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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260602T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260602T203000
DTSTAMP:20260521T084717Z
CREATED:20251111T165740Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260521T084717Z
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SUMMARY:Daniel Lowe and Lucia Noor Melita – A new fragment of the Blue Qur’an in the British Library’s collection?
DESCRIPTION:About the Talk\nIn this talk\, Lucia Noor Melita and Daniel Lowe examine a manuscript fragment recently discovered at the British Library. This previously unidentified fragment of blue parchment bearing Qur’anic text in gold Kufic script was found in the Library’s storage in spring 2024. At first glance\, it appears to belong to the famed 9th or 10th-century Blue Qur’an\, whose folios and bifolios are dispersed among institutions and private collections across the globe\, and which continue to surface periodically at auction. \nDespite the extensive documentation and scholarship on the Blue Qur’an\, the British Library is not known to hold any of its folios or bifolios\, and this fragment appears to be unrecorded in the Library’s catalogues. The talk compares the fragment with documented examples of the Blue Qur’an through an examination of its textual\, palaeographic\, and material features\, as well as its page layout\, condition\, provenance\, and custodial history. It will also present the results of a recent first phase of scientific analysis undertaken on the fragment\, comparing its material features with those observed in the Blue Qur’an. In doing so\, the speakers aim to offer new insights into the fragment’s possible origins and significance\, introduce it to the scholarly community\, and reflect on the circumstances under which it appears to have eluded both curatorial and academic attention. \n  \nAbout the Speakers\nLucia Noor Melita is the Lead Conservation Scientist at the British Library\, where she manages the analytical and imaging labs\, guiding the technical examination of the Collection and supporting the scientific and conservation research programme. She completed her PhD in Materials Science at UCL. She has expertise in the analysis of a wide range of materials\, both traditional and modern\, and of museum and library objects\, including books and manuscripts\, paintings\, works on paper\, photographs\, plastics and decorative art. Prior to joining the British Library\, Lucia worked as a scientist on modern materials at the V&A and held post-doctoral positions at the British Museum and in the Material Studies Laboratory at UCL. \nDaniel Lowe is Curator of Arabic Collections at the British Library\, where he works across manuscript and printed materials. His curatorial practice and research engage both historical and contemporary collections\, with a particular focus on the visual culture of the Middle East and North Africa. In 2022\, his work was recognised with the Art Fund’s New Collecting Award. He has curated exhibitions including Comics and Cartoon Art from the Arab World (2017)\, Passports and Documents in the Hands of Artists (2024–25)\, and Fighting to Be Heard (2025)\, part of Bradford UK City of Culture. Prior to joining the British Library in 2012\, he worked on museum\, library\, and cultural heritage projects across the Middle East. \n  \nTo join online\, register here.
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/daniel-lowe-title-tba/
LOCATION:Royal Asiatic Society Lecture Theatre\, 14 Stephenson Way\, London\, NW1 2HD\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:RAS Lectures & Events
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260609T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260609T200000
DTSTAMP:20260512T103858Z
CREATED:20251111T170025Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T103858Z
UID:24101-1781029800-1781035200@royalasiaticsociety.org
SUMMARY:Reception Room\, Wing D Film Screening
DESCRIPTION:Synopsis\nInside the small waiting room of a large government office in New Delhi\, India\, the film follows the receptionists receiving the arriving public as they navigate the labyrinthian bureaucracy beyond. As files\, food\, chai\, sweets\, and gossip circulate between people\, an intimate portrait of the state emerges. It raises a deeper moral question: What is the state’s duty of care? \nAbout the Film Makers\nDr Ikuno Naka is a  postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Economic Experimentation and  the Constructing Urban Futures in Asia (CUFA) research group at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. \nDr Garima Jaju is a Lecturer at the Department of International Development at King’s College London. \n  \nFree and open to all. Note\, this will not be accessible online.
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/dr-garima-jaju-title-tba/
LOCATION:Royal Asiatic Society Lecture Theatre\, 14 Stephenson Way\, London\, NW1 2HD\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:RAS Lectures & Events
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260611T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260611T200000
DTSTAMP:20260512T103949Z
CREATED:20251111T170237Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T103949Z
UID:24103-1781202600-1781208000@royalasiaticsociety.org
SUMMARY:Dr Megnaa Mehtta - Rules of the Jungle: Human and Nonhuman Sovereigns in the Bengal Delta
DESCRIPTION:About the Talk\nThe Sundarbans mangrove forests\, located in the Bengal Delta\, are internationally famous as a habitat to conserve the Bengal tiger. Conservationists and forest department bureaucrats try to protect the tiger\, while forest rights activists’ have attempted to campaign against exclusionary conservation practices using the vocabulary of rights. Taking coastal residents’ ways of relating to the forest as a starting point\, the talk reveals how several animated\, nonhuman agents of the region guide both resource use and social relationships through a set of rules known as the “rules of the jungle” (jongoler niyam).  The source of these rules are deities\, demons\, and spirits—that is\, “cosmic polities”—that\, alongside bureaucratic laws and secular activism\, also govern life in the Sundarbans. Nonhuman sovereigns act as a source of care and provide the basis of an ecological consciousness but are also capable of exclusion and discrimination. By exploring a set of questions such as what kind of a property is a forest? What are the different means of relating to such a property—as a natural resource to be extracted\, a state-owned property to be protected\, a commons to subsist on\, or a territory governed by sylvan deities and demons\, this talk explores the diverse and complementary forces that govern life in a forest. \n  \nAbout the Speaker\nMegnaa received her PhD in Anthropology from the London School of Economics in 2020. Her writings have appeared in journals such as Current Anthropology (CA)\, the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI)\, and Comparative Studies of South Asia\, Africa and the Middle East (CSSAME). She has two ongoing research projects supported by the AXA-IOC UNESCO Research Fellowship. The first project Centring a Household in a Climate Emergency explores migration\, health\, marriage\, social reproduction and broader ideas of well-being as these themes intersect with climate adaptation policies\, land dispossession and long-standing vulnerabilities in the Bengal Delta. Her second research project The Banglascapes of Venice makes legible the lives of the Bangladeshi community in Venice. As racialized imaginaries create panic about impoverished brown and black bodies from the Global South washing up at the shores of Europe (and the United Kingdom)\, through the microcosm of Venice\, the book reveals the ways in which Italy depends on these very bodies for labour. It makes visible a population that is seen yet unseen\, known yet unknown—a part of the daily life of Venice that produces and reproduces it\, yet remains entirely segregated and often unacknowledged. \n  \nTo join online\, please register here.
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/dr-megnaa-mehtta-title-tba/
LOCATION:Royal Asiatic Society Lecture Theatre\, 14 Stephenson Way\, London\, NW1 2HD\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:RAS Lectures & Events
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260617T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260617T200000
DTSTAMP:20260526T085951Z
CREATED:20251112T124428Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260526T085951Z
UID:24995-1781721000-1781726400@royalasiaticsociety.org
SUMMARY:Lydia Walker - Beyond States-in-Waiting: Rights\, Recognition\, and Sovereignty in South Asia and the World
DESCRIPTION:Dr Lydia Walker is a 2025 winner of the James J. Busuttil medal and prize for her book States-in-Waiting: A Counternarrative of Global Decolonization \nAbout the Lecture\nWhat does it mean to claim rights without recognition? And what happens to sovereignty when statehood remains perpetually deferred? States in Waiting traced how political movements in South Asia and beyond navigated a twentieth‑century international order in which external recognition\, rather than territorial control alone\, determined access to statehood. Highlighting Northeast India—a region characterized by porous borders\, insurgent movements\, and overlapping claims to authority—the book showed how nationalist movements collaborated with advocacy networks to articulate claims to rights\, autonomy\, and self‑determination. In doing so\, these struggles reveal a persistent tension between aspirations towards universal rights and an international system that privileges recognized sovereignty. \nThis lecture moves beyond that framework by returning to the unresolved questions at the heart of the book’s conclusion. If recognition remains uneven\, delayed\, or denied\, what alternative forms of political belonging emerge? If sovereignty can be suspended\, fragmented\, or deferred\, how should we understand the temporalities of the international order itself? By foregrounding these open questions\, this lecture argues that states‑in‑waiting are not anomalies of a colonial past\, but enduring features of a global present in which rights\, recognition\, and sovereignty continue to be contested\, renegotiated\, and reimagined. \nAbout the Speaker\nLydia Walker is the Seth Andre Myers Chair in Global Military History and a Provost Scholar Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University. She is a historian of twentieth‑century global decolonization whose work spans South Asia\, Southern Africa\, military intervention\, and insurgent resistance. She is the author of States‑in‑Waiting: A Counternarrative of Global Decolonization (Cambridge University Press\, 2024)\, which received the 2025 Busuttil Prize and Medal from the Royal Asiatic Society\, and has published in the American Historical Review\, Past & Present\, and elsewhere. She holds a PhD and AM from Harvard and a BA from Columbia\, and has held visiting or research fellowships at Dartmouth College\, the Institute of Historical Research\, the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (New Delhi)\, Leiden University\, and Magdalene College\, Cambridge. \n  \nTo join online\, register here.
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/lydia-walker-beyond-states-in-waiting-rights-recognition-and-sovereignty-in-south-asia-and-the-world/
LOCATION:Royal Asiatic Society Lecture Theatre\, 14 Stephenson Way\, London\, NW1 2HD\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:RAS Lectures & Events
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260618T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260618T203000
DTSTAMP:20260528T105036Z
CREATED:20251112T124835Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260528T105036Z
UID:24950-1781807400-1781814600@royalasiaticsociety.org
SUMMARY:Michael Dillon Book Launch: A comprehensive new history of Shanghai\, revealing its vital place in Chinese history and politics across the centuries
DESCRIPTION:Michael Dillon in-conversation with Professor Kerry Brown \nAbout the Book\nHome to 25 million people\, Shanghai is the most populous and wealthiest city in China. A meeting point between China and the wider world\, the city has become the beating heart of Chinese capitalism\, a place of initiative\, confidence\, and forward thinking. It is a city of stark contradictions\, suffused with both extreme wealth and poverty\, luxury living\, and a highly organised criminal underworld. \nMichael Dillon explores the full history of Shanghai\, from its origins as a small fishing village to the bustling financial hub of today. The city has been central to some of the most turbulent events in China’s modern history\, from the British and French colonial concessions of the nineteenth century\, to the birth of the Chinese Communist Party and its vital role in Chinese economics and politics today. Shanghai is a fascinating portrait of China’s most dynamic city—and explores its future role in the country’s development. \nAbout the Author\nMichael Dillon is professor of history and an affiliate of King’s College London’s Lau China Institute. An expert on modern Chinese history\, politics\, and society\, he is the author of numerous books\, including We Need to Talk About Xi\, a history of modern China\, and biographies of Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. \nKerry Brown is professor of Chinese studies and director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London. He is the author of over twenty books on modern Chinese politics\, history\, and society. \nTo join online\, please register here.
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/michael-dillon-book-launch-a-comprehensive-new-history-of-shanghai-revealing-its-vital-place-in-chinese-history-and-politics-across-the-centuries/
LOCATION:Royal Asiatic Society Lecture Theatre\, 14 Stephenson Way\, London\, NW1 2HD\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:RAS Lectures & Events
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260625T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260625T200000
DTSTAMP:20260618T082143Z
CREATED:20251206T151423Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260618T082143Z
UID:24982-1782412200-1782417600@royalasiaticsociety.org
SUMMARY:Dr Avishek Ray - Epistemology of Roma Origins: India and the Question of Academic Authority
DESCRIPTION:This talk critically examines the widely circulated claim that European Roma populations originate from India—a thesis often treated as settled within academic discourse\, yet not unequivocally endorsed by Roma communities themselves. It asks what is at stake epistemologically when such origin narratives become institutionalized: how they shape knowledge production\, authority\, and the politics of representation\, and how they may contribute to the social reproduction of dominant academic voices within academia. \nAbout the Speaker\nDr Avishek Ray teaches at the National Institute of Technology Silchar. His research examines mobility\, marginality\, and cultural historiography. He is author of The Vagabond in the South Asian Imagination (2022). He co-authored Digital Expressions of the Selfie (2024) and Temporal Spaces in Calcutta (2026). He edited Decolonial Travel (2025). His work appears in journals including South Asia\, Contemporary South Asia\, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies\, Mobilities\, and Race & Class. He has held fellowships at University of Edinburgh\,  University of Minnesota\, Mahidol University\, Pavia University\, IFK Vienna and Purdue University\, and received the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship (2021). \n  \nTo join online\, register here.
