THE CAMEL CONFERENCE @ SOAS
A
Two-Day Conference to be held in London
on 23-25 May 2011
In May 2011 the School of Oriental
and African Studies will host an international conference examining,
documenting and celebrating camel cultures from around the world.
The Camel Conferences @ SOAS is open to members of the general public.
The conference will address all aspects of camel culture, past, present
and future and in all continents. It will deal with both material and cultural
concerns, and will cover both Dromedaries and Bactrians.
PROGRAMME OF SPEAKERS
[Please note that timings may vary]
Monday 23 May, Evening Session.
Venue: Room G3
6:00pm "Respect the
Camel" - Sebastian Lindstrom, Alicia Sully and Philippa Young [Independent
film makers "What Took You So Long" project]
6.30pm "Filming camels in
Mali"
Dylan Watkins [Independent researcher, Cambridge]
An illustrated talk about the camel salt caravan in Mali
6.45pm "Camerons Camel Campaign" A showing of Cameron
Olivers Powerpoint presentation about saving camels.
Tuesday 24 May- Morning session
Khalili Lecture Theatre
10.00am "The camel (C.
dromedarius; C. bactrianus): an ancient livestock species with modern
productive qualities for an arid 21st century" Maurizio Dioli
[Independent researcher]
10.30am "Camel wrestling events in Western Turkey"
Ali Fuat Aydin [of Izmir] [Text of
paper]
11.00am Coffee break
11.30am "Comparing
camels in Afghanistan
and Australia:
Industry and nationalism during the long nineteenth century" Shah
Mahmoud Hanifi [James Madison University, Virginia, USA]
12.00am "The association
between Bedouin Al-sadu weaving and the camel" Keireine Canavan [University
of Wales Institute, Cardiff - UWIC]
12.30pm Lunch break
2.00pm "The wild
camel" John Hare [Wild Camel Protection Foundation]
2.30pm "The status of
the camel in the United States of America"
Doug Baum [Texas Camel Corps]
3.00pm "The Weeping
Camel" Film [2003] dir. Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni [Excerpt]
4.00pm Tea break
4.30pm "Old
World camels reproduction: Nature, current technologies and future prospects" Khalid Ahmed El-Bahrawy [Desert
Research Center (DRC), Cairo]
5.00pm "Mangrota Camel
Fair: a major socio-economic and cultural event in Pakistan"
A. Raziq [Camel Association of Pakistan] [Paper will be presented by video]
5.30pm "The prospects
for the camel in Australia"
Petronella Vaarzon-Morel, Glenn Edwards and Murray McGregor [Australia]
PLEASE NOTE: Tuesdays
sessions will end with a 30-minute concert of Camel Songs in the Brunei Gallery
Lecture Theatre, at around 6.00pm,
and then we shall go to a local restaurant to eat, from 7.30pm. All are welcome to join us.
Wednesday 25 May, Morning Session.
Venue: Khalili Lecture Theatre
10.00am "Relations between camels and communities in Butana,
Sudan" Merijn
Offringa [African Studies Centre, Leiden, Netherlands]
10.20am Showing of
"What Took You So Long" video short.
10.30am "Gas
chromatography mass spectrophotometry (gc-ms) analysis of female camel urine
extracts" Salwa Elbasheir [Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, Khartoum,
Sudan]
11.00am "A study on
camel (Camelus dromedarius) Trypanosomiasis: transmitting vectors in Somaliland"
Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed Nur [Sheikh Technical
Veterinary School, Somalia][Presentation via video]
11.30am Coffee break
12.00am "The
commodification of camel milk in Kenya"
David Anderson, Hannah Elliott, Hassan Hussein Kochore and Emma Lochery [The
British Institute in Eastern Africa]
12.30am "One hump or
two? Hybrid camels and pastoral cultures revisited" Richard Tapper [University
of London] [Text of
paper]
1.00pm Lunch break
2.00pm "The historical
spread of Trypanosoma evansi (surra) in camels: a factor in the weakening of
Islam?" William G. Clarence-Smith [SOAS, London]
[Text
of paper]
2.30pm "Camels and the
Hajj: A window onto the Islamicate world in the 18th century Gagan D.S. Sood
[European University Institute, Florence, Italy]
3.00pm Tea Break
3.30pm Camel culture and
camel terminology among the Omani Bedouin" Mohammed Bar Ingema Al-Mahri,
Domenyk Eades and Janet Watson [University
of Salford]
4.00pm "Camel songs and
dances" Ed Emery [SOAS, London]
4.30pm Closing session
Some of the participants at the Camel
Conference @ SOAS on 24-25 May 2011. Photo: Alicia Sully
ORGANISERS:
William Gervase Clarence-Smith [SOAS] Professor of the Economic History
of Asia and Africa [Conference chair]
Ed Emery [SOAS] [Conference organiser]
REGISTRATION:
If you wish to register to attend the Conference, please send an e-mail
to ed.emery@soas.ac.uk
A Registration Form will be sent by return, and also a formal invitation
letter for anyone needing to apply for visas.
The fees for Conference registration are as follows:
Standard fee: £30
Students and unwaged: £10
SOAS staff and students: Free -
but pre-registration by e-mail is required
Conference speakers: Free
The conference will include an evening of films on Monday 23 May, to
which you are cordially invited, and a small concert of camel-related musics.
Admission to these is included in the fee for registration.
You may be interested to know that we plan a second conference, to be
held at SOAS in 2013, and submissions for that conference are welcome.
For further information, write to: camelconference@soas.ac.uk