Archive for July, 2022
Shii News – Academic Items
1.The latest Latin America & Caribbean Islamic Studies newsletter (vol 2, number 4, July 2022) can be found on the LACISA website, https://www.lacisa.org/
‘Greetings from the Southwest U.S.! As I write this letter, I am staring out into the Sonoran desert. Just back from California, I am in Arizona conducting research on themes related to immigration, dialogue across difference, and Latinx Muslim philanthropy.
As part of my research, I am finding once again how race, religion, colonial legacies, and overlapping transnational trajectories form a complex core for our research on Islam and Muslim communities in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Latinx U.S.
This edition of the LACISA Newsletter, which rounds out our second full year of publication, reflects these themes as well.
Before sharing more about what you will find on these themes in the newsletter below, I’d first like to welcome our new Associate Editor, Rahma Maccarone. Rahma is a Ph.D. candidate at Georgetown University where her research examines questions of race, identity and agency in the history and literature surrounding the narratives of enslaved Muslims in North America, South America and the Caribbean. We are immensely excited to welcome Rahma to the team. I hope you enjoy getting to know about Rahma in her letter below and in her interview with Habeeb Akande, author of Illuminating the Blackness. Her contributions to the newsletter have already been immense.
In addition to Rahma’s letter and interview with Akande, you will also find other exciting content in this edition of the LACISA Newsletter:
* a podcast episode from The Maydan (https://fu-berlin.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=218987e5c8b20ce72c5e7da24&id=6b20521049&e=f70992245e) discussing how the story of “global Islam” is part and parcel to the story of Latin America and the Caribbean;
* a call for contributions (https://fu-berlin.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=218987e5c8b20ce72c5e7da24&id=a2e1a7a116&e=f70992245e) to a special edition of the International Journal of Latin American Religions;
* and a call for paid presentations (https://fu-berlin.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=218987e5c8b20ce72c5e7da24&id=4fc4bcb482&e=f70992245e) at a colloquium on Muslim philanthropy in Latin America and the Latinx U.S., to be held December 7-8, 2022.
In addition, we present a round-up of several news headlines relevant to our community’s research, including stories from the U.S./Mexico border, Saudi Arabia, and beyond.
I invite you to enjoy and explore all of this content and look forward to featuring some of your own contributions in the near future. Thank you, as always, for your time, consideration, and growing commitment to our network.’
Kind Regards,
Ken Chitwood
Editor-in-Chief, LACISA Newsletter
2. Iran Namag Special Issue on Sohrab Sepehri
Editor-in-chief: Professor Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi
Special issue editors: Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi and Behrooz Mahmoodi Bakhtiari
Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1980) was a prominent modern poet and painter of Iran, who has had an influence on many a writer, poet, and artist after him. His main work is The Eight Books, translated into English as The Eight Books: A Complete English Translation (Brill, 2021). He has also written three essays, which his sister published posthumously in one book, entitled, The Blue Room. Sepehri is said to be a modernist poet and painter. His painting can be visualized in his poetry, and his poetry flows in his painting.
This special issue of Iran Namag is a tribute to Sohrab Sepehri, as a poet, writer, and artist. The editors seek scholarly articles on any topic related to Sohrab Sepehri’s poetry, essays, and art.
Please send your proposed title and abstracts, in Persian or English, of no more than 500 words, along with a short bio, by September 1, 2022, to Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi at pshabanijadidi@uchicago.edu and Behrooz Mahmoodi-Bakhtiari at mbakhtiari@ut.ac.ir.
As a bilingual quarterly, Iran Namag accepts articles for review in Persian and English; please indicate whether your final contribution will be in English or Persian in your abstract. Authors of the chosen abstracts will be asked to submit their articles (between 4000 to 6000 words) by January 1, 2023.
Please feel free to address any inquiries you may have to the editors of this special issue, Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi at pshabanijadidi@uchicago.edu and Behrooz Mahmoodi-Bakhtiari at mbakhtiari@ut.ac.ir or to the Editor-in-Chief of Iran Namag, Professor Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi at editor@irannamag.com.
3. In Memoriam – Toh Sugimura
It is with great regret that we note the passing of Prof. Toh Sugimura at the age of 88 on July 10, 2022. He was the first East Asian scholar of Islamic art and the first to discuss the cultural exchanges between Persia and China from an East Asian point of view.
He was born in Dalian, China in 1934. At the time his father Yuzo, a historian of Chinese art, was conducting research on Manchurian sites. Prof. Sugimura’s interest in Asian art and archaeology was probably nurtured by his father, who later worked for the Tokyo National Museum and Daito Bunka University and published many books on Chinese art.
After graduating from Sophia University in Tokyo, he was awarded a scholarship from the Iraqi government and studied Islamic art and archaeology at the University of Baghdad from 1959 to 1965 under the guidance of John Shapley, an art historian specializing in early Christian and Byzantine art. He obtained his MA at the University of Michigan in 1968 and continued his doctorate studies there with Oleg Grabar. His Ph.D. dissertation titled “The Chinese Impact on Certain Fifteenth-Century Persian Miniature Paintings from the Albums (Hazine Library Nos. 2153, 2154, 2160) in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum, Istanbul” was completed in 1981.
After starting his career as a curator at the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, he became an assistant professor at the National Museum of Ethnology, Suita in 1976 and a professor in 1987, soon after which the School of Cultural and Social Studies at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies was attached to the museum. Prof. Sugimura became its deputy director-general in 1996 and professor emeritus in 1997. From this year to 2005, he was a professor at Ryukoku University, Otsu.
Prof. Sugimura’s research was not limited to his famous works on Persian and Chinese paintings in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum but also included Islamic crafts such as pottery and carpets. All of his work was based on his profound understanding of the cultures of both East and West Asia. He played a central role in reaching out to the Japanese public with his knowledge of Islamic art and crafts by publishing many art books and catalogues and leading research projects. In particular, his curation of the carpet exhibition at the National Museum of Ethnology in 1994 is highly rated, and its catalogue is still regarded in Japan as the textbook of carpets even after thirty years. His enthusiasm for Islamic art, his pioneering insight into the cultural exchanges in Eurasia, as well as his kind guidance of younger Japanese scholars interested in Islamic art, will always be remembered.
(Tomoko Masuya, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo)
Selected works by Prof. Toh Sugimura:
Toh Sugimura, “Albums in the Topkapı Sarayı Museum, Istanbul,” Oriento (Bulletin of the Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan) 14-2 (1971), pp. 93–107 [in Japanese].
Toh Sugimura, “The Kuan-yin with a Fish Creel (Yü-lan Kuan-yin) in the Topkapu Sarayi Museum, Istanbul,” Studies Dedicated to Professor Namio Egami on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday: Archaeology and Art History, Yamakawa Shuppansha, Tokyo, 1976, pp. 377–97 [in Japanese].
Toh Sugimura tr., Ernst J. Grube, Filiz Çağman, and Zeren Akalay (with photos by Banri Namikawa), Islamic Painting: Topkapı Sarayı Collection, Heibonsha, Tokyo, 1978.
Seiichi Masuda and Toh Sugimura eds., National Museums of Syria (Wonders of the World’s Museums, vol. 18), Kodansha, Tokyo, 1979 [in Japanese].
Toh Sugimura (with photos by Banri Namikawa), Persian Pottery in the Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran, Heibonsha, Tokyo, 1980 [in Japanese].
Toh Sugimura, The Encounter of Persia with China: Research into Cultural Contacts Based on Fifteenth Century Persian Pictorial Materials (Senri Ethnological Studies 18), National Museum of Ethnology, Suita, 1986.
Toh Sugimura, “Islamic Pottery in Syria, Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia,” Tsugio Mikami ed. Islamic Pottery (Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 21), Shogakukan, Tokyo, 1986, pp. 138–73 [in Japanese].
Toh Sugimura tr., The Islamic World (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 10), Fukutake Shoten, Tokyo, 1987.
Toh Sugimura, “Westward Development of Taoist Paintings: ‘Four Sleepers’ in Persia,” Histories and Cultures of Asian Peoples: Studies Dedicated to Professor Yoshiro Shiratori on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday, Rokko Shuppan, Tokyo, 1990, pp. 205–22 [in Japanese].
Toh Sugimura, “Chinese Influence on Persian Paintings of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries,” in Tadao Umesao and Toh Sugimura eds., Significance of Silk Roads in the History of Human Civilizations (Senri Ethnological Studies 32), National Museum of Ethnology, Suita, 1992, pp. 135–46.
Toh Sugimura, Woven Flowers of the Silk Roads: An Introduction to the Carpet Heritage of West Asia and Central Asia, Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, 1994 [in Japanese].
Toh Sugimura, “East Meets West,” Minpaku Tsushin 78 (1997), pp. 5–36 [in Japanese].
Toh Sugimura, “Islamic Art,” Toh Sugimura editorial supervision, MIHO MUSEUM South Wing, Miho Museum, Koka, 1997, pp. 287–311, 356–59 [in Japanese].
Toh Sugimura ed., Islam (New History of World Art, vol. 17 of Asian Art), Shogakukan, Tokyo, 1999 [in Japanese].
