In this post, I’m delighted to introduce you to some embroidery textile arts happening today and some of the people who are currently at work in these fields in the SWANA/MENA region (Southwest Asia and North Africa/Middle East and North Africa). We’ll be looking at Palestinian, Egyptian, and Moroccan examples, in that order. This post…
In this post, I’m delighted to introduce you to a major textile art happening today: Khayamiyya (Appliqué) of Egypt. Next month we’ll follow up with embroidery arts. Let me know if there are other arts you’d like to see in future posts. For example, anyone here want to write or read about caftan fashions of…
I just finished listening to a beautiful interview by Krista Tippett with Kate DiCamillo on the On Being Podcast. It was a poignant and honest exploration of the power of stories to increase our capacity for life and the fullness of experiencing wonder and joy amidst the suffering and seeming chaos of the world around…
Using gender to define the core of what makes us human creates huge contradictions: it requires us to define men and women as fundamentally different from each other and yet also as full human beings. – Johnson, The Gender Knot, 58 Just as women appear in limited and occasional historical events universally, so the popular…
Here’s my new edition and translation of part of the medieval Arabic Sirat al-Amira Dhat al-Himma ‘Epic of the Commander Dhat al-Himma’ https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2151&context=mff Available online and open-access at the above link! Check it out if you’re interested in medieval epics, classical Arabic literature, popular culture, or warrior women. This publication includes the Arabic excerpt, my…
Al-Buraq (ِِالبراق) is a supernatural creature in Islamic tradition that travels extremely rapidly. It appears in the context of the Prophet Muhammad’s miraculous night journey (Arabic Isra’ إسراء) from Mecca to Jerusalem, followed by the ascension (Ar. Mi‘raj معراج). This journey occurred on the 27th of Rajab in the Islamic calendar, and is remembered among…
Ready for some adventure tales? Join us in reading “101 Nights” (Miit layla wa-layla). Like its most famous cousin, “1001 Nights” (also called Arabian Nights), this medieval story collection also includes the frame tale of Shahrazad saving her life with her storytelling. However, our text is shorter, older, and likely has North African or Andalusian…
As I talk with people about my current translation project, more and more people want to know about Arabic epics. These epics (Arabic: سيرة / sira) are long adventure tales that recount the exploits of a group of heroic characters and villains. Siras draw on historical events, although they are not to be considered conventional…
Image of Bayad playing his oud Music Some of my favorite contemporary Moroccan artists: Nass El Ghiwane – see Brownbook post Oum – see Brownbook post Nabyla Maan See here for a concert of psalms sung in Arabic, performed by Lebanese Catholic nun Sister Marie Keyrouz. Poetry and Oral Compositions…
I have read a lot about the glorious accomplishments of “the Arabs” or “the Muslims” in the distant past. Instead of focusing on some mythic golden age, this site includes any material culture that I find beautiful and noteworthy. So while some examples are historical, some are contemporary. For some incredibly beautiful historic art and…
