-Sovient Tajikistan. The Zerafshan valley trip in Summer 2011 was a high point of her research, because of the extraordinary richness of the medieval material, the region's fascinating contemporary culture and the kindness of the people she met there.

The Obburdon Mosque, Upper Zerafshan, Tajikistan

The Obbordun Column, State Museum of History of Uzbekistan (Tashkent, 9-11th Century) 
Of her talk, Katherine says:
"Carved wooden artefacts dating to the Early Islamic period have been found in village mosques in the mountainous upper Zerafshan Valley in central Tajikistan. Known as Buttam/ Buttamon in the tenth century, the region was part of ancient Sogdia. These objects include columns from Obburdon, Rarz, Fatmev, Kurut and Urmitan, a console from Sangiston as well as the spectacular Iskodar mihrab. On fieldwork research in 2011, I was able to visit many of these village mosques of the upper Zerafshan, and was able to see that there is still a rich local tradition of woodworking.

These pieces, most of which are now in museums in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, were kept in the mosques until removed by Russian anthropologists in the early twentieth century. They are relatively unknown in western art history and raise questions as to how and why these superb early pieces were created for buildings in such seemingly inaccessible mountain villages.

The ornamental carving includes zoomorphic elements such as stylised birds’ heads and images of fish as well as the bevelled style most famously known as Style C from the Samarra stuccowork. The Iskodar mihrab, one of the oldest extant in Central Asia, is in the form of a pishtaq, and has swastikas as part of its rich iconography, as well as a kufic inscription in Arabic. Its keel-shaped arch also reminds us of Indian architecture of 5 – 7th centuries from the Ajanta and Ellora caves.  This paper is interested in how these artefacts blend an autochthonous style linked to the pre-Islamic culture of the region, with elements of a caliphal Reichstil from Samarra and other influences. Some suggestions as to the reasons behind this stylistic fusion will also be given by placing these artefacts in their historical context."
The student series event is free and open for all so please join us. For directions to the RAS please visit our website and if you need further details contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org or telephone 0207 3884539.

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