Tipu Sultan of Mysore is one of the most colourful characters in the history of South Asia. On the one hand he is often castigated as a fanatic Muslim and brutal ruler, but at the same time he is regarded by many as a martyr whose wars against the British foreshadowed the historic uprising of…
On Tuesday 26 March 2019, at 6.30pm, the Royal Asiatic Society will host a Collections Open Evening. As with similar occasions in the past, the evening will feature a series of short talks about items from the collection, and should provide a great opportunity to get “up close and personal” with rarely seen books, manuscripts,…
Our friend David Bellis has kindly offered to come and talk to us again on his collection of photographs of old Hong Kong. David will share some more of his favourite photos and stories from his growing archive of historic Hong Kong images. The talk follows recent publication of his latest book “Old Hong Kong…
The Hidden History of Studio Ghibli: Short Films, Advertising and the Industrial Reality of Japanese Animation While Studio Ghibli’s films have become famous around the world, their animation production in other areas remains obscure. Ghibli, like most animation studios in Japan, has long supplemented its feature film production by doing animation-for-hire. These ancillary productions take…
The Royal Asiatic Society will host a book launch of Talat Ahmed's new critical biography Mohandas Gandhi: Experiments in Civil Disobedience, which highlights the contradictions in Gandhi's non-violent philosophy. Dr Ahmed will discuss the book with Professor David Arnold followed by a question and answer session, with copies of the book available for purchase after…
Dr. Simon Wolfgang Fuchs is a Lecturer in Islamic and Middle East Studies at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany. He is interested in how the Islamic scholarly tradition is debated and negotiated in modern and contemporary Muslim societies. Hisresearch revolves around the travel of ideas between West, Central, and South Asia, with a focus on religious…
Published on 15th August to commemorate Victory Over Japan day, Lost Warriors: Seagrim and Pagani of Burma uncovers one of the last great unknown stories of World War II. The book has received a wonderful publication week, with a serialisation in the Daily Mail and interviews with the author and members of the Pagani family on Radio 4, Today programme and ITV News. Respected historian Philip…
Jonathan Phillips was educated at the University of Keele (BA, 1987) and Royal Holloway, University of London (Ph.D, 1992). He worked at the Universities of Southampton and York before returning to Royal Holloway in 1994. He became Professor of Crusading History in 2005. He is the author of numerous books on the crusades, most recently (2014)…
Doors at 6.00 for a 6.30pm start. Award-winning researcher and food writer Nawal Nasrallah will give an exclusive talk at the Royal Asiatic Society on the subject of her translation of Kanz al-fawāʾid fī tanwīʿ al-mawāʾid, a fourteenth-century Egyptian cookbook, entitled Treasure Trove of Benefits and Variety at the Table. It is the only surviving…
The Friends AGM will be held on 18th May, followed by an not-to-be-missed lecture given by Barbara Anslow, age 100, based on her diaries that she kept during her internment in Stanley Prisoner of War Camp in Hong Kong with her mother in WWII. I have heard her speak and she is the most delightful…