Alya Karame
The Lives of Qur’anic Manuscripts from Eleventh Century CE Khurasan: Palimpsests of Religious and Political Meanings
is the holder of the Barakat Trust Award (2018-2019) and a research associate of the Khalili Research Centre at the University of Oxford, where she is working on her book project. In 2016, she joined the program Connecting Art Histories in the Museum, and was based for two years at the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin. Alya completed her PhD in 2016 in art history at the University of Edinburgh and her MA in History of Art & Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies in 2011. During her studies, she was the recipient of a number of awards in support of her research and field trips. Having been a graphic designer with an interest in visual culture, Alya taught design, visual culture, and art of calligraphy courses since 2007. Alya Karame is Affiliated Art Histories Fellow 2018/19.
The Lives of Qur’anic Manuscripts from Eleventh Century CE Khurasan: Palimpsests of Religious and Political Meanings
Alya’s current book project focuses on Qur’anic manuscripts from the Eastern Islamic World copied between the 4th/10th and 6th/12th centuries. In addition to their codicological study, Alya investigates them as objects of material culture by uncovering the layers of meanings they gained in their afterlives. Adopting a diachronic perspective, the project examines the travels and lives of the manuscripts and observes the ways in which their roles and usage have changed capturing the social, religious and political factors that shaped their past and present forms.
Alle Fellows
