ASTENE is proud to present the inaugural Postgraduate Research Competition. This competition is intended to reward the most promising and engaging research in the interdisciplinary and cross-period fields of Near Eastern studies and travel history.
Our 9 finalists will present a 20-minute paper at this virtual day of research, debate and networking. They will be judged on the following criteria: An interesting, original subject relating to ASTENE’s research interests, the future potential and impact of the research and research delivered in an enthusiastic and engaging presentation to an audience made up of academics and informed members of the public.
The members of the judging panel are: Dr Rebecca Butler (Nottingham Trent University), Dr Natalya Din-Kariuki (Warwick University) and Professor Gerald Maclean (Exeter University)
Programme
11:00 – 11:10 - Welcome from Jaromir Malek, President of ASTENE
11:10 -12:30 - Round 1
1. Fatma Amin (Helwan University) - Re-Exploring the People of the Eastern Desert in Egypt at the Turn of 20th Century through Photographs
2. Alexandra Solovyev (University of Oxford) - “By the early train for Ephesus”: Locating the Railway in Alexander Svoboda’s The Seven Churches of Asia (1869)
3. Gert Huskens (Ghent University) - Blondeel Van Cuelebroeck’s Abyssinian Expedition (1840-1842), Saint-Simonian in disguise?
12:30 – 13:00 – Lunch
13:00 - 14:20 - Round 2
4. Robert Frost (Nottingham) - Landscape archaeology’s forgotten predecessor: the work of Sir John Gardner Wilkinson
5. Pola Durajska (University of York) - Frederic Leighton's Temple of Philae Revisited
6. Susan Abed (Fayoum University) - The urbanism and society of ‘Soltaniyeh’ on the eve of Tamerlane invasion according to the Narrative of the Embassy of Clavijo (1403- 1406)
14:20 - 14:30 - Comfort Break
14:30 - 15:50 - Round 3
7. Emer O’Hanlon (Trinity College Dublin) - The true female view’ of Mary Wortley Montagu, Elizabeth Craven, and Patricia Highsmith: intersecting queer and colonial gazes
8. Margaret Gray (Newcastle University) - “They Knew No More ... Than if it had Never Been Visited”: Re-Evaluating Literary Authority and Narratives of Discovery in Harriet Martineau’s Eastern Life, Present and Past (1848)
9. Zainab Alqublan (Cardiff University) - The Cold Case of Orientalism: A Reopening
15:50 - 16:30 - Judges Deliberations
16:30- 16:45 - Announcement of the winners & Closing Remarks