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/dr-avishek-ray-epistemology-of-roma-origins-india-and-the-question-of-academic-authority/
LOCATION:Royal Asiatic Society Lecture Theatre\, 14 Stephenson Way\, London\, NW1 2HD\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:RAS Lectures & Events
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260709T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260709T203000
DTSTAMP:20260702T152229Z
CREATED:20260616T114428Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260702T152229Z
UID:25156-1783621800-1783629000@royalasiaticsociety.org
SUMMARY:Blood Dawn Book Launch : Hans van de Ven in-conversation with Brendan Simms
DESCRIPTION:[vc_row][vc_column width=”5/6″][vc_column_text css=””] \nAbout the Book\nIn the early twentieth century\, from India to China\, Western imperial powers dominated Asia. Then\, in the 1930s\, Japan began to tear down this old order in pursuit of its own imperial ambitions – first by invading China\, and then by launching its assault against British\, Dutch\, and American outposts across Asia and the Pacific in December 1941. \nAs Japanese forces seized vast swaths of territory and pressed toward India\, the brutal fighting cost millions of lives across the continent. Simultaneously\, the war’s chaos and suffering supercharged anti-colonial movements from British India to Dutch Indonesia. Ultimately\, it was the charismatic leaders of these movements – Mao\, Nehru\, Sukarno – who built the new Asia of independent nation-states that emerged in the war’s bloody wake. \nDrawing on deep archival research across continents\, leading historian Hans van de Ven tells the dramatic story of how Asia’s people mobilized to defeat both Japanese aggression and European imperialism\, forging modern Asia in the process. \nHans van de Ven urges readers to see the Asia as absolutely central to World War II\, rather than a peripheral (to Europe) battle zone. He argues that the real dates of WWII were 1937 (outbreak of Japan-China war) and 1955 with the conference at Bandung. \nHe shows how a modern Asia of sovereign nation-states came into being during and after WWII\, how the fight against colonialism was tightly bound to the war\, ultimately breaking European hegemony; and how it established the US as a vital power in the Pacific. \n  \nAbout the Author\nHans van de Ven is a professor of modern Chinese history at Cambridge University and a visiting chair professor in history at Peking University. He is the author or editor of ten previous books on Chinese history and the history of warfare. A fellow of the British Academy\, he lives in Meldreth\, UK. \nBrendan Simms is a professor in the history of international relations and fellow at Peterhouse College\, Cambridge. He is the author of nine books  including Hitler’s American Gamble and Europe. His most recent publication\, entitled The Return of the Great Powers\, is a sweeping study of the past\, present\, and future of the Great Powers\, revealing the new rules of global leadership. He lives in Cambridge\, UK. \n  \nFree and open to all. In-person and online. \nRegister here to join online.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/blood-dawn-book-launch-with-hans-van-de-ven/
CATEGORIES:RAS Lectures & Events
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260728T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260728T183000
DTSTAMP:20260716T091304Z
CREATED:20260708T092509Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260716T091304Z
UID:25211-1785263400-1785263400@royalasiaticsociety.org
SUMMARY:John Guy - The Buddha and the Jewel-Filled Casket: Piprahwa and Relic Practices in Early North India
DESCRIPTION:[vc_row][vc_column width=”5/6″][vc_column_text css=””] \nAbout the Talk\nThe excavation of the Piprahwa relics in January\, 1898 – the most important Buddhist relic deposit ever recovered in India – immediately sparked enormous interest across the Buddhist world. Piprahwa stupa is located in northern Uttar Pradesh close to Lumbini\, the site of the historical Buddha’s birthplace in western Nepal.  The Piprahwa relics included the first reliquary inscription to credibly claim that it contained the remains of Sakyamuni Buddha. The speaker will examine this unique cache of sacred objects in the context of early Buddhist relic worship and emerging pan-Indian practices of honoring the Buddha. \nAbout the Speaker\nJohn Guy is the Florence and Herbert Irving Curator of the Arts of South and Southeast Asia at The Metropolitan Museum of Art\, New York\, an elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries\, London (2003) and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2016). He served as Senior Curator for South Asia at the Victoria & Albert Museum for 24 years before joining The Met in 2008. He has curated numerous international exhibitions and has published widely\, including The Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art from India (co-curator\, LACMA-V&A\, 1994)\, Chola\, Sacred Bronzes of Southern India (co-curator\, Royal Academy\, 2006)\, Temple Sculpture of India: The Art of Devotion (La Caixa Foundation\, Barcelona\, 2007)\, Shipwrecked. Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds (co-curator\, Smithsonian D.C.\, 2010)\, and a suite of major international exhibitions and accompanying publications at The Met: The World of Kubilai Khan. The Art of Mongol China (co-curator 2010)\, Wonder of the Age: Master Painters of India (2011)\, Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade 1500-1800 (co-curator 2013)\, Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia (2014) and Tree & Serpent. Early Buddhist Art in India\, 200 BCE – 400 CE (2023). \nFree and open to all. \nTo join online\, register here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/john-guy-the-buddha-and-the-jewel-filled-casket-piprahwa-and-relic-practices-in-early-north-india/
LOCATION:Royal Asiatic Society Lecture Theatre\, 14 Stephenson Way\, London\, NW1 2HD\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:RAS Lectures & Events
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260922T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260923T170000
DTSTAMP:20260820T115328Z
CREATED:20260729T144129Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260820T115328Z
UID:25279-1790082000-1790182800@royalasiaticsociety.org
SUMMARY:Aurel Stein Archives and Collections Conference: Ongoing and New Research
DESCRIPTION:About the Conference\nArchives and collections relating to the archaeological work in Asia of Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862–1943) are housed in institutions worldwide\, in particular the UK\, Hungary\, India\, Pakistan\, China and the USA. Stein’s reports\, specialist catalogues of the collections\, his extensive correspondence\, diaries and photographs remain key resources in multiple fields. Foundational work since the 1990s has documented and catalogued most of these important collections\, with digitisation projects making them widely accessible and relevant in new avenues of research. This conference aims to bring together an international group of curators and scholars from across Europe\, Asia and North America with working knowledge of the Stein archives and collections\, to share their most recent research as we prepare to update The Handbook to the Collections of Sir Aurel Stein in the UK (1999\, revised and expanded 2008). \nView full programme. \nPublic lecture on the evening of Tuesday the 22nd\, 6:30-8 pm. Details here. \nTea and coffee will be provided throughout both days\, and lunch will be provided on Wednesday the 23rd. \n\nHow to Join\nIn-person tickets are £10\, available here. \nFor online attendance\, please register for each of the following Zoom webinars: \nStein Conference Day 1 \nStein Conference Day 2: Morning \nStein Conference Day 2: Afternoon
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/aurel-stein-archives-and-collections-conference-ongoing-and-new-research-2/
LOCATION:Royal Asiatic Society Lecture Theatre\, 14 Stephenson Way\, London\, NW1 2HD\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:RAS Lectures & Events
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260922T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260922T203000
DTSTAMP:20260820T120948Z
CREATED:20260713T135307Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260820T120948Z
UID:25330-1790101800-1790109000@royalasiaticsociety.org
SUMMARY:Professor Susan Whitfield: Aurel Stein\, female friends and changing worlds
DESCRIPTION:Image caption: Aurel Stein (right) in Lahore with colleagues and friends Fred and Alice Andrews (left) and Percy and Helen Allen\, the last with Stein’s dog\, Dash. 1897. Courtesy: Cambridge University.\nAbout the Talk\nIn 1920 Ella Sykes became the third female secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society\, following Charlotte Hughes and Elinor Hull. Their appointments were indicative of ongoing changes over several decades in academic and professional opportunities available to European women\, not only in Europe but also wider afield\, including British India. Aurel Stein\, an outsider who likewise had to fight for his own opportunities in British society\, had several women among his closest circle of friends. The women are distinguished—as are his male friends— by their strong characters\, intelligence\, sympathy and interests: indeed\, he wrote that he valued one such friendship ‘higher as an honour than membership of Academies.’ Here I look at some of these women\, as they provide a snapshot of the interests and achievements of women at this time\, particularly in Asian travel\, work and study. \nAbout the Speaker\nProfessor of Silk Road Studies at the Sainsbury Institute for Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC)\, UEA\, Susan Whitfield has worked on the Stein collections for over three decades. She curated his collections at the British Library\, carried out field work in many of his excavation sites\, organised major exhibitions\, and has written numerous books and articles. \n  \nFree and open to all. \nTo join online\, please register here.
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/professor-susan-whitfield-aurel-stein-female-friends-and-changing-worlds/
LOCATION:Royal Asiatic Society Lecture Theatre\, 14 Stephenson Way\, London\, NW1 2HD\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:RAS Lectures & Events
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260924T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260924T200000
DTSTAMP:20260811T094842Z
CREATED:20260803T114214Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260811T094842Z
UID:25288-1790272800-1790280000@royalasiaticsociety.org
SUMMARY:Simon Layton Book Launch - Piratical States: British Imperialism in the Indian Ocean World c.1780-1850
DESCRIPTION:About the Book\nWho had the right to rule the seas – and who could be condemned as a pirate? Ranging across the Indian Ocean world\, from India and the Persian Gulf to maritime Southeast Asia\, Piratical States explores how British officials developed and deployed accusations of piracy to delegitimise Indigenous authority\, justify military intervention\, and expand the reach of empire in the early nineteenth century. \nThis event will be chaired by Dr Sunil Purushotham\, in discussion with Dr David Veevers and Professor Richard Drayton. \nAbout the Speakers\nDr Simon Layton is Senior Lecturer in Global History at Queen Mary University of London\, where he researches and teaches on imperial\, global\, and oceanic history\, specialising in sea power\, piracy\, and maritime trade. His book\, Piratical States: British Imperialism in the Indian Ocean World\, c. 1780-1850\, explores the role of piracy in the expansion of British imperial power in Asia\, and is published by Cambridge University Press. \nDr Sunil Purushotham is Associate Professor of History\, has been teaching at Fairfield University.  A historian of modern South Asia\, his research focuses on the history of sovereignty and democracy in India\, Indian political thought\, and global intellectual history. His book\, From Raj to Republic: Sovereignty\, Violence and Democracy in India was published by Stanford University Press in 2021. He teaches courses on modern South Asia\, histories of colonialism and decolonisation\, and global intellectual history.  He currently serves as the Director of the Humanities Institute and the Director of Asian Studies at Fairfield. \nDr David Veevers is Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Bangor\, where he researches and teaches on colonial\, global\, and early modern history\, specialising in the history of the English East India Company and\, more recently\, English colonisation of the Caribbean. His forthcoming book\, Where the Manchineel Trees Grow\, tells the story of the first English family to establish a slave plantation in the Caribbean\, and will be published with Icon Books in late 2027. \n  \nFree and open to all.
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/simon-layton-book-launch-piratical-states-british-imperialism-in-the-indian-ocean-world-c-1780-1850/
LOCATION:Royal Asiatic Society Lecture Theatre\, 14 Stephenson Way\, London\, NW1 2HD\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:RAS Lectures & Events
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261001T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261001T200000
DTSTAMP:20260812T114145Z
CREATED:20260803T140633Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260812T114145Z
UID:25291-1790879400-1790884800@royalasiaticsociety.org
SUMMARY:Christoph Baumer and Therese Weber: Rock Art and its Legacy in Myth and Art
DESCRIPTION:About the book\nPetroglyphs are since the Upper Palaeolithic one of the oldest types of human visual expression. They not only reflect societal and economic adaptations to climate and environmental changes but also encapsulate the worldviews\, myths and rituals that were prevalent at the time. As climate dramatically changed since the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene Climatic Optimum and again to a renewed climatic cooling and gradual desiccation\, fauna\, flora and humans had to adapt. These changes are recorded in petroglyphs. Regarding pre-literate societies\, they represent\, together with archaeology\, one of the most informative sources to gain insights in bygone cultures. The makers of petroglyphs were masters of abstraction\, using the simplest of tools to capture the essence of a wide variety of animals\, humans and objects\, and to depict complex scenes. In this sense\, petroglyphs are pieces of ancient art. In spite of their great antiquity\, petroglyphs regained in the last decades in topicality as contemporary artists find in them inspiration and a means to gain access to their own cultural heritage. \nThe illustrated lecture is related to Christoph Baumer’s and Therese Weber’s recent book Rock Art and its Legacy in Myth and Art (Bloomsbury) which is the result of thirty years of petroglyph research in Central Asia\, Scandinavia\, Arabia and the Sahara. \nAbout the authors\nChristoph Baumer is the founder of the Society for the Exploration of EurAsia\, as well as a historian and explorer of ancient cultures and petroglyphs of Central Asia\, the Caucasus and Arabia. His main publications include The History of Central Asia in 4 volumes (2012-2018) and The History of the Caucasus in 2 volumes (2021/2024). \nTherese Weber is Professor emerita at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. As artist and researcher\, she is a key protagonist of Paper Art. She weaves paintings\, photography and performative actions into an innovative visual means of expression. Her publication\, The Language of Paper (2007)\, became a standard reference work. \n  \nFree and open to all at 14 Stephenson Way\, NW1 2HD. \nTo join online\, please register here.
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/christoph-baumer-and-therese-weber-rock-art-and-its-legacy-in-myth-and-art/
LOCATION:Royal Asiatic Society Lecture Theatre\, 14 Stephenson Way\, London\, NW1 2HD\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:RAS Lectures & Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Al_Khayyur-Saudi-Arabia.jpg
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261014T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261014T203000
DTSTAMP:20260811T102838Z
CREATED:20260804T115416Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260811T102838Z
UID:25298-1792002600-1792009800@royalasiaticsociety.org
SUMMARY:Performing Beauty Film Screening
DESCRIPTION:About the film\nPerforming Beauty | سماع قلم is a documentary in seven movements exploring the aesthetic\, spiritual\, and cultural significance of the Persian calligraphic script Nasta‘līq. Blending evocative imagery\, poetry\, and the voices of artists\, scholars\, and designers\, the film traces Nasta‘līq’s unfolding from its origins in Persian verse to its enduring presence in contemporary art and design. Structured as a visual poem rather than a linear narrative\, the film invites viewers to experience calligraphy as presence — rhythmical\, layered\, and contemplative — revealing how a script born of poetry became a symbol of cultural identity\, beauty\, and resilience. \nPerforming Beauty has had previous screenings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York\, Khaneh Cinema in Tehran and Goldman Sachs Americas Muslim Forum in both New York and Dallas. \nAbout the director\nMehran Haghighi is an Iranian-American filmmaker\, producer\, and co-founder of Homa Films. He is dedicated to creating films that explore the artistic\, cultural\, historical\, and spiritual heritage of the Persian and Persianate world for international audiences. \nHis producing credits include the acclaimed feature films Djomeh\, winner of the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000\, and Bab’Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul. He also produced the documentary Of Kings and Paintings\, which explores the visual culture of Qajar Iran and is widely used by museums\, libraries\, and universities. \nHis latest film\, Performing Beauty | سماع قلم\, examines the story\, aesthetics\, and contemporary life of Persian Nasta’liq calligraphy. \n\nPraise for Performing Beauty\n“A visually meditative experience.” – Video Librarian \n“The art form as actively negotiated.” – EMRO \n  \nFree and open to all. \nPlease note\, this event is in-person only and will not be available online.
URL:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/lectures-event/performing-beauty-film-screening/
LOCATION:Royal Asiatic Society Lecture Theatre\, 14 Stephenson Way\, London\, NW1 2HD\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:RAS Lectures & Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://royalasiaticsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Performing_Beauty_Publicity_Image.jpg
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