I use full fat Greek yoghurt and self-rising flour
Ratio by weight
Add a pinch of salt
Knead until no longer sticky, adding more flour if necessary
Roll them with olive oil instead of flour and fry in an otherwise unoiled, preheated pan (medium heat) (trust in the lord; it will seem like it's going to stick to the pan at first but they'll unstick in about 15 seconds)
Roll them thin but not too thin; mine take about 45 seconds on either side
Serving with garlic butter is also a very good option
this is one of those rare easy bread recipes that also works with gluten free flour! the yoghurt helps with structural integrity. you may want a pinch of xanthan gum if your flour doesn't come with it mixed in. i like to mix some rosemary into the flour to have a herby naan, since i can't have garlic.
Yeah, I like Theon, he is my favourite, but I like his batshit crazy family too and I like Asha's collection of soy boys and I also like the mute tree hugger and I like the culture and history built around the iron islands which is, in my often misguided and biased opinion, a very conflicting and interesting (although underwritten) representation of cultural change and the challenges of progress (not always a good thing) in marginalised communities that try to cling to their heritage even if they are aware of the outdated, unjust and inconvenient aspects of it.
Add stuff (your stuff too.) if you have any good fics with less than 100 kudos on AO3 or fics that can't be found on AO3. It doesn't have to be exclusively about Ironborn characters, but it has to majorly include them.
Stuff that can be triggering is marked down in red and I tried to be careful about that. If I still forgot about anything, please let me know and I'll edit this.
Pounds like his heart trying to crack through his ribs
Pounds like the waves far over his head
Pounds like his lungs when they shrieked for air
But received only the caress of the sea
Pidgin of Gestures, Wex & Theon, Wex Pyke POV, character study, implied torture and rape, mentioned Ramsay
But it must have been more than a year, because his lord seems like an old man now. Bent and cowering, the hood of his cloak nearly swallows him. Only a lined and harrowed face peaks from the shadow. Chains clink around his ankles and his gloveless hands. There are fingers missing, two that Wex can see. His lord's hobbling gait indicates other injuries hidden beneath his roughspun cloak. Shock white hair toys about his face giving him a ghostly appearance.
He looks like that awful white tree, Wex thinks. Those terrible northern totems carved with the anguished face of their gods.
The Fable Is Inverted, Asha x Qarl, 50 sentence prompts, rough sexual content
A thrall crosses towards him on the walk to say that lady Asha has no desire to see him this evening, and Qarl rankles that she couldn't even come to tell him herself, that she sent a servant to do her dirty work; he crushes a feather he kept from her raven under his fist, knowing it's an added slight at his expense.
A mother's love, Alannys & Theon, madness, infanticide
Theon had been gone for a week when it hit her. Balon had bastard sons. Her son was his heir now, a royal hostage in lieu of his good behavior, panic began to set into her mind as she feared that Balon would rebel again and she would lose her son and some other would replace him. And something inside her snapped. She would and could not stand for it.
Asha rolled her eyes, but resisted the temptation of saying whatever she was thinking. "And our brother had given you his flesh and bone…"
"Let's not say that yet," he whispered. "We don't know for sure." He didn't want to think yet that the last time he would ever talk to Rodrik had ended running to his room crying as his brother cursed him out of his ship because he had been too drink to Remember when he promise he could have a look.
All that I can do, Asha & Alannys, mild Asha & Theon, mild Alannys & Theon, angst, mental illness
She’d brought him back, she and Qarl, in the aftermath, but there was little left. In that way, he was of a pair with her mother, frail and bent, her filmy eyes staring at the sea from her narrow window, her hair spidery and winter white, her voice dried to a whisper. She had never been strong as Iron women must be, but it seemed to Asha that she faded more and more as the years passed, until now she was almost an afterthought.
Smile For Me, Theon & Dagmer, past abuse
You think I was born with my jaw like this, lad? You think I shouldn't smile?"
