One thousand, three hundred, and thirty years ago at Karbala in present-day Iraq, Iman Husayn ibn Ali, a grandson of the prophet of Islam, led a small, traveling group of 72 persons. This group included children, women, and elderly persons, as well as a small number of horsemen and infantrymen dedicated to Husayn. They confronted … Continue reading the spectators
In Ottoman Turkey and Safavid Iran, magnificent Falnamas suggest that images dominated words for providing commoners with an impressive, royal augury. … Read the post Falnama: fortune showing tops fortune telling
Among the cocky young men in the new ruler’s entourage, one wears a t-shirt declaring, “business is good.” The back of his t-shirt adds, “my business is killing.” Such a combination of power, inhumane interests, and brutality, writ large, animates Shakespeare’s King Lear. For a production with the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Director Robert Falls has … Continue reading King Lear’s great falls: Robert Falls directs at Shakespeare Theatre
With an insightful display of different viewpoints, the Smithsonian’s exhibition, Jamestown, Québec, Santa Fe: Three North American Beginnings, explores settlement and unsettlement. An opening theme of the exhibition is “unsettling the continent.” Text on a large sign-barrier at the beginning of the exhibition presents in three languages this one text: Societies of indigenous peoples inhabited … Continue reading unsettling North America at the Smithsonian