The investigation of identities in the Middle East
Identity is far from simple in the modern Middle East, involving at its simplest a combination of political, ethnic, religious, economic and linguistic facets. Combined with the previous research theme this theme is designed to help improve contemporary cultural understanding at a time of increasing public factionalism.
CBRL has been supporting the following projects:
Ancient Jerusalem (1961-1006)
Dr Kay Prag (University of Manchester)
Project Website
Publication Team members: Dr Helen Brown, Dr Kevin Butcher, Dr G. Clarke, Pre B. Couroyer OP, Mr A. Dimoulinis. Dr C. Grigson, Dr John Hayes, Professor C. Koehler, Dr P. Mattheson, Professor Michael Metcalf, Dr M. al-Moreikhi, Dr K. Prag, Professor Richard Reece, Dr David S. Reese, Dr St J. Simpson, Ms D. Snow
Volumes I to V published.
Ancient and Modern fortification in Israel/Palestine: Material culture, subjectivity and conflict
Travel grantJuliana Ochs (University of Cambridge)
Arabic references on Wahhabism in AUB Library
Travel grantNamitra Nahouza (University of Exeter)
Archaeological exploration of Aredhiou-Vouppes
Dr Louise Steel (University of Wales, Lampeter)
Intensive surface survey, topographic and geophysical survey of a small inland settlement identified as a LBA farmstead in order to assess the suitability for future archaeological research and examine evidence of agricultural exploitation of LBA Cyprus hinterland.
Care of collections at St. Katherine's Monastery, Mt. Sinai
Travel grantNikos Androutsopoulos (University of Durham)
Death, burial and memory in Early Prehistoric Cyprus
Travel grantPaula Jones (University of Wales, Lampeter
Dhiban site conservation/reconstruction and excavations at Khirbat al-Nudayna Al-'Aliya (Tall As-Sa'idiyya cemetery)
Affiliated ProjectJohn Green (University College London)
Dissident Bedouin poetry: The work of Ghassan Shbayl
Research AwardProf Clive Douglas Holes (University of Oxford)
The recording, transcription, translation and annotation of a selection of poems by the dissident Bedouin poet, Ghassan Shbayl from Jordan. This project also includes a commentary on the poetic and linguistic features and socio-political significance of his work and of oral popular poetry in contemporary Jordan.
Ethnic conflict and memory: Remembering, forgetting and forgiving the past in Lebanon
Travel grantCraig Larkin (University of Exeter)
Excavations at Sidon, Lebanon
Research AwardDr Claude Doumet-Serhal (British Museum)
Project Website
To reconstruct Sidon's history through examination of the city's stratified layers.
First-hand study of Levantine Bronze and Iron Age material culture and sites at museums in Damascus, Aleppo, Lattakia, Beirut and Amman
Travel grantRachel Fentem (University College London)
Household and Community Storage Strategies in 3rd Millennium BC Cyprus
Travel grantSorina Spanou (University of Edinburgh)
Israelite Sanctuaries: New Theoretical Approaches
Travel grantTimothy Smith (University of Cardiff)
Muslim Communities in the Crusader States: A Historical and Archaeological Study
Travel grantRoderick Millard (University of Cardiff)
Networks Disrupted: a study of 'walling' on contiguous communities in Israel/Palestine and Cyprus
Research AwardDr Glenn Bowman (University of Kent)
New Beginnings? Education development in the informal Palestinian refugee camps of Southern Lebanon
Travel grantMaria Al-Adib (University of Manchester)
Palaeographical and archaeological analysis of the undeciphered syllabary of Bronze Age Cyprus, Cypro-Minoan
Travel grantSilvia Ferrara (University College London)
Rebranding the Levant
Affiliated Project
Prof Claudio Minca and Dr Jessica Jacobs (Royal Holloway)
Project Website
Redefining the ceramic 'regions' of Iron Age West Syria
Travel grantMatt Whincop (University of Durham)
Religious symbolism in Israeli politics: Strategies and counterstrategies of the secular left and the religious right
Travel grantMark Hudson (SOAS)
Re-narrating homeland: the case of Palestinian refugees in Jordan during the years of II Intifada
Travel grantLuigi Achilli (SOAS)
Ritual Practices in Mortuary and Domestic Contexts in Prehistoric East Mediterranean
Travel grantVasilki Koutrafouri (University of Edinburgh)
Sexuality, Shame and Honour – Attitudes towards ‘same-sex relationships’ between women in Jordan and Lebanon
CBRL Scholarship ProjectHazel Simons (formerly CBRL)
This project looks at the attitudes towards same-sex relations between women from a human rights perspective. It looks at theories of the construction of gender and sexuality within society in Jordan and Lebanon, in relation to attitudes towards, and problems faced by women within same-sex relations. It will examine social, religious and political factors which help determine how these relationships are perceived in general, and use interviews to get more personal, specific views from a number of different individuals. It is hoped that interviews will also be conducted with women within same-sex relations.
Statebuilding as Exclusion: (Re-)Defining Palestine
Affiliated ProjectDr Mandy Turner (University of Bradford)
Syrian Migrant Workers in Lebanon since 1990
Research AwardDr John Chalcraft (London School of Economics)
Research on the micropolitics of Syrian’s migration to Lebanon since 1990 with a focus on the production and reproduction of social networks between workers and employers
Syrian women’s attitudes to their experience of education
CBRL Scholarship ProjectKate Washington (formerly CBRL)
This project examines changing perceptions of gender roles within Syrian society by focusing on the educational experiences of Damascene women across two generations. My methodology is based on interviews with 20 women from Damascus who finished their education in the late 1960s and their daughters who finished in the late 1990s.
The Greek speaking community of Mina in Lebanon
Travel grantLasithiotaki Efsevia (University of Exeter)
The ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan
CBRL Scholarship ProjectAnne-Liliane Jorand (formerly CBRL)
The involvement of torture survivors in the rehabilitation programmes implemented by humanitarian agencies in Iraq and Lebanon
Travel grantMarie-Helene Pare (University of Oxford)
Psemitismenos Trelloukas and polity origins in Maroni Valley, Cyprus
Research AwardProf Sturt Manning (University of Toronto)
Pyla Geophysical Survey
Travel grantMichael Brown (University of Edinburgh)
UN Convention on the rights of the Child: UNRWA and service provision for stateless Palestinian refugees
Travel grantFay Mahdi (SOAS)
Wadi Rayyan, Ajlun (2001-2006)
Dr Jaimie Lovell (CBRL)
Investigation of olive production and the Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age transition in the Southern Levant. Funded by Australian Research Council and affiliated with CBRL.
Western Cyprus in the Middle Bronze Age
Travel grantLisa Graham (University of Edinburgh)