British Institute for Libyan & Northern African Studies

The Society Annual Lecture: 'Always on the Edge? The Spaces of North African History' by Prof. James McDougall
2021-12-14 17:00 - 19:00 UTC
The Society for Libyan Studies Annual Lecture:
Always on the Edge? The Spaces of North African History by Prof. James McDougall (University of Oxford)
Mauretania Tingitana was the furthest southwest periphery of the Roman Mediterranean; jazirat al-maghrib was a ‘peninsula’ connecting Egypt to al-Andalus; the Sahara was ‘the second face of the Mediterranean’, with North Africa as a corridor between the seas of water and sand through which successive ‘waves’ of colonisers simply passed. For much of its past, especially as outsiders have seen it, North Africa’s place in the world and in world history has been marginal by definition. Alternatively, seen as an ‘edge’, a ‘junction’, a ‘crossroads’ or a ‘hinge’ – between the Arab world and Africa, Africa and Europe, ‘Europe’ and ‘Islam’ – the Maghrib has been seen as a central articulating point, geopolitically and intellectually situated on the fault-lines of civilisations from the Habsburgs and the Ottomans through to Frontex and Daesh. Thinking through and beyond these tropes, how might a spatial history of North Africa look, and how might it help us see the region as the centre-point of its own past?
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About the speaker:

Professor James McDougall is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Trinity College Oxford.
His research addresses several related thematic and geographical fields, mainly in the period since c. 1700: the modern and contemporary Mediterranean; Middle Eastern, African and Islamic history, especially Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco, but also the history of European imperialism in the Arab world, modern Arab intellectual and political history, and the global history of Islam since c.1700; the French colonial empire in Africa; the Sahara; nationalism and revolutionary movements in Asia and Africa; comparative imperial history; historiography and critical theory.
His research interests are in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, African, and modern Islamic history, especially modern and contemporary North Africa; and modern France and the French colonial empire (18th-20th cents.). His first work focused on the intersection of Islamic modernism and nationalist politics in colonial Algeria, and he continues to work on colonial and contemporary North African, and especially Algerian, history and politics.
Prof McDougall also has a broader interest in the social, political, and intellectual history of the Arab world, and especially in Arabic/Islamic conceptions of history. He says: “Since 2008, I have been involved in a series of workshops on Arabic historiography, ‘Arabic Pasts’, organised in partnership with colleagues at SOAS and the Aga Khan University-Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, London.”
“My current research is divided between two projects, one on ‘the everyday life of colonialism’ and the aftereffects of empire in France and Africa, and another on the global history of Islam since the eighteenth century. I am also interested in historical methodology, the intersections of history and critical theory, and comparative historiography. I have been involved in several international research networks, on ‘Repression and Control in the Colonial World’ (IHTP, Paris), ‘Reform and the State in the Muslim Mediterranean, 19th-20th centuries’ (IRMC, Tunis), ‘Tradition in the Present’ (KCL), and ‘Reimagining Democracy in the Mediterranean, 1750-1860’ (Oxford).”

The British-Ottoman War and the Sanussiyya Invasion of Egypt by Dr John Slight (Open University)
2021-11-25 16:00 - 18:00
The British-Ottoman War and the Sanussiyya Invasion of Egypt by Dr John Slight (Open University)
A Joint Online Lecture with the British Institute at Ankara
This talk will provide a background to the final act of Ottoman relations with Libya during the First World War, and the establishment of Idris as-Senussi as Emir of Cyrenaica. Ottoman defeat during the Libya War of 1911-1912 did not sever the long-standing links between Istanbul and the Sanussiyya Sufi order which was a dominant force in the area. From late 1914, Ottoman officers and officials worked assiduously to enfold the Sanussiyya within their wider policy of jihad against the Entente powers. This led to Ahmad as-Senussi’s declaration of jihad against the British and the Sufi order’s attacks on Egypt in 1915-16. Sanussiyya military success was short-lived, but caused significant alarm among British military and colonial officials. The talk will explore British perceptions of the connections between the Sanussiyya and the Ottomans, comparing these with the motivations of the Sanussiyya leadership in allying with the Ottomans, and Ottoman objectives in Libya. The events of 1914-1916 were a crucial turning point in Turkish-Libyan relations and in the long road to Libyan independence.
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About the Speaker

Dr. John Slight, FRHistS, FRAS, took his BA, MPhil and PhD degrees in History at the University of Cambridge, where he was formerly a Fellow of St. John’s College. He is a Lecturer in Imperial and Global History at The Open University, UK, and Director of the Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies. He is the author of The British Empire and the Hajj, 1865-1956 (Harvard University Press, 2015) which was awarded the Institute of Commonwealth Studies’ triennial Trevor Reese Memorial Prize for the most innovative, wide-ranging and scholarly work of imperial history published in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Micro-regional Urbanism in Roman North Africa by Dr Paul Scheding
2021-11-09 17:00 - 18:30
Lecture: Micro-regional Urbanism in Roman North Africa
by Dr Paul Scheding, Assistant Professor at the Department of Classical Archaeology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich.

During the second century CE, North Africa experienced a significant economic growth. As a result, the African communities erected all kinds of monumental buildings in their cities and settlements. The local elites, who were responsible for enhancing cityscapes with monuments, were also deeply involved in agricultural production in the respective territories, although there was a considerable degree of variation in the conditions of land use, organization of production, and administration across North Africa. The question is: what was the impact of the “local ecosystems” on public benefactions and elite patronage? Furthermore, did architecture and urbanism reflect the needs of the local elites? What were the main factors that influenced the conception of architecture and urbanism in a particular region? The focus of this talk is on the large number of small cities in the hinterland of Roman Carthage and their relationship to different estates. Using the example of Carthage’s pertica and the “boom” of the late second century CE, the paper will discuss how agricultural organization and socio-economic development influenced cityscapes in this micro-region.
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About the speaker:

Dr Paul Scheding is assistant professor at the Department of Classical Archaeology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. He has undertaken extensive field research and fieldwork in Tunisia for more than ten years, particularly at Simitthus (Chemtou) and Meninx (Djerba). He is currently carrying out an excavation project at Terracina, south of Rome, to investigate the local monuments’ Hellenistic features. An expert of ancient urbanism, micro-urbanism, and architecture, he has published a range of papers on these topics and a monograph on “Urbaner Ballungsraum im römischen Nordafrika” (Reichert Verlag, 2019).

The Ottoman-Italian War of 1911-12: Conflict and Consequences by Prof Benjamin Fortna
2021-10-26 17:00 - 19:00
Lecture: The Ottoman-Italian War of 1911-12: Conflict and Consequences by Prof Benjamin C. Fortna (University of Arizona).
This lecture, jointly hosted by the Society and the British Institute at Ankara, will reflect on the Ottoman-Italian War in North Africa of 1911-12 in light of its consequences for the Ottoman Empire and the wider Islamic world. Although the Ottomans had to abandon the fight against the Italians due to the Balkan Wars, the “Trablusgarb War” had consequences that reached well beyond the relatively short duration of the conflict.
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About the speaker:

Benjamin C. Fortna is Professor and Director of the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona and formerly Professor of the History of the Middle East, SOAS, University of London. His research focuses on the history of the late Ottoman Empire and the early Turkish Republic. His publications include The Circassian: A Life of Eşref Bey, Late Ottoman Insurgent and Special Agent (Hurst and Oxford University Press, 2016), Childhood in the Late Ottoman Empire and After, ed. (Brill, 2016), Learning to Read in the Late Ottoman Empire and the Early Turkish Republic (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), and Imperial Classroom: Islam, Education and the State in the Late Ottoman Empire (Oxford University Press, 2002).