Toh Sugimura, “Islamic and Chinese Ceramics of Central Asia,” “Central Asian Historical Sites and Ceramics” (with Tatsuo Sasaki), “Ceramics Excavated at Otrar, Kazakhstan” (with Tatsuo Sasaki), “Timurid Architecture and Decorative Tiles in Central Asia,” Islamic and Chinese Ceramics of Central Asia (Silk Roadology 7), Research Center for Silk Roadology, Nara, 1999, pp. 1–18, 46–75 [in Japanese], 151–54 [in English].
Toh Sugimura, “Dogan ve Dogancilik-Sarayi Albumlerinde Kus Resimleri,” Portakal Sanat ve Kultur Evi 23 (2001), pp. 112–23
Toh Sugimura, “Islamic and Chinese Ceramics of Central Asia in the 15th Century,” “Blue of Samarkand,” Proceedings of the International Symposium on Revitalization of Traditional Ceramic Techniques in Central Asia, UNESCO. Tashkent, 2001, pp. 38–46.
Toh Sugimura, “Whence the Birds of Prey in the Imperial Ottoman Albums?,” Portakal Art and Culture Magazine (Spring–Summer 2002, issue 6), pp. 102–113.
Toh Sugimura, “Islamic Ideas of Paradise and Their Representation,” The Exchange of East-West Motifs –Invocation of Paradise– (Silk Roadology 18), Research Center for Silk Roadology, Nara, 2003, pp. 1–41 [in Japanese].
Toh Sugimura, “Ceramics in Islamic Art,” Toyo Toji (Oriental Ceramics) 34 (2004–2005), pp. 5–12 [in Japanese].
Toh Sugimura and Xu Guanghui eds., Roads of Buddha: Cultural Materials of the Silk Roads, Toho Shuppan, Osaka, 2005.
Toh Sugimura, “Introduction,” Toh Sugimura editorial supervision, The Brilliant World of Persian Carpet, Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum, Hiroshima, 2006, pp. 6–30.
Toh Sugimura, “Sanguszko Medallion-Animal Carpet,” Kokka 1363 (2009), pp. 52––55 [in Japanese with English summary].
Toh Sugimura, “Luster Bowl with Figural Design,” Kokka 1368 (2009), pp. 5–14 [in Japanese with English summary].
Toh Sugimura, “Venuses and Goddesses of the Ancient Orient,” “Female Representations in Islamic Art,” in Tadanori Yuba ed., Women and the Silk Roads: History of Artistic Exchange between the East and the West, Heibonsha, Tokyo, 2010, pp. 43–72, 125–52 [in Japanese].
- July 30, 2022
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- July 28, 2022
- by Andrew Newman
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- July 27, 2022
- by Andrew Newman
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Shii News – Academic Items
1.Call for Abstracts – Neglected Voices in Premodern Sciences
from Persia to Iceland
(Routledge, “Global Perspectives on the History of Natural Philosophy”)
Most of the studies about Pre-modern European sciences have been dedicated to the role
played by a relatively small number of primary characters (Avicenna, Albert the Great,
Roger Bacon, Nicole Oresme, Nicholas of Cusa, to name but a few) who had a significant
impact on knowledge, culture and modi pensandi of the Latin West throughout and
beyond the Middle Ages. However, this presentation has led to two closely related
consequences. The first consequence is that while the works of the “main” authors tend to
be thoroughly studied and thus their ideas continuously observed and reinforced, those of
other, less known characters, have received little, if any, attention, or have simply been
forgotten, primarily when they evolved on the fringe of the mainstream. The second
consequence is that Pre-modern and Medieval science is often perceived as a monolith,
one composed, and shaped, only by a few inspired authors.
In response to this observation, this book aims to shed light on these neglected voices in
Pre-modern sciences and to give a voice even to those ‘underrated’ actors (authors,
scribes, compilers, copyists, readers, users…) who nevertheless have somehow
contributed to the formation of Medieval science. Within this perspective, the volume
addresses these issues from the point of view of both ideas and practices, which are
particularly delicate to interrogate when dealing mainly with textual material.
For this purpose, several axes (not exhaustive) have been defined:
1) Authors against the tide: This section is particularly interested in authors who, in
various ways, went against the major scientific tendencies of their time and developed
their science as “free electrons” by contrast to their contemporaries. Several cases are to
be considered: (1) authors whose scientific involvement goes against the traditional ways
of thinking by exploring original and even daring theories and practices in opposition to
what was in vogue at their time; (2) authors who evolved outside the main intellectual
centers and networks of the time. This can be due either to their geographical situation on
the periphery of the traditional radiating places in the development of sciences or because
they did not belong to any organization, institutional group or religious order promoting
the diffusion and assimilation of knowledge.
2) Actors in the “physical” margins: This point focuses on those who added scientific
contents into the “broader margins” of a Late Medieval work, i.e. in the actual margins, at
the beginning or end of a manuscript or of a codicological unit. The contributions can
analyze the authors’ identities, if they can be reconstructed, as well as the new contents
which were added (ideas, sources, relationships with the main texts, reasons for which
they were inserted, circulation…). Moreover, the texts considered can be both paratextual
additions (comments, glosses, scholia…) or actual “guest texts”.
3) Unknown actors: This point questions the role of discrete authors, almost invisible and
unknown, in the development and diffusion of Medieval knowledge. It aims to bring to
light unpreserved authors who are known only through other posterior works. Within this
perspective, one could consider both characters who left no written traces and authors
whose works have been lost and are only known by later quotes. Papers focusing on
figures evolving in an “oral culture” (for instance in the pre-Islamic context), who
provided a basis for further scientific developments, will be particularly welcome.
Similarly, the scientific contribution of teachers, whose ideas and practices were kept
through the writings of their students, deserves to be taken into account. Finally, papers
highlighting the role of oral witnesses, practitioners and merchants, who might contribute
to the transmission of knowledge by bringing empirical data taken from their daily
practice, will be highly appreciated.
4) Authors between traditions: Another line of research will be dedicated to the study of
the dissemination and use of scientific knowledge in areas outside the scientific field (art,
literature…). In the first case, this volume is interested as much in the depictions of the
figure of the experimenter or the scholar as in the artistic exploitation of the scientific
disciplines. In the second case, a particular attention will also be paid to the integration of
scientific knowledge into the literary domain. The sciences, as well as some scientific
figures, become motifs and themes with specific narrative functions. Conversely, one
might also consider the way in which scientific discourse is fed and expressed through a
literary medium.
5) Authors on the fringes of historiography: Finally, this book also wants to give a voice
to authors who received less attention despite their actual importance and significant
contribution to premodern sciences. In particular, the historiographical readings and the
appreciation of an author’s significance have been oriented, among other criteria, by their
impact on European thought. Nevertheless, this attitude tends to exclude certain
important characters from our usual research horizons. This is notably the case of authors
who were not translated into Latin during the Middle Ages and who hardly reached
European Latin scholars at that time. From this point of view, this book gives the
opportunity to reassess the original contribution of such authorities and even to reevaluate
their possible influence on later works in more indirect ways, outside the scope of the
translations.
Abstracts (250/300 words) should be sent to:
Meyssa Ben Saad (mbs.bsaad@gmail.com ), Mattia Cipriani
(mattia.cipriani80@gmail.com), Grégory Clesse (gregory.clesse@uclouvain.be ), or
Florence Ninitte (Florence.Ninitte@univ-nantes.fr ).
Contributions will be written in English.
Abstracts submission deadline: on the 30th of September 2022.
Submission deadline for the completed articles: on the 30th of April 2023.
2. Brown University – The Adrienne Minassian Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=63639
Closing date: Oct 19, 2022
3. HYBRID Journée d’étude du CCMO « Être chercheur.e sur le Moyen-Orient : mission impossible ? », Collège de France, Paris, 15 septembre 2022, 9h-18h
Le CCMO réunit des enseignant.e.s-chercheur.e.s issu.e.s de différentes générations et appartenant à diverses disciplines (anthropologie, histoire, géographie, sociologie et science politique), qui ont tou.tes en commun la pratique de l’enquête de terrain comme mode principal de recueil des données et de production d’informations inédites sur et dans les sociétés du Moyen-Orient.
Information, programme et inscription: https://cerclechercheursmoyenorient.wordpress.com/2022/07/13/etre-chercheur-e-sur-le-moyen-orient-mission-impossible/
4. Panels on “Death in the Mediterranean” during the 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamzoo MI, 11-13 May 2023
Papers are sought that explore how people of various classes, genders, and religious traditions grappled with death, memorialized it, sanctified it or vilified it across the Mediterranean world, and to see how Christians, Muslims, and Jews from Europe, North Africa and West Asia commemorated, avenged, feared or forestalled death, and how they imagined it in art, literature and song.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 September 2022. Information: https://mailchi.mp/mediterraneanseminar/cfp-death-in-the-mediterranean-i-ii-1113-may-kalamazoo?e=82aeb6c61d
5. International Conference “Sociohistorical and Cultural Relations in Premodern Mediterranean Societies through Literature and Folklore between the 11th and 17th Centuries”, University of Dublin, 15-16 June 2023
Themes: Relationships between Jews, Christians, and Muslims through literature (especially poetry), culture, and languages; prominent myths and prophecies of the relationships and communications between Jews, Christians, Muslims and other Mediterranean communities; popular images of interactions between minority and majority communities, particularly through literature, fragments, travels and folklore; etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 September 2022.
6. Syrian Nationals in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan as External Collaborators for Research on Wartime and Post-Conflict Syria, Syria Initiative of the European University Institute, Florence
Desired qualifications: • Experience in field-based research on Syria. • A track record of publications, with a focus on themes at the sub-national level. • Strong analytical skills. • Proficiency in English and Arabic.
7. Two Tenure-Track Positions “Islam in South Asia” and “Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies – The Late Medieval and Early Modern Islamicate World (ca. 1000-1700)”, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The position is open to all candidates who have attained a Ph.D. degree; and to advanced doctoral students who expect to be granted their Ph.D. no later than 30 June 2023. Candidates whose Hebrew proficiency is such that they would not be comfortable teaching in Hebrew will be encouraged to sufficiently master the language during the initial years following their appointment.
Deadline for applications: 11 September 2022. Information: https://en-hum.huji.ac.il/tenure-track-positions# and https://en-hum.huji.ac.il/tenure-track-positions#
8. Chapters for Edited Book on “Art and Politics between the Arab World and Latin America, 1920s – 1970s”
Three issues should be addressed: 1. Art and nationalist narratives between Latin America and the Arab World. – 2. Rethinking transnational solidarity between Latin America and the Arab World. –
- Artistic practices and the formation of alternative political communities?
Deadline for abstracts: 1 October 2022. Information: https://iismm.hypotheses.org/files/2022/06/Call-for-contributions-%E2%80%93-Art-and-politics-Arab-World-%E2%80%93-Latin-America.pdf
9. Articles on “The Future of Islamic Liberation Theology” for Special Issue of the Open-Access Journal “Religions”
This Issue is to chart out new directions in ILT. What is the current state of the field? Hitherto, what are the key contexts, problems, and thematic areas that ILT has focused on and why? How has ILT challenged dominant hermeneutical approaches and offered more inclusive reading methods? Which areas of human experience (class? race and ethnicity? disabilities? ecology?) have received less attention in ILT? Etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 September 2022.
Information: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/354W74T405
- July 26, 2022
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.AKU-ISMC: 14 and 21 October 2022 Short Course – Religious Cultural Heritage: Concepts and Issues in the Modern Middle East
This is a two-day introductory course on the theme of religious cultural heritage (RCH) in the Middle East. It aims to contextualise RCH as the living cultural heritage of its community of users. In addition, the course attempts to present RCH as a contemporary construct of its socio-political and religious context through its connections to ethnicity, gender, nationalism, as much as religion.
Read and download course structure.
Learning Objectives
– To identify religious cultural heritage as one constituent of the community’s broader cultural heritage;
– To address the challenges that religious cultural heritage faces in its cultural, religious and socio-political context;
– To examine the process of constructing relationship between people and their religious cultural heritage and its changes over time;
– To appreciate religious cultural heritage through the community’s values and their various processes of meaning making rather than the intrinsic values of the religious cultural heritage site itself.
Course Convenors
Professor Dick Douwes holds the chair of Global History at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. He studied Languages and Cultures of the Middle East at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. From 1994 to 1998 he was coordinator of the programme Indonesian-Netherlands’ Cooperation in Islamic Studies (INIS) at Leiden University. From 1998 onwards, he was academic coordinator – later executive director – of the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) and editor of the ISIM Newsletter/Review and ISIM Paper Series. He has published on late Ottoman history in Syria and on religious plurality in the Middle East, as well as on Muslims in Western Europe. Currently, he researches changes in shrine culture and politics in Syria and Lebanon, including the destruction of shrines.
Mohamad Meqdad is a PhD student at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam. His main research focuses on religious cultural heritage at times of crisis. In 2006, Mohamad received his BA in Archaeology and Museum Studies from Aleppo University, Syria. He also took part in several national and international archaeological expeditions in Syria (2002-2008), where he worked on discovering its rich cultural heritage and preserving it for future generations. In 2010, Mohamad received an MA in Muslim Cultures from the Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC), London, with focus on researching the display of Muslim material culture in international museums, specifically at the British Museum’s John Addis Islamic Gallery. Between 2011-2019, he was the Arabic editor, and later the acting manager, of the Muslim Civilisations Abstracts Project (MCA) at AKU-ISMC.
Date and Time
14 October (13:15 – 16:00) and 21 October (13:30 – 16:00) 2022, London Time.
Tickets and Booking
£75 professionals | £45 students, AKU alumni and staff. Book as soon as possible.
*The course will be delivered via Zoom. Readings and further details will be provided later upon registration.
*The course will not be recorded.
2. The Yarshater Center for Iranian Studies is pleased to announce that fascicle 2 of Volume XVII of the Encyclopaedia Iranica has been printed and is available to order.This installment (pp. 113-224) of Volume XVII of the EIr continues the development of letter “K” topics and covers titles starting with the entry “Khotan iii. History in the Islamic Period” and ends with “King of the Benighted.” These 112 new pages of the Encyclopædia Iranica include the conclusion of a major series of entries on Khotan and its history, language, literature, and art that began in fascicle 1 of Volume XVII. The fascicle also contains significant and up-to-date biographical entries on Moḥammad Ḵiābāni, Nur-al-Din Kiānuri, and Abbas Kiarostami; a detailed study of Ḡazāli’s Kimiā-ye Saʿādat; and reports on the archeological sites of Kilizu, Kindyktepa, and Kinet Höyük.
For the complete list of entries, please visit the Yarshater Center website at https://cfis.columbia.edu/research-projects/encyclopaedia-iranica.
For ordering information, please contact Brill Publishers.
3. Summer School of Persian Language and Iranology
PLUS Special Tour of Tehran, Kashan, Abyaneh, and Isfahan
15 August – 9 September 2022
https://avestak.com/summer-school-of-persian-language-and-iranian-studies/
4. The 3rd Intensive Academic Tour and Course in Iranian studies
University of Religions and Denominations, Qom
2 to 12 September 2022
For more information:
https://iranianstudies.urd.ac.ir/#join-us
5. Call for Applications – BJMES Assistant Editor
The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (BJMES) is seeking an assistant editor who can help with the refereeing process for articles relating to the Arab world, and in particular Palestine/Israel. The successful candidate will be fluent in Arabic (knowledge of Hebrew too, is an advantage) and have a PhD. Preference will be given to applications from scholars who reside in the UK, and who are thus able to attend editorial meetings when necessary.
Please contact Lloyd Ridgeon to express interest: lloyd.ridgeon@glasgow.ac.uk. Please also send a brief CV (no more than 2 pages in length). The position comes with an annual honorarium and the successful candidate can serve for a maximum of eight years. The journal is looking to have someone in the position by the beginning of August 2022.
6. BRISMES awards:
The Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize was established jointly in 1986 by the Leigh Douglas Memorial Fund and BRISMES in memory of Dr Leigh Douglas who was killed in Beirut in 1986. The prize is awarded annually to the writer of the best PhD dissertation on a Middle Eastern topic in the Social Sciences or Humanities awarded by a British University in the previous calendar year.
- Joint winner: Nader Andrawos (LSE)
Righting Dissent: Intellectual Critique and Human Rights in Egypt - Joint winner: Nora Jaber (Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London)
Women, International Law, and the State: A Critical Analysis of Saudi Women’s Petitions for Reform - Runner Up: Joshua Rigg (SOAS, University of London)
A Resounding No: Contentious Politics in Tunisia 2015-2019 - Honourable Mention: Dena Qaddumi (University of Cambridge)
Post-Arab Spring Tunis: Materializing Revolution in the City
Congratulations to the prize winners and thank you to everyone who submitted their dissertations for consideration. Read more about the prize and the winning dissertations on the BRISMES website.
The BRISMES Early Career Development Prize was established in 2021 to support activities geared toward strengthening the academic profile and CV of an early career scholar. This year, the prize was awarded to Narges Ansari and Nur Arafeh.
- Narges Ansari
From the Prize Committee: The applicant’s proposal has the potential to contribute to novel findings in both the sub-field of Iranian Studies and the larger field of political anthropology. The applicant’s research theorises subjectivity in revolutionary Iran going beyond well-established epistemological binaries such as obedience and resistance, coercion and subversion, secular and religious politics. Read more
From the Prize Committee: The prize will sustain the applicant through one of the most arduous processes for an early career scholar: the transformation of their PhD into a book. Dr. Arafeh will expand on their doctoral thesis and conduct further interviews in Hebron on the role of local elites in the broader Palestinian business class, and wider class structures. Read more
7. Research Associate
University of Leicester
In this role you will undertake research and related administration and other activities supporting the work of a project entitled ‘Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa’ which is funded by the Arcadia Fund. Reporting to the PI (Professor D. Mattingly) and the Senior Researcher (Dr N. Sheldrick), you will be a member of a University of Leicester project group of the Endangered Archaeology project, collaborating with archaeologists at the University of Oxford and University of Durham.
Deadline | 24 July 2022
8. Assistant Professor in Modern Arabic Studies (Fixed Term)
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is seeking to appoint an Assistant Professor in Modern Arabic Studies in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies to begin on 1 October 2022. The appointment is for 12 months in the first instance. Applicants will have the opportunity to contribute to the delivery of a stimulating programme for bright and highly-motivated students taking Arabic, Persian, Hebrew often in conjunction with a modern European language.
Deadline | 7 August 2022
9. Research Fellow in Human Geography
University of Leeds
You will work with a team of researchers on emerging trends in refugee governance in relation to cash assistance and biometrics. Under the supervision of Co-Investigator Dr. Glenda Garelli, you will be researching cash assistance and / or digital technology and humanitarian assistance in Jordan (examples may include digital and e-wallets, debit cards, Iris scan technologies used in the provision of humanitarian aid).
Deadline | 2 September 2022
10. Call for Papers – War, Gender and Displacement: The Impact of Forced Migration on Families in the Middle East and North Africa
Conference | German-Jordanian University | 9 October 2022
This interdisciplinary conference seeks to demonstrate to what extent the emergence of new understandings of gender socialisation, informed by grassroots and top-down approaches, can contribute to securing sustainable societal well-being. Exploring the changing demographics of host societies through the spread, speed and scale of refugees, this conference examines the different socio-religious, economic and legal challenges host societies in various countries in the Middle East have faced since the beginning of the 21st century. The focus of the conference lies in the changing nature of family structures and their relationships as well as gender roles influenced through and by migration processes.
Deadline | 1 September 2022
11. ASPIRANTUM is organizing a Persian language winter school in Yerevan, Armenia, from December 5 till December 30, 2022.
For more details and to apply, please visit: https://aspirantum.com/courses/persian-language-winter-school
- July 23, 2022
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- July 22, 2022
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- July 21, 2022
- by Andrew Newman
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- July 20, 2022
- by Andrew Newman
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Shii News – Lecture (online and in-person) – ‘Ṭarz-i Tāze [The Fresh Style] in the Safavid Inshā Literature’ – M Moosavi (Oxford, 21.7.22, 5-6pm UK time)
The lecture will also be livestreamed. If you wish to attend online, please bookmark the event’s page. The livestream link will be added the day before the event.
- July 19, 2022
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.WHOME Graduate Student Article Prize Call for Applications and Nominations
We are pleased to announce our annual prize for the best article about Middle Eastern history written by a female-identifying or gender non-conforming graduate student (Masters or PhD). The award aims to bring attention to the innovative scholarship women and gender non-conforming students are producing in the field. The article (not to exceed 8,000 words) can be published, under review, submitted, or in the final stages of preparation for submission to a journal. The article may be about any period in Middle Eastern history and may address any subfield in the discipline. Submissions will be evaluated on their originality, use of primary and secondary sources, argumentation, and contribution to the field. The nominee must not have been awarded a Doctorate prior to October 1, 2021.
Articles may be nominated by the author, academic advisors, professors, or journal editors; journals may nominate up to three articles. Jointly published articles are acceptable, but both authors must be graduate students; the co-author may be male. Articles that have appeared in collections will be considered but only if the articles were published for the first time in the year prior to the application deadline; reprints will not be considered. Winners will be notified in the fall and will be publicly acknowledged in an official announcement at the WHOME meeting at the Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting. The winning author shall also receive a $250 award.
Please encourage your students, colleagues, and peers to apply. Applications are due by 11:59 PST on August 31, 2022.
To apply or submit a nomination, click here.
Questions: contactwhome@gmail.com or t.nalbantian@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Warmly,
WHOME 2022 Prize Committee
2. CfP International Medieval Congress, Leeds (UK), 3-6 July 2023 (‘networks & entanglements’)
The IMC provides an interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of all aspects of Medieval studies, including those related to the premodern Islamicate world. Proposals on any topic are welcome, but every year the IMC also chooses a special thematic focus. In 2023 this is ‘Networks and Entanglements’ (co-ordinator Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien).
Paper proposal deadline: 31 August 2022
Session proposal deadline: 30 September 2022
Format: Coronavirus restrictions permitting, the IMC is planning to host an in-person gathering in Leeds, with virtual involvement possible for those who are unable to attend in person.
For all information, see https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc-2023/
3. HYBRID International Conference “Uneasy Neighbours: Conflict and Control in the Colonial City, c. 1870–1940” (Including Beirut and Fes), University of Bremen, 21-22 July 2022
The conference explores ideas, experiences, and memories of neighbours and neighbourhoods in the colonial city. It brings together historians, sociologists, and urban scholars of the Mediterranean, sub-Saharan Africa, and South East Asia to discuss new avenues in the research of living together and living apart in colonial cities.
Program and registration: https://uneasyneighbours.wordpress.com/
4. Mediterranean Seminar Fall Workshop on “The Mediterranean Origins of the West”, University of Colorado Boulder, 21-22 October 2022
We seek to explore questions relating to the role of the Islamicate world and of peoples of Africa and West Asia in the evolution of modern science, theology, art and literature; the nature and significance of political and commercial engagement between the Islamic and Christian spheres; the role of gender, class and social affiliations; and the status and role of ethnic and religious minorities in pre-Modern and Modern Mediterranean societies.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 September 2022.
5. ONLINE Congress on “Gender Studies: Appearances of Violence”, Karadeniz Technical University etc., 16-18 November 2022
The Congress aims to provide a forum for researchers, academics, practitioners, students, and educators to discuss issues linked to gender studies from a violence perspective. Theoretical, empirical, conceptual, experimental, descriptive, and constructive studies focusing on gender are invited to highlight the issues, challenges, and opportunities that have developed as a result of the violence.
Deadline for abstracts: 16 September 2022.
6. Fellowship Program (2 Years) for Early Career Scholars from Algeria, Libya, Morocco, or Tunisia for Research on “The Maghrib from the Peripheries: Property, Natural Resources, and Social Actors in North Africa”
The fellowships from the “Council of American Overseas Research Centers / Carnegie Corporation of New York” are designed to serve scholars who are currently enrolled in a PhD program or who completed their PhD in the past ten years.
Deadline for applications: 22 July 2022. Information:
https://www.caorc.org/post/call-for-applications-critical-research-and-scholarship-in-north-africa
7. Assistant Professor of History and Judaic Studies, Brown University, Providence RI
The primary focus should be on the Islamic World and Jewish-Muslim relations in any period prior to the First World War. The department places a high priority on research excellence, high-quality teaching, and a commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive academic community.
Deadline for applications: 3 October 2022. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/108842
8. Gerald D. Feldman Travel Grants (Max Weber Foundation) to Academics in the Qualification Phase with an International Focus (Including Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey etc.)
Applications may be filed by highly qualified humanities and social science academics of any nationality (with at least a M.A.) who have already published and can present a research plan. The total term of funding shall not exceed three months.
Deadline for applications: 7 October 2022.
Information: https://www.maxweberstiftung.de/en/foerderung/feldman-travel-grants.html
9. Chapters on Languages Spoken and Taught in the Ottoman Empire for Edited Book on “Ottoman Minorities, Their Languages, and the World” (Bloomsbury)
Articles are invited on trade, culture, education, religion, and tourism as reasons for which these languages were spoken and they were taught, explaining the peculiarities of these languages, differentiating from previous studies on them; for instance, journal articles, recipes, folkloristic tests, exhibitions, auctions, etc. may be analyzed from global perspectives.
Deadline for abstracts: 29 July 2022.
Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/10485434/call-chapters-languages-spoken-and-taught-ottoman-empire
10. Call for articles: The Crusades: Historiography, Settlements, People and Roads (11-14th Centuries)
Chapters are sought for a collection of essays entitled, “The Crusades: Historiography, Settlements, People and Roads (11-14th Centuries)”
Topics: The origin of the idea of crusade; Crusades historiography: eastern and western sources; Battles: The Crusades of 1096-1291; Alliances and Conflicts; Settlements: Crusader States (County of Edessa, Principality of Antioch, County of Tripoli, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Kingdom of Cyprus); Roads: Crusades army route: sea and land roads from Clermont to Jerusalem; Byzantine Empire, Constantinople and the crusades.
Deadline for abstracts: 3 October 2022. Information: https://mailchi.mp/mediterraneanseminar/call-for-articles-the-crusades-historiography-settlements-people-and-roads-11-14th-centuries?e=82aeb6c61d
11. Chapters for Edited Book on “Migration Narratives in the Global Mediterranean (1450–1850)”
Main themes: Migration as a result of religious dissent and lack of a toleration towards religious diversity; Migration as a result of contested political positions, actions of political opposition, or state of war in the country of origin; Migration as a result of environmental conditions; Methodological reflections that elaborate the concept of migrant agency in a historical and long-term perspective.
Deadline for abstracts: 2 September 2022. Information: https://ithacahorizon.eu/event/call-for-papers-migration-narratives-in-the-global-mediterranean-1450-1850/
12. La célébration de la naissance du Prophète (al-mawlid al-nabawī) dans les mondes musulmans et en Occident : débats, pratiques et representations (Special issue of REMMM)
Proposed by Farid Bouchiba and Myriam Laakili. – Axe 1. Débats doctrinaux autour du mawlid à travers l’histoire. – Axe 2. Pratiques du mawlid : une approche socio-anthropologique. – Axe 3. Productions littéraires et artistiques.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 September 2022.
Information: https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/16764#tocto1n3
13. Exilium Revista de Estudos da contemporaneidade / Journal of Contemporary Studies of the Edward Saïd Chair, at Federal University of São Paulo – Brazil, is inviting submissions for unpublished articles on Orientalism, especially involving History, Literature and Culture of Africa and Asia of Portuguese language and culture or in connection with them.
For more information, including information for authors and the submission process, please see the journal’s website.
- July 19, 2022
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment