Archive for February, 2021

1.The Indo-Persian Confluence

Symposium Four

“Indo-Persian Musical Confluences: From Tajikistan to Gujarat”

Sunday, February 21, 2021

10am PST, Zoom

 

RSVP: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJckfuusrzMiH9dqVhzZB1cH-1QsCJWc-U77

This event brings together international scholars discussing Indo-Persian musical hybrids in four different musical traditions within current geographical borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan/Iran.

Panelists

Mejgan Masoumi (Stanford University)
Ariane Zevaco (CNRS, France)
Jean During (CNRS, France)
Brian Bond (CUNY)

Chair and Moderator

George Murer (CUNY)

Link to the Calendar Event Page: https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/event/indo-persian-mus…istan-to-gujarat/

For more information on The Indo-Persian Music Confluence project: https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/indo-persian-musical-confluence/

 

 

 

 

2. A tongue-in-cheek guide for wannabe Iran experts by Ladane Nasseri

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/how-to-write-about-iran-a-guide-for-journalists-analysts-and-policymakers

 

 

 

 

3. Encyclopædia Iranica Online Now Freely Accessible at Brill

The Ehsan Yarshater Center for Iranian Studies at Columbia University is pleased to announce that the Encylopaedia Iranica Online is now freely accessible at https://brill.com/eiro <https://brill.com/eiro> or through https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/encyclopaedia-iranica-online <https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/encyclopaedia-iranica-online>. This new website, hosted by Brill, a leading academic publisher, is the only digital platform authorized by Columbia University for the ‘Encyclopaedia Iranica’ content produced and curated by the Yarshater Center.

Encyclopaedia Iranica Online provides corrected and updated articles from older print and online content, and it includes articles from fascicles published by Brill up to the recent XVI/6 (Khomeini – Khorasan XIV). Entirely new online articles will be published as expeditiously as possible. The new Encyclopaedia Iranica Online website brings many improvements and conveniences for users, including better integrated graphics and tables and a print-on-demand feature. It offers a more powerful search engine offering researchers the capability to search not only Encyclopaedia Iranica content but an array of other Brill online reference works. Professional researchers will also find the ability to cite Encyclopaedia Iranica articles enhanced both by their presence on the website of a respected academic publisher and the provision of details such as digital object identifier (DOI) numbers. In order to view images, login with:
Username: oa
Password: oa

 

For more details, see:

https://cfis.columbia.edu/news/encyclopaedia-iranica-partners-brill-academic-publishers

Note therein: ‘Without the subsidies the Encyclopaedia Iranica has received in the past, costs for accessing the work will necessarily increase, but Brill has generously agreed that those parts of the Encyclopaedia Iranica currently in open-access will remain available online without charge for a period of up to two years.’

 

 

 

 

4. Connecting Distant Worlds: The International Society for Arabic Papyrology (ISAP) Online Conference (Online, 15-18 March, 2021)

Further info and programme at:

https://www.naher-osten.uni-muenchen.de/isap/isap_conference_2021/index.html

 

 

 

 

5. Persian Language Rare Materials | Digital Collections | Library of Congress

https://www.loc.gov/collections/persian-language-rare-materials/about-this-collection/

 

 

 

 

6. Pahlavi State and Society

Thursday March 4, 2021 at 10:00am Pacific via Zoom

https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pahlavi-workshop-panel-2/

This second panel of the Iranian Studies workshop, “History and Historiography of Pahlavi Iran, 1921-1979.

 

 

 

 

7. ‘Zoroastrian law and the spread of Islam in Iranian society (ninth–tenth century)’,

BSOAS, C Sahner.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bulletin-of-the-school-of-oriental-and-african-studies/article/zoroastrian-law-and-the-spread-of-islam-in-iranian-society-ninthtenth-century/A498193E93EF4EE882C407FB2C0833D8

UMAA is pleased to partner with Ahlulbayt TV and Sayed Jawad Qazwini to broadcast the Imam Ali: Spirit of Reform conference on February 27 & 28!

Further information at:
https://www.facebook.com/umaamerica.net/?tn-str=k*F
and
https://www.facebook.com/umaamerica.net/photos/pb.115426371827044.-2207520000../3736010553101923/?type=3&theater

Profile in Persecution: Jasim Mohamed AlMahroos

For ADHRB Weekly Newsletter #376, click here.

1.Departmental Lecturer of Indian History and Culture, Oxford

Faculty of Oriental Studies, Pusey Lane, Oxford

Grade 7: £32,817 – £40,322 per annum

The University is seeking to appoint a Departmental Lecturer of Indian History and Culture. The University interprets History and Culture widely, to include any historical period ancient, medieval, or modern, and any cultural field. Applications are invited from scholars of Indian history and culture regardless of disciplinary specialisation. On this occasion, however, we would particularly welcome applications from scholars in the field of sixteenth to twentieth century Indian history and culture. The Faculty of Oriental Studies is committed to the view that all disciplines must be studied on the basis of mastery of original languages.

The Departmental Lecturer will engage in advanced study and, primarily, lecture and teach undergraduate and graduate students, and conduct independent research.

You will have a doctorate or equivalent in a relevant subject by the time of appointment, a proven ability to give lectures and classes, and a solid linguistic knowledge of at least one Indian language apart from English required for the study of Indian history. The successful candidate will have a broad vision of the scope of Indian history, a current and projected research and publications record in one or more aspect(s) of Indian history and culture, an ability to initiate the organization of, and to participate in, conferences, seminars and other research meetings, and an ability to contribute to Faculty administration.

This position is based in central Oxford. This is a full-time, fixed-term position between 1 October 2021 and 30 September 2024, to cover the teaching and other duties of the vacant Professor of Indian History and Culture post.

The closing date for applications is 12 noon on 26 March 2021.

 

Contact Person :	Recruitment Administrator	Vacancy ID :	149478
Contact Phone :	01865 278201	Closing Date & Time :	26-Mar-2021 12:00
Contact Email :	recruitment@orinst.ox.ac.uk

 

https://my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.display_form?p_company=10&p_internal_external=E&p_display_in_irish=N&p_process_type=&p_applicant_no=&p_form_profile_detail=&p_display_apply_ind=Y&p_refresh_search=Y&p_recruitment_id=149478

 

 

 

 

2. PERSIA: An Area Study, 1633

By Joannes de Laet, Translated from the latin by Willem Floor & Colette Ouahes

Mage, 2021

https://magepublishers.com/persia-an-area-study-1633/

 

 

 

 

3. ONLINE Panel on “Higher Education and Academic Freedom in Turkey: Boğaziçi Yesterday and Today”, Sponsored by OTSA and MESA, Istanbul, 15 February 2021, 12:00 pm EST

Former and current Boğaziçi professors will discuss the state of higher education in Turkey by reflecting on the past of Boğaziçi University and analyzing the recent events that have been unfolding since the appointment of a new university president.

Information and registration: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwvcumorTktHN0ZxQRihHj0uqq1LZ-7Uy6s

 

 

 

 

4. ONLINE Workshop: “Realising Understanding: Language in Cross-cultural Migration/Integration and Secular-Religious Contexts (Focus: Interaction between European and Islamicate Cultures) ”, Freie Universität Berlin, 18 February 2021, 10:00 am – 4:30 pm CET

The workshop will discuss the use of language in multi- and cross-cultural contexts shaped by different linguistic and cultural backgrounds of the communicating parties and analyze (mis-) understandings in the context of migration and integration with the intention to identify factors that can support genuine understanding.

Registration: housamedden.darwish@uni-leipzig.de; Information and program: https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/sites/academicsinsolidarity/news/Realising-Workshop.html?fbclid=IwAR3uMlwcAk0frV4qP0VhOFOjtgnthcWbSvMj637X3Nou0n-gYOzHgO4N524

 

 

 

 

5. ONLINE Seminar on “Cultural Brokerage in Pre-modern Islam: Magic and Divination in the Cairo Genizah: Jewish, Muslim and Other Texts” by Prof. Gideon Bohak (Tel Aviv University), 22 February 2021, 17:30-19:00 IST

Information and registration: https://iias.huji.ac.il/event/magic-and-divination-cairo-genizah-jewish-muslim-and-other-texts-seminar

 

 

 

 

6. ONLINE Seminar: “Bernard Lewis, Fouad Ajami, and the ‘Clash of Civilizations’”, Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA), 23 February 2021, 12:00 pm EST

Prof. Martin Kramer will examine how the founders of the ASMEA related to the influential concept popularized by Samuel Huntington. Both Lewis and Ajami demonstrated an initial ambivalence, and a later acceptance. Kramer will pose the question of which of their rationales speak to us most clearly today.

Information: https://www.asmeascholars.org/webinar

 

 

 

 

7. ONLINE Discussion by Alexandre Caeiro and Nathan Brown on “The Government of Pearling: A Social History of Law in the Arabian Gulf (1860-1950)”, 4 March 2021, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm EST

The scholars will discuss the legal regulation of the pearl trade; the effects of British attempts to re-organize the pearling industry and reshape the legal systems of the Gulf sheikhdoms; and the relationship between “ruler’s courts”, “merchants’ courts,” and “Islamic courts.”

Information and registration: https://imes.elliott.gwu.edu/calendar_event/the-government-of-pearling/

 

 

 

 

8. ONLINE Panel: “Pan-Asian Modernity Beyond the Colonial Gaze: Education, Social Ethics, and Universal Religion”, Virtual Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), 25 March 2021, 8:30 am – 10:00 am ET

Panel organizer and speaker: Maria-Magdalena Pruss (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient Berlin). This panel focuses on translocal intellectual and social networks between the Middle East and other parts of Asia from the 17^th to the 20^th centuries which were created by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. It investigates how knowledge about Islam and the Muslim world was produced, translated, disseminated and adapted through these networks.

Registration deadline at reduced-rate: 1 March 2021 at https://www.asianstudies.org/conference. Information: https://www.eventscribe.net/2021/AASVirtual/agenda.asp?startdate=3/25/2021&enddate=3/25/2021&BCFO=M|OD&pfp=FullSchedule&tn=&cpf2=&cus2=&pta

 

 

 

 

9. Two-year Post-doctoral Fellowship, Haifa Center for Mediterranean History (2021-2023)

We are looking for candidates able to demonstrate proven academic excellence in their respective fields of expertise, together with an extensive background in Mediterranean studies. We encourage applications from candidates working in all related fields. Applicants must hold a Ph.D. by the beginning of the fellowship tenure period, and no longer than five years.

Deadline for applications: 1 March 2021. Information: https://mailchi.mp/mediterraneanseminar/apply-two-year-post-doctoral-fellowship-at-the-haifa-center-for-mediterranean-history-2021-23?e=82aeb6c61d

 

 

 

 

10. One-Year Visiting Assistant Professorship in Arabic Studies, Arabic Studies Department at Williams College, Williamstown (MA)

Candidates should have native or near-native fluency in Arabic; provide evidence of demonstrated excellence in undergraduate teaching of the Arabic language; and hold a Ph.D. in a relevant field by the beginning of their appointment on 1 July 2021.

Applications should be submitted by 1 March 2021. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/83612

 

 

 

 

11. Postdoctoral Fellowship for Modern Arabic Literature, Tulane University, New Orleans

Requirements: Candidates must have received their PhD after 1 September 2018 and no later than 30 June 2021. They are expected to design and teach courses on literature and cultural production from the MENA region, time period open.

Deadline for applications: 30 March 2021. Information: https://mesana.org/resources-and-opportunities/2021/02/12/mellon-postdoctoral-fellowship-in-the-humanities-modern-arabic-literature

 

 

 

 

12. Call for Submissions

The Board of Directors of Middle East Medievalists (MEM) is pleased to request submissions for its biennial prize for best book on the medieval Middle East (ca. 500-1500 CE). The prize will be awarded at the 2021 annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association.
Below is a list of criteria for the upcoming competition:

1. Books published between April 1, 2019 and March 31, 2021 are eligible for this year’s prize.
2. Books must be non-fiction scholarly monographs based on original research.  Works not eligible include edited collections and compilations, proceedings of symposia, new editions of previously published books, bibliographies, dictionaries, textbooks, and surveys.
3. Authors must be current members in good standing of Middle East Medievalists to be considered. To join MEM or renew your membership, please visit our MEMbership page.

TO NOMINATE A BOOK

Deadline:  April 1, 2021

1. Authors or publishers should submit a short letter of nomination (preferably in an e-mail) noting the title, publisher, date of publication, and series (if appropriate) to the Chair of the Selection Committee, Najam Haider nhaider@barnard.edu , by April 1 2021.
2. Send hard copies of the book to each of the *four* members of the Selection committee (addresses listed below) postmarked by April 15 2021.

If you have questions about the prize, please contact Najam Haider ( nhaider@barnard.edu )

 

 

 

 

13. Re-launched Journal: Middle Eastern Literatures

I’m writing to announce that after 10 years as editor of the journal Middle Eastern Literatures, Prof. Wen-Chin Ouyang has handed the journal off to a new group of co-editors (Huda Fakhreddine, Charis Olszok, Nora Parr, and me!). We’re very excited for the new era of this important journal and have recruited an excellent editorial board to support and guide us.

We are especially excited to help the journal become a leading platform for a comparative literature that is not centered on Euro-American history and “research that identifies literature and culture of the Middle East not just as subjects of study, but as locations of knowledge with relevance beyond any one academic discipline or field of thought.”

The co-editors and the members of the editorial board are committed to nurturing ambitious scholarship, to providing constructive, challenging, and supportive feedback, and to so in a timely fashion. We are committed to completing peer review of submissions within 3 months.

It is time for the historical, contemporary, and potential cultures, which we love and serve through our scholarship, to occupy the center of a broad and dynamic scholarly conversation and not simply to be reduced to a footnote in the World Literature juggernaut.

You can reach us at MELiteratures@gmail.com

 

We look forward to working with you over the decade to come!

 

Yours,

Huda Fakhreddine

Charis Olszok

Nora Parr

Adam Talib

1. History of Hospitals in Iran, 550–1950

W Floor

Mage, 2020

https://magepublishers.com/history-of-hospitals-in-iran-550-1950/

 

 

 

2. Online lecture – Anna Contadini, “Book culture in the Arab world: An illustrated herbal of the 13th century” – 23 February 2021

Professor Anna Contadini (SOAS, University of London) will deliver a lecture on recent research on the illustrated Arabic Dioscorides in the University Library of Bologna. Entitled “Book culture in the Arab world: An illustrated herbal of the 13th century”, the lecture is organized by the Oxford Bibliographical Society and the Centre for Islamic Studies.

Tuesday 23 February 2021 at 17:00 GMT. https://www.oxbibsoc.org.uk/lectures/book-culture-in-the-arab-world

The lecture will be held virtually, by ZOOM. Open to all, to attend please contact sarah.cusk@lincoln.ox.ac.uk

 

 

 

3. Iranzamin is the first survey exhibition of Persian arts and crafts acquired by the Powerhouse Museum (Sydney) since its founding in 1880. It explores the stories behind rarely seen artefacts from the middle of the 19th century to now, shedding light on the diverse social and cultural history of Persia – today’s Iran – and its people.

The exhibition examines how objects inspired by traditional arts and crafts were used in Persian society, focusing on seven themes: Joy and Happiness; Purification and Cleansing; Spirituality and Devotion; Poetry and Calligraphy; Rituals and Performance; Patronage and Craftsmanship; Nature and Design. Iranzamin encompasses a diversity of materials and techniques, including hand-woven crafts, carpets and rugs; arms and armour; glass, ceramics and tiles; textiles, embroidery and foundry.

Iranzamin examines how the influence of Persia, situated between two major trade routes – the Silk Road and the Indian Ocean – spread out into the world. Special attention is paid to the influence of Persian culture on non-Iranian craftsmen and artists such as Australian painter and textile designer Florence Broadhurst. This includes original Broadhurst wallpaper prints titled Persian Phoenix (Simorgh), Persian Birds, and Persian Pomegranates and Flowers.

The opening of Iranzamin coincides with the Persian new year Nowrouz. Programs will include the celebrations of Nowrouz, Haftsin, a table traditionally set for the Persian new year on 20 March, and Sizdehbehdar, the Persian national day for the celebration and admiration of Mother Nature, which will be held in the Powerhouse Museum on 3 April 2021.

https://maas.museum/event/iranzamin/?fbclid=IwAR0-Uw4Jzd55sx-TDJcKMqvJlo8N_PrnpxQo8tChIWXO…

 

 

 

 

4. I B Tauris:

Armenians in the Modern and Early Modern World series

Recent decades have seen the expansion of Armenian Studies from insular history to a broader, more interactive field within an inter-regional and global context. This series responds to this growth by promoting innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to Armenian history, politics, and culture in the period between 1500-2000. Focusing on the geographies of the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Contemporary Russia, it directs specific attention to imperial and post-imperial frameworks.
If you have a book project or idea that you’d like us to consider for the series, please contact the series editor Dr Bedross Der Matossian or Rory Gormley, Commissioning Editor at I.B.Tauris, both of whom will be pleased to give you feedback on your idea.

 

 

 

5. The IISS at the University of Michigan is pleased to announce our next event with Ertuğrul Ökten (Assistant Professor of History, Istanbul 29 Mayıs University), entitled Re-Engaging with Abd al-Rahman Jami: An Intellectual History Project on FEB 16, 1:00 PM.

Please register here: https://myumi.ch/qg71e

For more information: https://ii.umich.edu/islamicstudies/news-events/events.detail.html/80968-20824899.html

 

 

 

 

6. MOSF Journal of Science Fiction has published the latest issue online, with a particular focus on Middle Eastern Science fiction.

This is available Open Access.

 

 

 

7. Afghan Village Voices, Stories from a Tribal Community

Richard Tapper, Nancy Lindisfarne-Tapper

Bloomsbury, 2020

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/afghan-village-voices-9780755600878/

 

 

 

 

8. An Earl, a collection, and a shopping list: Mail-order military manuscripts

The British Library: A lithographed wish-list of titles on Arabic military science testifies to the frustrated literary ambitions of a king’s son.

 

 

 

 

9. Call for papers: Special Issue of the journal Religions “Are Muslim-Jewish Relations Improving in the 21st Century?

We invite scholars to reflect on today’s relations and trends of Muslim-Jewish relations. This issue will be focused on areas where Muslim-Jewish relations seem to be improving but we also welcome submissions that are more skeptical in their outlook. However, we hope to receive well-argued pieces (5,000 to 10,000 words) that help us to identify trends and factors that determine Muslim-Jewish relations today. We especially welcome case studies that look at projects that rediscover the local or regional Jewish or Muslim heritage and case studies of interfaith projects.

Please send an abstract to us by March 15, 2021.

Deadline for papers: April 30, 2021.

For more information, please go to https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/Muslims-Jewish

 

 

 

10. IAS Medieval Studies and NES Lecture: The Turn to the Medieval in Ethiopian Studies – The Turn to Ethiopia in Medieval Studies I, February 19, 2021, 12:00-1:30 pm EST

Panelists:
Andrea Achi (Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum) ♦ Marie-Laure Derat (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) ♦ Kristen Windmuller-Luna (Cleveland Museum of Art) ♦ Felege-Selam Yirga (The University of Tennessee Knoxville)

We are eager to think together about the rich and often challenging complexities that have arisen as a result of the intersection of Medieval Studies and Ethiopian Studies over the past several years. These fields developed along very different lines, but have begun to mutually enrich – and interrogate – one another. In terms of regional networks, the two fields overlap in their concern with political, commercial, and cultural connections in the eastern Mediterranean: while Ethiopia represents for Medieval Studies an outgrowth of Mediterranean Studies, extending investigation for such exchanges down the Red Sea, Europe similarly represents for Ethiopian Studies a secondary ring of this zone of contact. Each offers the other a rich comparative (and sometimes connected) context for the study of Christian culture, including monasticism, hagiography, manuscript studies, and art and architecture, and both have investigated interconfessional relations in ways that might be mutually illuminating. Finally, together they contribute to an exploration of what ‘medieval Africa’ might entail, and allow us to explore the potentialities of more integrated, even global approaches to the premodern world. Yet the enrichment that this intersection of fields provides may also be problematic, as the distinctive chronologies, nomenclatures, and scholarly traditions of Medieval Studies and Ethiopian Studies meet. As research on premodern Ethiopia has greatly expanded in recent decades, and as Medieval Studies manifests increasing interest in Ethiopia, these paired webinars seek to explore what is gained and what is lost by more intensive conversation between them.

Register in advance for this meeting here.

The IAS Ethiopian Studies Series is convened by Suzanne Akbari (IAS), Aaron Butts (CUA/IAS), Samantha L. Kelly (Rutgers U/IAS), Sabine Schmidtke (IAS).

 

 

 

 

11. New Open Access Journal: Tarihçi = Historian

Tarihçi / Historian is an international peer-reviewed journal issued three times per year, in January, May and September.
The languages of the journal are Turkish and English.
Editor: Taha Niyazi KARACA

 

 

 

12. Webinar – Islam and the Devotional Object: A Discussion – NYU, Silsila: Center for Material Histories – February 19, 2021

New York University, Silsila: Center for Material Histories

ISLAM AND THE DEVOTIONAL OBJECT: A DISCUSSION
Richard McGregor, Vanderbilt University
Azfar Moin, UT Austin
Wendy Shaw, Freie Universität, Berlin
Adam Bursi, Utrecht University
Finbarr Barry Flood, Silsila/NYU
Friday, February 19th, 1:00-3.30 pm ET
[Webinar] Silsila Spring 2021 Series, TranslationsFull details of the event and a link to register as an attendee can be found at:

https://as.nyu.edu/silsila/events/2020-2021/-webinar–islam-and-the-devotional-object–a-discussion.html

 

 

 

13. Comparative Literature and Culture (CLCWeb) is calling for papers for a special issue titled “Humor, the Absurd, and the Abject in Middle Eastern and North African Cultural Production”.

From the films of Elia Suleiman to the cartoons of Ali Ferzat, humor and the absurd have long permeated the landscape of literary and cultural production across the Middle East and North Africa. Writers, artists, and intellectuals have employed an aesthetics of humor in a myriad of forms- from lampooning caricatures and songs, to a cinema of the absurd and satirical theater. While some of the recent scholarship in Middle East humor studies has focused on the role of humor and satire in the Arab uprisings and other mass protest movements as well as the lampooning of contemporary Islamist extremists as forms of resistance, this special issue will focus on new scholarship on the relationships between humor, the absurd, and the abject in works of literature, music, and visual culture.

We invite original contributions that explore these and related questions for a special edition on humor, the absurd, and the abject in all forms of modern and contemporary Middle Eastern cultural production. Please send abstracts of no longer than 250 words, a 100 word biography, and 5 keywords by April 30th, 2021. Full articles of 5,000-8,000 words or critical reviews of 3,000 words will be due by October 1, 2021.

This issue will be edited by Dr. R. Shareah Taleghani and Dr. Yasmine Ramadan.

For those interested, more information is available here: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/callsforpapers.html