Northern African – Ottoman Relations in History (17th – 20th Centuries) by Dr Odile Moreau
2021-09-30 17:00 - 18:30
Lecture: Late Ottoman Period Libya in the Age of Reforms (1835-1912)
by Dr Odile Moreau (Université Paul-Valéry, Montpellier III)
This lecture intends to shed light on the interrelationships between the provinces that today constitute ‘Libya’ and the Ottoman Empire, as they developed during the late Ottoman period, in the Age of Reforms, after the promotion of the Tanzîmât, from 1835 to 1912.
Particular attention will be paid to the reframing and the evolution of Ottoman – ‘Libyan’ relationships and interactions at the time of the ‘Question d’Orient’ (The Eastern Question).
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About the Speaker:

Dr. Odile Moreau is a lecturer at Paul-Valéry University, Montpellier III. A Turkish speaker, she has devoted much of her career to the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. She has notably published The Ottoman Empire in the Age of Reforms, 1826-1914 (Paris-Istanbul, IFEA-Maisonneuve & Larose, collection: Past ottoman, Present turk, 2007, translated into Turkish).
About this series of events:
As a partnership between the Society and the British Institute at Ankara, we are pleased to host a joint lecture series on Northern African – Ottoman Relations in History (17th – 20th Centuries). The aim is to further strengthen existing collaborations among the British International Research Institutes (BIRIs), under the sponsorship of the British Academy.
These online lectures will explore a range of historical, socio-political, and cultural themes within the context of the Ottoman World. Particular attention will be paid to the encounters and interrelationships that were developed throughout these central centuries of Ottoman rule over a large part of the Mediterranean. The historical and geographical framework under consideration is a broad one, encompassing the territories of present-day Turkey, Libya, and the wider Northern African region.
Lectures and subsequent Q&As will be hosted on the Zoom Webinar platform.

The Little Ice Age in the Southeast Mediterranean and Southern Southwest Asia by Chris O. Hunt
2021-06-08 17:00 - 18:30
Lecture: The Little Ice Age in the Southeast Mediterranean and Southern Southwest Asia by Chris O. Hunt
Climatic changes during the Little Ice Age in Northern Libya, Tunisia, Southern Jordan and the Persian Gulf led to severe drought across the region with approximately halving of rainfall, especially during the 17th Century AD, although rainfall stayed low until the 19th Century. The droughts seem to have been sufficient to cause the collapse of ancient floodwater-farming systems in Tripolitania and the resulting food shortages led to cannibalism in Benghazi and some other Libyan cities. Malnourished refugees hid in caves in the Cyrenaican countryside, leading to a distinctive archaeology. Rare catastrophic rainfall was associated with the general drought, causing enormous but short-lived floods across the region.
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About the Speaker:

Chris O. Hunt FGS FRGS FSA is Professor of Biological & Environmental Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University. He is a Geoarchaeologist and Archaeopalynologist who has specialised in human-environment relationships over a 40-year career, during which he has done research in many countries around the Mediterranean, in the tropics and temperate zone.
He first worked in Libya as part of the UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey, and has worked with Graeme Barker and Tim Reynolds on the Haua Fteah and its landscape in NE Libya since 2006 and at Shanidar Cave in Iraq since 2014. He was a Committee member of the Society for Libyan Studies (2009-2011). He was an editor of Journal of Micropalaeontology and Journal of Archaeological Science before starting Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports with Andy Howard in 2015.
In a peripatetic academic career, Chris first taught at Sheffield University, then had spells at CCAT in Cambridge, Royal Holloway, University of Huddersfield and Queens University Belfast before his current post as Head of Geography at Liverpool John Moores University. He has been visiting lecturer at the universities of Bucharest, Addis Ababa and Malta.
Chris has published five monographs and 239 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, including 20 articles in the Libyan Studies journal. A recent jointly-authored monograph is on ancient Maltese environments and human impacts (Temple Landscapes: Fragility, change and resilience of Holocene environments in the Maltese Islands. Cambridge, McDonald Institute Monographs. 569pp. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.59611).

Resilient Past Water Management in the Near East and North Africa, by Dr. Louise Rayne
2021-05-11 17:00 - 18:30
Lecture: Resilient Past Water Management in the Near East and North Africa by Dr Louise Rayne
In this lecture, Dr Louise Rayne explores the past development of water management in the context of future sustainability. She will discuss oasis case studies from Morocco, Libya and Iraq. Oases are environments created as a result of long-term, human-environment interactions but are vulnerable to human adaptability to changes (environmental, social, political). Although traditional methods of irrigation have been seen as sustainable, archaeological evidence for this is needed. Dr Rayne is following an interdisciplinary methodology using satellite imagery, archived data and fieldwork to map the traces of past water management features. She is collaborating with scholars Dr Lamin Abdulaati, Dr Muftah AlHaddad (Libya) and Dr Jaafar Jotheri (Iraq) on case studies funded by the Society for Libyan Studies (SLS) and the British Institute for the Study of Iraq (BISI).
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About the Speaker:

Dr Louise Rayne is a Research Fellow at the School of History, Classics & Archaeology at Newcastle University. She gained her PhD in Geography and Archaeology from Durham University, in 2015. Before starting her NUAcT fellowship she worked for the Endangered Archaeology project at the University of Leicester (2015-2020) using satellite imagery to monitor archaeological sites in the Middle East and North Africa. While doing this work, she realised that the remains of ancient irrigation are fast being destroyed by modern agriculture and that they urgently need recording before their potential for informing future resilience is lost. Therefore, for her fellowship she is now researching the development of water management in oases in the Sahara and investigating how this could inform future sustainability.

From Ohio to Cyrenaica: Libyan Archaeological Heritage Matters - A General Account of Recent Archaeological Activities of a Libyan Archaeologist by Dr. Ahmad Emrage
2021-04-06 17:00 - 18:30
Lecture: From Ohio to Cyrenaica: Libyan Archaeological Heritage Matters – A General Account of Recent Archaeological Activities of a Libyan Archaeologist by Dr Ahmad Emrage
This talk outlines the academic and field archaeological activities that Libyan archaeologist Dr Ahmad Emrage of Benghazi University has conducted since September 2019 until the present time. This includes a summary of his experience as a Fulbright visitor professor to the USA, where he taught two semesters on Libyan archaeological heritage to students of Oberlin College in Ohio. This lecture also incorporates a general account of the archaeological works, including excavations, surveys and awareness programmes that Dr Emrage supervised and participated in, at different locations in Cyrenaica, in cooperation with national, British and American institutions from October 2020 until now.
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About the Speaker:

Dr Ahmad S M Emrage is an Assistant Professor at the University of Benghazi’s Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts. He holds a BA and an MA in Archaeology from University of Benghazi. In 2014, he completed a PhD at the School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester.
In addition to his work with the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East & North Africa (EAMENA) project, Emrage has been a team member of another CPF project ‘Training in Action.’ In August 2019, Ahmad was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach two courses about Libyan cultural heritage at Oberlin College, Ohio.
Ahmad has extensive experience in field archaeological survey and excavation. He has participated in and directed a number of excavations in Libya, such as the training excavations of the University of Benghazi in Tocra, the final seasons of Cambridge University’s excavations in the prehistoric cave of Haua Fteah and the training excavations of the University of Muhammad bin Ali Al-Sanousi at Cyrene. He is interested in landscape archaeology and rural Roman sites in Libya.
In recent years, Ahmad has been focusing on the protection of Libyan cultural heritage through teaching, and inviting colleagues from the Department of Antiquities to teach archaeology students on how to document, evaluate, monitor and protect archaeological sites and artifacts through the use of modern techniques.

The Djbel Bani Archaeology Project (Morocco): Current Research and Future Prospects by Youssef Bokbot & Sam Nixon
2021-03-19 17:00 - 18:30
Lecture: The Djbel Bani Archaeology Project (Morocco): Current Research and Future Prospects by Youssef Bokbot & Sam Nixon
This presentation provides a summary account of current work being undertaken within the Djbel Bani Archaeology Project, a collaborative project in the Moroccan pre-Sahara led by a Moroccan-British team.
The project features multiple strands of research, including investigating the evolution and nature of early pre-Saharan oases, networks of trade and metallurgical production, and regional and trans-regional migration.
A key focus of the project research presented here is work at the urban ruins and metalworking complex of Tamdult, recorded within Arabic sources from the 9th century AD as a fortified town in proximity to a silver mine. A further key strand of the project presented is an overview of the varied prehistoric and protohistoric archaeology within the regional landscape, including a range of funerary monuments and other large-scale monumental remains. Also presented is the project’s developing work collaborating on a range of cultural heritage initiatives linked to the archaeology being investigated.
The research presented here has been funded and supported by the Max Van Berchem Foundation, the Society of Libyan Studies, the British Institute in Eastern Africa, the Moroccan Ministry of Culture, and the Governor’s Office, Tata Region.
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Speakers
Dr Sam Nixon
Curator and Head of the Africa Section at the British Museum
Sam Nixon is a Curator and Head of the Africa Section, in the Department of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas at the British Museum, London, UK. He is also a Research Associate at the University of East Anglia. Previously he held research positions at the University of East Anglia and UCL, including as an ERC Postdoctoral Researcher and as a Wenner-Gren Fellow. His research focuses on the medieval and early modern period in West Africa and the Sahara, including a distinct focus on trade and exchange networks. In addition to his collaboration on the Djbel Bani Archaeological Project, his prior archaeological research has included work on projects in Mali and the Republic of Benin.
Professor Youssef Bokbot
Department of Prehistory at the National Institute for Archaeological Sciences and Heritage
Youssef Bokbot is a Professor in the Department of Prehistory at the National Institute for Archaeological Sciences and Heritage, Morocco (Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine: INSAP). His research focuses on the prehistory and protohistory of the Maghreb and the Sahara, with research interests including funerary, settlement, and landscape archaeology. He has initiated, led and collaborated on a number of archaeological research projects in a wide range of regions throughout Morocco. In addition to his work on the Djbel Bani Archaeological Project, his current research projects include a collaboration on The Middle Draa Project together with British archaeologists.

(Un)making illegality: Border control, racialised bodies and differential regimes of illegality in Morocco by Lorena Gazzotti
2021-03-02 17:00 - 18:30
Lecture: (Un)making illegality: Border control, racialised bodies and differential regimes of illegality in Morocco by Lorena Gazzotti

What role does race play in the construction of illegality in the face of pervasive border control? Illegality is widely recognized as a constructed category, produced by immigration policies and activated by racialized forms of prejudice aimed at criminalising the mobility of marginalized communities. Scholars, however, have tended to overlook how white privilege influences and alters the workings of border control. Drawing on research in Morocco, in this talk I will argue that illegality is a label which is racially altered and expanded by border bureaucrats, who use it to differentially police the presence of migrant bodies pre-emptively visualized as legal or illegal. Whereas black people undergo pervasive containment procedures, white privilege allows white migrants to be oblivious of the border, even when their administrative situation is not compliant with migration law.
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About the Speaker:
Lorena Gazzotti is the Alice Tong Sze Research fellow at Lucy Cavendish College and CRASSH, University of Cambridge. Her work explores the surveillance and racialisation of inequality at the Spanish-Moroccan border. Her first book, ‘Immigration Nation. Aid, control and border politics in Morocco’ is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press.

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
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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CLICK HERE TO VIEW A RECORDING OF THIS LECTURE ON YOUTUBE
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
Click here to view this lecture online
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.
Click here to view the flyer for this event

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.
Click here to view a flyer for this event.

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
