This is a list of School of Oriental and African Studies people, including alumni, former and current members of staff. The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London has many notable alumni in positions of authority around the world. The university is particularly well known for educating royalty, diplomats and academics.
Royalty and nobility
Prince Mateen of Brunei – member of the Bruneian royal family Princess Muta-Wakkilah of Brunei – member of the Bruneian royal family Princess Wijdan Ali of Jordan Anthony Brooke, Rajah Muda of Sarawak Princess Maria Laura of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway Princess Muzna bint Ghalib Al Qu'aiti Sultan Salahuddin, King of Malaysia 1999–2001 Abdulaziz bin Turki al Faisal – Grandson of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia Princess Lalla Oulaya Benharbit - Granddaughter of King Mohammed VI of Morocco Milo Arthur Johnson - Eldest Son of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Fahda bint Saud Al Saud - Saudi royal and artist.
Government and politics
Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Member of the Burmese Parliament Luisa Diogo, former Prime Minister of Mozambique Bisher Al-Khasawneh, current Prime Minister of Jordan Bülent Ecevit, former Prime Minister of Turkey John Atta Mills, former President of Ghana Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, Judge Islamabad High court, Pakistan Hammad Azhar, Pakistani Barrister and former Finance minister of Pakistan Iqra Choudhary, member of parliament of India Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, fourth Vice President of the Maldives Francis K. Butagira, Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Mission of the Republic of Uganda to the United Nations Hugh Carless, UK Ambassador to Venezuela"Hugh Carless" (obituary), The Telegraph, 21 December 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2013. Johnnie Carson, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and former US Ambassador to Kenya, Zimbabwe and Uganda Hüseyin Çelik, Turkish Minister of Education and Member of Parliament Kraisak Choonhavan, former Senator in the Senate of Thailand Herbert Chitepo, first Black Rhodesian barrister Femi Fani-Kayode, former Minister of Culture and Tourism and former Minister of Aviation in Nigeria Francesca P. Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Sir Leslie Fielding, former British diplomat Shreela Flather, Baroness Flather, teacher, politician David Hannay, Baron Hannay of Chiswick, British diplomat Lord Jay of Ewelme, civil servant Zairil Khir Johari, Member of the Malaysian Parliament Jemima Khan, UK Ambassador to UNICEF Idris Kutigi, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria David Lammy, Member of the British Parliament and former minister Gunapala Malalasekera, Sri Lankan Ambassador to UK, Canada and Soviet Union Sir Robin McLaren, UK Ambassador to China and the Philippines"Sir Robin McLaren" (obituary), The Telegraph, 29 July 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2013. Emma McCune, British foreign aid worker Dan Mokonyane, South African activistDan Louw, "Dan Mokonyane obituary", The Guardian, 28 November 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2013. Margie Moran, chairperson of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and Miss Universe 1973 Maajid Nawaz, co-founder and executive director of Quilliam, the world's first counter-extremism think tank Samia Nkrumah, Ghanaian Member of Parliament Sylvester Umaru Onu, Judge of the Supreme Court of Nigeria Aaron Mike Oquaye, Minister of Communication in Ghana Amal Pepple, Minister of Housing, Lands and Urban Development in Nigeria and former Head of the Nigerian Civil Service Enoch Powell, British politician Quinton Quayle, UK Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand and to Lao People's Democratic Republic Atiur Rahman, Governor of Central Bank, Bangladesh Sir Shridath Ramphal, Secretary-General for the Commonwealth Walter Rodney, historian and Guyanese political activist Gita Sahgal, writer and journalist, film director, and human rights activist Alan Senitt, political activist for homosexual rights Ivor Stanbrook, Member of the British Parliament and diplomat Hassan Taqizadeh, Member of Iranian Parliament and diplomat Sheikha Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Sir John Vinelott, lawyer and judge Chris Trott, Ambassador to the Holy See Sir David Warren, former UK Ambassador to Japan Sir Michael Weir, former UK ambassador to Egypt Catherine West, Member of British Parliament Carter Page, American Political Consultant and former advisor to the Trump Administration Sir Ray Whitney, Member of British ParliamentJulia Langdon, "Sir Ray Whitney obituary", The Guardian, 19 August 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2013. Michael C Williams, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon David Wilson, Baron Wilson of Tillyorn, 27th Governor of Hong Kong Tim Yeo, UK Conservative Party politician Sir Edward Youde, 26th Governor of Hong Kong Bo Bo Nge, Burmese economist, vice governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar, and political prisoner Umran Chowdhury, Bangladeshi lawyer and historian
Media/writers
