Archive for October, 2021
Shii News – Ali al-Nimr Released
‘Nearly ten years after Ali al-Nimr was arrested by Saudi authorities in February 2012, he was finally released from prison this week. His mother tweeted a video <https://twitter.com/NasrahAlahmed/status/1453380165388615684?s=20> showing their emotional reunion. But amid the relief and celebration, al-Nimr’s ordeal highlights the cruelty of the Saudi justice system, which the country’s rulers have failed to meaningfully reform.’
Human Rights Watch, 28.10.21
- October 30, 2021
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.City in the Desert, Revisited: Oleg Grabar at Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi, 1964-71
Christiane Gruber and Michelle Al-Ferzly, with a foreword by Renata Holod
Kelsey Museum, 2021
An interactive PDF of the book is available for free download through the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology website, myumi.ch/0WvOk
2. Manchester Journal of Transnational Islamic Law and Practice
Volume 17 Issue 1 2021, ISSN 2633-6626
The issue can be read or downloaded at:
https://www.electronicpublications.org/catalogue/253
3. Position in the Institute of Islamic Studies, Faculty Lecturer in Persian Language
McGill University
Position Description:This position is a Faculty Lectureship in Persian Language. The appointee will be responsible for all elements of the Institute of Islamic Studies’ Persian language program. This includes teaching Persian at all three levels offered to graduate and undergraduate students. The Faculty Lecturer also coordinates and manages the program.
Job Duties: The coordination, teaching, and implementation of all elements of the Persian language program, including teaching to graduate and undergraduate students at the Institute of Islamic Studies.
Qualifications and Education Requirements:MA or PhD in Applied Linguistics or relevant related degree required. Competence in teaching elements of Iranian and Persianate culture/s is not required but will be an advantage. French is an asset.
Faculty/Department/Unit:Institute of Islamic Studies
Job Type:Contract Academic Staff (Academic Contractual)
Rank:Faculty Lecturer
Length of Appointment:Three (3) years [August 1, 2022 to July 31, 2025]
Salary:Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.
Posting Period:Please submit your application by December 1, 2021
Contact persons: Professor Michelle Hartman, Director (IIS) –director.islamic@mcgill.ca (academic) or anne.farray@mcgill.ca (administrative) queries.
Required Documents: • Cover letter and curriculum vitae • Statement of teaching philosophy (MAX: one page) • Names and contact information of three (3) referees (to be contacted later) • Further information may be asked in the application process including: lesson plans, recorded class sessions, a remote interview and/or other material.Please submit your application using Workday – the link to apply is here: https://www.mcgill.ca/hr/careers . Use a personal email address when creating an account in Workday to submit your application. Do not use @mail.mcgill.ca or @mcgill.ca email accounts to apply. See here How to Apply for a Job (for External Candidates) – McGill Academic & Administrative HR Knowledge Base_KB – Confluence
Advertisement in English:
https://mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/mcgill_careers/job/Morrice-Hall/Faculty-Lecturer–Persian-Language-_JR0000018907
Advertisement in French:https://mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/fr-CA/mcgill_careers/job/Morrice-Hall/Faculty-Lecturer–Persian-Language-_JR0000018907
4. Online seminar – 1 December 2021 – The Power of Documents: Passports and ID Cards
AKU-ISMC
Governance Programme Dialogue Series 2021/2022: Population Surveillance, the Body, and Mobility
The series examines twenty-first century population surveillance (ID cards, passports, checkpoints, and policing) in the Global South and/or spaces of its intersection with the Global North. It examines how population surveillance has been transformed through new technologies, whilst also seeking to uncover continuities with the colonial past/present. It asks how do forms of population surveillance today affect the body, movement, and power?
Lecture 2 – The Power of Documents: Passports and ID Cards
Passports, ID cards, birth certificates, and other material artefacts are crucial to how we navigate the world today. New computerised and biometric technologies also mean documents carry significant amount of personal information and data on them. Join us in this session as we discuss how states uphold regimes of deportation through documentation and databases, the politics behind how documents are designed, and the greater capacity for state control over the body.
Speakers
Mahmoud Keshavarz is a Senior Lecturer in Design Studies at HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design, University of Gothenburg. Keshavarz is the author of The Design Politics of the Passport: Materiality, Immobility, and Dissent (Bloomsbury 2019).
Nisha Kapoor is Associate Professor in Sociology at Warwick University. Her research interests are broadly concerned with racism and the security state covering topics relating to immigration, citizenship, criminalisation, Islamophobia, segregation and authoritarianism. Theoretically, she draws on critical race, postcolonial, and political theory to assist in the undertaking of this work. Her current research, still in its early stages, explores the role surveillance processes and technologies play in bordering practices in different national contexts (UK, India). She is the author of Deport, Deprive, Extradite: 21st Century State Extremism (Verso 202).
Moderator
Sai Englert is a lecturer in the Institute for Area Studies. Sai Englert works on political economy and development in the Middle East, with a focus on settler colonialism and settler labour movements. Authored works include Settlers, Workers, and the Logic of Accumulation by Dispossession, Antipode 52(6): 1647-1666.
Date and Time
Wednesday 1 December 2021, 17:00 – 18:30 (London).
Registration
Join us online via Zoom by registering here.
5. ISLAMIC ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE MUSEUM
Nadia Abu El-Haj, Barnard College/Columbia University
Renata Holod, University of Pennsylvania
Mohammad Fahim Rahimi, National Museum of Afghanistan
Alison Gascoigne, University of Southampton
Christian Greco, Museo Egizio, Turin
Ahmed Adam, University of Khartoum
Friday, November 5th, 11:00am ET
PLEASE NOTE: The US adopts winter daylight saving time slightly later than other regions. As a result, for this one event the time differences from New York vary slightly. This event begins at 11am New York time (15h London, 16h Lagos/Berlin, 17h Cairo/Beirut, 18h Addis/Istanbul, 20.00 Islamabad, 20.30 Delhi)
[Webinar] Silsila Fall 2021 Lecture Series
Expectations regarding the context and value of excavated material vary across the fields of Islamic archaeology and museology, fields with competing epistemologies and theoretical approaches. Focusing on practices of excavation and display, this panel aims to explore the often-contentious relationships between these fields. The topic is especially relevant to a moment when the colonial and racist legacies of the academy and the museum have come under increased scrutiny. The presentations will explore the implications of archaeological research conducted by museums, the legacies of such projects, and their relevance to contemporary discussions regarding the exhibition of archaeological material from the Islamic lands. A central aim is to explore the potential meaning of context, extending the term to the modern life of objects and to the human relations enabled by it.
Full details of the event and a link to register as an attendee can be found at:
https://as.nyu.edu/silsila/events/2021-2022/islamic-archaeology-and-the-museum.html
Only registered attendees will be able to access this event
6. Webinar Series – SOAS Research Seminar in Islamic Art
We are delighted to say that we are able to start the SOAS Research Seminar in Islamic Art (ReSIA) again, after the pause last year due to the pandemic. Thank you for all your requests for the seminar to resume.
The seminars will take place on the Zoom platform, at least for the moment, and because of the logistics related to Zoom the time will be 6 pm (instead of the usual 5.30 pm), London time.
