Archive for 2016
- February 08, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Appointment in Hindi-Urdu language instruction.
College of Arts and Science/Asian Studies Program, Vanderbilt University
| Position ID: | Vandy-College of Arts and Science/Asian Studies Program-SL [#6997] |
| Position Title: | Senior Lecturer |
| Position Type: | Non tenure-track faculty |
| Position Location: | Nashville, Tennessee 37203, United States [map] |
| Subject Area: | Asian Studies |
| Appl Deadline: | (posted 2016/02/01, updated 2016/01/29) |
| Apply |
| The Asian Studies Program at Vanderbilt University seeks to make an appointment in Hindi-Urdu language instruction. The rank is Senior Lecturer with Ph.D., with initial appointment of up to three years and possibility of renewal. All requirements for the Ph.D. must be met before the start of the appointment in August 2016. The successful candidate must be trained in communicative approaches to language instruction and conversant with digital technologies for enhancing teaching. Ability to create digital video and other authentic instructional materials for classroom will be a plus. Ability to teach students in both nagari and nastaliq scripts is required. The standard course load is three courses per term, with responsibility for course coordination and curriculum development. As the program expands, the capacity to teach courses in the literatures of Hindi and Urdu will be considered an asset. Review of completed application files will begin on Tuesday 01 March 2016 and will remain open until the position is successfully filled. A cover letter, curriculum vitae, a teaching statement, teaching evaluations, a website link with a teaching demonstration video, and transcripts, as well as three confidential letters of reference, should be uploaded to https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/6997 Vanderbilt University is committed to recruiting and retaining an academically and culturally diverse community of exceptional faculty. Vanderbilt is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Women and under-represented minorities are encouraged to apply. Vanderbilt University offers employment benefits to same-sex domestic partners and prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation/preference and gender identity/expression. |
Application Materials Required:
Submit the following items online at this website:
- Cover Letter
- Curriculum Vitae
- Teaching Statement
- Teaching Evaluations
- Transcripts
- Website link with a teaching demonstration video
- Three Reference Letters (to be submitted by the reference writers at this site )
And anything else requested in the position description.
Further Info:
http://as.vanderbilt.edu/asianstudies/
Vanderbilt University
VU Station B #351806
2301 Vanderbilt Place
Nashville, TN 37235-1806
2.CALL FOR PAPERS
Worlding Iran: Contemporary Iranian Culture and the World
School of Arts and Media, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
8-9 December 2016
Organizers: Dr Michelle Langford and Dr Laetitia Nanquette
Papers are invited to participate in a two-day symposium around the theme of “Worlding Iran”.
Our keynote speaker will be Assistant Professor Amy Motlagh (The American University in Cairo).
For centuries Iran stood at the crossroads of civilizations and was a pivotal site for the exchange of cultures. However, the contemporary focus on its politics tends to obfuscate how Iran continues to contribute to the global circulation of ideas and cultural products. The success of Iranian cinema globally is a key example reminding us of the connectedness of Iranian culture to the world. This symposium will study how Iranian local/global culture dynamically exchanges with the world.
How are national and transnational Iranian cultural practices linked? What are the roles of the Internet and of the Iranian diasporic communities in connecting Iran and the world? How does Iranian culture evolve in a globalized world?
Disciplines include literature, film, theatre, music, visual arts, and creative media.
Topics that the symposium hopes to discuss include, but are not restricted to:
– local/global interactions between artists and cultural agents
– questions of cultural influences and collaborations
– the circulation of Iranian cultural products within Iran and transnationally
– the question of the cultural market
– the reception of contemporary Iranian culture
– questions of translation
– the cultural links between the nation and the transnation
– the contributions made by Iran’s many minority communities – ethnic, religious and sub-cultural – to a heterogeneous cultural landscape
– disciplinary and comparative approaches
The language of the conference will be English. Please submit a 250-words abstract and biographical note to worlding.iran@unsw.edu.au by 1st June 2016. Enquiries: worlding.iran@unsw.edu.au
3. Les Ghaznavides et leurs voisins :
nouvelles recherches sur le monde iranien oriental (Xe – XIIe s.)
aura lieu le vendredi 26 février 2016, de 9h à 17h, dans la salle A (1er sous-sol) du CNRS à Ivry-sur-Seine (27, rue Paul Bert, 94204).
