Lamia Balafrej
Biographic Data
| ID | 5635934 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lamia Balafrej |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lamia |
| FAMILY NAME | Balafrej |
| SIGNATURE | BALAFREJ L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California, Los Angeles |
| ORCID | 0009-0002-7737-3588 |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 7 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
The Black Box, Animated Idols, and Racialization
This essay argues that the black box—both as cryptic device and as critique of illegibility—is not unique to modern technology and has deep roots in the medieval Mediterranean world. Technical opacity was frequently addressed in Latin and Arabic sources, often with a critical undertone. Then as now, technoskeptical writers saw the self-acting device as treacherous, due to its reliance on hidden labor and mechanisms. This critique arose especially…
Instrumental Jawārī
Female domestic slaves designated as jawārī (sing. jāriya) featured in a range of medieval Arabic sources, including treatises on the mechanical arts. They appeared, for example, as liquid-serving devices and timekeepers. Scholarship on automated jawārī, however, has been scant; little, in fact, has been written on gender, slavery, and technology in the medieval Middle East. Generally, figurative machines have been framed as either practical, pro…
Domestic Slavery, Skin Colour, and Image Dialectic in Thirteenth‐Century Arabic Manuscripts
This essay is the first scholarly exploration of slavery's visual representation in medieval Islam. Close examination of thirteenth‐century paintings from Arabic manuscripts, considered alongside textual sources, reveals how images may contribute to the study of slavery in the premodern Middle East. In particular, these paintings confirm the link between domestic service and the trade in black African slaves. They also suggest that if skin colour…
Wondrous Signature
Chapter 4 explores the expressive qualities of the line in Persian painting and drawing. Using contemporary sources that linked linear precision to the maker’s dexterity and morality, this chapter focuses on the line as a vehicle of artistic representation. For historical viewers, the line read less as a contour designed to create motifs than as an object in its own right, endowed with plastic meaning and expressive effects. The line not only cap…
Painting about Painting
This book constitutes the first exploration of artistic self-reflection in Islamic art. In the absence of a tradition of self-portraiture, how could artists signal their presence within a painting? Centred on late Timurid manuscript painting (ca. 1470-1500), this book reveals that pictures could function as the painter’s delegate, charged with the task of centring and defining artistic work, even as they did not represent the artist’s likeness. I…
Compilations of the Bustān of Saʿdī in Iran, Central Asia, and Turkey, ca. 1470–1550
This article presents two hitherto unstudied compilations of verses from the Bustān of Saʿdī. Both circulated in the Persianate world in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The article provides an analysis of the compilations’ content as well as their relation to the complete Bustān . By highlighting certain stories and themes at the expense of others, and by ordering these passages in a way that differs from the complete Bustān , each compila…
The Making of the Artist in Late Timurid Painting
This book constitutes the first exploration of artistic self-reflection in Islamic art. In the absence of a tradition of self-portraiture, how could artists signal their presence within a painting? Centred on late Timurid manuscript painting (ca. 1470-1500), this book reveals that pictures could function as the painter’s delegate, charged with the task of centring and defining artistic work, even as they did not represent the artist’s likeness. I…
Domestic Slavery, Skin Colour, and Image Dialectic in Thirteenth‐Century Arabic Manuscripts
This essay is the first scholarly exploration of slavery's visual representation in medieval Islam. Close examination of thirteenth‐century paintings from Arabic manuscripts, considered alongside textual sources, reveals how images may contribute to the study of slavery in the premodern Middle East. In particular, these paintings confirm the link between domestic service and the trade in black African slaves. They also suggest that if skin colour…
The Making of the Artist in Late Timurid Painting
This book constitutes the first exploration of artistic self-reflection in Islamic art. In the absence of a tradition of self-portraiture, how could artists signal their presence within a painting? Centred on late Timurid manuscript painting (ca. 1470-1500), this book reveals that pictures could function as the painter’s delegate, charged with the task of centring and defining artistic work, even as they did not represent the artist’s likeness. I…
Compilations of the Bustān of Saʿdī in Iran, Central Asia, and Turkey, ca. 1470–1550
This article presents two hitherto unstudied compilations of verses from the Bustān of Saʿdī. Both circulated in the Persianate world in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The article provides an analysis of the compilations’ content as well as their relation to the complete Bustān . By highlighting certain stories and themes at the expense of others, and by ordering these passages in a way that differs from the complete Bustān , each compila…
Wondrous Signature
Chapter 4 explores the expressive qualities of the line in Persian painting and drawing. Using contemporary sources that linked linear precision to the maker’s dexterity and morality, this chapter focuses on the line as a vehicle of artistic representation. For historical viewers, the line read less as a contour designed to create motifs than as an object in its own right, endowed with plastic meaning and expressive effects. The line not only cap…
Painting about Painting
This book constitutes the first exploration of artistic self-reflection in Islamic art. In the absence of a tradition of self-portraiture, how could artists signal their presence within a painting? Centred on late Timurid manuscript painting (ca. 1470-1500), this book reveals that pictures could function as the painter’s delegate, charged with the task of centring and defining artistic work, even as they did not represent the artist’s likeness. I…
Compilations of the Bustān of Saʿdī in Iran, Central Asia, and Turkey, ca. 1470–1550
This article presents two hitherto unstudied compilations of verses from the Bustān of Saʿdī. Both circulated in the Persianate world in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The article provides an analysis of the compilations’ content as well as their relation to the complete Bustān . By highlighting certain stories and themes at the expense of others, and by ordering these passages in a way that differs from the complete Bustān , each compila…
The Making of the Artist in Late Timurid Painting
This book constitutes the first exploration of artistic self-reflection in Islamic art. In the absence of a tradition of self-portraiture, how could artists signal their presence within a painting? Centred on late Timurid manuscript painting (ca. 1470-1500), this book reveals that pictures could function as the painter’s delegate, charged with the task of centring and defining artistic work, even as they did not represent the artist’s likeness. I…
Domestic Slavery, Skin Colour, and Image Dialectic in Thirteenth‐Century Arabic Manuscripts
This essay is the first scholarly exploration of slavery's visual representation in medieval Islam. Close examination of thirteenth‐century paintings from Arabic manuscripts, considered alongside textual sources, reveals how images may contribute to the study of slavery in the premodern Middle East. In particular, these paintings confirm the link between domestic service and the trade in black African slaves. They also suggest that if skin colour…
Instrumental Jawārī
Female domestic slaves designated as jawārī (sing. jāriya) featured in a range of medieval Arabic sources, including treatises on the mechanical arts. They appeared, for example, as liquid-serving devices and timekeepers. Scholarship on automated jawārī, however, has been scant; little, in fact, has been written on gender, slavery, and technology in the medieval Middle East. Generally, figurative machines have been framed as either practical, pro…
The Black Box, Animated Idols, and Racialization
This essay argues that the black box—both as cryptic device and as critique of illegibility—is not unique to modern technology and has deep roots in the medieval Mediterranean world. Technical opacity was frequently addressed in Latin and Arabic sources, often with a critical undertone. Then as now, technoskeptical writers saw the self-acting device as treacherous, due to its reliance on hidden labor and mechanisms. This critique arose especially…
Art (5 works) · Islamic Studies and History (5 works) · Literature (5 works) · Eurasian Exchange Networks (4 works) · History (4 works) · Painting (4 works) · Visual arts (4 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Politics (3 works) · Relation (database (3 works)