Michael Palin was made a SOAS Honorary Fellow in recognition of his TV global travelogues and his generous contribution to the Hodgson archive catalogue of 19th century documents from Nepal (Photo © John Swannell)
24 July 2008
Leading luminaries from film, light entertainment and culture were honoured at the School’s Graduation Ceremonies this week.
The award-winning Iranian filmmaker Rakhshan Bani-Etemad received an Honorary Doctorate for her contribution to political and cultural topics in modern day Iran.
And there were Honorary Fellowships for the popular TV global traveller Michael Palin, who helped turn Monty Python into a comedic phenomenon, and for Geraldine Auerbach, the ground-breaking impresario for Jewish culture.
Gratefully accepting her Doctorate, Bani-Etemad paid tribute to SOAS’ commitment to “humanistic art and knowledge” and said the honour was not just for her, but “belongs to all intellectual Iranian women around the world”.
Bani-Etemad made her reputation with Nargess, for which she became the first woman recipient of the Best Director Award at the Fajr International Film Festival in 1991.
Award-winning filmmaker Rakhshan Bani-Etemad received a Honorary Doctorate of the University of London (SOAS) for her contribution to political and cultural topics in modern day Iran
The 54-year old director has since won a raft of awards and commendations from all over the world – including the Bronze Leopard prize at 1995 Locarno Film Festival for The Blue Veiled, and in 1998, the Prince Claus Prize for Culture and Development for her complete body of works.
Many of her films document the struggle for women’s emancipation in Iranian society.
This April SOAS co-hosted the first complete retrospective of her work at the British Film Institute in conjunction with the Insight Institute and the Iran Heritage Foundation.
Bani-Etemad also hosted a masterclass for 12 students – for which more than 200 applied – and a one-day conference, the papers from which are being re-worked for a book.
Presenting Monty Python star Michael Palin with his award, Professor Michael Hutt, Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Cultures, paid tribute to the generosity of the TV star who has helped fund completion of the cataloguing of the 19th century Hodgson archive of documents from Nepal.
Geraldine Auerbach, MBE, was awarded a Honorary Fellowship as tribute to her role in raising the profile of Jewish music and culture in the UK and abroad
Palin’s more recent TV output, said Professor Hutt, his global travelogues, attracted a larger audience than Python to names and places people had barely heard of before. They included many of the societies and cultures in Africa, Asia and the Middle East that SOAS academics and students sought to understand and explain.
Warmly thanking SOAS for his honour, Palin said he felt his Fellowship was recognition of the importance of communication between nations and peoples that made up our world. And he made a plea for the revival of Geography as a curriculum subject.
His own insatiable curiosity about other cultures could be down to an inherited nomadic gene. But more likely it was due to the influence of two inspired geography teachers at his own school.
“So whenever I can,” he said, “I argue the case of retaining and valuing the much under-rated subject of Geography in our schools and colleges.”
SOAS students came from more countries than he’d ever visited, and they were the embodiment of that spirit of openness and enquiry between peoples that was fostered by the School.
Palin said he was proud that SOAS was located in his home city, and from its continued success the wider world could only benefit.
Accepting her Fellowship, Geraldine Auerbach – who was awarded an MBE in 2000 – said it had been something of surprise, coming so soon after Daniel Barenboim’s Honorary Music Degree which, similarly, had been made for promoting understanding and breaking down barriers through music.
Jewish music was, in essence, a world music and it could fit nowhere better than in the SOAS music department that focused on the musical cultures of the world.
She said she always felt “very happy and at home at SOAS.”
Music was fertile medium of cultural exchange that continued at the School, where middle eastern and Jewish studies also provided a focus for dialogue and understanding.