Jomana Alrashid, CEO, Saudi Research and Media Group Desi Anwar, journalist and presenter, Metro TV, Jakarta, Indonesia Abdel Bari Atwan, journalist, editor-in-chief of Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper in London Zeinab Badawi, journalist and presenter Peter Barakan, broadcaster Fatima Bhutto, author and journalist Martin Bright, journalist, political editor of the Jewish Chronicle Jason Chan Chi-san, actor and television presenter Jung Chang, writer Edward Chisholm, true crime author, memoirist Chris Crudelli, author and BBC television broadcaster Swapan Dasgupta, political analyst, journalist, columnist Hossein Derakhshan, Iranian blogger credited with starting the blogging revolution in Iran Jamal Elshayyal, news producer at Al Jazeera English Ghida Fakhry, journalist and news anchor at Al Jazeera English Faris Glubb, son of Glubb Pasha, activist, author and journalist James Harding, journalist, former editor of The Times Aidan Hartley, author and journalist Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 News correspondent and columnist for the New Statesman Dom Joly, television comedian and journalist Sabiha Al Khemir, Tunisian writer and expert in Islamic art Clive King, author Emma Larkin, American author Richard Mason, novelist Rabindra Mishra, editor, BBC Nepali Service Khyentse Norbu, filmmaker and Tibetan Buddhist Lama Taimur Rahman, Member CentComm Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party Andrew Robinson, author and journalist Gita Sahgal, writer and journalist, film director, and human rights activist Saira Shah, journalist and filmmaker Freya Stark, travel writer Christopher Sykes, author Sherine Tadros, al Jazeera English correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, journalist and broadcaster
Academics
Hakim Adi, historian and scholar specializing in African affairs Michael Vaillancourt Aris, historian Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay, considered to be the greatest Bengali linguist and grammarian Sushil Kumar De, Indian polymath and author Mario Aguilar, Oromo scholar and theologian Akbar Ahmed, author, diplomat and scholar of contemporary Islam Ali M. Ansari, historian, Iran expert, professor Amira Bennison, historian of the Middle East Charles Otto Blagden, linguist Issa J. Boullata, Arabic literature and Qur'anic studies, Urvashi Butalia, historian, feminist, founder and director of Kali for Women Hazel Carter (linguist), Linguist, known for her work on the Bantu languages, Shona, Kongo and Tonga. Gus Casely-Hayford, curator, cultural historian K. N. Chaudhuri, historian, author, creative writer, and graphic artist George N. Clements, linguist Craig Clunas, art historian, Professor of History of Art at the University of Oxford Hugh E. Conway, American economist and college professor Simon Digby, oriental scholar Frank Dikötter, Dutch historian Ronald P. Dore, sociologist Diana L. Eck, comparative religion and Indian Studies Dafydd Fell, British political scientist writing extensively on politics of Taiwan. Antony Flew, philosopher David SG Goodman, scholar of contemporary China Wang Gungwu, Chinese historian Sir Martin Harris, educationalist Fred Halliday, historian, international relations Ian Hancock, linguist and Romani scholar Betty Heimann, Indologist Anthony Hyman, academic, writer and Islamicist Mohammad Hashim Kamali, Islamic Scholar and Professor of Law Robert Graham Irwin, historian and writer on Arabic literature Marsden Jones, Islamic scholar Samten Karmay, Tibetologist, expert on Bon religion, CNRS Kusuma Karunaratne, Sinhalese language and literature Nick Knight, Professor of Asian Studies Gregory B. Lee, Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of St Andrews Trevor LeGassick, Professor of Arabic Literature at University of Michigan Bernard Lewis, Islamic scholar and Emeritus Professor at Princeton University, USA Victor Lieberman, Southeast Asian historian Martin Lings, English Muslim scholar and author Michael Loewe, sinologist David Neil MacKenzie, scholar of Iranian languages Victor Mair, sinologist Nur Masalha, author, historian, editor and Middle East scholar Duncan McCargo, Southeast Asian Politics Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, philosopher Ian Nish, Japanese studies Farish Noor, academic, historian specialised in Southeast Asian region Ben Pimlott, historian, biographer Ambeth Ocampo, historian specializing in Rizal studies and Philippine history Susan Oosthuizen, Emeritus Professor of Medieval Archaeology at the University of Cambridge Martin Orwin, author, scholar, and poet James R. Russell, Armenian Studies Kamal Salibi, Lebanese historian and professor Tsering Shakya, historian and Tibetologist Ram Sharan Sharmam historian of Ancient India Alireza Shapour Shahbazi, prominent Persian archaeologist, Iranologist, world expert on Achaemenid archaeology Ninian Smart, religious studies Patrick Sookhdeo, theologian and Anglican canon Isolde Standish, Film theorist specialised in East Asia Romila Thapar, Indian historian Farouk Topan, director of the Swahili Centre at the Aga Khan University Thomas Trautmann, historian Konrad Tuchscherer, historian Than Tun, historian of Burma Andrew Turton, anthropologist, specialised on Thailand and Tai peoples Giles Ji Ungpakorn, former university lecturer at Chulalongkorn University Ivan van Sertima, historian and anthropologist, professor of African studies at Rutgers University William Montgomery Watt, historian and Islamic scholar Timothy J. Winter, aka Abdul Hakim Murad, Islamic scholar, author and teacher Ehsan Yarshater, Iranian studies Rosemarie Said Zahlan, historian, writer on the Persian Gulf states Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, prominent contemporary Muslim philosopher and thinker from Malaysia
Music and the arts
Khyam Allami, musician, oud player M. K. Asante, writer and filmmaker Thurston Clarke, writer Raman Mundair, writer, artist, poet and playwright Olu Oguibe, artist and academic Derwin Panda, musician and producer Paul Robeson, musician, writer and civil rights activist Himanshu Suri aka "Heems", rapper, member of Das Racist Gareth Williams, musician, member of This Heat Cheng Yu, musician Jason Chan, Actor and Television Presenter Poompat Iam-Samang, Thai actor and model Dom Joly, writer, comedian and former diplomat Nick Mulvey, musician
Business and finance Fred Eychaner, American businessman, philanthropist Sir Joseph Hotung, businessman, art collector, and philanthropist Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank Peter Parker, chairman of the British Railways Board Atiur Rahman, Governor of Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country Sir Dermot de Trafford, banker, businessman and aristocrat
Religion
Mirza Tahir Ahmad, fourth khalifa of the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Andrew Bertie, Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and distant relative of Queen Elizabeth II.