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Next RAS Student Series - Wednesday 14th November

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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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