Reviews & further information

The Blood-Red Arab Flag

"The Blood-Red Arab Flag offers such a detailed and surgically sharp analysis of British policy and action, on the one hand, and the maritime history of the Gulf in general and the Qawasim in particular, that it may indeed, for a considerable time, be regarded as the definitive work on the subject...this book is highly recommended. Davies has made a major contribution to a crucial period of Gulf and British history which maritime historians will read with great advantage."
The Northern Mariner Vol.VIII, No 4 1998

"Despite the lurid title, this is a serious historical work-sometimes indeed a little too serious to make for easy reading-but it does lead us to a fascinating but almost forgotten area of Middle Eastern history. . . a fascinating and scholarly book . . ."
Times Literary Supplement, September 4 1998

"...the book's analysis shows that the common superficial view of piracy in the Gulf area obscures not only the complex issues of the relations between the Gulf states and Britain but the actual nature and ramifications of this particular chapter in the history of marine violence. . . This book makes a major contribution to Arab Gulf studies."
Lloyd's List, January 17, 1998

During the years 1797-1820 the Qasimi Arabs or Qawasim, inhabitants of the present day United Arab Emirates, acquired an enduring reputation as ruthless pirates. Some of their victims flew the British flag, and thus their actions were to provide the initial stimulus and justification for 150 years of British involvement in the Gulf.

Recently, however, it has been doubted whether the Qawasim were in fact pirates. In a scholarly but accessible account founded on contemporary sources, illustrated with testimonies of eye-witnesses and participants, THE BLOOD-RED ARAB FLAG sets out to decide this controversial question. By making use of valuable and hitherto untapped archival material, Charles Davies strongly evokes a flavour of life in the Gulf in this turbulent and formative period in the Gulf's history.

• First in-depth investigation into controversial subject
• Helps explain why the Gulf is as it is today
• Evocative, accessible style based on original research

Author: Charles E. Davies is a barrister and an Honorary Research Fellow in the Centre for Arab Gulf Studies, University of Exeter.

From Ta'izz to Tyneside

"The book) serves as more than simply the history of a small community in the north-east of England. In methodological terms, and in the ways in which it seeks to do justice to the subjects of its study, it is a model which historians and sociologists working in the general area of 'race' and ethnicity should study carefully. Its sensitivity and its depth of research, including some wonderful photographs, deserve a considerable audience."Immigrants and Minorities

From Ta'izz to Tyneside is the first in-depth study of early Arab immigrants to Britain, and provides a unique insight into their everyday lives. During the First World War, several thousand Arab seafarers arrived in a number of British ports; most came from the Yemen and neighbouring parts of Britain's Aden Protectorate. They represent the first significant Muslim communities to settle in Britain. The book focuses on Tyneside because this is the only area for which there are extensive local archival sources.

Events on Tyneside are set in their national and international contexts. Throughout the interwar period, declining employment opportunities in shipping brought intense competition for jobs, and the Arab seamen found themselves unwanted guests; discrimination, abuse, regulation and control intensified.

Readership: Students of sociology, anthropology, ethnic relations, social history, geography, Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, maritime history. The general reader interested in the history of Tyneside. Schoolteachers wishing to include in their teaching more about the contribution of ethnic communities to British history.

RICHARD LAWLESS is a former Director of the Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, University of Durham and currently Emeritus Reader in Middle Eastern Studies.

From the Gulf to Central Asia

The demise of the Soviet Union, and the emergence of independent republics in its wake, have had profound implications for the regions on its periphery. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Caucasus and Central Asia. The essays in this book explore the complex ways in which these republics have found both independence and a new regional identity in their relations with the neighbouring Middle East. Religion, hydro-carbons, transportation needs and ethnic relations with the Gulf States have been rediscovered by the new republics, the study of which provides the basic subject matter for the book. The interests and activities of other regional powers are not excluded, with particular attention being given to the playing out of Russian, Turkish and American interests in countering the perceived rise of political Islam in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Readership:Academics and postgraduates in politics, economics and international studies, especially those taking courses on the Middle East, West Asia and the former USSR. The specialist reader involved in the oil industries and government.

ANOUSHIRAVAN EHTESHAMI is Senior Lecturer in Middle East Politics, University of Durham.

CONTENTS

1. The 50 Million Muslim Misunderstanding: The West and Central Asia Today (Paul A. Goble)
2. Islamic Consciousness and Nationalist Ideology in Central Asia: What Role for Foreign Actors? (Martha Brill Olcott)
3. Islam: Iranian and Saudi Arabian Religious and Geopolitical Competition in Central Asia (Valeria F. Piacentini)
4. Saudi Arabia and Central Asia: The Islamic Connection (Mai Yamani)
5. The Problems of Creating Economies in Central Asia (Andrew M. Apostolou)
6. Central Asia, Persian Gulf and Regional Development Organizations (Mohammad H. Akbari and Mahmood G. Tabatabaie)
7. Uzbekistan and the Gulf Co-operation Council: Perspectives of Political and Economic Co-operation (Z. I. Munavvarov)
8. New Frontiers: Iran, the GCC and the CCARs (Anoushiravan Ehteshami)
9. Iran and Central Asia (Eric Hooglund)
10. Turkey and Iran in Transcaucasia and Central Asia (Alexei Vassilev)
11. Azerbaijan and Armenian Conflict and Coexistence (G. Reza Sabri-Tabrizi)
12. Russia in Central Asia: Emerging Security Links (Maxim Shashenkov)
13. Western Security Strategy in South West Asia (Rosemary Hollis)
14. The Political and Security Linkages Between the Gulf and the Muslim States of CATR (Vitaly Naumkin)
15. An Arab Perspective on the Central Asian Republics in the Context of the New World Order (Riad N. El-Rayyes)

Higher Education in the Gulf

Higher Education in the Gulf stresses the need for engagement with the problems of the Gulf States as developing countries and the roles which practical, locally-based research can play in promoting balanced, self-reliant development. For too long work in the West relating to the Gulf has concentrated on oil, military and political issues, and this book looks beyond these to the neglected areas of social, cultural and human capital aspects of modernisation. It is deliberately intended to suggest and promote research.

• Up to date information derived from field experience
• Deliberately intended to suggest and promote further research
• Looks at social and cultural life rather than military and political issues

Market: Scholars and students of Arabic and Islamic studies; Education; Comparative Education. Academic libraries. The general reader with an interest in the Arabian Peninsula.

Editor: K.E. Shaw recently retired from the School of Education, University of Exeter and now concentrates on research in Middle East education.

Contributors: The contributors are mainly academics working in universities in the Gulf region.

CONTENTS

Introduction, K.E. Shaw 
1. Gulf Higher Education: Overview from the West and Some Themes for Research, K.E. Shaw
2. Internal Evaluation in Higher Education: Towards a Model for Third World Countries, Nathir G. Sara, Professor of Educational Administration, University of Bahrein
3. Quantifiable and Unquantifiable Costs and Benefits of Higher Education in an Arab Gulf Context, Kamil Mahdi, Centre for Arab Gulf Studies, University of Exeter 
4. Strategic Studies in the Gulf, A. Rathmell, Centre for Arab Gulf Studies, University of Exeter
5. The Dialogue of Ink, Blood and Water: Higher Education in Iraq, Progress and Problems, A.J. Allaq, University of Sana'a, Yemen
6. Higher Education in Oman: Its Development and Prospects, M. al-Shibiny, Dean, College of Education and Islamic Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman
7. Higher Education in the UAE: History and Prospects, Khalifa al-Suwaidi, Faculty of Education, UAE University
8. Prospects of Higher Education in the UAE: The Higher Colleges of Technology, S. al-Jassim, Director, Communications and Manpower, Higher Colleges of Technology
9. Sudanese Influences on Gulf Higher Education, H.O. Ahmed, Institute of African and Asian Studies, University of Khartoum
10. Omanisation and Faculty Development in Oman, F.N. al-Farsi, Director, Staff Development, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman
11. Faculty and Administration in Oman, Khalifa al-Saadi, Administration, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman
12. Curriculum and Teacher Training in the UAE, H.A. al-Banna, Head of Planning, Sharjah Police

New Arabian Studies Volume Three

New Arabian Studies Volume 4

It is good that New Arabian Studies provides also a forum for the work of contemporary Arab scholars who have done research work in British universities before returning to posts within the Peninsula.
Royal Asiatic Society, Vol 10, Part 1, April 2000

"This volume, like its predecessors in this series, includes a variety of topics all relating to the Arabian Peninsula. We find articles on language and literature, dialect, geography, archaeology, history, architecture, agriculture, sociology, religion and documents. It also includes illustrations and reproduction of documents in facsimile form, where needed, to support the text. The journal's main aim is to make available to scholars with specializations in various aspects of Arabia new research findings, in addition to traditional themes treated separately or in joint anthologies and also to entice those living in or interested in Arabia to join researchers in making contributions of their own. . . It would be difficulty for this reviewer to generalize on the quality of articles in this volume of Arabian Studies. One can safely say that the authors are specialists in the fields they wrote about, either through training and basic research or through personal experience. Diversity in the topics enlisted reflects also the range of the journal's interests in research and publication on the Arabian peninsula. Generally, the authors have bequeathed the reader a wealth of first-hand data, regardless of the field of specialization, which scholars should find useful in carrying out their work. The editors, as usual, have done an excellent job in controlling the quality of transcription, even though more than one system was employed."
Journal of Semitic Studies Volume 44, Number 2 1999

