Open Access Manuscripts Collection: AMBULO - Arabic Manuscripts in the Bologna University Library Online

 

AMBULO - Arabic Manuscripts in the Bologna University Library Online
Project of the King 'Abdulaziz Chair for Islamic Studies - University of Bologna (Italy)

"The Bologna University Library hosts 450 Arabic manuscripts *, now digitalized, belonging to the collection of Luigi Ferdinando Marsili (1658-1730). The codices are in Arabic, rarely including Turkish texts, and date between the 13th and the second half of 17th century (a.D.). Their focuses are: astronomy, religion, law, grammar, lexicography, metrics, geography, medicine, biographical dictionaries and Korans, while numerous works are miscellaneous. The manuscripts were collected during Marsili’s travels in Turkey, between 1679 and 1692, and during the First Siege of Buda in 1684."

* - Although the site claims 450 digitalized manuscripts only 29 are available. The remaining manuscripts will be added to the site next year. 

See: Alphabetical list of Open Access Islamic Manuscripts Collections 

OA Book: Imaging and Imagining Palestine: Photography, Modernity and the Biblical Lens, 1918–1948

Imaging and Imagining Palestine

Photography, Modernity and the Biblical Lens, 1918–1948

Series: Open Jerusalem, Volume: 3
Editors: Karène Sanchez Summerer and Sary Zananiri

Imaging and Imagining Palestine is the first comprehensive study of photography during the British Mandate period (1918–1948). It addresses well-known archives, photos from private collections never available before and archives that have until recently remained closed. This interdisciplinary volume argues that photography is central to a different understanding of the social and political complexities of Palestine in this period.

While Biblical and Orientalist images abound, the chapters in this book go further by questioning the impact of photography on the social histories of British Mandate Palestine. This book considers the specific archives, the work of individual photographers, methods for reading historical photography from the present and how we might begin the process of decolonising photography.

"Imaging and Imagining Palestine presents a timely and much-needed critical evaluation of the role of photography in Palestine. Drawing together leading interdisciplinary specialists and engaging a range of innovative methodologies, the volume makes clear the ways in which photography reflects the shifting political, cultural and economic landscape of the British Mandate period, and experiences of modernity in Palestine. Actively problematising conventional understandings of production, circulation and the in/stability of the photographic document, Imaging and Imagining Palestineprovides essential reading for decolonial studies of photography and visual culture studies of Palestine." - Chrisoula Lionis, author of Laughter in Occupied Palestine: Comedy and Identity in Art and Film

"Imaging and Imagining Palestine is the first and much needed overview of photography during the British Mandate period. From well-known and accessible photographic archives to private family albums, it deals with the cultural and political relations of the period thinking about both the Western perceptions of Palestine as well as its modern social life. This book brings together an impressive array of material and analyses to form an interdisciplinary perspective that considers just how photography shapes our understanding of the past as well as the ways in which the past might be reclaimed." - Jack Persekian, Founding Director of Al Ma'mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jerusalem

"Imaging and Imagining Palestine draws together a plethora of fresh approaches to the field of photography in Palestine. It considers Palestine as a central node in global photographic production and the ways in which photography shaped the modern imaging and imagining from within a fresh regional theoretical perspective." - Salwa Mikdadi, Director al Mawrid Arab Center for the Study of Art, New York University Abu Dhabi 

Copyright Year: 2021

E-Book (PDF)

Availability: Published ISBN: 978-90-04-43794-4Publication Date: 05 Jul 2021

Imaging and Imagining Palestine: https://brill.com/view/title/55370 

OAJournal: Medieval Worlds

Medieval Worlds

ISSN: 2412-3196

"Medieval worlds provides a forum for comparative, interdisciplinary and transcultural studies of the Middle Ages. Its aim is to overcome disciplinary boundaries, regional limits and national research traditions in Medieval Studies, to open up new spaces for discussion, and to help developing global perspectives.  We focus on the period from c. 400 to 1500 CE but do not stick to rigid periodization. medieval worlds is open to submissions of broadly comparative studies and matters of global interest, whether in single articles, companion papers, smaller clusters, or special issues on a subject of global/comparative history. We particularly invite studies of wide-ranging connectivity or comparison between different world regions. Apart from research articles, medieval worlds publishes ongoing debates and project and conference reports on comparative medieval research.

Building upon studies of transcultural relations and processes of cultural hybridization between cultures, both of which have seen dynamic developments in recent years, the main approach chosen by medieval worlds is comparative. Taking such a comparative approach will not only allow researchers to highlight the global interaction within, or hybrid nature of particular cultural spheres, but also shed new light on more specific fields of interest. Moreover, medieval worlds will encourage a critical debate between the disciplines concerning approaches and methods, and thus will help to enrich the methodological frameworks of comparative history."

medieval worlds is indexed by Crossref, DOAJ, ERIH-PLUS and EZB.