IAIS Newsletter, No. 1 (October 2006) 1

Available online at www.ex.ac.uk/iais

1. Forthcoming events 7. Visiting research fellows 2. Institute news 8 Library staff 3. Programme news & new modules 9. Recent PhD graduates 4. Teaching staff 10. PhD candidates 5. Emeritus & visiting professors 11. New publications by Institute members 6. Honorary research fellows 12. Book & film reviews

1. FORTHCOMING EVENTS Wednesday Lunchtime Seminars, 12:00–2:00pm, Lecture Theatre 1 The lunchtime Postgraduate Research Seminar is open to everyone. Attendance is compulsory for MPhil/PhD students in their first year. All other MPhil/PhD and MA students are encouraged to attend. Professor Rob Gleave, Director of Postgraduate Studies, is the Seminar Convener.

12:00–12:50pm 1:10–2:00pm Oct. 4 Introductory Session ‘Objectification of “Mental Networks”: The

Production of Text and the Role of Patronage in a Persianate Context’ by Dr Jan­Peter Hartung (Universität Erfurt)

Oct. 11 Training Session ‘The Palestinian­Jordanian Identity: a Socioeconomic Perspective’ by Luisa Gandolfo (PhD candidate, IAIS, Exeter)

Oct. 18 ‘Tawfiq al­Hakam and the West’ by Professor Rasheed El­Enany (IAIS, Exeter) Oct. 25 Training Session ‘Boundary Disputes on the Arabian Peninsula’ by

Andrew Brown (PhD candidate, IAIS, Exeter) Nov. 1 ‘Transnational Merchants in the 19 th Century Gulf: The Case of the Safar Family’ by Dr James

Onley (IAIS, Exeter) Nov. 15 ‘Said al­Shartuni’s Contribution to the

Arabic Linguistic and Literary Heritage’ by Abdulrazzak Patel (PhD candidate, IAIS, Exeter)

‘The Leadership of Gamal Abd­al­Nasir and Abd­al­ Karim Qassim’ by Anne Alexander (PhD candidate, IAIS, Exeter)

Nov. 22 ‘Neo­Liberalism in an Oil Economy: The Case of Iraq Under Occupation’ by Dr Kamil Mahdi (IAIS, Exeter)

Nov. 29 Training Session ‘A Study of Shamsuddin’s Notion of the Perfect Human Being (Insan al­Kamil)’ by Rushdan Jailani (PhD candidate, IAIS, Exeter)

Dec. 6 ‘The Encyclopaedia of Islam: Its History and Its Use’ by Professor Edmund Bosworth (IAIS, Exeter)

Jan. 10 Training Session ‘The Role of Galata and Western Bankers in the Ottoman Empire’s Financial and Socio­Economic Situation’ by Ersoy Kocyigit (PhD candidate, IAIS, Exeter)

Jan. 17 ‘The Implications of Elections for Federalism in Iraq: Toward a Five­Region Model’ by Dr Gareth Stansfield (IAIS, Exeter)

Wednesday Evening Seminars, 5:15– 6:30pm, Lecture Theatre 1 Dr Mohamed­Salah Omri (M.S.Omri@exeter.ac.uk) will be running two seminar series this year. They are:

• The Institute Outside Speaker Series (invited guest speakers to include academics and writers) and • The Institute Research Seminar Series (a forum for research­active members of the Institute to present their

work­in­progress for discussion and feedback). Coffee and tea will be served in the Common Room before each seminar from 4:30pm. We have seven confirmed speakers for Semester 1 thus far:

Newsletter No. 1, October 2006

IAIS Newsletter, No. 1 (October 2006) 2

Oct. 11 Professor Tim Niblock IAIS, Exeter

‘Saudi Arabia: A Developmental State’ Research Seminar Series

Oct. 18 Professor Rob Gleave IAIS, Exeter

‘An Early Shii Legal Text: The Masail Ali b. Jafar’

Research Seminar Series

Nov. 8 Dr Walter Armbrust University of Oxford

‘Dis­locating Cairo: New Conventions in Egyptian Visual Culture’

Outside Speaker Series

Nov. 15 Martin Bell, OBE Former BBC foreign affairs correspondent, former politician, Ambassador for UNICEF

‘Reflections of a War Zone Thug’ Outside Speaker Series

Nov. 22 Alaa al­Hathloul Emerging Saudi writer

Reading and conversation Outside Speaker Series

Nov. 30 Professor Juan Cole Past President of MESA University of Michigan

‘The Latest Crisis in Iraq’ Outside Speaker Series

Dec. 6 Prof. Edmund Bostworth Visiting Professor, IAIS Fellow, British Academy

‘The Turks in Islamic History’ Outside Speaker Series

Nov. 2 (Thursday), 6:00pm You are invited to the official opening of Paradise Lost: Nubia before the 1964 Exodus, an exhibition by Professor Herman Bell. Venue: the Street (the Institute’s exhibition area). Closing date: 9 February 2007.

Nov. 25 (Saturday), 1:30–5:30pm Palestine Day, featuring workshops, charity sales, and music at the Institute. Keynote Speaker: Khaled Hroub, al­ Jazeera presenter and author of Hamas: A Beginners Guide (2006). Contact Dr Mohamed­Salah Omri ( M.S.Omri@exeter.ac.uk) for details.

Thursday Staff Meetings, 1:00–3:00pm, Seminar Room 2

Oct. 5 Research Committee Jan. 11 Research Committee Apr. 26 Research Committee Oct. 12 Teaching Committee Jan. 18 Teaching Committee May 3 Teaching Committee Oct. 26 All staff Feb. 1 All staff May 17 All staff Nov. 2 Research Committee Feb. 15 Research Committee May 31 Research Committee Nov. 16 Teaching Committee Feb. 22 Teaching Committee June 7 Teaching Committee Nov. 30 All staff Mar. 8 All staff June 21 All staff

2. INSTITUTE NEWS

Additions to the Institute building The Institute begins the academic year with a new East wing added to its building, bringing a complement of ten additional offices. Although the original building of the Institute is only five years old, such has been the pace of growth in staff, programmes and student numbers, that a substantial extension became necessary all too soon. The Institute is grateful to His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan al­Qasimi for the generous donation which made this extension possible.

Additions to the Arabic and Islamic Collection at the Old Library Some of you may know that the Old Library acquired over 1,000 Arabic and Persian books from the University of Bristol last year in connection with Rob Gleave’s appointment as Professor of Arabic Studies. Most of these books relate to Islamic studies, particularly Shiite theology and law. This year, the Old Library acquired an additional 2,000 or so volumes, mostly in Persian. The majority are on Iranian history from the Safavid period to the present day. There are also a few CDs and DVDs in the collection, together with newspapers from the 19 th and 20 th centuries. The collection was purchased from a retiring Professor of Persian at Oxford University. Paul Auchterlonie (Librarian for Middle East Studies) and Rob Gleave went up to Oxford to collect the books with a van in August. There were so many books that they had to make a second trip! The collection will be catalogued over the next couple of years. In the meantime, if you would like to make use of the collection, please contact Paul or Rob. Their email addresses can be found on the IAIS staff webpage.

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Arab World Documentation Unit (AWDU) AWDU is the Institute’s reference­only library. Its collections cover the Arab world plus Iran. The bulk of its holdings relate to the Gulf Arab States and Yemen. Its collections cover all aspects of life, except literature and religion. Researchers can find a wide range of materials from governmental and non­governmental organizations, opposition groups, and international and regional organizations. AWDU’s Arab World Video Collection is the largest in the UK, while its Gulf Collection is one of the largest in the world. Visit the Gulf Collection webpage for more information: http://www.huss.ex.ac.uk/iais/research/gulf­collection.htm or contact the AWDU Librarian, Ahmed Abu­Zayed (Ahmed.Zayed@ex.ac.uk).

Recruitment of new staff The Institute is in the process of appointing to the Sharjah Chair of Islamic Studies vacated by the departure of Professor James Winston Morris to Boston College in the USA this summer. Recruitment is also underway for a new post at Associate Professor level in Arabic.

New students This year also sees the Institute’s first intake of its enhanced quota of 27 FTEs (full time students or equivalent), a substantial rise from the previous quota of only 17 FTEs. The new quota, fully met with a batch of bright new students, came in recognition of the increasing demand in undergraduate applications for Institute programmes.

Travel and research grants for students Citizens of the European Union are eligible to receive an annual £1,000 travel grant for fieldwork or language study in the Arab world. For details and application forms, see the ‘Funding and Scholarships’ section of the IAIS website. Research students are also eligible for an annual £200 conference and research grant. Contact the Director of Postgraduate Studies, Professor Rob Gleave (R.Gleave@exeter.ac.uk), for details.

3. PROGRAMME NEWS & NEWMODULES

Applied Translation in Middle Eastern Languages (Arabic) MA This new MA offers students the opportunity to develop the high­level translation and project management skills they need to become practicing translators. It will enable them to acquire direct experience of a wide array of translation tools used in the profession today. It also provides a route to doctoral research into applied or theoretical aspects of translation studies. For details, see the ‘Postgraduate Study’ section of the IAIS webpage or contact Ms Anissa Daoudi (A.Daoudi@exeter.ac.uk).

