Research Coffee with Gerald Power

Research Coffee is a series of events aimed to be a platform for discussions about publications, projects, and working papers of AAU Faculty as well as AAU students. Prior registration is required for this event.

Our next session will be hosted by Gerald Power, Ph.D. who will present his work ‘The Making of a Sultan: The Secret History of the British Council and Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman, 1956-70’. Discussants for this topic will be Pelin Ayan Musil, Ph.D.; Ebru Akcasu, Ph.D.

You can find the abstract of the paper below, but to receive the full paper and the link to the meeting, please register in advance. We look forward to seeing you!

Abstract:
This presentation explores the character and significance of the education of Qaboos bin Said, the future Sultan of Oman (ruled 1970-2020). That Qaboos received a British education from 1958 to 1965 is well known. What is less understood and documented is the persistent interest in young Qaboos’s development within both the UK Foreign Office and the British Council, the British state’s overseas cultural and educational relations apparat. This paper attempts to grapple with the questions of what the British aimed to achieve by fostering the development of the heir to the Sultanate, and to what extent a British education shaped the character of Qaboos and contributed to the successful British-aided coup of 1970 which saw Qaboos replace his father as absolute ruler of Oman.