Material Culture in Central Asia and the Middle East II

A two-day conference on material culture in the Islamic Middle F.astand Central Asia with special reference to the innovation and diffusonof technology in the areas of engineering, architecture, carpet manufacture,and medicine, among others, was held in London between 5-6 May1994. It was hosted by the School of Oriental and African Studies(SOAS), University of London, United Kingdom. As conveners of theconference, Keith McLachlan (SOAS, University of London, UK) andRichard Tapper (SOAS, University of London, UK) pointed out that itwas the latest in a series of conferences to be held at SOAS on variousaspects of material culture. Earlier ones were entitled "Culinaty Culturesof the Middle Fat" (April 1992)," The Language of Dress in the MiddleEast" (November 1992), and the first conference on #Material Culture inCentral Asia and the Middle Fast" (June 1993).Participants reviewed nomadic, pastoralist, cultivator, and urban systemsand assessed the regions' role as centers for innovation and the diffusionof technologies, principally during the Islamic period. The firstscsmon of the conference's keynote speech was chaired by GhaziAlgosaibi (Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United Kingdom) andincluded a revealing paper titled "Arab and Islamic Contributions to Euro­pean Civilization." Rifat Ebied (professor of Semitic Studies, Universityof Sydney, Australia, and currently Visiting Fellow, Trinity Hall, Cambridge,UK) elaborated upon the historical issues concerning the productionof knowledge in the Muslim world and its transmission to Europe viaeducational establishments. Ebied pointed out that the Arabs inherited thescientific tradition of late antiquity, preserved and expanded it withvaluable additions, and finally passed it on to Europe. He outlined themajor segments of the Muslim world's massive contribution to westerncivilization, focusing on the influence of the Islamic legacy on Europe inthe various fields of knowledge, with particular emphasis on the Islamicorigins of the system of higher education (i.e., the creation of the universityas an institution). In the second session, Donald Hill read a paperentitled "Science and Technology in Islamic Building Construction,* inwhich he examined some of the scientific and technological content of

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