Arts and Crafts in the Late Ottoman Empire: Rethinking Practices and Concepts of Material Culture in Syria and Beyond
LAU Beirut campus
About the Conference
Arts and Crafts in the Late Ottoman Empire: Rethinking Practices and Concepts of Material Culture in Syria and Beyond (18th–early 20th c.) examines the production, circulation, and transformation of material culture during a period of profound social, economic, and technological change.
Focusing on Syria and the broader Ottoman world, the conference brings together scholars working across art and architectural history, material culture, craft, heritage, and social and economic history. It considers objects and practices as products of complex networks of artisans, patrons, merchants, institutions, technologies, and systems of knowledge.
Attention is given to the changing meanings of craft and artisanal production in the context of industrialization, expanding global markets, new technologies, museums and exhibitions, and emerging concepts of art and heritage. The papers explore both local practices and the circulation of objects, materials, techniques, and ideas across regional and imperial boundaries.
Taken together, the contributions reconsider the relationship between material culture, knowledge, and modernity as an integral part of the history of the Islamic world.
Keynote Lectures
Marcus Milwright (University of York, UK) Opening Keynote, online
Survival, Revival and Invention: Exploring the Metalworking Traditions of Egypt and Greater Syria in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
Anke Scharrahs (Freelance Conservator, Germany) Closing Lecture
Materials and Motifs in the Interior Decoration of Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Private Homes in Damascus: Changes in Taste and Materiality
Conference Program
Speakers & Abstracts
Full abstracts and speaker biographies are available in the conference booklet.
Click to Download Conference Booklet
Registration and Online Participation
Registration is required for in-person and online participation.
Registered online participants will receive the Webex link by email before the conference.
Click here to register
Venue & Practical Information
Lebanese American University — Beirut Campus
- Day 1 — Friday, September 25: LAU Beirut campus, Adnan Kassar School of Business Building, Adelaide Bahu (Vincenti) Lecture Hall (Room 903)
- Day 2 — Saturday, September 26: LAU Beirut campus, Gezairi Room 403
Format: Hybrid — in person at LAU Beirut and online via Webex.
Organizers and Partners
Convenors
- May Farhat
- Sarah Sabban
Organized by
- Lebanese American University
- Orient-Institut Beirut
Contact
For questions regarding the conference, please contact: MAIA.events@lau.edu.lb