NSM

Nordisk Midtaustenbulletin
34, juli-august 1997

Tema:

Ein liten bulletin igjen, sjøl om den også nå dekker to månader. Det er fortsatt sommar i Bergen, og lite informasjon strømmer inn. Men det er vel betre med ein tynn bulletin enn ingen, så her kjem det vi har:

New books

Den arabiske verden forteller. Arabiske noveller, utvalgt og presentert av Gunvor Mejdell og Sabry Hafez. Oslo: Bokklubben Kunnskap og Kultur 1997, ISBN 82-525-3995-6. 620 s.
Vi omtalte denne kort sist, og må korrigere ein feil: Sjøl om den er utgitt av ein norsk bokklubb, kanden likevel også bestillas gjennom vanlige bokhandlar. Det kan vere lurt å hugse ISBN-nummeret. Det kan vere lurt, for det er ei omfattande og original novellesamling som her ligg føre. Det er tilsammen 69 novellar i boka, gruppert geografisk. Rimelig nok har Egypt hovudtyngda (25 noveller), men alle land frå Algerie til Irak og Kuwait er representert. Dette er moderne noveller, frå vårt århundre. Alle unntatt to er omsatt direkte frå arabisk, av ulike arabistar i Oslo. Kvar novelle er utstyrt med ein kort forfattarbiografi, som sammen med innleiinga gjer boka enda meir interessant frå litteraturvitskaplig vinkel.

*** The 1996 yearbook of the Middle East Centre in Bergen has appeared (see below). It contains information of some books by Bergen scholars, published in 1996 but not listed here before. They are:

Survival on meagre resources: Hadendowa pastoralism in the Red Sea Hills, ed by Leif O. Manger, Hassan Abd el Ati et alii, Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet (Almqvist & Wiksell) 1996, pp. 244. ISBN: 91-7106-386-2

This is the first comprehensive study of pastoralism in the Sinkat provice of eastern Sudan. The chapters discuss the effects of the drought and of human activities, and the effects of the pastoral patterns of migration. One author cliams that the recurring catastrophes cannot be caused just by the village inhabitants and their activities, but must be seen in an wider economic and political perspective, where the villages have become more and more marginalized. The books is based on the Red Sea Area Program, see under 'Research: Centre for Development Studies' above.

Turco-Bulgarica: Artcles in English and French concerning Turkish influence on Bulgarian by Alf Grannes Turcologica, 20. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1996, pp. ix, 320.

This is a revised collection of articles published over the years 1969-90 on the issue, both through lexical studies and on particular authors (Vazov, Vojnikov). Most of the articles focus on the Bulgarian language of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. At that time, particularly in Eastern Bulgaria, the influence from Turkish was strong, as it was in literature. This influence has diminished in this century. However, it is still stronger in dialects, slang and similar language variants than normally admitted. This may even have become more noticeable through the greater openness towards such variants in the written language after the fall of communism.

The Seven Days of Man by Abdel-Hakim Kassem, translated by Joseph N. Bell, Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press 1996, pp. xxi, 218.

This novel is considered to be one of the finest works of the Arabic novel tradition as well as an invaluable social document. Its framework is the seven days it takes a group of Sufi brothers in a village of the Egyptian delta to prepare for their annual visit to Tanta and the mawlid of their saint, Sayyid al-Badawi. The seven days, being the same seven as that of God's creation of the world, makes the village a microcosm of the universe. The translation of this 'anthropological novel' is the result of years of careful study and revision, in collaboration with the author of the novel, who died in 1990.

*** It is an article, not a book, but since I can cut from another mailing list, the one by Middle East librarians, and it may have a wider interest, I'll include the note I found on:

'Dansk arabistik og islamforskning i det 17.-19. århundrede: hovedtræk bibliografisk belyst' af StigT. Rasmussen (In _Fund og Forskning i Det Kongelige Biblioteks Samlinger_ 35 (1996), pp.257-291.

This contains extensive biographical information, and detailed bibliographies, of 22 scholars, including well-known figures such as Adam Olearius (1599-1671), the botanist Peter Forsskaal (1732-1763) and the historian of the Arabic book, J.P.E.Pedersen (1883-1974), as well as obscurer scholars who did important work in our field. As the inclusion of Pedersen indicates, the 20th century is also partially covered, despite the title. [from presentation by G. Roper]

Proceedings from Danish conferences

We have received two proceedings volumes from seminars held under the Danish Middle East Network in 1996.

One is Water in the Middle East - a source of conflict or cooperation?.(ed. Martin Hvidt; held at Odenese 26 August 1996). It contains papers by Tony Allan, N. Kliot, Aaron Wolf and the editor, on water issues and conflicts around Tigris, the Nile and the Jordan valley.

The second is Religious minorities in the Arab Middle East: Cultural Practices and Political Strategies. (Magelsås, 2-3 December 1996), with papers by Samuel Rizk, Lise Galal, Ahmad Moussalli, Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen, and others on Copts, Druze, Shi'a of Lebanon and the Gulf and related themes.

Each volume contains is about 100 pp. Availability is not announced, but contact the Network Secretariat at the Carsten Niebuhr Insitute, Leifsgade 3, DK-2301 Copenhagen, who will have further information.

Conferences

From the MESA and Brismes newsletters.

Acta Orientalia appeal

In the Middle East Librarians group, I found this message posted by Simon Parpola of Helsinki, which is worth repeating in our forum:

"ACTA ORIENTALIA, a journal founded in 1922 and published annually under the auspices of the Oriental Societies of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, is devoted to the study of the languages, history, archaeology and religions of the Orient from the earliest times to our days. It is issued once a year, and each issue normally contains at least 300 pages. This well-known refereed journal is now on the verge of ceasing publication. The Nordic Publications Board for Humanistic Periodicals funding the journal has stipulated that a conditio sine qua non is that the journal has a minimum of 200 subscribers. Due to tightening budgets the world over, the number of subscriptions has been steadily dropping and is now very close to that limit. If your library is not already subscribing to Acta Orientalia, please make a suggestion to that effect.

The annual subscription rate is 420 Danish crowns (DKK), and the subscription order can be placed at
Munksgaard International Publishers Ltd,
POB 2148,
DK-1016 Copenhagen K, Denmark
(tel. +45 33 12 70 30, fax +45 33 12 93 87)
Every subscription counts!!! Thanks in advance for your efforts to help AO survive.

Yours,
Asko Parpola, Professor of South Asian Studies, University of Helsinki"

He also added the latest contents, of which we include an extract:

Vol 57 (1996)

Frede Lokkegaard: Rough treatment without an instrument (pp. 7-12)
Raju Kalidos: Nataraja as portrayed in the Tevaram hymns (pp. 13-56)
Claus Oetke: "Nihilist" and "non-nihilist" interpretations of Madhyamaka (pp. 57-104)
Peter Schalk: A. J. Wilson on Tantai celva (pp. 105-115)
Roy Andrew Miller: Language, linguistics and Japanology (pp. 116-140)
Poul Andersen: Taoist talismans and the history of the Tianxin tradition (pp. 141-152)
Book reviews (pp. 153-294)

As we can see, much East Asian, however, in the earlier two issues did have a heavy concentration of Middle Eastern material (only relevant items included):

Vol 56 (1995):

Philippe Provencal: Note on the zoological identification of the birds named Bulbul, 'Andalib and Hazar in Arabic and their translation / zoological identification in some dictionaries (pp. 31-38)
Francois de Blois: The 'Sabians' (Sabi'un) in pre-Islamic Arabia (pp. 39-61)
Andrey Korotayev: Middle Sabaean cultural-political area: Qayls and their tribesmen, clients and maqtawIs (pp. 62-77)
Mohamed Meouak: Representations, emblemes et signes de la souverainete politique des Umayyades d'al-Andalus d'apres les textes arabes (pp. 78-105)
Thomas Oberlies: Arjunas Himmelreise und die Tirthayatra der Pandavas (pp. 106-124)
Jaakko Hameen-Anttila: Oral vs. written: Some notes on the Arabian Nights (pp. 184-192)

Vol 55 (1994)

Abdelmadjid Allaoua: La question du sujet nul et la fonction sujet en berbere (pp. 7-22)
Andrey Korotayev: Legal system of the Middle Sabaean cultural-political area (pp. 42-54)
Wael B. Hallaq: Murder in Cordoba: Ijtihad, Ifta' and the evolution of substantive law in medieval Islam (pp. 55-83)
Jaakko Hameen-Anttila: On the personal library of 'Abdal-qadir al-Baghdadi (pp. 84-101)
Georg Buddruss: Epilegomena zu einem Baloci-Glossar (pp. 102-105)

New literature journal

The British newsletter also tells that a new journal has been launched. The Journal of Arabic and Middle Eastern Literatures should, as the name says, covers study on both Arabic and non-Arabic literature of the region, including Turkish, Persian, Kurdish, Urdu, Hebrew and Berber. Its first editor a member of our society, James Montgomery, late of Oslo and from September 1997 at Cambridge; together with Robin Ostle of the same institution. If anyone wants further editorial contact, write to James Montgomery, Trinity Hall, fx +44-1223-462116, mailto:semjem@lucs-mac.nouvell.leeds.ac.uk.

New publications from Bergen

Three new regular publications have been produced over the summer. One is volume 7 of our journal, Sudanic Africa. This, as many may recall, is an annual journal specializing in presenting and discussing historical sources - not just from the Sudan, as some may believe! - but from the width of the 'Sudanic Belt' from Mauritania to Somalia and beyond. Of the topics presented in this issues are, a waqf of books from Zanzibar; some poems from the not-so-insane 'Mad Mullah' of Somalia; an African merchant's eyewitness account of the British occupation of Kano in Nigeria; a very esoteric poem in praise of the Malian mystic Hamahu 'llah; and a major study by Bernd Radtke on a key Sufi work, the Ibriz, where he makes a definite statement on the 'tariqa Muhammadiya' debate. Subscriptions from the Centre, at NOK 150 per year for individuals.
Check also out http://www.hf.uib.no/smi/sa/sa7toc.html.

Another regular is the 'yearbook' of the Middle East Centre in Bergen, where we present research and publications etc. of the Middle East scholars at our University. A regular update, the publication list alone may make this a worthwhile addition. The material is also available on the net, where we accumulate, not replace the research information, that is books, published articles, dissertations (doctorates and MAs) passed and in project. Check out
http://www.hf.uib.no/smi/meb/mebtoc.html. For those who prefer a paper copy, that can be arranged, if you send us a self-addressed stamped envelope (or, if you live outside Norway, put in 20 kr in cash or into the Society's giro account.)

On the way is the second volume of the 'Bergen Studies on the Middle East and Africa', Camilla Nereid's In the light of Said Nursi. At the printers now, we'll announce it in 'New books' in the next issue.

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Responsible for this Web page is Knut S. Vikør. Archived 21.8.97