You will have to register with Matty Bradley at mb@royalasiaticsociety.org who will then send you the Zoom link to access the seminar.
Our first three seminars are:
Thursday 25th November, 6pm with
Sohelia Sokhanvari – In the Age of Delirium
Abstract: This presentation will cover Sokhanvari’s artwork and explain the ideas behind how the female image has become synonymous with Iran’s ideologies. Including some of the latest works for her upcoming major solo show in 2022, she will present the story of the struggle of female cultural icons against the backlash from the conservative reactionaries and explain how after the revolution their voices were silenced, and their images banned. Sokhanvari will introduce the techniques employed in her paintings and drawings, such as the medieval process of egg tempera on calf vellum and the Iranian crude oil on paper, and will highlight how the material itself carries a strong political message that has been a matter of debate in the media.
Thursday 2nd December, 6pm with
Natasha Morris – The King and I: Qajar Portrait Miniatures
Abstract: Both portable and precious, bejewelled portrait miniatures of the Qajar Shahs were given as both diplomatic gestures and for the endowment of favour within the court. In being extensively worn and displayed on the male body, they became symbols of reverence, embodiment and fraternity. Whilst there are obvious parallels with the European production of portrait miniatures of notable persons, there are stronger links to local conceptualisations of both image and subject, specifically Shi’i traditions of portable, idealised portraits of Imams (shemayel). These glittering mementos, therefore, reveal not only a self-contained dynastic vision that could be charted in mise-en-abyme from the chest of one Qajar ruler to the next, but they also pertain to notions of the iconic and an inherently devotional attachment to a male image of power. In being passed with reverence from one man’s body to another, portrait miniatures implicate concepts of masculinity, charisma and authority that are both regal and religious.
Thursday 16th December, 6pm with
Maximilian Hartmuth – The phenomenon of ‘Oriental rooms’ in Central European residences, museums, and exhibitions, ca. 1850 to ca. 1930 – Historicity, materiality, aesthetics
Abstract: In the Europe of the long 19th century, ‘Arab’ or ‘Turkish’ rooms were far from uncommon in residences of aristocracy and bourgeoisie. Interiors with (real or alleged) provenances in Islamic lands were also exhibited at museums and fairs. There, they purported to offer insight into an alien dwelling culture. Whereas some ‘rooms’ were shipped from Damascus or Cairo, others purported to be authentic takes on their style. Occasionally, an original and an original supplement became amalgamated. This paper will present findings of a recent conference and publication venture, conducted in the context of ERC project #758099. It brought together researchers and curators to ruminate about the place of Central Europe in this international phenomenon, bringing to light (again) several truly fascinating cases. I will survey some of these cases, discussed in greater detail in a volume (“Gezimmertes Morgenland [etc.]”) published this year, with additional reflections about patterns and logics of reception, design, and appropriation.
Hope to see many of you at the events.
7. Online Symposium – Bektashism in the Southern Balkans – 30-31 October
BEKTASHISM IN THE SOUTHERN BALKANS:
Online Symposium in Memory of Efstratios Zeginis
Organisers: Paschalis Androudis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) & Dimitris Loupis (Harvard University)
To register send an email to dimitrisloupis@gmail.com. Zoom codes will be sent prior to the symposium.
Note: Times are Saturday [Athens, GR (UTC/GMT +3 hours)] & Sunday [Athens, GR (UTC/GMT +2 hours)]
DAY 1 Saturday 30 October 2021
OPENING REMARKS
16:00 – 16:15 Paschalis ANDROUDIS – Dimitris LOUPIS: The study of Bektashism in the Southern Balkans and Efstratios Zeginis
16:15 – 16:30 Chrysanthi ZEGINI – Nikolaos ZEGINIS: Our father Efstratios Zeginis and his work
SESSION A – BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION (Chair: Dimitris LOUPIS)
16:30 – 16:50 Levent KAYAPINAR: The stages of development of Bektashism in the Ottoman Period
16:50 – 17:10 Rıza YILDIRIM: Balım Sultan and the institutionalization of the Bektashi Sufi order
17:10 – 17:30 Aggeliki ZIAKA – Ioannis MYLONELIS: Bektashism, Balkan Islam and the work of Efstratios Zeginis
17:30 – 17:50 Ayşe KAYAPINAR :The process of the formation of heterodox understanding and its centers in the Balkans
17:50 – 18:20 Questions – discussion
SESSION B – SEYYID ALI SULTAN. MOVING BEKTASHISM TO THE BALKANS (Chair: Paschalis ANDROUDIS)
18:30 – 18:50 Yeliz TEBER: Tracing the life of Kızıl Deli from Anatolia to Thrace
18:50 – 19:10 Ali YAMAN – Mehmet ERSAL: The role and Importance of Seyyid Ali Sultan (Kızıl Deli) and the ocak founded on his behalf in the Alevi-Bektashi communities
19:10 – 19:30 Ayfer KARAKAYA-STUMP: A new perspective on the Çelebiyan-Babagan division within Bektashism
19:30 – 20:00: Questions – discussion
DAY 2 Sunday 31 October 2021
SESSION C – BEKTASHI SITES FROM ANATOLIA TO THRACE (Chair: Paschalis ANDROUDIS)
16:00 – 16:20 İkgül KAYA: The lodge of Seyyid Battal Gazi in the context of social continuity in a confraternity
16:20 – 16:40 Dimitris LOUPIS: Reshaping rural and urban space. Bektashi dervish settlers along the Via Egnatia in Western Thrace
16:40 – 17:00 Ayşegül KILIÇ: The impact of Bektashism on the Ottoman settlements in the Southern Balkans. Ottoman dervish lodges of Feres and their role at the security strategy
17:00 – 17:20 Aikaterini MARKOU: Sharing sacred places. The Case of two shared Muslim/Bektashi-Christian sanctuaries in Greek Thrace
17:20 – 17:40 Vanessa R. DE OBALDÍA: Megalo Dereio / Büyük Dervent Cemevi: The first official cem house in the Thracian lands of the Hellenic Republic
17:40 – 18:10 Questions – discussion
SESSION D – BEKTASHI SITES IN THE BALKANS (Chair: Dimitris LOUPIS)
18:20 – 18:40 Theodora IOANNIDOU – Evangelos Ath. PAPATHANASSIOU: Islamic graffiti in a Christian church: An unknown episode in Kastoria’s History
18:40 – 19:00 Paschalis ANDROUDIS: New historical and archaeological evidence on two 15th century Βektashi tekkes in Thessaly: Hasan Baba in Tempi and Durbalı Sultan in Asprogeia, Pharsala
19:00 – 19:20 Dragi GJORGIEV: Some traces of crypto-Christianity and links between Bektashism and Christianity on the Balkan Peninsula (XVI-XIX centuries)
19:20 – 19:50 Questions – discussion
CONCLUDING REMARKS
19:50 – 20:20 Paschalis ANDROUDIS – Dimitris LOUPIS
Organised under the aegis of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Society for the Study of Greek Orthodox East, the Greek Committee & Center of South-Eastern European Studies, and the Seminar of Ottoman Language and Palaeography.
E-flyer:
https://www.academia.edu/59896055/BEKTASHISM_IN_THE_SOUTHERN_BALKANS_An_e_Symposium_in_Mem…
- October 30, 2021
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – ‘Shi’i Political Activism in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon’ – M Kalantari
The Clergy and the Modern Middle East
Shi’i Political Activism in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon
M Kalantari
Bloomsbury, 2021
- October 28, 2021
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – CFP: Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies
Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies is an academic peer-review journal that publishes on Shiite studies.
Submission of articles for the new issue (December 31, 2021, Volume:3, Issue:2) continues to Nov 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
- October 27, 2021
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. New Exhibition – “Hidden Stories: Books Along the Silk Roads” at the Aga Khan Museum
The Aga Khan Museum is proud to announce the new exhibition Hidden Stories: Books Along the Silk Roads, which opened to the public on October 9th.
The exhibition is a collaboration with the Book and the Silk Roads (BSR) Project led by Alexandra Gillespie and based at the University of Toronto.
Please visit both the museum and the digital exhibition.
We look forward to sharing these Hidden Stories with you!
Filiz Çakır Phillip (Hidden Stories co-curator, Aga Khan Museum)
Suzanne Conklin Akbari (Hidden Stories co-curator and BSR co-Principal Investigator, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton)
2. DECOLONISING KNOWLEDGE ON EURO-MEDITERRANEAN RELATIONS
PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE | THURSDAY, 28 OCTOBER 2021, 11am CEST
Panelists will discuss the relevance and implications of “decolonising knowledge”, while also addressing Euro-Mediterranean relations in the present.
Information and registration: https://www.dipstudistorici.unito.it/do/avvisi.pl/Show?_id=j0kg
3. ONLINE Conference: “Ignaz Goldziher and His Correspondents: Islamic and Jewish Studies around the Turn of the Twentieth Century”, Universität Göttingen, 12-13 November 2021
This correspondence of over 13,000 letters constitutes the single most important source informing about the history of Arabic, Jewish, and Islamic studies and cognate fields during Goldziher‘s time.
Information, program and registration:
4. Colloque : « Islam et altérité : Quelle théologie islamique du pluralisme religieux ? », l’Institut Catholique de Paris, 19-20 novembre 2021
Ce colloque porté par le Laboratoire de recherche « Islam et altérité » permettra de dégager les lectures et les principes théologiques en islam qui président aujourd’hui pour rendre compte du pluralisme religieux. Il interrogera la manière dont est pensé le lien entre unité et diversité.
Information et inscription : https://www.eventbrite.fr/e/billets-islam-et-alterite-quelle-theologie-islamique-du-pluralisme-religieux-164822407257?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
5. Workshop: “Travel, Mobility, and Cultural Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa”, South-east Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, 9-10 April 2022
We invite paper proposals from any discipline in the humanities or social sciences that address topics relating to travel and mobility in, to, and from the MENA region in any historical era.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 December 2021. Information: https://mesana.org/resources-and-opportunities/2021/10/22/call-for-papers-travel-and-mobility-in-the-middle-east-and-north-africa
6. Conference: “Gramsci in the Middle East and North Africa”, London School of Economics, 9-10 May 2022
Antonio Gramsci has emerged as a popular theorist in work focused on resistance, revolution, popular move-ments, capitalism, political economy, memory, temporality, transnationalism and internationalism. In the wake of 2011 there is a significant revival in Gramscian perspectives in Middle East Studies. How can his work help us make sense of a moment marked by a significant expansion in resistance and uprising.
Information: https://www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east-centre/news/gramsci-in-middle-east-conference
7. HYBRID Workshop: “The Making and Unmaking of Identities in the Early Modern Mediterra-nean”, European University Institute, Florence, 12-13 May 2022
When and how did people across the Mediterranean defend their identitarian boundaries? When did show-ing/claiming an identity become a necessity? When did people lose their identity? We anticipate new insights from reconsidering these terms and demanding attention to the concepts of difference and diversity in differ-ent political and religious groups.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 December 2021. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/11419/discussions/8617952/cfp-making-and-unmaking-identities-early-modern-mediterranean
8. Call for Applications for scholarships and places in our doctoral programme
Deadline: 1 November, 2021, 12 noon CET
The Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies will admit up to ten PhD fellows to its three-year doctoral programme, which is to begin on 1 October 2022. The Graduate School is a joint institution of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, which brings together scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and area studies. The Graduate School investigates the plurality, changeability, and global connectedness of Muslim cultures and societies. Successful applicants will have a master’s degree in Arabic Studies, Central Asian Studies, History, Human Geography, Iranian Studies, Islamic Studies, Political Science, Semitic Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, South and Southeast Asian Studies, or Southeast European History.
Deadline for applications: 1 November 2021. Information: https://www.bgsmcs.fu-berlin.de/application/call_for_applications/index.html
9. Research Associate (Postdoc, 3 Years) in Oriental or Classical Studies: Ruhr University Bochum
Your task: Translation and commentary of the treatise Naḥw al-qulūb (‘Grammar of the Hearts’), written by the Arab-Persian Sufi Al-Qushayrī (376-465 AH = 986-1072/73 CE). Your profile: PhD in Oriental or Classi-cal Studies; Language skills: Arabic (excellent), Latin (desired), Experience in the field of digital processing of historical text sources (appreciated):
Deadline for applications: 31 October 2021. Information: https://www.stellenwerk-bochum.de/jobboerse/postdoc-tv-l-e-13-100-bochum-210920-491841
10. Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship (2 Years), Northwestern University
We welcome applications from early career scholars whose work focuses on non-dominant and underrepre-sented groups including but not limited to religious, ethnic, and LBGTQ minorities and otherwise marginalized groups. Scholars in all branches of the Social Sciences and Humanities may apply.
Deadline for applications: 13 January 2022. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/11419/discussions/8661283/call-applications-keyman-modern-turkish-studies-postdoctoral
11. Winter School on “Variations in Populism”, Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS), Doha, 3-13 January 2022
I aims to provide an in-depth and critical look at selected topics in the broader study of the Middle East. For participating early career scholars, it provides an opportunity to network with regional scholars, gain substan-tive knowledge and insight unavailable in their home institutions and countries, and receive feedback from respected scholars. Funding of travel expenses available.
Deadline for applications: 30 October 2021. Information: https://www.dohainstitute.org/en/Events/Winter-School-Third-Round-2022/Pages/index.aspx
12. Summer School for Doctoral Students on “The Qur`an in Inter-Christian Polemic”, Nantes, 13-17 June 2022
How have Christian authors in Europe used and appropriated the Qur’an? We are interested in how the Qur’an was used as a historical and linguistic archive, as a mine of heretical ideas and as a tool used in confessional rivalries.
Deadline for proposals: 15 December 2021. Information: https://mailchi.mp/mediterraneanseminar/summer-school-the-quran-in-inter-christian-polemic-nantes-13-17-june?e=82aeb6c61d
13. New Book Series: “Cinema and Media Cultures in the Middle East” (Peter Lang Publishing)
The purpose of this series is to demarcate and critically examine the shifting terrain of film- and media-making in the Middle East, and of practices of film and media studies regarding it, testing them both against their larger, social enabling conditions at the national, regional, and transnational levels.
Please send your book prospectus to Terri Ginsberg (Concordia University, Montréal) terri.ginsberg@con-cordia.ca . Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/8688549/cinema-and-media-cultures-middle-east
14. Upcoming Arabic Calligraphy Talk and Workshop at the Warburg Institute
A Bridge Between – The Art of Arabic Calligraphy – Online talk (4th November) & In-person workshop (11th November)
How can the art of Arabic calligraphy offer a bridge between the material and the spiritual? The visual and the verbal? As a living tradition, Arabic calligraphy is a vital element of Islamic art. In this way, it offers an important platform for discussing the nature of, and intersections between, language, art and belief. The early development of Arabic calligraphy was intimately tied not only to the emerging civilisation of Islam, but also innovations in writing materials and shifting perspectives on geometry and cosmology. Over centuries, Arabic calligraphy has evolved from its pre-Islamic conception to the modern styles of writing that are in use today. The styles and techniques that were codified and elaborated through Arabic calligraphy’s evolution continue to be taught. This two-part event series is made up of an online talk and small in-person workshop. In the online talk, Soraya Syed will describe her journey and practice as a calligrapher, drawing on both her experience as an apprentice in Istanbul and a practicing artist in London. In the small in-person workshop, Soraya will introduce participants to the materials used in calligraphy and teach them its foundational techniques.
Soraya Syed is a classically trained calligrapher, artist and filmmaker. She is considered the first Briton to receive the coveted icazetname, or calligraphy license, from Istanbul in 2005. She is part of an unbroken silsila, or chain of transmission, that goes back centuries. While embracing traditional techniques and materials, her recent practice incorporates new digital media. In this way, Soraya continually works to push the boundaries of what is expected from this traditional art form.
The online talk takes places on Thursday November 4th, 6-7.30pm GMT. More information can be found here: https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/events/arabic-calligraphy-lecture.
The in-person workshop takes place on Thursday November 11th, 5.30-7pm GMT. More information can be found here:https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/events/arabic-calligraphy-workshop
This workshop is limited to 15 participants – please book ahead to avoid disappointment.
Both events are free and open to the public thanks to the London Arts and Humanities Partnership.
15. Fall 2021 AMECYS Graduate Student Discussion Series
The Association of Middle East Children and Youth Studies (AMECYS) welcomes you to listen and engage with graduate students who will present on their research on young people in the Middle East and North Africa, and its diasporic communities. The format of the sessions is thirty minutes of presentation by the speaker followed by thirty minutes of discussion and Q&A with the audience. The AMECYS Graduate Student Discussion Series is intended to be a space for graduate students to share their cutting-edge research as well as workshop their dissertation material.
Please RSVP to Dylan Baun to attend (djb0035@uah.edu) and receive the zoom link
Friday December 10th, 11 am CST
Melis Sulos, PhD candidate, Graduate Center – CUNY
Power, Architecture, and Childhood in Turkey: The case of Children’s Palace
This paper focuses on an innovative architectural structure, Cocuk Sarayi (Children’s Palace), in Ankara in the 1930s. It attempts to locate the transformation of children’s spaces within the politics of social hygiene and modernity in the 1930s. How, for instance, did the Children’s Palace serve the medicalization of the childrearing practices in post-war Turkey? And, how did it act as a performative and symbolic space shaping the imagery and the iconography of the nation state? Putting together visuals and pamphlets, I try to discuss the influence of architectural and spatial reorganization on the history of childhood in early republican Turkey.
16. Online Conference: Expectations of justice and political power in the Islamicate world (ca. 600-1500 CE)
28 and 29 October – Online Conference
Speakers: Or Amir, Sean Anthony, Nasrin Askari (Keynote), Mustafa Banister, Enki Baptiste, Linda Darling, Sébastien Garnier, Hanna-Lena Hagemann, Najam Haider, Angela Isoldi, Büşra Kaya, Noëmie Lucas, Taryn Marashi, Christian Mauder, Aseel Najib, Marta Novo, Rana Osman, Marina Rustow, Deborah Tor.
Expectations and notions of just rule
In the Islamicate world, as elsewhere, requests for just rule surface constantly as notions of justice are debated and contested. Exemplary rule can be sought in direct and open ways, through entreaties and demands, but also subversively through irony, flattery and satire. Expectations of justice can be pursued through reform or revolution, or via secession, utopianism and millenarianism. Participants will present case studies discussing how just rule was defined and what actions and reactions it precipitated in specific historical, geographical and cultural contexts.
To view the programme see: https://emco.hcommons.org/events/event/970/
To sign up to attend the Zoom meeting mail: emco@hum.leidenuniv.nl
17. Invitation to 6th IDHN Conference on November 17, 2021
We would like to invite you all to attend the 6th IDHN Conference on Wednesday, November 17, 2021. Please find the full program of the conference as a pdf attachment below. You are welcome to share the program and invite interested colleagues and students.
We will hear four exciting presentations:
Metin M. Coşgel, Emre Özer, and Sadullah Yıldırım: Gender and Justice: A Quantitative Analysis of Women’s Participation and Victory in Ottoman Courts
Wafa Fatima Isfahani: Tracing Genealogies: Using Network Analysis to Model the Spatiotemporal Distribution of Sufi Orders
Noëmie Lucas, Clément Salah, and Chahan Vidal-Gorène: RASAM – A Dataset for the Recognition and Analysis of Scripts in Arabic Maghribi scripts
Sohaib Saeed: Al-Rāzī’s Great Exegesis: Can text reuse detection solve a longstanding debate over his sole authorship?
The Zoom link to the event will be shared with you in a separate email on November 15, 2021.
Members of the IDH Network do not have to register in order to receive the link. If you are not a member of IDHN but wish to attend the event as a guest, please register by sending us an email at registration@idhn.org.
18. Online Seminar – Islamophobia and Racism in the Secular University: An Examination of the Muslim Student Awarding Gap (Edge Hill Research Seminar 28th Oct)
Dr Reza Gholami
28th October 12 noon (Online)
More info: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/education/research/events/
Book via: https://forms.office.com/r/hEqfQ6gUCK
This paper engages with a dominant model of Islamophobia which gives race and racism primacy. It argues that such an approach is parochial, conceptually narrow and practically ineffective. I take as my case the UK’s Muslim student awarding gap – Muslims are currently the worst performing religious group at UK universities. Existing work explains this problem in terms of racism/Islamophobia. These factors are correctly identified, but a lack of analytical precision around race and religion has led strategies to fall back on ‘standard’ and largely ineffective ideas.
I argue that racial and religious disadvantage must be understood separately, though intersectionally, through Critical Race Theory and the concept of ‘religification’. Such an analysis sheds light on how institutional approaches to race and religion play a key role in the structuration and perpetuation of educational disadvantage for Muslim students. It also paves the way for more effective strategies for eradicating the awarding gap.
Reza Gholami is a Reader in Sociology of education at the University of Birmingham where he is also the Deputy Director of the Centre for Research in Race and Education (CRRE). His research interests are Islamophobia and racism in education as well as community-based forms of education. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the UCL Institute of Education. He earned his PhD in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS, University of London, where he also conducted postdoctoral research funded by the AHRC working with diverse youth and community organisations in London to improve educational and citizenship outcomes for young people. Currently, he is leading an ESRC-funded project working with non-formal educators in Birmingham to develop innovative educational materials to foster intercommunal learning.
Reza is the author of numerous books and articles in his field including co-editing the book Education and Extremisms: Re-Thinking Liberal Pedagogies in the Contemporary World (Routledge 2018). He also regularly appears in national and international media, including featuring in the BBC Radio 4 documentary ‘The Corrections’ about the Birmingham ‘Trojan Horse’ affair.
- October 26, 2021
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Book Launch (London, 8.11.21)
An Anthology of Qur’anic Commentaries, Vol. II: On Women
We are delighted to invite you to attend this book launch in-person at the Aga Khan Centre in London, and online from around the world, for this long-awaited and highly anticipated volume, published in partnership with Oxford University Press.
This work offers a thematic overview of the subject of women in the Qur’an and in the commentarial tradition known as tafsir. In this special event, the editors Dr Karen Bauer and Dr Feras Hamza will be in discussion with a panel of discussants including Dr Sarah Savant, Dr Walid Saleh, Dr Yasmin Amin, and Dr Anna Chrysostomides.
Registration is essential (via Eventbrite or Zoom). Please note the event will be filmed and livestreamed.
Date: Monday 8 November, 5:00pm-7:15pm (GMT)
Venue: Aga Khan Centre (register on Eventbrite)
For more information and to register, visit:
2. The University of Oslo invites applications for the MA program in Middle East Studies.
Tuition-free two year graduate program at a leading European University. Courses are taught in English. Student visas give work permit up to twenty hours per week. See program page here for more information.
3. Lecturer in Arabic Language, University of Pennsylvania
The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania announces a position at the rank of full-time Lecturer in the Arabic Language Program starting in the academic year 2022-23. The appointment will be for an initial year with the possibility of annual renewal for up to two additional years, contingent upon a satisfactory performance review and approval of the Dean. Employee benefits are provided. Applicants for the position should demonstrate a primary focus on language education, and should have received at least a Master’s degree, and preferably a Ph.D., in Education, Arabic Language, Literature, Linguistics, or a related field. Native or near-native competency in Arabic language, and fluency in English, are required. Preference will be given to applicants who have significant teaching experience at all levels of Arabic language at post-secondary American institutions. Demonstrated proficiency in current second/foreign language teaching methodologies (especially content-based instruction) and meaningful application of technologies in language instruction are highly desirable. Duties include teaching Arabic language classes (five classes per academic year) at any assigned level, holding regular office hours and attending meetings of the Arabic Language Program. Additional responsibilities could include working with the appropriate faculty to develop and design the curriculum, and to evaluate teaching goals, student outcomes and programmatic effectiveness.
We seek a language educator interested in furthering the study of Arabic language and culture at Penn, and who values interdisciplinary research, collaboration, and collegiality and the promotion of a culturally diverse intellectual community. Candidates should apply online at: https://apply.interfolio.com/96530.
Please submit: a cover letter, CV, teaching statement, sample syllabus for the most advanced language course taught (including content courses), and contact information for a minimum of three individuals who have agreed to provide a recommendation letter. The University will contact the recommenders with instructions on how to submit their letters. We also encourage applicants to upload additional documents if available: 1) recent teaching evaluations including written comments, 2) a link to a video recording of a class, and 3) a description of the video and relevant materials. The review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.
4. Ḥajar invites you to the first Online Workshop on the topic:
“Muslim and non-Muslim identities through material culture in the medieval Islamic world“, 29 October 2021.
Ḥajar is a collective of archaeologists working in different parts of Islamic history and geography and on different topics (https://hajar.hypotheses.org/about).
The program of the first workshop:
Muslim and non-Muslim identities through
material culture in the medieval Islamic world
Friday, 29th of October 2021
15:45 – 19:00 UTC+2 (Paris/Brussels time)
Chairs: Sterenn Le Maguer-Gillon (Institut Catholique de Paris) and José C. Carvajal López (University of Leicester)
First Part (speakers: 25 min each)
Marcos García-García (University of York): Eat not its flesh: food and Islamic identity during the emergence of al-Andalus (8th-11th c.)
Atiyeh Taghiei (University of California): Porous boundaries and unexpected practice: aninterdisciplinary lens on identity in early Islamic Iran
Robert Carter (Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities): Material culture, identity and faith at the Christian sites of the Arabian Gulf region (ca. 6th-9th centuries AD)
Question session (15 minutes)
Break (15 minutes)
Second Part (discussants: 25 min each)
Uriel Simonsohn, University of Haifa
Delphine Ortis, ceias-EHESS/INALCO
Open debate (30 minutes)
Public invited to participate
Free registration at hajararchaeology@gmail.com
A link will be sent in due course
Deadline: 26th of October 2021
In each event there will be a particular topic brought up for discussion. Three speakers will present a brief lecture each (no more than 25 mins long) and after a break, two discussants of different disciplines will have the same time to develop their thoughts on the topic and the presentations added. Finally, the event will close with a 30-min debate in which the public will be allowed to address questions and comments to the speakers and to the discussants.
5. HIAA Graduate Programmes – Writing a Dissertation in Islamic Art & Architectural History – 15 November
The HIAA Board is pleased to announce the first event of our graduate student programming, please see the details below:
Panel: Writing a Dissertation in Islamic in Islamic Art & Architcctural History
Panelists: Catherine Asher (University of Minnesota), Martina Rugiadi (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Chanchal Dadlani (Wake Forest University), Zohreh Soltani (Ithaca College)
Date & Time: Monday, November 15, 2021 at 12 pm (Eastern)
Register at: https://umn.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEkdeyuqDkoG9PjMJJFMDvn8LI_pQ2rXtM1
This panel discussion is open to all graduate students working in topics related to Islamic art.
We encourage faculty members to circulate this to their students.
To make the discussion as relevant as possible, we ask participants to complete this questionnaire in advance: https://forms.gle/7PpkdiVoZ9VhC3E39
Please submit responses by Monday, November 8, 2021.
6. PAINTING IN EARLY MODERN BAGHDAD
Wednesday, October 27th, 12:30pm ET
[Webinar] Silsila Fall 2021 Lecture Series
This talk focuses on the rise and fall of a vibrant yet short-lived art market in early modern Baghdad. From the final decade of the sixteenth to the first few years of the seventeenth century, a period of relative peace, there arose a lively art market – as witnessed by over thirty illustrated manuscripts and sundry single-page paintings, most of which show a stylistic coherence. The paintings appear to draw on elements from Ottoman, Safavid, and Indian paintings. This talk will try to contextualize this corpus of works that appeared in the frontier province of Baghdad.
Full details of the event and a link to register as an attendee can be found at:
https://as.nyu.edu/silsila/events/2021-2022/painting-in-early-modern-baghdad–melis-taner-.html
Only registered attendees will be able to access this event
7. CFP – Stucco Decoration in the Architecture of Iran and Neighbouring Lands: New Research – New Horizons (University of Bamberg, 5-7 May 2022)
Islamic Art and Archaeology at the University of Bamberg is pleased to announce the forthcoming conference dedicated to research on stucco decoration in Iran and the neighbouring lands. The aim of this conference is to bring together scholars from several countries and to communicate the latest research finds and innovative methodology for research of stuccos.
The conference will take place in presence, possibly with extension in hybrid-remote form, at the University of Bamberg, May 5-7, 2022.
We warmly invite paper abstracts for participation at the conference by December 1, 2021
For the full CfP and further information, please refer to https://www.uni-bamberg.de/en/islamart/events-and-cooperations/stucco-conference/
8. ONLINE PANEL: Open Access Week and International Resources: the South Asia Open Archives (SAOA) and the Arabic Collections Online (ACO)
Next week (October 25- 31) is International Open Access Week, and we would like to invite you to a special panel entitled “Open Access Week and International Resources: the South Asia Open Archives (SAOA) and the Arabic Collections Online (ACO).” It will take place 2:00-3:00pm on Tue, October 26th. In this panel, four area studies subject experts, from the Columbia University and NYU Libraries, with an expertise in the Middle East and South Asia, will discuss two collaborative open access projects, namely the CRL member based South Asia Open Archives (SAOA) project, and the inter-institutional collaborative Arabic Collections Online (ACO).
The South Asia Open Archives (SAOA) is a collaborative partnership of 27 major research libraries and archives in the United States, India, Nepal and Pakistan. This open access initiative is aimed at addressing both the current scarcity of digital resources relevant to South Asian studies and the costliness of commercial databases by giving researchers worldwide open access to collections. More than 24,000 items (over 700,000 pages) have been made accessible thus far.
The Arabic Collections Online (ACO) is a partnership of several major research libraries in the United States and the Middle East. It aims to digitize Arabic monographs in the partners’ collections and more generally, enhance access to non-Roman resources from and about the Middle East. To date over 17,000 volumes from Arabic-speaking countries, Turkey and Iran have been digitized and made available.
The panel begins with a talk by two SAOA member librarians, who will provide background on the rationale and vision of this project, and address challenges and accomplishments thus far. Then two Middle East Studies librarians will offer an overview of the ACO project, focusing on the Open Access nature of the project, international collaboration and copyright issues.
Speakers: Aruna Magier, Librarian for South Asian Studies, International Relations & Food Studies, NYU Libraries; Gary Hausman, South Asian Studies Librarian, Columbia University Libraries; Guy Burak, Librarian for Middle Eastern, Islamic and Jewish Studies, NYU Libraries; Peter Magierski, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Librarian, Columbia University Libraries.
Please register for the event to receive the Zoom invitation.
- October 23, 2021
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Reuters: ‘Iraq’s Marsh Arabs battle drought and pollution’ (14.10.21)
‘Iraq’s Marsh Arabs battle drought and pollution
Posted October 14, 2021
On an island surrounded by the narrow waterways of the Chebayesh Marshes in southern Iraq, Raad Hamid Hashem rises with the sun to milk his herd of water buffalo. But thanks to drought, this summer has been tough for Hashem. Soraya Ali reports.’
- October 22, 2021
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – ‘Dynamic Quietism and the Consolidation of the ḥawza ʿilmīyya of Qum during the Pahlavi Era’ – M Mesbahi
‘Dynamic Quietism and the Consolidation of the ḥawza ʿilmīyya of Qum during the Pahlavi Era’
Mohammed Mesbahi,
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies,
20 October, 2021
- October 21, 2021
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Online Event: ‘The Hazara and Shi’a of Afghanistan | Wed. Oct 20 @ 7:30 EST’
EVENT: The Hazara and Shi’a of Afghanistan
Wednesday, October 20
7:30pm EST
Register here for Zoom link:
bit.ly/AfghanVoices
The Shia and Hazara communities in Afghanistan are regularly subjected to targeted killings, violence, and persecution based on their identity as a religious or ethnic minority. In the past 20 years, Hazaras have faced kidnappings, indiscriminate attacks on their schools and hospitals, and targeted bombings of Shia religous and cultural centers by both the Taliban and ISIS. Hazaras faced a genocide under the first Taliban regime from 1995 to 2001; and now with the Taliban back in power, these atrocities will continue to worsen.
This event intends to raise much needed awareness of the plight of the Hazara and Shia communities and to discuss solutions and efforts that allies in the international community should take to protect these vulnerable communities from further persecution under the Taliban.
Co-sponsored by:
Afghan Diaspora for Equality and Progress (ADEP)
Afghans For A Better Tomorrow
American Muslim Bar Association (AMBA)
Shia Racial Justice Coalition
Justice For Muslims Collective
- October 20, 2021
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Invitation to Lecture on South Asian Manuscripts
We are pleased to announce a public lecture by Ms. Yasmeen Khan, Head of the Paper Conservation at the Library of Congress, on October 21, 5:00–6:30 PM EST (5:00–6:45 PM CST). The title of her presentation is “From the Cover Inwards: A Conservator’s Approach to Reading Bound Manuscripts.” Please register for the conference using the QR Code or link provided in the flyer. Registration is free.
Registration link: https://upenn.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-01fqS91TCqPheKmfw44kQ
The lecture will be presented in a hybrid mode. We will be hosting an in-person viewing party at the Van Pelt Library (Lippincott 242, Seminar Room). No registration is required for the in-person event. Please email robbme@upenn.edu if you would like to join us for the after-party dinner.
The public lecture is sponsored by the Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography, Rare Book School, University of Virginia, as well as by the University of Pennsylvania’s South Asia Center, Department of Religious Studies, and Department of South Asia Studies.
This public lecture will be the keynote address for a day-long symposium that we are organizing virtually at the Annual Conference on South Asia at the University of Wisconsin–Madison on the same day. The title of our symposium is “Material Texts in Post-Print South Asia: Approaches to “History of the Book.” Please find the details of our symposium and presenters as an attachment here.
We look forward to your attendance at the public lecture.
Sincerely,
Megan Robb and Pranav Prakash
Megan Robb
Julie and Martin Franklin Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
University of Pennsylvania | College of Arts and Sciences
robbme@upenn.edu | (215) 898-7425 | meganeatonrobb.com
Pranav Prakash
Junior Research Fellow
Christ Church, University of Oxford
2. The British Library:
Who reads digitised Malay manuscripts?
The British Library holds a small but important collection of about 120 manuscripts written in the Malay language and the Jawi (Arabic) script, originating from all over maritime Southeast Asia.
3. All are welcome to the second webinar in the Alwaleed Centre’s ‘Environmentalism and the Muslim World’ series taking place online this Wednesday 20th October at 5pm BST.
‘The Climate Crisis and Muslim Responses’ will explore some of the current debates related to Muslim environmentalism in the face of climate change. Speakers will discuss Islamic approaches to climate change and climate action, and their relationship to global responses.
We are delighted to be welcoming Dina Abdelzaher (University of Houston-Clear Lake), Ibrahim Ozdemir (Uskudar University) and Najma Mohamed (Green Economy Coalition) with the event chaired by Jacob Doherty (University of Edinburgh).
Further information can be found on the series webpage here: www.alwaleed.ed.ac.uk/cop26
4. ONLINE PhD Discussion: “Al-haz al-awfar wa al-ghibta al-rajiha: Parents and the Wellbeing of Children in the Second Half of the Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Tripoli through the sijillat of the Islamic Sharia Court” by Reda Rafei (Texas Tech University), Association of Middle East Children and Youth Studies (AMECYS), 5 November 2021, 11:00 am CST
The PhD candidate focuses on cases related to personal disputes (divorce, custody, guardianship, and ali-mony), employment in waqf establishments, and iltizam contracts.
Information and registration: https://networks.h-net.org/node/8378/discussions/8533936/fall-2021-amecys-graduate-student-discussion-series
5. ONLINE Book Launch: “Muslim Masculinities in Literature and Film” by Peter Cherry (Bilkent and MENACS), University of Sussex, 16 November 2021, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm GMT
Cherry examines how migrant and diaspora protagonists negotiate their masculinity in a climate of Islamophobic and anti-migrant rhetoric. Cherry proposes a transcultural reading of these novels and films that exposes how conceptions of ‘Britishness’, ‘Muslimness’ and those of masculinity are unstable and contingent constructs shaped by migration, interaction with other cultures, and global and local politics.
Registration: https://universityofsussex.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Sq5aaowDRC6_nL6qM9amiA ; ID 987 8094 2530
6. International Symposium on “Ottoman Economic History in Memoriam Mehmet Genç”, Marmara University, Istanbul, 18-19 December 2021
The Symposium aims at providing a scholarly setting to discuss the significance of economic history and the current scholarly works in this field, as well as at increasing the general interest in economic history. Turkish and English papers will be accepted for the symposium.
Information: https://uoits.gungoren.bel.tr/en/
7. Conference: “The Sages of Egypt: Their Works and Activity from the 17th to the Mid-19th Centuries”, Schocken Institute, Jerusalem, 7 June 2022
This conference tries to bring to light the works of rabbis in the fields of halacha, Jewish Though, Kabbalah, homiletics, and exegesis, and to illuminate the implications of these works for the cultural, social, and religious life of Egyptian Jews of the era.
Deadline for abstracts: 28 November 2021. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/28655/discus-sions/8600019/cfp-sages-egypt-their-works-and-activity-17th-mid-19th-centuries
8. BRISMES 2022 Conference: “Exploring and Contesting the (Re)production of Coloniality in the Middle East: Borders, Transnationalism, and Resistance”, MECACS, University St Andrews, 4-6 July 2022
With the global and historic calls for decolonisation, reparations, and justice increasingly being made and heard within the academy, this conference seeks to amplify and deepen the conversation on (de)coloniality within Middle East studies.
Deadline for abstracts: 22 November 2021.
Information: https://www.brismes.ac.uk/conference
9. “34. Deutscher Orientalistentag (DOT) / 34th German Oriental Congress” Combined with the “28th International Congress of the German Middle East 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 abstracts: 31 December 2021. Information: https://dot2022.de/en/call-for-papers/
10. Associate Professor of the Study of Religion with a Specialisation in Religion and Politics (Focus MENA), University of Oslo
Qualification requirements: PhD or equivalent academic qualifications within the study of religion/comparative religion/history of religion specialised in religion and politics. The position is relevant to MENA studies insofar as it opens up expertise within Islam, Christianity and/or Judaism, and is located at a department with a big MENA research group.
Deadline for applications: 1 November 2021. Information: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/210261/associate-professor-of-the-study-of-religion-with-a-specialisation-in-religion-and-politics
11. Assistant Professor in Medieval History of the Mediterranean and/or Islamic World, Union College, New York
The applicant should be conversant in the methods of digital history. A demonstrated potential for successful research and publication is highly desirable.
Deadline for applications: 15 November 2021.
Information: https://jobs.union.edu/en-us/job/492976/assistant-professor-history
12. Assistant Professor of Modern Iberian and North African Studies, Tulane University, Louisiana
We seek applicants whose work engages twentieth- or twenty-first-century literary and cultural production in Spain and North Africa. The successful candidate will be expected to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Spanish and English.
Application review will begin on 1 December 2021. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/95803
13. Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern History, Utah State University
Specializing in any period from the medieval to the modern. Candidates should be able to teach one-half of a two-course World History survey and contribute to the department’s undergraduate and graduate curricula.
Deadline for applications: 1 November 2021.
14. Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern History and International Relations, William & Mary, Virginia
We seek applications for a jointly-appointed position at the Assistant Professor level in modern Middle East-ern history, including Iran and Central Asia, and International Relations.
Deadline for applications: 15 November 2021.
Information: https://jobs.wm.edu/postings/44119
15. Assistant Professor in Early Modern Mediterranean Religion, Northwestern University, Illinois
The successful candidate will be interested in the varied routes of religious, philosophical, and material ex-change connecting Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and/or the Americas from 1500-1800. May specialize in Christianity, Islam, and/or Judaism.
Deadline for applications: 15 November 2021.
Information: https://religious-studies.northwestern.edu/about/open-faculty-positions/early-modern-search-2021.html
16. Assistant Professor of History with Expertise in World History and the Islamic World, Augsburg University, Minnesota
Requirements: A Ph.D. in related fields is required. Strong candidates will have demonstrated an ability to teach undergraduate courses in history, a commitment to student-centered teaching practices, and research experience.
Deadline for applications: 15 November 2021. Information: https://augsburg.interviewexchange.com/jobof-ferdetails.jsp?JOBID=137512
17. Junior-level Professor in History, Focus on the Middle East, Warren Wilson College, North Carolina
We are seeking a dynamic teacher-scholar whose work highlights transnational, international, comparative, and/or world perspectives.
Deadline for applications: 28 November 2021. Information: https://warren-wilson.breezy.hr/p/baaaede45764-professor-of-history
18. Assistant Professor in the History of the British Empire (19th-20th Centuries), Focus Middle East, University of South Florida, Tampa
PhD in History or related discipline required. The successful candidate will be expected to teach upper and lower division undergraduate courses as well as graduate seminars. The position requires an active research agenda.
Deadline for applications: 1 December 2021.
Information: https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=62126
19. International Spring School “Mobility and Mobilisation in Islamic Societies”, European Net-work for Islamic Studies (ENIS), Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University, Yogyakarta, 21-23 March 2022
The objective is to study how mobility of people – both in the past and in the present, be they Muslims or non-Muslims, inside and outside the Islamic world – has affected the Muslim societies. PhD candidate stu-dents and advanced MA students are invited.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 November 2021. Information: https://nisis.sites.uu.nl/2021/07/27/nisis-spring-school-2022-mobility-and-mobilisation-in-islamic-societies/
20. HYBRID Summer School for Doctoral Students: “The Qur’an in Inter-Christian Polemic”, University of Nantes, 13-17 June 2022
How have Christian authors in Europe used and appropriated the Qur’an? Format: A series of roundtables with presentations of research by PhD students and postdocs. Each roundtable will be hosted by two col-leagues. Presentations may be made in English or in French.
Deadline for applications: 15 December 2021. Information: https://euqu.eu/2021/09/22/summer-school-the-quran-in-inter-christian-polemic/
21. Articles on “Borders and Boundaries” for Special Issue of “Oxford Middle East Review” Vol. VI
We invite applicants to investigate the symbolic and/or physical manifestation of borders and their impacts on the political, economic, social, and/or cultural landscape of the Middle East and North Africa region. Em-pirical, comparative, and theoretical approaches are encouraged, and we also welcome projects centred around specific case studies
Deadline for submissions: 26 November 2021. Information: https://omerjournal.com/category/news/
22. Articles on “Sufism in the Modern World” for Special Issue of the Journal “Religions” (A&HCI)
This issue analyzes various aspects of the presence of Sufism in the modern world. Scholars from different fields are invited to approach the topic from their own specialism or from an interdisciplinary perspective. The journal is indexed in the ATLA Religion Database and Web of Science. All articles are published online soon after their acceptance.
Deadline for manuscript: 30 June 2022. Information: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/Sufism_Modern_World
23. MESA Board Statement on Hacking and Cyber Surveillance as Digital Violence
Several scholars of Iran in the UK and North America have been targeted by Iranian hackers posing as a known scholar who invites the targeted scholar to participate in an online conference or a collaborative re-search project. Other scholars have been hacked through their cell phones by Middle Eastern governments – most notably, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates – allegedly using the Israeli company NSO Group’s Pegasus software. Etc.
We encourage all scholars of the MENA to guard against the threat of hacking to the extent possible. They should exercise caution when opening and responding to emails, store data and communications on multiple devices, and use encrypted communication whenever available.
24. For a full programme of Invisible East’s Manuscripts & Texts Reading Colloquium (IMaT) 2021: Letters, The Faculty of Oriental Studies, Oxford, Tuesdays, 12 October to 30 November 2021
see https://invisibleeast.web.ox.ac.uk/event/imt-reading-colloquium#/
25. AKU ISMC
Population Surveillance, the Body, and Mobility
Digitalising Borders
Occupation and Surveillance in Palestine & Kashmir
in Conversation
Lecture 2: Occupation and Surveillance in Palestine & Kashmirin Conversation
Join us as we hear from four scholars of Kashmir and Palestine discussing surveillance techniques to draw together the shared—as well as varied—experiences of life under military occupation. In militarised zones, as surveillance permeates every aspect of daily life—from checkpoints to multiple identity cards, cyber-surveillance, and policing, we ask, what strategies do people use for mobility, resistance, and everyday life? We also discuss the ways in which Kashmir and Palestine are sites for technological experimentation and innovation, reflecting a powerful colonial present.
Speakers
Yara Hawari is the Senior Analyst of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network. She completed her PhD in Middle East Politics at the University of Exeter, where she taught various undergraduate courses and continues to be an honorary research fellow. In addition to her academic work, which focused on indigenous studies and oral history, she is a frequent political commentator writing for various media outlets including The Guardian, Foreign Policy, and Al Jazeera English.
Ather Zia, is an Assistant Professor in the Anthropology Department and Gender Studies Program at University of Northern Colorado Greeley. She holds a doctorate degree from the Department of Anthropology at the University of California at Irvine. She also has two Masters Degrees: one in Communications from California State University Fullerton and another in Journalism from Kashmir University. Ather is also a poet and journalist. In 2013 she won the second prize for ethnographic poetry on Kashmir from the Society for Humanistic Anthropology (American Anthropological Association). She is the founder-editor of Kashmir Lit, a digital journal based on writings on Kashmir. www.kashmirlit.org . She is the author of Resisting Disappearance: Military Occupation and Women’s Activism in Kashmir (Washington, 2020).
Toufic Haddad is a social scientist whose research focuses on the political economy of development and conflict in the Middle East, and Israel-Palestine in particular. He is the Director of the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL), Kenyon Institute in East Jerusalem, and the author of Palestine Ltd: Neoliberalism and Nationalism in the Occupied Territory (I.B. Tauris 2016). In 2020 he co-won a British Academy seed grant to establish a Kashmir-Palestine scholars solidarity network.
Mohamad Junaid, is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA). His work engages on questions like colonial continuities in postcolonial state formation, aporias of democracy and self-determination, history and memory, space and place, and visual logics of geopolitics. He is the author of a number of works including, “The price of blood: state, precarity, and the moral discourse of loyalty in Kashmir,” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and Middle East, (2020) 40 (1): 166–179, and “Counter-maps of the Ordinary: Occupation, subjectivity, and Walking under Curfew in Kashmir, ” Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power.
Moderator
Mehroosh Tak is lecturer in Agribusiness at Royal Veterinary College, University of London. She is an applied economist researching agricultural policies and food systems in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). She holds a PhD from SOAS. She regularly coordinates and contributes toward scholarly and public discussion on Kashmir.
Date and Time
25 October 2021, 13:00-15:30 (London).
Registration
Join us online via Zoom by registering here
26. 2021 Winter Afghan Digital Scholarship Award
The Governance Programme at the Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, London, is pleased to announce its 2021 Winter Afghan Digital Scholarship Award. The award offers up to £4,000 per award to scholars from the social sciences and humanities, policy-makers, journalists, poets, and other creatives for the pursuit of their own projects and to produce a deliverable that centres on Afghanistan and its diaspora and links to the Governance Programme’s research interests (Please see the lists below). The award will cover work undertaken during November and December 2021.
There are no limitations on where you are based in geographic terms to be able to apply for this scheme, but preference will be given to applicants who currently reside in or have resided in Afghanistan in the past eight years (2014-2021).
Governance Programme Research Themes of Interest
Governance and Religion
Governance and Religious minorities
Governance and the Covid-19 Pandemic
Governance and Civil Society
Governance and Ecologies
Governance and Popular Culture
Governance and Surveillance
Governance and Migration
Governance and Citizenship
Governance and Gender
Governance and Law (Islamic, secular, constitutional, human rights, and informal)
Governance and Resources (water, minerals, gas, and others)
Governance and Education
Governance and Conflict (and Peace)
History of Governance
Governance and Pluralism
Please note the Governance Programme accepts a broad definition of governance that includes the management of populations, economies, societies, and ecological environments by state actors and institutions, international organisations, non-governmental actors and institutions, political groups, informal economies and politics, non-state actors, civil society groups, and others.
Examples of Deliverables*
Working paper (social sciences and humanities and/or policy related);
Short video(s);
Photo-essay(s);
Journalistic essay;
Literary essay;
Poetry;
Other materials in agreement with the Governance Programme team.
*Deliverables can be submitted in other languages, such as Dari and Pashto, and will be translated into English. Deliverables will be made public and open access on the Governmenance Programme’s webpages.
Deadline for application submissions: Tuesday 03 November 2021, 17:00 UK Time.
Outcomes announced: Friday 12 November 2021.
Submission Process
Who can Apply?
Academics pursuing/holding a PhD in the social sciences and humanities;
Policy-makers;
Journalists;
Poets;
Creatives;
Others, where applicable.
Please submit:
- Your CV (2-pages);
2. A completed application form (download from here).Where to Submit?
Please submit your application to ismc.governance@aku.edu with the subject headline: 2021 Winter Afghan Digital Scholarship Award Submission. Submissions made without this headline are not guaranteed to be seen by our selection committee.
Have Questions?
If you have any questions please email ismc.governance@aku.edu with the subject headline: 2021 Winter Afghan Digital Scholarship Award Query. Submissions made without this headline are not guaranteed to be seen by our selection committee.
27. California State University – Bakersfield – Assistant Professor, Islam
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=62221
Closing Date: 1 January, 2020
- October 19, 2021
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment