1. HYBRID International Conference “The Sanctuary of the Kaʿba and Its Symbolism”, MMSH, IREMAM, Aix-en-Provence, 19 October 2023, 9h – 17h
This workshop will demonstrate that it is possible to sketch an intellectual landscape by taking the sanctuary of the Kaʿba and its sacredness as entry points. Theoretical approaches, particularly symbolic ones, contributing to the sacralization of the sanctuary of the Kaʿba will be discussed. This hallmark of Islamic identity is indeed the locus of esoteric, occult and/or metaphysical speculations stemming from various intellectual cur-rents in Islam, among which Sunnism, Sufism, and Shiisms (“exaggerating” Shiism (ghulāt), Ismailism, Nuṣayrism).
Information, program and registration: https://iismm.hypotheses.org/87534
2. ONLINE Workshop “Creative Ethnographic Methods in the Middle East”, Center for Middle East Studies, Brown University, 20 October 2023, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm ET
Hosting four panelists working with different communities of the Middle East, this webinar will unravel diverse uses of creative and experimental methods in anthropology beyond the conventional modes of academic writing – such as poetry, graphic novel and documentary. Through examples from the panelists’ works, the webinar will explicate how using such methods facilitate and complicate ethnographic knowledge production. It will also provide insights to people interested in utilizing creative methods in their analytical thinking.
Information and registration:
https://watson.brown.edu/cmes/events/2023/panel-creative-ethnographic-methods
3. HYBRID Conference “Iberian History as Global History”, American Academy of Research Historians of Medieval Spain (AARHMS) and CMRS Center for Early Global Studies (CEGS), Los Angeles, 20-21 October 2023
Our participants will consider how the Global Middle Ages paradigm might inspire new inroads for exploring the interrelationship of variegated societies and cultures within the Mediterranean context. Pushing beyond geographical boundaries in this way and eschewing Eurocentrism implicitly destabilizes ingrained periodizations, such as medieval/early modern and premodernity/modernity.
Information, program, abstracts and registration:
https://cmrs.ucla.edu/conference/the-western-mediterranean-and-the-global-middle-ages/
4. HYBRID Lecture “Catalin-Stefan Popa: Syriac Christianity and the Holy City of Jerusalem: En-tangled Histories in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages” by Catalin-Stefan Popa (Romanian Academy), Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS), Princeton, NJ, 25 October 2023, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
The lecture introduces the process of interaction of Syriac Christianity with the Holy City and the Holy Land. At the end of Late Antiquity and beginning of the Middle Ages, the Holy City acted in Syriac Christian canon as a matrix for encountering holiness, and a standardized process of pilgrimage became part of a recurrent devotional custom of monks and lay people.
Information and registration: https://www.ias.edu/hs/islamic-world/events
5. ONLINE Webinar: “The Challenges of Universal Fraternity”, PLURIEL University Platform for Research on Islam, Lyon, 27 October 2023, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm CET
In 2019, Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmad al-Tayeb signed the Document on Human Fraternity and the coexistence between Christians and Muslims. The webinar is designed as an introduction to the international conference in Abu Dhabi (4-7 February 2024) on the socio-legal and geopolitical impacts of the document. Speakers are Laurent Basanese (Rome), Wael Saleh (UAE), Franziska Honsowitz-Friessnigg (Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
Information and registration: https://pluriel.fuce.eu/27-october-2023-at-3pm-the-challenges-of-universal-fraternity-webinar__trashed/?lang=en
6. HYBRID Conference: “Islam and Fraternity”, PLURIEL University Platform for Research on Islam, Abu Dhabi, 4-7th February 2024
The 4th international PLURIEL congress examines the impacts and prospects of the Document on Human Fraternity, signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmad al-Tayib in February 2019. The congress features three main areas of analysis: The socio-legal impacts of the document, its geopolitical aspects, and the consequences for coexistence and dialogue between Christians and Muslims. A focus will be on the question of citizenship in multicultural and multi-religious societies, with particular emphasis on the legal protection of religious minorities.
Information, program and registration: https://pluriel.fuce.eu/du-4-au-7-fevrier-2024-congres-islam-et-frater-nite-a-abu-dhabi/
7. ONLINE Book Talk “Arabic Printing for the Christians in Ottoman Lands. The East-European Connection” by Ioana Feodorov, Romanian Academy, Bucharest, 10 November 2023, 4:00 pm, Romanian Time
Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88213965766?pwd=dWV2QUh4cnJsODY3U25FczJFeFV6dz09
8. Conference “Being Muslim in Europe – Orienting Oneself in the Context of “Good” and “Bad” Diversity”, Academy for Islam in Research and Society, Goethe University Frankfurt, 17-18 November 2023
Looking at discourses on diversity and orientation in the fields of public discourse, education and youth as well as Islamic theology the aim of the conference is to discuss the questions of how diversity is constructed in present time, what allocations are attributed from internal and external perspectives and along with this what boundaries and belongings are constructed. PhDs and Postdocs can apply for travel-accommodation funds by emailing ahmed@aiwg.de by 18 October.
Information and program:
https://agenda.unifr.ch/e/download.php?id=14141&tg=18380d2b4b3c111ffac575a0137eb383547c663a
9. Atelier international « La protection diplomatique et consulaire en Méditerranée moderne, XVIe-XVIIIe siècle », Institut National Universitaire Jean-François Champollion, Albi, 20-21 sep-tembre 2024
L’atelier entend aborder les multiples questions liées à la protection, à travers des études de cas clairement situées dans l’ensemble de l’espace méditerranéen. Les contributions prendront en compte les dimensions politiques, économiques, sociales, matérielles et institutionnelles de la protection, dans une perspective qui favorise les comparaisons et les échanges entre les différents terrains.
Date pour propositions : 15 janvier 2024. Information: https://iismm.hypotheses.org/91026
10. Hybrid Conference: ‘Rethinking Texts and their Contexts in Muslim Societies: Interrelations between Textual Practice, Human Agency and Technological Shifts’
23rd and 24th October at Aga Khan Centre, London.
The conference seeks to explore the diverse trajectories and contexts of texts
in Muslim societies from oral cultures to the digital age. Over two days,
scholars from a variety of disciplines will discuss how texts have shaped
knowledge production, dissemination, and consumption in Muslim societies. The
conference will feature a keynote address by Professor Wendy Doniger, a
leading scholar of the history of religions.
For registration to attend in-person and online, please visit:
https://www.iis.ac.uk/events/rethinking-texts-and-their-contexts-in-muslim-societies/
11. Announcing the BRAIS 2023 Prize Winner & Honorable Mentions – 2024 Prize now open for submissions
The British Association for Islamic Studies is delighted to announce that Dr Naz Yücel (George Washington University) has been awarded the 2023 BRAIS Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World.
Dr Yücel’s submission ‘Sustaining the Empire: Transformation of Property Regime in the Late Ottoman Empire, 1876-1913’ was praised by the Prize committee and reviewers as a truly outstanding study. We offer our sincere congratulations to Dr Yücel and wish her well as she prepares her manuscript for publication.
You can read more about Dr Yücel’s winning submission here: http://www.brais.ac.uk/prize/brais-prize-2023/brais-2023-winner
We would also like to congratulate this year’s two honorable mentions: Dr Dominik Krell for his submission ‘Islamic Law in Saudi Arabia: Concepts, Practices and Developments’ and Dr Meia Walravens for her submission ‘Networked Diplomacy: Maḥmūd Gāwān’s Bahmani Sultanate and the Fifteenth-century Islamic World’.
We received a record number of submissions for the 2023 Prize and would like to offer our sincere thanks to all those who reviewed submissions and the Prize Committee who gave so generously of their time. A particular thanks to Prize Chair, Dr Saeko Yazaki, and Prize Coordinator, Adam Ramadhan, for overseeing the process.
BRAIS PRIZE 2024 NOW OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS
The 2024 round of the BRAIS Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World is now open for submissions and further information can be found here: http://www.brais.ac.uk/prize/brais-prize-2024
Please do circulate the call to anyone who might wish to submit their manuscript and do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions at all. The deadline for submissions is 5pm GMT on Friday 12 January 2024.
12. Christelle Jullien, Les liens du sol. Images du pouvoir et identités des chrétiens sous Khusrō Ier, collection des Cahiers de Studia Iranica n° 63, VIe volume de la sous-série “Chrétiens en terre d’Iran”, Leuven: Peeters, 2023, 348 p. ISBN: 9782910640491.
https://www.peeters-leuven.be/detail.php?search_key=9782910640491&series_number_str=63&lang=fr
13. Worldview and the Theory of Knowledge: An Islamic Perspective
Saeid Sobhani
CTP, 2023
14. Assistant Professor, Full-Time Tenure Track
New York University: NYU – NY: Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS): Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
Closing date: 12.1.23
https://apply.interfolio.com/134031
15. Online Lecture – The Glory of European Narratives and Themes in Qajar Tiles from Nineteenth-Century Palaces of Tehran, Kianoosh Motaghedi, VIAHSS – October 20
The next VIAHSS lecture will take place on Friday, October 20, 2023, at noon EST/5PM UK/7PM Turkey/7:30PM Tehran. Kianoosh Motaghedi (Independent Scholar, Tehran) will present “The Glory of European Narratives and Themes in Qajar Tiles from Nineteenth-Century Palaces of Tehran.”
To attend, please make sure to register in advance here:
https://wellesley.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAvdOmtrz0tH9JDoeNLjH1NdlIthiTo3t4Z
Upon registration, you’ll receive the link to access the lecture.
You can find a full schedule of upcoming talks on our website. You can also follow us on X at @viahss and on Instagram at @theviahss. Although not every talk is recorded, we also have recordings of several recent talks available on the VIAHSS Vimeo page.
16. Award – Call for the Ernst Herzfeld Award for MA Theses in Islamic Art History and Archaeology – deadline: November 13
The Ernst Herzfeld-Gesellschaft für Islamische Kunst und Archäologie | Ernst Herzfeld Society for Studies in Islamic Art and Archaeology is pleased to announce the 2023/24 call for the Ernst Herzfeld Award for Master Theses in Islamic Art History and Archaeology.
The aim of the Award is to encourage and support emerging scholars in Europe who are working on visual and material culture of Islamic countries in the fields of Art History, Archeology, and Historical Building Research. The Ernst Herzfeld Award highlights the diversity and innovation of current research in these growing fields.
The successful candidate is honored at the annual colloquium of the Ernst Herzfeld Society, offered a full travel grant to present her/his master thesis at the colloquium, and is granted publication of the presented paper in the series of the Society, Beiträge zur Islamischen Kunst und Archäologie (BIKA).
Eligibility: – Outstanding master thesis (MA, Master, M.phil., and similar) on a topic situated within the research fields of History of Islamic Art and Architecture, Islamic Archeology, or Historical Building Research on Islamic Architecture.
– The thesis must have been written and supervised at a European university. Reviewing and grading the thesis must have taken place within the last two years, between January 1, 2021 and November 13, 2023.
– Accepted languages of the thesis are: German, English, French, Italian, and Spanish. – A thesis can be submitted only once to an Award Call. Application procedure: – An applicant is proposed by the supervisor of the MA thesis.
– Applications include: 1) the complete MA thesis as it was submitted to the university (PDF); 2) a summary in English (5 pages); 3) the recommendation form filled out by the proposing supervisor in English; and 4) the original official review/evaluation of the thesis for/by the university, at which it was submitted.
Review Procedure: – The review procedure is jointly organized by the Award and the Steering Committees as well as the Advisory Board of the Ernst Herzfeld Society.
– Proposing supervisors are excluded from the review procedure and the peer-review.
– Applications fulfilling the criteria of eligibility will undergo peer-review by the Award committee and by external reviewers. Submission: Please send the complete application by November 13, 2023 to award@ernst-herzfeld-gesellschaft.com The recommendation form to be filled out by the proposing supervisor is available here: https://ernst-herzfeld-gesellschaft.com/wpcontent/uploads/2023/10/EHG_Award_Supervisor_Recommendation_Form_2023_updated.docx
Contact Email
award@ernst-herzfeld-gesellschaft.com
17. Lecture – National Museum of Asian Art: Freer Medal Honoring Gülru Necipoğlu – October 27
Join the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, DC on Friday, October 27, 6–8 p.m. for The Charles Lang Freer Medal lecture and award ceremony honoring Gülru Necipoğlu.
The Freer Medal is a lifetime achievement award that honors individuals who have made substantial contributions to the understanding of the arts of Asia throughout their career. This fall, the honor will go to Gülru Necipoğlu, the Aga Khan Professor and Director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University’s History of Art and Architecture Department, for her lifetime work in the arts of the Islamic world. The lecture and award ceremony will be held in the Meyer Auditorium. A reception in the Freer courtyard will follow.
Gülru Necipoğlu earned her doctorate from Harvard University in 1986 and has served there as the Aga Khan Professor and Director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture since 1993. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Wesleyan University and a master of arts degree from Harvard University. Necipoğlu specializes in the arts and architecture of the pre-modern Islamic lands, with a focus on the Mediterranean world and the cross-cultural and artistic exchanges between the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Grounded in rigorous archival research, her multidisciplinary studies have addressed the aesthetic interconnections of Byzantium and Renaissance Europe, pre-modern architectural practices, and the role and function of ornament in the Islamic world and beyond, offering new and highly original perspectives on the arts and architecture of the region. Throughout her illustrious career, Necipoğlu has also trained and mentored numerous students who have continued to transform the field.
Since 1993, Necipoğlu has also served as editor of Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Cultures of the Islamic World and its supplements, the preeminent publication in the field, which has transformed the study of the arts and architecture of the Islamic world. Her own publications comprise a range of subjects, from studies in monumental architecture to intricate designs on portable objects, and have changed the understanding of the arts of the Islamic world. They include Architecture, Ceremonial, and Power: The Topkapı Palace (1991), The Topkapı Scroll–Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture (1995), The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire (2005, 2011), Treasures of Knowledge: An Inventory of the Ottoman Palace Library (1502/3–1503/4) (2 vols, coedited by Cemal Kafadar and Cornell H. Fleischer, 2019), The Arts of Ornamental Geometry: A Persian Compendium on Similar and Complementary Interlocking Figures (2017), A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture, in the Wiley-Blackwell Companions to Art History (coedited by F. Barry Flood, 2017), and Histories of Ornament: From Global to Local (coedited by Alina Payne, 2016).
In recognition of her distinguished scholarly career, Necipoğlu is an elected member of the British Academy, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio in Vicenza, Italy.
Register here
Visit the event page and award page for more information.
Contact Information
Lizzie Stein, Scholarly Programs and Publications
National Museum of Asian Art
Contact Email
URL
https://asia.si.edu/whats-on/events/search/event:164268011/
18. Call for applications – Bahari Visiting Fellowship in the Persian Arts of the Book at the Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Libraries are now accepting applications for Visiting Fellowships to be taken up during academic year 2024-25. Fellowships support periods of research in the Special Collections of the Bodleian Libraries, across a range of different subjects. Of particular interest might be the Bahari Visiting Fellowship in the Persian Arts of the Book
Details of the Fellowship terms and application process can be found on our Fellowships webpage: Bodleian Visiting Fellowships | Bodleian Libraries (ox.ac.uk).
Applications for these Fellowships should be made by the deadline of Friday 1 December 2023, 5pm GMT.
For further information, please email: fellowships@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
19. Open Access: New Publication: Living Communities and Their Archaeologies in the Middle East
Helsinki University Press is pleased to announce the publication of ‘Living Communities and Their Archaeologies in the Middle East’, edited by Rick Bonnie, Marta Lorenzon, and Suzie Thomas. The book is freely available in open access: https://doi.org/10.33134/HUP-19
20. CfP: Objects of Law in the Medieval and Early Modern Worlds
Proposals Due: November 1, 2023
International Conference at the University of Bern, Switzerland, August 29-30, 2024
Organized by Corinne Mühlemann (University of Bern) and Fatima Quraishi (University of California, Riverside)
Materials and texts function in a variety of ways in legal contexts, they forge diplomatic ties, grant gifts of land, levy taxes, and regulate markets. In the medieval and early modern worlds, these objects took on many different guises. Some were highly ornate objects, such as Fatimid marriage contracts where text was embroidered on woven silk, or tablets of authority produced in gold, silver or wood which allowed travelers to cross the Mongol Empire with ease, or wax seals imprinted with imperial images protected in textile bags. Other objects facilitated the execution of law in everyday life; glass weights, stamps for marking loaves of bread, length standards embedded in architecture, volume standards, etc. The connection between the materiality of these artefacts and the law are multiple, their very nature conveyed information, performed authority, and communicated authenticity.
Legal objects fall between disciplinary categories and their texts have been the main subject of scholarship. The conference, Objects of Law, proposes thinking more deeply about the artistic practices that shaped the materiality, iconography, and texts of legal objects in the medieval and early modern period. What forms did these objects take? How did their form confer authenticity and legal authority? What training or knowledge are evident in the objects? Objects of Law seeks dialogue between scholars working in art history, history, archaeology, legal history, and related disciplines that deal with legal objects. We welcome contributions from all geographical regions that relate to the medieval and early modern period. We invite contributions that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
Proposals should consist of an abstract in English for 30-minute papers (max 2000 characters incl. spaces) and a brief biography (max 1500 characters incl. spaces) in a single document (pdf or word). They should be submitted to: Corinne Mühlemann (corinne.muehlemann@unibe.ch) and Fatima Quraishi (fatimaq@ucr.edu) by November 1, 2023. Graduate students are highly encouraged to apply. Conference participants will be provided with accommodation in Bern for 3 nights and some travel expenses will be covered.