An Island in Time
Renata Holod

The settlement patterns on the island of Jerba, Tunisia have varied considerably throughout its major periods of settlement. A field-walking survey, expanded with test trenches and archival data, has demonstrated considerable changes in the density, quantity and shape of occupation from the Punic through the early modern periods. This paper will present an overview of our findings about the nature of settlements and preliminary conclusions concerning their underlying social and political orders. It will focus on the shifts in settlement patterns from the Late Roman into the Medieval periods, and out of the medieval into the early modern periods. Key in the interpretation of these shifts will be a consideration of the "order of the 'sheikhs" of the Ibadi, a strictly communitarian sect of Islam which eschewed centralization and high court culture, and the subsequent fate of this 'order' with its inclusion into the Ottoman sphere.

Renata Holod , is a specialist in the study of the visual culture of the Islamic world. Her work has a considerable chronological, geographic and material range. She has undertaken archaeological and architectural field work in Iran, Syria, Morocco, Uzbekistan,Turkey and Tunisia, publishing on waterworks, ceramic production, urban settings, and problems of artisanal and artistic skill transmission. Luxury arts of the Islamic courts are a continuing second area of interest, with studies devoted to specific objects. The consideration of optics and cultural vision stems out of these pursuits.

She has also been engaged in the more contemporary cultural politics questions stemming from her role in the creation of, and long-term association with, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, an award given to newly realized projects throughout the Islamic world, from Morocco to Indonesia. This association has given her opportunities to interact with the architectural profession world - wide and has alerted her to the cultural and political power vested in the built environment. Her most recent book, The Mosque and the Modern World: London and New York, 1997, co-authored with Hasan ud-din Khan, articulates aspects of the new global built environment, and the ways in which clients through their architects have sought to represent themselves as 'modern' and 'authentic.'

Her most current field project is an archaeological /ethnohistorical survey of the island of Jerba, Tunisia, studying changes in settlement pattterns throught its history. The project provides a vehicle for her diachronic interests, dealing with the cultural ecology of a space, considering the question of rupture and continuity from the classical and medieval periods to the present day. An important aspect of the project is its engagement also with the local community and its relationship to the past of its island.

Renata Holod has sat on a variety of advisory boards and steering committees, including several of the J. Paul Getty Trust. Among her honors are the King Fahd Medal for the teaching of Islamic Architecture, and the Master Jury of the Aga Khan Award. Her former students hold positions at Harvard University, Cornell University, University of Victoria, King Abdul Aziz University, Saudi Arabia, Koc University, Istanbul, among others.