Archive for July 6th, 2024
Shii News – Academic Items
1.CfP: Muslim Chaplaincy. Practice, Research and Recognition
June 24th-26th 2025, Fribourg Switzerland
The Swiss Centre for Islam and Society and the Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK
Submission deadline: 1.10.2024
https://www.unifr.ch/szig/fr/recherche/colloques/muslim-chaplaincy.html
2. The Islamic College:
Monthly Talk: The Greatest Islamic Philosopher You’ve Never Heard Of: Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī
A Talk by Professor Peter Adamson
Thursday 25 July 2024
6.00 P.M. – 7.30 P.M. (LONDON TIME)
on Zoom
Meeting ID: 827 8165 9584 Passcode: 499950
https://islamic-college.ac.uk/event-registration/
3. Arab World English Journal for Translation and Literary Studies welcomes the submission of papers for the August Issue 2024. The submission deadline has been extended until July 15, 2024. The issue publication date is AugustIssue 2024. For more details, click here.
Please send your submission as an attachment to TLS@awej.org
We have the pleasure of sending the full issue of AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies Volume 8 Number 2. May 2024
For individual papers, click here.
4. CfP: Hybrid Exploratory Workshop: Diaspora as a (Re)Source – Interactions and Interdependencies between Arab Diaspora Communities in Latin America and their Communities/Countries of Origin
Convenors: Katrin Köster, Roberto Cruz Romero
Keynote Speaker: Prof. Dr. Lily Pearl Ballofet (UC Santa Cruz)
Date: 01.+02. November 2024
Format: Hybrid
Location: Research Centre Global Dynamics, Leipzig University (and Zoom)
Context
Latin American countries and especially the Arab diaspora communities in these countries are an important political, socioeconomic, and cultural resource for Arab communities in the Levant and the wider Middle East. In recent months, the world has been reminded of this by the numerous Latin American expressions of solidarity with Gaza. Similarly, during the past few years, Arab diaspora communities have rallied to support Syrian refugees and economically drained Lebanese communities. These acts of solidarity are not singular in nature, but are part and parcel of long-lasting and deep-rooted ties between Middle Eastern and Latin American communities.
The ties between these two world regions go back to the late nineteenth century, the era of worldwide labor migration to the Americas. Impoverished Arabs, predominantly Christians but also Druze, Alawis, and Sunni Muslims from the Levant, migrated to the Americas, especially drawn to Latin America. During the 1920s and 1930s, they were joined by a second wave of migrants dominated by intellectuals fleeing from oppression and censorship. Today, particularly Argentina and Brazil, as well as some smaller Latin American countries, are home to huge Levantine Arab communities who have great influence on political, socioeconomic, and cultural developments in both their “new” and “old” home countries.
The ways diaspora communities have influenced and continue to influence their Arab communities or countries of origin are varied and manifold. For instance, politicians try to rally diaspora communities to affect election outcomes at home or international politics pertaining to developments in the Middle East, while Arab intellectuals in the diaspora frequently make decisive contributions to discourses in the region. The economic solidarity of diaspora communities has often played a significant role in softening the hardship of economic crises for specific communities and villages, and mahǧar (diaspora) literature and diaspora film productions have profoundly influenced the Arab cultural scene. Furthermore, sociocultural practices like St. Mary’s shrines, Salsa music, and first and foremost Mate tea consumption enjoy immense popularity in Arab countries, especially the Levant.
Existing Research
The past few decades have seen increased scholarly interest in Middle Eastern migration studies in general and Arab diaspora communities in Latin America in particular. This interest was primarily kindled and stoked by the works by Akram Khater, Reem Bailony, Lily Pearly Ballofet, Roberto Khatlab, Stacy D. Fahrenthold, and John Tofik Karam as well as the Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies, which is edited by Fahrenthold and Khater and published by the Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies. Additionally, individual studies, for example by Ottmar Ette and Frederike Pannewick, have highlighted literary entanglements between the Americas and the Middle East. Most of the existing studies, however, pertain to one of these three areas of research: connections between diaspora communities and their home countries during the first decades of the migration movement (i.e., the late nineteenth and early twentieth century up the 1940s), the significance of diaspora literature for Arab language literature, and diaspora communities within the context of their “new” home countries. Significantly less has been published on the interactions and interdependencies between Arab diaspora communities in Latin America and their communities/countries of origin during later decades of the twentieth century and the early twenty-first century.
Workshop Design
This workshop sets out to explore these interactions and interdependencies on the personal, political, social, economic, and cultural level, with a focus on the time period from the 1940s to the 2020s. We are especially interested in investigating how these various kinds of entanglements have been influencing and shaping Middle Eastern communities and countries and how diaspora communities function as a catalyst or as (re)sources for political, socioeconomic, and cultural transformations in the Arab world.
Possible research topics and questions include but are not limited to:
Latin American Arab diasporas as a resource in times of political and economic crises,
Latin American Arab diasporas as advocates of Arab interests within interational politics,
Economic entanglements and trade connections between Latin America and the Middle East,
Intellectual and cultural transfers between Latin America and the Middle East,
Cold War solidarities and Peronism’s influence on Nasserism
In the course of the workshop, we would also like to discuss the specifics of research on Arab diasporas in Latin America and their entanglements with their respective communities and countries of origin. In how far does this research relate to diaspora studies in general and in how far can it open up new avenues of investigation and/or contribute to existing research on a theoretical and methodological level?
This workshop is designed as an exploratory workshop and intends to bring together scholars who want to further research on Latin American–Middle Eastern entanglements. The workshop is also designed as a first step in a longer process and therefore primarily serves to set the stage for future empirical and theoretical research by shaping the research parameters and developing methodological approaches appropriate for investigating Latin American–Middle Eastern entanglements.
Application and Funding
If you are interested in participating in our workshop, please send a short abstract (250–350 words) and a short biography (max. 100 words) to Katrin.koester@uni-leipzig.de by 1 August 2024. Early career scholars are especially invited to apply.
Participants are expected to attend the entire workshop (either online or in person) and give a 20-minute presentation on a research topic related to the themes of the workshop. Presentations in English, Arabic, and Spanish are welcome, but we kindly ask you to provide an English abstract.
Limited funding is available for this workshop. We will organize accommodation at a nearby hotel for the participants for the duration of the workshop and will cover transportation costs as far as possible.
Please indicate in your application whether you want to participate online or in person and, in the latter case, from where you will be travelling to Leipzig. This will not have any effect on the selection process but will facilitate the workshop logistics.
Schedule and Further Plans
01.08.2024 Deadline for applications
07.08.2024 Notification of accepted applicants
11.10.2024 Deadline for extended abstracts
01.+02.11.2024 Workshop
01.08.2025 Deadline for finalized papers
10–12.09.2025 Second Meeting in the form of a panel at the 8th European Congress on Universal and Global History in Växjö, Sweden (attendance is self-funded by participants, online attendance is possible)
2026 Publication of a special issue
5. Meşher’s “Istanbul as Far as the Eye Can See: Views across Five Centuries” exhibition has been extended until 29 September 2024 due to popular demand!
About Meşher
Initiated by the Vehbi Koç Foundation (VKV), Meşher advocates the creation of new dialogues across time and cultures, not only through its exhibitions ranging from historical research to contemporary art but also its comprehensive array of parallel activities such as publications, workshops, and conferences. With its overall interdisciplinary approach, Meşher, which takes its name from the Ottoman Turkish word meaning exhibition space, has been active since September 2019. Meşher presents exhibitions on a wide range of subjects, across a time span ranging from the Middle Ages to the present. With its versatile program, research-based academic aspect, and publications, Meşher continues to acts as a reference point for Istanbul’s arts and culture scene.
Located on İstiklal Street, Meşher welcomes visitors with free access to exhibitions, events, and guided tours. It is open six days a week, being closed on Mondays.
Meşher, Istanbul’s leading interdisciplinary exhibition space, hosts Istanbul as Far as the Eye Can See: Views across Five Centuries, curated by Şeyda Çetin and Ebru Esra Satıcı that opened on 20 September 2023. Based on a selection of more than 100 rare works from the Ömer Koç Collection, the exhibition spans 500 years, from the 15thcentury – when Istanbul became Ottoman Empire’s capital – to the first quarter of the 20th century. Paintings and engravings showing wide-angle views, together with rare books, albums, panoramic photographs, and even souvenirs of Istanbul, offer visitors a richly varied visual record of the city.
The many producers of these works are also very diverse, including a ship captain, travellers, soldiers, ambassadors, writers, photographers, architects, and city planners; many of them are Westerners with agendas ranging from political to military to aesthetic, and the medium they used varied. Their work reveals both diplomatic relations and the city’s multi-cultural structure and social life; they also trace the major changes that have taken place in the city over time. Quotations from written sources accompany the visual representations, creating a dialogue between Western perspectives and 19th- and early 20th-century Ottoman/Turkish literature. Rather than being yet another ode to the city, the exhibition encourages reflection on the diversity of its narratives and the differences in its many depictions.
Istanbul as seen through Western eyes
Henry Aston Barker’s panorama of Istanbul, which he made from the top of the Galata Tower in 1800; an engraving after Philipp Franz von Gudenus’s drawing from the roof of the Swedish Embassy in 1741, sketched when he was stationed in Istanbul; and Joseph Schranz’s panorama from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara: these are only some of the images now showcased at Meşher. The works of James Robertson, known to have taken the earliest 360-degree panoramic photographs of Istanbul, are also on display, including his panorama taken from the Bayezid Tower in May 1854 and presented in an album that bears the artist’s signature.
The panoramic views that enable us to see Istanbul from end to end and top to bottom in Istanbul as Far as the Eye Can See contain many interesting details as well. Shopkeepers in local dress, women making excursions in ox-drawn carriages, Europeans distinguishable by their hats, children, and four-legged friends of the city complete Istanbul’s historical silhouette.
The oldest work is from 1493
Curators Şeyda Çetin and Ebru Esra Satıcı shared the following about the exhibition spread across Meşher’s three floors: “We aimed to include works depicting as many vistas as possible, from different points of view and of different neighbourhoods across the city. We display over 100 works across three floors of Meşher, the oldest being the Liber chronicarum (1493) by Hartmann Schedel; among the most recent is an album (1922–1924) of original designs and drawings by Alexandre V. Pankoff. The themes and stories that come to the fore are not separated by sharp boundaries; on the contrary, they nourish and complement each other. We believe that revealing the relationships between the works, rather than classifying them according to period or medium, will contribute to our understanding of this multi-layered city.”
Meşher’s director Nilüfer H. Konuk stated that the exhibition team seeks to reach a wide audience. Konuk added, “Some of these exhibits are the earliest printed edition of a work or the sole surviving copy, while others are pioneering examples of their period. Some are being exhibited in Istanbul for the first time. We are delighted to bring these rare works from Ömer Koç’s precious collection to a wide audience at Meşher.”
Istanbul as Far as the Eye Can See will be open until 29 September 2024. The exhibition is accompanied by a programme of events, including workshops for adults and children organised by the curators and the Meşher team. The full up-to-date event programme can be accessed on the Meşher website and through its social media accounts.
Exhibition catalogue
Published both in English and Turkish, the exhibition catalogue draws attention to the diversity of Istanbul’s representations with contributions from experts in the field. Catalogue entries are written by Sven Becker, Briony Llewellyn, Bahattin Öztuncay, and Claude Piening. Beginning with a preface by Ömer M. Koç, the book contains an introduction to the exhibition by the curators Şeyda Çetin and Ebru Esra Satıcı, as well as an essay by Prof. Zeynep Çelik entitled “We, the city of Istanbul, we are beautiful.”
Contact Email
URL
6. The Art of the Saljuqs in Iran and Anatolia
Robert Hillenbrand
First soft cover edition published in 1994
Mazda, 2024 with new, expanded introduction
http://www.mazdapublishers.com/book/art-of-the-saljuqs-in-iran-and-anatolia
7. Employment opportunity | Associate Director of the Center for Middle East Studies (CMES) at Brown University
Full information at:
https://brown.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/staff-careers-brown/job/Associate-Director_REQ196303
8. Research Associate (3 Years), Chair for the History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Your tasks: Research in the field of Ottoman history with a special focus on Southeast Europe and/or the Mediterranean regions and teaching. Your profile: Completed master’s degree in history and good knowledge of at least one Southeast European language.
Deadline for applications: 15 July 2024.
Information:
https://jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/jobposting/c6f3d953370e1d75fa69f4f97d02ed8b798ed1950?ref=homepage
- July 06, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment