What are Study Days?
Starting at 10:00am and finishing at 3:00pm, Study Days provide three one-hour lectures, linked to a chosen theme. Coffee is served between the morning sessions, and a three-course lunch before the afternoon session. Study Days are held in Oxford at Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square, OX1 2JA, the home of the Oxford University Department of Continuing Education. The lecture theatre has up-to-date audio/visual equipment, including a hearing loop, and there is lift access.
The next Study Day
We are very pleased to announce that our next Study Day will be held on Friday 17th January and will be titled Unravelling the Silk Road. Please note that this event is now SOLD OUT.
The speaker will be Chris Aslan. Chris has an unusual life story, starting with his childhood in Turkey and war-torn Beirut. After school, he spent two years at sea before studying Media and Journalism at Leicester University. He then lived in Uzbekistan, establishing a workshop reviving fifteenth century carpet designs and embroideries, in Tajikistan, training yak herders to comb their yaks for their cashmere-like down, and in Kyrgyzstan, living in the world’s largest natural walnut forest and establishing a wood-carving workshop. Since then he has studied in Oxford and lived in Cambridge and North Cyprus. He is a lively and engaging lecturer, an author, whose most recent book is Unravelling the Silk Road, and a leader of tours to Central Asia.
Unravelling The Silk Road will look at how wool, silk and cotton have each played a crucial role in the fortunes of central Asia. Wool created the clothing and housing needed by the great nomadic cultures that were to dominate middle Asia. Silk was more valuable than gold and used as currency, creating a network of trading routes that led to the first age of globalisation. Cotton was the cause of Russian and then Soviet colonisation and continues to cause controversy today as well as human misery and environmental catastrophe. The felts, carpets, embroideries, robes and veils of the Silk Road stratified wealth, displayed religious and political divisions and changed the fortunes of this fascinating part of the world: a meeting place between Mohammed and Marx.
The study day comprises three lectures, each exploring a textile and a road. We will examine how textiles have changed the course of central Asian history, politics and ways of life. We will delight in the intoxicating designs, colours, and techniques achieved with the three textiles, from breath-takingly intricate suzani embroidery and robes fit for a shah, to world-class carpets, cheerful shyrdyk felts and diaphanous cotton. Each lecture will be illustrated with Chris Aslan’s own experience of living and working in the region for 15 years.
Timetable
09:30-09:50 registration
10:00-11:00 lecture 1: The Wool Road
11:00-11:30 break for coffee/tea and biscuits
11:30-12:30 lecture 2: The Silk Road
12:30-14:00 break for lunch
14:00-15:00 lecture 3: The Cotton Road
Cost
£48 per person. This includes the three lectures, tea/coffee and biscuits in the common room and a three-course buffet lunch (vegetarian and other options available) in the dining room.
How can I book?
Full details of the Study Day are emailed to members, and those on the waiting list, six to eight weeks before the event. Booking is through TicketSource, via an application link contained in the email. Tickets are sold on a first-come first-served basis.
Previous Study Days
To read about our previous study days click here
How do I contact the organisers?
If you would like any more general information about Study Days, please contact our organisers – Sue Hine, Bridget Watkins and Ann Bevan – at tasoxford@gmail.com. Make sure you put Study Day in the subject line of the email.
Wyvern Area Study Days
We are part of The Arts Society Wyvern Area and our members, and those on the waiting list, are welcome to take part in Wyvern area events. Further details click here