Archive for November 11th, 2023
Shii News – Academic Items
1. ONLINE Conference “Zoom with Journalists in Afghanistan”, Media in Cooperation & Transi-tion (MiCT), 16 November 2023, 4:30 pm Afghanistan Time
Despite widespread censorship and the exclusion of women from public life, it has been possible to maintain a certain representation of women in public spaces in some provinces. Against this background, we invite you to a dialogue with local media professionals from various parts of Afghanistan.
Information and registration:
https://mailchi.mp/25d71841a7fd/invite-west-africa-sudan-afghanistan?e=7d0e3dbb9c
2. Conference “Postcolonial, Decolonial, Post-imperial, De-imperial”, Centre d’études turques, ottomanes, balkaniques et centrasiatiques (CETOBaC), Paris, 15-17 May 2024
We welcome contributions from a host of disciplines, including Anthropology, Art History, Comparative Liter-ature, Gender Studies, History, International Relations, Memory Studies, and Sociology – focussing on the collective memories and ongoing legacies of three empires, the Habsburg, the Ottoman and the Romanov.
Deadline for abstracts: 17 November 2023. Information:
3. 4th Mediterranean Studies Symposium “Feeding the Mediterranean: Culinary (Re-)Inventions, Legacy and Hospitality”, University of Palermo, 13-16 June 2024
We are seeking papers on the topic of food and hospitality in and of the Mediterranean from interdisciplinary perspectives (humanities, social sciences, international law, media studies, art, and other fields of research). Any historical period of reference is welcome though we strongly encourage presenters to focus on the early modern to contemporary times. Presentations of recently published books on the Mediterranean are also welcome, if related to this year’s topic(s).
Deadline for abstracts: 25 November 2023. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/2 0011367/call-papers-mediterranean-studies-symposium-june-2024-deadlinenov-25
4. Eighth International Conference of the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean: “Being Human: Rhythms, Actions, Interactions in the Medieval Mediterranean”, Edinburgh, 24-27 June 2024
We invite papers that examine the theme from different disciplinary perspectives, including History, Archae-ology, Literature, Linguistics, Art History, Religious Studies/Theology, among others. We welcome research papers that apply innovative approaches and stimulate debates that will enhance our understanding of indi-vidual and collective perceptions and experiences of human interactions in and across the medieval Medi-terranean.
Deadline for abstracts: 14 January 2023.
Information: www.societymedievalmediterranean.com/2024-edinburgh
5. Two PhD-Positions (50 %) in the Field of Middle Eastern Pictorial Satire, University of Heidelberg, Germany
Qualification: Above-average degree (Master′s) in Islamic Studies, Arabic Studies, Middle Eastern Studies or History with special interest in working with multi-graphic sources (caricatures, cartoons, pictorial satires in journals) and in interdisciplinary collaboration. Very good reading knowledge of Arabic (position 1) or Per-sian (position 2). For the Arabic language region, knowledge of dialectal language forms is advantageous; knowledge of other languages of the region is of advantage.
Deadline for applications: 11 December 2023. Information:
https://adb.zuv.uni-heidelberg.de/info/INFO_FDB$.startup?MODUL=LS&M1=1&M2=0&M3=0&PRO=33959
6. Chapters for Edited Volume on “Transit Migration: States, Migrants, and the GCC”
Using a multidisciplinary field approach to migration studies, we invite scholars from sociology, political science, anthropology, economics, and other disciplines to contribute to this edited volume in order to critically examine the GCC states’ growing economic role in shaping multiple economic regions in the Global South-North/Global South-South debates.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 November 2023. Information: Contact Dr. Omar Bortolazzi, obortolazzi@aud.edu
7. Articles on “Religious Charisma in the MENA and Its Diasporas: Authority, Succession, and Devotion” for a Special Issue of the Journal “Antropolitica”
We invite papers with ethnographic approaches to charismatic authority and/or community in religious con-texts in the MENA and its diasporas that refine our understanding of the variety of forms of religious commit-ment and belonging, as well as emotional attachment to a religious leader, community or movement, in order to establish a productive dialogue between the various perspectives and ethnographic contexts.
