In the earlier part of the week, Year 9 History students took part in a number of sessions that introduced them to the ‘Invisible East’, a University of Oxford research project that focuses on the 8th to 13th century Islamicate world in Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Dr Arezou Azad and her team explained to students about the region and its rich culture and introduced them to some of the ethical dilemmas involved in working with texts from this period and region. In pairs, students worked on deciphering an early Persian text and were encouraged to speculate about what can be learned about the society from which it was drawn. The session was then followed by student presentations in which they were tasked to curate an exhibition on the ‘Invisible East’ for fellow students and, as a group, had to select two items from the catalogue that best illustrated the period using a range of criteria.
This was a fascinating session and a wonderful opportunity for students to gain an insight into the work of historians in this emerging field. Here is what some of our Year 9s thought of the session:
“I thought the topic was very interesting, and the things we covered gave a very clear insight into the ‘Invisible East’ project. The session was particularly interesting because of my own heritage. The subject is also a part of history we don’t often cover in schools, so it was nice to have a little taste.”
“I enjoyed taking part in the ‘Invisible East’ session and I liked how interactive it was. I especially enjoyed trying to work out what the source meant.”
“I thought the ‘Invisible East’ session was very engaging. It was interesting to learn about the misconceptions we have of the East. It was also interesting to learn about the work of academics at Oxford University. I enjoyed the group work elements and would have loved to have had more time analysing the texts and looking at the different artefacts for the virtual museum. I altogether thought the session was really important as we don’t learn about the East until GCSE level normally and I also thought it was a lot of fun.”
