In this episode, Ismail Patel speaks with Diana Darke about her new book, “Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture shaped Europe”.
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Yesterday
Itohan I. Osayimwese, "Africa's Buildings: Architecture and the Displacement of Cultural Heritage" (Princeton UP, 2025)
Between the nineteenth century and today, colonial officials, collectors, and anthropologists dismembered African buildings and dispersed their parts to museums in Europe and the United States. Most of these artifacts were cataloged as ornamental art objects, which erased their i ... Show More
1h 19m
Jan 28
Iain Jackson et. al., "Architecture, Empire, and Trade: The United Africa Company" (Bloomsbury, 2025)
Architecture, Empire, and Trade: The United Africa Company (Bloomsbury, 2025) pieces together a new architectural history of West Africa from the high colonial period through to independence. From the imperial Royal Niger Company’s charter in the 1890s through to commercial deve ... Show More
40m 43s
Jan 28
Bram de Maeyer, "Building for Belgium: Belgian Embassies in a Globalising World (1945-2020)" (Leuven UP, 2025)
Embassy buildings are the most tangible evidence of a state’s diplomatic presence abroad. State authorities have invested in the architectural conception of purpose-built embassies to flex their diplomatic muscle and project nationhood on foreign soil. While scholars have primari ... Show More
37m 1s
Jan 2025
Islamesque: How Islam Shaped Western Skylines with Diana Darke
When commentators talk about the relationship, often fraught, between Islam and the west, most start with the mass migration from the Indian subcontinent, North Africa and Middle East to western countries. A few years back, the British foreign secretary announced the greatest cul ... Show More
1h 4m
Mar 2025
Bonus: Nouf Al Moneef on the evolution of the Noor Riyadh Festival
We’re continuing my conversation with interior architect Nouf Al Moneef, Director of the Noor Riyadh festival. On today’s episode, Nouf tells me about the evolution of Noor Riyadh, why they chose light as a theme in addition to art, as well as about her own design aesthetic. You ... Show More
14m 27s
Jul 2024
S5E5 Teaching Islamic Art in Schools, with Rizwan Iqbal
Join Rizwan Iqbal as he explores how to get young people excited about Islamic art. Listen as he details the problems faced, solutions he has discovered, and the exciting work he has done as part of our Hands On Islamic Art project, which connects the wider UK to Islamic art coll ... Show More
35m 43s
Aug 2023
Ep 5: Muslim Sicily’s hidden treasures with Professors Bill Granara and Nicola Carpentieri
Muslims governed Sicily for about 200 years starting around 830 CE. A thousand years later, the influence of Muslim civilization remains. You can find it in the language, in local place names, and even in its cakes and sweets!
If you visit Sicily you also still see Muslim influen ... Show More
40m 18s
Sep 2025
Are You Reading the Quran Wrong? Understanding vs. Recitation with Dr. Saquab Ashraf
In this episode of Dream, Girl, I sit down with Dr. Saquab Ashraf, founder of CEI UK and my former teacher from Oxford’s Quran Club. We revisit the memories that shaped my own approach to reading the Quran, explore the origins of Q Club, and discuss why stories like Surah Yusuf r ... Show More
49m 24s
Feb 2025
Aliyah Khan on the Muslim Caribbean
In this episode, Saeed Khan and Chella Ward sat down with Dr Aliyah Khan to discuss Muslimness in the Caribbean, drawing on Aliyah’s book Far From Mecca and ongoing important work in this area. This wide-ranging conversation covers decolonial solidarities and neglected histories, ... Show More
51m 59s
May 2018
Al Andalus and Islamic Spain
What is Al Andalus and the history of Islam in the Iberian Peninsula? Join us as we take a closer look at the Muslim expansions into Portugal and Spain. In part one of two of discussing Islam in the Maghreb, we examine the Berber and Moorish influences on art, architecture, cultu ... Show More
1 h