"The standard is high and the spread impressive . . . Anyone concerned with Arabia will find things of interest here . . . Though the journal avoids current politics, the contributions are also valuable in following new events."
Asian Affairs

"The contributions are consistent in their scholarly level and the editors deserve congratulation on their judicious choice of material for inclusion. A high standard has been set and one can but wish New Arabian Studies every success for the future."
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

• Covers a wide spectrum of topics relating to the Arabian Peninsula
• Next volume in established and respected series
• Will appeal to both the specialist and general reader

Market: Scholars and students of Arabic and Islamic studies. Academic libraries. The general reader with an interest in the Arabian Peninsula.

Editors: J.R. Smart is Lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter; G. Rex Smith is Professor of Arabic, University of Manchester; B.R. Pridham is the former Director of the Centre for Arab Gulf Studies, University of Exeter.

New Arabian Studies Volume 5

"The cement that holds this wonderful, widely diverse collection together is the superb editorial treatment: transliteration and transcription from the Arabic uniformly accurate; the English context soundly standardized and regularized, and the illustrative material clearly reproduced."
Journal of Semitic Studies

"The standard is high and the spread impressive . . . Anyone concerned with Arabia will find things of interest here."
Asian Affairs

"The contributions are consistent in their scholarly level and the editors deserve congratulation on their judicious choice of material for inclusion."
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

• Covers a wide spectrum of topics relating to the Arabian Peninsula 
•  Will appeal to both the specialist and general reader
•  Includes 32 page colour section and 37 black-and-white illustrations

Editors: G. Rex Smith is retired and was previously Professor of Arabic, University of Manchester; J.R. Smart is retired and was previously a lecturer in Arabic, University of Exeter; B.R. Pridham is the former Director of the Centre for Arab Gulf Studies, University of Exeter.

CONTENTS

Review notice
1. Some Notes on Two Yemeni Contemporary Documents, Hussain Abdullah al-Amri
2. Erythraean Ichthyophagi: Arabian Fish Eaters Observed, William J. Donaldson
3. The Ibex Hunt in the Rock Art of Oman, Ali Tigani ElMahi
4. Smuggling and International Politics in the Red Sea in the Late Ottoman Period, Caesar E. Farah
5. Wise Men Control Wasteful Women: Documents on 'Customs and Traditions' in the Kathiri Archive, Say'un Ulrike Freitag and Hanne Schönig 
6. The Small Long-Handled Axes of Oman, David Insall
7. Four English Artists at Aden 1839-1847, Eric Macro
8. The Canon and Proportion of Pre-Islamic Arabian Sculptures, Hamid I. Al-Mazrou

New Arabian Studies 6  

‘This volume [New Arabian Studies 4], like its predecessors in this series, includes a variety of topics all relating to the Arabian Peninsula. We find articles on language and literature, dialect, geography, archaeology, history, architecture, agriculture, sociology, religion and documents.  It also includes illustrations and reproduction of documents in facsimile form, where needed, to support the text. 

The journal’s main aim is to make available to scholars with specializations in various aspects of Arabia new research findings, in addition to traditional themes treated separately or in joint anthologies and also to entice those living in or interested in Arabia to join researchers in making contributions of their own . . . The authors are specialists in the fields they write about, either through training and basic research or through personal experience.  Diversity in the topics enlisted reflects also the range of the journal’s interests in research and publication on the Arabian peninsula. 

Generally, the authors have bequeathed the reader a wealth of first-hand data, regardless of the field of specialization, which scholars should find useful in carrying out their work.  The editors, as usual, have done an excellent job in controlling the quality of transcription, even though more than one system was employed.’ 
Journal of Semitic Studies

• Latest volume in this acclaimed series

• Covers a wide spectrum of topics relating to the Arabian Peninsula

• Will appeal to both the specialist and general reader interested in the Arabian Peninsula

Market:  Scholars and students of Arabic and Islamic studies. Academic libraries.  The general reader with an interest in the Arabian Peninsula.

Editors: G. Rex Smith is retired and was previously Professor of Arabic, University of Manchester; J.R. Smart is retired and was previously a lecturer in Arabic, University of Exeter; B.R. Pridham is the former Director of the Centre for Arab Gulf Studies, University of Exeter.

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