The Latest: 44.3 | History

Joshua Lupo dissects the history of history of religions, Abdelaziz El Amrani brings religious anticolonial resistance in Morocco to the fore, Anna Gunin recalls the suppression of  memory in the Soviet Union, Masuma Rahim remembers Karbala, Shanon Shah is bowled over by a future vision of Malaysia, Susannah Tarbush meets female musicians from Afghanistan, poetry by Arif Ay, and Youshaa Patel’s brave defence of taqlid (imitation).

The History of History of Religions

Early twentieth-century scholars of religion, especially in Europe and the United States, cultivated a curious understanding of ‘history’ when they named their field ‘the history of religions’.

The Censorship of Memory

The adage ‘History is written by the victors’ is commonly attributed to Winston Churchill. In fact, the sentiment predates Churchill, with pronouncements closely resembling it made by various people in the nineteenth century.

The Other Afghan Musicians

In 1973 a young British couple, Veronica Doubleday and her ethnomusicologist husband John Baily, arrived in the city of Herat, western Afghanistan, where Baily planned to spend a year researching the local music tradition.