Archive for August 14th, 2015
Shii News – Academic Items
The Aga Khan Documentation Center has received the Isfahan Urban History Project archive from the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, Canada). The project documents the development of Isfahan, Iran, from the time of the Buyid dynasty (ca. 9th c. AD/4th c. AH).
Undertaken by Dr. Lisa Golombek (Curator Emeritus [Islamic Art] Retired, ROM) and Dr. Renata Holod (Professor, and Curator in the Near East Section, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania), the project spanned the 1970s and investigated the early urban nodes of Isfahan — a city perhaps more known for its monumental architecture and urban planning of the Safavid dynasty (16th-17th c. AD/10th-11th c. AH).
The gift includes slides, negatives, field notes, original drawings, plans, maps, photos, notes, and drafts for the unpublished material. The donation will be inventoried, housed in AKDC@MIT, and selections digitized for Archnet. Students, scholars, and researchers are welcome to visit the Center to use the original material.
http://libraries.mit.edu/news/isfahan-iran-urban/19565/
2. Announcement – Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT donates library to university in Morocco
As a result of the sudden and tragic death of Melanie Michaildis (Ph.D., AKPIA MIT 2007) in 2013, Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT became the home for her research archive and personal library.
Dr. Michaildis was an Islamic art specialist and was serving as the Korff Postdoctoral Fellow in Islamic Art at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, at the time of her death. She had conducted fieldwork in Iran, Uzbekistan and Western Europe, was praised as a gifted and passionate scholar and teacher on the subject of Islamic art. Dr. Michaildis had published numerous scholarly articles on Islamic ceramics as well as on mosques, shrines, castles, and tomb towers in Iran and Central Asia.
Almost immediately upon receipt of her archive and library, it was decided that the latter should be kept intact and sent to a deserving research institution. After many months of searching for the right home, Michael Toler’s (Archnet Content Manager) Peace Corp connections led us to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Université Ibn Zohr-Agadir in Morocco; on 28 July, AKDC’s donation — 17 boxes of books in total — were shipped out, en route to their new home.
http://libraries.mit.edu/news/donates-books-university/19553/
3. CFP – Third Conference of the School of Mamlūk Studies (Chicago, June 23–25, 2016)
Third Conference of the School of Mamlūk Studies, Chicago, June 23–June 25, 2016
Call for papers
We are pleased to announce the Third Conference of the School of Mamlūk Studies, which will be held at the University of Chicago from June 23 to June 25, 2016.
The conference will be divided into two parts and will be preceded by a three-day intensive course on numismatics (June 20–22):
1) The first day of the conference (June 23) will be themed. The theme of this part of the conference will be: “Exchange in the Mamluk Sultanate: Economic & Cultural.” The act of exchanging one thing for another is ubiquitous in the history of all societies. It is found at all levels of commerce, from the local market to international trade, but it is not limited to economic matters. In the diplomatics and court practice of the Mamluk sultanate, the giving of gifts or the granting of rights, titles, or responsibilities are all forms of exchange in which the currency that facilitates the exchange is frequently something other than money. In societal relationships, ties could be strengthened by the exchange of family members via marriage, and in power relations non-tangible goods such as loyalty could be exchanged for wealth, titles, or other rewards. These are but a few examples of what exchange entails. The aim of this themed day is to focus on acts of exchange across these and other aspects of Mamluk society.
A maximum of 12 to 15 paper proposals will be selected. A proposal should represent an original work, not one for which publication is planned elsewhere, so that it may be published in the conference proceedings. Should a greater number of proposals be received, the authors of those which are not selected for the conference may be offered the possibility to publish their contribution in the proceedings. Time allotted to each paper will be twenty minutes, followed by a discussant’s comments and general discussion. In order to allow the discussants to prepare their comments, papers will need to be received by them at least two weeks prior to the conference.
