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The archaeology of irrigation technology and water management encompasses a wide range of structures – subterranean tunnels (qanāts, falaj, foggara, ghayl etc.), reservoirs, cisterns, canals, aqueducts, tanks, fountains, water mills, wells, dams, barrages - in a variety of contexts - mountains, deserts, forests, agricultural, horticultural, urban, village, military, riverine, estuarine, coastal, lacustrine – and over a long time period from the seventh through to nineteenth centuries. However, in many areas the archaeology of these facilities remains little explored. This volume begins to rectify this through a variety of case studies examining the diverse ways that past populations have developed hydraulic infrastructure for moving and managing water across the Islamic World. It also considers how past human ingenuity in developing hydraulic infrastructure, now often fallen into disrepair and dis-use, could hold lessons for the present and offer solutions for the future as humanity faces the challenges of environmental and climate change.

This article explores the story of the French East India Company’s first flagship, originally a Dutch-built privateer vessel, from its inception in the 1660s through three significant voyages. Through an analysis of travel accounts, archival documents and secondary literature, the study explores how the ship’s transformation into a symbol of French ambition reflects the broader struggles of France’s imperial ventures under Louis XIV. Initially named Black Eagle and infamous for piracy, the vessel was repurposed as Saint-Paul and served in the nascent French East India Company. Its voyages highlight challenges such as disease, lack of maritime expertise and strained resources, which hindered the Company. By examining the ship’s role, this article sheds light on the transnational networks, political rivalries and economic aspirations that shaped France’s entry into the Indian Ocean trade. The study highlights the relationship between a ship’s tumultuous history and the French East India Company’s strategic ambitions and transnational entanglements.

Historical traditions of several pre-colonial African societies are awash with stories of titled women who played prominent roles in the continent’s political history, such as the Candaces of ancient Kush and Queen Nzinga’s dynasty in Angola.

Dr. Najma Al Zidjaly Sultan Qaboos University, Oman This presentation forms part of a larger longitudinal, ethnographic project spanning over two decades that examines the evolving relationship between human agency and emerging forms of creative media in the Arab world, with a particular focus on Oman. Positioned within the growing field of digital citizen science, the study conceptualizes Omani social media users as active contributors to collective knowledge production and cultural meaning-making. By tracing Omani digital practices from early online forums to contemporary platforms such as WhatsApp, X (Twitter), and Instagram, it explores how citizens collaboratively use new media platforms as cultural tools to construct, negotiate, and archive Omani national and cultural identity in the digital sphere. In contrast to much of the scholarship on Arab digital participation—which often centers on political activism—this study foregrounds the cultural and epistemic dimensions of digital participation in Oman, a society balancing rapid modernization with deeply rooted traditions. Drawing on the concepts of entextualization and reflexivity, and employing Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA), the research demonstrates how ordinary users function as “citizen scientists” who document, analyze, and reinterpret social life through multimodal texts. Humor, affect, and irony—particularly as expressed in memes, stickers, reels, and commentaries—emerge as collaborative tools of inquiry and reflection, enabling users to perform subtle acts of critique, cultural renewal, and belonging. In other words, they emerge as central sites of cultural (re)production, allowing users to recontextualize shared narratives, articulate communal values through irony and play, and contest entrenched cultural stereotypes. Ultimately, the study contributes to digital ethnography and Arab media studies by i) revealing that Omani digital practices are layered and dynamic, shaped by the intersection of transnational (Arab), national (state-ascribed), and cultural (self-ascribed) identities, and ii) reframing everyday online practices as participatory forms of citizen science that both generate and disseminate local knowledge. It, therefore, argues that in Oman, identity negotiation is not merely a reactive or resistant act but a collective, reflexive process of reculturalization, through which citizens co-construct evolving understandings of what it means to be Omani in the digital age.

Sultanate of Oman under the Rule of Haitham bin Tariq Al Said

This study aims to analyze the Intentionality of the text in Sultan Haitham’s speeches that draws the features of Oman through the visions and ideas it contains that require community partnership towards a constructive process that completes the renaissance initiated by The Late Sultan Qaboos bin Said. The problem of the study lies in the fact that despite the moral, cognitive and value of the speeches of Sultan Haitham, they didn’t receive ample attention from researchers to reveal their semantic levels and the intent of the text that were included in the linguistic employment within the context of these speeches. In addition, the extent to which the context and circumstances of the speech influence the choice of verb tenses, and the relationship of the context to the time duration and the number of words in each sultan’s speech. The researchers chose the pragmatic theory as an approach in this study. The study concluded that there is consistency between the linguistic lexicon utilized and the intent and conditions of the speech, and the consistency of the time duration of the speech with the communicative message that that the text creator seeks to give. Also there is an impact of the discourse context on the choice of verb tenses, and present tense verbs formed a remarkable presence in contexts that talk about the process of building Oman and future plans, and imperative verbs did not appear in Sultan Haitham’s speeches except in one Qur’anic verse.

The Sultanate of Oman has acceded to CEDAW in 2005. However, Oman has reservations about a few articles of the said Convention because some of its provisions conflict with Islamic Sharia or Oman's national laws, including Article 16 of CEDAW.  Therefore, the objective of this article is to critically analyse Article 16 of CEDAW and the extent to which Oman Personal Status Law addresses marriage and divorce-related issues is compatible or in conflict with the Convention. To accomplish this objective, the research employs doctrinal legal research and an analytical approach to examine the texts of the Convention and their Omani equivalents. The analysis revealed that the courts could enforce the articles of CEDAW to assert rights, except for the provisions that Oman expressed reservations about. Oman has reservations regarding several features outlined in Article 16 of the aforementioned Convention, as they conflict with Islamic Law. The study highlights that the Convention effectively governs certain areas that promote gender equality in family matters, including stipulating that a woman's permission is necessary for marriage and her entitlement to dissolve the marital union by divorce or khulu' under appropriate circumstances. In addition, Oman effectively implements certain provisions of the Convention to strengthen women's rights by modifying domestic legislation. In conclusion, the Oman National Law is consistent with the CEDAW, except for the State's reservations concerning the implementation of Article 16 of the aforementioned Convention.