British Institute for Libyan & Northern African Studies

National Belonging and Everyday Nationhood in the Age of Globalization: An Account of Global Flows in 21st Century Libya by Alice Alunni
2021-02-09 17:00 - 18:30 UTC
Lecture: ‘National Belonging and Everyday Nationhood in the Age of Globalization: An Account of Global Flows in 21st Century Libya’, by Alice Alunni

This talk presents a study that explores the relation between national belonging, everyday nationhood and globalization in Libya. By combining Rogers Brubaker and Frederick Cooper’s relational and processual approach to the study of nationalism with Arjun Appadurai’s framework of ‘global cultural flows’, it aims to understand the role of globalization in shaping everyday practices of nationhood and the individual’s sense of belonging to a nation in relation to nationalism as a political ideology and everyday phenomenon.
The main focus of the study is on the change unleashed by the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) revolution from the 1990s onwards, and how this and the flows of Libyan people in and out the country affected the way the political elite, civil society and diaspora imagined the nation in the twenty-first century, before and in the aftermath of the 2011 revolution.

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About the Speaker:
Alice Alunni is an independent researcher and development consultant. Alice holds a Ph.D. in Government and International Affairs from Durham University and an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She advises governments, NGOs, private sector and research institutes on peace and security in the MENA and Gulf regions, and particularly in Libya. Her expertise includes peacebuilding, political transitions, civil society and diaspora with a focus on participatory approaches to research and programming.

Lepcis Magna, the City of White Stone: Shaping and Perceiving Ancient Urban Spaces by Niccolò Mugnai
2021-01-19 17:00 - 18:30
Lepcis Magna (Leptis Magna) is well known for the magnificence of its ancient monuments. While past studies engaged at length with the Severan building projects, recent research is now focusing on the earlier phases.
This presentation looks at the visibility of Lepcis’ public edifices and how people in antiquity approached, lived, and experienced them, as the cityscape evolved from Augustus to the Antonines. Attention is paid to the role of private and public patronage, highlighting how social status was showcased through the buildings’ layout and their architectural, sculptural, and epigraphic apparatuses.

To register in advance for this webinar event, please click on the link below and complete the registration information:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cClqL6nVRtK7ir3OWOCKiQ
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About the Speaker:
Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow at The University of Oxford
Niccolò Mugnai is a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow at the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford, and a Research Member of Common Room at Wolfson College (2020-23). Prior to this appointment, he held a Rome Fellowship and a Residential Research Fellowship at the British School at Rome (2017-19) and an AHRC Cultural Engagement Fellowship at the University of Leicester (2016), where he undertook his doctoral studies (2011-16). His principal research interests encompass the archaeology and history of North Africa, Greco-Roman architecture, architectural ornament and urbanism, Mediterranean civilizations and material culture. Niccolò is Assistant Director of the Society for Libyan Studies.

Annual Lecture: Desert Landmarks? Rethinking State and Society in the Ancient Sahara by Professor David Mattingly
2020-12-03 17:30 - 18:30
We hope you will be able to join us at the Society’s First Virtual Annual Lecture on Thursday 3 December at 5.30 pm.
“Desert Landmarks? Rethinking State and Society in the Ancient Sahara” by Professor David Mattingly, University of Leicester.

The lecture, which will take place on the Zoom platform, will celebrate the completion of publication of the four volumes of the Trans-Saharan Archaeology series, published jointly by the Society for Libyan Studies and Cambridge University Press.
Please register in advance by clicking on Register Now or the link below:

Register Now

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_n6ebHVszQP-FKm7VKb0CJA
After registration you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the lecture. We look forward to seeing you there!
Click here to view a recording of this event presentation

Freedom Fields: Screening and Q&A with Director Naziha Arebi
2020-02-11 18:00 - 20:00 | Cripps Court, Cripps Court Auditorium, Cripps Court Conference Centre, 1-3 Chesterton Road, Cambridge, CB4 3AD, United Kingdom
The Society for Libyan Studies is delighted to invite you to a screening of the film FREEDOM FIELDS which will be followed by a Q&A session with the film’s BAFTA nominated, Libyan-British director, Naziha Arebi.