Deadline for abstracts: 24 January 2023.
Information: https://periodicos.uff.br/antropolitica/announcement/view/812
8. HISTORY OF THE BOOK AND BOOK PRINTING IN THE MIDDLE EAST
– The Research Library of Dr. Geoffrey Roper (Cambridge) on Sale
Approx. 900 titles, some multi-volume, in various languages, principally English, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, French, German and other European languages. They are mainly on book history with a focus on printing and publishing history in the languages and countries of the Middle East and Islam. The collection also covers the history of book printing in Arabic in other parts of the world. Mostly publications of the last 50 years, but a few are older (19th century).
Information: https://gerlachbooks.com/index.php?art_no=COL_144
9. Building an Electronic Syriac Corpus using OCR: Preserving and Digitizing Cultural Heritage
Launch of Simtho III
Friday, November 10 from 12 to 3:00 pm
Sponsored by: Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton and Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute.
Conveners: Sabine Schmidtke, George A. Kiraz and María Mercedes Tuya
The digitization of cultural heritage materials plays a crucial role in preserving and making accessible historical and linguistic resources. The Simtho corpus is a result of constructing an electronic Syriac corpus through the application of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology and correcting the OCR results in collaboration with young women and men in the Middle East who make up Beth Mardutho’s Meltho Lab team. Syriac, an ancient language with a rich literary and religious tradition, presents unique challenges due to its complex script. The proposed approach involves a multi-step process: digitization of physical books and manuscripts (by third parties), training custom OCR models for Syriac script recognition, and creating an annotated corpus for linguistic research. This project presents the culmination of this work, a 16 million-word corpus of Syriac texts. The resulting electronic corpus provides a digital repository of Syriac texts, enabling scholars, linguists, and historians to access, study, and analyze these valuable resources.
For further info and for pre-registration, required, please visit: https://bit.ly/Simtho3
10. Islamic Art and Science in European Museums: A Conversation’ – Sunday 19 November, 2pm GMT online via Zoom
To celebrate UNESCO’s International Day of Islamic Art, the Alwaleed Cultural Network is hosting a special LIVE online conversation between Professor Stefan Weber (Director, Museum of Islamic Art at he Pergamon Museum, Berlin) and Dr Silke Ackermann (Director, History of Science Museum, University of Oxford) reflecting on the ways in which their museums acquire, categorize and curate their collections of Islamic Art and Science. This unique conversation will be chaired by Abeer AlFouti, Executive Manager, Global Initiatives, Alwaleed Philanthropies.
This event is free to attend but registration is essential. For further information and to register for free, click here: https://www.alwaleedculturalnetwork.org/en/events/islamic-art/
The Alwaleed Centre at the University of Edinburgh has two additional events on the horizon which may also be of interest:
Can English convey my Islamic experience? Reflecting on the presence of English in the South African madrasa
Wednesday 15 November, 5:30pm GMT in-person (50 George Square) and online via Zoom
Featuring Yasmin Ismail (Leiden University) and Jeremy Dell (University of Edinburgh).
Further information and tickets here: https://www.alwaleed.ed.ac.uk/events/can-english-convey-my-islamic-experience
Book launch: Benoît Challand discusses violence and representation in Tunisia and Yemen
Monday 20 November, 50 Geroge Square Room 1.06, 5:10pm – 6:30pm (in-person only – no booking necessary)
An in-person book launch of ‘Violence and Representation in the Arab Uprisings’ by Dr Benoît Challand (The New School for Social Research) with a response from Dr Nida Alahmad (University of Edinburgh). Further information here: https://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/islamic-middle-eastern/events/book-launch-benoit-challand
11. Journées d’étude/Workshop : Cultures orales à l’écrit : regards sur l’aire iranienne / Oral cultures in writing (16-17 novembre 2023)
Nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter aux journées d’étude “Cultures orales à l’écrit : regards sur l’aire iranienne / Oral cultures in writing” qui se tiendront les 16 et 17 novembre 2023 dans les locaux de l’INaLCO :
65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris XIIIe
– Le 16/11 : salle RJ 24 (dans la bibliothèque, rez-de-jardin)
– Le 17/11 : salle 3.11 (3e étage)
Veuillez trouver en fichier joint le programme et les résumés des interventions.
Inscription et accès aux locaux
L’INaLCO a mis en place des mesures supplémentaires d’accès au bâtiment (voir les détails : http://www.inalco.fr/actualite/communique-inalco-passe-posture-vigipirate-urgence-attentat)
Toute personne extérieur à l’établissement, devra se munir d’une carte professionnelle (la carte lecteur de la Bulac est également valable), et présenter le programme imprimé (et la page de titre de la brochure) à l’accueil si nécessaire.
Le 16/11 les interventions auront lieu dans une salle *située à la bibliothèque*. Les agents à l’accueil de la bibliothèque seront informés pour autoriser l’accès aux locaux aux personnes inscrites à la journée et qui ne possèdent pas de carte lecteur.
Inscription : Pour assurer votre accès aux locaux, vous êtes invités à vous inscrire en écrivant à agnes.korn@cnrs.fr *avant le 15/11, 23h59*.
La liste des inscrits sera communiquée à l’accueil du bâtiment de l’INaLCO et à l’accueil de la Bibliothèque pour faciliter l’accès des participants.
12. New Issue Alert – al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā 31 (2023)
We are pleased to announce the publication of the latest issue of al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā, the only open access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the medieval Middle East. In addition to the five research articles we have published over the course of the year, the new issue features remarks by the recipient of Middle East Medievalists’ 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award, our first ever pedagogy file entitled “Textile Mobilities across Afro-Eurasia,” three conference reports, and five book reviews. Table of Contents and downloadable PDFs (as well as all back issues) can be found here: https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/alusur/index
URL
https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/alusur/index
13. University of Rochester – Visiting Assistant Professor in Islamic Studies
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=66395
Close: Dec 15, 2023
14. National University of Singapore – Assistant Professor and Associate Professor (Malay World Studies)
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=66416
Close: Dec 31, 2023
15. Ralph C. and Mary Lynn Heid Rare Materials Research Fellowship
The University of Michigan Library invites applications for fellowships for research in residence.
The Ralph C. and Mary Lynn Heid Rare Materials Research Fellowship is open to researchers whose work would benefit from onsite access to our special collections, including the Islamic Manuscripts Collection held in the Special Collections Research Center.
Our fellows are awarded:
$2,000 for a project requiring domestic travel to Ann Arbor MI
$3,000 for a project requiring international travel to Ann Arbor MI
Individuals who live within a 100-mile radius of Ann Arbor, Michigan, will not typically be granted a fellowship.
The current application cycle is open from 1 November 2023 through 1 February 2024, with the residency period and award to be used between 6 May 2024 and 15 August 2025. For more information, including eligibility requirements and instructions for applying, please visit this page:
Special Collections Research Fellowships >> How to Apply
Applications are due 1 February 2024.
Questions? Contact Martha O’Hara Conway at moconway@umich.edu
16. CFP: Empire: In Theory and in Middle East History
American University in Cairo
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations
Annual History Seminar
8 & 9 March 2024
Oriental Hall, AUC Tahrir Square Campus
Call for Papers
EMPIRE: In Theory and In Middle East History
For most of recorded history, empires and imperial regimes have existed in one form or another and have shaped the lives of peoples of the Middle East. And yet the concept of Empire is often assumed to be clearly defined, almost eternal, even though empire took different shapes across history, including the history of the Middle East. Furthermore, current theories of empire tend to be Eurocentric and to focus on contemporary power structures in the post-colonial and post-modern period, with less reference to historical empires.
This coming session of AUC’s Annual History Seminar aims to look more carefully at empire as a theoretical concept and its changing definitions, and how it shaped and was shaped by interactions with peoples. How do these concepts apply to medieval, early modern of modern empires? How do they apply to world empires that ruled the Middle East?
We invite abstracts of around 300 words in either English and Arabic for presentations that would revolve around the theories and concepts of Empire as they relate to different empires with particular interest in studies, comparative or otherwise, that relate to Middle East history.
The themes that the seminar aims to tackle include:
- What is Empire? Are there features that are common to all empires? Is Empire as a concept or category of analysis useful to studying the history of the Middle East? How can we classify empires? What forms of Empire can historians distinguish in the history of the Middle East? To what extent were tributary, commercial or colonial empires different in their relations with their subject populations?
- Empire and Power: Where does imperial power lie; in the center, in capital cities, or is it more diffuse? Power within empires and the use of violence. How do empires control resources? Do power and agency lie squarely with certain elites?
- Empire and Time: How did empires change and transform over time? What influenced such changes? What role did technologies, including military technologies, play in such transformation? How do empires maintain longevity?
- Empire and Religion: Did empires impose religions? How did they make political use of Religion?
- Empire and Culture: Can we speak of imperial culture? How far did empires impose cultural change and to what extent were they themselves shaped by culture?
- Why Empire? What were the objectives behind the formation of empires, and the historical circumstances that allowed and shaped their development?
- Can Empires be compared? To what use? Many theories and studies of empire tend to be Euro-centric. Can they still shed light on historical experiences of empires based in the Middle East?
- Empire and Population/Demography: One criterion often used in defining empires is that they contain diverse populations of various backgrounds and ethnicities that are often controlled by a dominant group. Does this offer an angle into studying Middle East empires?
The sessions of the seminar are scheduled for Friday 8 and Saturday 9 March, 2024 at Oriental Hall, Tahrir Square Campus of the American University in Cairo. Participants should plan to speak for around 20 minutes in either English or Arabic. Abstracts of around 300 words, in either language, are expected by 1 December, 2023. Graduate students and PhD candidates are encouraged to apply. Participants will be informed by late December 2023. Please send abstracts to aric@aucegypt.edu with carbon copies to the organizers.
Inquiries can be directed to either of the organizers:
Dr Nelly Hanna nhanna@aucegypt.edu
Dr Amina Elbendary abendary@aucegypt.edu
17. Under the Adorned Dome, Four Essays on the Arts of Iran and India
Yves Porter
Brill, 2023
18. At the Roots of Causality
Ontology and Aetiology from Avicenna to Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī
Francesco Omar Zamboni
Brill, 2023
19. Making Islam Work
Islamic Authority among Muslims in Western Europe
Thijl Sunier
Brill, 2023
20. Iran in Irish-nationalist historical, literary, cultural, and political imaginations from the late 18th century to 1921
Mansour Bonakdarian
Anthem, 2023
https://anthempress.com/eirinn-iran-go-brach-pdf
21. The Institute of Archaeological Sciences at Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main, seeks to fill in a PostDoc-position in Islamic Archaeology (part-time, 50%, TV-GU-E13) to the next possible date.
The position is for three years with a possible extension after positive evaluation.
We expect from you:
To conduct independent research in the field of Islamic archaeology and to develop your own research project, including the acquisition of third-party funding, with the aim of a Habilitation.
To teach in the BA/MA program in the Institute of Archaeological Sciences one course per year.
To participate in the activities of the Institute of Archaeological Sciences.
Your profile
You have completed a scientific university degree (diploma/master) as well as a doctorate in one of the following fields: archaeology (with a focus on Islamic archaeology), architectural history/historical building research or Art history (with a focus on Islamic art history) or Islamic Studies / Islamic Studies (with a focus on Material culture of Islam).
Your doctorate was defended on, or later than, 15.11.2020. You are scientifically active and enthusiastic to support in shaping a new field of research. You have a very good command of English; knowledge of German is advantageous.
To apply
Please send your application by email until 21.11.23 as a single PDF file (max. 10 MB) to junior professor Dr. Hagit Nol (nol@em.uni-frankfurt.de and arch.institut@uni-frankfurt.de)
The application should include:
- curriculum vitae,
- certificates of academic diplomas,
- list of publications,
- an outline for a future project or research strategy
Contact Information
Hagit Nol
Contact Email
22. ‘Cosmopolitan Artefacts, Artists, and Intellectuals across the Global Muslim World’, The Journal of Transcultural Studies Vol. 13 Nos. 1-2 (2022)
Guest-editor: Yuka Kadoi
The Journal of Transcultural Studies (uni-heidelberg.de)
Yuka Kadoi
Transcultural Mobility: Cosmopolitan Artefacts, Artists, and Intellectuals across the Global Muslim World
Nikolaos Vryzidis
Of Texts and Objects: Perceptions of “Persian” Art from Later Byzantium to Modern Greece
Alberto Saviello
Inter-pictorial Religious Discourse in Mughal Paintings: Translations and Interpretations of Marian Images
Yuka Kadoi
Embracing Islam: Okakura Tenshin at the Limits of His Alternative Orientalism
Simone Wille
The Significance of Mobility and the Artistic Practice of Zahoor ul Akhlaq
Contact Email
URL
https://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/transcultural/index
23. Conference – The Golden Horde: Art, Material Culture, and Architecture, Max Planck Institute in Berlin – December 7,8
This is an announcement for the conference The Golden Horde: Art, Material Culture, and Architecture, which will take place in Berlin on December 7 and 8. https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/event/golden-horde-art-material-culture-and-architecture
If you would like to attend in person, please send an email to Qiao Yang at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin qyang@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
The link to attend online (via WebEx) is on the conference program website. No advance registration is required.
Contact Email
24. Production, Transmission & Interpretation
An interdisciplinary conference on Islamic Art, Architecture and Archaeology
14th and 15th March, 2024
University of York
With keynote addresses by Professor Robert Hillenbrand and Professor Marcus Milwright
Islamic time begins with the Hijra; the integral responsibilities of every Muslim include the Hajj; and studies of Islamic history have traditionally followed military marches and commercial/cultural corridors that enabled the creation of the great gunpowder empires. More recently, mobility has also been manifested in the Islamic world in the fall of these empires, movement of their materials through loots and repatriations, and voluntary and forced migrations. Until recently, these themes have been predominantly researched divorced from Islam through incongruous positivist lenses and euro-centric canons, and often with underlying colonial agendas.
It is with the aim to intervene within and disrupt this context that the Department of History of Art and the Department of Archaeology at the University of York present Production, Transmission, & Interpretation, a conference on Islamic Art, Architecture and Archaeology. Foregrounding the voices of the historically marginalised, founded in material cultural narratives, and focussed on new sources and methodologies, this conference will bring together the latest research from scholars – doctoral to emeriti – and draw upon a range of cognate disciplines across the arts, humanities, and social sciences, to consider 1400 years of the Islamic world and society.
Submission Guidelines
We welcome abstract submissions intended to culminate into the standard format of 20-minute in-person academic paper presentations and invite applications from across disciplines, including art and architectural history, archaeology, conservation, heritage management, curation, museum studies and cultural studies, on themes that may include
Islamic heartlands, hinterlands, and frontiers
Art and architecture of mobility, routes, travels, and transfers
Patronage – imperial, sub-imperial, male, female, and non-binary
Agency of architects, artists, and craftspersons
Sources – oral histories, local archives, epigraphy, calligraphy, endangered languages
Archaeological material, bioarchaeological approaches, and conservation
Islamic approaches past and present to nature, culture, environment and sustainability
Conflicts, occupations, appropriations and adaptations
Islamic art markets – auctions, ethics, legislations
Abstracts should be limited to 250 words, indicate the target thematic cluster, and be accompanied by the researcher’s name, institutional affiliation and stage of study, location, and a brief biography not exceeding 100 words.
Deadline for abstract submission is 31 December, 2023.
All abstracts should be sent as pdf attachments to hist592@york.ac.uk
If you have any questions, please email Parshati Dutta (parshati.dutta@york.ac.uk) or Nausheen Hoosein(nausheen.hoosein@york.ac.uk).
Conversations are underway with leading university presses to publish a thematic edited volume of papers presented, therefore please declare if the material has been used before, and if not, whether you would be interested in publishing with us.
25. A pre-Mongol New Persian legal document from Islamic Khurāsān dated ah 608/1212 ce
Z Bhalloo,
BSOAS, 2023
- November 11, 2023
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment