The articles included in the present issue of the Journal of the LUCAS Graduate Conference, titled Animals (Un)tamed. Human–Animal Encounters in Science, Art, and Literature, are the result of the... Show moreThe articles included in the present issue of the Journal of the LUCAS Graduate Conference, titled Animals (Un)tamed. Human–Animal Encounters in Science, Art, and Literature, are the result of the diverse and interdisciplinary research on our multifaceted relationship with animals which is currently taking place. The fifth biennial LUCAS Graduate Conference, held in April 2019, shared this same theme. This conference on “Animals: Theory, Practice, and Representation” gave PhD and Master students the opportunity to present, exchange and discuss their research relating to animal studies with participants from diverse backgrounds. The resulting exchange focused on a re-examination of the relationship between humans and animals, and the definitions involved. Many of the articles in the present issue are result of the lively debate which took place during this conference. The contributions to this issue of JLGC reflect the wide variety of approaches in animal studies. Show less
In Swahili poetry, praising God through blessings and salutations finds aesthetic expression in a plethora of genres, particularly mashairi, utendi and takhmis. In this article, I will draw... Show moreIn Swahili poetry, praising God through blessings and salutations finds aesthetic expression in a plethora of genres, particularly mashairi, utendi and takhmis. In this article, I will draw attention to a lesser-known rhymed poetic genre known as gungu “songs,” in shairi verse form, dating to the turn of the nineteenth century. Different from other well-known, fully devotional Swahili compositions such as Sayyid Aidarus’s Hamziyya or al-Būṣīrī’s Qasida Burda, the texts that will be analysed are a selected group of short devotional quatrains belonging to a vast manuscript that otherwise chiefly comprises war poetry as well as dance and wedding songs. While, on the one hand, the presence of devotional lyrics in this extensive poetry collection attests to the legitimacy of religious subject matter in popular lyric poems, the verses also offer an opportunity to reflect on literary prayer (dua) and its architecture, lyrical tone and imagery, in comparison with longer classical Swahili religious compositions, where dua is also interpolated. Is there a set of shared Swahili or Arabic formulas for naming, praying to and praising God that can be found in all of these genres? Can the Qur’an be considered as the sub-text the poets drew on in making their texts speak of the divine? A stylistic analysis, looking at patterns, formulaic dua and devotional speech acts of these yet-unedited short devotional lyrics, will provide the criteria by which I will compare excerpts from other Swahili poetic genres, inquiring how Islamic prayer is woven in between their lines. Show less
This article focuses on the analysis of glossy inks from a body of manuscripts from Yemen preserved in the University Library of Leiden, the phenomenon having been noted for the first time in Zabīd... Show moreThis article focuses on the analysis of glossy inks from a body of manuscripts from Yemen preserved in the University Library of Leiden, the phenomenon having been noted for the first time in Zabīd in the 2000s. Arab sources, including Yemeni, contain ink recipes in which the sparkling effect is sought after and obtained through the use of various ingredients. Laboratory analysis, meanwhile, reveals that the shiny effect results from particles (mica and sand, sometimes with a preparation based on red pigment) spread after the writing exercise. The use of these particles between functionality and aesthetics, which seems to be peculiar to Yemen, is at the center of the study and opens a new field of investigation. Show less