2) The following two days of the conference (June 24–25) will be structured in panels, which may focus on any aspect of the intellectual, political, social, economic, and artistic life of the Mamlūk period. Panels will consist of three to four papers. The panel proposal must be made by a representative, who will be responsible for the panel’s organization. Please note that in case of cancellation of two papers out of the three (or three out of the four) composing the panel, the panel will have to be withdrawn from the program. Time allotted to each paper will be twenty minutes, and discussion will take place at the end of each panel. If more worthwhile panel proposals are received than can be accommodated, the organizing committee will make a selection among them which will provide the greatest possible variety of subject areas.
Language: The official language of the conference will be English.
Fees: The conference registration fee will be $40 for participants and attendees. A farewell dinner will take place on the last day (June 25) at a cost to be determined. Payment of the fees (registration and farewell dinner) must be received by April 30, 2016 (information on the method of payment to be used will be provided in the first circular, which will be sent in January 2016; onsite registration will not be possible). Participants must make their own travel arrangements; information and suggestions for accommodations will be provided in the first circular.
Proposals: Paper proposals for the themed day must be submitted electronically through the conference webpage (http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/school-of-mamluk-studies.html) by October 31, 2015. Panel proposals must be submitted in the same manner by November 30, 2015. Paper proposals require the name and a one-page CV of the speaker, a provisional title, and an abstract of a maximum of 300 words per paper. Panels must be proposed as such, not as individual papers. The panel organizer must provide the relevant information for each panel member and each paper, as well as the name of the panel’s chair (the chair can be one of the panelists). See the conference website for more information.
Acceptance: Paper and panel proposals will be peer-reviewed. A first circular will be sent by January 2016 to those whose proposals have been accepted, and to those who have expressed interest in attending the conference as listeners.
Publication:
- a) Themed day: the papers will be published in a volume of proceedings.
- b) Panels: papers may be submitted for peer review, and selected papers will be published in Mamlūk Studies Review.
Intensive course: Mamlūk Numismatics
A three-day intensive course in Mamlūk numismatics intended for advanced graduate students and other qualified participants will be offered by Professor Warren Schultz (DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois) and will be held immediately before the third conference of the School of Mamlūk Studies held at the University of Chicago (June 20–22, 2016). A reading knowledge of Arabic is required. The course will be demanding and hands-on in its format, but no previous numismatic experience is required.
Since the number of participants will be limited (a maximum of 15), those who desire to take part in the course are requested to submit a CV, a statement of purpose, and a letter of recommendation by someone familiar with their work to [sms2016chicago@gmail.com] by the end of January, 2016. Those who are selected for the course will be notified by the end of February, 2016, at which time information about the method of payment for the course fees will be provided.
The course fee is $300.00, which also includes the registration fee for the subsequent conference (June 23–25) as well the cost of the annual SMS social dinner. The fees must be paid by April 30, 2016. Registration and participation are not confirmed until payment is received. Participants must make their own travel arrangements. The local organizer will provide suggestions for lodging at an affordable price. A certificate of attendance will be awarded.
We look forward to meeting you in Chicago.
Marlis J. Saleh, University of Chicago (local organizer)
Frédéric Bauden, Université de Liège
Antonella Ghersetti, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice
4. Journal of Islamic Archeology
Issue 2.1 (2015)
Articles
A First Ceramic Chronology for the Late Islamic Arabian Gulf
Timothy Power
http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/JIA/article/view/27011
JIA 2.1 (2015) pp1-34 issn 2051-9729
Analysis of Archaeobotanical Material from the Tupras Field project of the Kinet Höyük Excavations, Turkey
Jennifer Hope Ramsay, A. Asa Eger
http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/JIA/article/view/26939
JIA 2.1 (2015) pp35-50 issn 2051-9729
Comments on Muslim, Jewish and Christian burial practices in medieval Toledo (Spain)
Arturo Ruiz-Taboada
http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/JIA/article/view/26043
JIA 2.1 (2015) pp51-72 issn 2051-9729
Mīrzā Muḥammad Naṣīr Furṣat al-Dawla and the Archaeology of Iranian Archaeology
Ivan Szanto
http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/JIA/article/view/20287
JIA 2.1 (2015) pp73-92 issn 2051-9729
Book Reviews- open access
The Byzantine–Islamic Transition in Palestine: An Archaeological Approach by Gideon Avni
Reviewed by Denis Genequand
http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/JIA/article/view/27919
JIA 2.1 (2015) pp127-129 issn 2051-9729
Les etablissements des elites omeyyades en Palmyrene et au Proche-orient, Bibliotheque archéologique et historique, by D. Gennequand
Reviewed by Philip Wood
http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/JIA/article/view/25663
JIA 2.1 (2015) pp130 issn 2051-9729
5. Eighth Annual ASMEA Conference: “For Better or Worse? Historical Trends in the Middle East and Africa”, Washington, D.C. 29-31 October 2015
Organised by the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa. Early bird registration until 30 September 2015.
