Islam under the Palestine Mandate: Colonialism and the Supreme Muslim Council
Nicholas E. Roberts
I.B.Tauris (2016)
Concerns about the place of Islam in Palestinian politics are familiar to those studying the history of the modern Middle East. A vital part of this history is the rise of Islamic opposition to the British in Mandate Palestine during the 1920s and 1930s. Colonial officials had wrestled with the question of how to rule over a Muslim-majority country and considered traditional Islamic institutions essential for maintaining order. Islam under the Palestine Mandate tells the story of the search for a viable Islamic institution in Palestine and the subsequent invention of the Supreme Muslim Council.
Nicholas E. Roberts is Associate Professor of History and co-chair of the International and Global Studies program at Sewanee: The University of the South. His research articles have appeared in the Journal of Palestine Studies, the Arab Studies Journal and History Compass, and he has received several awards, including a Fulbright fellowship and a Lady Davis fellowship to conduct research in Israel and Palestine.
Portraiture in South Asia since the Mughals: Art, Representation and History
Crispin Branfoot
Bloomsbury Publishing
One of the most remarkable artistic achievements of the Mughal Empire was the emergence in the early seventeenth century of portraits of identifiable individuals, unprecedented in both South Asia and the Islamic world. Appearing at a time of increasing contact between Europe and Asia, portraits from the reigns of the great Mughal emperor-patrons Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan are among the best-known paintings produced in South Asia. In the following centuries portraiture became more widespread in the visual culture of South Asia, especially in the rich and varied traditions of painting, but also in sculpture and later prints and photography.
This collection seeks to understand the intended purpose of a range of portrait traditions in South Asia and how their style, setting and representation may have advanced a range of aesthetic, social and political functions. The chapters range across a wide historical period, exploring ideals of portraiture in Sanskrit and Persian literature, the emergence and political symbolism of Mughal portraiture, through to the paintings of the Rajput courts, sculpture in Tamil temples and the transformation of portraiture in colonial north India and post-independence Pakistan.
This specially commissioned collection of studies from a strong list of established scholars and rising stars makes a significant contribution to South Asian history, art and visual culture.
Crispin Branfoot is Senior Lecturer in South Asian Art and Archaeology at SOAS and is a renowned expert in Mughal portraiture and Indian history, having worked in this capacity at both the Ashmolean and the British Museum.
Christianity and Monasticism in Aswan and Nubia
Gawdat Gabra, Hani Takla
American University in Cairo Press (2013)
Christianity and monasticism have flourished along the Nile Valley in the Aswan region of Upper Egypt and in what was once Nubia, from as early as the fourth century until the present day. The contributors to this volume, international specialists in Coptology from around the world, examine various aspects of Coptic civilization in Aswan and Nubia over the past centuries. The complexity of Christian identity in Nubia, as distinct from Egypt, is examined in the context of church ritual and architecture. Many of the studies explore Coptic material culture: inscriptions, art, architecture, and archaeology; and language and literature. The archaeological and artistic heritage of monastic sites in Edfu, Aswan, Makuria, and Kom Ombo are highlighted, attesting to their important legacies in the region.
Gawdat Gabra is the former director of the Coptic Museum and the author, coauthor, or editor of numerous books on the history and culture of Egyptian Christianity, including The Treasures of Coptic Art (AUC Press, 2006) and The History and Religious Heritage of Old Cairo (AUC Press, 2011). He is currently visiting professor of Coptic studies at Claremont Graduate University, California.