Archive for May, 2021

Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies is an academic peer-review journal that publishes on Shiite studies. Submission of articles for the new issue (June 30, 2021, Volume:3, Issue:1) continues to May 30. Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies is a double-blind peer review and no fee is requested from the author before or after the publication.

For the details and submission:
https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/siader

‘An explosion near a school in a Shia district of west Kabul has killed at least 25 people, many of them young students, and wounded dozens more, Afghanistan’s interior ministry said.

Ambulances were rushing to evacuate the wounded from the scene of the blast on Saturday near Syed Al-Shahda school, in the Shia majority neighbourhood of Dasht-e-Barchi, Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said.’

See: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/8/blasts-kill-dozens-near-school-in-afghan-capital-kabul

See also BBC.
See also The New York Times.
See also The Wall Street Journal.
See also Vice News.

1.Muslim Sources of the Crusader Period: An Anthology (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2021).

https://www.hackettpublishing.com/muslim-sources-of-the-crusader-period-4415

2. Call for Chapters: The Historicity of Democracy in the Arab and Muslim worlds

In the framework of the HISDEMAB research project on the historicity of democracy in the Arab and Muslim worlds, funded by the Leibniz-Association, original chapters are welcome for a collective book edited by Nora Lafi (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin). The volume will integrate work from historians of political systems, historians of ideas, historians focusing on social and cultural history, urban historians or specialists of the historical anthropology and anthropology of decision-making processes. The main objective of the volume is to deliver an up-to-date interpretation of the phenomena of negotiation, deliberation, representation, debate, consensus-building, election, designation, expression of ideas and opinions or construction of forms of public spheres in the Arab and Muslim worlds from the Middle-Ages to contemporary times. Within the historiographical context of studies having critically challenged the inertia of forms of orientalism and new-orientalism in debates on democracy in the region, the volume, in spite of only discussing the ability or not of societies to accomodate democratic institutions and practices, will deliberately focus on the study of such societies for themselves and of political forms that were inherent to them. The aim is to track, explore and interpret, on the basis of original sources (archives, manuscripts) practices that existed in the broader region without reducing them to only echoes or imports. Paradigms of circulation of ideas are of course important in this posture too but what will also be under study in this volume is the diversity of local societies and the complex solutions of governance they historically developed.

Chapters may cover the following themes. Alternative ideas are also welcome.

1. Deliberation, representation, power and legitimacy in Medieval Islam (both theory and practice, with an attention to the inertia and transformation of previous practices)
2. Systems of election, designation, negotiation and decision in the Medieval Islamic world as well as in the Ottoman Empire at the scale of confessional communities (Jewish, Christian and others), professional organisations, urban institutions, rural communities, nomadic or semi-nomadic communities
3. Forms of female civic participation
4. Expressions of civic life (debate, opinion, participation, opposition…) and practices of consensus-building
5. Ottoman experiences of institutional reform of representation and of elective systems at both the local and imperial levels
6. Representation, deliberation, decision-making and elections under colonial occupation
7. The notion of democracy in the relationship with its various layers of historicity at the times of struggles for independence and during phases of national-building.
8. Interpreting democratic oppositions and recent experiments, as well as their repression, in the framework of debates on the historicity of democracy in the region
9. The question of the access to archival resources in relation to debates on and practices of democracy

The authors will be invited to present their chapter in a workshop in Berlin in March 2022 (travel and accommodation costs covered).

Nora Lafi is the editor or co-editor of 6 collective books: Municipalités méditerranéennes, K. Schwarz, 2005; The City in the Ottoman Empire, Routledge, 2011; Urban Governance under the Ottomans, Routledge, 2014; Silvestre de Sacy: le projet européen d’une science orientaliste, Le Cerf, 2015; Urban Violence in the Middle East, Berghahn, 2015; Understanding the City through its Margins, Routledge, 2018. She also guest edited several thematic issues of peer-reviewed journals and published extensively on the subject of the civic dimension of governance in the Ottoman empire. She presently serves as Senior Research Fellow with Leibniz-ZMO in Berlin and is HISDEMAB project-leader.

Abstract deadline: July 9, 2021. Notification of acceptance: July 16, 2021. Paper deadline: January 15, 2022. Workshop in Berlin: March 2022. Revised Paper Deadline: June 30, 2022.

Please note that due to the present pandemic and to the limited duration of the funding, deadlines must be respected.

Please email your submission to: Nora.Lafi@zmo.de

3. Arab Law Quarterly, Special Issue:

‘Islamic Finance and Contemporary Challenges’,

edited by M. Kabir Hassan

Volume 35 (2021): Issue 1-2 (Nov 2020)

https://brill.com/view/journals/alq/35/1-2/alq.35.issue-1-2.xml

4. 14 May 2021 Event: Interrupted and Restricted: Digital Humanities and Ethics in a Time of Crisis – Zoom

Aga Khan Library

This panel seeks to address not only the forward facing aspects of digital humanities (DH), ensuring access to researchers, students, and scholars, but also takes a step back to question the ethics and implications of what is disseminated via the virtual vis-à-vis human rights.

Register: https://aku-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0qduispjkjGNYwvUw1p97r9pWi4hr-Gvc-

5. Indian Ocean Studies Conference 12-13 November 2021
At the Western Australian Maritime Museum and Sheridan Institute of
Higher Education, Perth, Western Australia

Call for Presenters
Sheridan Institute, in partnership with the Western Australian Maritime
Museum and the Australian Association for Maritime History (AAMH),
wishes to announce its biennial Indian Ocean Studies Conference. The
theme of this year’s conference is Change and Continuity in an Age of
Uncertainty.

We welcome individual presentations as well as panels from researchers,
scholars, policy-makers, and students on the following sub-themes:

Maritime history and trade
Education and communities
Faith and culture
Disease and disease control
Environmental studies
Defence and strategic studies

The deadline for abstract/panel submissions is 28 May 2021. Please send
your abstract to jesler@sheridan.edu.au, or via the conference website
page: https://sheridanicon.weebly.com/abstract-submission.html .

For further details, please see the conference website:
https://sheridanicon.weebly.com/

Contact Info:

Dr Joshua Esler, Sheridan Institute of Higher Education, Perth, Western
Australia
Email: jesler@sheridan.edu.au
URL: https://sheridanicon.weebly.com/

‘A Silent Quest for New Shīʿa Religious Leaders in Italy’
M. Mirshahvalad,
Journal of Muslims in Europe, 2020-10-28, Vol.10 (1), p.68-84.

‘The Banū Yahrāsan, Political and Sacred Leaders in Ibāḍī Djerba’
V Prevost.
Al-Masāq, Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean
Volume 33, 2021 – Issue 1

1.ONLINE Session: “Listening to Women in the MENA Region Before and After the Arab Spring”, Foundation Maison des sciences de l’homme, 25 May 2021, 5:00 pm CET

This conversation will focus on gender-based oppression and violence directed toward women as fundamental elements of social structures that promote state-sanctioned violence, sectarian violence, and social violence. Speakers: Nadje Al-Ali, Saha Farhat, Ahlem Bousserwel.

Information and registration: https://www.ipev-fmsh.org/event/listening-to-women-in-the-mena-region-before-and-after-the-arab-spring/

2. ONLINE Session: “Arab Uprisings: The Evolution of Arab Society”, Foundation Maison des sciences de l’homme, 1 June 2021, 5:00 pm CET

The panel will investigate how Arab youth are responding to the increasing social polarization that eventuated post the Arab revolts. They will explore the MENA region’s trajectory into a new decade by studying strategies and tools employed by youth to bridge ideological gaps, resolve religious and ethnic tensions, and formulate a new social contract.

Information and registration: https://www.ipev-fmsh.org/event/arab-uprisings-the-evolution-of-arab-society/

3. 20^th ISA World Congress of Sociology on “Resurgent Authoritarianism: Sociology of New Entanglements of Religions, Politics, and Economies”, Melbourne, Australia, 24-30 July 2022

This World Congress of Sociology will focus on how sociologists worldwide can (and do) contribute to the understanding of the resurgent authoritarianism and analyze the new entanglements of religions, politics, and economies. It will also focus on how sociologists engage (physically and critically) in the formidable social movements we are witnessing today in different parts of the world and in a renascent civil society.

