Yosef Tobi at Hofstra

Books You Should Read, Conferences and Talks, Judaism, Scholars, Yemen, Zaydi

Professor Yosef Tobi of Haifa University will be presenting a talk entitled “The Legal Status of the Jews in Muslim Yemen, 897-1948” at Hofstra University on Tuesday, April 27 at 9:35 am in 201 Barnard Hall. This lecture is sponsored by the Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies Program and the program in Jewish Studies at Hofstra. Dr. Tobi is one of the leading experts on the history of Yemenite Jews and has written several important books on the topic, including The Jews of Yemen: Studies in their History and Culture (1999).

For a review of Dr. Tobi’s The Jews of Yemen, click here.

For an article by Dr. Tobi entitled “THE CONTRIBUTION OF YEMENITE
JEWISH WRITINGS TO YEMENITE HISTORY” click here.

The Baraka 500

Ethics, Islam: Introduction, Journalism and Media, Orientalism, Scholars

Every good capitalist knows about the Fortune 500, the annual ranking of the top grossing corporations in the United States. Now Muslims who read English have their own ranking of the top 500 most influential Muslims. The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Amman and Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding have jointly issued a new book, edited by John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin of Georgetown University. This is scheduled as the first in an annual series that will provide short biographies of prominent Muslims in a variety of fields. According to the editors, the aim is to “highlight people who are influential as Muslims, that is, people whose influence is derived from their practice of Islam or from the fact that they are Muslim.” So who tops the list?

As fortune would have it, this effort should probably be dubbed the Baraka 500, but more for the politics of the sponsors than the demonstrated holiness of the individuals. Deciding who are the influential individuals that happen to be Muslim is no easy task, especially considering that most Muslims have not been consulted in the process. So before you read any further, jot down who you think are the top ten Muslims in the world. I suspect that you will not duplicate the “official” list provided by Esposito and Kalin for their Saudi and Jordanian sponsors. Continue reading The Baraka 500 →

Tobacco and Toe Stepping

Afghanistan, Egypt, Folklore and Proverbs, India, Lebanon, Lithographs, Orientalism, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia

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 →

ON MILITANCY AND THE ART OF THE EGG

Anthropology/Sociology, Conferences and Talks, Literature, Osama Bin Laden, Poetry, Yemen

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 →

Iranian and Central Asian Numismatics

Archaeology and Antiquities, Central Asia, Conferences and Talks, Iran, Islamic Economics


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 →

Picturing Palestine

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Conferences and Talks, Palestine, Photography


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.