Archive for December, 2017

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Formation of a Religious Landscape: Shi’i Higher Learning in Safavid Iran

In Formation of a Religious Landscape: Shi’i Higher Learning in Safavid Iran, Maryam Moazzen offers the first systematic examination of Shi’i educational institution and practices by exploring the ways in which religious knowledge was produced, authenticated, and transmitted in the second half of Safavid rule (1588-1722).

Families of civil administrators in Safavid Iran

Long-term career strategies of the Khwājas of Barnābād (Khorasan, ca. 15th-18th c.)* [DYNTRAN Working Paper, no. 30, November 2017] by Maria SZUPPE Under the Safavid dynasty in Iran (1501-1722 or 1736 CE) provincial administration was frequently entrusted into the hands of local, influential families that were firmly and securely established in their regions of origin.

Dozens killed in Kabul suicide attack

At least 40 people have been killed and 30 wounded in a suicide attack in the Afghan capital, Kabul. A Shia cultural and religious organisation and media offices of the Afghan Voice agency were hit. The interior ministry told the BBC a suicide blast was followed by another two explosions in the area.

See also al Jazeera
See also Reuters
See also New York Times

Imminent execution of six in Saudi, Six sentenced to death in Bahrain VOB.ORG

There are fears among the inhabitants of East Arabia that the execution of six Shia Muslims from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia may be imminent. Yesterday they were transferred from a prison in the Eastern city of Dammam to the capital, Riyadh, where executions often takes place.

Events – Conferences

Conference Program: SSRP_Conference_Program_Dec7-9_2017.pdf Call for papers : The undersigned are pleased to invite paper proposals for a conference on “Shii Studies: The State of the Art.” The conference is part of a larger endeavor aimed at fostering the scholarly exploration of all aspects of Shiism: the “Shii Studies Research Program”, made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Opinion | It’s time for the U.N. to sanction Saudi Arabia

Ripples of reform from Riyadh have been attracting positive press for the Saudis in Washington. The government recently pledged to permit women to drive, allow movie theaters into the country and to teach physical education to girls in schools. These are important steps, especially for gender equality.

A friend of Pakistan

French scholar Mariam Abou Zahab, who was considered an authority on Pakistan and sectarianism, is no more Pakistan lost a good friend on November 1, 2017, when French scholar Mariam Abou Zahab lost her fight against cancer in Paris, France. She was considered an authority on Pakistan and one of the few pro-Pakistan academicians in the West.

1.Conference: “Innovative Approaches in Islamic Sciences and Education”, Institute of Islamic Theology, University of Osnabruck, Germany, 20-22 September 2018

The conference has two main goals: First, to promote the interdisciplinary discussion about new approaches to re-interpret the rich legacy and history of traditional Islamic scholarship in the contemporary world. Second, to improve the quality of Islamic education and curricula for religious research and teaching institutions.

Deadline for abstracts: 31 December 2017. Information:  https://goo.gl/KHi1Dk

 

2. Jobs/Posts:

Non-tenure Track Assistant Professor for “Islam, Judaism, or other Global Religions in Dialogue with Christianity”, Villanova University, PA
Deadline for application: 6 January 2018. Information: www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=56176

 

Visiting Assistant Professor for Middle Eastern History, Reed College, Portland, OR

Deadline for application: 10 January 2018. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/47484

 

One-year Post-doctoral Fellowship in Modern Middle East History, Rice University in Houston, Texas
This fellowship is renewable for a second year contingent upon successful review and completion of the first year. This position begins on 1 July 2018.

Deadline for application: 1 February 2018. Information: https://jobs.rice.edu/postings/12400

 

The master’s programme Cultural Studies of the Middle East, jointly
hosted by the Universities of Bamberg and Erlangen, is pleased to
announce the Visiting Professorship 2018-19.
https://www.uni-bamberg.de/abt-personal/stellenausschreibung/professuren/

 

 

3. The Arabic Flagship Program and the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at The University of Texas at Austin are proud to offer the Arabic Summer Institute (ASI), providing an intensive language and culture program for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students of Arabic.

With the largest full-time Arabic faculty in the country, more courses at all levels of Arabic, and a thriving events and cultural environment, UT’s Department of Middle Eastern Studies is now rated among the best in the country. Set in friendly Austin, our program and our University are committed to continually expanding our curriculum to help students meet their academic goals. The Arabic Summer Institute illustrates our continued commitment to excellence.

Program Dates

• Orientation and mandatory listening and reading tests will be administered June 5 – 6, 2018
• All ASI courses consist of two sessions: June 7 – July 12 (session 1), and July 16 – August 17 (session 2), with an intersession break July 13-15, 2018.

Program at a Glance

• Intensive ten-week summer program equivalent to one full academic year
• Open to all qualified students (competitive admission by application), must be at least 18 years old by the start of the program
• Beginning, Intermediate & Advanced training combining instruction in MSA and Colloquial Arabic
• 21 contact hours per week
• Weekly Dardasha (chat) classes and daily Open Tutoring opportunities to develop oral skills
• A fully incorporated cultural program with lectures, films, hands-on workshops and guest speakers
• Competitive cost of attendance
• Dedicated, supportive faculty trained in Arabic pedagogy
• A student support advisor to provide tutoring, advice and guidance
• Meets FLAS fellowship requirements

For more information please visit:

https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/mes/languages/arabic/arabic-summer-institute/index.php

 

 

 

 

4. The Mercantile Effect: Art and Exchange in the Islamicate world in the 17th ̶18th Centuries

Edited by Sussan Babaie and Melanie Gibson Available to buy at: https://www.gingko.org.uk/title/the-mercantile-effect/

The ten essays in this volume introduce a fascinating array of subjects, each one exploring an aspect of the far-reaching ‘mercantile effect’ and its impact across western Asia in the early modern era. The authors first presented their research at the third Gingko conference held in November 2016 at the Barenboim-Said Akademie, Berlin.

 

Foreword by Melanie Gibson

 

Introduction by Sussan Babaie: The Mercantile Effect: On Art and Exchange in the Islamicate World

 

Suet May Lam: Fantasies of the East: ‘Shopping’ in Early Modern Eurasia

 

Amy S. Landau: The Armenian Artist Minas and Seventeenth-Century Notions of ‘Life-Likeness’

 

William Kynan-Wilson: ‘Painted by the Turcks themselves’: Reading Peter Mundy’s Ottoman Costume Album in Context

 

Nicole Kançal-Ferrari: Golden Watches and Precious Textiles: Luxury Goods at the Crimean Khans’ Court and the Northern Black Sea Shore

 

Nancy Um: Aromatics, Stimulants, and their Vessels: The Material Culture and Rites of Merchant Interaction in Eighteenth-Century Mocha

 

Federica Gigante: Trading Islamic Artworks in Seventeenth-Century Italy: the Case of the Cospi Museum

 

Anna Ballian: From Genoa to Constantinople: The Silk Industry of Chios

 

Christos Merantzas: Ottoman Textiles Within an Ecclesiastical Context: Cultural Osmoses in Mainland Greece

 

Francesco Gusella: Behind the Practice of Partnership: Seventeenth Century Portuguese Devotional Ivories of West India.

 

Gül Kale: Visual and Embodied Memory of an Ottoman Architect: Travelling on Campaign, Pilgrimage and Trade Routes in the Middle East

 

 

 

5. Jobs/Posts

 

Yale University – Post Doctoral Fellowship in South Asian Studies
(Humanities and Social Sciences)
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=56184

St. Joseph’s College, NY – Assistant Professor of History
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=56206

 

Misericordia University – Assistant Professor – History
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=56189

 

 

 

6. Ten PhD Students for the Doctoral Program of the “Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies” at Freie Universität Berlin

The Graduate School investigates the plurality, changeability and global connectedness of Muslim cultures and societies. Applicants should have a master`s degree in Arabic Studies, Central Asian Studies, History, History of Islamic Art, Human Geography, Islamic Studies, Political  Science, Semitic Studies, Social Anthropology, South Asian Studies or Southeast European Studies.

Deadline for application:  30 January 2018. Information: www.bgsmcs.fu-berlin.de/en/studies/application/index.html

 

 

 

7. One Year Fellowships at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School 2018-2019

Fellowships are offered for researchers at the pre-doctoral, post-doctoral and junior faculty level for research related to Middle Eastern governance and public policy.

Deadline for application: 16 January 2018. Information: www.belfercenter.org/fellowship/middle-east-initiative

 

 

 

8. Lectureship and Postdoctoral Fellowship in Arabic Language, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME

Deadline for application: 1 February 2018. Information: https://careers.bowdoin.edu/postings/4643 and https://careers.bowdoin.edu/postings/4641

 

 

 

9. Invitation to Join the Middle East Sociology Working Group

The working group is intended to consolidate this field of study and to increase scholarly training and collaboration (see http://mideastsociology.org/). Scholars who would like to be affiliated with the working group, receive its listserv messages, and be listed on the group’s website are encouraged to get in contact with working group organizer Charles Kurzman kurzman@unc.edu.

 

 

 

10. Summer Arabic Program at the Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies, American University of Beirut, 20 June – 8 August 2018

Deadline for application: 10 April 2018. Information: http://website.aub.edu.lb/fas/cames/sap/Pages/arabic_program.aspx

 

 

11. I would like to acquire for a colleague a complete PDF copy of the Arabic text of ʿAbd al-Razzāq Kāshānī’s (d. 730 H.) Ḥaqāʾiq al-Tanzīl fī Daqāʾiq al-Taʾwīl (al-Taʾwīlāt). If you have available a copy or download link, please e-mail me.

I already have a link to a partial manuscript of the work. Thank you.

Best wishes,

Josef Meri

—

Prof. Dr. Josef (Yousef) Meri, DPhil (Oxon)

Faculty Associate (Non-resident),

Center for the Study of

Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations

Merrimack College, United States

https://www.merrimack.edu/academics/centers/jcmr/contact_us.php