Archive for January, 2016
Shii News – Academic Items
1. http://alkindi4.ideo-cairo.org/
AlKindi, the online catalogue of the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies, Cairo (IDEO)
IDEO’s library is one of the prominent libraries specialised in Islamic studies in the world. It is opened to all. Our library gathers over 125,000 monographs and nearly 1,800 journals and periodicals. It intends to cover all disciplines in Islamic studies: Arabic language, Quranic exegesis, theology, law and jurisprudence, history, philosophy, sufism, history of sciences. It provides more than 20,000 classical texts of the Arabic and Islamic heritage, and secondary literature in Arabic and European languages. Many PhD dissertations are also available.
2. The World of the Tazkirah: Sources for Study of the Premodern Persianate Lands
Friday, February 5th, 2016
University of California, Irvine | Humanities Gateway 1010
http://sites.uci.edu/tazkirah/
The tazkirah is a premodern genre of writing with a long history in Persian and Arabic literature, as well as in the literatures they influenced such as Urdu, Turkish, and others. Essentially a type of biographical dictionary or anthology, tazkirahs could cover a range of figures, including Sufi saints, religious scholars, political notables, and poets. This conference draws together scholars from across academic disciplines and linguistic traditions who use tazkirahs as sources for their research. What can tazkirahs tell us not only about their subjects, but about their authors, and the literary traditions and historical conditions to which they belonged? What innovative methodologies can be brought to bear upon these texts? For what types of inquiry can they be fruitful? How can interdisciplinary work bring new approaches to the study of tazkirahs and the contexts in which they were produced? This conference may help to answer these and other questions through original research presented by the conference participants.
Attendance is free and open to the public. The full program is available online at the conference website.
3. Uncovering The Past Towards the Future, Uniting Experiences and Values. Kurdistan in Western and Eastern Research Tradition. 24-26.10.2016
Institute of Oriental Studies, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
The conference will be held in memory of August Kościesza-Żaba, the Polish-Russian diplomat and researcher and Mela Mahmud Bayazidi the Kurdish clergyman who according to Żaba “was his teacher and collaborator” in collecting, translating and commenting on Kurdish texts.
The main aim of the conference is to bring together scholars in Kurdish studies from Kurdistan as well as from the West and the East of Europe. The conference is related to the research project How to make a voice audible? Continuity and change of Kurdish culture and social reality in postcolonial perspectives. Until now, our experiences have shown that methods and approach to Kurdish studies applied in the light of different academic traditions give birth to different interpretations of what Kurdish studies entails and what is important in developing and deepening its research areas. This creates the diverse hierarchy of topics and methods of studying them, which is not necessarily readable for the academics from different parts of the world. That is why during our conference we would like to pay attention to the problem of distinct Eastern and Western European traditions in Kurdish studies and to thematise their differences and similarities.
Our aim is also to stress the importance of the three elements which today should contribute to more successful Kurdish research: the wide theoretical background, good knowledge of language and the contact with the studied reality and people. Although sometimes differently evaluated and discussed, knowledge and experiences can, be in fact, effectively shared and exchanged in our Kurdish studies society. We would like to give the possibility for participants to make their presentations in three different languages: English, Kurdish and Russian. We believe that the present stage of Kurdish studies cannot give priority only to the English language. That is why we would also like to promote the knowledge of the native language (i.e. Kurdish and its dialects) and Russian as the language of a long and rich tradition in Kurdish studies.
http://www.kurdishstudies.pl/?en_call-for-abstract-to-our-international-conference,133
4. The journal Anthropology of the Contemporary Middle East and Central Eurasia (ACME) is looking to recruit a new Book Review Editor, with the first contributed work to appear in Volume 5(1), Summer 2016.
The Book Review Editor will work with the chief editor and publisher, and be responsible for liaising with publishers marketing departments (securing books for review, sending published reviews to the press), commissioning suitable reviewers and supplying them with books, and editing and readying the final work for publication. The book review section will be forwarded to the publishing house for copyediting and layout, and then reviewed by the Books Review Editor prior to final publication. We anticipate between 6 and 12 books being reviewed for each instalment of the section, to be published twice a year.
A wonderful opportunity for the right candidate, this is an unpaid, volunteer position requiring a commitment of at least two years. The Book Review Editor will be expected to participate in editorial decisions for the journal, secure topically relevant review copies, recruit and coordinate a pool of reviewers, and assemble a high-quality, informative book review section.
ACME wishes to recruit for this position before February 15, 2016. If you are interested, please forward a copy of your curriculum vitae, along with a brief statement about your interest in the position and an example of your professional writing to:
Dr. Pedram Khosronejad (Chief Editor)
Farzaneh Family Scholar
Associate Director for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies
School of International Studies
Oklahoma State University
E-mail: Pedram.khosronejad@okstate.edu
Anthropology of the Contemporary Middle East and Central Eurasia (ACME) is seeking a new book review editor is a peer-reviewed journal devoted to the anthropological studies of all societies and cultures in the Middle East and Central Eurasia. All submissions for articles are peer-reviewed. Its scope is to publish original research by social scientists not only in the area of anthropology but also in sociology, folklore, religion, material culture and related social sciences. It includes all areas of modern and contemporary Middle East and Central Eurasia (Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, China), including topics on minority groups and religious themes.
5. Published on 25 January 2016:
Jan Just Witkam, Inventory of the Oriental manuscripts of the Library of the University of Leiden, vol. 18.
Manuscripts Or. 17.001 – Or. 18.000, registered in Leiden University Library in the period between April 1980 and December 1982.
Free downloads of this volume from: http://www.islamicmanuscripts.info/inventories/leiden/or18000-definitief-20160125.pdf
An overview of all volumes published to date (all freely downloadable): http://www.islamicmanuscripts.info/inventories/leiden/index.html
Jan Just Witkam
(Leiden University Institute of Area Studies, LIAS)
(j.j.witkam@hum.leidenuniv.nl)
6. David R. Blumenthal Prize in Medieval Jewish Studies
Deadline Extended!
The deadline for submissions to The David R. Blumenthal Prize in Medieval Jewish Studies has been extended to June 1, 2016.
The David Blumenthal Prize in Jewish Studies selection committee is soliciting book-length manuscripts in Jewish Studies that utilize historical, literary, and philological methods for the study of Jewish life in the Islamic world as well as medieval Jewish Studies generally.
Named for the eminent scholar David R. Blumenthal of Emory University, long-time editor of the Études sur le judaïsme medieval (EJM) series at Brill, the prize-winning manuscript will be published in the EJM series. The prize winner will also receive $500 cash and $500 in book credits from Brill. Brill particularly encourages junior scholars to submit manuscripts for this prize; nominations for the prize may be submitted by scholars on their own behalf.
To be considered for the prize, complete manuscripts must be submitted by 1 June 2016 to Katelyn Chin via email at chin@brill.com ; the winner of the prize will be announced at the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS) conference in December 2016.
7.CFP for the session ‘‘Islam, Vernacularization and Cultural Heritage,’ at the World Archaeological Congress (Kyoto, August 28-September 2, 2016).
We are hoping to attract a wide diversity of researchers who work on Islam and cultural heritage from a critical perspective, from diverse temporal and geographical contexts, and in strong consideration of the challenging contemporary contexts in which Islamic heritages are discussed. The intents of the panel are to deepen our intellectual and pedagogical approach to the studies of cultural heritage and material culture in Islamic contexts, and to inspire, encourage and motivate dialogue. Ideally, we will amass enough interest to run two back-to-back sessions, with the aim of pouring our efforts into a dedicated publication in a peer-reviewed journal (discussions underway).
Trinidad Rico
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Texas A&M University at Qatar
Trinidad.rico@qatar.tamu.edu
Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann
Assistant Professor of African Studies, Hampshire College, USA
8. Webinar – Islamic Material Culture: “The Rise of an Agricultural Empire” (Summer 2016)
http://www.aai.uni-hamburg.de/voror/Personal/agricultural-empire-sommer-2016.html
57-525 Webinar in Islamic Material Culture “The Rise of an Agricultural Empire”
Economy and Material Culture in the Early Islamic Empire
Bi-Weekly, Wednesday, 4-6 pm CEST Starting April 6, 2016
Islamic Material Culture
The Universität Bonn (Bethany Walker), the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich (Andreas Kaplony), The Bard Graduate Center in New York (Abigail Balbale), and Universität Hamburg (Stefan Heidemann) are co-operating in setting up a series of webinars in Archaeology of the Middle East, Arabic Papyrology, Islamic Arts and material Culture, and Numismatics of the Middle East.
9. The Department of Middle Eastern Studies in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin invites applications for a lecturer position in Arabic starting in Fall 2016. This successful applicant will be expected to teach Arabic language courses at all levels (including advanced content courses) for an average of twelve hours per week according to the needs of the program. This position is renewable annually; contingent upon budgetary funding and performance. Security sensitive position; background check conducted on applicant selected.
QUALIFICATIONS
Applicants should hold an MA or PhD in teaching Arabic as a foreign language (TAFL) or a related field, be a native or near-native speaker of Arabic and/or have at least three years of university level teaching experience and experience teaching in an intensive program integrating the teaching of both standard and spoken Arabic.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Applicants should submit a brief cover letter indicating interest in the position, curriculum vitae, a list of three references, formal student evaluations, and statement of teaching philosophy via Interfolio, http://apply.interfolio.com/33798. Please direct any questions to Mrs. Denise Beachum at: denise.beachum@austin.utexas.edu.
The University of Texas at Austin is an equal employment opportunity affirmative action employer committed to a diverse faculty, staff and student body. Women and minority candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
- January 30, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
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- January 29, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
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Shii News – Academic Items
1. Workshop: “Holistic Approaches to the Study of Early Islam and the Late Antique World”, Indiana University, Bloomington, 15-17 April 2016
The workshop invites scholars of late antique Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Mandaeanism, Buddhism and other religious communities to IU to work with scholars of early Islam.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 February 2016. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/106661/workshop-holistic-approaches-study-early-islam-and-late-antique
2. Postgraduate Symposium: “Muslims in the UK and Europe”, University of Cambridge, UK, 13-15 May 2016
The aim is to bring together graduate students from British, European and American universities to present their research, discuss their findings and engage in debate about the issues that face Muslims in the European context. Topics vary widely, from Sufism to Salafism, from charity to burial rites, religious travel to therapy, Islamophobia, deradicalisation initiatives and more.
Deadline for abstracts: 28 February 2016. Information: www.cis.cam.ac.uk/activities/annual-graduate-symposia/
3. Workshop: “The Main Intellectual Currents in the Late Ottoman Empire”, University of Basel, Switzerland, 20-21 May 2016
This two-day workshop will concentrate on the major intellectual currents of late Ottoman history. The main thread of the workshop will follow intellectual history in a broad sense, but other topics including social, religious, and political history will receive some coverage as well.
Deadline for registration: 15 March 2016. Information: https://nahoststudien.unibas.ch/fileadmin/orientsem/user_upload/redaktion/Dokumente_MUBIT/Mubit_Call_for_Applications_Hanioglu_1.1.pdf
4. Fourth International Congress of Turkology: “Turkic Peoples through the Ages and Lands”, University of Warsaw, 21-23 September 2016
The main area of interest will be contemporary studies and research on the history, culture and language of Turkey and Turkish (Turkic) peoples, as well as lands they inhabit now and in the past. This year we would like to continue the discussion on the development of Turkic studies and their methods, theoretical basis for research, promotion of research results, as well as teaching Turkic languages and cultures of Turkic peoples.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 March 2016. Information: www.orient.uw.edu.pl/turk_conf/4KT_CallForPapers_eng.htm
5. Conference: “The Levant and Europe: Shipping and Trade. Networks of People and Knowledge”, Levantine Heritage Foundation, London, 2-4 November 2016
This conference will emphasize the theme of trade as the central dynamic in the creation of a Levantine world, with complex economic networks giving rise to equally complex social, cultural, political, and material interactions and syntheses.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 February 2016. Information: http://humweb.ucsc.edu/mediterraneanseminar/news/index.php?id=606
6. Training Programme on Ottoman and Archival Studies, London Centre for Social Studies, 23-27 May 2016
The Programme is designed to fill the gap for much-needed short-term programmes aimed at helping researchers and students working in the field of Ottoman Studies. As a result, the Programme will give you access to the finest Ottoman resources available in the UK and guide you on key archival research methods.
Deadline for registration: 29 April 2016. Information: www.socialstudies.org.uk/Events/Training/23589/Training-Programme-on-Ottoman-and-Archival-Studies
7. Articles on “The Middle East after the Arab Spring” for Issue of “The Canadian Journal for Middle East Studies, The Researcher“
We are interested in articles that focus on the Middle East in a wide range of contexts, and encourage articles from humanities and social science perspectives. “The Researcher“ engages in serious, scholarly exploration of the forms, representations, meanings, and historical influences of radical social movements.
Deadline for submission: 30 March 2016. Information: https://submissions.scholasticahq.com/sites/the-canadian-journal-for-middle-east-studies/post/38
8. Florida State University – Postdoctoral Associate – Middle East
History
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=52482
9. La prochaine séance du séminaire “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du monde iranien” se tiendra le jeudi 4 février 2016de 17 h à 19 h,à l’Université Sorbonne nouvelle – Paris 3, centre Censier, 13 rue de Santeuil, salle 410 (4e étage), Paris.
Nous accueillerons Jean-Pierre Digard, ethnologue, directeur de recherche au CNRS émérite, Mondes iranien et indien : « Questions épistémologiques autour d’Une épopée tribale en Iran (CNRS Éditions, 2015) ».
Nous vous attendons nombreux !
Matteo De Chiara (Inalco), Denis Hermann (CNRS), Fabrizio Speziale (Paris 3 – CNRS), Julien Thorez (CNRS).
10. Lecture – Burak Erdim, “”The Academical State: Rethinking the American Campus in the Cold War Middle East” (UVA, 8 Feb)
TJSAH (Thomas Jefferson Society of Architectural Historians) is hosting Burak Erdim (MArh ’04, MArch ’05, PhD ’12) on Monday, February 8, at 6 pm in Campbell 153. His lecture is titled “The Academical State: Rethinking the American Campus in the Cold War Middle East.” Reception will follow. We hope you can join us!
-Thomas Jefferson Society of Architectural Historians, University of Virginia
Précis:
Recent studies of the postwar university indicate that the reorganization of, for instance, Harvard University’s School of Fine Arts by Joseph Hudnut and Walter Gropius, was part of a broader reconceptualization of the American university and campus during the first half of the twentieth century. This lecture examines the establishment of the Middle East Technical University in Turkey in 1956 as the most ambitious and comprehensive manifestation of the ideas that were changing the university both here and abroad. While James B. Conant and Clark Kerr worked in a rigorous but piecemeal way to transform the American university at home, a group of architects and administrators from the University of Pennsylvania had the opportunity to design the ultimate postwar university from the ground up and interestingly within the political context of the Cold War in the Middle East.
11. The “Dangerous Classes” in the Middle East and North Africa
Conference: 26 January 2017
Middle East Centre, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford
Call for Papers
The concept of the “dangerous classes” was born in mid-nineteenth century Europe and became famous after the publication in 1872 in New York of a book with the same title by the American social reformer Charles Loring Brace. The “dangerous classes,” the lumpenproletariat of Marx and Engels, described all those who had fallen out of the working classes into the lower depths of the new industrial and urban social environments, and survived there by their wits and by various amoral, disreputable or criminal strategies. They included beggars and vagrants, gypsies, pickpockets and burglars, prostitutes and courtesans, discharged soldiers, ex-prisoners, tricksters, drug-dealers; the unemployed or unemployable, indeed every type of the criminal and marginal, and were drawn from among women as well as men, and juveniles as well as adults. Such representatives of the “dangerous classes” were well-represented in literature, notably by Zola, Dickens and Victor Hugo in the nineteenth century and Brecht in the twentieth, and in popular culture of all kinds.
The “dangerous classes,” sometimes barely distinguishable from the new working class recently concentrated in the urban industrial centres, were a constant preoccupation of the emerging bourgeoisie. Fear of both permeated social policy, including among reformers, and was central to the establishment of new methods of control, policing and judicial, and even medical and psychiatric systems. Although the term fell into disuse in the twentieth century West, it is often argued that the concept remains embedded in elite discourses of connections between propertylessness, poverty, immorality, criminality and the “underclass.”
This conference takes as its central theme this notion of the “dangerous classes” and invites abstracts examining its explanatory power when applied to the Middle East and North Africa in the period from around 1800 to the present. Topics include but are not limited to: narratives of the lives of members of the “dangerous classes”; the social conditions in which they emerged; their relationship with “respectable” society and especially with the police; their political inclinations and potential; the attitudes towards them of elites; their role in shaping elite formulations of systems and institutions of discipline and control, legal/judicial, prison/asylum, medical; notions of the biological basis of criminality; their representation in literature and in popular culture. Abstracts which examine both collectivities (eg lutis or baltagiya) as well as individual strategies, and colonial/imperial as well as indigenous discourses and policies are welcome.
Abstracts of papers of no more than two hundred and fifty words are invited for consideration for inclusion in the conference.
Deadline for submission of abstracts is 30 June 2016.
Abstracts and enquiries should be addressed to Stephanie Cronin <Stephanie.cronin@orinst.ox.ac.uk>
12. Exhibition – Mystic Travellers: Sufis, Ascetics and Holy Men (Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin)
PRESSEMITTEILUNG online www.smb.museum/presse/pressemitteilungen/detail/56427.html
Museum für Islamische Kunst – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Pergamonmuseum, Museumsinsel Berlin
Bodestraße, 10178 Berlin
Öffnungszeiten: Mo – So 10 – 18 Uhr, Do 10 – 20 Uhr
Mystische Reisende. Sufis, Asketen und Heilige Männer
- Januar – 24. April 2016
13. Cambridge Lectures in Islamic Art:
‘Legends of Authority: Inscriptions and Decoration on Citadel Walls in Medieval Anatolia, Syria, and Egypt’
Professor Scott Redford (Nasser D. Khalili Professor of Islamic Art and Archaeology, SOAS, University of London)
Monday, 8 February 2016, 5.30 pm
Nihon Room, Pembroke College, Cambridge
Free and open to all.
http://persian.pem.cam.ac.uk/news-and-events/legends-authority
- January 27, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- January 26, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
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- January 26, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
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Shii News – ‘Tuhfat al-Khani’ and ‘Mapping Safavid Iran’
Muhammad Qazi Vafa Karminagi. Tuhfat al-Khani or Tarikh-i Rahim Khani. ed Mansur Sefatgol. Fuchu: ILCAA. 2015.
525+6p. ISBN 978-4-86337-201-6
Critical edition of an important early Manghit chronicle from 18th century Central Asia.
Nobuaki Kondo ed. Mapping Safavid Iran. Fuchu ILCAA. 2015. 246p. ISBN 978-4-86337-211-5
The book aims to locate the Safavid state in broader contexts of time and space. It contains nine papers by Rula Abisaab, Nobuaki Kondo, Rudi Matthee, Yukako Goto, Akhiko Yamaguchi, Giorgio Rota, Sholeh Quinn, Sebouh Aslanian, and Katsuhiko Abe.
Those who need copies should contact for inquiry:
e-mail: publ@aa.tufs.ac.jp
http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/en/publications/inquiry
Contents of Mapping Safavid Iran
Preface
Nobuaki Kondo 1
From Textual Evidence to Ijtihād:
The Twelver Shiʿa Juristic Tradition, 10th–16th Century
Rula Jurdi Abisaab 7
The Shah ʿAbd al-ʿAzim Shrine and its Vaqf under the Safavids
Nobuaki Kondo 41
The Safavid King Who Was Crowned Twice:
The Enthronement of Safi Mirza as Shah Safi II in 1077/1666, and as Shah
Sulayman in 1078/1668
Rudi Matthee 67
Development of Transport and Growth of Cultural Homogenization in the later
Safavid Period
Yukako Goto 99
The Safavid Legacy as Viewed from the Periphery:
The Formation of Iran and the Political Integration of a Kurdish Emirate
Yamaguchi Akihiko 127
Aq Qoyunlu and Safavid European Diplomacy:
Strategy, Millenarism, Wishful Thinking
Giorgio Rota 155
A Historian on the Move:
An Early Modern Persian Chronicler under the Safavids and the Mughals
Sholeh A. Quinn 171
Julfan Merchants and European East India Companies:
Overland Trade, Protection Costs, and the Limits of Collective Self-Representation
in Early Modern Safavid Iran
Sebouh David Aslanian 189
Silk for the Court: Safavid Silk Textiles in Japanese Collections
Katsuhiko Abe 223
Index 243
- January 25, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Introduction to Arabic Manuscript Studies – Workshop
4-8 April 2016
The IIS-ISMC Joint Library in Central London warmly invites applications for a five-day workshop entitled Introduction to Arabic Manuscript Studies,
led by world expert on Islamic manuscripts Adam Gacek
The primary focus of the workshop is to provide an overview of writing supports and structures of Islamic manuscripts, bookbinding and decoration, scripts, as well as composition and transmission of texts. The last day will feature a hands-on session where participants will be able to examine rare manuscripts from the Institutes’ collections under the supervision of the instructors.
