Archive for 2020

1.The Harvard Islamic Law Blog (from the Program in Islamic Law) is sponsoring a series of observations about the role of epidemics/pandemics in the history of the Islamicate world: https://islamiclaw.blog/2020/05/05/pandemic-roundtable-introduction/.

(Ed note: Several items thereat have been noted already but the material is growing.)

 

 

 

2. “SHARIAsource is a project of the Program in Islamic Law at Harvard Law School, that aims to provide comprehensive content and context on Islamic law in a way that is accessible and useful. It is a Portal into the digital world of Islamic legal studies and related tools from data science and AI. Working with a global team of advisors, senior scholars, and editors, our mission is to organize the world’s information on Islamic law.”

https://beta.shariasource.com/

Ḥusayn b. ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-ʿĀmilī’s draft letter to his teacher: The culture of scholarly correspondence and the Islamic republic of letters in the sixteenth century | Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies | Cambridge Core

This study focuses on a draft letter by Ḥusayn b. ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-ʿĀmilī (d. 984/1576) for his teacher Zayn al-Dīn al-ʿĀmilī (d. 965/1558); both were prominent Twelver Shiite jurists from the region of Jabal ʿĀmil in what is now Lebanon. Yūsuf Ṭabājah, who first published the text, argued that Ḥusayn wrote the letter while he was in Iraq c.

From 14 Countries and 22 Capitals and Cities: Voices Demand the Release of Bahraini Political Prisoners

With the hashtag #ReleasePoliticalPrisoners, students and activists all over Europe expressed their concern and demanded the immediate release of political prisoners in Bahrain. On March 17, 2020, Bahrain completed the release of 1,486 prisoners, 901 of whom received royal pardons on “humanitarian grounds.” The remaining 585 were given non-custodial sentences.

For ADHRB Weekly Newsletter #346, click here.

Shiite Patterns of Post-Migration in Europe

This brief reflection treats the reactive relation between the dispersions of (post-)migration and the integralism of religion in selected cases of European Shiism. It reconsiders reports on Twelver Shiism and Shiite Muslims in Europe in order to discern the main institutional and demographic tendencies in Shiites’ European settlement history in Britain, France and Germany, and to explore such settlement in light of mega-theorizations of European Islam that juxtapose ‘integration’ and ‘separation’.

1.Cancelled:

 

42^nd Annual Conference of Middle East Librarians (MELCom International), University of Marburg, 26-28 May 2020

 

27^th International Congress of the German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO), University of Osnabrück, 24-26 September 2020

 

Summer School of Arabic and Kurdish Dialects, French National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisations (Inalco), Paris, 2 June – 10 July 2020

This summer course is canceled in 2020. See you next year!

Information: http://www.inalco.fr/en/study/summer-school/arabic-dialects/kurdish

 

 

 

2. 54^th Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), Washington DC, 10-13 October 2020

This conference is primarily concerned with the area encompassing Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Israel, Pakistan, and the countries of the Arab world (and their diasporas) from the seventh century to modern times. Other regions, including Spain, Southeastern Europe, China and the former Soviet Union, also are included for the periods in which their territories were parts of the Middle Eastern empires or were under the influence of Middle Eastern civilization.

Information: https://mesana.org/annual-meeting/call-for-papers

 

 

 

 

3. 6^th World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES-6), University of La Manouba, Tunis, 19-23 September 2022

(Note date)

 

 

 

4. Eight Fully Funded Scholarships for PhD Program in “Global History of Empires”, Universities of Turin, Moscow and St. Petersburg

This program provides educational and research environment for dissertation research in the fields of early modern, modern, and contemporary history, with particular attention to its global dimension. Each scholarship is 17.500 Euros per year.

Deadline for applications: 4 June 2020. Information: https://t.co/UCALDJWX5T?amp=1

 

 

 

 

5. Free Online Course “The Sharia and Islamic Law: An Introduction” Relaunched by the University of Edinburgh (Beginning 11 May 2020)

With contributions from renowned experts, this five-week course explores some of the diverse roles the Sharia and Islamic law have played in Muslim life, both historically and today. Students can learn in their own time, at their own pace.

Information and free registration: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/an-introduction-to-the-sharia-and-islamic-law

 

 

 

 

6. Articles on “Visibility of Religious Difference in Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean“ for “Hamsa: Journal of Judaic and Islamic Studies”

The goal of this volume is to show ways in which religion marked a perceptible difference in Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean.

Deadline for papers: 30 July 2020. Information: https://mailchi.mp/mediterraneanseminar/call-for-articles-visibility-of-religious-difference-in-medieval-europe-and-the-mediterranean-hamsa-journal-of-judaic-and-islamic-studies?e=82aeb6c61d

 

 

 

 

7. Articles on “Media, Accountability and Dissent in the Middle East and North Africa” for Special Issue of the “Journal for International Press/Politics”

This issue aims to provide new research perspectives on the momentous upheavals that took place in the Middle East and North Africa in the past ten years by shedding light on the interactions between citizens, social movements, and different types of media actors

Deadline for manuscripts: 15 June 2020. Information: https://mesana.org/resources-and-opportunities/2020/04/23/media-accountability-and-dissent-in-the-middle-east-and-north-africa

 

 

 

 

8. Articles for Edited Book on “Middle Eastern Gothics”

The volume’s focus is on Arabic, Persian, Turkish, or Hebrew literary engagements with the Gothic but articles on minority literatures of the Middle East, such as Armenian or Kurdish, are also welcomed.

Deadline for abstracts: 1 June 2020. Information: https://mesana.org/resources-and-opportunities/2020/04/28/middle-eastern-gothics-cfp-for-edited-volume

 

 

 

 

9. ONLINE RESOURCES: Kurdish

 

– The Kurdish Digital Library (Kurdish Insititute of Paris), the institute has digitized a thousand books related to Kurds and the Middle East general. Some books can be downloaded as pdf via the following link: https://bnk.institutkurde.org/?l=en

 

– Arşîva Kurd (Journal, Newspaper, and Magazin), their website offers numerous Kurdish periodicals from 1898 to the present. http://www.arsivakurd.org/index.php/kovar

 

– Kurdish Music Archive of Radio Yerevan, (Deutsch-Kurdisches Kulturinstitut) has transferred rich Kurdish music collection of Kurdish Radio of Yerevan from 1961 to their Youtube channel. The lyrics also can be found on the channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oe0s2Xd3Nc&list=PLAXCuqYJmH1JIXy9MURiU7ikIHCBoQxkR

 

 

 

 

10. Pierre Siméon, From Ordinary to Luxury. Islamic Ceramics from Iran, Central Asia and Afghanistan. Studies on the Bumiller Collection I (ed. Verena Daiber), 2020.

 

“From Ordinary to Luxury” is a profound study of Iranian and Central Asian ceramics based on the glazed and unglazed pottery from The Bumiller Collection, Bamberg. The Bumiller set is not a collection of masterpieces but it provides an insight into the most diverse wares of daily life. Pierre Siméon’s expertise and hands-on experience as an archaeologist are invaluable assets for the knowledge of provenance and distribution of Iranian and Central Asian pottery. Apart from that, his study takes into account the works of our Russian colleagues, that have gone without adequate acknowledgement for decades due to the language barrier.

Further information:
https://reichert-verlag.de/fachgebiete/archaeologie/archaeologie_archaeologie_allgemein/9783954903870_from_ordinary_to_luxury-detail

 

 

 

11. A series of introductory to advanced levels with the option of e-books for 4 years of Persian language and culture courses. The audio files are all free for download in the companion website of the publisher. You can also request a free Inspection Copy for yourself if you are teaching Persian courses.

 

1. The Routledge Introductory Persian Course: Farsi Shrin Ast 1 (2^nded., 2019) by Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi and Dominic Parviz Brookshaw

 

2. The Routledge Intermediate Persian Course: Farsi Shrin Ast 2 (2012) by Dominic Parviz Brookshaw and Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi

 

3. The Routledge Advanced Persian Course: Farsi Shrin Ast 3 (2019) by Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi

 

4. What the Persian Media Says: A Coursebook (2014) by Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi

 

 

12. Persianate Selves: Memories of Place and Origin before Nationalism. 

Stanford Univ Press, 2020

By Mana Kia, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University.

https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=29033

 

 

13. Cambridge University Press:

Free Access to the Most Cited Articles from its Middle East Studies Journals

See: https://view.updates.cambridge.org/?qs=5d1a52f4d67df248a7abe5a432453f6acb4d03449fac2f08af39f8b3c51a805572b245dca79bb1e10140fbad955db3d29f90b19af1cdf28291e25df017234bfef5bcc293311812dc86bdc2904e1d36fe

1. An Arabic-English Lexicon of the CoronaVirus Outbreak containing commonly-used CoronaVirus terms and extensive vocabulary lists related to:

– Health & Sickness

– Plagues & Pandemics

– Medical Prevention

– Medical Symptoms

 

This lexicon was compiled and written in a joint collaboration between

• Dr. Mariam Aboelez, Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the Department of Applied Linguistics and Communication, Birkbeck, University of London
• Mr. Mourad Diouri, Teaching Fellow & Course Organiser (PG Arabic) at IMES (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies), U. of Edinburgh

 

If you wish to contribute to this lexicon, we would love to hear from you.

 

https://bit.ly/2UJ5zGF

 

 

 

 

2. CfP: International Relations in a Multi-Polar Middle East

SEPAD E-Workshop 29th June-1st July 2020

This online conference seeks to explore international relations in today’s Middle East, a region that has become increasingly multi-polar. In the years after the Arab Uprisings, the fragmentation of political projects and opening up of schisms between rulers and ruled – resulting in protest, resistance and conflict – has expanded the  arenas competed over by regional powers, global actors and non-state players. The rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran has found traction across the region but the aspirations of Riyadh and Tehran have become contested by other regional actors including Turkey, Egypt and Israel, while smaller players like the UAE and Qatar have also increased their regional activism. The United States, once seemingly intent on a hegemonic ‘Pax Americana’ has stepped back, leaving its rivals and allies, Russia, China and the EU, among others, with both concerns and opportunities. Meanwhile some non-state players, like Islamists, nationalists and separatists have taken advance and/or entrenched their positions, while transnational identities, ideologies, economic trends and threats continue to influence local and international politics. Added to this the local and global ramifications of the Covid-19 Pandemic look set to further impact the region’s international dynamics moving forward.

We welcome papers addressing any area of international relations relating to this broad topic. Abstracts should be no more than 200 words and submitted by 11th May 2020. Papers will be presented in online panels for 15 minutes per presenter, followed by a Q and A with registered participants. In an effort to address concerns about online events, we encourage all presenters to use powerpoint presentations.

 

Please submit abstracts to Eyad Al Refai at E.AlRefai@Lancaster.ac.uk .

 

 

 

3. Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP)

MERIP have lifted their paywall until the end of May to allow access for people displaced by COVID-19.  Their archive contains invaluable analysis of the systems, structures and conditions that will shape how COVID-19 impacts the Middle East.  As students, scholars, activists and concerned citizens find themselves displaced from their institutions and facing frightening economic uncertainty, MERIP want to ensure that anyone can access this content regardless of circumstance.

https://merip.org/covid-19-update/

 

 

 

4. The National Archive: free access to digital records  

The National Archives are making digital records available on their website free of charge for as long as our Kew site is closed to visitors.
Registered users will be able to order and download up to ten items at a time, to a maximum of 50 items over 30 days.

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/digital-downloads/

 

 

 

5. Arabic Collections Online

Arabic Collections Online (ACO) is a publicly available digital library of public domain Arabic language content. ACO currently provides digital access to 13,224 volumes across 7,842 subjects drawn from rich Arabic collections of distinguished research libraries.

http://dlib.nyu.edu/aco/about/

 

 

 

6. Two short pieces on Muslim views on pandemics and contagion now on Harvard’s IslamicLaw blog:

 

https://islamiclaw.blog/2020/04/28/against-flattening-the-curve-of-diversity-of-approaches-to-muslim-understandings-of-contagion-in-a-time-of-pandemic-part-one/

 

https://islamiclaw.blog/2020/04/29/against-flattening-the-curve-of-diversity-of-approaches-to-muslim-understandings-of-contagion-in-a-time-of-pandemic-part-two/

 

See also, on the same blog, Ari Schriber on a 19th century Moroccan historian’s take on a 17th century Moroccan Sultan who advised his son to flee the plague:

 

https://islamiclaw.blog/2020/04/22/a-precedent-for-the-unprecedented-historical-reflections-on-plague-quarantine-and-islamic-law-in-morocco/

 

 

 

7. Digitized Ottoman manuscripts from the İstanbul Araştırması Enstitütüsü = Istanbul Research Institute

https://katalog.iae.org.tr/yordambt/yordam.php?aAltTur=293

 

 

 

8. The editors of Manuscript Studies: A Journal of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries are pleased to make the following announcements:

• The Spring 2020 issue is out! Abstracts are available here: https://mss.pennpress.org/about/current-issue-abstracts/.
• We are seeking peer-reviewed article submissions for the Spring 2021 issue and beyond. Articles for possible publication in the Spring 2021 should be submitted no later than June 1, 2020.
• Non-peer review Annotations can be submitted up to September 1, 2020 for the Fall 2020 issue. Annotations submitted after that date are eligible for publication in Spring 2021 and beyond.
• Thanks to a generous agreement with the University of Pennsylvania Press, all Articles and Annotations in Manuscript Studies are made available for open access after one year from the date of publication. Articles and Annotations from Vol. 4:1 (Spring 2019) are now available for downloading on Penn’s Scholarly Commons repository. To access the pdfs, go to: http://repository.upenn.edu/mss_sims/

**Please note: In response to the Covid-19 situation, Penn Press is providing FREE access to its journals until June 30, 2020. Here is the link to Manuscript Studies: https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/698.

