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Murle Youth and the Iconography of Modernity Inscribed on the Body in South Sudan (2025)
Journal Article
Felix da Costa, D. (online). Murle Youth and the Iconography of Modernity Inscribed on the Body in South Sudan. Journal of African Cultural Studies, https://doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2024.2444220

This article offers a novel perspective into how Murle agro-pastoralist youth in South Sudan draw on permanent body marks (also known as scarifications or body inscriptions) to communicate their individual and collective stories and future aspiration... Read More about Murle Youth and the Iconography of Modernity Inscribed on the Body in South Sudan.

Vajravārāhī in Khara Khoto and Prajñāpāramitā in East Java: Connected by Pearl Ornaments (2025)
Journal Article
Pullen, L. (2025). Vajravārāhī in Khara Khoto and Prajñāpāramitā in East Java: Connected by Pearl Ornaments. Religions, 16(1), 84. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16010084

This research, situated in the geographical and historical context of the Tangut and East Java, uncovers a significant aspect of the evolution of Buddhist art styles. A thangka of the goddess Vajravārāhī found in Khara Khoto, dated to the late 12th c... Read More about Vajravārāhī in Khara Khoto and Prajñāpāramitā in East Java: Connected by Pearl Ornaments.

Accumulating Meanings, Transcending Borders: Appropriations and Transactions of “Hindu-Buddhist” Materials in Early Modern Indonesia (2025)
Thesis
Panggah, A. Accumulating Meanings, Transcending Borders: Appropriations and Transactions of “Hindu-Buddhist” Materials in Early Modern Indonesia. (Thesis). SOAS University of London

This thesis focuses on the afterlives of ancient materials in Indonesia, a project aiming to contribute to decolonising the field of Indonesian art history and archaeology.1 I pursue this essential purpose by adopting a specific local epistemological... Read More about Accumulating Meanings, Transcending Borders: Appropriations and Transactions of “Hindu-Buddhist” Materials in Early Modern Indonesia.

Contemporary African Screen Worlds (2025)
Book
Dovey, L., Agina, A., & Thomas, M. (Eds.). (2025). Contemporary African Screen Worlds. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478060413

Contemporary African Screen Worlds brings together a new generation of African screen media scholars who explore and theorize the dynamic, interactive screen worlds that have arisen in contemporary Africa due to dramatic global changes in technology.... Read More about Contemporary African Screen Worlds.

Colonialism, Race, Gender and Class: Discrimination in the Society, Academia, and Music of Puerto Rico, the Oldest Colony (2025)
Thesis
Selleri, S. Colonialism, Race, Gender and Class: Discrimination in the Society, Academia, and Music of Puerto Rico, the Oldest Colony. (Thesis). SOAS University of London

This thesis exposes and analyses ongoing intersectional discrimination – through a focus on gender, race/ethnicity, and class – that exists at societal, academic, and musical levels in Puerto Rico, where bias includes ‘subtle racism’ and similar prac... Read More about Colonialism, Race, Gender and Class: Discrimination in the Society, Academia, and Music of Puerto Rico, the Oldest Colony.

The Lyric in Lanka: Alternative Histories of Music through the Hugh Nevill Collection (2025)
Thesis
Peterson, T. The Lyric in Lanka: Alternative Histories of Music through the Hugh Nevill Collection. (Thesis). SOAS University of London

In 1897, a British civil servant named Hugh Nevill (1847–97) left colonial Ceylon with a vast collection of local manuscripts. This collection is now held by the British Library in London and is the largest archive of Sri Lankan manuscripts outside o... Read More about The Lyric in Lanka: Alternative Histories of Music through the Hugh Nevill Collection.

A Reassessment of the So-called Prakhon Chai Bronzes (2025)
Thesis
Lau-Casson, P. S. Y. A Reassessment of the So-called Prakhon Chai Bronzes. (Thesis). SOAS University of London

An initial small group of metal sculptures, reportedly from a hoard, first appeared on the art market in 1965. Known as the ‘Prakhon Chai bronzes’ despite the obscurity of their origins, these sculptures were attributed to the 7th to 9th century CE a... Read More about A Reassessment of the So-called Prakhon Chai Bronzes.

Court music outside the court: defining the ‘professional’ musician in nineteenth-century Bengal (2025)
Book Chapter
Williams, R. D. (2025). Court music outside the court: defining the ‘professional’ musician in nineteenth-century Bengal. In A. Morcom, & N. Raina (Eds.), Creative Economies of Culture in South Asia: Craftspeople and Performers (112-122). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351031028-11

How did the social position of professional Hindustani musicians change over the nineteenth century? As performing artists travelled in the wake of the fall of the Mughal empire, taking their families and students with them, they adapted their forms... Read More about Court music outside the court: defining the ‘professional’ musician in nineteenth-century Bengal.

Caravanserais, Roads, and Routes in Seljuk Anatolia (2025)
Book Chapter
Redford, S. (2025). Caravanserais, Roads, and Routes in Seljuk Anatolia. In L. Vandeput, & S. Mitchell (Eds.), Routes and Roads in Anatolia from Prehistory to Seljuk Times. British Institute at Ankara

'Haptic games': the display of Qajar playing cards in the British Museum (2024)
Journal Article
Morris, N. 'Haptic games': the display of Qajar playing cards in the British Museum. Museum History Journal, 17(2), 186-206. https://doi.org/10.1080/19369816.2024.2440341

This article reviews the display furniture used to present Iranian playing cards in the British Museum's Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World. It examines the need for alternative approaches to Perso-Islamic material, as distinct from Eu... Read More about 'Haptic games': the display of Qajar playing cards in the British Museum.

The Prakhon Chai Hoard Debunked: Unravelling Six Decades of Myth, Misdirection, and Misidentification (2024)
Journal Article
Hanwong, T., Hanwong, L., & Murphy, S. (2024). The Prakhon Chai Hoard Debunked: Unravelling Six Decades of Myth, Misdirection, and Misidentification. International Journal of Cultural Property, 31(2), 177-201. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0940739124000262

The so-called “Prakhon Chai Hoard” is one of Southeast Asia’s most infamous cases of looting. The story begins in 1964 when a cache of Buddhist bronzes from Northeast Thailand appeared on the international art market via the auction house Spink & Son... Read More about The Prakhon Chai Hoard Debunked: Unravelling Six Decades of Myth, Misdirection, and Misidentification.

The Ultimate Conquerer in the Tabo Main Temple (2024)
Book Chapter
Luczanits, C. (2024). The Ultimate Conquerer in the Tabo Main Temple. In C. DiSimone, & N. Witkowski (Eds.), Buddhakṣetrapariśodhana. A Festschrift for Paul Harrison (343-355). Indica et Tibetica Verlag

This short essay proposes an identification for a group of five deities represented on the entry wall of the Tabo Main Temple that has remained unexplained. The fragmentary depiction dates to the renovation of the temple finished in 1042 CE under the... Read More about The Ultimate Conquerer in the Tabo Main Temple.

Haipai surreal: The light spectrum and Shanghai futurities (2024)
Journal Article
Ouairy, A. (2024). Haipai surreal: The light spectrum and Shanghai futurities. Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, 11(2), 279-300. https://doi.org/10.1386/jcca_00108_1

This article draws on visual studies and material culture to explore the compelling role of light in negotiating a haipai surreal. Haipai characterizes Shanghai’s innovative and commercial aesthetic, of which light plays an essential role. My analyse... Read More about Haipai surreal: The light spectrum and Shanghai futurities.

Restitution and repatriation as an opportunity, not a loss: some reflections on recent Southeast Asian cases (2024)
Journal Article
Murphy, S. (2024). Restitution and repatriation as an opportunity, not a loss: some reflections on recent Southeast Asian cases. Antiquity, 98(401), 1395-1495. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.129

Calls for the restitution and repatriation of cultural objects continue to escalate. High-profile cases such as the Parthenon Frieze and the Benin Bronzes dominate international news cycles and provoke fierce debate; however, less attention has been... Read More about Restitution and repatriation as an opportunity, not a loss: some reflections on recent Southeast Asian cases.

Zionist Settler-Colonialist Identity (2024)
Journal Article
Bresheeth, H. (2024). Zionist Settler-Colonialist Identity. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 17(3), 239-245. https://doi.org/10.1163/18739865-01703008

This essay addresses a poignantly critical question: how did Israel enter into such an unsustainable, illegal, immoral and rather impractical position in the span of a few months following the bloody slaughter of 7 October 2023? It explains the probl... Read More about Zionist Settler-Colonialist Identity.

Vitality and Sustainability of Traditional Music: A Survey of Devotional Singing Groups (dāphā khalaḥ) in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal (2024)
Journal Article
Sharma, N., & Widdess, D. (2024). Vitality and Sustainability of Traditional Music: A Survey of Devotional Singing Groups (dāphā khalaḥ) in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Himalaya (Portland, Or.), 43(2), 149-154. https://doi.org/10.2218/himalaya.2024.9012

Dāphā bhajan is a participatory genre of Hindu–Buddhist devotional music, sung by groups of farmers and other Newar singers in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. It is deeply integrated with local neighbourhood communities, but owing to recent disasters (t... Read More about Vitality and Sustainability of Traditional Music: A Survey of Devotional Singing Groups (dāphā khalaḥ) in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal.