College of Law
Sophie Joseph Murray
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Key information
Key information
- Department
- College of Law
- Qualifications
-
MA (The Courtauld Institute of Art)
BA (Central Saint Martins; UAL) - Subject
- Law
- Email address
- 734614@soas.ac.uk
- Thesis title
- Ras Beirut’s Women: The Feminine Genealogy of Arab Modernism
- Internal Supervisors
- Professor Anna Contadini & Dr Polly Savage
Biography
Sophie’s research examines modernism in the Arab world, focusing on the emergence of Arab modernism in Beirut as a postcolonial cultural centre shaped by political independence and revolutionary change. Taking a feminist art historical approach, she investigates how women artists contributed to modernist art as both scholars and creators, and how their work has been overlooked in dominant narratives.
Murray's research employs transnational theory to view Arab modernism as a networked phenomenon, moving beyond national frameworks to examine cultural exchange between countries that have not previously been studied together. Using postcolonial theory, she interrogates modernism in the Middle East as its own separate art movement, formed as a colonial response to create a visually 'Arab' aesthetic and intellectual movement distinct from Western art.
Her work also draws on diaspora studies to provide a framework for understanding how memory, loss and displacement are expressed in artistic production. Murray's research is generously funded through a CHASE AHRC studentship. She holds a first class BA in Fashion History and Theory from Central Saint Martins, and a distinction MA in History of Art from The Courtauld Institute of Art, where she specialised in the intersection of word and image in modernist artistic production.
Research interests
- Art History
- Postcolonial Studies
- Transnationalism
- Arab Modernism
