Position:
Samir Shamma Associate Professor of Islamic Numismatics, Epigraphy and Material Culture
Faculty / College Address:
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies / St Cross College
Email:
umberto.bongianino@ames.ox.ac.uk
Postal Address:
The Khalili Research Centre, 3 St John Street, Oxford OX1 2LG, U.K.
Academia.edu:
https://oxford.academia.edu/UmbertoBongianino
Research Interests:
My field of research is the architecture and material culture of the Islamic Mediterranean, with a special focus on North Africa and Muslim Iberia (al-Andalus). I have published articles on the Islamic components of Norman Sicilian art; on ceramic production and trade in Fatimid Egypt; on Fatimid architecture in Libya (Ajdabiya); on Arabic inscriptions in various media, including textiles and coins; and on the manuscript culture(s) of the early and medieval Islamic period. My first monograph is titled The Manuscript Tradition of the Islamic West: Maghribī Round Scripts and the Andalusī Identity (Edinburgh University Press, 2022). I am currently shifting my research focus towards the numismatics, epigraphy, and material culture of later periods, including early modern Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. My main aim is to debunk outdated perceptions of, and narratives around, the arts of the Islamic West and their position vis-à-vis the Islamic East and Christian Europe. I supervise graduate students working on the material and visual culture of the Arabic-speaking world before the 20th century, and I am happy to receive enquiries from prospective students looking to develop research projects in this field.
