Archive for January, 2020

Bahrain: Worsening Rights Record

(Beirut) – Bahrain’s human rights record worsened in 2019, as the government carried out executions, convicted critics for peaceful expression, and threatened social media activists, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2020 . The government executed three people in July, including two prisoners convicted in a mass trial marred by serious due process violations and allegations of torture.

1.The latest issue of International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA), 9/1:

https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/ijia/2020/00000009/00000001

 

 

 

2. The University of Michigan Library invites applications for fellowships for research in residence. We will award Ralph C. and Mary Lynn Heid Research Fellowships to support research projects that require substantial on-site use of our special collections, including the Islamic Manuscripts Collection held in the Special Collections Research Center. Applications for support for all types of research projects — academic, creative, journalistic, etc. — will be considered, and no specific credentials are required.

Fellows are expected to be in residence for at least one week during the period from 1 July 2020 through 30 June 2021. Fellows will be awarded $1,500 for a project requiring a residence of one week or more, or $3,000 for a project requiring a residence of three weeks or more. The application deadline is 31 January 2020. Award notifications will be made by 31 March 2020.

Applicants are required to provide a description of the proposed research (500 words or fewer), a description or preliminary list (one page max) of the collection material to be consulted, a curriculum vitae or resume, and two letters of support. The fellowship opportunity is open to applicants of all nationalities. Non-U.S. citizens awarded a fellowship are required to obtain a J-1 visa. Fellowships are normally not granted to researchers who live within commuting distance of the library.

Applications must be submitted online through Submittable.

Questions, including those regarding collections that are in scope for this fellowship opportunity, may be directed to Martha O’Hara Conway, Director, Special Collections Research Center, University of Michigan Library, at moconway@umich.edu.

 

 

 

 

3. The programme for the 6^thannual Islamic Archaeology Day co-hosted by SOAS and UCL and held at the UCL Institute of Archaeology on Saturday February 1^st 2020 between 11 and 6pm is below.

 

Rsegister online at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/islamic-archaeology-day-2020-tickets-84251457377.  There is an early-bird registration fee of £12 for those who register before January 10^th; registration after the 10^th is £18 (£10 for students) so we encourage you to register as soon as possible! Registration will cover a sandwich lunch, refreshments and a wine reception.

 

There will be a dinner afterwards at the Life Goddess on Store Street for anyone who would like to attend at a cost of £35pp (including 3 courses, plenty of wine and tip) so please indicate on the registration form if you are interested in joining us. We’ll confirm final numbers and the price for the dinner with all those interested in mid-January.

 

 

Islamic Archaeology Day 2020 Programme

11-6pm, Saturday, February 1^st 2020

31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY

 

Session 1 (Chair: Hugh Kennedy)

11:00 Introduction

11:15 A Recent Project on the Mosque-Palace Complex of Kufa

Michelina Di Cesare (La Sapienza-Rome)

11:40 Rayy: Citadel, the Walled City, Its Neighborhoods and Expansions, and the Suburban Zone

Renata Holod (University of Pennsylvania)

12:05 Missing bricks: exploring the long history of Dandankan (Daş Rabat)

Martina Rugiadi (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Paul Wordsworth (Oxford)

12:30 Jāṭū – Recent research on a medieval ‘Muslim City’ in Western Sicily

Nicole Mölk (University of Innsbruck)

1:00 Lunch (provided)

Session 2 – (Chair: Corisande Fenwick)

2:00 Zooarchaeological insights into social Islamisation in al-Andalus

Marcos Garcia Garcia (York)

2:25 Meat consumption and food taboos in Islamic Sicily

Veronica Aniceti (Sheffield)

2:50 Persian Blue: A New Blue Pigment or A Different Method of Egyptian Blue Production?

Rahil Alipour (UCL) and Thilo Rehren (Cyprus Institute/ UCL)

3:15 Palermo’s trade from the end of the 9th to the 11th century: written Arabic sources and archaeological data

Viva Sacco (École française de Rome)

3:45 Tea break

Session 3 – (Chair: Scott Redford)

4. 4:15 The two mosques of Baydha: The Islamic Baydha Project in Petra and its first results

Michaela Sinibaldi (Cardiff University)

4:40 Rethinking the periurban landscape in Nasrid Granada: the land of Aynadamar

Guillermo García-Contreras Ruiz (Universidad de Granada)

5:05 The Mongol Conquest in Central Asia: New evidence from Merv (Turkmenistan) and Otrar (Kazakhstan)

Katie Campbell (Oxford)

5:30 Julfar: a port of the Hormuzi maritime empire

Rob Carter (UCL)

6-7pm Reception in SCR

7 :15pm Dinner (for those who have pre-booked) at the Life Goddess, Store Street

 

For more information on the Islamic Archaeology Network and its events: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/research/directory/islamic-archaeology-network

 

 

 

 

4. Organizers of the Second Annual Workshop on Ibadi Manuscripts & Manuscript Cultures, “Ibadi Manuscripts in European and North American Libraries,” are pleased to announce a call for participants. The workshop will be held in Lviv, Ukraine on 24-25 April 2020, and the deadline for proposals is 15 February 2020. Details can be found in Arabic, English, and French at: https://ibadistudies.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/lviv_ibadi_mss_cfp_2020.pdf

 

 

 

 

5. Intensive course: A methodological seminar on Venetian sources concerning trade in Mamluk territories and the role of Cyprus in this regard
A three-day intensive seminar on a wide range of Venetian sources related to maritime trade in the Mamluk sultanate and to the role of Cyprus in this regard will be conducted by Professor Benjamin Arbel of Tel Aviv University. The course, which will focus on late fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century materials, will be held immediately before the Seventh Conference of the School of Mamlūk Studies at the Centre for Visual Arts and Research in Nicosia, from June 29 to July 1, 2020. It is intended to develop methodological, palaeographic, and analytical abilities for the study of sources related to the above-mentioned field, such as decisions of Venice’s government bodies (particularly documents on the organization and control of commercial shipping), reports by Venetian consuls and governors, notarial contracts, commercial guides and tariffs, merchant letters, etc. An advanced or intermediate ability in reading Italian texts is required.
) Since the number of the participants will be limited (a maximum of 12), those who desire to take part in the course are requested to submit a CV, a statement of purpose, and a letter of recommendation by someone familiar with your work to the following email address: sms2020nicosia@gmail.com by the end of January, 2020. Those who are selected for the course will be notified by the end of February, 2020, at which time information about the method of payment for the course fees will be provided.
The course fee is 315€, which also includes the registration fee for the subsequent conference (July 2–4). The fees must be paid by April 30, 2020. Registration and participation will not be confirmed until payment is received. Please note that any cancellations received in writing by May 14, 2020, will secure a full refund of the fees paid, minus 20%. Refunds of fees paid will not be made under any circumstances for cancellations made after May 14, 2020. Participants must make their own travel arrangements.

 

 

 

 

6. The Balzan Seminar on the formation, maintenance, and failure of states in the Muslim world before 1800

To advanced graduate students, postdocs, and holders of tenure-track positions working on relevant topics:

We are seeking to bring together an internationally recruited group of eight to ten early-career scholars working on topics related to the formation, maintenance, and failure of states in the various regions of the Muslim world prior to 1800.  We would also like to include in the group two early-career scholars working on similar topics in the non-Muslim world.  The project will last for five years, and is funded by the generosity of the Balzan Foundation.  In the first two years the group will meet twice on its own, and in the last three it will convene up to five conferences to which other scholars, including more senior ones, will also be invited.  The first meeting will be in late June or early July of 2020 at a location yet to be determined.  The project will issue in the publication of a volume the core of which will be studies written by members of the group.  The regular language of the group will be English, and basic expenses of the participants (including travel and accommodation) will be funded.  More details are available below, and preliminary inquiries can be addressed to Antoine Borrut (aborrut@umd.edu) or Michael Cook (mcook@princeton.edu).

 

Applications to join the group should be submitted by January 31, 2020.  Your application should consist of a CV, a cover letter setting out your interests and fields of expertise, two writing samples (papers or chapters, published or unpublished), and contact information for two referees.  In the cover letter you should also indicate your availability in late June or early July of 2020.  These materials should be assembled in the form of a single PDF, and sent to: nessemi@princeton.edu.  Please name the file “lastname firstname Balzan application.pdf”.

 

Antoine Borrut (University of Maryland)

Michael Cook (Princeton University)

 

 

FURTHER DETAILS

 

The Balzan seminar seeks to shed fresh light on the formation, maintenance, and failure of states in the various regions of the Muslim world prior to 1800 in a comparative perspective.  The basic idea of the project is to examine the roles not just of material resources and obstacles, but also of traditions and values, both Islamic and non-Islamic, over time and space, and the interactions between all these elements.  We may decide to delimit the themes of the project in some respects after the group has taken shape.

 

As stated above, we would like to recruit eight to ten scholars working on the Muslim world together with a couple of scholars working on comparable topics in non-Muslim contexts.  These contexts could be ancient, medieval, or early modern.  We would particularly like to secure the presence of a scholar familiar with the well-developed literature on such issues in the European context, but are also interested in recruiting a scholar working on East Asia, Hindu South Asia, or another part of the non-Muslim world.

 

The venue for the meetings and conferences remains to be determined; one consideration in making the decision will be visa requirements, particularly as they may affect scholars from the Muslim world.

 

The purpose of the first meeting (summer 2020) is for the members of the group to get to know each other and begin to establish a framework for the discussion of the issues.  What matters is not that all members of the group should agree, but that they should be in widely-based conversation with each other.  To expedite this process, we ask each member of the group to submit a month in advance a chapter or paper representative of their work for group discussion.  Another significant part of the agenda of this first meeting will be to decide the basic parameters of the position paper that each member of the group will submit a month in advance of the second meeting.

 

The first task of second meeting (summer 2021) will be to discuss the position papers.  These papers will not be presentations of detailed research but rather analytical and synthesizing discussions of agreed-upon issues within the region and period of the member’s broader field of expertise.  When this is concluded, we expect to have a well-knit group with shared interests (not necessarily shared views) that reach across space and time, and include comparison with the non-Muslim world.  The second task of the meeting will be to plan a series of up to five conferences.

 

These conferences will take place over the following three years.  They could be on particular regions or periods, or particular themes across regions and periods.  The group will identify other scholars, including more senior ones, to invite to these conferences; these would be scholars it was particularly interested in engaging with.  The group will nevertheless constitute the backbone of each conference, and several of the papers submitted will be by its members.

 

Within six months of the final conference, each member of the group will be responsible for submitting a final version of the paper discussed at the second meeting, taking account of the work of the conferences.  These papers, together with a few contributions from the senior scholars, will be peer-reviewed and published with a leading university press.  We plan to seek a contract for the volume after the second meeting.  We attach great importance to the coherence of the volume.

 

Members of the group in good standing will receive an annual research fund of $2,000 for the five years of the project.  This can be used for relevant expenses including books and travel (other than travel to the meetings and conferences, which is already covered).

 

The project will also be able to support a few manuscript review workshops outside the framework of the meetings and conferences.

 

 

 

 

7. Persian Calligraphy, Nasta’liq Script
Mondays 6:00-8:00pm 20 January 2020 — 23 March 2020.
Wednesdays 6:00-8:00pm 22 January 2020 — 25 March 2020.
SOAS University of London (room to be confirmed at registration)
10 Thornhaugh St, Bloomsbury, London WC1H 0XG

Information is available at: https://www.iranheritage.org/calligraphy.html

 

 

 

8. Why Yemen Matters: The Heritage of a Land in Crisis

Wednesday, February 19, 2020, 5-6:30 pm

White-Levy Room, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ

 

Yemen’s war and humanitarian crisis are in the news, but very little is known about the rich cultural heritage of the southwestern corner of Arabia throughout history. Also largely unknown are Yemen’s geographic and economic diversity or their impact on recent events. Yemen’s diversity owes much to conquest, trade, and migration between Yemen and Christian Ethiopia, Sasanian Iran, Ayyubid Egypt, Islamic Iran, Ottoman Turkey, the African coast and Southeast Asia.

In this panel experts on different periods of Yemeni history and its diverse contemporary contexts probe beyond current politics to share their insights and discuss potentials for future scholarly research on Yemen.

Panelists, currently scholars at IAS, include: historians of antiquity, Glen Bowersock (IAS) and Christian Robin (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris), and of the Islamic era, Hassan Ansari (IAS), Sabine Schmidtke (IAS), Daniel Varisco (American Institute for Yemeni Studies), and anthropologists Najwa Adra (IAS) and Nathalie Peutz (New York University Abu Dhabi).This event is part of the Near Eastern Studies Workshops sponsored by Professor Sabine Schmidtke (IAS).