"No, I love your smile."
"Exactly. Smile for me, Theon Shatterteeth."
And every day we look out at the sea, Asha & Balon, family dynamics, loss
He rests his hand on her shoulder more after Theon left. They had watched from the stony crags along all of Pyke as Lord Eddard Stark had led the boy away, watched as her brother kept looking over his shoulder and rubbing the sleeve of his tunic across his face. From the wails of their lady mother just a few feet away, one might think that the Northern lord was frogmarching the ten year old to a wooden block, already drawing that monstrous sword from it's sheath and announcing that Balon Greyjoy would have no more heirs. But he isn't. He isn't killing Theon, just taking him. They watch as the foreign ships depart from the harbor and set sail, and it strikes Asha that maybe the Starks are a little Iron Born themselves, reaving Pyke and stealing the riches that were the last living boy.
i will stay forever here, i'll wait for your love, Asha & Theon, mild Asha & Alannys, mild Asha & Balon, mild Asha & Theon
The Drowned God kisses you, child. Every time you run into the sea, he welcomes you to swim in it; to splash and play like you were nothing but a flat chested brat. When you drown, he will welcome you into his watery hall with open arms. But not -
His hand tightened, fingers digging into the flesh of her cheeks when she began to struggle against him.
- not your brother.
His tone brooked no argument.
Forget him. He may not die, but he is dead.
Hungry mild Theon & Ramsay, self-cannibalism
"They will not eat me, I eat me" he whispered into the deep dark, bursting into mad laughter, hoarse, which dated back along his throat like an explosion of sick madness.
seaward on the waves, Theon & Jeyne, open ending, inspired by a poem, hopeful
It’s just a matter of one foot in front of the other. The waves lap at his ankles, cold and bone-chilly, resonating within him like a long-forgotten song, and he finds he still knows the words. The wind weaves strands of salt into the air and it feels like home, in a way, the beach, the sea, the water. Her hand is small and cold in his maimed one, but that, too, feels like home.
He forced himself to look at him as he spoke. He'd never had many friends, and those he counted as such wouldn't have counted him. He wasn't sure if Wex was his friend. They were nearly the same age, yes, but Wex seemed almost like an old man sometimes. He had the eyes of someone who had seen much more than he should have in his lifetime and he found it difficult to meet those eyes.
Talk to him. He is in pain, help him forget. "Do...do you think it's true? About the dragons, I mean." Wex looked at him, seemingly unaware of his presence until now. He pursed his lips in a frown, thought for a moment, then scoffed, a dubious look apathy plastered across his sharp features.
The Northern, Qarl x Tris, minor Qarl x Asha, minor one-sided Tris x Asha, forced bonding, sexual content
“You're just a boy.” He repeats, shaking his head sympathetically. “You've never even had a woman.”
“How do you know that?” Tris stammers, as Qarl's whole hand wraps around him.
“How do you think?”
The fact Asha doesn't treat his secrets with much reverence doesn't entirely surprise him. He just takes some comfort in the assumption she'd probably never tell anyone else.
Queen of Salt and Rock, Asha & Aeron, post-canon, character study
She realised suddenly that she was not alone anymore, and when she turned she saw a gaunt figure in torn robes by the door. The Damphair looked even worse than the last time she had seen him, at the Kingsmoot, bony and older than his years – for a moment the thought reminded her of her little brother when she had found him all those months ago, but there was an unbroken strength and determination in Aeron's eyes that had long left Theon's, even before they closed one last time.
Lord Reaver, Balon & Quellon, Balon & his brothers, pre-canon, character study
“Bless him with salt, bless him with stone, bless him with steel,” they chanted. Balon’s gaze never left his father’s body. He could sense his brothers’ presence behind him, Victarion at his right, face grave as befitting the occasion, Euron’s quirked in what might almost be a smile, and Aeron distracted, likely by the drink that was his steady companion. But he did not think long on them. His concerns were twofold: the saltstone chair, which he must claim by right of duty and honor, and a growing resentment, that he had never really been without, for the people who had put him in this position. Greenlander dogs who sat soft and pretty in their castles, watching their gold grow unchecked by dint of others’ labors, birthing generation after generation of more lords who would slip easily into their inherited state as though it were an embroidered doublet…
remember your name (it is still the same), Theon & Drowned God, Theon & The Seven, Theon & R'hllor, magical realism, mild psychological horror
With another wracking cough, the Drowned God started his story, his voice slow and calm.
“He has to remember, the young man thinks. He has to. It's important, he knows it is, but he's just barely hanging on by the tips of his fingers, so close to losing what he knows, what he loves, who he is. (But he's a liar, no one remembers him or loves him or cares about who he is.) The rats don't know his name. Neither should he.
That name belonged to someone else, someone without fear, without distrust, without everything he is, has become. (He's lying again. That name is a traitor, a turncloak – a good for nothing son and leader. That name is someone – someone else – and he is nobody.)
“What a gloomy story,” the man in the red robes interrupted. “Don't you know any uplifting ones?”
Soulless, Aeron & Greyjoys, character study, pre-canon, Aeron x Euron, graphic depictions of violence, major character death, rape/non-con, underage
“Catch it, Urri!” He is spinning the axes as though they were mere sticks, and that is what he spent most of the summer doing, hands fumbling with driftwood that he’d carved to resemble the deadly weapons, choosing the weightier pieces to simulate the feel of steel blades and leather bindings and heavy pine handles. Aeron had fancied impressing them all with his skills, had imagined himself the envy of his brothers with his fearless and flashy fingerdance. Perhaps even old Quellon might crack a smile when he returned from war, he’d thought, his own eyes crinkling in amusement at the thought of his father’s hardened expression breaking into mirth.
(Nameless Tumblr Drabble), Dagmer x Alannys, extramarital affair
Theon was simply too young for his father to notice, but perhaps that was best, Alannys mused sometimes, as he took more after Maron than Rodrik. Dagmer treated him as though he was his own, favored him. It warmed Alannys' heart.
The ruin of my house, Victarion & Euron, Victarion & Aeron, graphic descriptions of violence, major character death
“Aeron Greyjoy is the godliest man on the Iron Islands,” Victarion said. “No one has done more to serve our god, or to honor our ways. What crime could he have possibly committed?”
Euron laughed mockingly at this too, but at close range, Victarion could see that his blue eye gleamed like ice. There was no mirth here, only cruelty and madness.
to start with the annoying self-recs, i have a wex fic here (the best song yet to come) and a alannys asha theon reunion fic here (the promise).
theeee ironborn fic for me is i know my kingdom awaits, a multichapter where a young theon escaped early from winterfell and came back home. yet the focus is theon but it hosts a fun variety of ironboborns minor and major and a lot of fun place and culture worldbuilding! unfairly still only has like 40 kudos (well i guess it is niche but)
heir is a short asha fic after balon's rebellion, hits hard imo!
Hi here’s another list of things I’ve read that are really important to me, on the loose theme of ‘fantasy urbanism.’ I still haven’t read Dhalgren.
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. This is the most essential thing to read if you are even tangentially interested in anything about this list i think. Revelatory to me as a pulpy-literalistic fantasist.
Imaginary Cities by Darran Anderson. Inspired by the Calvino book, an enormous overview of planned or dreamed cities that were never built.
Kalpa Imperial by Angélica Gorodischer. Some of my favorite secondary-world fiction I have ever read. Short stories from the history of an empire at the ludicrous extreme of size, depth, history. The English edition was translated by Ursula K. Le Guin who is my favorite.
A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar. Beautiful book and deals with an invented setting and urban spaces with a more densely intellectual approach than I have ever seen.
Delirious New York by Rem Koolhaas. An architectural history and “retroactive manifesto” for Manhattan, but some of the most interesting bits are about Coney Island in particular. Huge futuristic conflicts underlie every modern city.
The City & the City by China Miéville. This isn’t a lot of people’s favorites of his because its fantastic elements aren’t the loudest, but it’s so smart and bewildering and develops an allegory for emergent social strata in urban spaces that is really compelling.
The Event Factory by Renee Gladman. Just finished this; it feels loose and dreamlike and engages very clearly with real feelings of exploring new spaces, radically repurposing urban environments…
Country of Ghosts by Margaret Killjoy. Not as totally concerned with cities as the rest of the list, but a really exciting and unusual example of worldbuilding from an intentionally political/utopian perspective.
Surregional Explorations by Max Cafard. The first few essays in this book deal with Surrealist and Situationist approaches to urban space and the unconscious of cities; it’s a weird jumbled book but I liked it
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. Definitely the most overtly allegorical and argumentative of hers that I’ve read, but it’s Le Guin so it’s done in an elegant and narratively engaging way. Modern cities are shown through the perspective of a visitor from an isolated left anarchist community, allowing for intense & emotional engagement with the inhumanity and strangeness of the extremities of urbanism and capitalism in major cities. Also deals with the fastidious class-segregation that is a central throughline in every American city I’ve ever been in.
Times Square Red, Times Square Blue by Samuel R. Delany. Not fiction, but engages with a lot of ideas this list orbits around. Most of the book is a sort of oral history of gay cruising culture in Manhattan in the 70s and 80s– this is developed into a really nuanced theory of urban development and the problems with what I think is called “new urbanism.” Part that sticks with me is the focus on interclass contact in cities and the huge cultural structures constantly being built to discourage it
I just finished taking an incredibly eye-opening class about Chinese ethnic minority literature. China has a thriving minority literature scene, and it's absolutely fascinating and full of interesting works, so I wanted to share some of the authors that I learned about this semester! This is, obviously, an incomplete list-- it's pretty heavily biased towards what we read about in class, and there's probably a lot I've missed!
For any authors with full works that have been translated into English, I've listed it under their names. Some other authors may also have poems or short stories published in translation online or in anthologies.
Hani 哈尼
Mo Du 莫獨 (b. 1963) - poems
Hui 回族
Huo Da 霍達 (b. 1945) - novels
The Jade King: History of a Chinese Muslim Family (1992)
Zhang Chengzhi 張承志 (b. 1948) -novels, short stories
The Black Steed (1990)
Korean 朝鮮族
Jin Renshun 金仁順 (b. 1970) - novels, short stories
Jin Wenxue 金文學 (b. 1962) - novels
Manchu 滿族
Duanmu Hongliang 端木蕻良 (1912-1996)
Lao She 老舍 (1899-1966) - novels, short stories, plays
Rickshaw Boy (1945, 2010)
Miao (Hmong) 苗族
He Xiaozhu 何小竹 (b. 1963) - poems, novels
Shen Congwen* 沈從文 (1902-1988) - novels, short stories
Imperfect Paradise (1995)
Border Town (2009)
Mongolian 蒙古族
Altai 阿爾泰 (b. 1949) - poems
Bao Liying 包麗英 (b. 1968) - novels
Baoyinhexige 寶音賀希格 - poems
Chen Ganglong 陳崗龍 (b. 1970) - poems
Guo Xuebo 郭雪波 (b. 1948) - novels, short stories
The Desert Wolf (1996)
Malaqinfu 瑪拉沁夫 (b. 1930)- novels
Naxi 納西族
Sha Li 沙蠡 (1953-2008) - novels
Yang Zhengwen 楊正文 (b. 1943) - novels
Qiang 羌族
Qiang Renliu 羌人六 (b. 1987) - poems
Yangzi/Yang Guoqing 羊子/楊國慶 - poems
Tibetan 藏族
Alai 阿來 (b. 1959) - novels, short stories
Red Poppies (2003)
The Song of King Gesar (2013)
Tashi Dawa 扎西達娃 (b. 1959) - novels, short stories
A Soul in Bondage: Stories from Tibet (1992)
Yangdron 央珍 (b. 1963) - novels
Uyghur 維吾爾族
Alat Asem 阿拉提·阿斯木 (b. 1958) - novels, short stories
Confessions of a Jade Lord (2019)
Wa/Va 佤族
Burao Yilu 布饒依露 - poems
Yi 彝族
Aku Wuwu 阿庫烏霧 (b. 1964) - poems, essays
Tiger Traces: Selected Nuosu and Chinese Poetry of Aku Wuwu (2006)
Coyote Traces: Aku Wuwu's Poetic Sojourn in America (2015)
*Shen has both Miao and Tujia ancestry, as well as Han. However, I see him listed most frequently as Miao.
More Resources on Ethnic Minority Literature:
Altaic Storytelling: The blog of translator Bruce Humes (translator of Confessions of a Jade Lord, among other works). Has a fairly broad focus, but he's written a lot about ethnic minorities.
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Ethnic Literature: China has a thriving infrastructure to support the writing of and research into ethnic minority literature, and this is one of the larger institutions. I believe their research focuses more on oral traditions, but they have some information about contemporary writers as well.
Chinese Women Writers on the Environment: An anthology of eco-fiction by female ethnic minority writers.
Golden Horse Award 駿馬獎: This is an annual award for ethnic minority literature. The wikipedia link lists all the previous winners.
The Leeds Center for New Chinese Writing: Again not specific to ethnic minorities, but features several ethnic minority authors.
Paper Republic: This organization is devoted to translated Chinese writing and isn't specific to ethnic minority literature but has information about and translations of some of the writers on this list.
Poetry International: This website isn't specific to ethnic minorities or even to China, but many of the poets on this list have pages there with a few poems translated into English.
“I want horror lesbians” I say. “Have you seen Bly Manor/Fear Street?” you ask me. Yes I have. I don’t want a sweet sapphic love story as a ray of hope in a horror show. I want monstrous women with Hannigram-esque toxic codependency and knife play and blood over their hands. I want women who poison each other and women who haunt each other. I want lesbian monsters and lesbian vampires and lesbian serial killers. I want body horror and grotesque sapphic imagery. I want them sexual and depraved and hungry. Hope this clears it up <3
ok, i’m not an expert on this by any means and i’m only scratching the surface, but i’ll post some recs that might fit your needs. they range from monster lesbians to just non-horror but fucked up/toxic dynamics, or really just fucked up movies with lesbians. in some of these the lesbianism remains subtext, but i only included the ones that are very obvious about it. also, look up content warnings if that’s an issue, as some of these may contain sexual abuse, including csa, incest, and other triggering topics.
Dracula’s Daughter (1936)
Olivia (1951)
Diabolique (1955)
The Haunting (1963)
The House that Screamed (1969)
Daughters of Darkness (1971)
Vampyros Lesbos (1971)
Don’t Deliver Us From Evil (1971)
The Blood Spattered Bride (1972)
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
Lemora (1973)
Symptoms (1974)
Alucarda (1977)
The Mafu Cage (1978)
Fascination (1979)
The Living Dead Girl (1982)
The Hunger (1983)
Possibly in Michigan (1983)
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
La Cérémonie (1995)
Diabolique (1996)
Ginger Snaps (2000)
May (2002)
Martyrs (2008)
Cracks (2009)
The Handmaiden (2016)
The Favourite (2018)
Haven’t seen yet but may probably fit in this list:
Pandora’s Box
The Duke of Burgundy
Twins of Evil
As Filhas do Fogo
Sister my Sister
i know i’ll think of more soon but these are the ones i can think of rn. have fun.
edit: not all of these are horror! some are just fucked up
If I may add; The 7th Victim (1943), The Vampire Lovers (1970), Immoral Tales (1973), Vampyres (1974), Blood For Dracula (1974), Mulholland Drive (2001).
Here’s a continuation to this post about Hispanic Dark Academia Book Recs because I have to produce the content I want to see, I guess, and if I don’t talk about Mexican literature who the hell will. With PDFs included in both languages that took me so long to find.
The Houseguest by Amparo Dávila: Amparo Dávila was one of Mexico’s best writers of the 20th century, and won the Xavier Villaurrutia, one of the countries biggest and most important literature annual prizes. Her writing style can be compared to Shirley Jackson’s, whom I also love. I personally recommend reading The Houseguest/El huésped, which is one of my favorite stories ever and is a horror story. The version in Spanish can be found here.
The Body Where I Was Born by Guadalupe Nettel: Tells the intimate story about a girl who was born with vision defect and how she navigates living in Latin America in the 70s. A very acclaimed novel about identity.
Historia de Mariquita by Guadalupe Dueñas: I couldn’t find a translation of this one, but most people that follow this blog know or are studying Spanish, so here’s the link for the short story in Spanish.
Hurricane Season or Temporada de Huracanes by Fernanda Melchor: Also considered one of the country’s best book from the last decade, that explores violence and sexism in México centered around a supernatural event from a female perspective. Here’s the PDF in Spanish.
Recollections of Things to Come or Los recuerdos del porvenir by Elena Garro: There was a controversy a few years back when a book about Elena Garro was re-edited and published and she was introduced as “Octavio Paz’s wife”, who was also another very important Mexican writer (as a personal note, I think his literature should be read and is very significant to Mexican identity, but it also very sexist, so be prepared for that). The outrage caused by the diminishment of this woman’s accomplishments caused a resurgence of Mexican books written by women. I really really recommend her. Here’s the PDF in Spanish.
i’m always looking for theon fic to read; please share with me niche theon fic that is set in asoiaf book canon. with niche i mean the kind of fic that has, say <100 kudos, that i won’t find by sorting by kudos. no modern aus, no show fic. preferably post ramsay or including some of that though that’s not a must.
i’ll start:
Crow and the Sea, by emmaliza (Bran watches Theon and tries to make sense of what he sees.)
Monsters and Maidens, by SelkieWife (missing scene in ADWD where Theon meets with Abel.)
creatures lurk below the deck, by nonexistentwench (both surviving Greyjoy children are taken as hostage to Winterfell. Theon & Asha kidfic.)
Take My Hand as the Sun Descends, by MymbleHowl (set some undefined time but probably at least a decade or so in the future, Theon and Jeyne meet again. Explicit Theon/Jeyne; give it a chance even if the thought of that usually doesn’t work for you; it’s excellent.)
all us kids, knee deep in dirt, by vivacissimo (Theon succeeds in escaping the Dreadford and seeks refuge at the wall, where he meets Jon.)
the nightmare (touched its forehead to my lips), by vivacissimo (2 trauma-heavy and beautiful character study-ish pieces for Theon.)
ten steps back (one step forward), by congratsyouvegrownasoul (Theon and Jeyne after the wedding night from a Jeyne POV.)
all the lives we ever lived (and all the lives to be), by congratsyouvegrownasoul (post-everything dreamy imagination of Theon & family surviving on the Iron Islands.)
to a better place, by loserrobin (post-ADWD Jeyne and Theon escaping, probably.)
a cold like fire, a burn without heat, by coaldustcanary (post-ADWD; a surviving Loras and Theon meet.)
Bad Blood and Burned Castles, by agiaoftyrosh (a Domeric/Theon where a survived & non-evil Domeric comes back early and takes charge of the Dreadfort over Ramsay, inheriting the captive Theon.)
The Light in Me Will Guide You Home, by libraryseraph (Asha&Theon post-ADWD hurt/comfort bath scene.)
