Archive for 2021

‘Fearing Persecution, Afghan Hazara Shia Muslim Families Find Refuge in Pakistan’s Quetta’
News18
3.9.21

 

1.The current issue of The Art Bulletin (103:3, Sept 2021), includes Alexander Brey’s excellent article on jigsaw masonry, ornament, and Umayyad world-making, “Fragmentation and Reassembly: Decoration, Technique, and Meaning at an Early Islamic Platform” (pp. 17-41), as well as Angela VanHaelen’s “Strange Things for Strangers: Transcultural Automata in Early Modern Amsterdam” (pp. 42-68), including the works of al-Jazari and the Banu Musa.

For general info, see: https://www.collegeart.org/publications/art-bulletin/https://www.collegeart.org/publications/art-bulletin/

For information regarding the Bulletin’s submission process: https://www.collegeart.org/publications/art-bulletin/submissions)

 

 

 

2. Webinar Series – Deccan Heritage Foundation

Restarts 10 September.

Registration page is now available: https://www.deccanheritagefoundation.uk/events/webinars/registration

For previous recordings, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfT8egrdGJ1yWYAWgCz3oIQ

 

 

 

3. Website Announcement – Hazine Post – The Pen’s Screech: Muslim Spiritual Practice of Arabic Calligraphy

A new essay titled The Pen’s Screech: Muslim Spiritual Practice of Arabic Calligraphy has been published on the Hazine website. The author, Noman Baig, discusses the challenges of developing a theoretical and practice-based Arabic calligraphy course in an academic setting and takes us through the life of the Pakistani Arabic calligraphy master Kashif Khan. The essay is an intimate account of how Muslims calligraphers approach the practice of Arabic calligraphy both practically and spiritually. Here’s an excerpt:

“To propose and teach a practice-based course in a highly academic setting is a formidable task. Practitioners usually face resistance from theoretically minded academics who perceive hands-on training as a lowbrow vocation. Last year in 2020, after practicing Islamic calligraphy for a year under a disciple of Kashif Khan (b. 1978), I decided to teach an undergraduate course on the subject at the newly established liberal arts college Habib University in Karachi, Pakistan.

 

 

 

4. Call for Applications – American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT) Fellowships, 2022-2023

The American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT) is pleased to announce 2022-2023 fellowship programs for students and scholars based in the U.S. and Canada:

ARIT / National Endowment for the Humanities Advanced Fellowships for Research in Turkey cover all fields of the humanities, including prehistory, art, archaeology, anthropology, literature, and linguistics, as well as all aspects of history.  The fellowships support applicants who have completed their academic training.  The fellowships may be held for terms ranging from four months to a full year.

ARIT Fellowships for Research in Turkey are offered for research in ancient, medieval, or modern times, in any field of the humanities and social sciences.  Post-doctoral and advanced doctoral fellowships may be held for various terms, for terms from one month up to one academic year.

Applications for ARIT and ARIT-NEH fellowships must be submitted to ARIT by November 1, 2021.  The fellowship committee will notify applicants in late January 2022.

ARIT Summer Fellowships for Advanced Turkish Language in Istanbul offers intensive advanced study of Turkish at Bogazici University for summer 2022.  Participants must have two years of Turkish language study or the equivalent.  The application deadline will be in early February 2022.  The fellowships cover round-trip airfare to Istanbul, application and tuition fees, and a maintenance stipend.

For further information please see the ARIT webpage at https://aritweb.org/fellowships/

 

 

 

5. Keynote lecture by Maxim Romanov for the 3rd Summer school in Islamicate digital humanities for scholars in manuscript studies held in Hamburg University on Monday 6th September at 5:30 pm (CEST) Hamburg time.

This is the zoom link for attending the lecture:

 

 

 

6. 2021-2022 Baskerville Institute Lecture Series begins September 22nd at 12 PM (MT) or 2 PM (EST).

This lecture is entitled “Peace Corps in Iran: A History of Friendship and Contributions” by Professor Jasamin Rostam-Kolayi. 

The lecture coincides with the 60th anniversary of the founding of the US Peace Corps and we are delighted to start the Baskerville Institute Lecture Series with Professor Rostam-Kolayi.

Jasamin Rostam-Kolayi is Professor of History and Department Chair at California State University, Fullerton. She is the director of an oral history project on Peace Corps Iran and has interviewed many former volunteers. Her articles are published in Iranian Studies, Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, and Middle East Critique, and book chapters in Iran and the Surrounding World, The Making of Modern Iran: State and Society under Riza Shah, and The Routledge Handbook of the Global Sixties.

Though studies of Iran-U.S. relations of the late twentieth century often narrate accounts of bitter resentment and deep mistrust, the story of the U.S. Peace Corps program in Iran, which operated from 1962 to 1976, provides a complex picture of engagement between Iranians and Americans. This talk discusses how the Peace Corps came to Iran, its formative years and peak in the mid-to-late-1960s, why it departed from Iran and its layered legacy at the program’s 60th anniversary.

Register Now: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7edRNAmuT1irKHQxo7od6g

 

 

 

7. The Portolan, Issue 111: British Mapping of Afghanistan (Ristow Prize), Joachim Lelewel’s Editing of Early Maps, Exploration of the Southwest, Spanish Enlightenment, Vavassore’s World Map, and more

Below is information on the Fall 2021 issue of The Portolan recently published and mailed. See https://washmapsociety.wildapricot.org/about-the-portolan.

THE PORTOLAN: JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON MAP SOCIETY
ISSUE 111 (Fall 2021)
————————————————————–
Issue 111 (Fall 2021) was published in August 2021 and is in distribution to all members of the Washington Map Society.

This issue includes Emily Boak’s 2020 Ristow prize-winning essay on the British mapping of Afghanistan, Matthew Edney’s article on Joachim Lelewel’s editing early maps, Wesley A. Brown’s favorite map that engages James W. Abert’s exploration of the southwestern United States, Dirk de Pagter’s journey of maps by Don Juan Corradi, Donald McGuirk’s discussion of Giovanni Vavassore’s Tuto il Mondi Tereno (c. 1522), Ira Lourie’s inquiry about A.J. Johnson’s maps, and four book reviews.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Portolan is published three times per year; issue 112 is due for release in late December 2021 / early January 2022.

 

 

 

8. Call for Papers: 8th Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies/Intensive Course

We are pleased to announce the Eighth Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies, which will take place at the Philipps-Universität Marburg.

As in preceding years, the conference will have both themed and open sessions (7-9 July 2022), and it will be preceded by a three-day intensive course (4-6 July 2022) presenting a multi-disciplinary approach to environmental studies in pre-modern Egypt.

Themed Day: This year’s conference will be a joint cooperation of the Faculty of Islamic Studies at the University of Marburg and the EGYLandscape Project (www.egylandscape.org). As such, the themed portion of the conference on the 7^th of July will be “Environment and Nature in the Mamluk Sultanate”. With environmental studies of the Mamluk period a growing but still new field, this themed day will survey the topic broadly. We welcome papers related to land use, hydrology and irrigation, disease and famine, flora and fauna, crops and food, and anything related to these topics. This theme may be interpreted and explored from a literary, political, art historical, economic, archaeological, or any other approach. The focus is on broadening the scope and view of environmental studies of the Mamluk Sultanate.

For the themed day, a maximum of 12 to 15 paper proposals will be selected. If there are more proposals received on this theme, some of the authors who are not selected for the conference may be given the possibility to publish their contributions in the conference’s proceedings. Each paper will be allocated twenty minutes with an additional ten minutes for discussion.

Paper Panels: The remaining two days of the conference (8 and 9 July) will be structured in panels, which may focus on any aspect of the intellectual, political, social, economic, and artistic life of the Mamluk period. The panels will be organized into presentations of three to four papers of twenty minutes each. Panel proposals must be made by a representative, who will be responsible for the panel’s organization. Please note that in case of the cancellation of 2/3 or 3/4 papers in a panel, the panel will be withdrawn from the program.

Language: The official language of the conference and its proceedings will be English.

Fees: The conference registration fees will be fifty (50) euros for participants and attendees. A farewell dinner will take place on the last day (9 July) at a cost to be determined. Payment of the fees (registration and farewell dinner) must be received by 30 April 2022 (information on the method of payment to be used will be provided in the first circular, which will be sent in January 2022). Participants must make their own travel arrangements; information and suggestions for accommodations will be provided in the first circular.

Proposals: Paper proposals for the themed day must be submitted electronically to https://mamluk.uchicago.edu/school-of-mamluk-studies.html by 31 October 2021. Panel proposals must be submitted in the same manner by 30 November 2021. The paper proposals should provide the name and a one-page CV of the speaker, a provisional paper title, and an abstract of a maximum of 1500 characters (about 300 words) per paper. Panel proposals must be submitted as such, including the relevant information for each component paper as well as the name of the panel’s chair (the chair can be one of the panelists).

Acceptance: Paper and panel proposals will be peer-reviewed. A first circular will be sent by January 2022 to those whose proposals have been accepted, and to those who have expressed interest in attending the conference as listeners.

Publication:

1. a) Themed day: the papers will be published in a volume(s) of proceedings.
2. b) Panels: selected papers will be published in Mamlūk Studies Review.

 

 

Intensive course: “A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Environmental Studies in Pre-Modern Egypt”

A three-day, intensive course in methodological approaches to environmental studies in pre-modern Egypt will be held on 4-6 July 2022 immediately before the Eighth Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies. The course is intended for advanced graduate students and other qualified participants. It will be instructed by Ghislaine Alleaume (Aix-Marseille University), Allison Gascoigne (University of Southampton), Nicolas Michel (Aix-Marseille University), and Yossef Rapoport (Queen Mary, University of London). The course will cover a variety of topics, including: an introduction to archaeological methods in environmental history, historiography and research methods for the environmental history of pre-modern Egypt, an introduction to GIS (geographic information systems), and the use of map resources generally.

Since the number of the participants will be limited (a maximum of 15), those who desire to take part in the course are requested to submit a CV, a statement of purpose (1-2 pages), and a letter of recommendation by someone familiar with your work to the following email address: sms2022marburg@gmail.com by the end of January 2022. Those who are selected for the course will be notified by the end of February 2022, at which time information about the method of payment for the course fees will be provided.

We are pleased to announce that in partnership with the EGYLandscape Project, there will be two scholarships for graduate students, who would like to attend the intensive course. In addition to covering the course fee, the scholarship will also pay for travel and accommodations. If you would like to be considered for the EGYLandscape scholarship, please submit an additional short statement (paragraph) expressing such a need alongside the statement of purpose. We ask that only students who do not have access to institutional funds or whose funds are limited apply. Students from the Middle East region are encouraged to apply.

The course fee is two hundred (200) euros, which also includes the registration fee for the subsequent conference (7-9 July). The fees must be paid by 30 April 2022. Registration and participation will not be confirmed until payment is received. Participants must make their own travel arrangements. The local organizer will provide suggestions for lodging.

We are excited to welcome you to the Universitätsstadt Marburg,

Albrecht Fuess and Anthony Quickel (local organizers) – sms2022marburg@gmail.com

with, Frédéric Bauden (Université de Liège), Antonella Ghersetti (Ca’ Foscari University, Venice), and Marlis Saleh (University of Chicago)

 

 

 

 

9. MEM Fellowship for Graduate Students of Color: Call for a Second Round of Applications

As promised in our July 2020 Statement on Anti-Racism, the Board of Directors of Middle East Medievalists (MEM) is pleased to announce the second round of applications for our new fellowship to support graduate students of color in medieval studies attending the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA). In light of uncertainties around travel to the 2021 meeting, we have decided to use this round to help graduate students of color who wish to attend (either virtually or in person) pay the registration fee.

In order to be considered in this round, please send a paragraph containing the following information to the MEM secretary (Zayde.Antrim@trincoll.edu): your graduate program/institutional affiliation; whether or not you are a MESA member; a brief statement about why you wish to attend the MESA annual meeting; and any other sources of funding available to you. We will review applications as they come in, so that we can fund as many as possible before MESA’s September 15 pre-registration deadline. We will continue to consider applications as long as we have funds available (up to our pledged total of $1500). Please note that we are willing to reimburse participants or attendees who have already paid the registration fee if they demonstrate need. Any questions about the process should be directed to the MEM secretary (Zayde.Antrim@trincoll.edu)

 

 

 

10. Harvard University – Assistant Professor in Medieval Islamic History

http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=61774

Deadline: 15, October 2021

 

 

 

11. AKU-ISMC Winter Programme – Gender in Muslim Contexts 17-25 January 2022

The nine-day course will be held online and run by leading experts on gender and Islam.  The programme will bring together scholars and students from diverse backgrounds to discuss key issues in the study of gender in Muslim contexts and is open to advanced undergraduate students, graduate students and those with prior interest in the subject or a record of study in a related topic .

Module topics include:​

• Gender and Sharia
• Gendering Migration
• Islamic Feminism
• Men and Masculinities

More details on fees, application process, the programme structure, lecturers and guest speakers are available at the website.

Please do direct any queries to joseph.barnes@aku.edu

 

 

 

12. CFP – Religion and Bioethics: A Sociological Perspective

For further information, see:

https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/25414/religion-and-bioethics-a-sociological-perspective

Submission deadlines are 31 January 2022 (for Abstracts) and 04 July 2022 (for full manuscripts).

‘Shia leader Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Saeed al-Hakeem dies in Iraq
Funeral ceremonies for top Shia leader expected to be held in holy city of Najaf and its twin city of Karbala.’
alJazeera
3.9.21
See also France24
See also Bloomberg, 3.9.21

‘In Pictures: Muslims worldwide mark Ashura
Worshippers mark the anniversary of the Battle of Karbala and mourn the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet’s grandson.’
alJazeera
19.8.21

‘A Neo-Fatimid Treasury of Books: Arabic Manuscripts among the Alawi Bohras of Baroda’
Speaker: Dr Olly Akkerman (Freie Universität, Berlin)
Discussants: Dr Samira Sheikh (Vanderbilt University, USA)
Date: 30 September 2021
Time: 2.00 pm – 4.00 pm GMT
Location: Online (Zoom)
More info and registration: https://www.iis.ac.uk/events/neo-fatimid-treasury-books-arabic-manuscripts-among-alawi-bohras-baroda?utm_source=D0821&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=IHTLS&ct=t(EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_11_9_2019_15_48_COPY_01)&mc_cid=c42416a85b&mc_eid=a1df03829b

1.ONLINE Presentation of Book: “Persian Petroleum – Oil, Empire and Revolution in Late Qajar Iran” by Dr. Leonardo Davoudi (LSE), University of Haifa, 2 September 2021, 5:00 pm IST

Information and registration: https://mideast.haifa.ac.il/?p=2875  and https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81291243056

 

 

 

2. ONLINE Workshop on “The Place of Cultural Pluralism in Beirut – Unspoken Memories, Un-written Histories: Eastern Mediterranean Pluralism in Oral History and Memory Studies”, Swe-dish Research Institute in Istanbul (SRII), 17 September 2021, 5:00 pm TRT

Eligible for participation are advanced students with a background in Arab, Turkish, and Lebanese culture and history, cultural and minority studies, or political, social and Human Rights studies.

Deadline for registration: 11 September 2021. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announce-ments/8123008/cfa-place-cultural-pluralism-beirut-unspoken-memories-unwritten

 

 

 

3. ONLINE Lecture: Prof. Shahzad Bashir (Brown University) on “Apocalyptic Hermeneutics in a Manuscript of Ḥurūfī Literature”, Webinar Series ”Pre-modern Islamic Manuscripts”, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, 22 September 2021, 5:00 pm CET

This talk will focus on a Persian manuscript dated to the year 1034 AH/1625 CE. The manuscript is a remarkable collection, put together consciously as an apocalyptic primer in the seventeenth century.

Information and registration: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/iran/nomansland/events/apocalyptic-hermeneutics-in-a-manuscript-of-%e1%b8%a5urufi-literature/

 

 

 

4. ONLINE Conference: “Queer Feminist Perspectives on Political Homophobia and Anti-Feminism in the Middle East and Europe”, 24-25 September 2021

Conference panels will focus on topics of right-wing discourses and policies; transnational perspectives to homophobia and anti-feminism(s); digital spaces; the practices of reaction, resilience and resistance; and the role of religion.

Program and registration: https://queerfeministperspectives.com/program/

 

 

 

5. ONLINE Conference of the “Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS 2021)”, Ohio State University, 14-17 October 2021

Information and registration: https://www.centraleurasia.org/conferences/annual/

 

 

 

6. “First Annual Postgraduate Symposium of the Irish Network for Middle Eastern and North Af-rican Studies (INMENAS)”, Ireland, 12-13 November 2021

Papers from MA, MPhil and PhD students/candidates will be related to topics such as: Historical and con-temporary matters in geography; Politics and International Relations; Scientific / Infrastructural develop-ments; Culture; Race; Gender; Technology; Law; Peace and Conflict; Literature and the Arts; Environmental Issues.

Information: https://inmenas.blogspot.com/p/postgraduate-symposium.html

 

 

 

7. Third International Conference of the Association for Literary Urban Studies (ALUS): “Cities Under Stress: Urban Discourses of Crisis, Resilience, Resistance, and Renewal” (Focus on Cities in the Global South, Cairo etc.), University of California, Santa Barbara, 17–19 February 2022

This conference explores the theme of crisis and response as conveyed in cultural representations of urban-ity. We welcome contributions that take up any aspect of or perspective on urban crisis and response, working on any period or genre of literature, from any linguistic tradition.

Deadline for abstracts: 1 September 2021. Information: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/hlc-n/2022-conference/

 

 

 

8. Conference: “Religious Renewal in Times of Crisis” (Focus Middle East and Islamic History), University of Nebraska Omaha and Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Jerusalem, 25-29 April 2022

The scope of this academic event is the study of religious renewal movements and their emergence in times of crisis across the world and history — with a special focus on how they have impacted the three Abrahamic religions and the city of Jerusalem.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 December 2021. Information: https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/religion/research/religious-renewal-in-times-of-crisis-conference.php

 

 

 

9. Interdisciplinary Conference on “Displacement, Emplacement, and Migration”, Bamberg Graduate School of Literature, Culture, and Media, University of Bamberg, 24-26 June 2022

We are particularly interested in discussions on how different theoretical, analytical, and methodological approaches to the literary, cultural, and socio-political representation of displacement and emplacement shape popular perceptions about migration.

Deadline for abstracts: 31 December 2021. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announce-ments/8148860/cfp-interdisciplinary-conference-displacement-emplacement-and

 

 

 

10. Seminar: “Travellers in Ottoman Lands: The Balkans, Anatolia and Beyond”, Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East (ASTENE), University of Sarajevo, 24-26 August 2022

Topics include: Travellers to Bosnia, the Balkans and the wider Ottoman world from other parts of Europe and elsewhere; travellers from the region to other parts of Europe and the Middle East; pilgrims and pilgrim-age within the region; artistic and literary representations of the Balkans and other parts of the Ottoman world; the horticultural legacy of the region.

Deadline for abstracts: 30 April 2022. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announce-ments/8135997/cfp-travellers-ottoman-lands-tiol-2-balkans-anatolia-and-beyond

 

 

 

11. Assistant Professorship in the History of the Middle East (Tenure Track), University of Utah, Salt Lake City

The period of specialization is open. The successful candidate will demonstrate a strong commitment to research and to research-informed teaching at all levels of the undergraduate and graduate curriculum.

Deadline for applications: 5 November 2021. Information: https://utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/120720

 

 

 

12. Ph.D. Research Grants 2021/2022, Orient-Institut Istanbul

The purpose of the grant is to provide support for field research in Istanbul/Turkey to Ph.D. candidates not living in Turkey. Research fields: Musicological research on the Ottoman Empire and Turkey; Narrative sources on Istanbul and the Ottoman Empire; Historic and contemporary forms of religious expression in Anatolia since the 11th century; Linguistic Turkology; Human, medicine, and society; Iran.

Deadline for applications: 20 September 2021. Information: https://www.oiist.org/en/stipendien/

 

 

 

13. The Arthur H. Dadian and Ara Oztemel Chair of Armenian Art at Tufts University and the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture at Hellenic College Holy Cross in Brookline, MA, are pleased to invite abstracts for the next Studying East of Byzantium workshop: Studying East of Byzantium VIII: Material Culture.

The three-part workshop intends to bring together doctoral students studying the Christian East to reflect on how to study the material world of the Christian East, to share methodologies, and to discuss their research with workshop respondents, Marica Cassis, University of Calgary, and Kate Franklin, Birkbeck, University of London. The workshop will meet on November 19, 2021, February 18, 2022, and June 6–7, 2022, on Zoom. The timing of the workshop meetings will be determined when the participant list is finalized.

We invite doctoral students working in any discipline of East Christian studies to discuss the role of material culture—monuments, archaeological sites, artifacts, images—in their research and to consider questions such as how the tools of the study of material culture can assist in understanding the realities of the Christian East? What is the difference between material culture and art-historical and archaeological approaches? How does attention to the non-verbal world harmonize with or challenge historical narratives based on textual study?

Participation is limited to 10 students. The full workshop description is available on the East of Byzantium website (https://eastofbyzantium.org/upcoming-events/). Those interested in attending should submit a C.V. and 200-word abstract through the East of Byzantium website no later than September 13, 2021.

For questions, please contact East of Byzantium organizers, Christina Maranci, Arthur H. Dadian and Ara Oztemel Chair of Armenian Art, Tufts University, and Brandie Ratliff, Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture at contact@eastofbyzantium.org.

EAST OF BYZANTIUM is a partnership between the Arthur H. Dadian and Ara Oztemel Chair of Armenian Art at Tufts University and the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture at Hellenic College Holy Cross in Brookline, MA. It explores the cultures of the eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire in the late antique and medieval periods.

 

 

 

 

14. Ibn ‘Asakir of Damascus

Champion of Sunni Islam in the Time of the Crusades

Suleiman A. Mourad

Oneworld, 2021

 

 

 

 

15. The British Library: Epic Iran: Some Zoroastrian Treasures

The British Library has an unrivalled collection of Zoroastrian manuscripts and therefore welcomed the opportunity to display three of its Zoroastrian treasures in the current exhibition Epic Iran organised by the V&A with the Iran Heritage Foundation in association with The Sarikhani Collection. The exhibition is open until 12 September 2021 by ticketed admission only. Tickets must be purchased in advance and are released on Tuesdays at 12.00.

 

‘Hazara Shias flee Afghanistan fearing Taliban persecution
Attacks on religious minority prompt exodus of thousands across border to Pakistan to seek safety’
The Guardian
30.8.21

1.Ethnic and Racial Studies

Volume 44, 2021 – Issue 12: Special Issue: The Politics of Race and Racialisation in the Middle East

 

 

2. CFP – 21: Inquiries into Art, Theory, and the Visual

We are pleased to invite submissions to the journal 21: Inquiries into Art, Theory, and the Visual. Published quarterly, the journal presents peer-reviewed articles on the visual arts of all cultures, regions, and time periods. The journal welcomes a diversity of perspectives and methodological approaches, and seeks to include work that expands narratives on global culture. This forum embraces the full range of diverse objects, questions, and methodologies that comprise and enrich the discipline. In parallel with this openness in subject matter, 21: Inquiries is available online as an Open-Access-eJournal, making it freely accessible to the widest possible audience. We do not charge “Author processing charges” (APCs) and are a scholar-led journal. Authors retain the copyright and full publishing rights without restrictions. Our issues are published with the license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, unless this license has to be removed for a specific issue because of restrictions by the provider of the image rights. The journal 21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual – Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte und visuellen Kultur was launched in September 2019 with the aim of establishing a new forum for art history. We particularly encourage topics and cultural perspectives that remain marginalized in art history and related fields, and work by scholars of underrepresented backgrounds and/or in early career stages.

 The choice of the title indicates the intent of the editors to expand the boundaries of traditional art history by integrating all methodologies and subject matter related to images and visual phenomena around the globe. The journal seeks to publish methodologically and theoretically rigorous contributions that can claim a relevance for their topic beyond exemplary single-case studies. The multilingual aspect of art history and visual studies is reflected in the multiple languages in which the journal is published: contributions are welcome in English, German, French, and Italian, but we would also be interested in bilingual edited issues in further languages. In our reviews section, we strongly encourage reviews of exhibitions and books in languages that differ from the original.

 Submissions should not exceed 60-70,000 characters (including spaces and footnotes). Reviews should not exceed 15,000 characters (including spaces). The html version can include short videos, e.g. as part of an exhibition review. Manuscripts are to be submitted as a doc. attachment via email to the editors: 21-inquiries@ikg.unibe.ch. In order for the document to be considered, please make sure it corresponds to the style sheet guidelines [PDF] of 21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual – Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte und visuellen Kultur.

Submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis.

 View the Journal Online: https://21-inquiries.eu/en/about-the-journal/
Instructions for Authors: https://21-inquiries.eu/en/instructions-for-authors/
Contact the Editorial Office: 21-inquiries@ikg.unibe.ch https://21-inquiries.eu/en/contact/

Statistics/Downloads: https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/xxi/statistic/alldownloads.

The editors

Olga Acosta (Bogotá), Naman P. Ahuja (New Delhi), Beate Fricke (Bern), Ursula Frohne (Münster), Celia Ghyka (Bucharest), Birgit Hopfener (Ottawa), Karen Lang (Oxford), Karin Leonhard (Konstanz), Rebecca Müller (Heidelberg), Avinoam Shalem (New York/Rome) and Michael F. Zimmermann (Eichstätt)

 

 

 

3. Muslim Views of the Bible

ONLINE CONFERENCE!

September 29th-30th, 2021

https://www.cmcsoxford.org.uk/research/mvb/muslim-views-bible-conference

 

 

 

4. University of Utah – Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=61731

Closing date: Nov 5, 2021.

 

 

 

5. Oxford Interfaith Forum invites you to our Upcoming Events

Scriptural Discussion Series

Registration details are available at this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbiU9aAw4WhK5a_mJF0rR9t90B-wPr4UzD-W7BENW2jIuDIw/viewform?usp=pp_url

SEPTEMBER 2021

Discussion topic: The Creation Story.

Date:14th September 2021

Time: 19:30-20:30pm BST | 20:30-21:30pm CEST |11:30am-12:30pm PDT | 14:30-15:30pm EST | 21:30-22:30pm IST

Welcome address: Lord Alderdice, Patron of Oxford Interfaith Forum.

Chair: Revd Nevsky Everett, Chaplain of Keble College, the University of Oxford.

Speakers: 

1. Revd Dr John Goldingay, Oxford.

2. Ustadah Yomna Helmy, Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge.

3. Rabbi David Wolpe, The Max Webb Senior Rabbi, Sinai Temple, Los Angeles, CA.

Venue: Online

Followed by a Q&A session

 

 

 

6. Nahyan Fancy and Monica H. Green, “Plague and the Fall of Baghdad (1258),” Medical History 65, no. 2 (April 2021), 157-177. A read-only copy is here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/medical-history/article/plague-and-the-fall-of-baghdad-1258/C0E179EB4890C10BBFAE5C11DFC8DF36/share/dca51a1d89bbf32ec6406ae7f0b1b0070e78db48. 

Monica Green has spent more than a dozen years reading genetics work on plague (Yersinia pestis) to try to figure out what it contributes to understanding the history of the disease. A podcast interview about this work appeared today on the Ottoman History Podcast, https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2021/08/green.html. This captures the main results of this work: a proposed redating of the Second Plague Pandemic to the 13th century, linking up the western dissemination of plague with the 13th-century plague outbreaks documented in northern Song China by Robert Hymes in 2014.

See also her:

Monica H. Green, “The Four Black Deaths,” American Historical Review 125, no. 5 (December 2020), 1600-1631; includes Supplemental Data, “Marmots and Their Plague Strains,” online only (https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/125/5/1601/6040962), which is behind a paywall.

 

 

 

7. Webinars – The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University presents:

Fall 2021 AKPIA Lecture Series

A Forum for Islamic Art & Architecture

Held via Zoom Webinar

September 23, 2021. 6:00pm EST

“’His Eyes Were Aware of the Pointed Corners of His Eyes’: Reflections on the Gaze in Umayyad Painting”

Nadia Ali, Associate Researcher at IREMAM, Université Aix-Marseille

Registration: https://bit.ly/akpia-nadiaali

November 4, 2021. 6:00pm EST

“Shahjahanbad: The City of Shah Jahan as described in Pādshāhnāma”

Gulfishan Khan, AKPIA Associate; Professor of Medieval Indian History, Chairperson of the Centre of Advance Study, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

Registration: https://bit.ly/gulfishankhan

November 18, 2021. 6:00pm EST

“Building the Caliphate: Construction, Destruction, and Sectarian Identity in Early Fatimid Architecture”

Jennifer Pruitt, Associate Professor of Islamic Art History, Howard and Ellen Louise Schwartz Faculty Fellow in Islamic Art and Architecture, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Registration: https://bit.ly/jenniferpruitt

Lectures are held via Zoom webinar; time listed is Eastern Standard Time; registration is required.

We anticipate that all lectures will be recorded and made available at the AKPIA website, after the event date.

THE AGA KHAN PROGRAM FOR ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Website: https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/news-events

Email agakhan@fas.harvard.edu

Contact Info:

Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture

Harvard University

Sackler 415

485 Broadway

Cambridge, MA 02138 USA

Tel 617-495-2355

‘Afghanistan’s Shia are fearful in face of Taliban takeover
Historic victims of persecution treat militants’ promise of tolerance with caution.’
Financial Times
26.8.21
(Ed. note: This is behind a pay-wall.)

هل يستمر شهر العسل بين «طالبان» وطهران؟
الحركة الأفغانية تفتح «سدود هلمند» باتجاه إيران
Al-Jarida (Kuwait)
25-08-2021
وقبل أيام، زار مسؤول ميداني في «طالبان» أحد مجالس عاشوراء في هرات، واعتذر عن قيام عناصر غير منضبطة بإنزال رايات عاشورائية خلال إحياء الأقلية الشيعية لذكرى عاشوراء. ويعكس هذا تغييراً في سياسة الحركة.
A few days ago, a field official in the Taliban visited an Ashura gathering in Herat and apologized for the fact that undisciplined elements lowered Ashura banners while the Shi’i minority was commemorating this occasion. This reflected a change in the Movement’s policy.