RSVP to nitschke@ias.edu

 

 

 

9. The newly established, fully open-access Journal of the Contemporary Study of Islam is now accepting submissions for its first issue, to be released at the end of March 2020. 

The Journal of the Contemporary Study of Islam was launched by the Institute for the Contemporary Study of Islam, based in the UK, to promote and disseminate research related to Islam and Muslims in the contemporary world. Although we may consider any submissions that fall within the scope of JCSI, we are keen to publish research articles that deal with some of the most pressing issues that Muslims face in the contemporary world, such as new approaches to Islamic law, new religious trends in the Muslim world (e.g. new atheism, deism, and agnosticism), Islam and politics, sectarianism in the Muslim world, Islam and social change, Islam and human rights, Islamophobia, Muslim-Christian relations, new methodological developments in Quranic studies, and hadith studies.

JCSI aims to reach a wider readership beyond academia, and thus we suggest authors use accessible language in their submissions. The journal is open-access, free of cost for authors and readers alike, and provides unrestricted online access to its readers.

JCSI is a member of Crossref, an independent membership association for building shared technologies. Crossref was launched in early 2000 as a cooperative effort among publishers to enable citation linking in journals using the Digital Object Identifier, or DOI. Our DOI prefix is 10.37264 and our ISSN is 2633-7282 (online). We are in the process of applying for membership to the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and CLOCKSS archival service.  

JCSI has a prestigious advisory board and will be covered by the leading relevant indexing services.

Interested scholars are invited to submit their articles for consideration at https://contemporarystudyofislam.org/index.php/jcsi/about/submissions

Manuscripts will undergo a process of blind peer review. Author guidelines are available at https://contemporarystudyofislam.org/index.php/jcsi/about/submissions

 

 

 

10. ISMC Event: Recognising Islam in Europe and North America Mosques, the Congregation and Anglophone Islam
London – 5 February 2020

By Abdul-Azim Ahmed, Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK

There are currently somewhere in the region of 2000 mosques in Britain, with many more being established every year, and those that are established, growing and expanding in size. The importance of the mosque to British Muslims, and the role of the congregation in establishing and maintaining them, is an unexplored aspect of contemporary Islamic studies. In this lecture, Abdul-Azim Ahmed explores the role of the Muslim congregation in Britain, and more widely, within Anglophone Islam, as a means of doing and producing religion together.
Dr Abdul-Azim Ahmed is Research Associate at the Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK. His doctoral study was an ethnography of a British mosque, exploring the everyday, rhythm, and sacred space. He is continuing his research, but focusing on the prominence of the congregation amongst Muslims in diaspora, and its relationship to an emerging category, that of Anglophone Islam. He has also previously worked in the third-sector in Wales, managing a youth work project and undertaking policy research.

Wednesday 5 February 2020, 18.00-19.30
Atrium Conference Room,
Aga Khan Centre,
10 Handyside Street,
London N1C 4DN

For the full programme: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SwToy-v2BuV7dchg4TOKEdx9g-y14jRj/view

This event is free but booking is essential:
To attend in person, please click here.
To attend online, please click here.

 

 

 

 

11. Workshop: “Western Intervention in the Wake of the Arab Uprisings: Political Containment, Neoliberalism, and Imperial Legacies”, University of Oxford, 10-11 March 2020

This workshop will situate current military and development interventions into a larger context and debate about (neo)colonialism, governance, the state, sovereignty, and to encourage a systematic treatment of the historical continuities and ruptures between the present and the explicitly imperial political contexts of the early twentieth century.

Information: https://www.area-studies.ox.ac.uk/article/call-for-papers-western-intervention-in-the-wake-of-the-arab-uprisings-political-containment

 

 

 

 

12. Assistant Professor in Global Public History (Focus on the Islamic World since 1800), York University, Ontario, Canada

Required qualifications include a completed PhD in History or a related discipline, and an ongoing program of research in the area of specialization. Candidates are expected to demonstrate excellence or the promise of excellence in teaching and in scholarly research.

Deadline for applications: 25 January 2020.

