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SOAS University of London

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School of Oriental and African Studies

SOAS Logo

Motto "Knowledge is Power."
Established 1916
Location Bloomsbury, London, United Kingdom
Students 3,200 total
Member of University of London
Homepage http://www.soas.ac.uk

The School of Oriental and African Studies (often abbreviated to SOAS) was founded in 1916 as the School of Oriental Studies at 2, Finsbury Circus, the then premises of the London Institution. Africa was added to the school's name and remit in 1938 and the school shifted to Malet Street , Russell Square in 1941. (Now, however, in all communication and correspondence Thornhaugh Street is employed.) The institution's founding mission was primarily to train British administrators for overseas postings across the empire. Since then the school has grown into the world's foremost centre for the exclusive study of Asia and Africa. A college of the University of London, SOAS fields include Law, Social Sciences, Humanities and Languages with special reference to Asia and Africa. SOAS today is a source of some of the most influential and innovative thinking in many fields of the social sciences and humanities, principally, but not exclusively in relation to Asia and Africa. The SOAS Library, housed in a building designed at the beginning of the 1970s by Sir Denys Lasdun, is the UK's national resource for materials relating to Asia and Africa and is the largest of its kind in Europe.

The school has grown considerably over the past thirty years, from under 1,000 students in the 1970s to over 3,000 students today, approximately half of them postgraduates.

The school also houses two galleries: the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, one of the foremost collections of Chinese ceramics in Europe, and the Brunei Gallery, completed in 1995, which stages temporary exhibitions of both historical and contemporary materials which reflect subjects and regions studied at SOAS.

The main campus was moved to a new, purpose-built home, just off Russell Square in Bloomsbury in 1938, and has much expanded since then. The present library building was added in 1977, the Brunei Gallery in 1995, and an extension to the library building opened in 2004 (the second phase of this expansion is due to be completed in 2006).

A new campus at Vernon Square in Islington was opened in 2001.

SOAS is consistently rated as one of the United Kingdom's top ten higher education institutions in national League tables. In the most recent Guardian League Table (2005) SOAS was ranked 4th nationally out of 122 UK Higher Education institutions. This is the third year in a row that the School has achieved 4th place in the Guardian Newspaper rankings. Internationally, in November 2004 SOAS was ranked the 44th best university in the world by the THES world league table of universities (the 7th UK university, and 11th European university in the table).

SOAS graduates can be found throughout the world in positions of influence in (amongst others) academia, diplomacy, journalism, government, the law, international institutions, non-governmental organisations, banking and finance, the arts, the media and education.

Patron: HM The Queen; President: Baroness Helena Kennedy QC; Director and Principal: Prof. Colin Bundy; Pro-Director: Prof. Peter Robb; Visitor: The Rt Hon. Sir Anthony Evans QC

Current Debates

In Autumn 2005, two specialist librarians for the departments of Japan and Korea and China and Inner Asia were made redundant without consultation and not permitted to work their notice. In response, 18 academics have resigned their non-contractual posts particularly from the Dept. of Korea & Japan. The school has, thus far, refused to explain their decision despite much lobbying by lecturers, students and noted academics worldwide. The AUT has balloted its members and gained a mandate to strike from 21 Nov. onwards until the issue is resolved. An initial five day strike is planned from the 21st of November, unless an agreement is reached beforehand. After a meeting at ACAS on Friday 11th November, ACAS concluded that there was no scope for agreement during the first meetings. More negotiation will take place during the week Monday 14th to Friday 18th November to try and avert strike action, however the AUT have demanded that any settlement must involve re-instatement of the two sacked librarians.

This is one in a recent chain of scandals emanating from SOAS, following the accusations of anti-Semitism at the School earlier this year following several events, including the Student Union's attempt to ban a speaker from the Israeli Embassy and the election of Ken Livingstone, London's Mayor, to the post of SOAS honorary President at a time when the media had denounced Livingstone for attacking a reporter who happened to be of Jewish origin. But the most publicised event alleged by the media to be anti-Semitic was when the SOAS Spirit Magazine published an article which was a philosophical defence of the right of Palestinians to use violence in resistance against Israel. The university received heavy criticism from pro-Israeli interests and an inquiry into anti-Semitism was instigated by the NUS, following the resignation of one of its National Executive Committee members allegedly over these issues.

Internally, however, the article written by student Nasser Amin caused little fuss and a meeting arranged and attended by all academics of the Politics Department agreed that the article was in no way objectionable. Mr. Amin's article was not considered by any academic at the School in any department to be anti-Semitic. In the opinion of many within the School Amin, a 23 year old post-grad, was targeted not so much because of what he wrote but because of his religion, at a time when Islamophobia was at high levels in the UK media. Pro-Zionist activism on campus was also blamed as a cause of the furore. John Game, a member of staff, circulated an open letter to the Director and wrote an article for The Muslim Weekly newspaper stating that the problem was a racist witch-hunt, rather than the student having done anything wrong. [1]

In May 2005 Principal & Director, Colin Bundy, following pronounced pro-Israeli pressure, issued a statement stating he had formally reprimanded the student involved [2]. However the student claims he never received any communication to this effect or was given the right to due process and has therefore initiated a formal complaint through the university's student grievance procedure with the hearing due later this year. The Islamic Human Rights Commission condemned the reprimand as a violation of basic justice. [3] Lawyers acting on Mr. Amin's behalf wrote to Prof. Bundy protesting what they saw as the contravention of SOAS' own disciplinary procedures, requesting the retraction of reprimand and threatening legal action against the School should this fail to occur. In a subsequent newspaper interview, Mr Amin's lawyer suggested that he and his client were prepared to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in the event of SOAS' own grievance rules not redressing the problem. [4]

This seeming interference into the freedom of speech of a student was condemned by many, and seen as hypocritical. Craig Murray, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, had pointed to what he saw as double standards in dealing with Nasser Amin, in contrast to SOAS academic Dr. Shirin Akiner who Mr. Murray had condemned in a letter to Prof. Bundy as a "Western cheerleader" for Uzbek dictator Karimov.[5] Prof. Bundy took no action against Akiner, defended her right to speak and write, and yet reprimanded Amin. Colin Bundy received a nomination for the 2005 Annual Islamophobia Awards for the treatment of Nasser Amin[6]. A synopsis of the Amin affair by Richard Seymour of Lenin's Tomb fame can be read here. [7]

In November 2005 SOAS became one of the first Universities which had been condemned by a report into secret investments into arms companies by educational establishments to put an end to its shares in these companies. [8]

File:SOAS.jpg
SOAS

Notable alumni

Notable members of staff

"The origins of SOAS as a colonial institution, training district" by John Game [10]

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