Gulf Studies James Onley took over as programme director at the start of the 2005–06 academic year. He widened the programme to include Iran, designed a new programme pamphlet and webpage reflecting this: www.huss.ex.ac.uk/iais/research/gulf.htm. He also designed a Gulf Collection webpage highlighting the AWDU’s Gulf material (click on the ‘Gulf Collection’ link on the Gulf Studies webpage). Lindy Ayubi (the Institute’s long­standing Conference Coordinator) and James organized a two­day conference entitled ‘The Global Gulf’ (5–6 July) at the Institute, which focused on the Gulf’s historical and contemporary connections with the wider world. The conference was attended by HH Dr Shaikh Sultan al­Qasimi, the Vice­Chancellor, and a hundred other people from around twenty countries. See the conference programme on the Gulf Studies webpage for details. In July, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Institute and the International Studies Department at the American University of Sharjah (AUS). This MoU will allow our PhD students and faculty full use of AUS facilities, including accommodation, library, and IT. Email Dr James Onley for details (J.Onley@exeter.ac.uk). The MoU also sets the ground for future collaborative projects. In anticipation of the MoU, James Onley taught a special interuniversity course on ‘Gulf Studies’ to students from AUS during April–May. Part one of the course was given by James at AUS during the Easter break. Part two was held at the Institute, where the students were instructed by Ahmed Abu­Zayed, Paul Auchterlonie, Rob Gleave, Hashem Ahmadzadeh, Michael Axworthy, Shabnam Holliday (PhD candidate), and Luisa Gandolfo (PhD candidate), as well as James. The course was very popular with the students and may yield us some graduate students in future. James will be repeating the course at AUS and the Institute in 2007.

Mediterranean Studies The programme is in a transitional phase as a result of the restructuring at the University. There are three PhD students in the programme at the moment. Further developments will be announced in the next newsletter. For more information, visit the Centre’s website (www.huss.ex.ac.uk/iais/research/med.htm) or contact the Director, Dr Mohamed­Salah Omri (M.S.Omri@exeter.ac.uk).

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Year Abroad Institute students can now choose from five Arabic language centres for their year abroad in the Arab world:

1. International Language Institute (ILI), Cairo, Egypt — new! 2. Jordan Language Centre, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan — new! 3. Damascus Language Centre, University of Damascus, Syria — new! 4. Institut Francais du Proche­Orient (IFPO), Damascus, Syria 5. Arabic Language Institute in Fez (ALIF), Fez, Morocco

Contact the Year Abroad Coordinators, Wafa Iskander (W.Iskander@exeter.ac.uk) and Anissa Daoudi ( A.Daoudi@exeter.ac.uk), for details.

ARA3137: The History of Arabic/Islamic Medicine Medicine is not a subject one might have associated with the Institute. It is often forgotten that the mediaeval Islamic period was known for its science and medicine. The advances of that period had a profound influence on the nascent sciences of Europe. Arabic medicine (a description which is more exact than ‘Islamic’, since not all its practitioners were Muslims or Arabs, but all wrote in the Arabic language) was a practical discipline but also drew on philosophy. It formed as much a part of Islamic civilization as jurisprudence, art, and architecture. For these reasons, it deserves to be better­known than it presently is. In Semester 2, 2006, Dr Ghada Karmi introduced a new module on this topic, ARA3137: The History of Arabic/Islamic Medicine. The Departments of Classics and Mediaeval History, the Centre of History of Medicine, and the Peninsula School of Medicine all showed great interest in this new module. The first intake of students was modest, but all reported they found it absorbing. It remains to be seen if the 2007 intake will be any larger. Ghada also teaches the very popular ARA2135: Conflict and Peacemaking Palestine/Israel.

ARA3143: Postcolonialism and Muslim Literatures of the Middle East and South Asia This new module, taught jointly by Drs Sajjad Rizvi and Hashem Ahmadzadeh, examines Muslim literatures of Middle East and South Asia through the theoretical lens of postcolonial theory. It begins with an understanding of postcolonial theory, relating the postcolonial conditions to its colonial, imperial and national contexts. It considers both the formation of postcolonialism in the study of the novel and in the formation and negotiation of postcolonial histories of the two regions. It then examines novels and films that exemplify aspects of the postcolonial condition and myths of self­making and nation­building, texts translated into English. See the online module description for details. ARA3143 will be offered in Semester 1 this year.

4. ACADEMIC STAFF

Dr Hashem Ahmadzadeh (Lecturer in Kurdish Studies) Hashem had six articles appear in print over the past year. He has a book, one translated book, and four articles forthcoming. These are listed in the publications section, below. Hashem also presented two academic papers over the last year. The first, entitled ‘A Generic Journey: When the Kurds Begin to Narrate Themselves’, was presented at MESA 2005 in Washington DC in November. The second, entitled, ‘In Search of a Novel That Tells Who the Kurds Are’, was presented at the World Conference on Kurdish Studies, organized by the Kurdish Institute in Paris and the University of Salahaddin in Hewler in September 2006 and jointly sponsored by the French Foreign Ministry and the Kurdistan Regional Government. Hashem was interviewed on the TV program ‘Nationalism and Literature’ (broadcast on Kurdistan TV on 6 and 7 September 2006). He also had interviews published by The Kurdish Globe (www.kurdishglobe.com), Rojhilat (www.rojhellat.org), Dimane ( www.dimane.com), Nefel (www.nefel.com), Rewan (www.rejwan.se), Peyam­e Kordestan, Aso, The Weekly Gulan, and The Washington Prism (www.washingtonprism.org).

Dr Nadje Al­Ali (Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology, Director of MA in Gender & Identity) Nadje finished her book on the modern history of Iraqi women from the 1950s to the present time (Zed Books, forthcoming) over the summer. In addition, she wrote one journal article (REMMM), a book chapter, and a joint article for MERIP based on her ongoing research on the role of women and gender in political transition in Iraq after the invasion. (See the publications section, below.) This is part of a joint project with Dr Nicola Pratt of the University of East Anglia, funded by the British Academy. Over the summer, Nadje also helped with an AHRC arts fellowship proposal by an Iraqi artist proposing to do a project on ‘headgear’. Nadje presented papers at conferences in Copenhagen (Connecting Europe and the Middle East: On Transnational Migration, September 2006), Amman (WOCMES, June 2006; Iraq: Images of Selves and Others, January 2005), Cairo (Gender & Empire, June 2006), Washington DC (MESA, November 2005), and Ann Arbor (Iran & Iraq: Past and Future Perspectives, September 2005). Nadje has started to co­edit an anthology about voices of cultural resistance with contributions from Iraqi poets, writers, artists, film­makers, and activists living inside and outside Iraq. She is also beginning a new project with a group of Iraqi art historians and artists about representations of ‘the feminine’ in

IAIS Newsletter, No. 1 (October 2006) 5

modern Iraqi art. In the fall, Nadje will be teaching a Master’s class about gender in the Middle East at the University of Utrecht, and will give talks at conferences and workshops at Drew University (New York), Emory College (Atlanta) and MESA 2006 (Boston). She will also be working on a journal article and book chapter as well as a book proposal for a joint manuscript with Dr Nicola Pratt.

Anissa Daoudi (Teaching Fellow in Arabic, Joint Year Abroad Coordinator, WebCT Officer, Co­Director of MA in Translation Studies) Anissa, together with Derek Lewis of the Department of Modern Languages, has just introduced a new MA in Applied Translation in Middle Eastern Languages (Arabic). Anissa and Wafa Iskander (Joint Year Abroad Coordinator) also expanded the Year Abroad Programme to include three new Arabic language study centres. See the programme news section, above, for details.

Professor Rasheed El­Enany (Professor of Modern Arabic Literature, Director of the Institute) Rasheed’s new book Arab Representations of the Occident (Routledge, 2006) sold out within months of its publication and is currently reprinting. He also published Interrogating the Text: Essays on Arabic Fiction (in Arabic, Cairo: al­Dar al­Misriyya al­Lubnaniyya, 2006). He was appointed Series Editor of a new monograph series, The Edinburgh Studies in Modern Arabic Literature, to be launched by Edinburgh University Press. This is a welcome development in the field as no such series devoted specifically to the study of modern Arabic literature has been offered by any publisher before.

Professor Robert Gleave (Professor of Arabic Studies, Coordinator of Postgraduate Studies) Three of Rob’s chapters appeared in print this year. See publications section, below. Rob spent the summer finishing off one book, Scripturalist Islam: The Akhbari School of Shii Law, and working on a second, Islam and Literalism: Literal Meaning in Islamic Legal Theory. He also wrote two articles and around 4,000 words of entries for The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Legal History, mostly on topics relating to Shiite and Iranian law. These works will likely be published over the next year or so. Rob also presented four conference papers over the summer: ‘Early Shiite Hadith, and Early Shiite Criticism of Hadith’ at the School of Abbasid Studies conference, University of St Andrews (26–29 June); ‘The Paraphernalia of Prayer in Imami Shiism’ at theMaterial Culture in Iranian Shiism conference, University of Oxford (7–8 July); ‘Dating the Masa’il Ali b. Ja’far’ at the BRISMES 2006 conference, University of Birmingham (24–26 July); and ‘Legitimate Violence by Illegitimate Governments in Imami Shiism’ at the Lawful and Unlawful Violence in Islamic Law conference, Harvard University (8–10 September). Over the next twelve months, Rob hopes to publish these either as journal articles, or as chapters in collections.

Wafa Iskander (Teaching Fellow of Arabic, Joint Year Abroad Coordinator) Wafa and Anissa Daoudi expanded the Year Abroad Programme to include three new Arabic language study centres. See the programme news section, above, for details.

Dr Leonard Lewisohn (Iran Heritage Foundation Fellow in Classical Persian and Sufi Literature) Leonard had two articles, three encyclopædia entries, and one edited book appear in print over the last academic year, with a second edited book scheduled to appear this month. These are listed in the publications section, below. He currently teaches Persian language and several courses on Persian texts, Persian poetry in translation, and Sufism and Islamic spirituality.

Dr Kamil Mahdi (Lecturer in Middle Eastern Economics, Director of MA in Middle Eastern Studies, Director of MA in Middle Eastern Policy Studies) Kamil has been elected to an honorary position as Fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam ( www.tni.org). In August, he participated in the second conference organized in Basra by the General Union of Oil Employees on the surreptitious privatization of the Iraqi oil industry. Earlier, he had presented a paper on the Iraqi economy at the Middle East Economic Association’s annual meeting in Boston in January and participated in the roundtable organized by the International Association of Middle Eastern Studies at the World Congress on Middle East Studies in Amman in June. Kamil is Secretary of the International Association of Contemporary Iraqi Studies and is involved in editing its forthcoming International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies ( www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals.php).

Professor Tim Niblock (Professor of Gulf Studies) Tim has been on sabbatical over the 2005–06 academic year, returning to normal duties as of 1 October 2006. The main publications which have come out, and will come out, of his sabbatical year can be found in the publications section below. His principal work published during the year is his book Saudi Arabia: Power, Legitimacy and Survival. This is one of the first books to explain developments within the Kingdom through an analysis of the interaction of historical, political, economic and social dynamics. The book appeared in paperback and hardback

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at the same time, and the Arabic translation and publishing went ahead almost immediately after its publication. Tim then went on to work on another book on Saudi Arabia, jointly with Monica Malik, on the political economy of the Kingdom — a surprisingly little­researched topic. In the course of the year he travelled extensively, giving lectures and presenting papers in such widespread locations as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Italy and of course Exeter. Over the past year, five of his PhD students have gained their PhDs: Iqbal al­Medayan (The Role of Women in Society: a Case Study of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia); Mabroka Bobakr (Legitimacy and Political Alienation in Libya); Maha Yamani (Legal Changes and Marriage Practices: a Study of Polygamous Marriages in the Meccan Region); Lise Grundon (The Limitations and Opportunities of Democratization from Above: Moroccan “Political Games”); and Dina Khayat (Female Employment in Saudi Arabia: an Analysis of the Obstacles Influencing the Employment of Saudi Females).

Dr Mohamed­Salah Omri (Senior Lecturer in Arabic, Director of Centre for Mediterranean Studies, Coordinator of Language Teaching) US airport security guard: Dr Omir, please come to the front desk for a random security check. MSO: Random, heh? Not again. Guard:What’s the purpose of your visit, Dr Omari? MSO: Omri. Guard: Beg your pardon. Dr Omiri. MSO: Never mind. I am going to give a talk at a conference in Washington, DC. Guard:What’s about? MSO: Middle East and Islamic Studies. I will be speaking about ‘The Maqama Effect and the Rise of the Arabic Novel.’ Guard: Are you Arabian? Your passport doesn’t say. What do you do over in the UK? MSO: I teach Arabic literature and language and run a small centre for Mediterranean Studies, and also write

when I can. Guard: For the newspapers? MSO: No, just boring academic stuff. This year I published a book, Nationalism, Islam and World Literature: Sites of Confluence in the Writings of Mahmud al­Mas’adi. I have also written an essay for the American journal Modern Language Quarterly, called ‘Literature, History and Settler Colonialism in North Africa’ and something on the culture of Arab diaspora.

Guard: That’s a lot in one year! MSO: Not really. Most of my colleagues do way better than that. Guard: Do you visit the US often? And is it always for business? MSO: Yeah. But I also have family here. Next October, I will be back to give talks in the universities of

Pittsburgh, Washington and Harvard. And in the spring I will be back to see family.... if you let me in, that is. Guard: Have you visited other Izlamic countries? Pakistan, Algeria, Afghanistan, I­rak? MSO: No. Guard: Good for you. Bad stuff is happening over there. You have a good trip, now, Dr Omiri!

Publications: see below. Conference papers, 2005–06:

• ‘The Nation’s Poet: The Iconicity and Commodification of al­Shabbi in Tunisia’, Centre for Postcolonial Studies, University of Kent at Canterbury, 17 March 2006.

• ‘TheMaqama Effect and the Rise of the Arabic Novel’, MESA 2005, Washington DC, November 2005. • ‘Recovering the Traces: Contemporary Arab Diaspora and Europe’s Islamic Past’, Annual Congress of the

Mediterranean Studies Association, Messina, Italy, 25–28 May 2005. • ‘The Allure and the Perils of Dialogue with Tradition in Arabic Literature’, Warwick, 5 February

2005. • ‘Metropolitan Location and Identity in the Literature and Art of Arab Diaspora’, Annual Conferences of the

American Association of Comparative Literature, University Park, Pennsylvania, 11–13 March 2005. Conference papers, 2006–07: Mohamed­Salah will be on a lecture tour during 25 October – 4 November in the US, presenting the following papers:

• ‘Culture and Authenticity in a Tourist Economy: Displaying the National Poet in Tunisia.’ • ‘Local Constructions of the Novel: maqama and Arabic literature’ • ‘Arab Intellectuals in the Age of Fundamentalisms’

He will also be traveling to Sweden, France, Syria, and Tunisia for conferences and research in the spring and summer terms.

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Dr James Onley (Lecturer in Middle Eastern History, Director of Gulf Studies) James joined the Institute in September 2005 as the new Director of the Gulf Studies programme, taking over from Kamil Mahdi. See the entry for Gulf Studies in the programmes section, above. He comes to Exeter from the American University of Sharjah (AUS). In November, he presented a paper entitled ‘Britain’s Native Agents in Arabia and Persia in the 19 th Century’ at MESA 2005 in Washington DC. During the 2006 Easter break, he was a Visiting Professor at AUS, where he taught part one of an inter­university course on Gulf Studies to AUS students. In May, he hosted the AUS students at the Institute for part two of the Gulf Studies course. Over the summer, James and Lindy Ayubi put on the Institute’s first conference on the Gulf since 2002, entitled The Global Gulf (4–6 July). See the entry for Gulf Studies in the programmes section, above. During the past academic year, he published three articles. He currently has one book and two chapters forthcoming. See publications section, below. This November, he will be presenting a paper entitled ‘Britain’s Early Diplomatic Agents in Qajar Iran: The Case of Mahdi Ali Khan, 1798–1803’ at MESA 2006 in Boston.

Dr Sajjad Rizvi (Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Director of MA in Islamic Studies). Sajjad had two articles published over the last academic year. The coming year promises to be his most prolific yet, with two books and six articles scheduled for publication. These are listed in the publications section, below. Sajjad has recently been awarded a British Academy Small Grant (2006–08) for a project involving manuscript research in India entitled Islamic Intellectual History and Knowledge Networks in India, 1450­1850. He also joined two European research teams on three­year projects. The first of these, entitled Noétique et théorie de la conaissance dans la philosophie arabo­musulmane, is run by Drs Meryem Sebti and Daniel de Smet at CNRS, Paris. Sajjad’s involvement relates to psychology in the Safavid period. The second project, funded by the Consigli Nazionale delle Ricerche in Italy, intends to produce a new critical edition of the Arabic so­called Theology of Aristotle. Sajjad is charged with collating and examining Safavid­Mughal manuscripts, commentaries and recensions of the text. In July, Sajjad visited the Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus in southern Thailand to give some lectures in Islamic Studies to undergraduate and postgraduate students and to share ideas on the field with academic colleagues. This visit is part of the development and engagement of the IAIS with Muslim universities in South­East Asia. A memorandum of understanding will arise from this visit providing a framework for further cooperation, academic exchange and research student training. Finally, Sajjad and Hashem Ahmadzadeh have created a new module, ARA3143 (Postcolonialism and Muslim Literatures of the Middle East and South Asia), which will be offered for the first time in Semester 1, 2006–07.

Dr Gareth Stansfield (Reader in Middle East Politics, Director of HuSS Graduate Studies) Gareth finished his book Iraq: People, History, Politics (Polity Press) over the summer. The book, which presents a reading of Iraq’s political development by applying different political science concepts to formative moments in Iraq’s history, will be ‘on the shelves’ early in the new year. Some of you may have seen some of Gareth’s work appear in various media outlets, including The Sunday Telegraph in March, and Prospect Magazine in May, when he also appeared on BBC’s Newsnight programme, and spoke on several radio stations. Other, academic, publications in the last year include papers in the journals Publius and Études Kurdes, and book chapters in collections edited by Michael Gunter, Faleh Jaber, and Brendan O’Leary. He also contributed to Chatham House’s Iran, Its Neighbours, and the Regional Crises, providing the section covering Iraq’s relationship with Iran. Gareth has continued his research programme — funded by the US Institute of Peace (USIP) — on political mobilization in Iraqi Kurdistan, which has seen him visit the Kurdistan Region of Iraq three times over the last year. This research will culminate in four journal articles covering various aspects of Kurdish politics in Iraq. In addition to this, Gareth also secured a grant from the Ministry of Defence to research the impact and efficacy of military intervention, and has submitted applications with Dr Tim Dunne (Department of Politics, Exeter) to the ESRC to further develop this research. In the course of the last academic year, Gareth was invited to speak at several prestigious venues including the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Special Mediterranean Group in Naples; the EU Institute d’Etudes du Securité in Paris; the Royal College of Defence Studies in London; the London Middle East Institute at SOAS; Chatham House, London; and the universities of Salahadin and Suleimani, Kurdistan­Iraq, in addition to the MESA 2005 conference in Washington DC. In the next semester, he will be speaking at the Yorkshire Philosophical Society in York, and at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) in Abu Dhabi. Closer to home, Gareth will co­convene a workshop at the IAIS in December, bringing together contributors to his forthcoming co­edited book with Reidar Visser on Regionalism in Iraq (Hurst & Co), and will spend next year writing a book with Liam Anderson on Kirkuk and the disputed territories of Iraq (to be published by the University of Pennsylvania Press). See the publications section, below, for more details.

Dr Suha Taji­Farouki (Lecturer in Modern Islam) Suha’s A Prayer for Spiritual Elevation and Protection (a translation and study of Ibn Arabi’s al­Dawr al­ala or Hizb al­wiqaya) is scheduled for publication by Anqa Publishing (in association with Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi

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Society) this month. Her Modern Muslim Intellectuals and the Qur’an (Oxford University Press, 2004) came out in paperback earlier this year.

5. EMERITUS & VISITING PROFESSORS

Professor Ewan Anderson (Visiting Professor of Middle Eastern Development Studies) Over the past academic year, Ewan published an article on ‘Approaches to Conflict Resolution’. He presently has a book and a chapter forthcoming. These are listed in the publications section, below. He delivered lectures on ‘Hydropolitics: Water Shortage and Conflict’ to the Royal Geographical Society (SW meeting), on ‘Hydropolitics: The Battle for Water’ to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, on ‘Water as a Strategic Resource’ to the Mackinder Forum at Oxford, and on ‘The Quest against Malaria’ to the Medical History Society in Sussex. He also presented papers at the Residential Forum and the Dartington Social Research Group. He supervised two PhD dissertations and one BA dissertation. He served as Vice­Chairman of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, served as a member of the National Children’s Bureau Committee to establish a centre of excellence, and served as a member of the Exeter University/MOD Intelligence think­tank. He took part in latest MOD war and peace game (Iraq) and is continuing to assist with the development of the game. He also organized and introduced York Training Day and was involved in Training Day for HMC/GSA schools in Belfast.

Professor Edmund Bosworth (Visiting Professor) During the past year, Edmund published one book and one article. He currently has one book and one chapter forthcoming. These are listed in the publications section, below.

Professor Jeremy Keenan (Visiting Professor) This autumn, Jeremy will be teaching the Institute’s new module on Society and Politics in North Africa (ARA3132). During the past year, he completed two films on Algeria: Travelling with Tuareg and The Lesser Gods of the Sahara (both 52 minutes). He is currently completing two films on Libya: The Waters Under the Earth and A Forgotten Civilization: The Garamantes (both 52 minutes). Both will be out in November. During the past year, he published one book and fourteen articles or chapters. He currently has another book and five articles or chapters forthcoming. These are listed in the publications section, below.

Professor James Morris (Visiting Professor) After seven years as the Sharjah Chair of Islamic Studies, James moved to Boston College in the US. After his departure, the Institute appointed him a Visiting Professor. James continues to look after his research students nearing completion and has a number of collaborative projects with colleagues at the Institute. James had two books published over the last academic year: The Reflective Heart: Discovering Spiritual Intelligence in Ibn Arabi’s Meccan Illuminations (Fons Vitae, 2005) and a translation of Marifat al­ruh [Knowing the Spirit] by Ostad Elahi (SUNY Press, 2006).

6. HONORARY RESEARCH FELLOWS

Michael Axworthy Michael’s first book, The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant (I. B. Tauris, 2006), was published in July. Over the past academic year, he wrote an article on the Greek writer and traveller Basile Vatatzes for Oriente Moderne (to appear in the second issue of 2006) as well as a series of articles and reviews for Prospect Magazine (www.prospect­magazine.co.uk) on contemporary Iran and other subjects. He presented a paper on ‘Nader Shah and Persian Naval Expansion in the Persian Gulf, 1700–47’ at the Global Gulf conference in Exeter (4–6 July) and a paper on ‘The Army of Nader Shah’ at the Sixth Biennial of Iranian Studies conference at SOAS in London (3–5 August). He appeared on BBC World and Sky TV in programmes discussing the Iran nuclear crisis in the spring of 2006, has done work for Credit Suisse as a consultant, and is now working on another book. He taught three modules at the Institute during the past year:

• ARA1009: History and Society in the Middle East • ARAM104: Modernity and Transformation in the Middle East I: State and Society • ARAM105: Modernity and Transformation in the Middle East II: Islam, Civil Society and Nationalism.

He will be teaching ARAM104 and ARAM105 again during the present academic year.

Glencairn Balfour­Paul Glencairn’s memoirs, Bagpipes in Babylon: A Lifetime in the Arab World and Beyond (I.B.Tauris, 2006), was published in January. The Institute organized a lively and well­attended book launch in early February (guests were greeted by a bagpiper in full regalia). Since then, the book has been reprinted twice and has been well­ reviewed in many papers and journals — such as the Times Literary Supplement, Times Higher Education

IAIS Newsletter, No. 1 (October 2006) 9

Supplement, The Spectator, Geographical — and has also been a main feature in regional papers such as the Western Morning News and the Edinburgh Evening News. He also published a chapter entitled ‘The Very Rich Hours of the Sultan of Geneina’ in Meetings with Remarkable Muslims: A Collection of Travel Writing (Eland Publishing, 2005). He was invited to take part in the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘Midweek’ where he was interviewed along with three other invited guests, one of whom was the actress Joan Collins! He has made a full recovery from his hip operation in May, and is now compiling an anthology of poetry, having been a reader and composer of poetry all his life.

Dr Jenny Balfour­Paul Jenny published two chapters and one article this year, as well as various book reviews for Geographical and Hali. See the publications section, below. She is currently writing a book (after five years research for it) based on the private, illustrated journals (now in the British Library) of a young Victorian man who led a colourful life in the mid­nineteenth century. His adventures include a firsthand experience of the infamous ‘Opium War’ with China in 1840 when he was a teenager, a long spell in indigo in India, various voyages on cargo ships under sail, and a fascinating journey through the Arab world, traveling in disguise as an Arab merchant and trying to promote Christian­Muslim rapprochement.

Jenny continues to be very involved in indigo, though she hopes that 2007 will be her ‘indigo swansong’. She is consultant for a major touring show about indigo, being launched by the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester in January 2007 (the deputy director of the Gallery, Dr Jennifer Harris, is the show’s curator). The show tours to Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery for three months, June­August, and Brighton museums from September until January 2008. Her book, Indigo (British Museum Press, 1998) sold out earlier this year and has just been republished by Archetype Publications in time for the exhibition. She will also be having a small exhibition with a friend called ‘The Spirit of Indigo’ at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen in August 2007, to complement the main exhibition when it is on in Plymouth. The Devon Guild show will explore the influences behind Jenny’s indigo work and showcase some of her own indigo work. She is in discussion with the Eden Project about highlighting indigo as one of the stories relating to slavery as part of their presentation on slavery and trade next summer. And she is also researching a three hundred year old East India Company shipwreck that had a large cargo of indigo.

During the past year, Jenny gave lectures and papers at the Eden Project Florilegium Society; the Indigo Red conference (indigo for modern medicine) in the Dordogne, France; the Exeter Museum; and the annual summer show of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen. She was also a keynote speaker at the Festival of Blue in Taiwan in August, where she lectured at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. In November, she will chair a round table discussion on the future of natural dyes at a UNESCO­sponsored conference on Natural Dyes in Hyderabad, India. She is currently writing about her trip to Taiwan for Hali.

Professor Herman Bell Herman has organized an exhibition entitled Paradise Lost: Nubia before the 1964 Exodus at the IAIS. Opening night is 2 November, 6pm. All are welcome. The exhibition will last until 9 February 2007.

Dr Ghada Karmi Ghada introduced a new module last year: ‘The History of Arabic/Islamic Medicine’ (ARA3137). See Section 2 above for details.

Leslie McLoughlin Over the past year, Leslie McLoughlin formally finished teaching at IAIS, having taught Arabic to successive years of undergraduates since 2001. His final assignment was to supervise a Master’s in Applied Translation, following his supervision in 2004–05 of five Arabic MA students. (Clearly many Arabic countries are a market for this MA and it is good that IAIS has undertaken the provision of such a course.) He will continue to be available for consultancy on TAFL and the MA in Translation. He continued his work on the biography of Fuad Hamza (de facto Foreign Minister to Ibn Saud). He is hopeful that a PhD student will take this topic on one day. He wrote a number of op­ed pieces for the Times and made several contributions to its obituaries pages on people associated with the Arab world. He lectured in Arabic at Sultan Qaboos University and at King Saud University (Riyadh) and King Abdul­Aziz University (Jeddah) on ‘Arabic and Islamic Studies in the United Kingdom’. He lectured on cruises in the Mediterranean, the Baltic, and Arabian Peninsula area. He lectured on a number of occasions to local church groups on Islam. He lectured to local groups such as Rotary and Probus on Arab world subjects. He spoke on BBC Arabic and a number of Arabic satellite TV stations. He attended a conference at Churchill College, Cambridge in February on Foreign Policy and No. 10 Downing Street in the 1980s, as he had been interpreter to the Prime Minister at that time. He was the presenter and question­designer for The Quiz, organized to celebrate the Institute’s merger with HuSS in September 2005. He organized a team to compete in the BBC 2 quiz show ‘The Professionals’, which appeared on the popular TV series, University Challenge. The Exeter team was defeated in round two of the qualifiers, unfortunately. He arranged Saudi sponsorship for the

IAIS Newsletter, No. 1 (October 2006) 10

National Museums of Scotland exhibition Beyond the Palace, staged in Edinburgh jointly with the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg. He interpreted on a number of occasions, the most recent being for HRH the Prince of Wales at a conference at Clarence House. He has kept up with schools in Southern England, which he has visited over the past few years with a view to making the Institute better­known to potential undergraduates. He formally introduced the University and Institute to Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) so as to ensure that the University plays a full role in the consultancy process while RAMM is being closed and redesigned from 2007 (thanks to a £15 million grant). He also arranged for a number of Arab ambassadors to be invited to the Institute.

Dr Rosemaire Said Zahlan, Gulf historian (1937–2006) Rosemarie Said Zahlan died on 10 May this year in London. She was 68. She had been an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for Arab Gulf Studies (1978–99) and the Institute (1999–2006). She will be dearly missed by all who knew her in Exeter. She was one of the foremost academic historians of the Gulf Arab states. She was the author of the first account of the 1938 Reform Movement in Dubai, and in addition to books on Qatar and the origins of the United Arab Emirates she researched and wrote prolifically on the linkage between the Gulf states and Palestine.

She published studies on such widely different subjects as the 19 th century Red Sea route to India, Saudi relations with the Gulf states, Anglo–American rivalry in the Gulf, and the socio­economic impact of the early oil concessions. A sharp critic of imperial pressures in the region, she also wrote for the Financial Times, the Middle East Journal, the International Journal of Middle East Studies, and the Encyclopedia of Islam.

Rosemary was like her brother Edward Said (1935–2003) in that a Palestinian identity was central to her life. She was impressed at an early age by the experience of cousins, aunts and friends made refugees in 1948, and she married a Palestinian academic from Haifa, Tony Zahlan. She was an Anglican and a US citizen, but Palestine was in her heart, and she brought her intellect to a close analysis of every detail of negotiations, political infighting, and the western policy she so wanted to see change.

Although her style was more behind­the­scenes than Edward’s, she was equally involved in the struggle for justice for Palestinians. Like him she was a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Britain. Despite her fragile health, she took an active part in shaping the content of meetings, and was an excellent listener and a builder of consensus. She and Tony were particularly involved in founding and working for the Gaza Library Project, which campaigned to send books to Palestine.

The eldest of four sisters, Rosemarie was born in Egypt. Her father, Wadie Said, a Palestinian Anglican, had emigrated to the US before the first world war, then returned to the Middle East with American nationality to establish his business. Edward Said’s memoir, Out of Place (1999), described the privileged childhood of their wealthy, westernized family; Wadie encouraged his children’s pursuit of higher education, and Rosemarie had an especially warm and close relationship with him.

Like her brother, she was deeply musical — her first degree was in musicology, from the women’s college, Bryn Mawr, in Pennsylvania. A serious car accident broke several vertebrae and stopped her playing the piano as a serious hobby, but she took intense pleasure from the playing of others. Her cultural interests also included going to almost every new play in London, and, with Tony, collecting modern Arab painting.

After Bryn Mawr, Rosemarie taught for a while in Cairo, then went to live in Beirut, giving courses on cultural history at the American University of Beirut and the Beirut College for Women. She moved on to London to take her PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies — her subject was the 18 th century history of the Red Sea route to India, and its pioneer, George Baldwin. She was working on his biography when she was taken ill and died after three weeks in intensive care.

She had lived in London for more than 36 years, and was completely at home here, though she travelled frequently to Washington to work in the American archives, and to be with her sister Grace, Edward, and other members of the family. She also travelled to Beirut, where she had two other sisters, Jean and Joyce.

Rosemarie was blessed with a serenity and confidence about her work and herself. She appreciated everyone’s contribution, and was loved by all who knew her. She empathized with people and enjoyed the talents and company of her many friends in a completely non­judgmental way. She maintained close ties with childhood, college and professional acquaintances, as well as with members of her extended family scattered around the globe. She was a woman who had no enemies, no critics, only people trying to please her. She is survived by her husband Tony Zahlan, her stepdaughter Amal Zahlan, and her three sisters.

7. VISITING RESEARCH FELLOWS

Dr Mehtap Yesilorman (University of Firat, Elazig, Turkey) Mehtap is an Assistant Professor of Sociology, here on a research grant from the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). Her project is entitled ‘An Analysis of Societal, Cultural and

IAIS Newsletter, No. 1 (October 2006) 11

Historical Dynamics of Political Geography: A Model of Electoral Mapping’. Her research interests include political sociology, political culture and political structure in Turkey, democratization in Turkey, electoral mapping in Turkey, the political socialization of Turkish children, political education, political participation in Turkey, political life and women in Turkey, social and cultural life in Turkey, gender issues, globalization, urban sociology, and chaos theory. Mehtap will be at the Institute until 19 March 2007.

8. LIBRARY STAFF

Ahmed Abu Zayed (Librarian of the Arab World Documentation Unit) Ahmed has reconstructed the AWDU website with numerous additions and upgrades, making it more attractive and user­friendly (www.library.ex.ac.uk/awdu). He has compiled and edited a Harvard­style referencing manual to be taught within the ‘Research Sources and Methods’ module (ARAM099) for IAIS postgraduate students. The manual, supported with patterns and several examples, has been published on WebCT as a part of the Information Skills generic course. Also, Ahmed has submitted a paper to the MELCOM international conference in the Biblioteca Alexandrina on ‘The Acquisition of Official Publications from the Arab World: Obstacles and Opportunities’.

Paul Auchterlonie (Librarian for Middle East Studies, Old Library) In addition to his library duties and his work on the new Persian collection from Oxford (see Section 1 above), Paul published an article on the acquisition of Arabic books by British libraries over the past twenty years. See the publications section, below. _______________________________________________________________________________________ 9. RECENT PHD GRADUATES

Dr Mabroka Bobakr, ‘Legitimacy and Political Alienation in Libya’ (supervisor: Tim Niblock).

Dr Lise Grundon, ‘The Limitations and Opportunities of Democratization from Above: Moroccan “Political Games”’ (supervisor: Tim Niblock).

Dr Dina Khayat, ‘Female Employment in Saudi Arabia: an Analysis of the Obstacles Influencing the Employment of Saudi Females’ (supervisor: Tim Niblock).

Dr Iqbal al­Medayan, ‘The Role of Women in Society: a Case Study of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia’ (supervisor: Tim Niblock).

Dr Maha Yamani, ‘Legal Changes and Marriage Practices: a Study of Polygamous Marriages in the Meccan Region’ (supervisor: Tim Niblock).

10. PHD CANDIDATES

Andy C. Yu (yc244@exeter.ac.uk) I was born in Hong Kong, China. I am currently studying the work of Seyyed H. Nasr and Tariq Ramadan as responses to Western modernity. My supervisor is Dr Sajjad Rizvi. My thesis involves in­depth studies of both Islam in the West and Western philosophical critiques of religion and modernity. It offers comparisons between the work of Nasr and Alasdair MacIntyre, and that of Ramadan and Jürgen Habermas. My aim is to demonstrate Nasr and Ramadan’s intellectual contribution compared to that that of their Western counterparts. A secondary goal is to compare Nasr’s work with Ramadan’s work in order to demonstrate the plurality of Islamic thought in the modern world.

11. NEW PUBLICATIONS BY INSTITUTE MEMBERS

Publications during the 2005–2006 academic year Ahmadzadeh, Hashem, ‘Longing for State in the Kurdish Narrative Discourse’, in Annika Rabo and Bo Utas

(eds.), The Role of the State in West Asia, Transactions of the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, Vol. 14 (2005), pp. 63–76.

———, ‘The Kurdish Novel in Iranian Kurdistan’, International Journal of Kurdish Studies, Vol. 19, Nos. 1 & 2 (2005), pp. 25–36.

———, ‘Romanî kurdî û jinanî romannûs’, [The Kurdish Novel and Kurdish Women Novelists], Sev, Vol. 1 (2005), pp. 184–208. In Kurdish.

———, ‘Romanî kurdî û jinanî romannûs’ [The Kurdish Novel and Kurdish Women Novelists], Ashti [a Kurdish bilingual newspaper], Nos. 31, 32, 33 & 34 (2005). In Kurdish.

IAIS Newsletter, No. 1 (October 2006) 12

———, ‘Roman­e kordi wa zanan­e romannevis’ [The Kurdish Novel and Kurdish Women Novelists], Nevisa (Tehran), Vol. 4 (2006). In Persian.

———, ‘Be shwen niheniyekani nusereki gewreda’ [In Search of a Great Writer’s Secrets: Reading Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul], Rojelat (Tehran), Vol. 3, No. 56, (6 June 2006), pp. 13–12. In Kurdish.

Al­Ali, Nadje, ‘Gendering Reconstruction: Iraqi Women between Dictatorship, Wars, Sanctions and Occupation’, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 4–5 (2005), pp. 739–58.

———, ‘The Enemy of My Enemy of Not My Friend: Women’s Rights, Occupation and “Reconstruction” in Iraq’, in Nira Yuval­Davis, Kalpana Kannabiran and Ulrike M. Vieten (eds.), Situating the Politics of Belonging (Routledge, 2006).

———, Al­Harakah Al­Nissawiya Al­Misriyya Cairo: Dar Al­Thaqafa, 2006), Arabic trans. of Secularism, Gender and the State in the Middle East: The Egyptian Women’s Movement (Cambridge University Press, 2000).

——— and Nicola Pratt, ‘Women in Iraq: Beyond the Rhetoric’, MERIP (June 2006). Anderson, Ewan W. ‘Approaches to Conflict Resolution’, in Anthony Redmond, Peter Mahoney, James Ryan,

and Cara Macnab (eds.), ABC of Conflict and Disaster (Blackwell’s, 2006), pp. 31–3. Auchterlonie, Paul, ‘The Acquisition of Arabic Books by British Libraries 20 Years On: Progress or Decline?’,

Library Collections, Acquisitions and Technical Services, Vol. 29 (2005), pp. 140–48. Axworthy, Michael, The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant (IB Tauris,

2006). Balfour­Paul, Glencairn, ‘The Very Rich Hours of the Sultan of Geneina’, in Barnaby Rogerson and Rose Baring

(eds.), Meetings with Remarkable Muslims: A Collection of Travel Writing (Eland Publishing, 2005). ———, Bagpipes in Babylon: A Lifetime in the Arab World and Beyond (I.B. Tauris, 2006). Balfour­Paul, Jenny, ‘India’s Trade in Indigo ­ Its Ups and Downs’, in Rosemary Crill (ed.), Textiles from India:

The Global Trade (Seagull Books, Calcutta, 2006), pp. 357–73. ———, ‘Indigo: A Unique Dye with a Colourful Story’, in Laurent Meijer et al (eds.), Indrubin: The Red Shade

of Indigo (Roscoff, 2006), pp. 1–6, 283. ———, ‘Replanting’, Selvedge Magazine, Issue 11. Bosworth, Edmund, An Intrepid Scot: William Lithgow of Lanark’s Travels in the Ottoman lands, North Africa

and Central Europe, 1609–21 (Ashgate Publishing, 2006) ———, ‘Studies on the Jazira. II. Dunaysir and its History’, Acta Orientalia Hungarica, Vol. 59, No. 1 (2006),

pp. 1–10. El­Enany, Rasheed, Arab Representations of the Occident (Routledge, 2006). ———, Interrogating the Text: Essays on Arabic Fiction, (al­Dar al­Misriyya al­Lubnaniyya, Cairo, 2006) Keenan, Jeremy, The Sahara: Past, Present & Future (Routledge, 2006). ———, ‘Tourism, Development and Conservation: A Saharan Perspective’, in D. J. Mattingly, S. McLaren, E.

Savage, Y. al­Fasatwi, and K. Gadgood, The Libyan Desert: Natural Resources and Cultural Heritage (Society for Libyan Studies, 2006).

———, ‘Sedentarisation and Changing Patterns of Social Organization Amongst the Tuareg of Algeria’, in D. Chatty, (ed.), Nomadic Societies in the Middle East and North Africa: Entering the 21 st Century (Brill, 2006) pp. 916–39.

———, ‘Sustainable Nomadism: The Case of the Algerian Tuareg’, in D. Chatty, (ed.), Nomadic Societies in the Middle East and North Africa: Entering the 21 st Century (Brill, 2006), pp. 682–709.

———, ‘The Tuareg People’: Drought, Politics and Corporate Encroachments’, in The Indigenous World 2006 (International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, 2006), pp. 421–28.

———, ‘The Tuareg People’: Paying the Price for the US Militarisation of Africa’, in The Indigenous World 2005 (International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, 2005), pp. 430–41.

———, ‘Security and Insecurity in North Africa’, Revue of African Political Economy, Vol. 33, No. 108 (2006), pp. 269–96.

———, ‘Tuareg Take Up Arms’, Revue of African Political Economy, Vol. 33, No. 108 (2006), pp. 367–8. ———, ‘Waging War on Terror: The Implications of America’s ‘New Imperialism’ for Saharan Peoples’,

Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 10, Nos. 3–4 (Autumn–Winter 2005), pp. 610–38. ———, ‘Looting the Sahara: The Material, Intellectual and Social Implications of the Destruction of Cultural

Heritage’, Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 10, Nos. 3–4 (Autumn–Winter 2005), pp. 467–85. ———, ‘The Sahara: Past, Present and Future’ [editorial], Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 110, Nos. 3–4

(Autumn–Winter 2005), pp. 247–252. ———, ‘Chad­Cameroon oil pipeline: World Bank and ExxonMobil in Last Chance Saloon’, Review of African

Political Economy, Vol. 32, Nos. 104–5 (June–September 2005), pp. 395–405. ——— with R. Bush, ‘North Africa: Power, Politics and Promise’, Revue of African Political Economy, Vol. 33,

No. 108 (2006), pp. 175–84. ——— with D. Giurovich, ‘The UNDP, the World Bank and Biodiversity in the Algerian Sahara.’ Journal of

North African Studies, Vol. 10, Nos. 3–4 (Autumn–Winter 2005), pp. 585–96.

IAIS Newsletter, No. 1 (October 2006) 13

——— with W. Challis, A. Campbell, and D. Coulson, ‘Funerary Monuments and Horse Paintings: A Preliminary Report on the Archaeology of a Site in the Tagant Region of Southeast Mauritania – Near Dhar Tichitt’, Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 10, Nos. 3–4 (Autumn–Winter 2005), pp. 455–66.

Gleave, Rob, ‘Crimes against God and Violent Punishment in al­Fatawa al­Alamgiriyya’, in J. Hinnells and R. King (eds), Religion and Violence in South Asian Religions, (Routledge, 2006), pp.83–106. In this article, Rob constructs Sunni legal reasoning behind the rules concerning stoning for adulterers and the limb­ amputation for thieves in Islamic Law – a rather gruesome, but interesting topic.

———, ‘Intra­Madhhab Ikhtilaf and the Late Classical Imami Shiite Conception of the Madhhab’, in Peri Bearman, Rudolph Peters, and Frank E. Vogel (eds), The Islamic School of Law: Evolution, Devolution, and Progress (Harvard University Press, 2006), pp.126–46. Shiite jurists, just like Sunni jurists, have differed amongst themselves over legal rules. In this article, Rob tries to find out how much they can differ and still remain part of the same “school” of law.

———, ‘Patronate in Shi’ite Law’, in J. Nawas and M. Bernards (eds), Patronate and Patronage in Early and Classical Islam, (Brill, 2006), pp.134–67. When a master frees a slave, one might think that was the end of their relationship — both are free to go their own way. Islamic law does not quite see it this way – when a master frees a slave gratuitously, a bond still exists between them. This article examines what Shiite jurists have considered this bond to be and what legal effect it might have.

Lewisohn, Leonard, ‘The Metaphysics of Justice and the Ethics of Mercy in the Thought of Ali ibn Abi Talib’, in A. Lakhani (ed.), The Sacred Foundations of Justice in Islam (Sacred Web, Vancouver, Canada, 2006), pp. 109–45.

———, ‘Sufism’, The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2 nd edn., Vol. 7 (Macmillan, 2005), pp. 300–14. ———, ‘Bisṭāmī, Abū Yazīd al­‘, in Lindsay Jones (ed.), The Encyclopædia of Religion, 2 nd edn., Vol. 2

(Macmillan, 2005), pp. 995–57. ———, ‘Farid al­Din Attar’, in Lindsay Jones (ed.), The Encyclopædia of Religion, 2 nd edn., Vol. 2 (Macmillan,

2005). ———, ‘The Spiritual Journey in Kubrawi Sufism’, in Todd Lawson (ed.), Reason and Inspiration in Islam:

Theology, Philosophy and Mysticism in Muslim Thought, Essays in Honour of Hermann Landolt (I.B. Tauris and the Institute of Ismaili Studies 2005), pp. 364–79.

——— and Christopher Shackle (eds.), The Art of Spiritual Flight: Farid al­Din ‘Attar and the Persian Sufi Tradition (I.B. Tauris & the Institute of Ismaili Studies 2006).

Morris, James W., The Reflective Heart: Discovering Spiritual Intelligence in Ibn Arabi’s Meccan Illuminations (Fons Vitae, 2005).

——— (trans.) Knowing the Spirit [Marifat al­ruh] by Ostad Elahi (SUNY Press, 2006). Niblock, Tim, Saudi Arabia: Power, Legitimacy and Survival (Routledge, 2006), 206pp. ———, Al­Mamlakah al­Arabiyah al­Suudiyah (Gulf Research Centre, Dubai, 2006), 210pp. (translated version

of the above­mentioned book). ———, ‘Civil Society in the Middle East’, in Y. Choueiri (ed.), A Companion to the History of the Middle East,

(Blackwell’s, 2005), pp.486–503 ——— and Monica Malik, ‘Saudi Arabia’s Economy: the Challenge of Reform’, in G. Nonneman (ed.), State

and Economy in Saudi Arabia (Hurst & Co., 2005), pp.85–110. ———, ‘Prospects of Political and Economic Reform in Saudi Arabia’, in I. Zviagelskaya (ed.), The Middle

East: Essays in Honour of Professor Vitaly Naumkin (Oriental Studies Publishers, Moscow, 2005), pp.129– 147, in Russian.

———, ‘Globalization as Economic Phenomenon: A Critical Interpretation’, in J. Fox, N. Mourtada­Sabbah, and M. al­Mutawa (eds.), Globalization and the Gulf (Routledge, 2006), pp.90–106.

———, ‘L’Alliance Americano­Saoudienne: La Crise est­elle Depasse?’ (The Saudi–US Alliance: Has the Crisis Passed?), Maghreb–Mashreq, No. 187 (Spring 2006), pp.69–84.

———, ‘The US–Saudi Alliance: A Crisis Overcome’, Journal of Social Affairs, Vol.23, No.89 (Spring 2006), pp.41–62 (translated version of the above­mentionedMaghreb–Mashreq article).

Omri, Mohamed­Salah, ‘Literature, History and Settler Colonialism in North Africa’, Modern Language Quarterly, Vol. 66, No. 3 (2005), pp. 273–98.

———, Nationalism, Islam and World Literature: Sites of Confluence in the Writings of Mahmud al­Mas’adi (Routledge, 2006).

———, ‘Voicing a Culture “Dispersed by Time”: Metropolitan Location and Identity in the Art and Literature of Sabiha al Khemir’, in Ian Netton and Zahia Salhi (eds.), Arab Voices in Diaspora (RoutledgeCurzon, 2006).

Onley, James, ‘Britain’s Informal Empire in the Gulf, 1820–1971’, Journal of Social Affairs, Vol. 22 (Winter 2005), pp. 29–45.

———, ‘L’empire britannique informel dans le Golfe (1820–1971)’, Maghreb–Machrek, No. 187 (Summer 2006), pp. 101–14.

——— and Sulayman Khalaf, ‘Shaikhly Authority in the Pre­Oil Gulf: An Historical­Anthropological Study’, History and Anthropology, Vol. 17, No. 3 (September 2006), pp. 189–208.

IAIS Newsletter, No. 1 (October 2006) 14

Rizvi, Sajjad, ‘Between Time and Eternity: Mir Damad on God’s Creative Agency’, Journal of Islamic Studies, Vol. 17, Vo. 2 (2006), pp. 158–76.

———, ‘Mulla Sadra and Causation: Rethinking a Problem in Later Islamic Philosophy’, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 55 (2005), pp. 570–83.

Stansfield, Gareth, Iraq al­Mustaqbal: Dictatoriyya, Dimocrattiyya am Taqsim? (Al­Warrak Publishers, London 2005), 424 pp.

———, ‘Kurdistan­Iraq: Can the Unified Regional Government Work?’, Arab Reform Bulletin, Vol. 4, No. 5 (June 2006).

———, ‘Metrics Don’t Make Reality’, Eurofuture: The Quarterly Review on EU International Action, No. 6 (Winter 2005), pp. 38–41.

———, ‘Political Life and the Military’, in Youssef Choueiri (ed.), Companion to the History of the Middle East (Blackwell’s, 2005) pp. 355–71.

———, ‘Governing Kurdistan: The Strength of Division,’ in Brendan O’Leary, John McGarry, and Khaled Saleh (eds.), The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005), pp. 195–218.

——— and Liam Anderson, The Future of Iraq: Dictatorship, Democracy or Division?, 2 nd edn. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 278 pp.

——— and Liam Anderson, ‘The Implications of Elections for Federalism in Iraq: Toward a Five­Region Model’, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Vol. 35, No. 3 (2005) pp. 1–24.

Forthcoming publications for the 2006–07 academic year Ahmadzadeh, Hashem, Roman ve Mellat: Barresiye goftemane rwayatiye Farsi ve Kordi, [Nation and Novel: A

Study of Persian and Kurdish Narrative Discourse], trans. Bextiyar Sajjadi (2006). In Persian. ——— (trans.), Huneri Dastan [The Art of Fiction] by David Lodge (2006). In Kurdish. Thus far, thirty­two parts

of this translated book (about 160 pp.) have been published in Rojhelat, an Iranian Kurdish journal. The journal publishes two parts of the book every month.

———, ‘The Story of the Kurdish Novel in Iranian Kurdistan’, International Conference on Kurdish Studies (Krakow, 2006).

———, ‘The Kurdish Novel and Women Novelists’ (2006). ———, ‘A Generic Journey: When the Kurds Narrate Themselves’ (2007). ———, ‘In Search of a Novel That Tells Who the Kurds Are’ (2007). Al­Ali, Nadje, ‘Iraqi Women in Diasporic Spaces: Political Mobilization, Gender & Citizenship’, Revue des

mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée (Fall 2006). ———, ‘Gender, Diasporas and Post­cold War Conflict’, Diasporas and Post­Cold War Conflict (United Nations

University Press, Spring 2007). ———, Iraqi Women: Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present (Zed Publishers, March 2007). Anderson, Ewan W., An Atlas of Middle Eastern Affairs. ———, ‘The Geopolitics of Strategic Resources’. Bosworth, Edmund, The Formation of the Classical Islamic World: The Turks in the Early Islamic World

(Ashgate Publishing­Variorum, 2006). ———, ‘The Steppe Peoples in the Islamic World’, The New Cambridge History of Islam, Vol. 2 (Cambridge

University Press, 2006). El­Enany, Rasheed, ‘The Madness of Non­Conformity: Woman versus Society in the Fiction of Salwa Bakr’,

Journal of Arabic Literature. Keenan, Jeremy, ‘Military Bases, Construction Contracts and Hydrocarbons in North Africa’, Revue of African

Political Economy, Vol. 33, No. 109 (2006). ———, Alice in the Sahara: Moving Mirrors and the USA War on Terror in the Sahara. (Pluto, 2007) ———, ‘Who Thought Rock­Art was About Archaeology? The Role of Prehistory in Algeria’s Terror’, Journal

of Contemporary Africa Studies, No. 1 (2007). ———, ‘The Banana Theory of Terrorism: Alternative Truths and the Collapse of the ‘Second’ (Saharan) Front

in the War on Terror’, Journal of Contemporary Africa Studies, No. 1 (2007). ———, ‘Rights, Resources and Rebellions: Tuareg in the 21 st century’, in Nabil Boudraa and Joseph Krause

(Eds.), North African Mosaic: A Cultural Re­appraisal of Ethnic and Religious Minorities (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007).

———, ‘Resource Exploitation, Repression and Resistance in the Sahara­Sahel’: The Rise of the Rentier State in Algeria and Chad’, in Kenneth Omeje (ed), The Rentier Space: Extractive Economies and Conflicts in the Global South (Ashgate, 2007).

Lewisohn, Leonard and Christopher Shackle (eds.), The Art of Spiritual Flight: Farid al­Din ‘Attar and the Persian Sufi Tradition (I.B. Tauris, October 2006).

Niblock, Tim, The Political Economy of Saudi Arabia (Routledge, Spring/Summer 2007). Omri, Mohamed­Salah, ‘The Maqama Effect and the Rise of the Arabic Novel, Comparative Critical Studies

(2007).

IAIS Newsletter, No. 1 (October 2006) 15

———, ‘Abu al­Qasim al­Shabbi, Arabic Literature 1850­1950. Dictionary of Literary Biography (Bruccoli Clark & Layman, 2007). 7,500 words.

———, ‘Mahmud al­Mas’adi’, Arabic Literature 1850­1950. Dictionary of Literary Biography (Bruccoli Clark & Layman, 2007). 7,500 words.

Onley, James, ‘Oman: History’ [update of the 2006 edition], in Lucy Dean (ed), The Middle East and North Africa 2007, (Europa Publications / Routledge, 2006).

———, ‘Transnational Merchants in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Gulf’, in Alanoud Alshareskh (ed), The Gulf Family: Modernity and Kinship Policies (Saqi Books, 2007).

———, The Arabian Frontier of the British Raj: Merchants, Rulers, and the British in the Nineteenth Century Gulf (Oxford University Press, 2007).

Rizvi, Sajjad, Mulla Sadra Shirazi: His Life, Works and the Sources for Safavid Philosophy (Oxford University Press, January 2007), 200 pp.

———, ‘The Existential Breath of al­Rahman and the Munificent Agency of al­Rahim: The Tafsir Surat al­Fatiha of Jami and the School of Ibn Arabi’, Journal of Qur’anic Studies, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Autumn 2006), 30 pp.

———, ‘Time and Creation in Some Safavid Philosophers’, Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, Vol. 62, No. 2 (Autumn 2006), 45 pp.

———, ‘Au­dela du Miroir: Mulla Sadra’s Pedagogical Epistemology’, in D. De Smet and M. Sebti (eds), Miroir et savoir (Peeters, Leuven, Christmas 2006), 25 pp.

———, ‘Glossing Plotinus in Qum: Qadi Sa‘id Qummi’s Notes on the Theologia Aristotelis’, in P. Adamson (ed), Arabic Philosophy: Sources and Reception (Warburg Institute, Spring 2007), 40 pp.

———, ‘The Jihad of Rhetoric and the Rhetoric of Jihad’, in J. Choza & J. de Garay (eds), Retorica y Religion: VIII Seminario de Las Tres Culturas, Sevilla: Fundacion de las Tres Culturas (Summer 2007), 18 pp.

———, ‘Mulla Sadra’, Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy [online version] (Autumn 2007), 7,000 words. ——— with Feras Hamza, Understanding the Word of God: An Anthology of Tafsir, Vol. 1 (Oxford University

Press in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, Summer 2007), 450 pp. Stansfield, Gareth, ‘Political Mobilization in Iraqi Kurdistan’, in Faleh Abd al­Jaber and Hashem Daoud (eds.),

The Kurds: Nationalism and Politics (Saqi Books, 2006). ———, ‘The Kurdish Question in Iraq, 1914–1974’, contribution to ‘Iraq, 1914–1974’, The Middle East: A

Documentary Resource, National Archives website, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk (2006). ———, Iraq: People, History, Politics (Polity Press, UK; Blackwell’s, USA, 2007), 250 pp. ———, ‘Civil War in Iraq: The Chaotic Devolution of Power’, Middle East Programme Briefing Paper (Royal

Institute of International Affairs / Chatham House, 2007). ———, ‘The Chaldo­Assyrian Vision for Iraq’, in Reidar Visser and Gareth Stansfield (eds.), Regionalism in

Iraq.(Hurst & Co., 2007). ——— and Liam Anderson, ‘The Changing Parameters of Kurdish Statehood’, Études Kurdes (2006). ——— and Liam Anderson, Managing Ethno­Political Conflict in Divided Societies: Kirkuk and the Disputed

Territories of Iraq (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007). ——— and Shorsh Haji Resool, ‘The Tortured Resurgence of Kurdish Nationalism in Iraq, 1975–1991’, in

Michael Gunter and Mohammed Ahmed (eds.), Evolution of Kurdish Nationalism (Mazda Press, 2006). ——— and Reidar Visser (eds.), Regionalism in Iraq: The Cornerstones for a Democracy (Hurst & Co., 2007). ——— and Andrea Fischer­Tahir, ‘The Regional Dynamic of Kurdistani Politics in Iraq’, in Reidar Visser and

Gareth Stansfield (eds.), Regionalism in Iraq (Hurst & Co., 2007). Taji­Farouki, Suha, A Prayer for Spiritual Elevation and Protection: Ibn Arabi’s al­Dawr al­ala or Hizb al­

wiqaya (Anqa Publishing in association with Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society, October 2006).