Information: https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=59541

 

 

 

 

13. Non Tenure-track Instructor in Islamic Studies at the Rank of Lecturer (2020-2021), Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

The ideal candidate will have the PhD in hand as well as proven ability to teach in at least three of the following areas: Sufism, Islamic Intellectual Traditions, Islamic Scriptures, Shi’ism, Islamic Mystical Literature, the Prophet Muhammad, an introduction to Islam, and a survey of religions of the Western World.

Review of applications will begin on 14 February 2020. Information: http://jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/107353

 

 

 

 

14. New Posts at the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, Australian National University, Canberra

Lecturer (Iranian Studies with a Focus on Political Science and IR Related to Iran)

Deadline for application: 3 February 2020. Information: https://jobs.anu.edu.au/cw/en/job/534784/lecturer-iranian-studies

Senior Lecturer (Politics and International Relations of the Arabic Speaking Middle East)

Deadline for application: 2 March 2020. Information: https://jobs.anu.edu.au/cw/en/job/530822/senior-lecturer-politics-and-international-relations-of-the-arabic-speaking-middle-east

Lecturer (Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies)

Deadline for application: 2 March 2020. Information: https://jobs.anu.edu.au/cw/en/job/535130/lecturer-sociology-of-islam-and-muslim-societies

Postdoctoral Fellow (Central Asian Studies)

Deadline for application: 2 March 2020. Information: https://jobs.anu.edu.au/cw/en/job/535158/postdoctoral-fellow-central-asian-studies

 

 

 

 

15. Intensive Summer Course in Modern Standard Arabic, Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane, 29 May – 24 July 2020

Participants will develop their Arabic language skills, learn about North Africa, and experience various aspects of Moroccan culture through club activities and field trips.

Deadline for application: 24 May 2020. Information: http://www.aui.ma/aranas/

 

 

 

 

16. Teach English or Music to Palestine and Syrian Refugee Children in the Camps of Lebanon, 29 June – 8 August 2020

Volunteers are invited to provide English language instruction and other recreational enrichment activities (such as music, theater, dance, film, yoga, and creative writing), while living and working in the refugee camps of Lebanon.

Deadline for application: 12 February 2020.

Information: https://leap-program.org/?na=v&nk=410-cab1fdffad&id=66

 

 

18. Lecturer in Arabic

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures is seeking a lecturer in Arabic, beginning on August 15, 2020 for a full-time, non-tenure-track, nine-month position.  This appointment may be renewable, subject to performance, department needs, and available funding. The preferred candidate will have formal training in the teaching of foreign language and specifically in the teaching of Arabic as a foreign language.

The successful candidate will have the ability to teach elementary through advanced Modern Standard Arabic courses, as well as any of the languages taught in the department (e.g., French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish) at the elementary level or higher.

Responsibilities include teaching undergraduate courses (12 credit hours per semester), meeting with students during regular weekly office hours, and collaborating with the program director on course and curriculum development.  Superior proficiency in Arabic, intermediate proficiency in the secondary language, and a solid knowledge of English are required.

Qualifications include a commitment to excellence in Arabic language pedagogy, a minimum of one year of college-level teaching experience, and a Ph.D. in Arabic literature or linguistics, or a related field, in hand by July 31, 2020.

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.  Preference will be given to candidates whose materials are received by January 31, 2020

The application should consist of a cover letter, curriculum vitae, transcripts, and three letters of recommendation. Materials should be submitted through Interfolio:  https://apply.interfolio.com/71953

 

Conference Call for Papers: Historicizing the Shiʿi hadith Corpus

Hosted by Leiden University Centre for Islam and Society (LUCIS) and Shiʿi Studies Unit, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London (IIS)

Date: June 24-26 2020

Location: Leiden University, the Netherlands

Convenors: Hassan Ansari, Edmund Hayes, Gurdofarid Miskinzoda

Abstract deadline: January 31st 2020

This conference will focus on the processes which led to the early production, evolution, dissemination and canonisation of a set of distinctively Shiʿi hadith corpora. These corpora are both clearly linked to the greater project of hadith in Islam, but they also follow certain, understudied processes specific to the Shiʿi communities. In the conference, both the specificities of the various Shiʿi hadith corpora (Twelver, Zaydi, Ismaili, Nuṣayri, and so on) will be addressed, as well as their links and cleavages with hadith corpora preserved by other Muslim traditions. The focus of this conference will be the period in which the Shiʿi hadith corpora were initially formed and canonized, and therefore will aim at contributions dealing with the years roughly 700-1250 CE, however extensions to this period will be accepted if the case demands it.

This conference will bring together scholars working on the formation and canonisation of Shiʿi hadith, to summarise progress, and sketch out future directions and lacunae. The aim of the conference is to produce a landmark publication for the study of Shiʿi hadith, to be published as part of the Institute of Ismaili Studies’ Shiʿi Heritage Series, and all participants will be expected to submit their papers for consideration in the resulting volume.

Participants in the conference will be asked to present original research which illuminates and reflects upon the key sub-fields of the study of Shiʿi hadith, including particular figures, geographical schools, texts, social contexts, topics and methods. Thus, even if contributions are on a narrowly focused topic, it is essential they address the larger questions and framework of the conference, indicating how their work relates to work that has been done in the larger field, and how it fills a gap or strengthens a direction of research which will be salutary to the field. Contributions might address the following areas for the formative period of the Imami, Ismaili, Zaydi or other Shiʿi traditions:

· Definitions of hadith and hadith studies (comparing Imami, Ismaili, Zaydi perspectives)

· Genres and terms, such as hadith, khabar/akhbār), aṣl, kitāb, muṣannaf, jāmiʿ, masāʾil, nawādir

· Authenticity, dating, transmission history

· Manuscripts of Shiʿi hadith works

· Dealing with particular Imams and the bodies of hadith ascribed to them

· Mechanisms of production, dissemination and circulation of hadith during the lifetime of the Imams and thereafter

· Hadith relating to a particular event, such as the Occultation or the rise of the Fatimids

· Hadith in a particular era of production and compilation, such as the Buyid or Seljuk eras

· Hadith in a particular location, such as Qum or Qayrawan

· Post-classical hadith compilations

· Particular hadith compilers and their works, such as Qāḍī Nuʿmān or Ibn Babawayh

· Hadith of Nusayris, Druze or “ghulāt”

· Hadith and history writing

· Hadith and law

· Hadith and theology, philosophy or mysticism

· Hadith and ethics, piety, practice, liturgy (prayer, ziyāra, etc.)

· Exegetical hadith/ hadith in exegesis

· Apocalyptic hadith

· Science, medicine and magic

· Hadith, adab and poetry

· Hadith and heresiography

· Bio-bibliographical literature (rijāl and fihrist)

· Hadith criticism and commentary

· Isnād criticism

Details

Please send an abstract of around 300 words to e.p.hayes@hum.leidenuniv.nl by January 31st 2020.

Draft papers should be pre-circulated 1 month before the conference.

Final chapters should be submitted for the edited volume by January 31st 2021.

Subsidies for travel and accommodation will be available.

Setting Grounds for Violence: Saudi Influence in Malaysia – Shia Rights Watch

Shia Rights Watch condemns violence-inciting speech at the Pertubuhan Ilmuan Malaysia Convention in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in early January of 2020. Communication with both Malaysian and Saudi Arabian authorities have been initiated to address the abhorrent marginalization of Shia Muslims by Saudi presence in the nation of Malaysia.

Saudi Arabia arrests wanted man in Eastern Province: state TV

DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia on Tuesday arrested a man it said had opened fire on a security patrol in the eastern Al-Qatif region, a regular flashpoint between the Sunni Muslim dominated government and minority Shi’ites. State TV identified the man as Mohammed Hussein Al Ammar and said he had been wanted since 2016 for attacks on security forces and robbing vehicles transporting cash.

Security Check Required

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Ma’rifa: A Shi’a Youth Conference

Shi`a students today find themselves dealing with a myriad of challenges. Between the struggles of navigating faith in America, creating spaces to cultivate spirituality, balancing several identities, as well as being a minority within the Muslim community, students need a meaningful forum to engage these issues.

Bahrain upholds death sentences for two men tortured to confess

Responding to the news that Bahrain’s High Criminal Court of Appeal today upheld the death sentences of Mohamed Ramadhan and Hussain Moosa, two men convicted in 2014 following a grossly unfair trial that relied heavily on torture-tainted “confessions”, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director, said

See also Middle East Eye.
See also BIRD Weekly 257.
See also ADHRB number 330.

 

1.Conference “Digital Humanities in Arabic”, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar, 20-21 April 2020

This conference focuses on issues pretraining to the praxis of Digital Humanities in diverse geographical contexts, countries, and cultures, especially Arabic. The conference is very multidisciplinary by nature with the aim of advancing the current state of knowledge for researchers in Arabic literature, culture, media, arts, history, political science, and sociology.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 January 2020. Information: https://socialhistoryportal.org/news/articles/309989

 

 

 

 

2. Early Career Academics Symposium in Honour of Fred Halliday, Middle East Centre, London School of Economics, 30 April 2020

The main objective will be to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and ideas between researchers in the last year of their PhD, or still within three years of having completed one, undertaking research on any of the topics that Fred Halliday worked on: Greater West Asia/the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, revolutions, historical sociology, gender, nationalism and internationalism, historical International Relations.

Information: http://www.lse.ac.uk/international-relations/ir-events/fh-symposium

 

 

 

 

3. 11^th Annual Conference of the “Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS)“, George Washington University, 21-22 May 2020

Papers will focus on the politics of the contemporary Middle East. The conference will include workshop sessions on each accepted paper, with each paper read by multiple senior scholars in the field with an eye towards preparing them for submission for publication.

Information: https://pomeps.org/call-for-proposals-11th-annual-pomeps-conference

 

 

 

 

4. International Conference: “The Discourse of Anger in the Arab World since 2011”, Grenoble Alpes University, 28-29 May 2020

Researchers in Arabic Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Political Communication, Psycholinguistics, Sociology, History and other related disciplines are invited to submit proposals to this conference. We particularly welcome interdisciplinary research that tackles any aspect of the discourse of anger in the Arab world. Papers are invited in Arabic and French.

Deadline for abstracts: 1 February 2020.

Information: http://cefas.cnrs.fr/IMG/pdf/cfp_the_discourse_of_angerfv.pdf

 

 

 

 

5. Conference of the Working Group “Ethnology of Reiligion“ of  the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 6-9 September 2020

The conference wants to draw closer to the current as well as historical dynamics of the “religion-nature” interdependence and thus to the cultural ecologies of beliefs. We are interested in a broad set of questions and research foci, i.e.: how do religions and religious communities in past or present symbolically and ritually articulate and negotiate relationships with their immediate and distant environment? What role do other species – i.e. animals, plants – play within religious (knowledge) systems and practices? Etc.

 Deadline for abstracts: 1 March 2020. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/5651674/religion-and-nature-–-cultural-ecologies-belief

 

 

 

6. Grants for Three-years PhD Program at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) (Focus MENA Region), Hamburg

Requirements: Excellent MA in political science/international relations, economics, history, or a related discipline, high-quality project proposal that fits with the GIGA’s core research agenda with a focus on comparative area studies or a cross-regional focus, strong command of the English language. Starting 1 October 2020.

Deadline for applications: 1 February 2020. Information: https://www.giga-hamburg.de/sites/default/files/md_pdf/GIGA-20-01_DP_CfA_external_funding.pdf

 

 

 

 

7. Faculty Positions for Middle Eastern History & Arabic Language plus Others, Gulf University for Science & Technology (GUST), Kuwait

Open Faculty positions at GUST are to start in Fall 2020. Review of applications begins in December and will continue until the positions are filled.

– Assistant Professor in Middle Eastern History; https://www.gust.edu.kw/Vacancy_details/92977

– Assistant Professor in Arabic Language; https://www.gust.edu.kw/Vacancy_details/92978

– Further vacancies: https://www.gust.edu.kw/vacancies

 

 

 

8. One-Year Fellowships for Researchers at the Pre-doctoral, Postdoctoral, and Junior Faculty Level for Research Related to Middle Eastern Governance and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA

Applications from political scientists, historians, economists, sociologists, and other social scientists are welcome. Eligible candidates include advanced doctoral candidates, recent recipients of a Ph.D. or equivalent degree, and untenured faculty members. Priority will be given to applications pursuing one of these six primary areas of focus: Improving governance; building peace; revitalizing the state; broadening financial and labor markets; governing technology; adapting to environmental challenges; etc.

Deadline for applications: 15 January 2020.

Information: http://links.hks-belfercenter.mkt4851.com/servlet/MailView?ms=MjI2MDIyMjUS1&r=MjM2MzYyMzc5OTU1S0&j=MTY2MDA4NzMyNgS2&mt=1&rt=0

 

 

 

 

9. Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations of the Arabic Speaking Middle East, Australian National University, Canberra

This position requires active independent contribution to research, undergraduate and graduate teaching and the supervision of research students.  Knowledge and research competency in Arabic language is desirable.

 Deadline for applications: 20 January 2020. Information: https://socioloxy.com/senior-lecturer-in-politics-and-international-relations-of-the-arabic-speaking-middle-east,i6247.html

 

 

 

10. MA in Islamic & West Asian Studies (1 Year), Royal Holloway University of London

Based at Department of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy, this degree provides empirically-grounded engagement with West Asia, combining an understanding of Islamic and regional history, with a clear connection to contemporary policy-relevant issues.

Deadline for application: For more information visit: https://bit.ly/37tQgFh or email: ciwas@rhul.ac.uk

 

 

 

11. The Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center (SQCC) is now accepting applications for the
2020 Summer Arabic Language and Media (SALAM) program, a fully-funded
competitive scholarship program to study intensive Arabic in Manah, Oman. The
SALAM scholarship allows students to gain a deeper knowledge of Arabic, while becoming
familiar with Omani history and culture.

Eligibility: All applicants must be U.S. citizens, enrolled in a degree seeking program (BA,
MA, or PhD) in Spring 2020, and have completed at least four semesters (or the
equivalent) of university-level Arabic coursework.

SALAM 2020 Program Dates: 29 May – 21 July 2020

To submit an application, or for more information,
please visit the SALAM page on the SQCC website.

Deadline: 15 February, 2020

 

 

 

 

12. Call For Proposals: Jack G. Shaheen Research Grants 

Sponsored by the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies and the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University

In collaboration with the NYU Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

Deadline: January 15, 2020 5:00 p.m. EST

The Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies and the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU are pleased to announce the first annual competition for the Jack G. Shaheen Research Grants. These grants are meant to facilitate travel to and accommodation in New York City over a short period of time for scholars conducting archival research in the Jack G. Shaheen Collection on Arabs in US Film and Television held at the NYU Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, Kevorkian Center’s Ettinghausen Library, and Asian/Pacific/American Institute. Grants will be made at one of two levels described below, ranging between $500 and $2500, for research stays approximately three weeks in length. All recipients will be eligible for Visiting Researcher or Visiting Scholar status at NYU, and recipients will be encouraged to participate in the intellectual life of the Kevorkian Center and A/P/A Institute during their stay. Further information about the Shaheen Collection can be found below and at this link.

Exploratory Grants:  

This grant category is meant for early career researchers who are interested in conducting exploratory research in the Jack G. Shaheen Collection over a brief period — as little as one week or up to three — in order to assess and familiarize oneself with the available materials in preparation for more substantive future research. We highly encourage early career researchers and graduate students working on dissertation proposals to apply in this category.

For applicants in this category, your application will require the following:

1. A project proposal describing your broader research agenda, how the Jack G. Shaheen Collection may fit into it, and a rough time frame of when you would like to travel to New York to spend time with the archive. This proposal should not be longer than two single-spaced pages.
2. A curriculum vitae
3. A budget documenting your estimated travel and accommodation expenses in the range of $500 and $2500
4. Name and contact information of your doctoral dissertation or M.A. thesis advisor

 

Residential Research Grants:

This grant category is open to more senior scholars who are interested in conducting substantive research in the Jack G. Shaheen Collection at NYU. These grants would fund approximately three weeks of research in New York. Scholarship recipients may be invited to present their research and findings at a Kevorkian Center and/or A/P/A Institute event, in which case further remuneration may be made available, depending on circumstances.

For applicants in this category, your application will require the following:

1. A project proposal describing your broader research agenda, how the Jack G. Shaheen Collection may fit into it, and a rough time frame of when you would like to travel to New York and spend time in the archive. This proposal should not be longer than two single-spaced pages.
2. A curriculum vitae
3. A budget documenting your estimated travel and accommodation expenses in the range of $500 to $2500

Apply Here.

Contact information: kevorkian.center@nyu.edu

 

Themed Section on ‘The comparative politics of sub‐state identity in the Middle East’: Nations and Nationalism: Vol 26, No 1

Click on the title to browse this issue

with articles by Toby Dodge, Fanar Haddad, Raymond Hinnebusch and Morten Valbjørn