Information: https://asmea.nonprofitcms.org/c/conferences/3/pages/overview
6. Conference: “The Past in the Present of the Middle East”, Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL), London, 15-16 April 2016
The conference will present sessions on a number of themes linking the past to the present day in the Middle East such as: cultural heritage in conflict; the past in the political present: the legacy of colonialism and intervention; the politics of dissent: challenges to Orientalism and Zionism etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 7 September 2015. Information: http://cbrl.org.uk/event/the-past-in-the-present-of-the-middle-east
7. Post-doc Position 2015-2016: “The Formation of Epistemic Networks and Centers of Knowledge in the Mediterranean, 5th to 16th Centuries”, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), Berlin
This position is part of the larger project “Convivencia: Iberia to Global Dynamics, 500-1750”. We invite proposals for one out of three research topics. Preference is given to approaches that aim to explore the factors that determined possibilities and constraints for the codification and modification of knowledge.
Deadline for applications: 30 August 2015. Information: http://humweb.ucsc.edu/mediterraneanseminar/news/index.php?id=494
8. Tenure-track Assistant Professor of Political Science, Politics of the Islamic World, Davidson College, NC
Experience in the region, including field research and research proficiency in a regional language, is required. We welcome applications from scholars who have conducted research in any part of the Islamic World. Applications from Ph.D.-holders and very advanced ABDs will be considered. Candidates demonstrating an ability to offer other needed courses in the sub-fields of comparative or international politics are welcome. Scholars with an interest in identity politics are strongly encouraged to apply.
Deadline for applications: 20 September 2015. Information: https://jobs.davidson.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1438886018086
9. Associate/Full Professor in Islamic Peace, School of International Service (SIS), American University, Washington, DC
Applicants should possess a Ph.D. or the highest equivalent degree in a relevant discipline. Candidates should be expert in the study of Islam, with knowledge of the study of peace and conflict resolution, without respect to a particular discipline. Scholars specializing in the Middle East and North Africa as well as any other region or country with a substantial Muslim population are encouraged to apply.
Review of applications will continue until position is filled. Information: http://apply.interfolio.com/30418
10. Global Inequalities Tenure-Track Position with Specialization in the Middle East, University of San Francisco
This is a position in Sociology at the Assistant Professor level to begin in fall 2016. We encourage candidates with expertise in or across areas of particular interest such as urban sociology, development, labor, social movements, stratification, and demography.
Deadline for applications: 2 October 2015. Information: www.usfjobs.com
11. Senior Program Manager at the Arab Council for the Social Sciences, Beirut
The position is responsible for developing, establishing and overseeing one or more programs of the ACSS. Requirements: PhD in Social Sciences; at least 5 years management of similar activities; perfect knowledge of Arabic and English. Knowledge of French is an asset.
Information: www.theacss.org/pages/fora-and-debates/319/job-opportunity_senior-program-manager-acss
12. Post-doctoral Fellowships in the Humanities at Universities and Research Institutes in the U.S. and Germany
The fellowships address postdocs based in the U.S.A. and Germany who wish to spend some time in Germany or in the U.S. and Canada working on a research project.
Deadline for applications: 1 October 2015. Information: www.volkswagenstiftung.de/en/funding/international-focus/post-doctoral-fellowships-in-the-humanities.html
13. Post-Doctoral Fellowships Program for Junior Arab Scholars from the Arab Council for the Social Sciences
This 9-month fellowship program aims at enabling young researchers, up to three years out of the PhD, to pursue their research and publishing plans, become part of Arab research networks and plan a research career in the Arab region.
Deadline for applications: 15 October 2015. Information: www.theacss.org/pages/post-doc-fellowships
14. CFP: Early Maritime Cultures on the East African Coast
A conference organized by the African Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. October 23-24, 2015.
Call for papers
The Indian Ocean has long influenced cultures along the East African coast. This inter-disciplinary conference on maritime history will allow scholars from multiple disciplines to present work connected with seafaring in East Africa in any era. The organizers will particularly favor paper proposals focused on maritime developments before about 1500 CE.
Themes of particular interest include:
- Early instances of maritime activity in East Africa.
- Lines of evidence available for the study of early seafaring along the East African coast.
- East African maritime cultures and their connections by sea with other lands.
- The engagement of non-maritime East African peoples, including foragers, farmers, herders, with the Indian Ocean.
- Indian Ocean migrations to and from East Africa.
- Indian Ocean trading systems.
- The Indian Ocean and the contours of East African cosmopolitanism.
- Maritime technologies, innovation, and change.
Papers on other themes will be considered, especially those that deal in some way with maritime technologies and practices in East Africa before about 1500.
One of our ambitions is to produce an edited volume, but we cannot guarantee publication.
Lodging and support for presenters
The conference organizers expect to be able to provide lodging for presenters in Madison for one or two nights as well as some sociability (a meal or two). Potential presenters planning to come from locations outside the United States, especially Africa, may request additional support, such as help with air fare, but it is very unlikely that we will be able to provide more than $1,000 of such support for anyone, nor can we guarantee it at this time.
How to participate
Submit an abstract of 200-300 words (pdf or .doc preferred) to events@africa.wisc.edu
Use subject line “East Africa Maritime Abstract”
EXTENDED deadline to submit abstract: August 15, 2015.
By September 1, 2015, we hope to notify submitters whether or not their paper has been accepted.
Conference organizer
Akshay Sarathi, doctoral candidate in Archaeology
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Conference sponsor
African Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
http://africa.wisc.edu/?page_id=8761
15. Persianate Cultures of Documentation: An International Symposium
Vienna, June 2016
Conveners: James Pickett and Paolo Sartori
States enact themselves through paper, leveraging the written word to project coercive authority outward – or the illusion of control. Producing, collecting, and cataloguing are simultaneously administrative acts and performative ones, shaping both the nature of the state and the historian’s perception of it. Over the past decade scholars of the Muslim world, and the Middle East in particular, have conferred greater epistemological significance on textual genres that conventionally go under the rubric of “documents.” However, the burgeoning field of Persianate studies remains overwhelmingly oriented toward literature – despite the existence of vast, largely untapped, repositories of documents. Can we speak of a common Persianate culture of documentation stretching from the Kazakh steppe to the Deccan, from Sarajevo to Kashgar?
Studies of Islamicate documentation outside the Ottoman Empire have been few and far between until very recently. The result is that most of the available studies on archives and documents in the Muslim world are based on legal sources, i.e. texts the documentary attributes of which reflect either a probative or a precedential value alone. The problem with this approach is that it predicates on a reified meaning of document thereby misidentifying other possible uses of the written word and overlooking other principles behind the preservation of texts. A number of recent studies begun to revise this status quo by historicising the production and preservation of certain texts in an effort to complicate a dominant (yet untenable) narrative predicated upon the purported absence of archives and the ostensibly limited patterns of textual consumption prior to the early modern period – illuminating, for instance, the existence of chancery practices and dynastic archives under the Abbasids and the Mamluks. While a great effort has been made to prove that in the early Islamic and medieval period Muslim states did in fact rely on central administrative apparatuses, little has been done to reflect on what we may term coeval cultures of documentation, by which we mean the assumptions that informed the functionality of writing and governed the preservation of texts in a certain period. By ignoring such questions, historians of the Islamicate world have risked their superimposing a commonsensical understanding of the documentary attributes of texts onto historical material that may well require a different hermeneutical approach.
We contend that a solution to this problem demands that we expand our informational basis and take a larger number of compositional genres into our purview. To achieve this goal, we propose to reflect on the meanings of documentation across a larger historical area of the Muslim world, which is termed “the Persianate”. With this symposium we thus bring together scholars who work on material either in Persian or in languages directly influenced by Persian such as Urdu, Chaghatay, Marathi, Ottoman, Tatar, and Uyghur across the early-modern and modern period.
By addressing the following questions, the symposium sets for itself the task of outlining a comparative history of documentation early modern and colonial periods across the Middle East, Central and South Asia:
What makes an archive in the Persianate world, and what are the practices of documentation therein?
Should we distinguish between archives and private collections?
Why did dynasts preserve certain texts and how did they use them?
Was the creation and the preservation of archives reflective of a certain historical consciousness?
Did the preservation of texts alter their original meaning? How do we take stock of the aspirational aspect of recordkeeping?
What was the relationship between archival practices and public knowledge?
How did the culture of the spoken affect archival practices?
What was the nature of interaction between manuscripts and practical documents – in terms of authorship, worldview, functionality and genre conventions?
Proposals should include paper abstracts of up to 500 words and a short CV (no more than 2 pages) of each speaker. Please send your proposal to paolo.sartori@oeaw.ac.at by 1 December 2015 at the latest. Travel and accommodation costs for invited speakers will be covered by the Institute of Iranian Studies within the framework of the Seeing Like an Archive Project https://seeinglikeanarchive.wordpress.com/. As a publication on the basis of the workshop is envisaged, please be prepared to circulate paper drafts in advance.
16. Duke University – History of the Islamic World/Muslim World
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=51253
University of Wisconsin – Madison – Rank open, TransAsia /
transdisciplinary scholar
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=51243
University of Hamburg – W2 Universitatsprofessur fur Kunstgeschichte
des Mittelalters / W2 Professorship in Medieval Art History
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=51258
The Department of Modern and Classical Languages at the University of
Houston announces a part-time opening in Arabic language instruction to be
filled starting Fall 2015. The part-time lecturer will teach beginning and
intermediate level Arabic language courses.
https://jobs.uh.edu/postings/26411
Arabic: The Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University invites applications for a full-time position as an Arabic language lecturer, beginning Fall 2016. The initial contract for the position is three years and renewable every five years based on a demonstration of quality and rigor of teaching, curricular innovation, professional development and service to the field. The successful candidate will join the growing Arabic program at Duke. The primary responsibilities consist of teaching and developing intermediate and advanced courses, creating teaching materials, designing assessment tools, and organizing and participating in extra-curricular activities related to service learning and refugee issues. The teaching load is maximum 5 courses per year or 12 contact hours per week, and the starting salary is negotiable based on experience and qualifications.
Candidates should have an M.A. or higher degree in Arabic language and literature, applied linguistics, or a related field, and must have fluency in both Arabic and English. Experience in teaching Arabic at the university level in North America is required, and the demonstrated ability to develop and implement service learning and outreach programs is preferred. Knowledge and experience with study abroad programs and instructional technologies, and desire to further pedagogical/professional development are desirable.
Applications received by September 30, 2015 will be guaranteed full consideration. Send: 1) a letter of application with a statement of teaching philosophy, 2) curriculum vitae, 3) a teaching portfolio including syllabi, a sample of teaching materials and student evaluations, and 4) three letters of reference, addressed to the Chair of Arabic Lecturer Search Committee, Dept. of AMES, Duke University. The application materials should be sent to Arabic Search Committee, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University, 2204 Erwin Road, Box 90414, Durham, NC 27708. For additional information please email amesdept@duke.edu
Duke University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual’s age, color, disability, genetic information, gender, gender identity, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status.
17. Weatherhead Initiative on Global History Fellowship
The Weatherhead Initiative on Global History (WIGH) at Harvard University identifies and supports outstanding scholars whose work responds to the growing interest in the encompassing study of global history. We seek to organize a community of scholars interested in the systematic scrutiny of developments that have unfolded across national, regional, and continental boundaries and who propose to analyze the interconnections—cultural, economic, ecological, political and demographic—among world societies. We encourage applicants from all over the world, and especially from outside Europe and North America, hoping to create a global conversation on global history.
WIGH Fellows are appointed for one year and are provided time, guidance, office space, and access to Harvard University facilities. They should be prepared to devote their entire time to productive scholarship and may undertake sustained projects of research or other original work. They will join a vibrant community of global history scholars at Harvard.
This fellowship is funded by a grant from the Volkswagen Foundation.
Terms
The competition for these awards is open only to scholars with a PhD (or comparable professional school degree). If still pursuing the PhD, WIGH Fellows must receive their degree no later than May 2016. There is no limit on time since submission of the candidate’s degree; we are open to candidates at various stages of their careers. We expect that candidates will be able to submit samples of independent work (articles, papers, dissertation chapters) in support of their candidacies on request. The WIGH Fellowship is residential and Fellows are expected to live in the Cambridge/Boston area for the duration of their appointments unless traveling for pre-approved research purposes, and they are expected to participate in WIGH activities, including a bi-weekly seminar.
Fellows will receive an annual stipend of up to $50,000, according to fellows’ needs. Because we cannot always offer the amount requested, we urge applicants to apply for funding from other sources as well. Applications are welcome from qualified persons without regard to nationality, gender, or race.
How to Apply
Applications are due December 15, 2015. Letters of reference are due by January 8th, 2016.
Please visit our website (http://wigh.wcfia.harvard.edu/content/wigh-fellowships-2016-2017) to apply.
Contact:
Jessica Barnard, Program Coordinator
jbarnard@wcfia.harvard.edu
Phone: +011 (617) 495-8923
18. Iran Heritage Foundation: Job Vacancy: Administrator (London)
IHF is looking for an enthusiastic person to join their office, preferably full-time.
Responsibilities will include: bookkeeping; maintaining the website and social media; responding to enquiries; and general administrative work.
The successful applicant must be fluent in English and have good IT skills, including Excel and Access. Persian speaking desirable.
Full-time salary: £19,000-22,000, depending on qualifications and experience.
Send your CV and a covering letter, with the names of two referees, one of whom should be your previous employer, to info@iranheritage.org by 4th September.
19. Metadata Librarian, Arabic Specialty
Princeton University Library
Princeton, New Jersey
Requisition #1500640
The Princeton University Library is one of the world’s leading research libraries, serving a diverse community of 5,200 undergraduates, 2,700 graduate students, 1,200 faculty members, and many visiting scholars. Its holdings include more than 7 million printed volumes, 5 million manuscripts, 2 million non-print items, and extensive collections of digital text, data, and images. The Library employs a dedicated and knowledgeable staff of more than 300 professional and support staff working in a large central library, 9 specialized branches, and 3 storage facilities.
Major Responsibilities:
Princeton University Library seeks a flexible and innovative Metadata Librarian with a specialization in the language, history and culture of the Arab World to become part of a team responsible for creating, converting and managing metadata to promote and enhance control of and access to the Library’s digital and print collections in Arabic.
The Princeton University Near East Collections constitute one of the major assemblages of Near Eastern research materials in the United States, representing all areas of classical Islamic civilization, with an emphasis on literary, historical, legal, and religious texts.
The position is a member of the Middle East Languages Team and reports to the Director of Cataloging and Metadata Services. The incumbent will provide metadata for new acquisitions in Arabic and for digital initiatives. S/he will collaborate with colleagues within Technical Services and in other Library departments on digital and cataloging projects to enhance access to the collections. The librarian will work with multiple library systems, traditional and modern metadata encoding, and employ tools for cross-walking, storing and re-purposing data. This position will require a firm and broad conceptual understanding of cataloging principles and the ability to apply and adapt them to existing and emerging media in a variety of encoding formats. Success in this position will require a commitment to achieving priority throughput of new acquisitions, a dedication to content quality assurance to foster discovery, and the imagination to arrive at new solutions to both new and traditional challenges, especially through capitalizing on the advantages offered by new technologies.
Essential Qualifications:
– MLS combined with an academic background in Middle Eastern studies; or an advanced degree in Middle Eastern studies with an emphasis on Arabic language, literature, culture, and history.
– Strong reading knowledge of Arabic.
– Ability to Romanize Arabic according to the ALA/LC Romanization table.
– Demonstrated proficiency and familiarity with library-relevant information technology and standards, especially those related to linked data, data visualization, XML and tools for data manipulation.
Strongly Preferred Qualifications:
– One year of comparable cataloging experience.
– Reading knowledge of other Middle Eastern languages, especially Persian, Hebrew, Turkish, and/or Ottoman Turkish.
– RDA cataloging experience and/or NACO experience.
– Experience providing cataloging and metadata for digital formats, and in creating and editing non-MARC metadata using standards and schema such as Dublin Core, MODS, etc.
Applications will be accepted only from the Jobs at Princeton website: http://www.princeton.edu/jobs and must include a resume, cover letter, and a list of three references with full contact information. Princeton University is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. This position is subject to the University’s background
20. “Slavery in the Medieval World”:
A Call for Papers and Sessions for participation in the 2016 Leeds International Medieval Congress
The study of slavery in the Medieval World has been largely marginalized in the past. Despite large amounts of evidence, medievalists have traditionally opted to focus their attentions elsewhere or to have seen slavery as being of only marginal importance in the societies and economies of the world from late antiquity until the opening of the Atlantic trade. While some important studies have been done in the past, a new interest in the subject has been growing with research looking more and more at the subject and its ramifications.
While it seems that the International Medieval Congress at Leeds this summer has barely ended, it is already time to begin thinking about next year. This summer, of course, there were more papers and sessions devoted to the subject of slavery (and related topics) in the medieval world than ever before. As a result, some were even scheduled to run against each other. In order to avoid this next summer and to better promote understanding of the topic, it is hoped to organize a strand of sessions to be held next year at the IMC Leeds 2016 (4 to 7 July 2016, at the University of Leeds).
The overall topic will be ‘Slavery in the Medieval World’ with separate sessions focusing on various eras and topics under the overall theme.
The individual sessions will be numbered and will have sub-titles relevant to what their particular focus is (as well as individual session organizers). Possible topics might include such areas as “Slavery in Medieval Arabia”, “Manumission”, “Children in Slavery”, “Slavery and the End of the Western Empire” and so on and so forth.
The total number of sessions will, of course, be determined by the number of participants; ideally, we will have a mix of early career and more senior scholars as well as of people working on a range of geographic and temporal areas.
By bringing together scholars working on different areas and periods of the history of medieval Europe, Asia, and Africa, we hope to address the question of whether there is a single subject of slavery in the medieval world, whether some practices and activities can be seen as being of global importance, and how the earlier modes of slavery found in antiquity shaped later practice. Whether the teachings of the monotheistic religions served to ameliorate slave-systems inherited from the past or whether they served to make them stronger could be discussed while the role of slavery itself in the systems of exchange and of personal relationship might also be usefully addressed.
All proposals addressing the topic, whether of single papers or of organized sessions, are welcome and will be examined.
Practical issues
If you are interested in giving a paper or organizing a session, please send an email by 23 August 2015 to
While we look forward to proposals for individual papers, we also encourage potential collaboration, respondents, and moderators. Of course, please feel free to forward this call for papers to any student or colleague who might be interested in participating in our strand!
When you write, include the following information:
1) paper title
2) a short abstract/brief description indicating what the paper will be about (max. 200 words)
3) your contact details and affiliation
4) Equipment needed? (Laptop, Beamer, etc.)
We will determine how papers of 20 minutes each best fit togther in the sessions and well will let you know the results as soon as possible (no later than mid-September). We will not be able to cover travel, registration and accommodation expenses for our speakers. We encourage PhD students and independent scholars to consider the bursary application offered by the IMC (deadline 17 October) which you can find following this link: https://imc.leeds.ac.uk/dbsql02/AQueryServlet?*context=IMC&*id=0&*formId=83&conference=201…
For general information on the IMC, see http://www.leeds.ac.uk/arts/info/125137/international_medieval_congress
- August 14, 2015
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment