Saïd Alhuneidi

PhD student at the University of Aix-Marseille, affiliated with CNRS, attached to the Institute of Research and Study on the Arab and Islamic Worlds (IREMAM).

ED 355 Spaces, Cultures, Societies

Contact: said.huneidi[at]etu.uni-amu.fr ; saidhuneidi[gat]mail.com

RESEARCH

Discipline: History
Member of the History of Arab and Muslim Worlds Research Group

RESEARCH THEMES

Late antiquity to medieval military and social history of the Levant, northern Arabia and western Arabia ; extant furusiyya instructive war treatises ; paleography ; historiography ; experimental archeology utilizing furusiyya cavalry techniques and weapons ; hippology and equestrianism.

THESIS IN PROGRESS

The medieval treatises of Furusiyya to the test of experimentation: the case of the spear and its handling on horseback. Direction: Julien Loiseau (AMU, IREMAM) and Abbès Zouache (CNRS, CIHAM).

The doctoral thesis centers on the usage and the development of mounted cavalry techniques of the lance in the furusiyya tradition. It aims to deconstruct, analyze, test and validate horse mounted lance trainings as mentioned in extant instructive war treatises. To enable the study of the development of the art through time, treatises were selected spanning from the mid Abbasid period until the end of the Mameluke era. In order to deepen the research, analysis of the existing sociopolitical and economic situations at the time and place of the composition of said manuscripts and its relation to the development of the art is fundamental. An interdisciplinary approach is necessary to conduct a comprehensive evaluation that traces why and how the lance practices emerged, evolved, and disappeared. 

Keywords: Furusiyya, lance, war horse, furusiyya treatises.

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

2018: Master of Arts from American Military University in Charles town, West Virgina, USA. in history, with honors. Research thesis in “Bronze age chariot warfare.” 
1984: Bachelor of Science from California State University, Sacramento, California, USA. in Mechanical Engineering.  

ARTICLES AND PAPERS

"An evaluation of applied furusiyah instructions. The Lance Between Theory and Practice". Memory of The Arabs, Bibliotheca Alexandria, Fifth Edition (2021): 29-40.

“Chariot. Bronze age chariot warfare: an interdisciplinary perspective of Egyptian and Hittites tactics”. Master thésis, American Military University, Jan. 2018. 

DOCUMENTARIES

"Le messager de la Furusiyya" in Le cheval artiste, Director : Frédérique Dévillez, Kolam productions, Equida (2004).’’

‘"Chevaux et cavaliers arabes" dans Les arts d’Orient et d'Occident. Director : Michel Quinejure, Institut du Monde Arabe (2002).

LANGUAGES

Arabic, English, beginner French.