معرفی
Elizabeth Lambourn is Professor of Material Histories at De Montfort University, affiliated with the School of Fashion and Textiles within the Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on the medieval Indian Ocean world, combining history, material culture, and Islamic art.
She earned her PhD from SOAS, University of London, and an MA (Hons.) from the University of Edinburgh, summa cum laude. Her academic journey has included fellowships at Harvard, Stanford, and the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies in Uppsala (2022).
Her research centers on Indian Ocean histories (600–1500), merchant material cultures, the Cairo Geniza's 'India Book,' and the circulation of paper and metalwork. She explores texts as material objects and the social lives of things in maritime networks. Her work bridges archaeology, history, and art history to understand cross-cultural exchange.
Her recent publications reveal a consistent focus on maritime trade, containerization, writing practices, and Persianate networks. Themes include the materiality of Geniza letters, torpedo jars for long-distance sailing, ceramic transport jars, and Jewish merchants in the Indian Ocean, reflecting a deep engagement with material evidence and textual sources.
- Fellow of the British Academy
- Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2011–13)
- Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute
- Member, Advisory Board, Maldives Heritage Survey
- Member, International Advisory Board, Medieval Worlds
- Advisor, Approaching Medieval Sources (Routledge) and Oxford Studies in the New Medieval History (OUP)
She has supervised PhD students including Charlotte Wilkinson and Aya Alsheikh Salem. Her externally funded projects include an AHRC grant on a Persian church in early medieval India and a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship on West Asia in the Indian Ocean. She is a consortium member of the CALLFRONT project on Islamic calligraphic scripts. Her monograph Abraham’s Luggage (2018) and edited volumes have significantly shaped the field of global medieval studies.
Elizabeth Lambourn is actively involved in major research initiatives, editorial boards, and international collaborations, demonstrating sustained scholarly leadership in medieval global history and material culture studies.
