Archive for January 18th, 2020
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Muqarnas, volume: 36
Editors: Gülru Necipoğlu and Maria J. Metzler
Muqarnas 36 features a stunning variety of Islamic art genres, ranging from monumental architecture, manuscripts, textiles, and tiles, to inscriptions, material objects, and forgery. It sweeps across India, Iran, and Turkey, and concludes in Britain, with the discovery of an Ashmolean Museum objet d’art that is not exactly what it is advertised to be.
The volume begins with an overview by Finbarr Barry Flood of the architecture, calligraphy, epigraphy, painting, and portable arts of pre-Mughal Islamicate South Asia. Pre-Mughal court culture has always played second fiddle to the overwhelming hegemony and brilliance of the Mughal dynasty but in its regional heterogeneity it is more than worthy of study.
This is followed by two essays examining manuscript illumination: Cailah Jackson, 2017 winner of the Margaret B. Ševčenko Prize in Islamic Art and Culture, discusses two manuscripts illuminated by Mukhlis ibn ʿAbdallah al-Hindi in thirteenth-century Konya; and Denise-Marie Teece treats the early sixteenth-century Safīna manuscript (Biblioteca Reale Ms. Or. 101), its illuminator Ruzbehan al-Modhahheb, and its unique six-page preface. A Byzantine stole with embroidered Arabic inscriptions in the collection of Vatopediou Monastery on Mount Athos is the subject of the fourth essay by Nikolaos Vryzidis.
The volume’s seven essays conclude with three investigations into Ottoman art history: the blue-and-white tiles of the Baba Naqqaş style of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, as prominently displayed in the Muradiye Mosque in Edirne (Patricia Blessing), the architectural book Risāle-i Miʿmāriyye of the seventeenth-century Caʿfer Efendi and in particular his notes on surveying and the architect’s cubit (Gül Kale), and the evolution of the late sixteenth-century Ottoman custom of requiring the sultan to be victorious over the non-Muslim enemy and to only use spoils from the holy war in the construction of a sultanic mosque (Samet Budak).
The Notes and Sources section continues with Bill Hickman’s analysis of the tantalizing calligraphed tiles of the now destroyed mosque built for the Sufi shaykh and poet Eşrefoğlu Rumi (d. 1469?), and two communications about artifacts on British soil: a wooden box, believed to have contained the heart of Abbot Roger de Norton (d. 1291), with an Arabic inscription that is now deciphered by Barry Knight, 147 years after its discovery; and a gorgeous Persian luster bowl in Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, which when subjected to UV examination, revealed that it was a product of extensive repair, or “restoration,” over the centuries. A systematic examination of the bowl and its remarkable history by Francesca Leoni and her colleagues uncovers a level of fakery of antiques that, it is suggested, might be prevalent in museum ceramic collections.
https://brill.com/view/title/56479
2. Call for Papers
The Arts and Archaeology of Funerary Cultures in Islam
16th Colloquium of the Ernst Herzfeld-Gesellschaft | Ernst Herzfeld Society
Rome, Sapienza University, July 2-4, 2020
In cultures of Islam, like those of other religions which believe in life in the hereafter, death is not the end but a transition into something to come. The significance of visual and material culture relating to the dead is clear from the wide spread of monumental mausolea that shelter and mark the grave, remember the buried, and invite visitors. It is reflected in various other arts, and in social practices of visiting burial places and in literature such as pilgrimage guides. Research has shown that since the early Islamic period, despite religious disapproval of ostentatious grave marking, burial monuments for specific persons were a part of funeraryculture as well as the use of inscribed tombstones.
While art historical and archaeological research on various civilizations has dealt with funerary culture in a wider sense, this is less the case in Islamic art and archaeology. Although a significant amount of scholarship has been produced, a comprehensive image of visual and material aspects of funerary cultures is lacking, and some aspects have been overshadowing others. One focus has been on the form, function, and epigraphy of funerary architecture, such as mausolea, tomb towers, their relation to other buildings, and commemorative mosques.
Graves with tombstones and cemeteries, which constitute the majority of burials, have been less systematically studied; even lesser the various media and artefacts which furnish them, such as cenotaphs, railings, textiles, and other. Semantics of form have rarely been dealt with.
The evidence gained from archaeology, such as types of tombs, the placement of corpses,their clothing, the use of epigraphy, often has remained discrete, disconnected from wider discussions and interpretations of visual and material culture. Among the reasons behind this fragmented perspective are the diversity and geographical spread of evidence and the variety and range of disciplines and methods involved. They include field archaeology, archaeometric analysis of human remains, art historical study and discussion of architecture and artefacts,epigraphy, anthropology, historical and religious studies based on texts.
The 16th Colloquium of the Ernst Herzfeld Society aims to bring together these diverse perspectives on visual and material aspects of death and the hereafter in Islamic cultures. It discusses Islamic funerary cultures through art history and archaeology as well as related disciplines and subfields. It invites individual papers and pre-arranged panels on all aspects and subjects that relate to this theme.
The Ernst Herzfeld Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der islamischen Kunst und Archäologie |Ernst Herzfeld Society for Studies in Islamic Art and Archaeology and the Department of Sciences of Antiquity, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy are delighted to invite you to participate in the Colloquium to be held in Rome, July 2–4, 2020.
Schedule – The Colloquium is planned to start with a keynote lecture on the evening of Thursday, July 2, 2020. The Colloquium continues with sessions on Friday and Saturday, July 3–4. A meeting of graduate students is scheduled for Thursday, July 2, for which a separate call will be circulated. The annual general assembly of the Ernst Herzfeld Society will be held on Friday or Saturday afternoon. A detailed schedule will follow in due course.
Application – Please submit your panel or paper proposal for the Colloquium by March 1,
2020 to Prof. Michelina Di Cesare: michelina.dicesare@uniroma1.it
All proposals will undergo a peer review selection process. Acceptance will be notified in the first week of April 2020.
The preferred colloquium language is English, while Italian and German are possible. Each presentation is limited to 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of discussion (or 30 minutes of discussion per panel).
– Pre-arranged panels: will preferably include three presentations. Please submit a title and an abstract of no more than 500 words presenting the topic and the aim of the panel, as well as a provisional list of speakers.
– Individual papers: will be presented in open panels. Please submit a title and an abstract of no more than 300 words.
If you want to submit a paper proposal for the graduate meeting (separate call), please send your title and abstract to Sarah Johnson: sarah.cresap.johnson@gmail.com
Registration and participation in the colloquium are free for members of the Society. Other speakers and participants are asked to join the Society by paying the annual membership fee.
Speakers and participants will organise their own travel and accommodation. A list of hotels located in the vicinity of the Colloquium venues will be circulated in due course.
3. Reminder – closure of the V&A’s storage at Blythe House
Access to the V&A collections which are in storage at Blythe House will close while we prepare for the biggest move of our collections since the Second World War. Appointments services will reopen at our new Collections Research Centre at V&A East in Spring/Summer 2023.
The key closure dates you need to know are:
- Object viewing appointments (excluding textiles and fashion): 27 September 2020
- Clothworkers’ Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion: 18 December 2020
- Archive & Library Study Room (including Theatre & Performance collections and the Archive of Art & Design): 18 December 2020
Further information on the store move is available at the following link:
https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/planning-collections-research-centre
Please keep this in mind as you plan your research trips to London this year, and please make sure your students and colleagues are aware.
Objects housed at the V&A in South Kensington will still be available for study.
4. Iranian Elements in the Pseudo-Aristotelian Sirr al-asrar (Secretum secretorum)
Maria Subtelny, Professor of Persian and Islamic Studies in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, the University of Toronto
Date: Thursday, January 30th, 2020
Time: 7:00-8:30 pm
Room 100, Jackman Humanities Building, 170 St. George Street
Abstract: The pseudo-Aristotelian Politics, known in Arabic as Sirr al-asrar (The secret of secrets) and in its medieval Latin translations as Secretum secretorum, purports to be Aristotle’s correspondence with Alexander the Great who at the time was engaged in the conquest of Persia. Probably compiled in the 10th century, this Arabic mirror for princes exhibits the influence of many different Late Antique sources, of which the Iranian—that is to say Sasanian—usually gets short shrift in the scholarly literature. The presentation seeks to identify the Iranian elements in the Sirr al-asrar that arguably constituted the basis for this poorly understood medieval blockbuster.
For free registration https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/iamcc-monthly-workshop-featuring-maria-subtelny-tickets-87162783231
5. Muhammad bin Hamad Aal Thani Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilization
College of Islamic Studies
Hamad bin Khalifa University
Muhammad bin Hamad Al Thani Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilization announces a student writing competition entitled: Muslim Intellectual Life in 2nd Century Hijri/8th Century CE Baghdad
Undergraduate Paper Writing Competition: $10,000 top prize on the theme of Muslim Intellectual Life in 2nd/8th c. Baghdad. Two top $10,000 prizes (one for Arabic and another for English) will be awarded. The best Arabic and English papers will be published. For further information please contact: cmccaward@hbku.edu.qa
The Awards
1) There would be separate and equal awards for both English and Arabic language papers. The awards shall be as follows:
- a) First prize – ($10,000) Ten Thousand US dollars.
b) Second prize – ($7,000) Seven Thousand US dollars.
c) Third prize – ($5,000) Five Thousand US dollars.
d) Three (3) Incentive awards of ($2,000 Two thousand US dollars) each would be
awarded to participants selected by a Jury Committee.
Competition Themes:
1- Religion and Ethics
2- Natural Sciences
3- Philosophy
4- Literature and Poetry
5- Architecture
6- Art and Music
7- Calligraphy
8- The Art of Healing
9- Political Thought and Governance
Terms of participation in the competition:
1) Participants should be UNDERGRADUATE college/university level students only.
2) The competition is open to all Qatari and International students, both in Qatar and globally, whether Muslims or non-Muslims.
3) Participation in the competition can be in Arabic or English languages.
4) Participants must submit the registration form through the given Cognito Online Form link along with a recent photograph and a copy of their valid passport or identity card:
https://www.cognitoforms.com/HBKU3/_2ndCMCCUndergraduateCompetition2020
5) The research must be an original work, which was not published before and was not submitted to any other institution or research contest.
6) The researcher must adhere to the norms of academic writing and observe honesty in research.
7) The research paper must be written in a grammatically correct language with well-structured sentences and refined linguistic style.
8) The length of the research paper should be between 10000-11000 words.
9) The following format should be followed in writing the research paper:
a) Font type: Time New Roman
b) Font size: 12 for the text and 10 for the footnotes
c) Space between lines: 1.5
d) Page numbers: Bottom of the page
e) Footnotes: At the bottom of the page
f) References and sources: At the end of the research paper
10) Research papers would be reviewed and judged by an academic committee
11) The decision of the committee shall be final.
12) The research papers submitted for competition will be the academic property of the Center and will not be returned to the participants.
13) Participation in the contest starts as of January 01, 2020.
14)The last date for submission of papers shall be June 30, 2020. No submissions would be considered if they reach the Center after this date.
6. DEADLINE APPROACHING: AMERICAN CENTER OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH IN AMMAN FELLOWSHIPS
2020–2021
Deadline for the following fellowships is February 1, 2020
NEH Fellowship: Maximum single award of ten months for a scholar who has a Ph.D. or has completed his or her professional training. Other awards for minimum of four to nine months. Fields of research include, but are not limited to: modern and classical languages, linguistics, literature, history, jurisprudence, philosophy, archaeology, heritage studies, comparative religion, ethics, and the history, criticism, and theory of the arts. Social and political scientists are encouraged to apply. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or foreign nationals living in the U.S. three years immediately preceding the application deadline. The award for ten months is $50,000 of which $32,000 is for stipend and travel and the remainder is for ACOR room and board. Shorter award periods are prorated accordingly (i.e., six months award for $30,000 includes $19,200 for stipend and travel); residency at ACOR is required. The award must be used between June 15, 2020 and December 31, 2021. Funding for this fellowship provided by the National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship Programs at Independent Research Institutes (FPIRI).
ACOR-CAORC Post-Doctoral Fellowship: Two or more two- to six-month fellowships for post-doctoral scholars and scholars with a terminal degree in their field, pursuing research or publication projects in the natural and social sciences, humanities, and associated disciplines relating to the Middle East. U.S. citizenship required. Maximum award is $32,400. Awards must be used between June 15, 2020 and December 31, 2021 and Fellows must reside at ACOR. Funding for this fellowship is provided by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
ACOR-CAORC Fellowship: Two or more two- to six-month fellowships for masters and doctoral students. Fields of study include all areas of the humanities and the natural and social sciences. Topics should contribute to scholarship in Middle East studies. U.S. citizenship required. Maximum award is $23,800. Awards must be used between June 15, 2020 and December 31, 2021 and Fellows must reside at ACOR. Funding for this fellowship is provided by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Jennifer C. Groot Memorial Fellowship: Up to four awards of $1,500 each to support beginners in archaeological fieldwork who have been accepted as team members on archaeological projects with ASOR CAP affiliation in Jordan. Open to undergraduate or graduate students of U.S. or Canadian citizenship as well as individuals who graduated less than 12 months before February 1, 2020 and/or have been accepted to a Graduate program for Fall 2020.
Bert and Sally de Vries Fellowship: One award of $1,500 to support a student for participation on an archaeological project or research in Jordan. Senior project staff members whose expenses are being borne largely by the project are ineligible. Open to enrolled undergraduate or graduate students of any nationality except Jordanian citizens.
Harrell Family Fellowship: One award of $2,000 to support a graduate student for participation on an archaeological project or for research in Jordan. Senior project staff members whose expenses are being borne largely by the project are ineligible. Open to enrolled graduate students of any nationality except Jordanian citizens.
Pierre and Patricia Bikai Fellowship: Two awards for one month each or one two-month award for residency at ACOR in Amman. It is open to enrolled graduate students of any nationality, except Jordanian citizens, participating in an archaeological project or conducting archaeological work in Jordan. The fellowship includes room and board at ACOR and a monthly stipend of $600.
Burton MacDonald and Rosemarie Sampson Fellowship: One award for either eight weeks residency at ACOR for research in the fields of Ancient Near Eastern languages and history, archaeology, Bible studies, or comparative religion, or a travel grant to assist with participation in an archaeological field project in Jordan. The ACOR residency fellowship option includes room and board at ACOR and a monthly stipend of $400. The travel grant option provides a single payment of $2,000 to help with any project related expenses. Both options are open to enrolled undergraduate or graduate students of Canadian citizenship or landed immigrant status.
Kenneth W. Russell Fellowship: One award of $1,800 toward educational assistance for a Jordanian student enrolled in an archaeology or cultural heritage degree program in any country. For the 2020–2021 cycle, the Russell fellowship is only open to enrolled graduate students of Jordanian nationality.
James A. Sauer Fellowship: One award of $1,250 to support a graduate student participating on an archaeological project or pursuing independent research in Jordan. For the 2020–2021 cycle, the Sauer fellowship is only open to enrolled graduate students of non-Jordanian nationality.
Frederick-Wenger Memorial Endowment: Two awards of $1,500 to assist a Jordanian student with the cost of their education. Eligibility is not limited to a specific field of study, but preference will be given to study related to Jordan’s cultural heritage. Candidates must be Jordanian citizens and currently enrolled as undergraduate or graduate students in a Jordanian university.
Jordanian Graduate Student Scholarship: Four awards of $3,000 each to assist Jordanian graduate students with the annual costs of their academic programs during the period May 1, 2020 through May 31, 2021. Candidates must be Jordanian citizens and currently enrolled in either a Master’s or Doctoral program in a Jordanian university. Eligibility is limited to students in programs related to Jordan’s cultural heritage (for example: archaeology, anthropology, linguistics/epigraphy, history, conservation, museum studies, and cultural resource management related issues). Awardees who demonstrate excellent progress in their programs will be eligible to apply in consecutive years.
Please Note: NEH, CAORC, MacDonald and Sampson (residency option), and Bikai Fellows will reside at the ACOR facility in Amman while conducting their research.
Deadline for the following scholarship is February 1, 2020.
See the application instructions for this scholarship:
Jordanian Travel Scholarship for ASOR Annual Meeting: Two travel scholarships of $3,500 each to assist Jordanians participating and delivering a paper at the ASOR Annual meeting in mid-November in the United States. Academic papers should be submitted through the ASOR’s website (www.asor.org/am) by February 1, 2020. Final award selection will be determined by the ASOR program committee.
Deadline for the following scholarship is February 15, 2020.
See the application instructions for this scholarship:
ACOR Fellow MESA Award: One award of $1,000 to a former ACOR Fellow of any nationality for participation in the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) annual meeting. Eligible applicants are anyone who had previously been awarded any ACOR Fellowship (including the named fellowships and former CLS students) and their abstract has been submitted for presentation at the 2020 MESA annual meeting. The awardee must mention the award and ACOR in the text of paper, in addition to including ACOR’s logo on the “Thank You” slide. A check for $1,000 will be mailed before the meeting takes place. To apply, please submit the abstract, CV, and cover letter to usa.office@acorjordan.edu by February 15, 2020. For more information about the MESA annual meeting, please check MESA’s website: https://mesana.org/annual-meeting/
Further information can be found at: ACOR Fellowships 2020 – 2021. Applications should be submitted online at https://orcfellowships.fluidreview.com/
7. The Department of Medieval Studies at the Central European University is pleased to announce its call for applications for graduate programs offering tuition waivers and scholarships for the majority of students:
- 1-year MA in Late Antique, Medieval and Early Modern Studies (10 months, 12-14 students admitted / year)
- 2-year MA in Comparative History: Late Antique, Medieval and Renaissance Studies in collaboration with the Department of History (20 months, 10-12 students/year)
- 2-year MA in Cultural Heritage Studies (20 months, 8-10 students/year)
- PhD in Late Antique, Medieval and Early Modern Studies (3 to 6 years, 5-6 students / year)
We provide comparative and multi-disciplinary postgraduate education on all aspects of the history and
culture of the period between c.300 and c.1600, including the following fields of study:
- Archaeology
- Art history
- Environmental and landscape studies
- Hagiography and religious studies
- Late Antique and Byzantine studies
- Manuscript studies and palaeography
- Material culture
- Medieval Judaism
- Ottoman studies
- Philosophy and theology
- Political history and political thought
- Social and economic history
- Urban history
Multi-disciplinary research
We host innovative research units, such as the Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, the Medieval Central Europe Research Network (MECERN) or the Center for Religious Studies. Students also have the opportunity to specialize in fields like Jewish studies and political thought. https://medievalstudies.ceu.edu/non-degree-specializations
Vienna / Budapest: Old and New Campus Work Together
CEU is a graduate English-language university in Vienna. While the mandatory teaching will take place there, we are also considering to offer research possibilities and optional teaching in Budapest during the academic year. Please signal in your application material if you would be interested in activities in Budapest.
Free source language courses
Our Source Language Teaching Group offers students year-round courses in less commonly taught languages, including Arabic, Greek, Turkish, Latin, Syriac, Hebrew, Armenian, Old Georgian, Ottoman, Old Church Slavonic and Persian, to help students get first-hand access to key research sources. https://sourcelanguages.ceu.edu/
Flexible funding options
CEU is committed to attracting talented students and scholars from around the world and offers a variety of merit-based scholarships and tuition awards available to students from any country. https://www.ceu.edu/financialaid
Application
Learn about our admissions process, deadlines and requirements at www.ceu.edu/apply. Deadline for applicants to master’s and doctoral programs who wish to be considered for CEU financial aid: January 30, 2020.
Questions?
Ask about our programs by contacting us at medstud@ceu.edu or through our inquiry form: http://sits.ceu.edu/urd/sits.urd/run/siw_ipp_lgn.login?process=siw_ipp_enq&code1=AUMEDS&code2=&code4=IPR_UDF1=CFAREC1617MEDS
8. 2020 Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize
We are currently accepting entries for the 2020 Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize (for theses defended successfully in 2019). The prize is awarded annually to the writer of the best PhD dissertation on a Middle Eastern topic in the Social Sciences or Humanities awarded by a British University in the previous calendar year.
The current value of the prize is £600 for the winner and £150 for the runner up.
To enter, please send the following to administrator@brismes.org by midnight on 31 January 2020:
- An electronic copy of your thesis
- A letter of nomination from your supervisor
9. 20th ISA World Congress of Sociology on “Resurgent Authoritarianism: Sociology of New Entanglements of Religions, Politics, and Economies”, Melbourne, Australia, 24-30 July 2022
Information: https://www.isa-sociology.org/en/conferences/world-congress
10. 2 Postdoctoral Researchers for the Project “Going Local in the Perso-Islamic Lands: Afghan Geniza, Islamisation and Language in the pre-Mongol Islamic East”, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford
We are looking for someone who has (or will have by the start of the role) a relevant PhD/DPhil, and expertise in Persian, Arabic, Hebrew or other specialist knowledge of the ancient languages, traditions and history of the pre-Mongol Islamicate East. Ideally you will also have an understanding of and interest in Islamicate history, Iranian linguistics, documents and archival practices.
Deadline for applications: 7 February 2020.
Information: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/BXN982/postdoctoral-researcher-golocal-project-2-posts
11. Intensive Summer School of Ottoman History and Paleography: “Ottoman Provincial Elites: Origins and Transformations“, Rethymno, Crete, Greece, 8-14 July 2020
The aim of the summer school is to combine students’ training in the reading of Ottoman documents with their familiarization with research methodology and the academic literature and theoretical debate about an important theme of Ottoman history.
Deadline for applications: 31 January 2020.
- January 18, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment