Archive for March, 2016

1.Call for Panels and Papers: 23rd International Congress of the German Middle East Studies Association, University Tuebingen, 6-8 October 2016

The annual congress of DAVO is hosted by the  University of Tuebingen. It is organized by Prof. Dr. Oliver Schlumberger (Institute of Political Science) and Prof. Dr. Johann Buessow (Department for Oriental and Islamic Studies) with the support of Ms. Stephanie Wagner. The conference will take place in cooperation with the Tuebingen Arabic Film Festival.

Scholars from all fields of the humanities and the social sciences dealing with the contemporary history, culture, society, politics and economics of the Middle East and the Islamic World are cordially invited to participate with panel presentations, papers and posters.

Panels may be offered with a closed selection of presentations or as an open forum for individual papers. Each presentation should not exceed 20 minutes, allowing 10 minutes for discussion. They can be held in German, but English is preferred.

Please note the following submission deadlines:

–       Open panels by 30 April 2016 (abstracts up to 100 words);

–       closed panels, individual papers and posters by 20 June 2016 (abstracts up to 300 words, see attached form and website).

–       Early registration of individual participants at a reduced fee until 31 July 2016 (see attached form and website).

 

Contact the General Secretary of the Congress, Amke Dietert (amke.dietert@googlemail.com); further information: http://davo2016.org/

 

 

2. Conference: “The Future of Scholarship on the Quran”, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA, 9-10 April 2016

What does it mean to study the Quran? The conference will explore the relationship of traditional Islamic scholarship to Western academic study, how the Quran is interpreted, and how scholarship can inform public conversation on the Quran.

Information: http://holycross.edu/faith-service/mcfarland-center-religion-ethics-and-culture/conferences/future-scholarship-quran
 

3. Conference: “Democratization, Authoritarianism, and Radicalization: Exploring the Connections”, Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, Washington, DC, 21 April 2016

Panels are: Countering Extremism, Promoting Democracy; Strategizing Democratization; Islam, Moral Authority, and Political Rights; and the Future of Islam and Democracy after the Arab Spring.

Deadline for registration: 8 April 2016. Information: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/csid-17th-annual-conference-pre-registration-tickets-23900888200

 

4. Conference: “State, Society and Democracy in the Postcolony”, American Institute of Pakistan Studies, Lahore, Pakistan, 4-6 August 2016

This conference will focus on the impact of neoliberalism on state, society and democracy in the postcolonies, particularly Pakistan. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, we specifically seek to interrogate transformations in the structure of the state and its relations with society.

Deadline for abstracts: 20 April 2016. Information: http://www.pakistanstudies-aips.org/content/state-society-and-democracy-postcolony

 

5.  Conference: “War and Peace in Islam”, North American Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies, Cambridge, MA, 8 October 201 This conference hopes to shed light on the role of religion in general, and Islam in particular, toward war and peace, militant sectarianism and political violence in Muslim-majority nation.

Deadline for abstracts: 28 March 2016. Information: https://naaims.org/uploads/45th_Call_for_Papers_2016_-_Harvard.pdf

 

6. International Conference: “Heidegger in the Islamicate World”, University of Bern, Switzerland, 2-4 November 2016

We invite senior researchers and junior scholars working on Heidegger reception in the Islamicate world as well as recipients of Heidegger from the Islamicate world to share and reflect perspectives related to the conference’s topic.

Deadline for abstracts: 30 June 2016. Information: https://edit.cms.unibe.ch/unibe/portal/fak_historisch/dkk/islamwissenschaft/content/e101652/e411606/cfp_HeideggerintheislamicateWorld_ger.pdf

7. a) Postdoctoral Fellowship in Modern Arabic Literature and Culture, Washington University – http://mesana.org/professional-opportunities/employment.html#WUSTL

b) Visiting Assistant Professor in History & Humanities, Reed College, Portland – http://apply.interfolio.com/34488

 

c) Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Social and Economic Survey Research Institute, Qatar University, Doha

Full-time position for a period of one year, with the possibility of a one-year renewal. We are especially interested in persons with knowledge and experience in the field of marriage and family, migration, economics and political economy, education, environment, energy and water, health, or public administration.

Application until the position is filled. Information: http://sesri.qu.edu.qa/sites/default/files/SESRI_PostDoctoralFellow.pdf
d) Three Faculty Positions in International Relations, Media and Cultural Studies, and Journalism at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar

A. International Relations: http://www.dohainstitute.edu.qa/En/Careers/Pages/Apply.aspx?&JobId=DIHR007

B. Media and Cultural Studies: http://www.dohainstitute.edu.qa/En/Careers/Pages/Apply.aspx?&JobId=DIHR006

C. Journalism: http://www.dohainstitute.edu.qa/En/Careers/Pages/Apply.aspx?&JobId=DIHR005

Deadline for application: 16 May 2016.

e) Lecturer of Arabic AFL and Academic Arabic for Graduate Studies, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies (DI), Qatar

Educated native / near native mastery of MSA, an M.A. in TAFL or related field from a reputable university, a proven record of accomplishment in teaching Academic Arabic at the graduate level, and academic familiarity with one or more of the DI’s academic disciplines are required. Successful candidates are expected to take up the post in September 2016 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Deadline for application: 20 April 2016. Information: http://www.dohainstitute.edu.qa/En/Careers/Pages/Apply.aspx?&JobId=DIHR004
 

8. Short-term Course of Wisdom of Islamic Art in Collaboration with the University of Religions and Denominations of Qom, Iran, 22-31 August 2016

The program focuses on Islamic Arts (Miniature, Architecture, Calligraphy, Music, Ta’zieh…), discusses their philosophical foundations and entails visiting the most important Islamic architectures in the three cities of Tehran, Qom and Isfahan. All professors, researchers, students and artists in related fields are invited to apply.

Information: http://art.urd.ac.ir/

 

 

9. Articles on Multifaceted Aspects of the Internet and New Media in the Middle East for Journal “CyberOrient”

CyberOrient is a peer-reviewed journal published by the American Anthropological Association, in collaboration with the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague. This issue of CyberOrient aims to bring together the state of the art research dealing with the multifaceted social, cultural, and political aspects of the internet and new media in the Middle East.

Deadline 30 August 2016.  Information:  http://www.cyberorient.net/detail.do?articleId=3682
 

 

10. A.H. Morton Scholarship for Doctoral Research in Classical Persian Studies

 

The Gibb Memorial Trust is pleased to advertise the Annual Scholarship in memory of Alexander (Sandy) Morton for doctoral research in the area of classical Persian Studies. Sandy Morton (1942-2011) worked at the British Museum and as Senior Lecturer in Persian at the London School of African and Oriental Studies. His interests ranged widely over the field, from glass weights and numismatics to Persian literature and the history of Iran from the Saljuqs to the Safavids. He was a long-standing Trustee of the Gibb Memorial Trust.

 

The award is for a maximum of £3,000 and can be applied to any year up to the final completion of a course of doctoral study at a British university, including for an approved period of study abroad; it will be paid at the start of the academic year in question, up to the submission of the dissertation.

 

The Gibb Memorial Trust http://www.gibbtrust.org was founded in 1902 to commemorate Elias John Wilkinson Gibb. He devoted his life to researching the history, literature, philosophy and religion of the Turks, Persians and Arabs and the objectives of the Trust are to promote the study and advancement of these topics.

 

Eligibility:

The award is open to all students undertaking doctoral research at a British university in the field of classical Persian studies, loosely defined to embrace Persian literature and history of the pre-modern era but not excluding other areas of study.

 

Recipients of the award will not be eligible to reapply another year. Those unable to take up an award will need to reapply.

 

Applications:

 

• Should be submitted in writing and sent by post or email to the address below;
• Should be received not later than 30 April for the academic year starting the following October;
• Should include proof of application or of acceptance to study on a course of doctoral research at a British university;
• Should contain a brief curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages) and description of the dissertation topic and intended use of the award (maximum 2 pages plus budget);
• Should be supported by two references from the dissertation supervisor(s) or persons familiar wth the student’s previous graduate or undergraduate work, to be sent separately to the Trust by the same deadline.

 

 

Applications will be reviewed by the Trustees and shortlisted applicants may be called for an interview in person, if in the UK or, if overseas, by Skype.

 

Awards will be announced by early June. They will be paid in two instalments, depending on the nature of the support requested. The first will be made on proof of commencement or continuation of the doctoral programme at the start of the next academic year; the second instalment will follow receipt of a satisfactory progress report supported by the dissertation supervisor(s), to be received by the 30 April following.

 

In the event of applications including an approved period of research abroad, the first instalment will be made on receipt of proof of travel arrangements and the second instalment on submission of a final report with proof of the expenditures borne. Money not spent within the academic year in question should be returned.

 

All recipients of the A.H. Morton Scholarship will be required to acknowledge this support in their dissertation and to write a final report on their grant and how it furthered their work, for publication on the website of the Gibb Memorial Trust.

 

Applications and enquiries for further information should be sent to

 

 

E J W Gibb Memorial Trust
14 Avalon Way

Trumpington

Cambridge CB2 9DX

United Kingdom

 

secretary@gibbtrust.org

 

 

11. EASA’s (European Association of Social Anthropologists) call for funding applications to attend its biennial meeting (University of Milano-Bicocca 20-23 July, 2016) is now open.

For more information please visit:

http://www.easaonline.org/conferences/easa2016/funding.shtml

On the Shia, incl Sh al-Nimr and Ali al-Nimr, see 10.50f, 28.00f, 43.45f, 49.00f.
Broadcast on 22.3.16

Watch this also at: http://www.itv.com/hub/exposure-saudi-arabia-uncovered/2a4227a0001

British commandos are training the Bahraini armed forces to use sniper rifles

1. BRAIS is proud to announce its provisional 2016 Annual Conference Programme. Please follow the link to see the programme and abstracts: http://www.brais.ac.uk/conferences/brais-conference-2016

You can now sign-up as a delegate for BRAIS 2016 online.

If you are giving a paper at the conference, the deadline for registration is Friday 11th March. For all other delegates, the deadline for registration is Friday 1st April.

Please note that the Alwaleed Centre at the University of Edinburgh is currently the administrative hub for BRAIS. Delegate fees are therefore being processed through the University of Edinburgh’s ePay system.

Members of BRAIS receive a substantial discount on delegate fees. We would therefore encourage you to sign-up as a BRAIS member before you register for the conference.

.

Delegate fees for BRAIS 2016 are as follows:

Delegate type	Two-day rate	One-day rate
Non-member	£95	£60
Full/Associate Member of BRAIS	£70	£40
Student non-member	£75	£40
Student Member of BRAIS	£60	£30

Regards, the BRAIS team

 

 

 

2. Workshop: “The Status of Non-Muslims in Sharīʿa”, Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham, 2-3 June 2016

We especially encourage, and invite, paper proposals engaging with the methodological questions involved in justifications for both traditional and alternative perspectives on fiqhī (juristic) readings of matters related to the status of non-Muslims in Islam.

Deadline for abstracts: 8 April 2016. Information: http://almahdi.edu/forthcoming-workshop-the-status-of-non-muslims-in-shari-a
 

3. PhD Research Fellowship in Contemporary Middle East Studies, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages (IKOS), University of Oslo

Applicants must have completed a Master’s Degree or equivalent in Middle East studies or South Asia Studies with a Middle East/Islam orientation, or in a relevant discipline in social sciences or humanities.

Deadline for application: 11 April 2016. Information: http://uio.easycruit.com/vacancy/1586873/62042?iso=no
 

4. Editor of “Middle East Media & Book Reviews (MEMBR)”

The position requires institutional support for e-communication with reviewers, publishers of books/media on the Middle East and North Africa, receiving such publications from publishers, announcing/matching these books to the roster of current and potential reviewers, mailing out books, receiving, editing, and publishing online these reviews and notifying respective publishers of posted reviews of their books.

Information: mailto:aman@uwm.edu
 

 

5. Summer School: “The Political Economy of the Middle East: Resources, Strategies and Politics”, TOMidEast, Turin, 27 June – 1 July 2016

This is the first Summer School in Europe specifically focused on the Middle East politics, with international specialists of the area. The participation is open to students and professionals willing to critically explore the complex facets of the political dynamics of the Middle East. Scholarships are foreseen.

Deadline for application: 25 May 2016. Information: http://www.to-asia.it/to-mideast/
 

6. Call for Articles for New Journal “Contemporary Levant” of the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL)

We are now accepting submissions for the second issue which will be published in September 2016. We welcome contributions from various disciplines including: anthropology, sociology, politics, religion and theology, cultural studies, modern history, social geography, media, film studies and literature.

Information: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=ycol20#.VurvqYyyNBc
 

7. Articles on “The Middle East after the Arab Spring” for Special Issue of “The Canadian Journal for Middle East Studies – The Researcher”

We particularly welcome contributions on: civil society after 2011 in the Arab World; democracy and democratization in the Arab World; women in politics in the Middle East;  Gulf Countries as regional power; ethnic and religious minority issues in the Middle East; social movements in the Middle East; tribalism in the Middle East; conflict resolution; political Islam, democracy and governance etc.

Deadline for submission: 30 March 2016. Information: https://submissions.scholasticahq.com/sites/the-canadian-journal-for-middle-east-studies

 

 

8. Call for Book Proposals for Gerlach Press

We are pleased to have been able to publish more than 30 books in Middle East and Islamic Studies during the last three very successful years. We are now looking for authors and editors to contribute to our programme on the following topics: – Islamic Thought & Philosophy – Islamic Law – Quranic Studies – The Gulf Region / GCC. We are keen for our programme to include reference works and textbooks as well as research monographs and edited volumes. We would be very glad to hear from you about any book proposals, or series ideas, regarding the above-mentioned topics.

Contact: Kai-Henning Gerlach   &   Malcolm Campbell Publishers Berlin, http://www.gerlach-press.de
 

9. The Unthought in Islam: Gender Perspectives

Glasgow University (April 18-19^th)

 St Andrews Lecture Theatre 213

 April 18^th

 

Introduction

 

9.15-9.30 Lloyd Ridgeon (University of Glasgow)

9.30-10.30 Juliane Hammer (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

“Women in Prayer: American Muslim Negotiations of Gender, Practice, and Space.”

10.30-11.00 Coffee

11.00-12.00 Maria Jaschok (University of Oxford)

“Women’s Mosques, women imams and the resurgence of an expressive culture in Hui Muslim communities in contemporary China”

 

12.00-1.00 Lunch

1.00-2.00 Zohar Hadromi-Allouche (University of Aberdeen)

The Good Wife: Eve as a paradigmatic feminine figure in Muslim tradition

2.00-2.30 Coffee

2.30-3.30 Samina Ansari (Amina – The Muslim Women’s Resource Centre)

Muslim women in Scotland – the reality on the ground

April 19^th

9.30-10.30 Amanullah De Sondy (University College Cork)

“Scottish Islamic Masculinities: An Exploration”

10.30-11.00 Coffee

11.00-12.00 Yafa Shanneik (University of South Wales)

“Re-thinking Women’s Empowerment? The Practice of self-flagellation among Shia Women between Europe and the Middle East”

12.00-1.00 Lunch

1.00 – Discussion

For further information, contact: Lloyd.Ridgeon@glasgow.ac.uk

 

 

10.THE CLARK’S RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC PROGRAM INVITES YOU TO:

OBJECTS OF ORIENTALISM

 

FRIDAY-SATURDAY, APRIL 29 (1:30–5:30pm) & APRIL 30 (9am–1pm), 2016

Clark Art Institute

225 South Street
Williamstown, Massachusetts 01267

http://www.clarkart.edu/visit/directions

 

Convened by Mary Roberts and Marc Gotlieb, this symposium is designed to open a new dialogue around orientalist visual practice in the second half of the nineteenth century, and to continue the methodological conversation around contemporary valences of the term.

We will engage debates about ornament, cultural patrimony, and the role of artists as collectors and interpreters of Islamic art. Other topics include the poetics of Orientalism and the intersection of art and music. The symposium will also include a panel on curatorial practice and a gallery session in front of key works of art in the Clark’s collections.

 

This symposium is free and open to the public. For directions to the Clark, click here.

 

Participants include:

Timothy Barringer (Yale University), Orient and Ornament: India in British Art and Music, 1877-1914
Zeynep Çelik (New Jersey Institute of Technology), Beyond Orientalism?
Zirwat Chowdhury (Bennington College), The View of Counter-Insurgency
Holly Edwards (Williams College), Globalizing Orientalism
Edhem Eldem (Boğaziçi University), Text and Context in a Predominantly Visual Field
Luke Gartlan (University of St. Andrews),Beyond the Photobook: Orientalism, Bibliophilia, and the Reprographic Object
Marc Gotlieb (Williams College), Sand and Blood: On the Experience of Time in Orientalist Painting
Caterina Pierre (City University of New York),Sculpture, Materials, and Orientalism: The Case of Barrias
Mary Roberts (University of Sydney),Ornament, Object, Art? The Unstable Currency of Things in the Orientalist Interior
Ünver Rüstem (Johns Hopkins University),Dressing the Part: Ottoman Self-Representation in the Age of Orientalism

 

11. Lecturer in Persian (Full-Time)

The Department of Religious Studies at the University of California,
Santa Barbara invites applications for a one-year lecturer position in
Persian language beginning in the 2016-17 academic year. The position
is renewable based on performance and department needs.
Responsibilities include teaching three quarters of Persian annually
at the first- and second-year levels (six courses) plus two upper
division undergraduate courses in modern and classical Persian
literature in translation. We are especially interested in candidates
with specialization in modern and classical Persian prose literature
and/or poetry. The successful candidate will also be the assistant
coordinator of the Iranian internship program and have
responsibilities for assisting with related cocurricular programming.
Minimum Qualifications: MA or Ph.D. in relevant academic field; native
command of Persian and English; and excellent record of teaching
experience of undergraduates at the college level. Experience in
coordinating programs and institutions highly desirable.

The department is especially interested in candidates who contribute
to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through
research, teaching, and service. UCSB has recently been designated a
Hispanic serving institution under the U.S. Department of Education?s
guidelines (where total Hispanic enrollment constitutes a minimum of
25% of total enrollment). For information on our department please
visit our website at www.religion.ucsb.edu.

To ensure full consideration, please submit a cover letter, curriculum
vitae, and arrange to have at least three letters of recommendation
sent to UC Recruit, at https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/apply/JPF00706.
Complete applications received by May 31, 2016, will receive full
review. Inquiries about the position may be directed to Kathleen
Moore, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative
Action Employer and all qualified applicants will receive
consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion,
sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability
status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic
protected by law.

Bahrain: Unfair Charges, Unfair Trial

Conjectures on Solṭānᶜalīshāh, the Valāyat-nāme and Shiite Sufi authority ” Brill Online

Shi’i Studies

Statement Condemning Attack in Brussels

Statement from Alridha Foundation on the Brussels Terror Attacks

Bahrain: Stop Deportations of Nationals