12. BOOK & FILM REVIEWS

Oct. 25 (Wednesday), 6:00pm & 8:15pm. Phoenix Arts Centre, Exeter: Paradise Now (15). Netherlands/Israel/Germany/France, 2005. 91 minutes. Director: Hany Abu Assad. With Kais Nashaf, Ali Suliman, Lubna Azabal. Description: Said (Nashaf) and Khaled (Suliman) are two mechanics working in a West Bank town. One evening they are approached by Palestinian militants and told they have been chosen to carry out a suicide bomb attack in Israel the next day. Abu Assad’s film avoids propaganda and didacticism and approaches this most difficult of subjects with sensitivity and subtlety. ‘A deeply humanistic and compassionate work that avoids moralizing or dogma’ (Sight and Sound). ‘A tense, thoughtful drama that’s as absorbing as it is relevant’ (www.bbc.co.uk/films). Nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Film. Tickets £4.50 (concessions £3.50).

Book review of Nasrin Alavi’s We are Iran (Portobello Books, 2005), £12.99, ISBN 1­84627­001­4 The British–Iranian author Nasrin Alavi’s We are Iran is a very moving, accessible and necessary socio­political approach to Iran. Through a combination of her own voice and Persian language weblogs (translated into English)

IAIS Newsletter, No. 1 (October 2006) 16

from 2002 to 2004, the book illustrates how a pro­democratic discourse has existed in Iran historically and continues to do so. This book is a necessary contribution to the growing literature on Iran’s contemporary socio­ political dynamics because it provides a voice to the often unheard pro­democratic discourse. However, it is not necessarily the case that ‘armchair academics and journalists’ 1 fail to appreciate Iran’s democratic activism, represented by journalists, students, writers and activists, as the author suggests.

By focusing on blogs, the book provides a sort of social history. The approach is bottom­up, thus giving a view from a societal level, rather than the image of Iran from the perspective of its ruling regime. The book highlights the complexity and often paradoxical nature of Iranian culture and approaches towards socio­political issues. It provides us with an insight into what it is like for many to live in Iran. Unfortunately, however, the book lacks a cohesive framework and there are inaccuracies in the author’s analysis.

The bloggers are primarily Iran’s youth, the ‘children of the Revolution’ who were born after the 1979 Revolution. ‘More than 70% of the nation is under 30’ 2 . With Persian as the ‘fourth most frequently used language for keeping online journals’ 3 , it is clear that there is the need in Iranian society for an alternative space. Cyberspace provides an opportunity for criticism of society and the restrictions it imposes on the youth; to comment on the role of Islam in society and the government; to praise national heroes, such as Mossadegh and Imam Hossein. The voice is not necessarily non­Muslim; there is the belief that Islam is being betrayed by the regime. However, although they may be critical of the regime, they are also very proud of Iran, its culture and heritage. There is a differentiation between the government and the people.

The title of the book, We are Iran, implies that it is the bloggers and what they represent that are Iran; Iran is not to be thought of solely in terms of the regime and the theocratic system. This raises the issue of Iran’s national identity; whose national identity represents Iran? The Iranian national identity that opposes the regime needs to be put into perspective. While Khatami with his calls for reform was elected with a landslide victory in 1997, we need to ask who voted for Ahmadinejad in 2005. It is perhaps fair to say that this democratic discourse, which is critical of the regime, is mainly that of parts of Iran’s urban areas. The priorities of many in rural areas are basic economic needs, which were not met by the reform movement, rather than discussion on human rights and democratization. Thus, Iran has a number of contesting discourses of national identity. Nonetheless, We are Iran and its contribution to the images of Iran reminds us that Iran is not a monolithic country.

Review by SHABNAM HOLLIDAY (PhD candidate, IAIS, Exeter)

Film review of Abdulaziz (UK, Saudi Arabia), 1999, 90 min. Dir: David Martyn and Anthony Wilkinson. Prod: Michael McKinnon. Cinematography: Steve Foster. Original Music: Robert Boyle. Narrator: Sean Barratt. Part I: Unity (45 min). Part II: Building a Nation (45 min). A McKinnon Films production for the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

This two­part documentary chronicles the rise of King Abdulaziz Al Saud (c.1880–1953), or Ibn Saud as he is known in the West, and his creation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is intended as an introduction to the history of the Kingdom and would be suitable for inclusion in undergraduate courses, but only if prefaced by the information that it is representative of the ways many governments around the world have used the past to legitimize the present. It presents Abdulaziz to a Western audience as a brave and divinely­guided general, a wise and just ruler, and a pious Muslim, in order to show how his conquest of Arabia was, in fact, a struggle of the just against the unjust and of the popular against the unpopular — a ‘unification’ rather than a conquest. This is the legitimizing foundation story of Saudi Arabia, a good place to start for any course on the Kingdom.

Abdulaziz is part miniature epic reminiscent of Lawrence of Arabia and part BBC documentary. Stunning cinematography is combined with original music featuring regal trumpets and drums played at key moments to dramatic effect. The overall presentation is highly professional, except for the embarrassingly amateurish re­ enactments of important battles. The documentary cleverly presents the rise of Abdulaziz as part of the folklore of Arabia. His heroic exploits are narrated by a dozen tribal elders, one alim, and a couple of historians. Their stories are illustrated by historical black and white photographs and film footage; by recent color cinematography of Hasa, Najd, or the Hijaz; and by the occasional inept historical re­enactment.

‘Part I: Unity’ tells the story of how Abdulaziz ‘unified’ the different peoples and regions of Arabia into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia between 1902 and 1930. It opens with one of the elders relating the story of Abdulaziz’s ingenious recapture of Riyadh in 1902. This is followed by accounts of the origins of the Muwahhidin (Wahhabi) sect of Islam; of the famous 1744 alliance between Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab and Muhammad bin Saud Al Saud; and of the rise and fall of the first and second Saudi states (1744–1818, 1822–91). Hereafter, the focus is entirely on Abdulaziz. Tribal elders tell the viewer of Abdulaziz’s exile in Kuwait (1892– 1901); of the Rashidis’ ‘unjust’ and ‘unpopular’ rule of central Arabia; of Abdulaziz’s recapture of central Arabia from them; of his stabilization of the surrounding countryside; of his creation of the Ikhwan; of his recapture of

1 Alavi, We are Iran, p. 58. 2 Ibid., p. 10. 3 Ibid., p. 1.

IAIS Newsletter, No. 1 (October 2006) 17

Hasa from the ‘unjust’ and ‘unpopular’ Ottomans in 1913; and of his subjugation of the tribes of Hasa. A tribal elder explains that people followed Abdulaziz during these early years because he symbolized their hopes and dreams for a better world. Throughout these stories, historical black and white photographs are blended with recent color cinematography to good artistic effect.

From 1914 on, historical film footage of Abdulaziz and Arabia exists and is used in the documentary. Abdulaziz’s World War I relationship with the British is explained and an excerpt from Gertrude Bell’s diary which praises him as a master statesman is read. After the war, Abdulaziz continued his ‘unification’ of Arabia. The viewer is presented with another glossed over version of events: ‘In 1919, Abdulaziz took over the sovereignty in ‘Asir and then he settled matters with Hail.’ A tribal elder explains how, after capturing Hail, Abdulaziz ‘welcomed the Rashidi family and treated them as his own children and cousins.’ Next, Abdulaziz turned his attention to the Hashimite rulers of the Hijaz who are presented as (you guessed it) ‘unjust’ and ‘unpopular’. Abdulaziz’s capture of Jidda, Mecca and Medina in 1924 is correspondingly justified as a liberation and as a reclamation of what had been part of the first Saudi state. At the end of Part I, the viewer is told how, by 1930, Abdulaziz ‘had restored his land to the prestige it had lost, becoming the master of Arabia in the process, presiding over the progress of security and religion.’ More righteous words follow, accompanied by the stirring sound of regal trumpets and drums evocative of Lawrence of Arabia.

‘Part II: Building a Nation’ tells the story of Abdulaziz’s activities from 1930 until his death in 1953. While Part I focused largely on Abdulaziz the brave and divinely­guided general, Part II is concerned with Abdulaziz the wise and just ruler. (Abdulaziz the devout Muslim is a theme common to both Parts.) Part II emphasizes his use of Western technology to modernize the Kingdom. Themes include education, technology, development, progress, and the impact of modernization on traditional society. Abdulaziz spent 1902­30 fighting for land, now he must spend his remaining years fighting for the hearts and minds of his people. The elders tell how the Saudi Arabians who had followed their leader loyally into battle are suspicious of his strange new plans involving aeroplanes, automobiles, tractors, trains, radios, and new schools. Slowly, Abdulaziz wins them over. Eventually, they see that their King is right and they begin to use the new technology, to send their children to the new schools, and so on.

Part II also tells the story of oil and of Saudi Arabia’s emerging role in international politics. The frustration and disappointment during the search for oil are conveyed extremely well. The eventual discovery of oil is hailed as a blessing from God. Abdulaziz puts the money to good use by building a modern army and government infrastructure, and by providing for his people. He also uses the money to benefit the Islamic world by building facilities for pilgrims to Mecca (unlike previous rulers of the Hijaz) and distributing free Qurans. He becomes the champion of Arab independence, pressing the Palestine issue with Roosevelt and Churchill, and later in the debating chambers of the UN and the Arab League. Part II ends with the death of Abdulaziz and a succession of tribal elders eulogizing him to the extremely moving accompaniment of trumpets and drums. This is followed by the film credits rolling over a stunning view of the Arabian desert.

Review by DR JAMES ONLEY (IAIS, Exeter)

THE NEXT NEWSLETTER

Please send your news for Newsletter No. 2 to:

Dr James Onley Editor, IAIS Newsletter Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies University of Exeter Exeter EX4 4ND Email: J.Onley@exeter.ac.uk Fax: (01392) 264030