Information: https://www.isa-sociology.org/en/conferences/world-congress

4. “34. Deutscher Orientalistentag (DOT) / 34^th German Oriental Congress” Combined with the “28^th International Congress of the German Middle Eastern Studies Association (DAVO)”, Free University Berlin, 12-17 September 2022

The DOT has been organised by the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (DMG) since 1921 and takes place all 3-5 years. The 34th DOT marks the 100th anniversary. The 28th International Congress of DAVO is held under the umbrella of the DOT. The languages of the conference are German and English, papers in other languages are possible after consultation with the heads of the individual sections.

Deadline for panel proposals: 1 October 2021. Deadline for abstracts: 31 December 2021. Information: https://dot2022.de/en/call-for-papers/

5. Lecturer for Persian Literature (1 Year), University of Oxford

You will have a doctorate in Persian Literature, a proven ability to give lectures and classes to undergraduate students in the field of Persian Literature, fluency in literary Persian and the ability to teach texts in the original (premodern and modern, poetry and prose).

Application deadline: 11 June 2021. Information: https://mesana.org/resources-and-opportunities/2021/04/29/departmental-lecturer-persian-literature

6. PhD Studentship: Egyptian-South African Relations in the Global Cold War, SOAS University of London

Requirements: The PhD will commence in October 2021. The student will spend at least three months each at the AARC, and at archives in South Africa. Fluency in Arabic, a capacity to travel freely in Africa, and a first-class degree in Politics/History are essential.

Deadline for application: 7 May 2021. Information: https://www.chase.ac.uk/cdas/egyptian-south-african-relations

7. PhD Studentship (3 Year) on “Transnational Solidarity in the Global Cold War: Egyptian-South African Relations” at SOAS/Birkbeck, London

The studentship will support interdisciplinary (Politics and History) research examining the dynamics of transnational solidarity as exemplified in Egypt’s role as sponsor of South African liberation movements during the 1960s. Requirements: Fluency in Arabic, a capacity to travel freely in Africa, and a first-class degree in Politics/History are essential.

Deadline for application: 7 May 2021. Information: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CFC202/phd-studentship-transnational-solidarity-in-the-global-cold-war-egyptian-south-african-relations

8. The Study of Islam and Muslims in the shadow of the “War on Terror”: Complexity, Reflexivity and Decolonising Methodologies

This conference, taking place on Tuesday 8th and Wednesday 9th June 2021, aims to explore how the Decolonising the Curriculum Movement (DCM) at British Universities could enable research and teaching staff to tackle and transcend the aforementioned dynamics present in the study of Muslims and Islam within any discipline in the Humanities and Social Sciences. In so doing, it invites academics to critically explore the politics of engaging in research and teaching on Islam/Muslims at British universities through an exercise of self-reflection on their own research and teaching practises. It also aims to reflect more broadly on the political implications/limitations of producing knowledge about Islam/Muslims in the current socio-political context that differentially in(ex)cludes Muslim voices.

https://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/alwaleed/study-of-islam-and-muslims

Registration

This online conference is free to attend but registration is essential. Click here to register.

9. Discussion Forum on Divine Scriptures(DFDS) 

Series of meetings (Spring 2021)

1. Wednesday May 19th, 4 pm(Tehran zone): The semantics of Qur’anic Language: al-Akhira, Dr. Ghassan El Masri, Bavarian Research Center for Inter-religious Discourses (BaFID)

2. Wednesday May 26th, 4 pm(Tehran zone):purity in the Qur’an and its Biblical subtext, Prof. Gabriel Said Reynolds,University of Notre Dame

3. Wednesday June 2th, 4 pm(Tehran zone): Discursive and social psychological readings of al-Taqāwul التقاول between Noah and his people in the Qur’anic text, Dr. abdelmadjid BENHABIB, University of Tlemcen, Algeria

4. Wednesday June 9th, 4 pm(Tehran zone): Figurative and Metaphorical approach as way to interpreting the Islamic text, Dr. Mohammad Hasan Ahmadi, University of Tehran.

5. Wednesday June 16th, 4 pm(Tehran zone): Interfaith dialogue and the divine texts, Dr. Sarah Markiewicz, Humboldt University of Berlin.

Find more information and primary registration via: 

https://chat.whatsapp.com/Jdwlm06JIjOKMMvK3ppPzn

6. Art and Material Culture in the Byzantine and Islamic Worlds, edited by Evanthia Baboula and Lesley Jessop (Brill).

https://brill.com/view/title/59823

1. The BRAIS 2021 Online Series will be returning for our third panel entitled ‘Modern Islamic Movements’ on Monday 3 May.

Full details are below. To attend this and all other panels in the series for free, please register here: http://www.brais.ac.uk/conferences/brais-2021/brais-2021-online-series-registration.

Modern Islamic Movements

Monday 3 May, 2pm BST

• Dietrich Reetz (BGSMCS, Free University of Berlin) Amir or Shura: How to lead a global missionary movement of Islam like the Tablighi Jama’at
• Sara Tonsy (CHERPA, Institut d’Etudes Politique-Aix) An Alternative Political Economy in Egypt: the case of the Muslim Brotherhood
• Fabian Spengler (Tel Aviv University) The Limited Appeal of Salafiyya and Wasatiyya for Muslims in Europe

For further information about the series, including the full programme, click here: http://www.brais.ac.uk/conferences/brais-2021

2. Open- Access book –

New Readings in Arabic Historiography from Late Medieval Egypt and Syria. Proceedings of the themed day of the Fifth Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies

Brill, 2021

3. Lecturer (Education) in Middle East and Global Affairs

King’s College London – Global Institutes, School of Global Affairs

Closes: 23.5.21

https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CFP204/lecturer-education-in-middle-east-and-global-affairs

4. Language and Nature in South Arabia: online workshop series

May 4, 15:00 BST

The workshop on 4th May features Leonid Kogan, HSE University, Moscow, who will discuss his recent lexicographic research on Soqotra from a comparative-historical dimension.

• Leonid Kogan – Recent Lexicographic Research on Soqotri, with an emphasis on the comparative historical dimension.

https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/modern-south-arabian-languages/news/article/1764/language-and-nature-in-south-arabia-online-workshop-series

5. LOVA network – Harassment in the field: Reflections on safety and vulnerability during fieldwork
Webinar | LOVA Network
The LOVA network of engaged feminist anthropologists has scheduled a two-part non-prep webinar to reflect on the impact of (sexual) harassment and intimidation in the field, both for us as ethnographers and for the practice of ethnography.
Webinar – Harassment in the field: Reflections on safety and vulnerability during fieldwork

• 27 May 2021, 2PM-5PM
• 28 May 2021, 2PM-4:30PM

You can sign up at safety@lova.network  until 20 May 2021, including your name, a short (2-3 sentences) motivation, and whether you would like to attend session 1, session 2, or both.

6. Qur’ans from Morocco to Malaysia: Manuscript Studies from the Frontiers of the Islamic World

These webinars will be held via Zoom by the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies on selected Tuesdays at 5pm BST in May and June 2021. Please register online here. All welcome!

18 May: ‘Untold stories of Maghribī Qurʾans (12th-14th centuries)’, Dr Umberto Bongianino, University of Oxford

1 June: ‘Worlding the Qur’an: A corpus of 18th-19th century Illuminated Qur’an manuscripts from coastal East Africa’, Dr Zulfikar Hirji, York University, Toronto

8 June: ‘The Sulawesi diaspora floral style of Qur’an illumination’, Dr Annabel Teh Gallop, British Library

15 June: ‘The Qur’ans of Harar: An Ethiopian manuscript tradition’, Dr Sana Mirza, Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Washington DC

7. “Umm as-Surab (north-eastern Jordan): Settlement Dynamics in the Islamic periods. New data from Building Archaeology” by Piero Gilento (CNRS UMR 7041 ArScAn – Ifpo) – May 6th

https://www.ifporient.org/archaeology-mena/