Manuscript Studies brings together scholarship from around the world and across disciplines related to the study of pre-modern manuscript books and documents. This peer-reviewed journal is open to contributions that rely on both traditional methodologies of manuscript study and those that explore the potential of new ones. We publish articles that engage in a larger conversation on manuscript culture and its continued relevance in today’s world and highlight the value of manuscript evidence in understanding our shared cultural and intellectual heritage. Studies that incorporate digital methodologies to further understanding of the physical and conceptual structures of the manuscript book are encouraged. A separate section, entitled Annotations, features research in progress and digital project reports.

For more information about submitting and to subscribe, go to http://mss.pennpress.org. For direct inquiries, please contact the editors at sims-mss@pobox.upenn.edu .

 

 

 

9. The University of Cambridge has started “The History of Now,” a series of podcasts mostly devoted to epidemics and pandemics: https://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/podcasts/covid-19-podcasts.

Khoja Studies Course 02 | The World Federation of KSIMC

30 April 2020 / 7. Ramadhan 1441 SIGN UP HERE – Register by May 3 SIGN UP HERE – Register by May 3 Download the Poster in PDF here. SIGN UP HERE – Register by May 3

Remapping Persian Literary History, 1700-1900

Dedication Acknowledgements Note on Transliteration and Translation List of Maps, Figures and Illustrations Contents Introduction Chapter 1. Remembering Iran, Forgetting the Persianate: Persian Literary Historiography of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Afghan Legacy The Rise of the Durrani State and Bidilism South Asian Stagnation The ‘New Munshi’ and Transition to English B.

The Curious Addition of Non-Religious Characters to The Martyrdom of Imam Husain

The rule of the Qajar dynasty was a vibrant period for the Iranian taʿziyeh tradition; the genre’s anonymous dramatists not only developed the verse of the central plays of the Karbala cycle but innovated new narrative content. This study investigates one such innovation, the curious appearance of two new characters in the climactic play The Martyrdom of Imam Husain.

1.Announcing Forthcoming Series: Brill Kurdish Studies

The Brill Kurdish Studies book series is dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of Kurdistan and the Kurdish people. It welcomes proposals from every branch of the humanities and social sciences, including literature, linguistics, the arts, history, sociology, political science, religious studies, anthropology, and economics. The series includes monographs, thematic collections of articles, handbooks, text editions, and translations. All the volumes are peer-reviewed and are aimed at a better understanding of the Kurds, their past, their present, and their future.

https://brill.com/page/bks

Please send your book proposals to Abdurraouf Oueslati, Acquisitions Editor at Brill, at oueslati@brill.com

 

 

 

2. The Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (CAMES) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) is pleased to announce that we will be offering our intensive summer Arabic programs online between June 15 and July 31, 2020

The application deadline for the online program is May 10, 2020.

For detailed information about the academic content of the programs, application forms, cost, and financial support available, please visit our website:  http://www.aub.edu.lb/fas/cames/sap/

If you have any questions, do contact us at cames@aub.edu.lb.

 

 

 

 

3. As a fully Open Access Journal, the Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Multidisciplinary Studies (mathal) is accessible to both researchers and readers. Authors are able to submit their work online and online their work will be peer-reviewed and published. Works, once published, is available for students and reader to download from anywhere in the world without paying fees.

 

Mathal would also like to take this moment to remind authors of other advantages of publishing in fully Open Access Journals. We have made key documents public, accessible through the links at the end of this email.

 

Submit your work for peer-review here:  http://ir.uiowa.edu/mathal 

 

 

 

4. Iran Heritage Foundation: Persian on-line

Persian Language Online is one of the IHF’s flagship projects devoted to providing online language learning resources for anyone interested in learning Persian.   During this difficult time where many of us find ourselves housebound, Persian Language Online offers a wealth of practice texts, dialogues, animations and regular blogposts relating to Persian language and culture which will occupy you from your very first attempts at the Persian script, to forays into the vast world of Persian poetry and literature.   Visit the website here and follow Persian Language Online on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram to keep up to date.

 

 

 

5. Afghanistan On-Line Resource:

The A to Z Guide to Assistance in Afghanistan 2020 – fourteenth Edition

https://areu.org.af/publication/the-areu-a-z-guide-2020/

 

 

6. Postponed:

 

POSTPONED: Conference “Discursive Challenges 2020”, Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (IMEIS), Durham University, 9-11 June 2020

 

POSTPONED: 7^th Conference of the School of Mamlūk Studies, Nicosia, Cyprus, 2-4 July 2020

 

POSTPONED: Conference of the International Association for the Study of Arabia (IASA): “54^th Seminar for Arabian Studies“, Cordoba, 15-18 July 2020

 

POSTPONED: ATLAS Annual Conference of the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education and Research (ATLAS): “Tourism as a Driver of Regional Development and Collaboration,” Prague, 8-11 September 2020

 

 

 

7. International Conference: “An African Metropolis: Cairo and its African Hinterland in the Middle Ages”, IFAO, Cairo, 15-17 September 2020

This conference’s goal is to portray, for the first time in the same frame, the relationships between the capital city of Egypt and the African continent, on both shores of the Sahara and from the western Maghreb to the Horn of Africa, in the Middle Ages.

Information: https://www.ifao.egnet.net/actus/manifestations/ma1210/

 

 

 

 

8. Conference: “Images and Borderlands: Mediterranean Basin between Christendom and Ottoman Empire in the Early Modern Age”, Split, Croatia, 16-17 September 2020

The starting point of examination will be images, i.e. the usage of images (pictures, mental images, literally images and other visual representations) as historical evidence.

Information: https://is-le.eu/calls/conference-images-and-borderlands-mediterranean-basin-between-christendom-and-ottoman-empire-in-the-early-modern-age/

 

 

 

 

9. Graduate Assistant in Studies of Islam in South Asia, University of Lausanne

Start date: 1 August 2020. Length of contract: maximum 5 years. Work rate: 80%. Profile: M.A. in Language and Cultures of South Asia or a related discipline. Interest to write a doctoral thesis in the cultural, social, and political histories of Muslim societies in South Asia. Knowledge of Urdu is necessary. A good knowledge of French and Persian will be an advantage.

Deadline for applications: 1 May 2020. Information: https://career5.successfactors.eu/career?career_ns=job_listing&company=universitdP&navBarLevel=JOB_SEARCH&rcm_site_locale=fr_FR&career_job_req_id=15317&selected_lang=fr_FR&jobAlertController_jobAlertId=&jobAlertController_jobAlertName=&_s.crb=6lIl/EOPiPI94hnrY7In+JKHNjE=

 

 

 

 

10. Associate Professor and/or Full Professor in Political Science, University of Copenhagen

Candidates are invited within the field of International Relations including, but not limited to security studies, gender, diplomacy, war, post-colonialism, international political sociology and political economy.

Deadline for applications: 10 June 2020. Information: https://socioloxy.com/professorship-of-international-relations,i6621.html

 

 

 

 

11. Best Article Award in Kurdish Political Studies, University of Central Florida (UCF)

For this award cycle, articles published in English in peer-reviewed journals in 2019 will be considered. The award is open to all disciplines under social sciences and humanities. The primary author of the article needs to be an untenured scholar at the time of the publication. The winner will be awarded $500.

Deadline for (self-) nominations: 3 July 2020. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/11419/discussions/6127501/call-submissions-best-award-kurdish-political-studies

 

 

 

 

12. “Fifth Yemen Exchange“: Intensive Online Course on Yemen, 11-15 May 2020

Participants will listen for more than 25 hours to Yemeni analysts, academics, politicians, bureaucrats, business leaders and international experts to gain insight and a rare first-hand knowledge about the country from a wide range of perspectives. Participants will have the chance to virtually engage with speakers both during the sessions and connected with speakers they wish to engage individually after the Exchange.

Deadline for applications: 4 May 2020. Information: https://sanaacenter.org/event/the-fifth-yemen-exchange

 

 

 

13. Online Summer Programme; ‘Gender in Muslim Contexts’ 6-14 July

Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations

In response to COVID-19, our Summer Programme; ‘Gender in Muslim Contexts ‘ will now be delivered online. The nine-day course will be delivered through live and recorded online lectures, interactive seminars and one to one sessions with lecturers.

All information at: https://www.aku.edu/ismc/short-courses/Pages/home.aspx