December Events

Before the Society closes for Christmas, there are several events taking place in December to look forward to. If you don’t fancy venturing out in the cold weather, most of these will also be held as virtual events which people can join in from home.

Amir Parsa Lecture:

This Tuesday (23^rd November), the Society welcomed Amir Parsa who gave a lecture on ‘Patriarchal Honour, Women, and War: The Concept of ‘Namus’ in Naderid Iran’s Military Narratives’. The event was well attended with Amir exploring the concept of nāmus which was documented in writings during the rule of Nāder Shah Afshar (1688-1747).

For those of you who missed the lecture, the recording will be available on the Society’s YouTube channel in the coming days. Last week’s lecture by Dr. Lesley Pullen on ‘Patterned Splendour: Textiles Depicted on Javanese Sculpture 8th to 15th Century’ is now available on YouTube for people to view.

December Events:

Professor Alka Patel book launch reminder:

Next Friday evening (3^rd December) at 6.30pm, the Society will be holding a hybrid book launch for Professor Alka Patel’s publication ‘Iran to India: The Shansabānīs of Afghanistan, c. 1145-1190 CE’. This will be a joint event with the Islamic Art Circle. To register, please email mb@royalasiaticsociety.org stating your preference for attending in-person or virtually.

We are also pleased to announce that members can get 30% off when purchasing the book by visiting: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-iran-to-india.html. In order to receive this discount, please type in the code NEW30 at checkout.

Rustaveli Day:

The annual Rustaveli Day celebrations will be taking place at the Society on Thursday 2^nd December at 6pm with this year’s theme on ‘Handel & Rhadamistus (Radamisto) – The Opera, The Story & The History’. This will include talks from Dr Manana Odisheli (Oxford) on ‘Radamisto: The forgotten story of power-struggle in the Caucasus’ and Dr Ruth Smith (Cambridge/The Handel Institute) on ‘An opera fit for a king? Handel’s Radamisto (1720)’.

This event will be in-person only, taking place on the Society’s premises. To register, please email mb@royalasiaticsociety.org.

Upcoming Events:

Two more events for December have also recently been announced. On Thursday 9^th December, Dr. Jennifer Howes will be giving a lecture on ‘The Story Tellers of Mysore: Tipu Sultan’s female entourage and the 1806 Vellore Mutiny’. The Society will also welcome Dr. Bora Keskiner on Friday 10^th December for the launch of his book ‘Yāqūt al-Musta’simī and the Practise of Naql in Islamic Calligraphy’. More information will be announced about these in due course.