Professor James Onley | American University of Sharjah
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Profile

College / Department

College of Arts and Sciences
Department of International Studies

Teaching areas

Gulf History, Middle Eastern History

Research areas

Gulf history, Gulf heritage industry, archival digitization, Gulf material culture, Gulf architectural history, Gulf ruling families, Gulf merchant families, Arab-Persian society and culture in the Gulf, the British Raj and the Gulf, Indian diaspora in the Gulf, Gulf-India relations

Education

PhD, Modern History, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, 2001
Post-Baccalaureate Diploma [equivalent to a one-year MSt], Middle Eastern History, Simon Fraser University, Canada, 1995
BA, History, University of British Columbia, Canada, 1993
Diploma, Peace And Conflict Studies, Langara College, Canada, 1991

Professional experience

Ahmed Seddiqi Chair In Gulf & Middle Eastern Studies, And Professor Of History, Department Of International Studies, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2022 - Present
Honorary Research Fellow, Archiam, School Of Architecture, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, 2021 - 2024
Director Of Historical Research & Partnerships, Qatar National Library, 2017 - 2022
Honorary Research Fellow, Institute Of Arab And Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, United Kingdom, 2017 - 2021
Visiting Professor, Gulf Studies Center, Qatar University, 2016 - 2017
Visiting Professor, Department Of History, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar, 2015 - 2016
Senior Lecturer [= Associate Professor] In Middle Eastern History, Institute Of Arab & Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, United Kingdom, 2008 - 2016
Visiting Fellow, Center For International & Regional Studies, Georgetown University in Qatar, 2008 - 2009
Lecturer [= Assistant Professor] In Middle Eastern History, Institute Of Arab & Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, United Kingdom, 2005 - 2008
Assistant Professor Of International Studies, Department Of International Studies, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2003 - 2005
Lecturer [= Assistant Professor] In Middle Eastern History, Institute Of Arab & Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, United Kingdom, 2002 - 2003

Memberships

International Studies Association, ISA, International, 2021
Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies, AGAPS, International, 2011
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, RAS, National, 2009
Royal Historical Society, RHistS, National, 2009
British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, BRISMES, National, 1999
International Association for the Study of Arabia, IASA, International, 1999
Middle East Studies Association, MESA, International, 1999
Royal Society for Asian Affairs, RSAA, National, 1999
Bahrain Society, National, 1998
British Scholar Society (now: Britain and the World), International, 2006 - 2012
American Historical Association, AHA, National, 1999 - 2009

Contact

[email protected]
+971 6 515 4479

Professor James Onley

Professor
PhD, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

James Onley is the Ahmed Seddiqi Chair in Gulf & Middle Eastern Studies and Professor of History. He specializes in the history and heritage of the Gulf region, the Gulf’s historical connections with South Asia, archives and archival digitization, and digital humanities. He is Founding Editor of the Journal of Arabian Studies (est. 2011). Before joining AUS, he was Director of Historical Research at Qatar National Library, responsible for digitizing historical records for the Qatar Digital Library (www.QDL.qa), and Director of the Centre for Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter.

Publications

James Onley, Gerd Nonneman And Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Co-Editor of whole issue), December 2023
James Onley, Gerd Nonneman And Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Co-Editor of whole issue), June 2023
James Onley, Gerd Nonneman And Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Co-Editor of whole issue), December 2022
James Onley, Gerd Nonneman And Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Co-Editor of whole issue), June 2022
James Onley, Gerd Nonneman And Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2 (co-editor of whole issue), December 2021
James Onley, Gerd Nonneman And Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1 (co-editor of whole issue), June 2021
James Onley, Gerd Nonneman And Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 10, No. 2 (co-editor of whole issue), December 2020
James Onley, Gerd Nonneman And Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1 (co-editor of whole issue), June 2020
James Onley And Gerd Nonneman. "The Journal of Arabian Studies and the Development of Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies", Journal Of Arabian Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1, June 2020
James Onley, Gerd Nonneman And Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 9, No. 2 (co-editor of whole issue), December 2019
James Onley. Qatar, India & the Gulf: History, Culture & Society (Qatar National Library Press), 2019
James Onley, Gerd Nonneman And Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1 (co-editor of whole issue), April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2019
James Onley, Gerd Nonneman And Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 8, No. 2 (co-editor of whole issue), December 2018
James Onley, Gerd Nonneman And Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 8, No. 1 (co-editor of whole issue), June 2018
James Onley, Gerd Nonneman And Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 7, No. 2 (co-editor of whole issue), December 2017
James Onley, Gerd Nonneman And Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 7, No. 1 (co-editor of whole issue), April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2017
James Onley. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2 (editor of whole issue), December 2016
James Onley, Fahad Bishara, Bernard Haykel, Steffen Hertog And Clive Holes. "The Economic Transformation of the Gulf", in The Emergence of the Gulf States: Studies in Modern History, edited by J.E. Peterson, 2016
James Onley. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1 (editor of whole issue), June 2016
James Onley. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2 (editor of whole issue), December 2015
James Onley And Sandhya Mehta. "The Hindu Community in Muscat: Making Homes in the Diaspora", Journal Of Arabian Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, December 2015
James Onley. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1 (editor of whole issue), June 2015
James Onley. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 4, No. 2 (editor of whole issue), December 2014
James Onley. "Indian Communities in the Persian Gulf, c.1500–1947", in The Persian Gulf in Modern Times: Ports, Peoples and History, edited by Lawrence Potter, 2014
James Onley. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1 (editor of whole issue), June 2014
James Onley. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2 (editor of whole issue), December 2013
James Onley. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1 (editor of whole issue), June 2013
James Onley. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2 (editor of whole issue), December 2012
James Onley. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1 (editor of whole issue), June 2012
James Onley. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2 (editor of whole issue), December 2011
James Onley. Journal of Arabian Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1 (editor of whole issue), June 2011
James Onley. "La politique de protection : les dirigeants du Golfe et la Pax Britannica au XIXe siècle", Maghreb–machrek: Le Colonialisme Britannique, No. 204, July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2010
James Onley. "Imperial History and Political Correctness", British Scholar, Vol. 2, No. 2, March 2010
James Onley. "India and the UAE: A Shared History", India and the UAE: In Celebration of a Legendary Friendship, edited by Venu Rajamony (Dubai: Indian Expressions), 2009
James Onley. "Britain and the Gulf Shaikhdoms, 1820–1971: The Politics of Protection", Cirs Occasional Paper No. 4 ( Georgetown University In Qatar), 2009
James Onley. "The Politics of Protection: The Gulf Rulers and the Pax Britannica in the Nineteenth Century", Liwa: Journal Of The National Center For Documentation And Research, Vol. 1, June 2009
James Onley. "The Raj Reconsidered: British India’s Informal Empire and Spheres of Influence in Asia and Africa", Asian Affairs, Vol. 40, No. 1, April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2009
James Onley. The Arabian Frontier of the British Raj: Merchants, Rulers, and the British in the Nineteenth-Century Gulf (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 2007
James Onley. "Transnational Merchants in the Nineteenth- and Twentieth Century Gulf", The Gulf Family: Modernity and Kinship Policies, edited by Alanoud Alshareskh (London: Saqi Books), 2007
James Onley And Sulayman Khalifa. "Shaikhly Authority in the Pre-Oil Gulf: An Historical-Anthropological Study", History And Anthropology, Vol. 17, No. 3, September 2006
James Onley. “L’empire britannique informel dans le Golfe (1820–1971)”, Maghreb-machrek: Le Golfe Arabique, No. 187, April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2006
James Onley. “Britain’s Informal Empire in the Gulf, 1820–1971”, Journal Of Social Affairs, Vol. 22, No. 87, December 2005
James Onley. “Transnational Merchants in the Nineteenth Century Gulf: The Case of the Safar Family”, Transnational Connections and the Arab Gulf, edited by Madawi al-Rasheed (London: Routledge), 2005
James Onley. “The Politics of Protection in the Gulf: The Arab Rulers and the British Resident in the Nineteenth Century”, New Arabian Studies, Vol. 6, 2004
James Onley. “Britain’s Native Agents in Arabia and Persia in the Nineteenth Century”, Comparative Studies Of South Asia, Africa And The Middle East, Vol. 24, No. 1, May 2004

Conference Presentations

“India and Arabia: Connections Across Millennia“, "from Mandvi To Muscat" Lecture Series, 22 February 2024
“Digital Archives”, 18 December 2023
“Archival Sources on the Gulf”, 15 November 2023
"Gulf History and Colonial Archives in Britain and India", Middle East Studies Association 2023 Conference, Montreal, 2 November 2023
“A Talk on Digital Archives”, 18 October 2023
“Qatar, 1766–2023: Politics and Foreign Affairs”, 11 October 2023
"India and the Gulf: A Survey of 4,600 Years of Trade and Cultural Contact" [inaugural lecture for the Ahmed Seddiqi Chair in Gulf and Middle Eastern Studies], American University Of Sharjah, 14 February 2023
“Qatar, 1766–2023: Politics and Foreign Affairs”, 15 March 2022
Over 100 papers presented since 1997, including more than 80 invited talks at leading universities like Harvard, Princeton, Oxford, Cambridge, Sciences Po, JNU, JMI, and NUS., 1997

Grants and sponsorships

Sponsored Research, British Library Qatar Foundation Partnership, Phase 4, Qatar National Library (Qatar Foundation), July 2022 - December 2025
Sponsored Research, British Library Qatar Foundation Partnership, Phase 3, Qatar National Library (Qatar Foundation), January 2019 - June 2022
Sponsored Research, Gulf Architecture Project, Qatar National Library (Qatar Foundation), January 2019 - June 2020
Grant, Records of Arabia in Indian Archives Project, Doha Institute (2016), Qatar University (2017), & the Qatar National Library (2018-19), January 2016 - December 2019
Sponsored Research, British Hydrographic Surveys of the Gulf Project, Qatar National Library, January 2018 - June 2018
Grant, Traditional Gulf Architecture Conference, Qatar National Research Fund (Qatar Foundation), 22 April 2018 - 25 April 2018
Grant, Origins of Doha Project, Qatar National Research Fund (Qatar Foundation), 2013 - 2015
Contract, Historical Survey of the Omani Coast, Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Omani Government, September 2015 - October 2015
Grant, Qatar Unified Imaging Project (QUIP), Qatar National Research Fund (Qatar Foundation), 2011 - 2014
Contract, Abu Dhabi History Project, Crown Prince's Office, Abu Dhabi Government, March 2013 - January 2014
Fellowship, Visiting Scholar, Georgetown School of Foreign Service in Qatar, September 2008 - June 2009
Grant, Bahrain-British Foundation Award, Bahrain-British Foundation, September 1998 - September 1999

Awards and Honors

Fellow, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 2009
Fellow, Royal Historical Society, 2009
Albert Hourani Book Award (Honorable Mention), Middle East Studies Association, For The Arabian Frontier of the British Raj: Merchants, Rulers, and the British in the Nineteenth-Century Gulf (Oxford University Press, 2007), November 2008
Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, For my 2001 DPhil thesis from the University of Oxford., June 2002
Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Award (Honorable Mention), Middle East Studies Association, For my 2001 DPhil thesis from the University of Oxford., November 2001

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