There are currently more than 2.8 million registered refugees from Syria. Ninety-six percent of these refugees are hosted by neighbouring countries – Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. With the exception of Germany and a few other limited initiatives, the primary aim of the European response has been to contain the crisis in the Syrian region and to reinforce Europe’s borders.

This event marks the launch of a new RSC Policy Briefing, ‘Protection in Europe for refugees from Syria’. Report authors, Cynthia Orchard and Andrew Miller, will provide an overview of the European reaction generally, as well as brief summaries of selected countries’ responses. They argue that containment of the refugee crisis to the Syrian region is unsustainable and advocate for European countries to open their doors to refugees from the region and to expand safe and legal routes of entry.

Also being launched at this event is issue 47 of Forced Migration Review on ‘The Syria crisis, displacement and protection’. Professor Roger Zetter, co-author (with Héloïse Ruaudel) of a major article in the issue entitled ‘Development and protection challenges of the Syrian refugee crisis’, will look at early recovery and social cohesion interventions and the transition from assistance to development-led interventions in Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan. FMR47 is funded by the Regional Development and Protection Programme, a Denmark-led initiative with contributions from the EU, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, UK and Czech Republic, for whose inception report Professor Zetter was the lead author.

The event will be followed by a reception at 4pm. If you are unable to attend in person, you can watch live via a video link. For more information, please visit: www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/syrialaunch

Now that you’re over the age of 10 asking ‘silly’ questions about dinosaurs may feel well… a little silly! So we’re offering you the opportunity to ask anything and everything you ever wanted to know about dinosaurs but were too afraid to ask. Need to keep up with your Dino-obsessed son or daughter or just fascinated by all things prehistoric, this is your chance to find everything you need to know. From the simple to the complex; from the strange to the straightforward, come and put your questions to Oxford’s Dr Roger Benson who will be leading this talk on all things Dinosaur.

A public meeting with a short introductory talk followed by questions and discussion.

The end of violence
Thursday 25 September, 7:30pm to 9:00pm
Oxford Town Hall, St Aldates
All welcome

Organised by Oxford Communist Corresponding Society.
This is the last in a three-part series of public meetings on violence and war. The three meetings of the series are:

Thursday 17 July
The war to end all wars

Thursday 21 August
The anti-war movement

Thursday 25 September
The end of violence

All are from 7:30pm to 9:00pm in the Town Hall

The land of the Pharaohs has long been a source of inspiration for Western artists, but the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922 unleashed a craze for all things Egyptian as never before, influencing everything from the visual arts to music and literature.

Join art critic Alastair Sooke in conversation with Ghislaine Wood, from the V&A, and Professor Stephanie Moser of Southampton University for this unique Friday at 5pm about the influence of ancient Egypt on our cultural lives.

Ticket £9 discounts £7

Speakers: Professor Deborah E Anker (Harvard University), Professor Efrat A Arbel (University of British Columbia)

Based on a recent report published by the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic (HIRC), entitled Bordering on Failure: Canada–U.S. Border Policy and the Politics of Refugee Exclusion, this talk will examine the Canada–US Safe Third Country Agreement, a ‘refugee sharing’ agreement implemented by Canada and the United States to exercise more control over their shared border. Drawing on interview data collected along the Canada–US border, it will evaluate how the Agreement has altered the Canada–US border landscape, and the effects it has had on asylum seekers.

The HIRC report concludes that the Safe Third Country Agreement not only closes Canada’s borders to asylum seekers, but also diminishes the legal protections available to them under domestic and international law. It further concludes that the Agreement has failed in its goal of enhancing the integrity of the Canada–US border, and has in fact prompted a rise in human smuggling and unauthorised border crossings, making the border more dangerous and disorderly, and placing the lives and safety of asylum seekers at risk. The talk will highlight these central findings, and, situating the Agreement in its global context, also examine the broader effects of its implementation.

About the speakers:

Deborah E Anker

Deborah Anker is Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Harvard Law School Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program (HIRC). She has taught law students at Harvard for over 25 years. Author of a leading treatise, Law of Asylum in the United States, Anker has co-drafted ground-breaking gender asylum guidelines and amicus curiae briefs. Professor Anker is one of the most widely known asylum scholars and practitioners in the United States; she is cited frequently by international and domestic courts and tribunals, including the United States Supreme Court. Professor Anker is a pioneer in the development of clinical legal education in the immigration field, training students in direct representation of refugees and creating a foundation for clinics at law schools around the country.

Efrat A Arbel

Efrat Arbel is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of British Columbia. She completed her masters and doctoral studies at Harvard Law School, during which time she was actively involved with the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Law Clinic. Dr Arbel researches in the areas of constitutional law, refugee law, Aboriginal law, and prison law, in Canada and the United States. She has published widely in these fields, and is co-author (with Alletta Brenner) of Bordering on Failure: Canada–U.S. Border Policy and the Politics of Refugee Exclusion. Combining her scholarly work with legal practice, Dr Arbel is also engaged in advocacy and litigation involving refugee and prisoner rights, and is an executive member of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers.

The seminar will focus on the role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the modern inter-Orthodox and inter-Christian relations, and the role of the Patriarchate in global politics.

Egyptomania: The Allure of Ancient Egypt
With Henrietta McCall, Department of the Middle East, British Museum

2pm Saturday, 11 October 2014 at Ashmolean Museum | Venue Information

Henrietta McCall talks about the enduring appeal of ancient Egypt in western culture. She assesses how it began with Napoleon in the early 19th century; how symbols and imagery from antiquity inspired architecture, gardens, furniture and fashion; and how in the 1920s that appeal reached its climax with the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.

‘Tutankhamun and Co. Ltd’: Arthur Weigall and the Discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb

With Julie Hankey, author of ‘A Passion for Egypt: Arthur Weigall, Tutankhamun and the Curse of the Pharaohs’

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Tue 14 Oct, 2.30‒3.30pm

From 1905 to 1912, Arthur Weigall was Howard Carter’s successor as Chief Inspector of Antiquities for Upper Egypt. He used his position to conduct a campaign against government practice of allowing amateur collectors to excavate for private profit. With Tutankhamun’s discovery, Weigall came into open conflict with Carter’s patron, Lord Carnarvon, over his exclusive contract with The Times, and ‒ at a time of political unrest in Egypt ‒ over his assumption of rights to the contents of the tomb.

We invite you to join us at 3pm each day from Monday 13th October to Friday 17th October when five leading academics will be lighting up Blackwell’s Bookshop and talking about their passion for their subject.

Timothy Garton-Ash Professor of European Studies, University of Oxford and Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford “What Does Studying History Teach Us?”

These talks are free to attend places are limited so please arrive early to ensure a seat. For more information please visit our Customer Service Department at Blackwell’s Bookshop, Broad Street, Oxford.

Speakers: Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (University College London) and Professor Gil Loescher (Refugee Studies Centre)

Refugee and Forced Migration Studies has grown from being a concern of a relatively small number of scholars and policy researchers in the 1980s to a global field of interest with thousands of students worldwide studying displacement either from traditional disciplinary perspectives or as a core component of newer programmes across the Humanities and Social and Political Sciences. Today the field encompasses both rigorous academic research which may or may not ultimately inform policy and practice, as well as action-research focused on advocating in favour of refugees’ needs and rights. This authoritative Handbook critically evaluates the birth and development of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, and analyses the key contemporary and future challenges faced by academics and practitioners working with and for forcibly displaced populations around the world.

In this talk, Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh and Professor Gil Loescher, two of the Handbook’s editors, will discuss how the book provides a comprehensive and cutting-edge overview of the key intellectual, political, social and institutional challenges arising from mass displacement in the world today. Laying out the thinking behind the Handbook, they will examine how it addresses these challenges and attempts to unify a diverse, evolving and crucial field.

Professor Loescher and Dr Fiddian-Qasmiyeh will be joined by a number of the Handbook’s authors, who will reflect on their own contributions to the volume and highlight some of cutting-edge approaches and challenges emerging in their respective areas of expertise.

Order your copy of the Handbook online from Oxford University Press by 30 December 2014 and receive a 30% discount. Click here for details.

Light refreshments will be provided after the event.

The Jerash and Decapolis Cities
With Linda Farrar, historian and archaeologist

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Thurs 16 Oct, 2–4pm (inc. tea & cake),

Today, the ancient Greco-Roman Decapolis region straddles the countries of Jordan, Israel and Syria. This lecture explores the distinct characteristics of the cities of Jerash, Gedara, Pella and Philidelphian (Aman) and tells the stories of each cities unique role in the development of this historic region.

A public meeting with a short introductory talk followed by questions and discussion.

The difficulty of imagining a free society
Thursday 16 October, 7:30pm to 9:00pm
The Mitre, corner of High St and Turl St (upstairs function room)
All welcome

Organised by Oxford Communist Corresponding Society.

Overture to the Oxford Ceramics Fair
With Janice Tchalenko, potter

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Fri 17 Oct, 2–3.30pm

Janice Tchalenko is an award-winning potter whose work has been exhibited internationally and commissioned for retail outlets such as John Lewis. In this lecture Janice talks about her work and inspiration.

Saturday Spotlight
Antiguan-born Harley was one of the first three students to take the University of Oxford’s Diploma in Anthropology in 1908. His personal archive has been loaned to the Pitt Rivers Museum for a special display that illustrates his life and work – as a student, a curate and a local politician.
Pamela Roberts, author of a recent book titled ‘Black Oxford: The Untold Stories of Oxford University’s Black Scholars’ will present a talk illustrating Harley’s life, from growing up in St John’s, Antigua, via studies at Howard, Yale and Harvard Universities, to Oxford and the Pitt Rivers Museum and his later life spent working as a councillor in Leicestershire.

“Everywhere the Glint of Gold”: Colourising Tutankhamun’s Tomb
With Liam McNamara, Ashmolean Keeper for Ancient Egypt and Sudan and co-curator of ‘Discovering Tutankhamun’ exhibition

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Sat 18 Oct, 2‒3pm

Howard Carter’s evocative description of the ‘wonderful things’ he saw upon entering Tutankhamun’s tomb continues to capture the public’s imagination. The excavation of the tomb and its contents were documented in black and white photographs taken by Harry Burton. This talk explores the various methods by which the excavators – and their successors – sought to ‘colourise’ the contents of the king’s tomb, from 20th-century gouache paintings on ivory, to the latest in 21st-century digital imaging techniques.

Eye of Horus Necklace workshop
With London based jewellery design company Tatty Devine

Ashmolean Museum

Sat 18 Oct, 2 – 3.30pm

Influenced by the ‘Discovering Tutankhamun’ exhibition, join esteemed independent design company Tatty Devine and make your own ‘Eye of Horus’ necklace at this exclusive jewellery making workshop. Learn the essential techniques and skills needed to create a necklace in gold and sapphire mirror Perspex. Create your perfect statement piece or a one-of-a-kind gift that’s fit for a Pharaoh.

Tutankhaten ‒ Prince and King
With Dr Marianne Eaton-Krauss, independent scholar

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Tue 21 Oct, 2.30‒ 3.30pm

The name of Tutankhamun is familiar throughout the world, yet academics continue to dispute not only the identity of the boy king’s parents, but also the meaning of the name he was given at birth, Tutankhaten. This lecture explores these questions and examines objects that document his life up until the moment the decision was taken to alterhis name to Tutankhamun, marking the conclusion of a campaign to restore the god Amun to his traditional place at the head of the pantheon from which he had been toppled by the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten.

Eating Restoration Glue to Stay Alive: A History of Hermitage
With Dr Rosalind P. Blakesley, University of Cambridge

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Wed 22 Oct, 11am–12pm

The Hermitage is an institute like no other,
 housing over 3 million objects in buildings as iconic as the Winter Palace, seat of the Romanov dynasty until its spectacular fall from grace in 1917. As the Hermitage celebrates its 250th anniversary, Dr Blakesley charts its history from the lavish patronage of Catherine the Great to the unparalleled acquisitions of Impressionist and Post- Impressionist works.

Speaker: Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (University College London)

Refugee camps are typically perceived as militarised and patriarchal spaces, and yet the Sahrawi refugee camps and their inhabitants have consistently been represented as ideal in nature: uniquely secular and democratic spaces, and characterised by gender equality. Drawing on extensive research with and about Sahrawi refugees in Algeria, Cuba, Spain, South Africa and Syria, Dr Fiddian-Qasmiyeh explores how, why and to what effect such idealised depictions have been projected onto the international arena. In this talk, she will argue that secularism and the empowerment of Sahrawi refugee women have been strategically invoked to secure the humanitarian and political support of Western state and non-state actors who ensure the continued survival of the camps and their inhabitants. She will challenge listeners to reflect critically on who benefits from assertions of good, bad and ideal refugees, and whose interests are advanced by interwoven discourses about the empowerment of women and secularism in contexts of war and peace.

Light refreshments will be provided after the event.

Judit was born in Budapest and came to England in 1956. Formerly a science librarian, she has authored or contributed to a great many books, on topics ranging from sunspots to the construction of Budapest’s Chain Bridge. Her interest in old letters is the focus of her talk.

Tutankhamun and Revolution
With Dr Paul Collins, Jaleh Hearn Curator for Ancient Near East and co-curator of ‘Discovering Tutankhamun’

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Sat 25 Oct, 2‒3pm

This talk considers three historical periods when the image and idea of Tutankhamun became a focus for revolution both in Egypt and beyond. Starting in the ancient world, the revolutions of the Amarna age, into which Tutankhamun was born, witnessed a transformation in the concept of kingship. In the early 20th century, as Egypt claimed independence from British control, Tutankhamun became a symbol of opposition to imperial rule. Finally, in recent years, Egypt has faced political upheaval and revolutionaries
have again employed the image of Tutankhamun.

The Time of the Gods: Myths from Ancient Egypt (STUDY DAY)
With Dr Garry Shaw, Egyptologist and author

Tue 28 Oct, 10.30am‒4pm

An introduction to Egypt’s creation myths and a history of the reigns of these gods on earth. This study day will cover myths, both well-known and the more obscure, related to notable deities such as Re, Amun, Osiris, Horus and Isis.

Special Russian Art Tour
Leonid Pasternak to Mir Iskusstva: the Russian Art World in the 1900s
With Dr Galina Mardilovich, independent scholar

Tuesday 28 October, 2.30‒3.15pm

Ashmolean Museum Gallery 21

Discover the treasures of the Ashmolean with this great introduction to the Museum. Free, no booking required

Unwrapping Tutankhamun
With Dr Christina Riggs, Senior Lecturer, School of Art History and World Art Studies, University of East Anglia

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Tue 28 Oct, 2.30‒3.30pm

After three years of work in the tomb, Howard Carter and his team were ready to reveal the body of Tutankhamun. Using photographs and diaries from the excavation, this illustrated lecture follows Carter’s work in stages as they worked through the layers of wrappings around Tutankhamun’s body, and considers what else we can learn from the unwrapping of other materials in the tomb.

As part of Rector Trainor’s Seminar Series, Professor Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly, Emeritus Fellow of Exeter College and Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow, will speak on the topic of ‘Royal Consorts Past and Present: What are they for?’

Professor Watanabe-O’Kelly main research interests are German literature and culture from the late 15th century to the early 18th century. She is the Project Leader of ‘Marrying Cultures: Queen Consort and European Identities, 1500-1800’.

