Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Syria: A Living History (exhibition catalogue, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto)


https://www.agakhanmuseum.org/sites/default/files/downloadable/AKM_EXH_Syria-exhibition-companion-book.pdf

Syria: A Living History 

Oct 15 2016 to Feb 26 2017

Few countries have captured the world’s attention like Syria has today. Stories of conflict and displacement dominate the media and define people’s awareness of the place. Syria: A Living History brings together artifacts and artworks that tell a different story — one of cultural diversity, historical continuity, resourcefulness, and resilience. For over five millennia, this region perched on the eastern Mediterranean has witnessed great world civilizations commingling on its soil and producing art, literature, and culture that constitute the country’s rich legacy. Strongly informed by a distinctive landscape and history, artists of Syria throughout the ages have made priceless contributions to world heritage. Syria: A Living History inspires new understanding of Syria’s past and present, and invites new ways of thinking about its future.

Co-Curators
Dr. Filiz Çakır Phillip, Aga Khan Museum
Professor Nasser Rabbat, Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, MIT

Historian
Dr. Ross Burns, Sydney, Australia

https://www.agakhanmuseum.org/exhibitions/syria-living-history 

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Open Access Report: Afghanistan in 2016: A Survey of the Afghan People


http://asiafoundation.org/where-we-work/afghanistan/survey/




Afghanistan in 2016: A Survey of the Afghan People

Publisher: The Asia Foundation, 2016
275 pages

"The national mood in Afghanistan is at a record low, and Afghans are pessimistic because of insecurity, corruption, and rising unemployment and slow job growth. At the same time, more Afghans, particularly rural Afghan men, now support women’s right to vote and women’s right to work outside the home than ever before. The 2016 Survey of the Afghan People polled 12,658 Afghan respondents from 16 ethnic groups across all 34 provinces, including insecure and physically challenging environments. The annual survey is the longest-running and broadest nationwide survey of Afghan attitudes and opinions. Since 2004, the Survey has gathered the opinions of more than 87,000 Afghan men and women, providing a unique longitudinal portrait of evolving public perceptions of security, the economy, governance and government services, elections, media, women’s issues, and migration."

Friday, December 16, 2016

Open Access Resources from ISAM - Center for Islamic Studies [Turkey]


http://www.isam.org.tr/index.cfm?fuseaction=objects2.detail_content&cid=907&cat_id=5

ISAM - Center for Islamic Studies makes available some very useful databases on their library's website: http://www.isam.org.tr/index.cfm?fuseaction=objects2.detail_content&cid=907&cat_id=5

Of particular importance are:


[Credit : Guy Burak]

Open Access Manuscript Collection: Sakıp Sabancı Museum's Arts of Book and Calligraphy Collection


http://www.digitalssm.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/Kitapvehat


"Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum's Arts of Book and Calligraphy Collection includes copies of the Koran, prayer books, calligraphic compositions in the kıt'a form, calligraphic albums, calligraphic panels, hilyes, imperial firmans and berats bearing the royal tuğra (imperial cipher) by renowned calligraphers dating from the late 14th to 20th centuries, and calligraphy tools and equipment."


Wednesday, December 14, 2016

The Destruction of Cultural Heritage: From Napoléon to ISIS


The Destruction of Cultural Heritage: From Napoléon to ISIS


This dossier of original essays examines the demolition of monuments in the Middle East from the Napoléonic era to the present. The authors describe the impact of obliterating architecture on our psyches, cultures, philosophies, and historiographies. Tracing the mediatization of demolition, and its traps and tropes, such as sensationalism and anthropmorphization, these essays also explore the agencies and capacities of threatened monuments.

Open Access Newspaper Archive: كوكب اميركا = Kawkab Amirka = Kawkab America = Star of America [1892 - 1896]

http://lebanesestudies.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/collections/show/51


 كوكب اميركا = Kawkab Amirka = Kawkab America = Star of America  :jarīdah siyāsīyah ʻilmīyah tijārīyah adabīyah 
Niyūyūrk : Abrahīm wa-Najīb Yūsuf ʻArbīlī, 1892-

April 15, 1892  - February 28, 1896



See also :Alphabetical List of Open Access Historical Newspapers and Other Periodicals in Middle East & Islamic Studies






Open Access Newspaper Archive: The Syrian World (sample issues)


http://lebanesestudies.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/collections/show/42

The Syrian world :  a monthly magazine in English dealing with Syrian affairs and Arabic literature.
Published : New York : Syrian-American Pr., 1926-1935.



Sample issues:
The Syrian World Vol. VI No. 7
The Syrian World Vol. VII No. 2
The Syrian World Vol. VIII No. 5
The Syrian World Tables of Contents for Volume Six

"Sample issues of The Syrian World are available, along with full indexes and tables of contents for The Syrian World between 1926 and 1932. To access the complete, fully-searchable archive of The Syrian World, please contact the Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies"

See also :Alphabetical List of Open Access Historical Newspapers and Other Periodicals in Middle East & Islamic Studies

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Open Access Book: Major voices in contemporary Persian literature


http://utexas.academia.edu/MichaelHillmann/Books

Major voices in contemporary Persian literature (1980) ONLINE. 
Now available at www.utexas.Academia.edu/MichaelHillmann:

"Major Voices in Contemporary Persian Literature–Literature East & West 20 (1980), 351p, which consists of twenty-seven sections mostly presenting translations of poetry and prose and plot summaries of novels.

In five online units, including:
in Major Voices.1-99.pdf, “Persian Is Sugar” by Mohammad ‘Ali Jamâlzâdeh and Jamâlzâdeh’s “Introductory Note”;

in Major Voices.99-166.pdf, “The Umbrella” and “The Beggar” by Gholâmhosayn Sâ’edi and Sâ’edi’s “Introductory Note,” and Ali Mohammad Afghani’s Ahu Khanom’s Husband (1961)–A Plot Summary;

in Major Voices.167-244.pdf, “Preface” to An Investigation of Educational Problems on Iran by Samad Behrangi;

in MajorVoices.244-303.pdf, Jalâl Âl-e Ahmad’s The Cursing of the Land–A Plot Summary, and Prince Ehtejâb by Hushang Golshiri with Golshiri’s “Introductory Note”; and

in Major Voices.304-351.pdf, Rezâ Barâheni: A Case Study of Politics and the Writer in Iran, 1953-1977; and the volume’s concluding bibliography."

See also: Michael Hillman's Books on Academia.com
  [First posted in AMIR June 17, 2013,  updated 7 December 2016]