1. Half-day workshop on Islam in Southeast Asia (Wednesday March 3rd, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm)
The Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World (University of Edinburgh)
Please join us at the Alwaleed Centre for this special half-day workshop on Islam and Inter-Religious Relations in Southeast Asia, which will comprise an opening plenary lecture on the history of Islam in the region, by Professor Michael Feener of Kyoto University, followed by a panel event showcasing some of the interesting and creative Islamic thought in the region on the themes of The Study of Religion, Gender, and the Environment.
2. As part of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies’ Wednesday Seminar Series for Hilary Term 2021, we’re delighted to be joined by Professor Scott Redford (Nasser D. Khalili Professor of Islamic Art & Archaeology, SOAS) and Professor Sussan Babaie (Professor in the Arts of Iran and Islam, The Courtauld Institute of Art):
Wednesday, 3 February 2021 at 5pm GMT: Scott Redford, Writing as Talisman in Medieval Islamic Art
Wednesday, 17 February 2021 at 5pm GMT: Sussan Babaie, Isfahan and Istanbul: European views before the long shadow of ‘Orientalism’
Talks will take place via Zoom. Please register here. All welcome!
3. Roundtable on the 100th Anniversary of the 1921 Coup and Reflections on the Reza Pahlavi Period
Monday, February 22, 2021 at 10:00am Pacific via Zoom
https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pahlavi-workshop-panel-1/
The first panel of the Iranian Studies workshop, “History and Historiography of Pahlavi Iran, 1921-1979: A Workshop” will feature a round table discussion centered on the 100th anniversary of the coup that initiated the Reza Pahlavi Period in Iran.
This panel will be chaired by workshop organizer Dr. Robert Steele, the Jahangir and Eleanor Amuzegar Post-Doctoral Fellow in Iranian Studies at UCLA.
Featured panelists of the round table discussion include:
Camron Michael Amin, Professor of History, University of Michigan-Dearborn
Ali Ansari, Professor of Iranian History, University of St Andrews and Senior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute
Stephanie Cronin, Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Research Fellow, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford
Afshin Marashi, Professor of Middle Eastern History, University of Oklahoma
To register for this event and receive the Zoom webinar information, please click here.
4. Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Cultures of the Islamic World invites submissions for the forthcoming volume 39, to be published in 2022.
Muqarnas is a scholarly journal that publishes articles on art, architectural history, and archaeology, as well as all aspects of Islamic visual and material cultures, historical and contemporary. Full-length articles are accompanied by shorter submissions grouped under a separate section titled “Notes and Sources,” for which we particularly welcome studies that introduce textual and visual primary sources.
Deadline for submissions: March 1, 2021.
Manuscripts should be submitted by email to the Managing Editor of Muqarnas at muqarnas@fas.harvard.edu.
A complete submission includes five elements:
Any submission that does not include these five elements will be returned to the author, as will articles that do not conform to the Muqarnas style sheet.
Articles must present original research that has not been published in any language previously. Authors must properly credit previous scholarship on the subject and cite the source of each quotation, with full bibliographic details given in the endnotes (no additional bibliography is required).
All articles are subject to review by the Editorial Committee and anonymous external readers, whose comments will be sent to the author only if the article is accepted for publication. Authors may be expected to make revisions based on the feedback of the readers and editors.
Muqarnas follows the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. For further specifications on preparing text and images for publication, see the Muqarnas style sheet (available to download from our website: https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/submission-guidelines).
Contact Info:
Managing Editor, Muqarnas
History of Art and Architecture Department, Harvard University
485 Broadway, Office 411
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
Phone: 617-495-3774
E-mail: muqarnas@fas.harvard.edu
5. Spring 2021 AKPIA Lecture Series – A Forum for Islamic Art & Architecture
The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University presents
February 4, 2021, 5:30pm
“The Intellect of the Hand: Making and Thinking the Medieval Islamic Art of the Object”
Margaret Graves
Associate Professor of Islamic Art, Department of Art History, Indiana University
Co-sponsored with the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies at Harvard University
March 25, 2021, 5:30pm
“The Visual and Material Culture of Rayy, as Revealed through the Excavations Headed by
Erich Schmidt in the Late 1930s”
Renata Holod
College of Women Class of 1963 Professor in the Humanities, History of Art Department; Curator, Near East Section of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania
April 22, 2021, 5:30pm
“Imagining a World: Selfhood and Empire in Safavid Iran”
Kishwar Rizvi
Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture, Department of the History of Art, Yale University
Lectures are held via Zoom session; time listed is Eastern Standard Time; registration is required. Register here: https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/news-events. All lectures will be recorded and made available from the AKPIA website, after the event date.
THE AGA KHAN PROGRAM FOR ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY
For further information, email agakhan@fas.harvard.edu, or visit https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/news-events
Contact Info:
Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture
Harvard University
Sackler 415
485 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
Tel 617-495-2355
https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/news-events
6. An Online Course in Persian Calligraphy
Nasta’liq Script
12 February – 16 April, 2021
The Iran Heritage Foundation is delighted to offer once again a course in Persian Calligraphy, with teaching provided online.
This ten-week exercise-based course is suitable for all levels, from beginners to advanced. It is based on a one-to-one teaching method, so everyone will be given the instructions based on their own level and previous experience.
You will learn the writing techniques of the Nasta’liq script during the course, and the first session will start with a general introduction to the traditional tools, materials, and various Islamic calligraphy styles.
Although previous knowledge of Persian language is not necessary, you will enjoy the course more if you have familiarity with the alphabets and particularly the language, as the materials are constantly engaged with Persian language and literature.
The course will be taught online and remotely. Each week the student will submit photographs of their practice; the teacher will record personal videos of comments and advice, along with further practice. For those requiring materials, a special pack including a traditional reed pen cut and prepared by the teacher, paper and ink, can be posted to the student at an additional charge of £25 for UK and £35 for International shipment.
Keramat Fathinia is a Persian calligrapher born in Iran who has been teaching calligraphy for over 17 years. He received a distinguished certificate in both Nasta’liq and Shikasteh Nasta’liq styles from the Iranian Calligraphers Association (ICA) in Iran, and has had several exhibitions, workshops, and demonstrations in both Iran and London, including at SOAS, Cambridge University, BIPS (British Institute of Persian Studies), and the Courtauld Gallery.
Price: £300 for ten classes
Pack of materials (sent by post): £25 UK, £35 International
To register click here. The registration deadline is Friday 12 February 2021
For any enquiries please contact leonard@iranheritage.org, Tel: 020 3651 2124
Organised by: Iran Heritage Foundation.
7. The Indo-Persian Confluence Symposium Three:
“Indo-Persian Musical Hybrids in Afghanistan”
Sunday, January 31, 2021
10am PST, Zoom
RSVP: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIpcuutrjIiHdV4WsLZhCyRQGsssq-uH1Fk
Join us for our third event in the Indo-Persian Musical Confluence series, featuring a panel of eminent ethnomusicologists on Indo-Persian musical hybrids in Afghanistan and a performance by Homayun Sakhi on the rubab.
Panelists
John Baily (Goldsmith University of London)
Lorraine Sakata (UCLA)
Mark Slobin (Wesleyan University)
Chair and Discussant
Richard Wolf (Harvard University)
Performance: Indo-Persian music on the rubab by the renowned Afghan musician Homayoun Sakhi
https://festival.si.edu/2016/sounds-of-california/homayoun-sakhi/smithsonian
For more information on The Indo-Persian Music Confluence project:
https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/indo-persian-musical-confluence
Details of subsequent events will be forthcoming soon.
Project leader: Mohsen Mohammadi
Event Sponsors:
UCLA Mohindar Brar Sambhi Chair of Indian Music
UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology
UCLA Center for Musical Humanities (Robert U. Nelson Fund)
UCLA Jahangir and Eleanor Amuzegar Chair in Iranian Studies
UCLA Iranian Studies program
UCLA Center for India and South Asia (CISA)
UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES)
8. Waikato Islamic Studies Review – Call for Papers
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/UWISG/review.shtml
On behalf of the University of Waikato Islamic Studies Group, I warmly invite submissions of papers which examine Islam in the widest sense to the Waikato Islamic Studies Review for publication consideration.
Articles can be as short as 2000 words and up to a maximum of 5000. For full details regarding paper guidelines and submissions and the Waikato Islamic Studies Review please see:http://www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/UWISG/review.shtml
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me asap if you think that you might like your work considered; the next edition is due for publication in March 2021.
Kind regards,
Abdullah Drury
Editor: Waikato Islamic Studies Review
Email: abdullah@xtra.co.nz
9. Call for Papers
CALL FOR PAPERS: JOURNAL OF THE CONTEMPORARY STUDY OF ISLAM
The newly established, fully open-access Journal of the Contemporary Study of Islam is now accepting submissions.
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#authorGuidelines
10. Harvard University – NELC – TENURED PROFESSOR IN ARMENIAN STUDIES
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=60958
11. CALL FOR PAPERS International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA)
Special Issue: Rupture and Response
Thematic volume planned for July 2023
Abstract submission deadline: April 5, 2021
This special issue of the International Journal of Islamic Architecture addresses urban and architectural responses to rupture. Prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this issue understands and investigates rupture as a state of emergency which may reveal systemic inequalities through the moment of crisis. Such rupture can be caused by events including epidemics, explosions, fires, episodes of armed conflict, and earthquakes or other natural disasters – events which all have myriad and wide-reaching effects on buildings, cities, urban environments, and the communities that inhabit them. While not directly addressing the current pandemic disrupting many of our lives, this special issue aims to explore moments like these and responses to them through built environments. In line with the mission of the IJIA, which aims to encourage dialogue between practitioners and scholars, this special issue hopes to be strongly interdisciplinary. Contributions will be drawn from fields ranging from urban design, history, architecture, planning, and art and architectural history.