Cet atelier, organisé dans le cadre du programme de recherche Élites et réseaux de l’UMR Monde iranien et indien, est dédié à la mémoire de Clifford Edmund Bosworth (1928-2015) et se propose de réunir des chercheurs confirmés ainsi que des jeunes chercheurs travaillant sur le monde iranien oriental aux Xe-XIIe siècles. Des études récentes seront présentées, qui, en s’appuyant sur des nouvelles données textuelles et archéologiques, contribuent à retracer l’histoire et les traditions artistiques et culturelles de cette période, encore mal connue à divers égards.
Veuillez trouver en pièce jointe la brochure avec le programme de la journée.
En raison du nombre limité des places et du plan vigipirate en cours au CNRS, ceux qui souhaitent assister à l’atelier sont priés de nous confirmer leur présence par courriel : viola.allegranzi@gmail.com
4. Wolfson College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom – Stipendiary Junior Research Fellowship in Islamic Art and Architecture
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=52504
5. We invite all members of the global medieval academic community to submit original manuscripts for the FIFTH issue of Espacio, Tiempo y Forma. Serie VII. Historia del Arte, New Era. Submissions in English are welcome for the themed dossier. The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2016.
*THEMED DOSSIER: “Treasures of the Sea: Art Before Craft?”
By Avinoam Shalem
“Treasures of the Sea: Art Before Craft?” is the title of the themed volume for the fifth issue of the journal that has recently entered a New Era. It will be guest-edited by Avinoam Shalem, Professor of the Arts of Islam at the Columbia University of New York, who has proposed the following thematic framework for this special issue:
Questions about identities of patrons and artisans, including even the role of artifacts in supporting and reinforcing such identities—in short, the politics of visual cultures—seem to have dominated scholarly investigations in the field of art history. “Art comes before gold and gems, the author before everything,” claims a twelfth century inscription on a shrine commissioned by Henri of Blois and manufactured by a Mosan goldsmith; “The workmanship surpassed the material,” declared Abbot Suger famously in his ‘De Administratione’—both clearly suggesting a medieval hierarchy for the state of materials vis-à-vis craftsmanship. “Treasures of the Sea: Art Before Craft,” aims at reconsidering and perhaps even challenging this presupposition by focusing on the exploitation of the varied treasures of the sea, their artistic use and reuse, in the medieval and early modern eras (between circa 300-1400) in both the Christian and Muslim worlds.
This volume will consider original papers that address the subject: “Treasures of the Sea: Art Before Craft?” We welcome contributions that investigate artistic engagement with the varied materials of the sea. These include precious materials like pearls; coral; amber; tortoiseshell; mother of pearl; crocodile skin; narwhal, walrus and fish teeth; ambergris; etc. Other contributions that concern medieval depictions of mythical sea creatures or discussing medieval stories about legendary sunken treasures will be welcomed too.
Contributions can focus on a particular example or discuss a group of objects. They should engage in rethinking ‘Art before Craft?’ and the artistic strategies of the cultivation of these materials.
Proposals will be evaluated and accepted according to quality, but also spread and variety.
Please circulate this Call for Papers widely. Once you have registered and consulted the submission guidelines, please send your proposal on our online journal platform:
http://revistas.uned.es/index.php/ETFVII/index
http://revistas.uned.es/index.php/ETFVII/about/submissions#authorGuidelines
If you have any enquiries, please contact the journal editor, Inmaculada Vivas, serie7.revista-etf@geo.uned.es; for queries regarding the e-platform, contact Jesús López revista-etf@geo.uned.es
6. The Fourth Perso-Indica Conference
Translation and the languages of Islam: Indo-Persian tarjuma in a comparative perspective
Paris, 8th-9th December 2016
On the occasion of the 4th international conference of the Perso-Indica project (http://www.perso-indica.net/), we would like to consider our main object of research—the Persian translations and original works bearing on Indic cultures—in a wider perspective than has generally been the case. We aim to do so by comparing the Indo-Persian movement of translation that took place in the subcontinent from the 13th century onwards with other processes of translations operating primarily from and to non-Muslim languages (e.g. Greek, Syriac, Pehlevi, Sanskrit into Arabic, etc.; Arabic into Latin; Greek into Ottoman Turkish, etc.) and, secondarily, between different languages of Muslim societies (e. g. Arabic into Persian, Turkish, Malay, Sub-Saharan languages, etc.; Persian into Urdu, Turkish, Malay etc.). We therefore invite contributions bearing on such movements of translation in different regions of the Muslim world between the 7th and 19th centuries, and highlighting the ways in which each specific translation process articulated the relation between source, “bridge” and target languages.
Within this broad frame of comparison, we more specifically invite each contributor to provide elements of reflection on at least one of the following questions:
– Translated: what was the literary form (prose, poetry) of the original text and to what literary genre or tradition did it (or was it considered to) belong? Which field(s) of knowledge did it cover? How popular was it in the society and time in which it was written?
– Translator(s): who is translating? An individual: if so, is translation part of his everyday job, is he a professional cultural broker such as the well-known Ottoman dragomans? Is, on the contrary, translation an accident in his professional trajectory geared towards other activities, be they intellectual or not? Is the translator part of a group specialized in translation: does he, for instance, belong to a “bureau” of translation or to a family/lineage renowned for its multilingualism and its abilities as cultural go-between? Is the translator a collective and, if so, what do we know of the dynamics and tensions at work in the process of translation? More generally, what are the networks (social, intellectual, economic, religious, political) in which the translator participates? In paying particular attention to the identity (both individual and collective) of the agents of translation, the idea is here to sketch a contrasted socio-intellectual history of the translators active in the pre-colonial Muslim world.
– Patron(s) of translation: is the translation a personal initiative undertaken for personal reasons? Is the translation the result of a commission by an individual or an institution? If so, what do we know of the relation between the translator and his patron prior and after the translation? How was the translator selected and on what criteria? What, if any, were the material conditions (salary, linguistic training, library, etc.) provided by the patron for the realization of the translation? How much involved was the patron in the composition of the translation (e.g. checking its progress, editing passages, etc.) and on which aspects (if any) of the process did he intervene?
– Purpose(s) of translation: if every translation is as such a scholarly effort and may be said to partake in the long run in a general epistemic endeavor, the projects and processes of knowledge building in which many of them were framed need careful examination in order to uncover the function(s) assigned to the texts once they were translated and, by the same token, to understand the idiosyncrasies of each translation. In other words: why was a particular text selected for translation in a particular time and place and what was/were the (political, religious, social, scientific) role(s) assigned to the translated text by the translator and/or his patron? While the purposes of translations in the Muslim world were of course multiple, particular attention will be paid here to the ones that were commissioned as part of state- or empire-building and to those that were conceived in a missionary perspective of conversion/in a spirit of proselytism and even of conversion.
– Process and tool(s) of translation: unveiling the purpose(s) of translation is crucial in order to understand its process and the multiple transformations it entailed at the levels of literary form and genre, language and signification. Bringing the why into light will certainly help us better explain and circumscribe the how and ultimately allow us to lay out a number of correspondences between the purpose assigned to a translation and the methods used for its realization or the type of translation produced as a result. Closely connected to the question of process is the issue of the linguistic and philological instruments and resources available in the society in which the translator was active: what were the dictionaries, glossaries, grammars, etc. at hand when the translator started his work? Did he know of their existence? If so, did he use some of them and how?
– Audience, reception and circulation of translation: how was the translation received by its targeted audience, especially by its patron in the case of commissioned works? How widely did it circulate in contemporary Muslim societies and beyond, and through which specific networks? Did it become a “source” for later translations in other languages, especially in other languages of Islam and in European languages? Studying the afterlife of such translations in both the Muslim world and Europe is crucial to put in perspective and in dialogue the Orientalist traditions they respectively built. In this respect, a particular important question is the appropriation by Western scholarship of translations composed in an Islamicate context: how were these translations understood by European intellectuals and colonial administrators and what was the role (and visibility) of such translations in the latter’s knowledge-building on the society to which the “Ur-text” belonged or on the language in which it was originally written?
Scientific coordination: Corinne Lefèvre (CNRS, co.lefevre@gmail.com) & Fabrizio Speziale (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3, spezialef@yahoo.com)
7. Call for Papers
International Conference
20 Years of “Iran and the Caucasus”: a Breakthrough
October 21-23, 2016
Aghveran, Armenia
The Editorial Board of Iran and the Caucasus (published by BRILL Academic Publishers, Leiden, the Netherlands, www.brill.nl/ic) has the honour to organise an international multidimensional conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Journal.
It was back in 1996 when the first volume of Iran and the Caucasus, now a renowned and exemplary periodical, was published with the efforts of scholars from Armenia and abroad. That very first volume comprised the best academic directions in a broader geographic area of Iran and the Caucasus, including articles from the fields of history, literature, religion, linguistics, ethnography and anthropology, etc. Since then, 20 volumes have been published, each of them having several issues (during the last years it appears in four issues per year). Currently Iran and the Caucasus is available both in print and online (with thousands of downloads yearly).
From the very first days of its emergence, strict academic criteria have been implemented and adopted by the Journal – factors, which were the main guaranties for the success. Unlike many other scholarly publications, Iran and the Caucasus has never put any restrictions on materials’ length, making special accent exclusively on their quality and academic value. For 20 years, long and short articles, book reviews, essays, letters, etc., published in Iran and the Caucasus, have enriched the wider field of Irano-Caucasica with invaluable academic findings and research.
For more details please visit: http://armacad.info/a/confcfp-20-years-of-iran-and-the-caucasus-a-breakthrough-21-23-oct-2016-aghveran-armenia
8. The International Conference on Iranian Languages and Dialects (Present and Past)
The Center for The Great Islamic Encyclopedia has organized The International Conference on Iranian Languages and Dialects (Present and Past) which is held every two years at The Center.
It is our pleasure to invite scholars, linguists and researchers from all countries to present their latest achievements and studies in Iranian Languages and dialects. It is obvious that the organizers of the conference respect all modern and ancient languages and dialects spoken in Iran and hope to receive proposals in these fields. For more information about the conference and registration please visit our website: www.icild.ir/en
Abstract submission deadline, March 19, 2016
Notification of abstract acceptance, April 21, 2016
Article submission deadline, July 21, 2016
Notification of article acceptance, August 21, 2016
Conference date, September 18 -19, 2016 Conference place, The Centre for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia, Tehran, Iran
Conference fee: 100$, will be received on conference day
Email for abstract submission: info@icild.ir
9. Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
is searching for a new Dean. The position advertisement and prospectus
is available at _ http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/dean_search/_
10. Putting the House of Wisdom in Order: the fourth Islamic century and the impulse to classify, arrange and inventory
Workshop at the University of Zurich, February 19th-20th, 2016
Asia-Orient-Institut, Rämistrasse 59, 8001 Zürich
Room: RAA E-08
Organisation: Prof. Dr. Ulrich Rudolph (UZH) , Dr. Letizia Osti (Università degli Studi di Milano), Dr. James Weaver (UZH)
Registration: james.weaver@aoi.uzh.ch
The fourth Islamic century (roughly the tenth century CE) witnessed a proliferation of texts that aimed in one way or another to codify and render accessible the scientific and literary production of the preceding Islamic centuries and of the pre-Islamic cultures whose intellectual heritage had entered the purview of Arabic scholarly tradition. In an age that combined consolidation with renewed scientific ingenuity, many authors sought comprehensiveness in compiling, arranging, editing and commenting upon the products of discrete, well recognized domains of scholarly endeavor. Others were involved in a project of surveying the whole sweep of human knowledge, mapping the topology of its distinct parts and describing their contents. This workshop will explore motivations for, and manifestations of the period’s enthusiasm for classification and arrangement.
Programme
Friday, 19th February 2016
13.30 – Welcome and Introduction
14.30 – Panel 1: Curricula
Discussant: Regula Forster
– Godefroid de Callataÿ
Encyclopaedism on the fringe of Islamic Orthodoxy: the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ, the Rutbat al-ḥakīm and the Ghāyat al-ḥakīm on the classification of the sciences
– Johannes Thomann
The Renaissance of Encyclopedic Education: The Revival of Lectures and Commentaries in Astronomy by al-Fārābī, al-Qabīṣī and Ibn al-Haytham
16.00 – Coffee Break
16.30 – Panel 2: Standards
Discussant: Hilary Kilpatrick
– James Weaver
On the composition of Maqdisī’s Kitāb al-badʾ wa-t-taʾrīkh and the ‘encyclopaedias’ of the East
– Antonella Ghersetti
Systematizing the description of Arabic: the case of Ibn al-Sarrāǧ
18.00 – End of Day 1
Saturday, 20th February 2016
9.30 – Panel 3: Knowledge and Emotions
Discussant: Ulrich Rudolph
– Hinrich Biesterfeldt
An unknown treatise of Avicenna on “the parts of the sciences of the ancients”
– Lale Behzadi
Story-telling as encyclopedic activity: Aspects of classification and arrangement in al-faraj baʿd al-shidda texts as exemplified by al-Tanūkhī (d. 384/994)
11.00 – Coffee Break
11.30 – Panel 4: Eastern (Hi)stories
Discussant: Konrad Hirschler
– Sarah Savant
Making good use of past texts: Book copying and the creation of new forms and meanings in the 10th and 11th century Eastern Islamic world
– Julia Bray
Classifying the exotic: al-Tanūkhī on Indians and their elephants
13.00 – Lunch
14.00 – Panel 5: Practical Matters
Discussant: Henning Sievert
– Maaike van Berkel
The scribes of the ‘Abbasid administration putting their knowledge and documents in order
– Hugh Kennedy
Archives and Archival practices in 10th and 11th century Islamic government
15.30 – Coffee Break
16.00 – Regards Obliques
– Alessandra Lavagnino
– Peter Burke
17.00 – Final Discussion
18.00 – End of Workshop
11. Ali Shariati: Call for Papers
Dustin J. Byrd & Seyed Javad Miri (Editors)
Ali Shariati, the Iranian sociologist, Shi’a Muslim activist and revolutionary thinker, is well known in some parts of the Muslim world and among Shi’a academics. Many in Iran remember his uncompromising and prophetic critique of the Shah, his courageous urging of the Iranian people and the Shi’a clerical hierarchy to engage in a Hussein-like opposition to the power of the status quo. Many remember his willingness to allow western thought to fertilize his Islamic ideals while remaining devoted to the core tenets of his faith, and the personal courage he showed in his vocal opposition to the Peacock Throne. Unlike what many believe about the Iranian revolution, Shariati did not wish to return Iran to a “golden age” of the past, but rather attempted to forge ahead with a future-oriented remembrance of past suffering with the practical intent to create a Islamic form of modernity that would be rooted in substantive freedom, substantive justice and substantive equality. Despite his immense influence in the Iranian revolution of 1979 –one of the seminal moments in modern Middle Eastern history – the breadth of his work has been inadequately studied within the English-speaking world.
As his biographer Ali Rahnema has demonstrated, the life of Ali Shariati is complex and comprehensive. It reveals the revolutionary potential of theory when a scholar becomes an activist, when a sociologist becomes a prophetic true teller, and when a religious believer – within the context of a brutal dictatorship – becomes a martyr. It also reveals the need for greater understanding between the Muslim world and the West, which is suffering from a new low with the unending “war on terrorism” and the rise of ISIS. By not succumbing to terroristic thought while simultaneously maintaining a uncompromising prophetic stance against empire, we believe that Ali Shariati can play an important role in building bridges between those who are too often ecumenically mute; who do not wish to engage in a robust discussion of their unarticulated biases and prejudices, and see no way of entering into a friendly discourse with the “other.”
In order to facilitate a greater understanding of the work of Ali Shariati and the potential it has to help reconcile the entrenched differences between the East and West without a superficial and therefore meaningless “reconciliation,” we’re issuing this call for papers for scholars who would be interested in contributing to an edited volume. The year 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the “mysterious” death of Ali Shariati in London. We will honor his life, work and continuing influence by reexamining, revisiting and re-theorizing some of his most important themes. We plan to publish this book with a top tier publisher (according to the Sense Rankings of Academic Publishers) in 2017.
Proposal and Abstract Deadline: June 1st, 2016.
Submission of completed chapter Deadline: January 1st, 2017.
If you are interested in contributing to this project, or have any questions, please email the editors:
Dustin J. Byrd (Olivet College, USA): dbyrd@olivetcollege.edu
Seyed Javad Miri (Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies. University of Sharif, Tehran, Iran): seyedjavad@yahoo.com
Suggested Themes:
Shariati’s role in the Iranian Revolution
Shariati’s openness and critique of the West
Marxist and/or Leftist influence on Shariati’s work
Red Shi’ism vs. Black Shi’ism
Shariati on Islam (in general)
Shariati on the Hajj
Shariati on Politics
Shariati on Economics
Shariati on Secularism
Shariati’s relationship and/or influence on Khomeini
Khomeini’s views on Shariati
Shariati against the Shah
Shariati on Violence and/or Terrorism
Shariati and Post-Islamism
Shariati on Socialism/Communism
Shariati and the “White Revolution”
Shariati on Gender
Shariati on Colonization & Imperialism
Shariati and Jalal Al-i Ahmed
Shariati and the Shi’a clergy
Shariati and Martyrdom
Legacy of Shariati in modern Iran
Acceptance of Shariati outside of Iran
Updating Shariati’s work
Shariati on Humanism
Shariati on Theology
Shariati on Class
Shariati on History
Shariati on the “Ideal Society”
Biographical controversies
Shariati on Christianity, Judaism and other religions
Reconciliation between the West and Iran
Shariati on Existentialism
Shariati on Continental Philosophy
Shariati and Russian Literary Thinkers
Shariati and the Frankfurt School
Shariati and Classics of Sociology and Social Theory
Shariati as bridge between East and West
- February 06, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- February 05, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- February 03, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- February 02, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Open Access Digital Library: Oman Library at Middle East Institute
“The Oman Library’s online collection is a web-based digital collection of the library’s rare books and manuscripts, consisting entirely of subjects related to Middle Eastern Studies. The topics of the rare collection range from history and culture to works of fiction from the early twentieth century. The collection includes materials in seven different languages — English, Arabic, French, Farsi, Urdu, Ottoman Turkish, and Turkish — and publications spanning the period from 1700 to 1921. In addition to the rare collection, MEI has included in the digitalization process all of its own Middle East Institute published works that span from the 1960s to 2004, including its 1947 meeting memos”
http://www.mei.edu/library/digital
2. Open Access Report: Arab Opinion Index 2015
Published by: Arab Center For Research & Policy Studies, Doha, Qatar.
Arab Opinion Index 2015 report is a 44-page PDF document organized under several headings:
- Living Conditions of the Arab Citizenry
- Arab Citizens’ Views of State Institutions and Governmental Effectiveness
- Arab Public Attitudes Towards Democracy
- Civic and Political Participation
- Religion and Religiosity in the Public Sphere and Political Affairs
- Arab Public Opinion and Pan-Arab Affairs
- Arab Public Opinion and the Arab Spring
- Arab Public Opinion and Current Affairs
http://english.dohainstitute.org/file/Get/9dba8f9c-7fb3-447b-9d7c-fda63ec5927e
3. Conference: “Islam and Peaceful Relations”, Muslims in Britain Research Network (MBRN), Coventry UK, 5 April 2016
This conference will uncover Islamic theological traditions around peacebuilding, historical precedents of peaceful existence with Muslims and contemporary lived experiences of intra-faith and inter-cultural dialogue, improved societal understanding of difference and peaceful relations. It will move the debate beyond simplistic ‘good and bad’, ‘us and them’ binaries to more complex discussions that consider the impact of diverse social factors including, gender, class, economy and geography.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 February 2016. Information: www.mbrn.org.uk/cfp-islam-and-peaceful-relations/
4. Conference: “The Great War in the Middle East 1911-23”, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst & Oxford University, Sandhurst, UK, 20-21 April 2016
The aim is to widen discussion from the European experience of 1914-18, relating the Great War to the broader period of conflict that affected the Ottoman Empire from 1911 to 1923.
Information: www.centenarynews.com/article/the-great-war-in-the-middle-east—sandhurst-conference-april-2016
5. Workshop: “The Bible in Arabic in the 19th Century: What Challenges for Christianity and Islam in the Middle East Societies since 1865?”, CNRS-GSRL, Paris, 26 May 2016
This International Workshop primarily intended to bring together researchers from all disciplines, who worked on the Middle East in a perspective linking the history, sociology and anthropology to this translation of the Bible into Arabic. We strongly encourage junior researchers to apply.
Deadline for abstracts: 29 February 2016. Information: www.infoclio.ch/fr/cfp-bible-arabic-nineteenth-century-what-challenges-christianity-and-islam-middle-east-societies
6. Workshop: “Security and Stability in the Mediterranean and the Middle East”, Institute of International Economic Relations, Athens, 26-28 May 2016
The general topics of the workshop may include the following: security in the Mediterranean and the Broader Middle East: problems and prospects of the South, migration and human security in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and the present and future of Euro-Mediterranean relations.
Deadline for abstracts: 20 March 2016. Information: http://idos.gr/med-security/
7. Conference: “Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Reformation Era”, Verein für Reformationsgeschichte & Society for Reformation Research, Nuremberg, Germany, 19-21 July 2017
The two central questions of the conference are: 1. How did the interactions and relationships of Christians, Jews, and Muslims change as a result of the Reformation? 2. How was the Reformation socially and discursively influenced by the religious pluralism that already existed with the presence of Judaism and Islam?
Deadline for abstracts: 15 April 2016. Information: www.nuremberg2017.org/call-for-papers2.html
8.Professorship for Economics: Economy and Society of the Middle East, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
Prerequisites for the position are a university degree, university level teaching experience, a doctoral degree, and additional academic qualifications. These should be in the form of a “Habilitation” or equivalent academic publications. The necessary qualifications may also have been acquired in a non-university context or through a junior faculty position.
Deadline for application: 18 March 2016. Information: www.fau.eu/university/careers-at-fau/
9. PhD Position: “Study of Religion”, University of Leipzig, Germany
The position is starting in April 2016. Requirements: degree in Islamic Studies and/or Sociology which is knowledgeable in the other subject as well, ability to work independently, fluency in English, good knowledge of the debates within Islamic studies and of the debates on secularization/secularism/secularity. Knowledge of one of the languages spoken in the ‘Islamic world’ is desirable.
Deadline for application: 8 February 2016. Information: www.sozphil.uni-leipzig.de/cm/kuwi/2016/01/27/stellenausschreibung-job-offer/
10. Funding Programme for Persecuted Researchers, Philipp Schwartz Initiative, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany
With funding to start in summer 2016, the Philipp Schwartz Initiative will allow up to 20 scientists and scholars who are under threat from political persecution to continue their research at German universities and research institutions.
Deadline for application: 31 March 2016. Information: www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/21611250.html
11. Poste : “Langue, civilisation, littérature persanes”, Université de Strasbourg
http://diwan.hypotheses.org/6876?utm_source=alert
13.University of Manchester –
| Nashriyah: digital Iranian history |
| View digital versions of Iranian newspapers and periodicals capturing key historical events as they happened.
These newspapers and periodicals, many of which have been only partially accessible inside Iran, cover the defining moments from the following three eras:
|
http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/about/projects/nashriyah-digital-iranian-history/
- February 01, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- February 01, 2016
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
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
- 0 Comment
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
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