Kimball Tobacco Company Factory (1846-1905) in Rochester, New York, published a series of “Dancing Girls of the World.” These appear to be from the late 1880s. Several of these purport to depict women dancing in the Middle East. But it seems the artist had never actually seen ladies of the exotic harem. Take a peek for yourself.
Continue reading Tobacco and Toe Stepping
The blog Shadjar Al Noor has a lovely combination of photographs showing the similarities between the highlands of Yemen and of Peru. Check out the photographs here.
The Colloquium for Unpopular Culture and NYU’s Program for Asian/ Pacific/ American Studies present a new series: AUSCULTATIONS: sound, noise, (nervous heart)beats
FLAGG MILLER (University of California at Davis)
ON MILITANCY AND THE ART OF THE EGG: THEOLOGICAL LESSONS FROM THE OSAMA BIN LADEN AUDIOCASSETTE COLLECTION
Cosponsored by NYU’s Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies
When: Monday 19 April 2010, 12:30pm
Where: Room 471, 20 Cooper Square (East 5th and Bowery)
Free and open to the public
The alleged fantasies of Islamic militants provide Western audiences with an ample repertoire not only for stereotyping Muslims but also for severing acts of terror from realms of human experience. With the aim of bringing Muslim militants’ narratives of violence back to the complexities of situated cultural interaction, Flagg Miller will investigate the ways in which militancy is conceptualized through audiocassette-mediated sound production. In the winter of 2002, over 1500 audiocassettes from Osama Bin Laden’s former compound in Qandahar, Afghanistan were acquired by Cable News Networks. Miller will focus on one cassette entitled “With the mujahidin†(ma` al-mujahidin) that features participants cooking breakfast in a makeshift Afghan Arab kitchen. Continue reading ON MILITANCY AND THE ART OF THE EGG
Sogdian coin, 6th century AD, British Museum
The Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies Program at Hofstra University will be hosting a day-long workshop on “Early Iranian and Central Asia Numismatics: In Memoriam Boris Kochnev (1940-2002).” The program will be held in CV Starr Hall, room 109 on Sunday, April 18 from 11:00 am – 5:00 pm. Details of the program are provided below. For more information, please contact Prof. Aleksandr Naymark
Preliminary program
Session I
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Michael Bates
(American Numismatic Society, New York, USA)
Surprises from Arab/Sasanian Fars, 640-710
Stefan Heidemann
(Jena University, Germany – Bard College Graduate Center, New York, USA)
A New Iranian Mint for Drahm in Sasanian Style: Isbahan
Konstantin Kravtsov
(Hermitage Museum, Sankt-Petersburg, Russia)
Semidrachms of Farrukhan the Great in the Collection of the State Hermitage Museum Continue reading Iranian and Central Asian Numismatics
Escape from Gaza by Karim Ben Khelifa
On Tuesday, April 13, photojournalist Karim Ben Khelifa will be speaking at Hofstra University on “Picturing Palestine: Gaza and the West Bank.” This will be held in 201 Barnard Hall from 9:35-11 am. The event is sponsored by the Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies Program at Hofstra.
For more information, contact Professor Varisco at daniel.m.varisco@hofstra.edu.
The BBC has an interesting video available online on the popular Emirates television show take-off on “American Idol” but for poets speaking Arabic. Among the final contestants was Hissa al-Hilal, whose frank response to sexist clerics has made her a household name despite being under almost a full hijab. If you think poetry does not pay in this part of the world, think again. The winner walked away with about 1.4 million dollars and Hissa earned 817 thousand dollars. She apparently won the votes of the panel of critics, but lost out to the audience.
Photograph in a brothel in Pakistan by Kate Orne
Prostitution in Pakistan? Yes it exists, despite the most dire consequences if discovered. Photographer Kate Orne has been documenting the underworld of Pakistani prostitution since 2005 and has formed a website to bring attention to the plight of these women. Prints can be purchased at the website with benefits going to two schools for children and a clinic. Check out the presentation and gallery at http://www.mayyouneverbeuncovered.org/