Conference ‘Orientality: Cultural Orientalism and Mentality’
Pembroke hosted the conference ‘Orientality: Cultural Orientalism and Mentality’organised by Dr Firuza Melville of the Cambridge Shahnama Centre at Pembroke College, Cambridge and Dr Olga Nefedova of the Orientalist Museum, Doha.
Over two days (17-18 May 2013) museum curators, academics and writers coming from the UK, Europe, Qatar, Turkey, Uzbekistan and the USA presented a wide range of papers examining different aspects of Cultural Orientalism, including visual art, literature, music and dance.
The conference was organised by the Cambridge Shahnama Centre, jointly with the Orientalist Museum Doha and was a part of the Qatar-UK 2013 cultural programme, which was launched in November 2012. It was developed in partnership with Qatar’s Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, Qatar Museums Authority, Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, the British Council, and the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The programme also included the participation of Qatar’s Museum of Islamic Art, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Doha Film Institute and Katara Cultural Village Foundation.
This was a joint initiative between the Orientalist Museum, Doha and Pembroke College Cambridge, supported by the HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and the Department of Architecture and History of Art, University of Cambridge.