The workshop is open to suitably qualified academics, scholars and students.
The deadline for applications is March 4, 2016.
The fee for the five-day workshop is £500, with an early bird discount of £50 for bookings received by Friday 29 February 2016.
Applicants should email Walid Ghali at walid.ghali@aku.edu with their affiliation and contact details. Payment will be required by bank transfer on successful registration
2. Conference (October 7-8, 2016): “Regional and Transregional Elites – Connecting the Early Islamic Empire”
Call for Papers
The ERC project “The Early Islamic Empire at Work – The View from the Regions Toward the Center” investigates how the vast Islamic empire, stretching from the Hindukush to the Atlantic and more diverse in terms of religion, language, and (if this is a valid concept at all) ethnicity than the Late Roman or Chinese Empire, was governed. It focuses specifically on the question of how its various regions were controlled and integrated into one of the most prosperous empires of the (late) antique world.
To integrate the regions of the early Islamic empire politically, to create an imperial idea and an imperial culture, elites of various backgrounds were essential. To fulfill their role, they had to commute and to communicate. The conference seeks to examine the roles that regional and transregional elites played in governing the vast early Islamic Empire (7th-10th century CE), with a particular emphasis on aspects of (social, institutional, spatial) mobility. The regional elites and their participation in governance and administration are essential for understanding the intricate workings of the early Islamic Empire. Similarly, the study of transregional elites, who projected imperial power but sought also to negotiate regional interests at the caliphal court, promises key insights into how the caliphal administration controlled and integrated diverse regions and populations whilst securing the interests of the empire at large.
The composition of the imperial elite, mostly expressing themselves in Arabic, changed over time, exhibiting both spatial and social mobility. While the conquering elite had a tribal background going back to the Arab Peninsula, this changed with manumitted slaves and the rise of the Persian-speaking elite under the ʿAbbāsids, as well as the substitution of the Arab and Persian military forces with Central Asian Sogdian and Turkish commanders and military. Nevertheless, moving elites were created not only by the military and the religious establishment, but also by investing landowners and networks of long-distance merchants. These various different elite segments created a shared taste in Arabic literature (adab), science and material culture.
The conference seeks to address a number of core issues about regional and transregional elites: who were the various elites in a region? How did these regional elites interact with the empire, and did they change in the course of interaction? What mechanisms and strategies did they develop? How and through which agents did they influence imperial decisions? How were transregional elites influenced by their interaction with regional elites, eventually becoming entrenched in the regions? How did they balance their relationships with regional elites, on the one hand, and central caliphal authorities on the other? How important was conversion to Islam for elite access? Where and how were transregional elites recruited? Was the shift from one imperial elite (Arab, Khurāsānian, Central Asian, and others) to another a sign of failure, or were some elites better at reproducing themselves? Which existing networks and emerging institutions helped elites to connect the empire and its diverse regions (tribal affiliations, family policies, mawālī, strategic appointments)?
The conference will be organized around three key themes:
- Conceptualization of regional and transregional elites from a comparative perspective
Definitions of elites, their origins, and their evolving identities
- Transregional and imperial elites
Recruitment, function, networks, and reproduction of imperial elites (Arabs, Khurāsānians, Central Asians, non-Muslim elites, and others)
- Regional elites
The interactions of converted regional elites and non-Muslim elites with the empire in
- North Africa and Egypt,
- the Arab Peninsula, Syria, the Jazīra, and Iraq,
- and Iran and Greater Khurāsān
The conference will follow a workshop format, with a focus on discussion. Individual slots will be 45 minutes, leaving 20 minutes for presentation and 25 minutes for discussion. Abstracts of 500 words should be sent to katharina.mewes@uni-hamburg.de before February 15, 2016; you will be notified whether your abstract has been accepted before April 1, 2016. Full papers should be sent by July 15, 2016, for pre-circulation among the participants. A financial contribution to travel and accommodation costs might be possible, but cannot be guaranteed at this point.
3. Craven Museum & Gallery is hosting an ambitious new exhibition in the New Year – showing work from some of the most exciting contemporary Islamic artists working in the UK. The Faith in Art Exhibition, run in collaboration with the Muslim Museum Initiative, opens on February 5, 2016, and is on until March 28.
Curated by Mobeen Butt, founder of the Muslim Museum Initiative, the exhibition will bring together 10 exceptional artists, to celebrate the variety and vibrancy of Islamic art being produced in Britain. The exhibition will showcase calligraphy, geometry, arabesque, illumination, miniature painting, wood crafting, paper-cutting, embroidery, fabric dyeing and three dimensional works.
“Art has the power to transcend, it can bring worlds together, evoke emotions, pierce through politics, tell stories, and take people to distant times and far off places. The Faith in Art Exhibition aims to do all the above and more. This will be a rare and unmissable opportunity to see such a spectacular array of contemporary Islamic art exhibited outside of London, UAE, Qatar or Malaysia. Muslims in Britain are producing exceptional art; art with real soul, depth and meaning; art that mesmerises; and art that is increasingly being collected around the world. Synonymous with Islam, and the religion’s real strength, this exhibition will show that there can be ‘unity within diversity’ and ‘diversity within unity’.’’ – Mobeen Butt
Craven Museum & Gallery is part of Skipton Town Hall, and is open every day 10am – 4pm except Tuesdays and Sundays, admission is free. The Faith in Art Exhibition is a joint initiative between Craven Museum & Gallery and the Muslim Museum Initiative and has been funded by Arts Council England Museum’s Resilience Fund, as part of the museum’s Museum: Indispensable project. Run by Craven District Council and part of Skipton Town Hall, Craven Museum & Gallery has impressive displays of social history, archaeology, costume and art. The exhibition gallery on the ground floor shows a changing programme of exhibitions related to heritage and the arts. For more information visit cravenmuseum.org or contact the museum on 01756 706407.
The Muslim Museum Initiative explores the 1,400 year relationship between Britain and Islam, and celebrates the history and culture of Muslims in Britain. It endeavours to work with museums, universities, archives, and other educational and cultural institutes to help explore and feel inspired by a shared past. The Muslim Museum Initiative provides advice, consultancy and assistance to heritage, arts and educational institutes wanting to engage Muslim communities, explore elements of Islamic culture or Muslim heritage in Britain. http://muslimmuseum.org.uk/
4. New research project funded by the CSIC (Spain), in collaboration with the Université de Liège (Belgium) and the Université d’Aix-Marseille (France):
The diplomatic exchanges between Islamic Mediterranean and Christian European powers in the Middle Ages: new methods for the analysis of documents
Objectives
The main objective is to create an international research group of specialists in the study of Arabic and Christian diplomatic documents in the Late Middle Ages, and to develop a common methodology combining philological and historical perspectives. The methodological focus will include specific aspects of the study of Arabic diplomatic documents from the Middle Ages, such as:
- The establishment of a model (or models) for the diplomatic description of the documents based on standardized criteria. The model(s) will be used to assess both the Arabic documents and those in Latin or Romance languages.
- The establishment of a model (or models) for the paleographic description of the documents, with a set of standardized criteria. The model(s) will be used to assess both the Arabic documents and those in Latin or Romance languages.
- The definition of common guidelines for the edition or re-edition and translation of the texts in Arabic, in Latin or in other Romance languages, their contemporary translations, and contemporary archive materials.
- Reaching agreement on the processes of revision of the old editions and translations available, and a substantial broadening of the study of the processes by which they were produced.
- The establishment of paradigms for the study of linguistic and terminological features, both of the Arabic of the original texts and of the contemporary Latin and Romance translations; a linguistic study of the Arabic, Latin and Romance languages used in correspondence (dialectology, diplomatic and notarial formulae, vocabulary …) and their translations.
- Methodology for the selection, evaluation and classification of complementary historical materials that provide contextualization (letters in Latin, Catalan, Italian and other chancery documents).
- Comparison of the practices and arts of chancery used by the various Islamic powers in the mediaeval Mediterranean, by consulting the secretarial manuals in use at that time as guidelines for the preparation of documents in Arabic.
- Guidelines for the compilation of a comprehensive record of the individuals who took an active or a passive part in diplomatic exchanges and in the transmission of documents, or who are mentioned in them.
- Prosopographic studies of the individuals involved; identification and characterization of the groups that mediated in the political and diplomatic contacts of the relations between European cities and the Arab countries of the Mediterranean.
- The study of the mechanisms and strategies for exploiting the linguistic and cultural skills of these groups.
- Guidelines for analyzing the strategies of socio-economic, political and institutional integration of European groups in the Arab-Islamic countries of the Mediterranean and the presence of Islamic groups in the Christian lands.
Members of the official team
– Roser Salicrú i Lluch (CSIC, Milà i Fontanals Institution, Barcelona) and Marta Manso Rubio (CSIC, Milà i Fontanals Institution & Universitat de Barcelona): Nasrids-Crown of Aragon, Christian sources
– Maria Mercè Viladrich Grau (Universitat de Barcelona) and Anas Benmokhtar (Universitat de Barcelona): Merinids-Crown of Aragon
– Mohamed Ouerfelli (Université d’Aix-Marseille): Hafsids-Crown of Aragon and Hafsids-Pisa
– Frédéric Bauden (Université de Liège): Mamluks-Crown of Aragon; Mamluks-Venice; Alessandro Rizzo (Université de Liège): Mamluks-Florence
With kind regards,
Roser Salicrú i Lluch
Milà i Fontanals Institution
CSIC, Barcelona
Principal investigator (I-LINK0977)
5. Last few days of “Pearls on a String: Artists, Patrons and Poets at the Great Islamic Courts” (Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, USA)
“Pearls on a String: Artists, Patrons and Poets at the Great Islamic Courts” is up at the Walters until January 31st, 2016.
Two of reviews are here:
Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/museums/art-review-pearls-on-a-string-artists…
wsj:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/pearls-on-a-string-artists-patrons-and-poets-at-the-great-isla…
6. Call for Papers: BRISMES International Annual Conference 2016: ‘Networks: Connecting the Middle East through Time, Space and Cyberspace’
Date and time: 13 – 15 July 2016, University of Wales Trinity St David, Lampeter Campus
Conference website: www.brismes.ac.uk/conference
Deadline for paper and panel proposals: 19 February 2016
BRISMES Annual Conference 2016 welcomes abstracts examining ANY aspect of Middle East and North Africa Studies. We will include panels on as wide possible a range of disciplines, including: politics; religious studies; history; law; economics; sociology; anthropology; literature; linguistics; geography; translation studies; and language teaching.
Proposal forms and more details are available on the conference website.
7. 2ème Symposium international sur les langues iraniennes en danger
8-9 Juillet 2016
Paris, France
UMR Mondes iraniens et indien (CNRS, Sorbonne Nouvelle, Inalco, EPHE), Paris
Département de linguistique empirique, Goethe-Universität, Francfort
Labex EFL
Organisatrices : Saloumeh Gholami (Goethe-Universität) et Pollet Samvelian (Sorbonne nouvelle)
La seconde édition du Symposium international sur les langues iraniennes en danger (ISEIL) aura lieu à Paris, le 8 et le 9 juillet 2016. Il sera co-organisé par l’UMR ‘Mondes iranien et indien’ (CNRS, Sorbonne nouvelle, EPHE, Inalco) et le Département de linguistique empirique de la Goethe-Universität de Francfort.
Ce symposium a vocation à rassembler les chercheurs travaillant sur les langues iraniennes en danger dans différentes perspectives. Nous invitons des communications sur tous les aspects de la recherche sur ces langues, notamment (mais pas exclusivement) :
- description (phonologie, morphologie, syntaxe…)
- philologie et étude diachronique
- dialectologie et atlas dialectologiques
- méthodes et outils pour la documentation des langues en danger
- revivification des langues en danger : enjeux et expériences
Le symposium comportera une session spéciale dédiée à l’élaboration des atlas linguistiques, animées par E. Anonby (Université de Carleton) et Amos Hayes (Université de Carleton) :
Comité scientifique : Johnny Cheung (Inalco, Chaire d’excellence USPC), Matteo De Chiara (Inalco), Saloumeh Gholami (Goethe-Universität), Geoffrey Haig (Universität Bamberg: Otto-Friedrich), Pollet Samvelian (Sorbonne nouvelle)
Comité d’organisation local : Pegah Faghiri (Sobonne nouvelle), Ophélie Gandon (Sorbonne nouvelle), Emmanuel Giraudet (CNRS, MII), Farzaneh Zareie (CNRS, MII)
Consignes aux auteurs :
La langue du symposium est l’anglais. Les résumés ne doivent pas dépasser deux pages (police de caractères 12, marges 2,5 cm), exemples et références bibliographiques inclus. Les documents devront être envoyés au format Word ou PDF. Veillez à ce que les polices de caractères soient compatibles avec Unicode.
Les soumissions, anonymes, se feront sur le site EasyChair en utilisant le lien spécial pour le symposium :
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iseil2016
Les auteurs dont le résumé est retenu se verront proposer soit une présentation orale soit une présentation par poster.
Dates importantes :
– Date limite pour soumettre un résumé : 15 février 2016
– Notification aux auteurs : 30 mars 2016
– Inscriptions : 30 avril 2016
– Annonce du programme final : Mai 2016
– Symposium : 8-9 juillet 2016
8. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellows
The American University of Beirut invites applications for its newly established Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Arts and Humanities, which will begin September 2016. The normal duration of appointment will be one year. Appointees will be attached to a relevant department and will be expected to remain in residence for the duration of the academic year.
The competition is open to recent recipients of the PhD whose research and teaching interests involve one or more of the following disciplines: Arabic language; Arabic literature; archaeology; art history; English language; English literature; fine arts (visual arts, theatre, and music); history; and philosophy. AUB is particularly interested in innovative work that explores humanistic study from multiple perspectives and pushes disciplinary boundaries.
Calls for Mellon postdoctoral fellows will focus on specific disciplines and departments that are likely to have permanent openings in the near future. These may occur as senior faculty retire; as new lines are created to reduce teaching loads; and as existing lines are redistributed after academic program reviews. However, while promising fellows will be urged to apply for openings that may arise in their areas of specialty, all positions must be filled through open searches in accordance with University policy.
Requirements:
• Applicants must have received their doctoral degrees no later than 30 days and no earlier than five years prior to the appointment start date;
• Applications must include the following:
• Letter of interest;
• Curriculum vitae;
• Statement of research interests (2-3 pages), specifically, research to be undertaken during the fellowship and proposed research product;
• Dissertation abstract or summary (1 page);
• Samples of publications (or dissertation extracts)
• Statement of teaching interests and experience;
• Three letters of recommendation;
• Copy of official transcript or letter of confirmation from dissertation committee chair indicating that the degree will be granted by the appointment start date.
Individuals who have held other postdoctoral fellowships are not barred from applying.
Stipend, benefits, and other advantages of the Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Arts and Humanities include:
• Annual stipend of $45,000;
• Co-pay health coverage under the University’s Health Insurance Plan;
• Relocation allowance and housing subsidy as described in the AUB Faculty Handbook;
• Eligibility for travel grant in the second year of extended fellowships;
• Teaching load of one course per semester;
• Participation in Arts and Humanities core group activities;
• Access to training and support from the Center for Teaching and Learning; the Academic Core Processes and Systems Unit; the Office of Grants and Contracts; and the University Writing Center.
Candidates with experience in or exposure to innovative approaches to research and teaching are strongly encouraged to apply.
Completed proposals should be submitted by close of business (5:00 p.m.) on March 10, 2016. Decisions will be announced by April 20, 2016.
Application material should be sent to:
Submissions
The completed application should be submitted electronically to The Center For Arts And Humanities [cah@aub.edu.lb]
9. CALL FOR PAPERS
The Journal of the International Society for Iranian Studies
Special Issue: Persian Language Pedagogy and Assessment in the 21st Century
Paper submission deadline: July 1st 2016
Guest Editors: Anousha Sedighi (Portland State University) and Samad Alavi (University of Washington)
The guest editors for a special issue of The Journal of the International Society for Iranian Studies seek submissions on the topic of Persian Language Pedagogy and Assessment in the 21st Century. Scholars, researchers, and professionals in the field of Persian teaching are invited to submit papers for this special peer-reviewed volume. The volume aims to provide instructors of Persian with state-of-the-art research in the field of pedagogy and assessment and will include a wide range of creative and scholarly work on such topics as second language acquisition, methods and techniques for teaching Persian language and culture, incorporating cutting-edge technology into curricula, corpus-based research, and web-based teaching. Both quantitative and qualitative research are welcome. More specific topics encompass, but are not limited to:
– Interlanguage or learner language analysis (error, discourse, and pragmatics analyses)
– Task based instruction
– Content-based instruction
– Project-based instruction
– Form-focused instruction
– Teaching cultural understanding
– Teaching and proficiency assessment of listening, speaking, reading, and writing
– Teaching and assessment of vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar
– Genre and academic language teaching
– Learning strategies and styles
– Heritage language teaching and assessment
– Bilingualism and multilingualism
– Standards-based language instruction
All papers will undergo the standard peer-review process of the Iranian Studies Journal. For submission guidelines please click here
Papers and inquiries should be sent directly to the Guest Editors, Anousha Sedighi and Samad Alavi at the following email address: 21stCenturyPersianPedagogy@gmail.com
Submission deadline: July 1st 2016
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10. The University of Edinburgh will offer up to 3 postgraduate scholarships for students from Syria studying a one-year Master’s degree programme in any subject offered by the University for the 2016-2017 academic session. See for further
http://www.ed.ac.uk/student-funding/postgraduate/international/region/syria
The deadline is 1 April.
11. We are very happy to announce that, thanks to a collaboration with the Smithsonian Libraries and Internet Archives, the Ars Orientalis back issues, volumes 1 to 41, have now been digitized, and are available for free on our new website. (http://www.asia.si.edu/research/ars-orientalis/) Please check our new website to learn more about the journal and access the volumes 1 to 41 at your leisure from the “Browse volumes” section. (http://www.asia.si.edu/research/ars-orientalis/explore.asp)
Thank you and with best wishes,
Zeynep Simavi
Program Specialist Public and Scholarly Engagement
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Smithsonian Institution
12. We are glad to announce that a new way to explore the MWNF Database is now available. 5,951 objects from 31 countries.
The ‘MWNF Database complete listing’ lets you search the entire MWNF Database. Results include relevant material from all the thematic databases (Discover Islamic Art, Discover Baroque Art, Sharing History) and list: first, database entries where the search term appears in the name of the item or where it has been added as a keyword; and second, entries where the search term is mentioned in the text. Results appear chronologically according to the time span entered during the upload by our team.
Click here to try: http://www.museumwnf.org/database_searchform.php
We hope you will enjoy using this new way to explore our Database.
With our best wishes,
Eva Schubert
Museum With No Frontiers (MWNF)
http://www.sharinghistory.org/ (NEW)
http://www.discoverislamicart.org/index.php
13. al-Usur al-Wusta
I write in my capacity as co-editor, with Antoine Borrut, of al-Usur al-Wusta, the newly transformed journal of Middle East Medievalists. As many of you know, UW is now an online, open-access and peer-reviewed journal. If you have not done so already, I would urge you to have a look. We would welcome your comments and suggestions, and invite you to consider submitting your essays, reviews and other work to us for publication.
We are also very pleased to announce the creation of our new editorial board.
To access the new issue of UW and view the list of board members, please proceed to the Islamic History Commons site (http://islamichistorycommons.org). Click on the link for Middle East Medievalists.
I would also urge you – again, if you have not done so already – to renew or begin your membership in MEM. The process is straightforward and, we believe, the dues quite modest.
with best wishes,
Matthew Gordon
- January 23, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- January 21, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- January 20, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment