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This article explores the problem of reading architecture as archive, with specific reference to the built environment on the island of Zanzibar. The architecture of Stone Town – Zanzibar's urban centre – is often marshalled by scholars as clear evidence of the island's complex and layered histories. This reading, however, tends to lament an erstwhile Indian Ocean cosmopolitanism at odds with both the Zanzibari past and present. In this article, I trace the contours of the island's divergent political and architectural histories and demonstrate how an archival view of architecture can obscure the very past it seeks to recover. I illustrate this tension through one particular case study: the Khoja Jamatkhana in the heart of Stone Town. I then consider the possible futures of archival readings by exploring the limits of both formal analysis and historical context through the work of contemporary artist Zarina Bhimji. If the Jamatkhana points to the restrictive capacity of archival readings of architecture, Bhimji's work opens up the archive itself as a site of abstraction, bringing into sharp relief the intricate relationship between space and history.

L’étude du blocus naval de Zanzibar, mis en place par les marines allemande et britannique entre décembre 1888 et septembre 1889, officiellement afin de mettre un terme aux trafics d’armes et d’esclaves ravageant la côte orientale de l’Afrique à cette période, permet d’observer les relations complexes entre discours humanitaire, droit international, et interventions coloniales en cette fin de xix e  siècle. Cette opération navale donne en effet l’occasion de mieux comprendre l’émergence du nouveau concept « d’intervention d’humanité » dans les relations et le droit international, alors que le fait colonial connait un nouvel élan historique. Enfin, le blocus de Zanzibar fut aussi, du fait de sa dimension et de ses conséquences globales, un jalon marquant de l’histoire du droit humanitaire dans les relations internationales.

The M’Zab valley (Algeria) is known for its historic ksours which are of exceptional architectural and landscape character, a heritage that has maintained its integrity and homogeneity for centuries through the establishment of a construction ʻorf. A set of rules have been developped over time and accrued experience in the architectural design of Ksours. This ʻorf relies in its application on an institution termed the oumanas. This institution ensures its transmission, evolution and its application in the field. This paper presents this institution, its organization, its financing, and its role in the management of traditional building in the M’Zab area.

This study examines the syntax of sluicing in Omani Arabic to uncover its morpho-syntactic properties and underlying source. It also attempts to account for the apparent preposition stranding (p-stranding) effects displayed by Omani Arabic sluicing, which indicates that the language is a counterexample to the p-stranding generalisation (Merchant, 2001). The paper concludes that sluicing exists in the language and it is derived from regular wh-questions by wh-movement and TP ellipsis at PF. Furthermore, Omani Arabic displays pseudo-sluicing (i.e., an elliptical cleft wh-question), which can also be derived via wh-movement from spec-TP to spec-CP plus TP deletion at PF. Finally, the study argues that the apparent cases of sluicing under p-stranding are actually pseudo-sluicing. The drop of copular pronouns in the sluiced clause and omission of the preposition with the relative clause lead to the illusion that sluicing in Omani Arabic exhibits p-stranding effects.

First announced in 2013, China’s plan to revive the ancient Silk Road and ocean trade routes under the auspices of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been described as the “project of the century.” Due to its geographic position, stable governance, and diplomatic neutrality, Oman has come to play a key role in the BRI. Nevertheless, the Sultanate has often been overlooked by scholarship and has featured somewhat as an afterthought, especially compared to the studies of Chinese relationships with regional heavyweights, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. In this context, this article explores Oman’s role in the BRI initiative, and critically evaluates the potential impact of Chinese developments on Oman’s national sovereignty and socio-economic development. It argues that Oman stands to gain much from the transforming Sino-Omani friendship and potentially achieve a win-win outcome, largely due to Oman’s unique bargaining position in comparison to other countries involved in the BRI. The article begins by offering an introduction to the BRI and discussing the scope of the project. It then moves on to contextualize Chinese investments in Oman within a longer history of economic relationships between the Sultanate and China. Finally, it examines the pros and cons of Oman’s increasing entanglement with China and asks to what extent the BRI can be strategically leveraged by the Sultanate.

A new project on the pottery has begun since excavations resumed in 2016 at the site of al-Balīd (Ẓafār), Dhofar in southern Oman. The work concentrates on the Husn, a fortified palace, in this Islamic port. The paper presents the current project on the pottery, exploring methodology, objectives, and preliminary results. The study suggests a dating for the occupational phases of the palace identified so far (fourteenth–eighteenth century AD). The examination of the ceramic material is supported by archaeometric analysis and ethnoarchaeological work on the modern Dhofari production, the latter contributing to a better understanding of the ancient manufacturing process and the transfer of knowledge. This multidisciplinary study allows an exhaustive stylistic, technological, and archaeometric characterization of the pottery, with a special focus on local wares, also proposing or revising their chronological attribution. Moreover, a provenance study is conducted, particularly to establish the origin of the abundant and diverse imports, thus identifying the regions trading with al-Balīd during different periods. Despite previous work on al-Balīd, the study of the ceramic material has never been published properly — the project aims to fill this gap. Furthermore, it is one of the few ongoing research projects on Islamic ceramics of Dhofar and present-day Oman.

Those who have participated in organized political violence often develop distinctive identities as veteran combatants. But what possibilities exist to produce a veteran identity for “invisible” veterans denied public recognition or mention, such as politically repressed defeated insurgents? Everyday socializing during or after political violence can help restore social worlds threatened or destroyed by violence; an examination of “invisible” veteran defeated revolutionaries in Dhufar, Oman, shows how everyday socializing can help reproduce a distinctive veteran identity despite political repression. Ethnographic fieldwork with veteran militants from the defeated revolutionary liberation movement for Dhufar reveals that while veterans (who are a diverse group) no longer publicly reproduce their political and economic revolutionary ideals, some male veterans—through everyday, same-sex socializing—reproduce revolutionary ideals of social, especially tribal and ethnic, egalitarianism. These practices mark a distinctive veteran identity and indicate an “afterlife” of lasting social legacies of defeated revolution.

The current study aims to identify the practice of civic engagement in the community-managed libraries in Oman. Community-Managed library is an act of making the library space available for community’s activities, by working in partnership with the voluntary and community sector and other public services. In addition, it is usually involving users as volunteers in the delivery of library services and the organization of activities, that supports and involves the community in various levels of decision making process, work around books and engage in public dialogues and deliberations.A qualitative survey was used to identify the stakeholders’ perception towards the adoption of civic engagement, as a method to develop and sustain these libraries. Stakeholders’ suggestions to overcome the challenges, currently faced by these libraries were also identified. Triangulation method was used to gather information from social media of the libraries beside the open survey. It was discovered that, the six aspects of civic participation are practiced in the community-managed libraries’ and seen in various activities and programs. However, the libraries founders must be motivated through appreciation and support from the government, private sector and other organizations, in order to develop their libraries and keep them sustainable. Finally, the community-managed libraries could model public libraries or serve as extension in the country.

Das Anliegen dieses Aufsatzes ist es, eine Sammlung von Märchen und populären Erzählungen aus dem südlichen Oman vorzustellen, um zu zeigen, dass viele der historischen materiellen und kulturellen Setzungen heute noch Bestand haben. Die Erzählungen wurden in den 1970er Jahren in Gibali (auch Jibbalo oder Shari genannt) aufgezeichnet; Gibali ist eine nicht-schriftliche, moderne südarabische Sprache (Rubin 2014). Die Analyse konzentriert sich nicht auf klassische Erzähltypen, sondern bezieht sich vielmehr auf die alltäglichen Lebenszusammenhänge, die sich in den Geschichten der Dhofari spiegeln. Die Aufzeichnungen wurden zum Zeitpunkt der Modernisierung der Region in den 1970er Jahren vorgenommen und enthalten viele traditionelle Elemente der Gibali-Kultur. Diese Aufzeichnungen werden mit anderen schriftlichen Quellen verglichen, um aufzuzeigen, dass die Übermittlung von moralischen Glaubensvorstellungen, z. B. von Schwüren, Djinns, in den Texten eine wichtige Rolle spielt. Die Autorin forscht seit über zehn Jahren über dhofarische und gibalische Kulturen.

The aim of the study is to investigate the historical study of castles in Oman (Jalali) as a model via comparative qualitative research methods. As a result, the castle became a center of attraction and attention to local, regional or international powers, and then developed in the era of AL- Boussaid, and became an administrative center and later transformed as a central prison for Oman. In conclusion, the form of castle differs from the time it had before, by virtue of the reforms and renovations carried out by the Portuguese rule until the modern Renaissance in Oman.