Mohammed has always been a strong man. A caring father and a hard worker, who loves to cook for his family. When Syria descended into war, he and his family decided that it was not safe to remain any longer. Mohammed went ahead and journeyed […]
All posts filed under: Middle East
The long journey of a pair of Syrian sunglasses
Sometimes, the most mundane artefacts hide within them the most poignant stories. What would you, for example, consider to be the value of these sunglasses? They are not some fancy brand, nor have they belonged to someone famous. Indeed, one side bar has broken off […]
Lighting up the Ramadan – and the World Cup?
The World Cup has come to an end – at long last to some and way too quickly for others. It has been a year of surprises – England making it to the semifinals for the first time in 28 years, Lionel Messi missing a […]
Threadened history: Palestinian dress
Threads in green, yellow, red, blue, pink, orange, all colours imaginable. Stitched into massive and connected patterns covering almost the entirety of the dark dress. Hands working over the fabric and the elegant embroidery thread for hours, days, years to make the dress more than […]
A little extra luck for 2018—we need it!
I think most of us will agree that 2017 has been a bit of a crazy year. It has been the year of Trump and his Twitter wars on everything from North Korea to Meryl Streep to his own White House staff. There has been […]
Capturing the moment: An intimate scene in an al-Na’im Bedouin camp
Although ethnographic artefacts form the backbone of ethnographic collections, there is much more material qualifying as ‘ethnographic material’. Ethnographic photos are often used in exhibitions as a sort of supplement to what is considered the really significant material: the artefacts. In this and the following […]
The importance of representation: Ghanaian doll
When I was a girl, I wasn’t much into dolls. I was the kind of kid who fell asleep with my box of books next to me in my bed (along with about a 75 stuffed animals). When I, at the age of two, had […]
The Sound of Battle: A Viking Moot Special
How many of us really know how it sounds when two armies, fighting with shields, spears, and swords, collide? We have seen it in the movies, when Roman soldiers in shiny helmets slaughter their Pictish enemies, when the warriors of Rohan collide with ranks of […]
In Other Shoes: Turkish Harem Shoes
Previously, ethnographica.net has showcased shoes from the wonderful shoe collection made by Søren L. Tuxen, zoologist and shoe enthusiast. You can read about him in our previous post here: https://ethnographica.net/2015/04/14/tuxen/ In his collection of almost 250 pairs are shoes and other footwear from all over […]
A portable life: Bedouin cradle
Imagine not having a permanent home. Or, try to imagine being at home wherever you are. It can be quite a hard exercise for many of us, who live in our houses and apartments, surrounded by our stuff, travelling the same paths to work, to […]
Protective measures: Bullet proof vest from Northern Thailand
Sometimes, we just need that bit of extra protection. To ward off evil spirits, protect us from accidents and jealousy, and to shield us from harm when we throw ourselves into perilous situations… For thousands of years, we humans have carried amulets and sacred objects, […]
Santa Lucia special: Syrian oil lamp
Yesterday it was Saint Lucy’s Day or, as it is known in Denmark Santa Lucia. All over the country, children dressed up in white robes and sang as they walked the halls of schools, kindergartens, after-school centres, and hospitals, candles in hand. At the head […]