The Price of Loyalty, by Alley_Skywalker (good/effective inversion of Theon/Robb guilt.)
I Wait, Staring At The Northern Star (I’m Afraid It Won’t Lead Me Anywhere), by GlassBeatles (post-ADWD Theon and Palla meeting, exteremely uncomfortable.)
the hand that feeds, by fleshfeel (a thramsay meaning a graphic depiction of Ramsay’s abuse of Theon; disgusting and does good things about power and perception.)
Good news and bad news, by zmeischa (interesting little post-ADWD Theon/Margaery crack I wished to learn more about.)
Take Me Under by Mis_Shapes (for something more light-hearted, a Patrek/Theon during Theon’s two weeks of happiness in his sad life.)
Madman in the Snows, by Florentium (post-ADWD Theon/Satin scene with feelings.)
Between Two Lungs, by Attaining (another post-ADWD pre-Theon/Satin.)
I know my kingdom awaits, by nonexistentwench (still updating longfic kidfic AU where Theon escapes Winterfell and comes back to the Iron Islands.)
indulging in a little self-plug: A Righteous Quest (Jeyne and Theon get rescued by Brienne and Pod) & An Envoy’s Journey (sent to take Moat Cailin for Ramsay Theon finds Trist Botley there)
please add more! as you can see from this selection i like uncomfy gen the most, but i’m open to really all scenarios & ships & ratings. just make sure it’s a) set in book canon b) has less than 100 kudos. thank you!!
Varied polychrome reconstructions of Statue of Thalia, Greek Muse of Comedy. 2nd BCE, Delos. Reconstructions by the Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project.
The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada has unveiled a new exhibition: Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange Across Medieval Saharan Africa. Danièle took in the exhibition and spoke with Michael Chagnon, the Curator of the museum. They talk about medieval Africa, its connections with the wider world, and what you can see at the Aga Khan Museum.
Article about Mansa Musa and his 14th-C empire in West Africa - links to a short little TedEd video and a 5-page narrative/article about his famous Hajj
(yes this is literally just me hoarding all of my resources on medieval West Africa + other parts of Africa if I feel like it in the one place YEAH there’s no theme here YOU BET it’s a weird mix)
okay i have no self-discipline but in my defence this is SO COOL:
Scholars from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw (PCMA UW) have created ‘Virtual Nubia‘, which will allow viewers to explore the Monastery of Ghazali, now located in northern Sudan.
Ghazali was a monastic site between the 7th and 13th centuries, and a Polish archaeological team excavated its remains in recent years. They were also able to find a small settlement, cemeteries and iron production sites. “We conducted archaeological work in parallel with a heritage management project, preparing the site for visitors,” says Dr. Artur Obłuski, PCMA UW Director and head of the expedition. “However, we were aware that not many tourists would reach the site unless the political situation becomes more inviting. Hence the idea to make a virtual tour.”
Africa in the Medieval World Lecture Series 2018-2019 - including talks by:
Steven Kaplan, In Search of Medieval Africa: Sources, Methods and Traps
Giovanni Ruffini, Nubia and the Question of ‘Medieval Africa’
Daphne Gallagher, Reflecting on Medieval West Africa: Archaeological Perspectives from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal
Sam Nixon, The Gold Route to Timbuktu: Tracing Medieval Camel Caravan Networks from Morocco to Mali
Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Objects and Encounters on the Medieval East African Coast
Samantha Kelly, Connected Histories: Ethiopia and the Global Middle Ages
haven’t watched these yet so ymmv!
oooooh ALSO here’s a link to the Zamani Project:
“Heritage provides a window into the past that helps us understand our present and plan for our future. The study of diverse sites and structures gives insight into why societies have come to value the things they do. Awareness of heritage can help to develop one’s own cultural identity and to promote tolerance and acceptance of others.
However, heritage sites are often undocumented, or poorly documented, and many face threats of damage or destruction. These include sea-level rise, natural disasters, vandalism and wilful destruction, cultural terrorism, war, mining, construction, poorly-managed tourism, and the ravages of time. As such, digital collections of the tangible archaeological, cultural and anthropological information contained in these sites have become especially relevant.
Over the past 15 years, in collaboration with significant international heritage organisations such as UNESCO and the World Monuments Fund, we have documented more than 250 structures, rock art sites and statues at some 65 heritage sites in 18 countries across Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.”
many of the sites being documented are a) in Africa and/or b) from the time period between the 6th and 16th centuries
1) Articles on an exhibit called Balthazar - A Black African King in Medieval and Renaissance Art:
“Early medieval legends reported that one of the three kings who paid homage to the newborn Christ Child in Bethlehem was from Africa. But it would be nearly one thousand years before artists began representing Balthazar, the youngest of the magi, as a Black African. This exhibition explores the juxtaposition of a seemingly positive image with the painful histories of Afro-European contact, particularly the brutal enslavement of African peoples.”
A New Exhibition Explores Balthazar, a Black African King in Medieval and Renaissance European Art
Race and Representation in the Nativity Scene (includes a snippet from the museum audio tour
Images of African Kingship, Real and Imagined
Selected photos
2) Six videos that track the rise and fall of kingdoms and states within Africa during the Middle Ages.
3) Lunchtime Lecture — Yasuke: An African Warrior in Japan with Prof. Thomas Lockley
4) Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time lecture series with the Aga Khan Museum
5) Petrarch’s Africa I-IV: A Translation and Commentary
6) The Origins of Amazigh Women’s Power in North Africa: An Historical Overview by Ulbani Aït Frawsen and L’Hocine Ukerdi
7) The Black Road – Trade and State-building in Medieval Sub-Saharan Africa by SR Luttrell
8) The Ethiopian Age of Exploration: Prester John’s Discovery of Europe, 1306-1458By Matteo Salvadore
9) A Coptic Center in Medieval West Africa: Reframing Prester John and Early Global Trade (lecture by Suzanne Preston Blier)
10) Ivory, Copper, and the Island of Gold: Medieval trade between France and West Africa (online talk by Sarah Guérin)
11) Early Global Connections: East Africa between Asia, and Mediterranean Europe (project)
12) The Peregrinations of Prester John: The Creation of a Global Story Across 600 Years (project)
Can you recommend any sources for radio plays? In the late 80s, there was a show called LA Dramatique de Minuit. Monday through Friday from 11:30 PM to midnight. Each week two actors would perform 5 different half-hour radio plays. One each night. I loved that show when I was studying in France. Is there anything like that now accessible via the internet?
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Nuits noires - France Inter (2010s): detective stories (45mn)
Playlist Fictions enfantines - France Inter (2010-)
57, rue de Varenne - France Inter (2014/2020, 5 seasons): the daily life of a prime minister (24mn)
Signé Furax - RTF/Europe 1 (50s): Detectives Black and White fight against an evil genius, the dreaded criminal Edmond Furax, as well as a shadowy organization, the "Babus" (8mn)
Bons baisers de partout (60s/70s, from the same people) parody of spy/James Bond movies (60mn)
Les maîtres du mystère - France Inter (52/65): adaptation of spooky stories - Christie, Doyle, Poe, etc. (55mn) then turned into Mystère mystère (50mn) and L'heure du mystère (55mn) in 65/74.
Le mystérieux Docteur Cornélius - France Culture (77/78): the clash of two characters and antagonistic conceptions of the world: one, the debonair French scientist Prosper Bondonnat, whose research is directed with the sole aim of adding a stone to the "radiant edifice of modernity", the other, by the evil Dr. Cornelius Kramm, an American plastic surgeon, inventor of "carnoplasty" (a process that allows giving an individual the appearance of another), obsessed with power and money. (29mn)