Rupture can take the form of a physical rending, manifesting itself in the tearing apart of our built environment. For example, an earthquake might tear down a building important for the social life of a community or level a town. In the first instance, therefore, such moments of rupture themselves may have an effect on the built environment – they may cause direct damage or other change to buildings. However, such an event might also rend the social, economic, or political structures around it. All too often, the damage done by events such as epidemics, natural disasters, or explosions is exacerbated by, while also exacerbating, pre-existing social inequalities. Such moments can place extra strain on political, social, economic, and personal crises. In addition, aspects of culture, such as the production of art or the performance of music and theatre, are also impacted, as they are often deemed secondary needs and neglected at such times of crisis. These two aspects – the urban/architectural and the social/cultural – are, thus, frequently affected in parallel. A moment of sudden disruption might be made manifest in the built environment, as well as the social structures which inhabit and support it.
Further, subsequent to these initial moments of change, the urban and built environment is a medium in which responses to rupture are frequently made material. The environment we build around us is so often the space on and in which we make our preoccupations manifest. The buildings affected by moments of rupture are in many ways extensions of the people who call them home, and the economic and social structures which shape their lives. In light of this, contributors are encouraged to approach these moments as catalysts for architectural and urban change, but also for other, wider forms of change within society. Moreover, as this special issue will have a focus on the built environment, it may also address acts of commemoration and the architectural memorialisation of the loss of life that is often a consequence of the moments investigated by this special edition.
Indeed, rupture and the response to it can take myriad forms and the past year provided many examples. In 2020, the world has been unexpectedly disrupted in many ways by the spread of COVID-19. Iran, for example, one of the countries dramatically impacted by the pandemic, has already seen effects caused by this outbreak made manifest on its architecture and urban environments. Many of the most significant religious sites in the country have had their doors shut for months, with the shrine of Shah Abdol-Azim in Rayy even being repurposed as a mask factory. The past year also saw the explosion in the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020 which devastated the city and its inhabitants in many ways, one of which was the widespread damage to the urban fabric. Homes, work spaces, places of worship, museums, and many other sites felt the full force of the blast. In the days that followed, many of the responses were embedded within and emerged from the damaged cityscape, whether in the shape of the clean-up effort or anti-government protests.
The changes that take place after rupture affect not only physical spaces, but also social relationships. In response to COVID-19, for example, buildings are used differently and space is managed in new ways. Interior spaces look different – they bear the paraphernalia of social distancing enforcement and increased sanitisation. Many of us are inhabiting spaces differently – frequenting them less; distancing ourselves from others when we do. In addition, new technologies might be developed to guard against further damage. Legislative adjustments, as well as changes to social norms brought about in response to the moment of rupture will have their own effects on the built environment. Thus, the changes can range from repurposing or renovation to reconstruction or relocation. Through studies of the manifestation of rupture and such responses to it in architecture and the wider built environment, this issue aims to explore not only the rending of urban, but also social, fabrics and the conjunction between these two aspects.
Paper proposals should work from the framework outlined above and offer insights relevant to the IJIA’s remit, which is defined broadly as ‘the historic Islamic world, encompassing the Middle East and parts of Africa and Asia, but also the more recent geographies of Islam in its global dimensions’. In this vein, we encourage contributors to address Islamic architecture in less-frequently represented geographies such as sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas. Equally, papers addressing groups often under-represented in the study of Islamic architecture such as women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and people with disabilities are very welcome. Papers can address past or present moments of rupture and the responses to it.
Contributors might range from an architectural historian investigating a mosque built in the early-modern period to commemorate the damage wrought by a fire, or an historian working on the impact of pandemics on hospital design, to an urban planner designing a new town in southern Iran after a major earthquake, or an entrepreneur trying to design a prototype shelter for Syrian refugees in Iraq, etc. Contributions are welcomed from individuals at any stage of their careers, and advanced graduate students are encouraged to submit proposals. Questions that might be addressed by contributors to this special issue are unlimited but could include:
Articles offering historical and theoretical analysis (DiT papers) should be between 6,000 and 8,000 words, while those on design and practice (DiP papers) between 3,000 and 4,000 words. Urbanists, art historians, anthropologists, geographers, political scientists, sociologists, and historians are also welcome. Practitioners from all relevant fields (i.e., architecture, urban planning, landscape design, art) are welcome to contribute insofar as they address the critical framework of the journal. Please send a title and a 400-word abstract to the guest editor, Fuchsia Hart, University of Oxford (ijia.rupture@gmail.com), by April 5, 2021. Authors of accepted proposals will be contacted soon thereafter and will be invited to submit full papers by January 2022. All papers will be subject to blind peer review. For author instructions, please consult: www.intellectbooks.com/ijia.
12. Research Fellow, ‘Science and the Transmission of Islamic Knowledge in Britain’, Department of Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham
Part time 80% FTE, fixed term for 24 months
This position is for a post-doctoral Research Fellow to work on the new Templeton Religion Trust-funded research project, ‘Science and the Transmission of Islamic Knowledge in Britain’. This project will investigate how the relationship between Islam and science is understood and discussed by those involved in the transmission of Islamic knowledge and the establishment of Islamic authority in Britain. It will examine: if, and how, scientific concepts are used by Muslim religious leaders to legitimise their arguments; if Islamic education centres and religious leaders oppose any scientific theories, and if so what movements influence them; and how Muslim leaders’ answers to questions about science and Islam are affected by UK policy context and Muslims’ position within British society. It will provide one of the first in-depth portraits of whether, when and how Muslim religious leaders interact with scientific concepts and popular narratives about science.
The post holder will work with the Principal Investigator and external Co-investigator to conduct ethnographic observation of women’s and co-educational Islamic educational institutions as well as interview research with current and in-training Muslim religious leaders. They will also assist in research by carrying out literature reviews, conducting data analysis and writing up research findings. The post holder will be expected to engage in, and support, aspects of project dissemination, team meetings and international networking activities, including contributing the project-related websites, workshops and seminars. They will also be expected to effectively contribute to the presentation and dissemination of research outputs, including developing academic and non-academic publications/presentations.
Some of the responsibilities of this role are outlined below.
For informal inquiries, please contact Dr Stephen Jones (PI) at s.h.jones@bham.ac.uk.
As this vacancy has limited funding, the maximum salary that can be offered is Grade 7, salary £30,942.
Closing date: 24th Feb 2021 Reference: 12098
1. Online Indian Ocean Studies Conference , 28-20 January, 2021
As the new field of Indian Ocean Studies grows in both scope and ambition,
we would benefit from a regular conference – in part to foster
collaborations between different scholars working on the area and in part
for all us to see how the field is growing and changing. To this end, as
scholars of the region, we announce an inaugural meeting to take stock and
look ahead. Bringing together scholars at various stages in their careers,
including doctoral students, the sessions of this conference are meant to
allow us to develop collaboratively a sharper sense of what the stakes are
in our shared enterprise as researchers and teachers.
The meeting will take place between January 28-30, 2021 on Zoom, and will
feature a series of roundtables on the state of the field in various
thematic areas, along with more informal breakout sessions following each
roundtable. Registration is open to anyone interested in participating.
Details and registration links can be found at http://iowconference.org/ .
We look forward to what will be a stimulating conversation, and the first
of many more to come.
Fahad Ahmad Bishara
Associate Professor of History and of Arabian Peninsula and Gulf Studies
University of Virginia
Ananya Chakravarti
Associate Professor of History
Georgetown University
2. Historians of Islamic Art Association at the College Art Association’s Annual Conference, February 10-13, 2021
The schedule for the HIAA Business Meeting and Majlis, held in conjunction with CAA Annual Conference next month:
The HIAA Business Meeting will be virtually on Thursday, February 11 at 12.30pm (EST). To register for the meeting, please sign up here: https://ucr.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEufuihqDkoH9H8pZ-g2v6Dmev6szJI0Sv2
The HIAA Majlis, will take place virtually as a webinar on Thursday, February 11 from 3:30 to 5:30 pm (EST). To attend, please register using the following link: https://yale.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OLkc7lbMTgiuwIat8hCCMw
** Andrea Luigi Corsi, Sapienza University of Rome, “The Development of Stucco Decoration During the Early Abbasid Period: the ‘Miniaturistic Style’ as a Transregional Artistic Koine.”
** Ariel Fein, Yale University, “Kufic Epigraphy between Ifriqiyya and Norman Sicily.”
** Holley Ledbetter, University of Michigan, “Gender, Race, and ‘Ajab: Automata of the Enslaved in al-Afdal’s Drinking Room.”
** Alison Tendrup, Boston University, “Picture-in-Picture: Representations of Ottoman-Balkan Princely Identities in Nineteenth Century Portraiture.”
** Amanda Lanzillo, Princeton University, “Electroplating as Alchemy: Making metalsmithing Islamic in colonial India, 1870-1920.”
The live Q&A for HIAA’s sponsored panel at CAA will be held on Friday, February 12 at 4:00 pm (EST). Please see the CAA website for attendance details.
Digital Humanities + Islamic Visual Culture
** Lyla Halsted, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, “Animating an Amulet: 3D Modeling, Materiality, and a Medieval Arabic Amulet Scroll.”
** Hussein Keshani, The University of British Columbia, “Soft Eyes: Software’s Visualities and Islamic Art History in the Digital Age.”
** Yasaman Lotfizadeh, The University of British Columbia, “Visualizing Creative Collaboration in the Shah Tahmasp Shahnameh.”
** Michael A. Toler, Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT Libraries, “Digital Sustainability in DH Projects: The Case Study of Archnet.”
There are a number of other panels and single papers for those interested in Islamic Art and material culture, the most relevant of which are listed below. Note: this is not an exhaustive list.
For a full schedule of the conference, please see: https://caa.confex.com/caa/2021/meetingapp.cgi
Please note that registration is required to attend CAA. There are several options: https://www.collegeart.org/programs/conference/conference2021/registration
3. Ceramics of Iran: Islamic Pottery in the Sarikhani Collection,
by Oliver Watson with contributions by Moujan Matin and Will Kwiatkowski.
Yale, October 2020; 528pp.; £50 / $60
https://yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?K=9780300254280
4. ONLINE National Conference on “Rahma and Karuna – Compassion as Common Ground for Building Understanding between Islam and Buddhism”, International Islamic University Malaysia, 27 January 2021, 9:30 am – 4:00 pm (GMT+8)
Registeration link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVpwHoAe3Vd08o70jFdXyh7OJq-j6IrOEGlSCyyyIgmj_wFA/viewform
5. ONLINE Seminar: “The Bitter Harvest of Lebanon’s Sectarian Politics”, Arab Center Washington DC, 2 February 2021, 10:00 am – 11:30 am ET
Speakers will discuss the serious problems inherent in Lebanon’s politics and will consider the chances for a breakthrough from the current stalemate, including the prospects for compromise. They will explore how political paralysis affects the country’s economy and development.
Information and registration: http://arabcenterdc.org/events/the-bitter-harvest-of-lebanons-sectarian-politics/
6. ONLINE Seminar by Aili Mari Tripp (University of Wisconsin): “Seeking Legitimacy: Why Arab Autocracies Adopt Women’s Rights”, SOAS Middle East Institute, 9 February 2021, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm GMT
Aili Mari Tripp explains why autocratic leaders in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria embraced more extensive legal reforms of women’s rights than their Middle Eastern counterparts. The study challenges existing accounts that rely primarily on religiosity to explain the adoption of women’s rights in Muslim-majority countries.
Information and registration: https://www.soas.ac.uk/smei/events/cme/09feb2021-seeking-legitimacy-why-arab-autocracies-adopt-womens-rights.html
7. ONLINE Seminar by Aili Mari Tripp (University of Wisconsin): “Seeking Legitimacy: Why Arab Autocracies Adopt Women’s Rights”, SOAS Middle East Institute, 9 February 2021, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm GMT
Aili Mari Tripp explains why autocratic leaders in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria embraced more extensive legal reforms of women’s rights than their Middle Eastern counterparts. The study challenges existing accounts that rely primarily on religiosity to explain the adoption of women’s rights in Muslim-majority countries.
Information and registration: https://www.soas.ac.uk/smei/events/cme/09feb2021-seeking-legitimacy-why-arab-autocracies-adopt-womens-rights.html
8. Postdoctoral Position (Kurdish Studies) and Doctoral Position (Berber/Amazigh Studies), Heidelberg University
We are looking for candidates with a background in Political Science / Middle East Studies with a particular focus on modern Kurdish or Berber/Amazigh politics. For the position as postdoctoral researcher, spoken and written Kurdish is required; for the position as doctoral researcher, a Berber/Amazigh language is required (knowledge of the neo-Tifinagh script is an advantage).
Deadline for applications: 15 February 2021. Information: https://adb.zuv.uni-heidelberg.de/info/INFO_FDB$.startup?MODUL=LS&M1=1&M2=0&M3=0&PRO=29731
9. Arcapita Visiting Professor Modern Arab Studies, Middle East Institute, Columbia University
This is a one-semester position for the fall 2021 or spring 2022 semester. We are interested in candidates whose field of research and teaching is in history, culture, or social sciences of the modern Arab world.
Application deadline: 21 April 2021. Information: https://pa334.peopleadmin.com/postings/6940
10. Books for New Series “Unsettling Colonialism in Our Times” (I.B.Tauris)
This is the principal venue for research at the intersection of settler colonialism studies, decolonization, and critiques of neoliberalism. . It provides a framework for experts to deconstruct history and present contemporary struggles for freedom and human rights in new ways. Series editors: William Gallois (Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies) and Ilan Pappe (Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies), both at the University of Exeter.
Information: Contact Sophie Rudland sophie.rudland@bloomsbury.com
11. New Website Launched: “Digital Ottoman Studies Platform”
This website is designed as a hub for digital projects, tools, events, publications, and platforms to contribute to Digital Humanities from the perspective of Ottoman and Turkish Studies.
Information: https://www.digitalottomanstudies.com/
12. Researchers, teachers and librarians at Leiden university joined forces to create this very innovative free online ‘ textbook’.
Mouse&Manuscript is a collection of interactive lessons on codicology and oriental manuscripts. Its aim is to stimulate teaching on codicology in and outside of the classroom, and to contribute to the disclosure of Leiden University’s rich collection of oriental manuscripts. The lessons are centered around fully digitalised manuscripts from the oriental collection of Leiden University Libraries. They include samples in Arabic, Persian and Coptic, from cultures ranging from the Maghrib to Mughal India. The lessons can be read in any order.
With lock-downs around the world and teachers struggling to give shape to their teaching online, this tool could not have been more timely:
https://mouse.digitalscholarship.nl/
https://mouse.digitalscholarship.nl/lessons
13. CfP : We invite submissions for an international conference on the language of kinship in Islamic(ate) societies before the modern period (622–1500 CE).
The Embedding Conquest (EmCo) team has been investigating the social, political, administrative, religious, and economic ties that sustained strategies and mechanics of protection and dependency in the early Islamic empire, contributing to shaping imperial rule under the Umayyads and the Abbasids. As part of our project, we study how writers and document producers expressed vertical and horizontal relationships, including the use of family terms. We now invite other researchers to join in our conversation focusing on relational ties that were expressed primarily through or as kinship. This international meeting will be a venue for presenting new studies about practices, categories, and discourses through which kinship might
(i) connect individuals and groups to one another
(ii) contribute to binding an empire (or other large political entity) together.
For the full description of the conference and details on sending in your proposal, please check the upcoming events page on our website: https://emco.hcommons.org/events/event/call-for-papers-ties-of-kinship-and-the-early-islam…
N.B. Note that this is a different conference from the one advertised on H-net several weeks ago by the Embedding Conquest research team and for which we are still accepting proposals as well.
For additional information/ questions you can contact us at emco@hum.leidenuniv.nl
1.As part of the webinar series Archaeology of the Middle East and North Africa from Late Antiquity to the Ottoman period, the Ifpo is pleased to announce the first series of meetings that will focus on Lebanon and Jordan and will take place every two weeks during the year 2021 (January-July & September-December).
The goal of this series of conferences is to bring together specialists working on a broad region extending from North Africa to the Middle East and focusing on the period from Late Antiquity to Modern era. As the current pandemic is forcing us to reinvent ways of communicating and sharing our work, a webinar would be an opportunity to reconnect the academic community of researchers working on this field. It is open as widely as possible and aims to gather together archaeologists working on this large area as well as students.
While other regions will be addressed in the following cycles, this first series focuses on archaeology and material culture of Lebanon and Jordan. These meetings will present, on the one hand, ongoing projects and, on the other hand, comparative data and synthesis studies, which will allow to frame this region into a broader historical and geographical context.
https://www.ifporient.org/archaeology-mena/
2. The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, presents Honoring Esin Atılon Saturday, February 20, 2021, 9 am – 1 pm EST.
Scholar, curator, teacher, mentor, and trail blazer, Esin Atıl (1937–2019) was all of that and more. Her groundbreaking exhibitions and publications covered a wide range of topics and set new standards in the field of the arts of the Islamic world for their content, design, and presentation. This gathering of leading international art historians will reflect on the remarkable career of one of the first female curators in her field of expertise and assess her success in bringing unrivaled attention to the arts and cultures of the Islamic world.
Speakers include:
Doris Behrens-Abouseif, Professor Emeritus, SOAS University of London
Walter Denny, University Distinguished Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Oya Pancaroğlu, Professor, Boğaziçi University
Julian Raby, Director Emeritus, Freer and Sackler
Günsel Renda, Professor, Koç University
Marianna Shreve Simpson, Visiting Scholar, University of Pennsylvania
Zeynep Simavi, Director, Istanbul Branch at American Research Institute, Turkey
Zeren Tanındı, Professor, Uludağ University
Facilitator:
Massumeh Farhad, Senior Associate Director for Research, Chief Curator, and The Ebrahimi Family Curator of Persian, Arab, and Turkish Art
Register for the event here: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xX6VJnoVTrSHZfpKLEWDgg
Find more information here: https://asia.si.edu/events-overview/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D150315890
Questions can be directed to:
Lizzie Stein, Scholarly Programs and Publications Specialist, AsiaScholarlyProgram@si.edu
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art
3. Near Eastern Studies and Digital Scholarship @IAS Joint Lecture
February 3, 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
THE HISTORY OF THE ARABIC BOOK: A NEW CHAPTER
Mathew Barber (The Aga Khan University, KITAB), Lorenz Nigst (The Aga Khan University, KITAB), Sarah Bowen Savant (The Aga Khan University-ISMC), Peter Verkinderen (The Aga Khan University, KITAB). Hosted by Sabine Schmidtke (School of Historical Studies, IAS) and María Mercedes Tuya (Digital Scholarship, IAS).
It is an exciting time to be thinking about Arabic book history, as many questions are now being re-framed and addressed in ways that speak to a wider field of scholarly investigation. These questions concern, for example, the arguably scant material evidence for books up until roughly the eleventh century C.E., the non-survival of books treating important topics, the great variability of witnesses to individual works, and the ways that recycling of parts of prior books operated across time and place. Such questions, which query the very nature of ‘the book’, are relevant for the first four Islamic centuries, but also for later periods. This jointly delivered lecture will present the KITAB project – a collaboration between historians and computer scientists that addresses these major questions. We have assembled a corpus of 1.7 billion words of Arabic texts, and are seeking specifically to understand transmission practices (ca. 700-1500), with a special focus on how authors recycled earlier works and how they cited their predecessors. Through this lecture, we hope to describe the frontiers of knowledge, the challenges and promises of our data, and what listeners themselves might now do with it. (KITAB is a European Research Council Consolidator Grant project funded under Horizon 2020 and also has received funding from the Qatar National Library and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.)
Register in advance for this webinar here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Near Eastern Studies Lecture
February 10, 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
THE EUROPEAN QUR’AN: THE QUR’ĀN IN EUROPEAN RELIGIOUS AND
CULTURAL HISTORY
Mercedes García-Arenal (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [CCHS-CSIC], Madrid), Jan Loop (Københavns Universitet), John Tolan (Université de Nantes) and Roberto Tottoli (Universita degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale). Hosted by Sabine Schmidtke (School of Historical Studies, IAS).
“The European Qur’ān” (EuQu: https://euqu.eu/) is an ongoing project funded by a Synergy Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), dedicated to the important place of the Muslim holy book in European cultural and religious history. From the 12th century to the 19th, European Christians read the Qur’ān in Arabic, translated it into Latin, Greek and various vernacular languages, refuted it in polemical treatises, and mined it for information about Islam and Arab history. The “European Qur’ān”, in its various manifestations (Arabic editions, Latin and vernacular translations) should be conceived as scholarly efforts to understand Islam; as weapons in polemical exchanges between divergent versions of Christianity; as financial ventures on the part of printers and publishers; and as tools for the understanding of Semitic languages, Arab history and culture, and the history of monotheism.
The team that leads the project—Mercedes García-Arenal, John Tolan, Roberto Tottoli, Jan Loop—with their respective units in Madrid, Nantes, Naples and Copenhagen, will be dealing with various aspects of the transmission, translation, uses and study of the Qur’ān in Europe, on the role the Qur’ān played in debates about European cultural and religious identities, and more broadly about the place of the Qur’ān in European culture.
Register in advance for this webinar here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
4. The latest issue of al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā, the open-access, peer-reviewed journal of Middle East Medievalists has been published. TOC and downloadable PDFs of the entire 485-page issue (and all back issues) can be found here: https://www.middleeastmedievalists.com/al-usur-al-wusta/current-issue/
Contents
5. Before Archaeology, The Meaning of the Past in the Islamic Pre-Modern Thought (and After)
Edited by Leonardo Capezzone
Sapienza-University of Rome, 2020
https://www.artemide-edizioni.it/prodotto/before-archaeology/
6. Invitation: How Do Publishers ‘Really’ Decide Whether to Publish Your Book Manuscript?
The first interview of our ‘Publication Success Interview Series’, where we will discuss how publishers really decide whether to publish your manuscript.
I will be speaking with Katie Chin, Acquisitions Editor at Brill Publishers, about why she accepts or rejects manuscripts, and about practical tools for increasing scholars’ chances of being published – and quickly.
Join us for the interview on January 26 at:
4:30 PM IST / 2:30 PM GMT / 9:30 AM EST
For further info, see: Registration
Attendance is free of charge, and there is a registration link above. If you are interested but can’t attend, you can register and we will send you a recording.
7. The Indo-Persian Confluence Symposium
“Indo-Persian Confluence: Indo-Persian Musical Hybrid in Afghanistan”
Sunday, January 31, 2021
10am PST, Zoom
RSVP: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIpcuutrjIiHdV4WsLZhCyRQGsssq-uH1Fk
The third event in the Indo-Persian Musical Confluence series, featuring a panel of eminent ethnomusicologists on Indo-Persian musical hybrid in Afghanistan and a performance by Homayun Sakhi on the rubab.
Panelists
John Baily (Goldsmith University of London)
Lorraine Sakata (UCLA)
Mark Slobin (Wesleyan University)
Chair and Discussant
Richard Wolf (Harvard University)
Performance: music on the rubab
Homayun Sakhi
For more information on The Indo-Persian Music Confluence project: https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/indo-persian-musical-confluence/
Details of subsequent events will be forthcoming soon.
Project leader: Mohsen Mohammadi
Event Sponsors:
UCLA Mohindar Brar Sambhi Chair of Indian Music
UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology
UCLA Center for Musical Humanities (Robert U. Nelson Fund)
UCLA Jahangir and Eleanor Amuzegar Chair in Iranian Studies
UCLA Iranian Studies program
UCLA Center for India and South Asia (CISA)
UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES)
8. Iraq Heritage Stabilization Program
Iraq is home to an ethnically and religiously diverse population and a rich cultural heritage. However, decades of conflict and instability have torn at Iraq’s social fabric, weakened its institutions, and damaged its cultural property. The rise of ISIS and the atrocities perpetrated by the group—including genocide and cultural cleansing—have heightened tensions between different Iraqi communities even further and left much of the cultural heritage in the areas formerly under its control in ruins.
IHSP believes that the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage can contribute to reconciliation and peacemaking within societies affected by communal violence, especially when part of wider humanitarian efforts in post-conflict environments. Our projects in Iraq seek to mitigate the effects of genocide, cultural cleansing, and conflict through the maintenance and promotion of cultural memory, identity, diversity, and freedom of expression. To achieve this goal, we work closely with Iraqi government and civil society groups that are engaged in the protection and preservation of built heritage, particularly in communities directly affected by ISIS and the battle to defeat the group.
IHSP’s projects aim for the following qualities:
History
IHSP was founded in 2018 through a $2 million award from the U.S. Department of State to preserve ethnic and religious minority heritage in northern Iraq. The program is based in the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.
IHSP is built upon the foundations of earlier projects dedicated to the support of Iraq’s cultural heritage and cultural heritage professionals. IHSP’s staff have collaborated closely with Iraqi heritage professionals in Mosul and the Nineveh Plain since 2012 through training workshops and scholarly exchanges facilitated by Boston University’s Mosul Archaeology Program. More recently, many of IHSP’s staff worked on Iraqi cultural heritage issues as part of the American Schools of Oriental Research’s Cultural Heritage Initiatives.
9. The Beginnings of Modern Medicine in Iran
W Floor, Mage, 2020
10. CFP: Innovative Practices and Pedagogies for Teaching Undergraduate International Development Studies
To strengthen the educational practices of international development studies faculty, the Tobias Center for Innovation in International Development at the Hamilton Lugar School for Global and International Studies at Indiana University Bloomington will hold a two-day, virtual workshop on June 7-8 from 10am-3pm ET. entitled “Innovative Practices and Pedagogies for Teaching Undergraduate International Development Studies.”
This workshop will include interactive and engaging presentations that share new and innovative approaches to teaching development studies to undergraduate students. Potential topics could include:
– Best practices for online learning
– Decolonizing your pedagogy
– The possibilities of virtual exchanges
– Bringing reflexive practices into the classroom
– Bridging theory and practice in the field of IDS
– Employing partnerships with development organizations in the classroom
– Case studies of different approaches to teaching development studies
Workshop participants are expected to both present at the workshop and attend all sessions, and they will receive a stipend of $750.00 for their participation. Participation will be capped at 20 people.
For more information and to apply, please click here. Please contact Elisheva Cohen at ellcohen@iu.edu with any questions.
11. Amuletic Archives: Writing Magico-Material Histories of the Middle East
What amulets tell us about the past
Historiography of the Middle East
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
3:00 PM (Pacific Time)
UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
10:00 AM (Pacific Time)
UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies
13. Islamic Interpretive Tradition and Gender Justice Processes of Canonization, Subversion, and Change
Edited by Nevin Reda and Yasmin Amin,
McGill, 2020
https://www.mqup.ca/islamic-interpretive-tradition-and-gender-justice-products-9780228001638.php
ZOOM DISCUSSION ROUNDTABLE
Jan 30, 2021
12:00 PM EASTERN TIME5 PM GMT7 PM CAIRO TIME
Zoom link: https://fordham.zoom.us/j/82757414650
14. Saintly Spheres and Islamic Landscapes: Emplacements of Spiritual Power across Time and Place, ed. Daphna Ephrat, Ethel Sara Wolper, and Paulo G. Pinto
Brill, 2020
https://brill.com/view/title/59199?rskey=58MEKF&result=1
Inspiring Women of Faith
The Shia Muslim Council of Southern California and Stand With Dignity is honored to present an online Celebration of Lady Fatima’s Birthday: Inspiring Women of Faith.
Join the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities on Saturday, January 30th at 2:30 PST, as we celebrate one of the most auspicious occasions of the year with this unique program, where we will reflect on and honor the most noble women in our faith.