Library Circles feature research, talks and experimental interventions by UAE practitioners in the Jameel Library and Jameel Arts Centre. The programme explores alternative research methodologies and representations with a focus on ‘thinking in public’.

This iteration of Library Circles presents a research display by Nathalie Peutz, accompanied by a series of illustrations by Holly Mills in the spaces leading up to Jameel Library.

Nathalie’s research focuses on Yemen’s Socotra archipelago. A UNESCO natural World Heritage Site, the archipelago is home not only to endemic plants and animals, but also to a rich cultural history and the endangered Soqotri language. Outlining the 21st-century conservation and development projects that contributed to Soqotra’s environmental protection, Peutz depicts how Soqotrans came to assemble, defend, and mobilise their cultural and linguistic heritage in transformative ways. 

Nathalie will also be giving a talk at the Jameel Library on Monday, 20 January, following a tour of the centre.

Nathalie Peutz

Nathalie Peutz is an anthropologist and an associate professor in the Program of Arab Crossroads Studies at New York University Abu Dhabi. Her research focuses on forced migration, displacement and immobility, conservation and development, and identity and heritage in the Arab world and the Western Indian Ocean region.