Related Posts

Oleg Grabar, Historian of Islamic Art, Dies at 81 – NYTimes.com

God rest his soul. One of the great minds of the field. Oleg Grabar, Historian of Islamic Art, Dies at 81 – NYTimes.com. Oleg Grabar, a historian of Islamic art and architecture whose imposingly broad range and analytical subtlety helped transform the Western study of Islamic culture, died Saturday at his home in Princeton, N.J. He was 81.

Muslims and Quasicrystalline Structures

Muslims had it 500 years before the West! Woo hoo! Story here and here. So what? It should sadden us that the doors of communication have been closed or filtered for so long that this knowledge wasn’t available earlier. It’s more a reflection of the mindset we have of each other that a comment on how intelligent Muslims may have once been. (Although that is how the story is framed, which makes me sad that the stereotypes persist and keep us all stupid.) Technorati Tags: Islamic Architecture, Math

Asia Society Releases Report on the Arts

The Asia Society has released a new report “Making a Difference through the Arts: Strengthening America’s Links with Muslim Communities in Asia.” I haven’t read the whole thing yet, but it looks very interesting. From the Executive Summary: This report offers examples of the diverse ways in which stakeholders in cultural development and ex- change initiatives in and with Asian Muslim communi- ties have built successful projects by drawing on cultur- ally grounded knowledge and strategies . The panoramic range of projects, the impressive degree of imagination and innovation with which they have been designed and carried out, and the…