The event is being held in conjunction with the Ahbab Festival and is supported by the Society.
Admission is free but booking is required: Please follow this link to make a booking.
Filmed over five years, FREEDOM FIELDS follows three women and their football team in post-revolution Libya, as the country descends into civil war and the utopian hopes of the Arab Spring begin to fade. Through the eyes of these accidental activists, we see the reality of a country in transition, where the personal stories of love and aspirations collide with History.
An intimate film about hope, struggle and sacrifice in a land where dreams seem a luxury. A love letter to sisterhood and the power of team.
Click here to view the official flyer for this event

The Society for Libyan Studies 50th AGM and Lecture
2019-12-05 | The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH, London, United Kingdom
The Society for Libyan Studies 50th Annual General Meeting
The Reading Room, British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London
4.30 pm AGM
5.30 pm Lecture: ‘Libya and the Arab Spring in North Africa’ by Professor Jonathan Hill PhD, Director, Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, King’s College London.
6.30 pm Reception to celebrate the Society’s 50th Anniversary.
Following the Society’s AGM we hope members and their friends will be able to join us at the Lecture and Reception to celebrate the Society’s 50th Anniversary. There is no charge to attend. To book your place please contact Pauline Graham at gensec@societyforlibyanstudies.org
About the Speaker:
Professor Jonathan Hill is Director of the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at King’s College London. He has published widely on the Maghreb and North Africa and is interested in the stability and development of the region’s regimes. His latest project (with Alison Pargeter) examines the political and security roles of tribes in present-day Libya and Iraq. He has held visiting positions at the LSE and St. Antony’s College, Oxford, and is a member of the editorial advisory boards of The Middle East Journal, The Journal of North African Studies and Libyan Studies.

Uncovering North Africa’s Past and Building the Future: The Society for Libyan Studies 50th Anniversary Conference
2019-10-26 11:00 - 18:30 | UCL Institute of Archaeology, Lecture Room G6, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom
On Saturday October 26th 2019, the Society is delighted to be hosting a very special event:
‘Uncovering North Africa’s Past & Building the Future:
The Society for Libyan Studies 50th Anniversary Conference
Fifty Years Of British Collaborative Research In The Humanities And Social Sciences In Libya And North Africa From Deep Prehistory To The Present’

We hope you will be able to join us for our conference to celebrate our fiftieth anniversary, where leaders in the fields of Libyan archaeology, history, anthropology and literature will speak on all aspects of the Society’s work over the past 50 years.
The conference venue will be UCL Institute of Archaeology. Proceedings will begin at 11am, and conclude at 6.30pm.
Click here to see the full Programme
There is no charge to attend but if you would like to make a donation in support of the event, you can do so when booking your place, by selecting a “donation ticket”.
Click here to register

Rethinking Rock Art and Social Change in the Sahara
2019-05-02 17:15 - 19:30 | UCL Institute of Archaeology, Lecture Room G6, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom
The President and Council of the Society invite you and your friends to attend a panel-discussion lecture focusing on the new Society for Libyan Studies publication by Dr Tertia Barnett, entitled “Engraved Landscapes: Rock Carvings in the Wadi al-Ajal, Libya“.
The author will present her book and Professor Robert Foley, Professor Marta Mirazòn-Lahr and Professor Graeme Barker will present the panel discussion.
The event will be held at the UCL Institute of Archaeology (Lecture Room G6), Gordon Square, London, on Thursday 2 May 2019 at 5.15 pm and will be followed by a Reception at 6.30 pm.
For more information and to register for this event please visit: https://slsengravedlandscapes.eventbrite.co.uk

About Dr Barnett
Dr Tertia Barnett is Principal Investigator for the Scotland’s Rock Art Project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. She has a long-standing research interest in rock art, and has run a number of projects on this theme in Britain and North Africa. She has recently published the results of her rock art survey in the Wadi al-Ajal, Libya, between 2004 and 2009, funded by the Society for Libyan Studies and the British Academy.

Immobility in Crisis: Migrants’ Journeys in Libya and Malta
2019-02-05 17:30 - 19:30 | The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH, London, United Kingdom
The President and Council of the Society invite you and your friends to attend a lecture by Dr Marthe Achtnich, entitled “Immobility in Crisis: Migrants’ Journeys in Libya and Malta”, which will be held at the British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH on Tuesday 5 February, 2019, at 5.30 pm.
About Dr Marthe Achtnich

Dr Achtnich is a Fellow by Examination in Anthropology at Magdalen College, University of Oxford. She is an anthropologist working on mobility and migration with a focus on unauthorised migration from sub-Saharan Africa via Libya to Europe. Marthe holds a DPhil in Social Anthropology and an MPhil in Migration Studies from the University of Oxford.
Marthe’s doctoral work (Mobility in Crisis) on migrants’ journeys was based on multi-sited fieldwork in Libya and Malta. She traced migrants’ mobilities through the Sahara desert, detention centres and smuggling houses in Libya, across the Mediterranean sea by boat to Malta, and onwards through Europe. This was followed up by a Society for Libyan Studies funded small research grant (2017) to examine the afterlives of journeys in Malta and generate longitudinal perspectives on mobility. Further research on relations between mobility and commodification was supported by a Wiener-Anspach Postdoctoral Fellowship (2017/18).
Marthe’s current research project (Mobility Economies) extends her ethnographic work on unauthorised mobilities to examine how migrants’ journeys and different economies surrounding their mobility shape one another along migrant routes in Niger, Sudan and Libya.

The Tunisian-British Bulla Regia Project: A Lecture by Dr Corisande Fenwick and Dr Moheddine Chaouali
2018-12-04 17:00 - 20:00 | The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH, London, United Kingdom
Before the Society’s annual AGM, Dr Corisande Fenwick and Dr Moheddine Chaouali will deliver a presentation on their important work at Bulla Regia, Tunisia.
For more information about this project see:
http://www.protectingthepast.com/PtP/the-tunisian-british-project-at-bulla-regia-rapid-documentation-training-and-research/
To view the official flyer for this event, click here

'Looking Across: Images of Libya through Italian Eyes' by Professor Loredana Polezzi
2018-10-09 17:30 - 19:30 | The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH, London, United Kingdom
The President and Council of the Society invite you and your friends to attend our next lecture, which will be held at the British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH on Tuesday 9 October at 5.30 pm.
‘Looking Across: Images of Libya through Italian Eyes’ by Loredana Polezzi, Professor of Translation Studies, School of Modern Languages at Cardiff University
The talk will examine a selection of images of Libya which can be considered iconic of the country’s perception in Italy during the 20th century. The discussion will concentrate on four themes: maps, landscapes, ruins and people.
Through a close reading of historical images produced for the consumption of Italian audiences, Professor Polezzi will ask how a set of recurring tropes continues to influence the way in which Italy looks across the Mediterranean today.
Specifically, she will examine how a set of established perceptions affects the discourse on migration across the Mediterranean and the roles played by Libya and Italy within it.
Click here to view the Event Flyer (PDF)
Loredana Polezzi studied Modern Languages at the University of Venice and then at the University of Siena, where she obtained her first degree in 1987. She later completed an MA in Italian Studies (Applied Linguistics) and a Phd in Translation Studies at the University of Warwick.
In the early 1990’s she taught at the University of Birmingham, before returning to Warwick as a Reader in Italian Studies. She was Director of the Humanities Research Centre in 1999-2000 and 2001-2002. Between December 2010 and July 215 she was Academic Director of the Warwick Venice Centre and from 2011 to 2015 she also acted as Academic Lead of the university-wide ‘Connecting Cultures’ Global Research Priority programme.
She is now Professor of Translation Studies, School of Modern Languages at Cardiff University
Says Prof Polezzi: “My main research interests are in translation studies, comparative literature, and the history of travel and migration. My recent work focuses on how geographical and social mobilities are connected to the theories and practices of translation and self-translation. With Rita Wilson, I am co-editor of The Translator, a leading international journal in Translation Studies. I am also a co-investigator in the research project ‘Transnationalising Modern Languages’, funded by the AHRC’s Translating Cultures scheme, as well as a founding member of the ‘Cultural Literacy in Europe’ network.”

New Perspectives on Egyptian Prehistory: A View from the Western Nile Delta by Dr Joanne Rowland
2018-05-21 17:30 - 20:00 | UCL Institute of Archaeology, Lecture Room G6, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom
The President and Council of the Society invite you to
“New Perspectives on Egyptian Prehistory – a View from the Western Nile Delta”
An illustrated lecture by
Dr Joanne Rowland
School of History, Classics and Archaeology,
University of Edinburgh
This event takes place on Monday 21 May 2018 at 5.30 pm, and will be hosted at the Institute of Archaeology, Room 612, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PH
All Society members and their guests are welcome to attend.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Click here to view the official flyer for this event

Hisham Matar – A Reading and Discussion
2018-02-06 18:30 - 20:00 | Council Room (K2.29) King’s Building, Strand Campus, Strand,, London , WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
The President and Council of the Society for Libyan Studies request your company at a reading by and discussion with Hisham Matar, a joint event with the Centre for Hellenic Studies.
Born in New York City to Libyan parents, Hisham Matar spent his childhood in Tripoli and Cairo and has lived most of his adult life in London. His debut novel, In the Country of Men, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and The Guardian First Book Award, and won numerous international prizes, including the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize and a Commonwealth First Book Award.
His second novel, Anatomy of a Disappearance, was published to great acclaim in 2011. His prize-winning memoir, The Return, was published in 2016 and was the recipient of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize, the PEN/Jean Stein Award, the Prix du Livre Etranger Inter & Le Journal du  Dimanche, the Rathbones Folio Prize, The Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize and Germany’s Geschwister Scholl Prize. It was one of The New York Times’ top 10 books of the year.
Matar’s work has been translated into thirty languages. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and Associate Professor in Comparative Literature at Barnard College, Columbia University.

**To reserve tickets for this event click here and follow the link to the Eventbrite registration page**

Transforming Terra Incognita with 'Colonial Science' in Italian Libya
2017-11-30 17:00 - 18:30
Free
Following the Society’s Forty-Seventh Annual General Meeting
Professor David Atkinson
Professor of Cultural and Historical Geography, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Hull
Click here to view a flyer for this event

Communities and Peoples in Western Tripolitania: the Landscape of the Jabal Nafusah
2017-10-10 17:30 - 19:30
The President and Council of the Society for Libyan Studies request your company at an illustrated lecture by Prof. Anna Leone, Professor in the Department of Archaeology at Durham University.
One of Anna’s primary research focuses is the end of the pagan religious tradition and the dismantling of its material form in North Africa (modern Libya, Algeria and Tunisia) from the 4th to the 6th centuries AD. This research considers how urban communities changed, why some traditions were lost and some others continued, and whether these carried the same value and meaning from one era to the next.
Prof. Leone is interested in recording the neglected early Islamic archaeology of North Africa and hopes to research the routes by which Islamic culture and architecture spread across the region in the First Millenium AD.
Members and friends are welcome to attend this event. Non members should contact gensec@societyforlibyanstudies.org
Click here to view the flyer for this event.

The Garamantes of Fezzan as a case study for Late Holocene desert-induced stress and human mobility across the Sahara desert
2017-04-25 17:30 - 19:00 | UCL Institute of Archaeology, Lecture Room G6, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom
The President and Council of the Society for Libyan Studies request your company at an illustrated lecture by Dr Efthymia Nikita, University of Sheffield.
This event will be held at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, London. Members and non-members are welcome to attend.
Click here to view a flyer for this event

Book Launch - Great Desert Explorers by Andrew Goudie
2017-03-07 18:30 - 20:00 | Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AR
Published by Silphium Press and the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). Contact the General Secretary for further details.

Libyan Antiquities at Risk: Defending Libyan Heritage through Archives
2017-02-07 18:15 - 19:15 | UCL Institute of Archaeology, Lecture Room G6, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom
The President and Council of the Society for Libyan Studies request your company at an illustrated lecture by Niccolò Mugnai and Julia Nikolaus of the Libyan Antiquities at Risk (LAaR) Project.
For more information about the LAaR Project see the dedicated page of the University of Leicester website.
This event will be held at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, London.
Click here to view a flyer for this event.

Erythron-Latrun: the Story of a Village in Cyrenaica
2016-11-30 17:30 - 19:00 | The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH, London, United Kingdom
Vincent Michel, Professor of Classical Archaeology, University of Poitiers, director of the French Archaeological Mission of Libya.
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The Necropolis of Cyrene: ancient development and modern threats to one of Libya's key sites
2016-10-04 17:30 - 19:00 | The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH, London, United Kingdom
Dr Oliva Menozzi of the University of Chieti-Pescara, an expert on Greek and Roman Sculpture.
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Libya Matters: Safeguarding Libyan Heritage
2016-10-01 10:00 - 18:00 | Council Room (K2.29) King’s Building, Strand Campus, Strand,, London , WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
In 2012 the Society for Libyan Studies and the Centre for Hellenic Studies held a one day event, drawing attention to the value for world history of the heritage of Libya. Four years later, that heritage is threatened in many ways. We are therefore organising a second all-day event, presenting the work which we and others, in the UK and abroad, are doing to support our Libyan colleagues in confronting the current challenges.
The event will include presentations on their work by Paul Bennett (Canterbury), Corisande Fenwick (UCL), David Mattingly (Leicester) Oliva Menozzi (Chieti), Hafed Walda (London/Paris), Susan Walker (Oxford) and Will Wootton (KCL); the new SLS online Gazetteer of Heritage Sites in Libya will also be launched.
For more information about Libyan Matters visit the event page of the KCL website.
For Society members and others who wish to book a place and pay by cheque, please click on this link to download and complete the booking form (Word doc); then return it with your cheque (made out to The Society for Libyan Studies) to the address shown on the form.
Thank you. We look forward to seeing you there.
Directions to K0.16 (South Range 5) King’s Building: From Reception, go straight ahead down the corridor to the very end, turn left just before the staircase, and the room is on your right hand side

Pastoralism, Complexity and Power - Prehistoric Nubia in a Trans-Saharan Perspective
2016-05-03 17:30 - 19:00 | The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH, London, United Kingdom
Dr Maria Gatto, University of Leicester
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Digitising Libyan Heritage: a work in progress
2016-02-09 17:30 - 18:30 | The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH, London, United Kingdom
An illustrated lecture by Professor Emeritus Charlotte Roueché, Senior Research Fellow in Digital Hellenic Studies, Kings College London.
Since 2008 Charlotte Roueché has been working with Joyce Reynolds to present the epigraphy of Roman Libya online: the first publication was the Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania in 2009. The project is constantly evolving, not only because of changes in Libya, but also because of the constant revolution in digital scholarship. In this talk Professor Roueché will present the project – its development and its future.
The President and Council of the Society for Libyan Studies invite you to attend this lecture to be held at the British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1A 5AH at 5.30 pm on Tuesday 9 February 2016. Members’ friends are welcome.
Click here to view the flyer for this event.