There is no charge to attend this event. If is open to current and Old Members of Exeter College and to members of the University of Oxford. If you are planning to attend, please contact Erica Sheppard (erica.sheppard@exeter.ox.ac.uk). Please report to the Porter’s Lodge on arrival.

Speaker: Dr Kirsten McConnachie (Refugee Studies Centre)

Refugee camps are imbued in the public imagination with assumptions of anarchy, danger and refugee passivity. Governing Refugees: Justice, Order and Legal Pluralism marshals empirical data and ethnographic detail to challenge such assumptions, arguing that refugee camps should be recognised as spaces where social capital can not only survive, but thrive. In this talk, Dr McConnachie will examine themes of community governance, order maintenance and legal pluralism in the context of refugee camps on the Thailand-Burma border. The nature of a refugee situation is such that multiple actors take a role in camp management, creating a complex governance environment which has a significant impact on the lives of refugees. This situation also speaks to deeply important questions of legal and political scholarship, including the production of order beyond the state, justice as a contested site, and the influence of transnational human rights discourses on local justice practice. Dr McConnachie’s book presents valuable new research into the subject of refugee camps as well as an original critical analysis.

Fit for a Pharaoh: The Authorised Facsimile of Tutankhamun’s Tomb
With Adam Lowe, Director and Founder of Factum Arte
Gallery 21, Ashmolean Museum
Wed 29 Oct, from 6.30pm

The ticket price includes: a talk by Adam Lowe of Factum Arte; a tour of the Discovering Tutankhamun exhibition; and a drink at a special wine reception in the Ashmolean’s vaulted café.

Before Egypt’s recent political revolution, the tomb of Tutankhamun was viewed by up to 1,000 visitors per day. This had a dramatic effect on the tomb, which resulted in a deterioration of the structure of the walls. Using digital technology to record the tomb’s interior in unparalleled detail, Factum Arte produced a full-scale facsimile that can be visited at Luxor, thus relieving pressure on the actual tomb. Adam Lowe explains the process behind the production of the facsimile and explores current debates about the creation of replicas to preserve the world’s cultural heritage for future generations.

Japonism and the Impressionists
With Julian Heslewood, art historian

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Thurs 30 Oct, 2–3pm

During the Renaissance, the new science of perspective allowed western artists to create art that depicted the world in a realistic way, showing perspective, depth and volume like never before.
In the 19th century western artists discovered that Japanese print makers had used other techniques to depict the real world. Monet, Van Gogh and many others adapted these discoveries in to their own methods creating an unconventional and exciting visual experience.

A public meeting with a short introductory talk followed by questions and discussion.

Understanding other people: a science of belief systems
Speaker: Dr Edmund Griffiths, author of “Towards a Science of Belief Systems” (Palgrave Macmillan 2014)
Thursday 30 October, 7:30pm to 9:00pm
The Mitre, corner of High St and Turl St (upstairs function room)
All welcome

Organised by Oxford Communist Corresponding Society.

About “Towards a Science of Belief Systems”

People believe in a great many things: the New Age and the new atheism, astrology and the Juche Idea, the marginal utility theory and a God in three persons. Yet most of us know almost nothing about why other people believe the things they do – or indeed about how it feels to believe them. This book presents an objective method for understanding and comparing belief systems, irrespective of their subject matter and of whether or not the investigator happens to agree with them. The method, descriptive logic, is illustrated through analyses of various phenomena, including Zoroastrianism, Dawkinsism, Fabianism, 9/11 Truth, ‘alternative’ Egyptology, Gnosticism, flying saucer sightings, and the hymns of Charles Wesley. Special attention is given to beliefs that are not supposed to be wholly believed, and to how descriptive logic relates to the materialist conception of history. The book also outlines a new theory of superstition.

Yama to Oni: Ghosts and Demons in Asian Art
With Jasleen Khandari, art historian

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Fri 31 Oct, 2–3pm


Ghosts, demons and the afterlife have an important place in Asian culture. In this lecture, Jasleen Khandari explores representations of ghosts and demons in the art of India, Tibet and Japan.