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Archive for August 4th, 2020

Shii News – Academic Items

1.ONLINE Conference: “Global Islamic Archaeology Showcase”, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS), University of Exeter, 26 September 2020

We welcome papers from Ph.D. students and early career researchers, as well as those studying a Master’s by Research, whose focus is Islamic archaeology and material culture in the broadest sense: we embrace a wide chronological range and geographical focus.

Deadline for abstracts: 22 August 2020. Information: https://www.islamicarchaeology.co.uk/

2. POSTPONED: Conference “Christian-Muslim Missionary Encounters, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries”, Mission and Modernity Research Academy (MiMoRA#3), Leuven, Belgium, 3-10 November 2020, Postponed until 1-3 February 2021

Themes: Reactions to Christian/Muslim missionary activities in the fields of education, literacy, health care, etc.; Space-settings of Christian/Muslim encounter-interaction; Muslim responses to (Western) Christian missions; The agency of Islamic activism in transforming the practices and thinking of Christian missionaries; Muslim responses to Christian interventions into Islamic religious practice; etc.

Information: https://kadoc.kuleuven.be/english/3_research/31_ourresearch/mimora

3. 5^th Conference of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences (ACSS): “Interrogating the Social Sciences in the Vortex of Crises: Waves of Discontent and Demands for Change”, Beirut, 21-23 May 2021

The conference is open to papers from all social science and allied disciplines and to scholars from the Arab region and the rest of the world. Applicants must hold at least an MA degree and be actively engaged in social science research. Papers may examine contemporary or historical phenomena. Comparative, cross-regional and global perspectives are particularly encouraged. The conference will be organized around the following four major axes: Inequality and Resistance; The State and Risk Society; Infrastructure and Survival; Global, Regional and National Ecologies.

Deadline for abstracts: 25 September 2020. Information: http://www.theacss.org/pages/fifth-conference

4. M.A. in Mediterranean Studies, Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of the Peloponnese, 2020-2021

The MA is taught in English in partnership with the University of Bologna (Italy), Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (France), Yaşar University (Turkey), Neapolis University of Pafos (Cyprus), and the Olympia Summer Academy.

Deadline for application: 31 August 2020. Information: https://pedis.uop.gr/?page_id=1949

5. Articles for New Open-access Peer-reviewed “Journal of Islamic Law”, Harvard Law School

Focusing on historical, comparative, and law and society approaches to Islamic law, we have a keen interest in featuring data science tools and primary sources that inform the scholarly analysis. The Journal welcomes long-form articles, essays, book reviews, and notes on cases and other new developments in the field.

Information: https://journalofislamiclaw.com/current

6. Articles on “Disinformation in the Middle East” for Special Issue oft he Journal “Open Information Science”, De Gruyter

We welcome studies that are focused on the empirical investigation of infodemics targeting the Middle East and/or originating from the region.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 September 2020.

Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/6278732/disinformation-middle-east

7. Paid Articles on “The Influence of Covid-19 on the Already Vulnerable Rights and Freedoms in the MENA Region” for Special Issue of “Rowaq Arabi”

This issue aims to provide new research on the influence of the Cvid-19 pandemic on governance, freedoms and rights in the already troubled MENA region. How does Covid-19 crisis management in the region unfold the practical meaning and consequences of the interdependence and indivisibility of civil, political, economic and social rights? And to what extent can the realisation of civil and political rights contribute to the efficacy of states’ responses to the crisis?

Deadline for manuscripts: 31 August 2020. Information: https://rowaq.cihrs.org/call-for-contributions-the-influence-of-covid-19-on-the-already-vulnerable-rights-and-freedoms-in-the-mena-region/?lang=en

8. Religious Healing and Sacred Health Curing: Online Documentary Film Program and Debate (week 3)

Please join our third biweekly webinar (8 August 2020), documentary film presentation and debate organized by the Network of the Anthropology of the Middle East and Central Eurasia of EASA in collaboration with the Religion and Society Research Cluster, Western Sydney University.

Introduction to the program by Dr. P. Khosronejad (Western Sydney University), debate by researcher and filmmaker Dr. Christian Suhr (Aarhus University), and discussant Dr. Paola Esposito (University of Oxford).

Film presentation

Descending with Angels

Christian Suhr, 2013, 75 minutes, Denmark.

Synopsis

Islamic exorcism or psychotropic medication? ”Descending with Angels” explores two highly different solutions to the same problem: namely Danish Muslims who are possessed by invisible spirits, called jinn.

A Palestinian refugee living in the city of Aarhus has been committed to psychiatric treatment after a severe case of jinn possession which caused him to destroy the interior of a mosque, crash several cars, and insult a number of people. He sees no point in psychotropic medication since his illness has already been treated with Quranic incantations. A psychiatrist and nurse try to understand his point of view but find that even further medication is needed. In the meantime a local imam battles a stubborn jinn-spirit of Iraqi origin and tries to explain the Muslims of Aarhus that they should stop worrying so much about jinn, magic, and other mundane affairs since nothing can harm anyone except by the permission of God.

The film compares two systems of treatment that despite vast differences both share a view of healing as operating through submission of faith to an external non-human agency — namely God or psychotropic medicine.

After the film, a debate with the presence of the filmmaker.

A link will be provided to all participants after the introduction debates to watch the film online or via screen sharing through the moderator’s screen.