Archive for June 22nd, 2024

1.Exhibition – Beyond Words: Calligraphy from the World of Islam, The David Collection, Copenhagen, Denmark

Explore the history of calligraphy and calligraphy as an artform in the exhibition Beyond Words: Calligraphy from the World of Islam at The David Collection in Copenhagen, Denmark. The title is meant literally because the words and the beautiful letters may assume several different meanings. 

Calligraphy means the art of writing beautifully. Over time, writing has been developed and refined to a point where it has become an art form in its own right. Calligraphy is frequently used in almost every kind of media within the Islamic world – and hence has become a unique testimony to Islamic culture. The most skilled calligraphers have gone on to become famous artists, and several have formed schools within their respective fields.

After the rise of Islam in the seventh century and its initial spread, the Arabic script took on a very special significance becoming a unifying factor – an identity marker – across geography and ethnicity. The use of imagery of living beings was not practiced in religious contexts – even in early Islam – and therefore beautifully conducted handwriting took on a notable role in Islamic culture.

In the Islamic world, inscriptions appear in far more contexts than in most other cultures. We see calligraphy on everything from parchment and paper to everyday objects and buildings. The calligraphic quotations also range from poetic extracts written by famous poets to passages honouring the rulers or owners of the commissioned works as well as texts about the artists themselves. Very often, however, we find Koranic quotations. The Koran is written in Arabic, and therefore the writing alone – when beautifully performed – is considered a tribute to God.

The exhibition presents 128 individual works, all of which exemplify the importance and role of calligraphy. The audience is introduced to different types of writing and the different usages from official documents to metal work, ceramics, textiles and architecture.

The exhibition design was created in collaboration with the design studio Mentze Ottenstein.

Alongside the exhibition, a publication, sharing the same title as the exhibition, will be published and available in both Danish and English at the museum shop.

Beyond Words: Calligraphy from the World of Islam is open to the public from 24 May until the 26 January 2025.

Here you can find one of the most comprehensive collections of Islamic art in the Western world, a fine selection of European eighteenth-century art and a small but exquisite representation of modern painting and sculpture.

For more information: www.davidmus.dk

 

 

2. The New York Public Library is pleased to announce its first Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Fellowship to support advanced research on Library’s holdings of materials from the Arab world, Africa, Turkey, Iran, South Asia, Central Asia, and their diasporas in the United States.

Fellowships are open to Ph.D. candidates, post-doctoral scholars, and independent researchers with projects that would significantly benefit from research drawing on collections accessible at The New York Public Library. Projects requiring access to original materials including manuscripts, archives, books, photographs, prints, maps, newspapers, and journals will be given preference, but all worthy projects will be considered. Applicants studying the humanities as well as those working in the visual, auditory/performing, and literary arts are welcome to apply.

The Fellowship Program will support one fellow annually for three months with a stipend of $25,000. The annual fellow will have full access to the Library’s collections and staff, as well as a dedicated place to work in the Vartan Gregorian Center for Research in the Humanities at NYPL’s flagship building in Midtown Manhattan.
The Library will also explore how to support international scholars with visa requirements.

Deadline for application is August 5, 2024 and recipients will be announced in November, 2024.
To apply, please complete the electronic form in the NYPL Fellowship Portal and upload an updated C.V., a project proposal of no more than five pages, and two professional letters of recommendation.

For assistance with the application process, email fellowships@nypl.org. Library staff cannot provide feedback on individual applications or project proposals (see below). Applicants are encouraged to contact the Curator for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Dr. Hiba Abid (hibaabid@nypl.org) with any questions regarding collections or additional holdings.

Read the full announcement on The New York Public Library’s website.

Key Dates:
Applications open: May 20, 2024
Application deadline: August 5, 2024
Recommendation letters due: August 12, 2024
Applicant notification: November 2024
Award period: January 2, 2025 – June 30, 2025
Project Proposal:
Successful project proposals will include a thorough explanation of how in-person access to collections accessible at The New York Public Library is essential to the progress and completion of the research project. Proposals should also include:
Abstract of the project’s major themes, questions, and arguments
Significance of the project
Specific Library collections and holdings to be consulted during the fellowship
Project plan, including a timeline of your work with the Library’s collections during the fellowship term and a description of the proposed methodological approach
Expected project outcomes
Suggested topic for public presentation
Desired dates of residence
Contact Information

Hiba Abid | The New York Public Library
Curator for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
The New York Public Library
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
476 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
Tel: (212) 930-9297 / Email: hibaabid@nypl.org

NYPL Fellowships | The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
476 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
Email: fellowships@nypl.org

Contact Email

hibaabid@nypl.org

URL

https://www.nypl.org/fellowships/middle-eastern-islamic-studies#:~:text=The%20N…

 

3. CFP – Call for Submissions for Pedagogy Files in Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā

Is there a primary source from the medieval Middle East that you particularly enjoy teaching? If so, we encourage you to submit a “pedagogy file” to Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā. Our new pedagogy section, launched in 2023 with a file entitled “Textiles across Medieval Eurasia,” is focused on primary sources—images, objects, buildings, poems, inscriptions, or prose passages—contextualized for the undergraduate classroom. Submissions should briefly introduce the primary source, provide basic background and explanatory notes in the form of bullet points, and suggest discussion questions or overall takeaways. Images and short bibliographies are encouraged. Submissions should be between 1000 and 4000 words and will be subject to editorial, but not peer, review. For the 2024 issue, pedagogy files should be received by September 1.

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā is the only open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the medieval Middle East, expansively defined to include all geographies with prominent Muslim political, religious, or social presences between the rough parameters of 500-1500 CE. The open-access publication of al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā is made possible by Middle East Medievalists (MEM), an international, non-profit association of scholars. To support the journal, please consider joining MEM or renewing your MEMbership today!

 

4. Publication – Collecting Asian Art: Cultural Politics and Transregional Networks in Twentieth-Century Central Europe

Edited by Markéta Hánová, Yuka Kadoi, and Simone Wille

Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2024

272 pp., 31 pls.,

ISBN: 978 94 6270 378 0

(Europe) https://lup.be/book/collecting-asian-art/

(US) https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9789462703780/collecting-asian-art/

Open Access ebook available for downloading:

https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/87367

 

5. The Islamic College’s Monthly Talk: What’s “Islamic” about Islamic Art?

A Talk by Professor Stephennie Mulder

Thursday 27 June 2024
6.00 P.M. – 7.30 P.M. (LONDON TIME)
on Zoom
Meeting ID: 942 5652 0577 Passcode: 328975

https://islamic-college.ac.uk/event-registration/

 

6. Hybrid talk: “Time for Atoms”

5 pm (London time), Wednesday 26 June as a session of the Islamic History and Thought Lecture Series organised by the Institute of Ismaili Studies.

By Dr David Bennett, with Professor Peter Adamson as discussant.

To join please register for either online or in person attendance at https://www.iis.ac.uk/events/time-for-atoms/

In turbulent times, 9th-century practitioners of kalām devised a cosmology of jawāhir (discrete, primary entities) and accidents (natural properties) that accounted for all of God’s creation.  Influences from all directions infused this physical theory with a syncretic, ever-shifting vibe; for generations, the struggle to articulate the workings of the natural world evolved. A cosmology suited to explain divine creation thrashed against conceptions of psychology and time, however; what worked in an immovable field of concrete particulars still had to account for the vagaries of experience and spiritual imperatives.

In this discussion, we will examine three key problems that illustrate kalām reckoning with developments in theories of time and causality:

• volition and the temporal process of thought;
• the so-called “ceasing instant” problem (when did “now” end?);
• and the notorious Muʿtazilite theory of secondary causality (the efficacy of intermediate, generated states).

By focusing on the adaptation of the jawāhir model to these challenges, we can better appreciate the viability of kalām and demonstrate the genius of early Islamic thought.

 

7. ONLINE Webinar: ‘The New Persian Romance in a Global Middle Ages’

with Cameron Cross

British Institute of Persian Studies, 17 July 2024, 5PM (UK time).

On Zoom.
In the early tenth century CE, a remarkable literary event took place, in which well-known stories of lovers were recast by court-affiliated poets as independent versified works in the emergent New Persian language.

With a focus on the remarkable story of Vis & Ramin, this talk seeks to situate that event in the broader context of the entangled literary histories of southwestern Afro-Eurasia from late antiquity to the medieval period, showing how the Persian corpus plays a crucial role in the history of romance writing at large.

Register here.

 

 

 

8. The Department of Turkish Language and Literature at Boğaziçi University invites applications for a full-time position at the rank of Assistant Professor in modern Turkish literature.

The application deadline is 1 August 2024.

Full-time Assistant Professor position in modern Turkish literature/Yeni Türk edebiyatı

alanında Dr. Öğretim Üyesi Pozisyonu

The Department of Turkish Language and Literature at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey

invites applications for a full-time position at the rank of Assistant Professor in modern

Turkish literature. Applicants must have a Ph.D. in modern Turkish literature or a related field

with a focus on modern Turkish literature and contemporary literary theory. Applicants should

possess native or near-native proficiency in Turkish and English. They will demonstrate

evidence of advanced teaching and research at an international level and an ability to teach

courses on modern Turkish literature (poetry, fiction, and theatre), comparative literature,

and literary theory at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In addition, applicants

should have the necessary skills to supervise M.A. and Ph.D. theses and lead national and

international research projects. The department’s teaching load for Assistant Professors is

generally two to three undergraduate and/or graduate courses per semester. Promising

young scholars who have recently completed or are about to finish their doctoral degrees are

especially encouraged to apply. Successful applicants will be required to teach in both

English and Turkish.

Applicants should upload their CV, at least one article published in an AHCI, SSCI, or

SCOPUS-indexed journal and a book chapter in a volume published by an internationally

acclaimed publisher, a sample syllabus, and a statement of research interests to

https://academicjobapplications.bogazici.edu.tr/. Three letters of recommendation should

also be sent to halim@bogazici.edu .tr directly by the referees. The application deadline is 1

August 2024.

Research interests:

modern Turkish literature, comparative literature, literary theory

Department of Turkish Language and Literature: https://turkishliterature.bogazici.edu.tr/en

Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey: https://bogazici.edu.tr/en-US/Index

Adayların yeni Türk edebiyatı, karşılaştırmalı edebiyat veya benzeri bir alanda doktora

derecesine sahip olmaları, doktora ve araştırma alanlarının odağında yeni Türk edebiyatı ve

çağdaş edebiyat kuramlarının yer alması gerekmektedir. Başvuracak adayların Türkçe ve

İngilizce olarak ders vermeleri, eğitim ve öğretim deneyimine sahip olmaları, öğretim ve

araştırma faaliyetlerinde ileri düzeyde ve uluslararası çalışmalar yapmış olduklarını

kanıtlamaları beklenmektedir. Adayların ayrıca yeni Türk edebiyatı (şiir, kurmaca, tiyatro),

karşılaştırmalı edebiyat ve edebiyat kuramları alanlarında lisans ve lisansüstü ders

verebilecek, yüksek lisans ve doktora tezi danışmanlığı yapabilecek, ulusal ve uluslararası

araştırma projeleri yürütebilecek yetkinlikte olmaları gerekir. Bölümümüzde doktor öğretim

üyelerinin bir eğitim-öğretim yılında dönem başına genellikle iki-üç lisans ve/veya lisansüstü

ders yükü vardır. Doktorasını yeni bitirmiş veya bitirmek üzere olan genç akademisyen

adaylarının başvurusu özellikle teşvik edilmektedir.

Adayların özgeçmişleri, en az bir AHCI/SSCI/SCOPUS’ta taranan uluslararası dergilerde

yayımlanmış özgün makale ve saygın uluslararası yayınevleri tarafından yayımlanan kitap

bölümü, bir ders izlencesi (syllabus) örneği, araştırma ve eğitim alanlarındaki hedeflerini

içeren bir amaç sunum mektubu ile https://academicjobapplications.bogazici.edu.tr/ adresine

başvurmaları gerekmektedir. Üç adet referans mektubunun referansı yazan kişiler tarafından

halim@bogazici.edu.tr gönderilmesi beklenmektedir. Başvuru için son tarih 1 August

2024’tür.

Araştırma alanları: yeni Türk edebiyatı, karşılaştırmalı edebiyat, edebiyat kuramları

Boğaziçi Üniversitesi: https://www.bogazici.edu.tr/

Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı Bölümü: https://turkishliterature.bogazici.edu.tr/tr

 

9. Open Access – ‘Archiving Resistance: A Conversation with Omar Sheikhmous’

F Ghaderi,

Kurdish Studies Journal

Brill, 2024

Kurdish scholars have lamented the loss of a sizeable portion of Kurdish manuscripts and documents, particularly in the twentieth century. Stories of loss and destruction of Kurdish collections and archives are prevalent in Kurdish historiographical and biographical accounts, as well as in literature. Besides tragic accounts of loss, however, there are untold stories of determination to uncover, collect, and preserve Kurdish records. Over recent decades, significant archival initiatives have been founded in Kurdistan and in the diaspora, promising a new era of Kurdish knowledge production, and driving new ways of thinking about Kurds and Kurdistan. Archives, fonds, and collections are found in Kurdistan and the diaspora and testify to the vision and dedication of unsung guardians of a nation’s heritage and memory. One of the most significant Kurdish private archives in Europe is the Omar Sheikhmous Archive hosted at the University of Exeter (EUL MS 403), which records his lifetime’s involvement in Kurdish political and academic activities. This conversation covers his involvement with and contributions to Kurdish political and academic activities, his archive, challenges of archiving resistance movements, and the intersection of activism and archival practice.

https://brill.com/view/journals/ksj/2/1/article-p91_5.xml

 

10. Researcher for the “Middle East Forum’s Islamist Watch Project”, Remote Anywhere in the USA

The Research Associate is a critical position focused on tracking and analyzing the networks, activities, and financing of radical Islamist organizations and individuals. Qualification: Knowledge of open-source research tools and techniques; experience parsing and analyzing large datasets; some knowledge of Python or JavaScript; proficiency in Arabic, Turkish, Persian, or Urdu; Legal work experience, including familiarity with drafting FOIA requests.

Deadline for applications: 1 July 2024. Information:

https://us12.campaign-archive.com/?e=1a855d214f&u=b7aa7eddb0f2bb74bfa4f6cb5&id=f8f165497b