Archive for June 11th, 2024

1. Evolution of Kurdish Nationalism in the Middle East

Part of the Middle East Librarians Association (MELA) Social Justice Lecture Series

2024-2025 season, Lives in the Margins: Ethnic and Religious Minorities in the Middle East

June 26th, 2024, 12:00 PM EST, 11:00 AM CST.

Register here:https://bit.ly/3Xeeb8X

2. HYBRID Workshop “Reflections on Digital Data Collection Methods in the MENA Region” by Marion Breteau (CEFREPA), Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), Berlin, 10 June 2024, 9:45 am – 4:30 pm CEST

New technologies of communication have induced significant shifts in contemporary Arab societies. The purpose of this workshop is to explore from a methodological perspective how new technology systems, web access, content creators’ cultures, and online forms of entertainment can be addressed in regard to more digital-inclusive approaches.

Information and registration:

https://www.zmo.de/veranstaltungen/reflections-on-digital-data-collection-methods-in-the-mena-region

3. ONLINE Roundtable Discussion “Reorienting Islamic Studies in Asia”, Leiden University, 13 June 2024, 15.00 – 17:00 CEST

Asian Islam tends to be overlooked, excluded, or considered derivative of a supposedly normative and authentic Islam, defined as Middle Eastern or Arabian. Speakers will discuss and evaluate these dynamics through the launch of “Centering Islamic Studies in Asia“, a recently published special issue of the “Inter-national Issue of Islam in Asia”.

Information and registration: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/2024/02/roundtable-discussion-reorienting-islamic-studies-in-asia

4. HYBRID Book Launch “Nafssiya, or Edward Said’s Affective Phenomenology of Racism” by Norman Saadi Nikro (ZMO), Discussant Smaran Dayal (Stevens Institute of Technology New York), Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, 17 June 2024, 5:00 pm CEST

This book adapts the Arabic term “nafsiyya” to trace the phenomenological contours of Edward Said’s analysis of the affective dimensions of colonial and imperial racism. Reflecting on what he called his “colonial education,” Said rendered his Palestinian/Arab background and experience of racism an enabling component of his academic work. The argument focuses on his “personal dimension” section in his introduction to his famous volume Orientalism.

Information and registration:

https://www.zmo.de/en/events/nafssiya-or-edward-saids-affective-phenomenology-of-racism

5. ONLINE Conference “Philosophy Between the Islamicate and Latin American Traditions: Civilizational Perspectives on Alienation/Ghayriyya in the Knowing/Being”, University of Sevilla, 22-24 June 2024

Given the centrality and fruitfulness of the concepts of “alienation” and “ghayriyya” (otherness), this is an opportunity to investigate how it can serve as a framework for future dialogue within and across cultural spheres. Lecturers and everyone attending are encouraged to explore, independently of “Western” model of explanation per se.

Information and registration: https://wp.me/pfeP2i-k

6.  HYBRID Lecture “Imam/Merchant/King: Floating Sovereignty and the Indian Ocean World” by Taushif Kara (King’s College London), Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, 24 June 2024, 5:00 pm CEST

This lecture explores the question of de-territorialized sovereignty through the history of one of the Indian Ocean world’s itinerant Muslim merchant communities: the Khojas from Gujarat who came to dominate oceanic trade during the colonial period. The lecture considers the relationship of the Khojas to their imam, the Aga Khan, and argues that his person came to function as a unique figuration of their otherwise “invisible” sovereignty.

Information and registration: https://www.zmo.de/en/events/imammerchantking-floating-sovereignty-and-the-indian-ocean-world

7. International Congress of the German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO), University of Goettingen, 26-28 September 2024

Proposals are particularly welcome for the following thematic sections: Law – Philosophy and History of Ideas – Theology and Religious Practice – Economics, Politics and Society – Islam in Europe – Language and Culture – Education and Knowledge Transfer – Etc.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 June 2024.

Information: https://gesellschaften-im-wandel30.de/frontend/index.php?folder_id=8397&page_id=

8. Conference “Disasters in and of the Middle East: Event, Place, Intensity”, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, 29-30 March 2025

Potential themes: Disaster imperialism in the Middle East. – Intersections of “natural” disaster & war (e.g, conflict ecology, compound crises). – Disaster, disability and debility. – Disaster and work/labor. – Historical approaches to disaster management. – Disaster vis-à-vis the projects of Enlightenment and modernity. –Ruination and memory. – Disasters, nonhuman beings and the more-than-human experiences.

Deadline for abstracts: 30 June 2024.

Information: https://networks.h-net.org/system/files/attachments/cfpdisastersmiddleeastharvard2025.pdf

9. ONLINE Mediterranean Skills Seminar “Reading Arabic Manuscripts”, 24-27 June 2024

The Course will build participants’ ability to read handwritten Arabic manuscripts and documents, primarily those written before the twentieth century. It is designed with academics in mind, particularly graduate students, postdocs, and professors working in disciplines such as history, literature, and religious studies. All interested parties with at least two years of Arabic language training are welcome to apply.

Extended Deadline for applications: 18 June 2024.

Information: https://www.mediterraneanseminar.org/overview-reading-arabic-manuscripts-2024