Archive for July, 2024
Shii News – Academic Items
1.International Conference on “Philosophy, the Political, and Politics of Translation in the Modern Islamic World”, Scholarly Network Philosophy in the Modern Islamic World (DFG), Berlin, 10-13 March 2025
We are looking for proposed contributions on philosophy, translation, and the political, especially with regard to particular concepts in translation, translation as a historical phenomenon, translations and teaching, and philosophical reflections on the practice of translation. Researchers in early phases of their academic career and/or from the MENA region are especially encouraged to apply.
Deadline for proposals: 25 August 2024.
Information: https://philosophy-in-the-modern-islamic-world.net/intern-conf-philosophy-political-politics-call
2. 59th International Conference of the ARAM Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies on “Orientalism and the Levant during the Second Half of the Second Millenium (1500-2000)”, University of Oxford, 6-8 July 2026
The Levant includes Iraq and Iran and the entire coastlands from Asia Minor to Egypt. All papers given at the conference will be considered for publication in a future edition of the ARAM Periodical, subject to editorial review.
If you wish to participate in the conference, please contact aram@ames.ox.ac.uk
3. 60th International Conference of the ARAM Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies on “Educational Western Missions in the Levant 1300-1918 AD/CE”, University of Oxford, 8-10 July 2027
The Levant includes Iraq and Iran and the entire coastlands from Asia Minor to Egypt. All papers given at the conference will be considered for publication in a future edition of the ARAM Periodical, subject to editorial review.
If you wish to participate in the conference, please contact aram@ames.ox.ac.uk
4. Articles for Journal “Forum Islamic-Theological Studies”
Papers in English and German are invited in the following areas: – Qur’anic Studies and Qur’anic Exegesis (tafsīr) – Hadith Studies – Sufism – Islamic Legal Theory and Hermeneutics (fiqh) – Islamic Ethics – Islamic Philosophy – Systematic-Discursive Theology (kalām) – Islamic Religious Education – Sociology of Religion on Muslims in Europe or the West – Contributions on current discourses on Islam and Muslims in Europe –Islam and Pluralism, Islam in Europe – etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 October 2024. Information: https://ojs.nomos-journals.de/index.php/fits/CfP
5. Article pour Revue Annales Islamologiques 61, 2027 « Aspects pluriels de l’écriture de soi dans l’adab prémoderne (IIIe/IXe-XIIe/XVIIIe siècles) »
Les articles figurant dans ce volume concerneront des textes d’adab au sens large de ce terme (incluant aussi bien les textes historiographiques que littéraires), qui comportent une composante autobiographique et/ou qui relèvent de l’ego-document et qui ont été produits en langue arabe dans l’aire culturelle arabo-musulmane entre le IIIe/IXe et le XIIe/XVIIIe siècles, quelle que soit leur nature générique.
Les propositions doivent être envoyées avant le 30 septembre 2024.
Information : https://iismm.hypotheses.org/104325
6. New Journal: “Rivista di Studi storici del Mediterraneo” – International Review of Mediterranean Historical Studies
This journal promotes a global perspective on the historical dynamics of the Mediterranean, transcending geographical boundaries. Contributions are invited about topics that transcend any conventional periodization in order to investigate the complex network of relations and influences relating to different Mediterranean contexts and foster historical knowledge of the Mediterranean.
Information: https://rivistastoricadelmediterraneo.it/en/the-mediterranean-world/#more-117
7. Ibn Arabi’s Religious Pluralism: Levels of Inclusivity
F Abdel-hadi
Routledge, 2025
8. IHF Academic Committee Announcement
The second cycle of the Iran Heritage Foundation’s 2024 grant programme, with the deadline of August 31st, 2024 is now open for receipt of application.
With the overall aim of fostering knowledge and appreciation of Iran’s rich cultural heritage research grants in various academic disciplines are awarded. The particular emphasis (in alphabetical order) is on archaeology, arts, history, linguistics, and literature, though applications from other disciplines will also be considered.
Projects to be supported may include the most various academic initiatives, from fieldwork to workshops to building databases and digitising images, and will – as previously – privilege new research such as editions and translations of key texts. In order to support multiple initiatives grants of up-to a maximum of £3,000 will be considered.
In this second cycle, the Committee will also award two book prizes; one in memory of Iradj Bagherzade, the late founder of I.B. Tauris Publishing (now a subsidiary of Bloomsbury Publishing), as an enabling prize to defray some of the costs of a book still to be published; and the other for an already published book making a significant contribution to the world of Iranian studies.
The application process and conditions for the grants as well as book prizes can be viewed on our website.
To apply please click here.
For Terms and Conditions please click here
9. 2025 Mohamed Ali Foundation fellowship programme: call for applications
This residential fellowship (Apr-June 2025) carries a grant, accommodation and meals, and is a valuable research and publication opportunity for early career (post-doctoral) or established scholars working on the modern history of Egypt and the wider region: more details are provided in the online notice.
The application deadline is Tuesday 1 October 2024.
Past fellows’ papers are available online:https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/school-government-international-affairs/research/fellowships/the-mohamed-ali-foundation-fellowship-programme/visiting-fellows-and-mohamed-ali-foundation-fellowship-papers/
Further information at:
10. Call for Chapter Abstracts:
Two Handbook Projects on Iranian and Iranian Diaspora Studies
Overview of the Project
Bloomsbury Academic has approved a proposal for two handbook projects: The I.B. Tauris Handbook of State and Society in Modern Iran, and, The I.B. Tauris Handbook of Iran and Iranians in the Modern World.
State and Society in Modern Iran will highlight current and critical approaches to a classic subject in the field: the modern emergence of Iran as a nation-state since ca. 1800. Iranians in the Modern World will highlight scholarly trends that situate Iran in modern regional and global contexts and explore the transnational experiences of diverse groups with heritage ties to Iran.
The development timeline aims for the publication of both books by the winter of 2026 so they can join the catalog of I.B. Tauris Handbooks.
Authors of approved abstracts will be entitled to a copy of the book upon completion and have opportunities to participate in workshopping events with fellow authors and editors via Zoom. For fullest consideration, please send your abstracts to Camron Michael Amin at camamin@umich.edu by September 7th, 2024 (sooner is always better). Reach out any time if you have questions about this opportunity. I will note that the publications will be peer-reviewed. Chapters can be either traditional research presenting new findings or different forms of engaged scholarship (review essay, annotated translations of texts, annotated field notes or essays on research methodology). The essential criteria is for contributions to serve as both a guide to the state of the field and as a platform for further inquiry.
Chapter abstracts should be no more than 1000 words and clearly indicate which book and section the contribution is intended for. Each book has two sections (described in more detail below), and we anticipate approving 10 chapters for each section.
Looking forward to seeing your chapter abstracts! If you want to chat informally, please reach out to me at camamin@umich.edu to schedule a Zoom (or, better yet, let’s connect at the AIS Conference in Mexico City).
Camron Michael Amin
Professor of Middle East and Iranian Diaspora Studies
Coordinator of Middle East Studies, University of Michigan-Dearborn
Research Director for the Inclusive History Project-Dearborn
Contributing Editor-in-Chief
More Detail on the Handbooks
Book I: I.B. Tauris Handbook of State and Society in Modern Iran
Section 1. Society, State and the Spaces in Between
Scholars have long described the gradual but inexorable rise of a modern state in Iran since 1800 with ever-increasing powers over individuals and groups. More recently there has also been a growth in scholarship about the role of non-state institutions, market forces and informal networks that coexist with and complicate the power of the state.
Potential subjects for this section include but are not limited to: Iran’s press and mediascape, Iran’s shifting demographics, Iran’s banking system, Iran’s labor movement(s), digital resistance and authoritarianism, Iran’s technocracy, evolving state and dissident ideologies, education and society, the military and society, Iran’s parliaments, municipality-level politics, Iran’s constitutions and legal reform/practice, and how different segments of society have experienced the state.
Section 2: Social Complexity Inside a Changing Iran
With the initial expansion of the state in the 19th century came simultaneous efforts to regulate it and to make it more responsive to society’s priorities. The emergence of Iran’s modern legal system as a site of social-political contestation provides a way to understand and historicize the practical implications of competing political ideologies and social movements in Iran.
Potential subjects for this section include but are not limited to: Intersectionality and Women.Life.Liberty, Iranians and courts, LGBTQ+, consumer culture, changes in urban and rural life, mobility, non-profit and private institutions, censorship and the arts, the domestic economy (energy and non-energy sectors), popular religion and religious diversity in Iran.
Book II: The I.B. Tauris Handbook of Iran and Iranians in the Modern World
Section 1: Iran as a Regional and Global Actor
For all the nuance scholars have added to the narrative of the expansion of the power of the Iranian nation-state, one feature of Iran’s modern experience is its official integration into regional and global diplomatic and economic frameworks. This section explores both state and non-state influences on Iran’s image and impact on the world stage.
Potential subjects for this section include but are not limited to: The GCC and Iran, Iran and BRICS, Iran and OPEC, Iran and UN, Iran’s soft power initiatives, Iran’s foreign policy establishment, Iran’s proxies and clients, state and dissident efforts to influence global opinion, Iran and tourism, Iran as refuge for and exporter of asylum seekers, “Iran” as a brand in the global culture, and Iran’s influence on transnational shi’ism.
Section 2: Iranian Expatriate Communities and Diasporas
There’s no understanding Iran’s modern experience without considering its transnational aspects. Decades before the revolution of 1979 generated a growing global Iranian diaspora, Iranian expatriate communities were influencing politics and culture in Iran itself and formed an essential dimension of Iran’s participation in global and regional trade. The exact number of Iranians in diaspora is unknown. However, it is estimated that since the 1979 Iranian revolution between 5 to 8 million Iranians have left Iran legally and illegally. Given the relatively large number of Iranians in diaspora, the research on Iranian diaspora has predominantly been US-centered and scholars have paid less attention to Iranian immigrants in other regions.
Potential subjects for this section include but are not limited to: Iranian communities in the Middle East, The Iranian diasporas in the Americas, The literary cultures of the diaspora , second-generation Iranians in diaspora, Iranian women in diaspora , comparative transnational family dynamics, the influence of expatriate Iranian communities on domestic Iranian politics and culture, recreating Iran in the diaspora, pluralism in the Iranian diaspora, and interactions between Iranian and other global diasporas.
11. UCLA Pourdavoud Institute:
Achaemenid Workshop 2 Day 1 Videos Available!
We are pleased to share with you the recorded lectures from the first day of the Second Achaemenid Workshop, The Achaemenid Persian Empire and Imperial Transformations in the Ancient Near East, hosted at the University of Innsbruck and co-sponsored by the Pourdavoud Institute in Obergurgl, Austria on July 3–7, 2023.
The first workshop, hosted at UCLA in Spring 2023, introduced a new series of symposia, dubbed Achaemenid Workshops (AchWorks), which, building on the strength of Achaemenid studies in the past decades, seek to revisit and reassess the state of Achaemenid scholarship over the coming years with a dozen workshops hosted at leading institutions of ancient studies around the globe. Coordinated by the Pourdavoud Institute in conjunction with AchWorks’ Organizing Board, the workshops aspire to become an intellectual hub for Achaemenid studies, while also affording an institutional framework to foster future generations of scholars working on the Achaemenid world.
On July 3-7, 2023, the second Achaemenid Workshop titled “The Achaemenid Persian Empire and Imperial Transformations in the Ancient Near East (7th – 2nd c. BC),” took place in the alpine settlement of Obergurgl, Austria. In addition to being part of AchWorks, the conference was embedded in the context of the Austrian Academy of Science commission “Transformation Processes and Empire in the Ancient Worlds of Afro-Eurasia.” The talks and program focused on the emergence, fall, and transformation processes of the Achaemenid empire (6th–4th century BCE), contextualized by preceding developments in the period of the Neo-Assyrian empire under the Sargonids (7th century BCE) and by an outlook on the early Seleucid period (3rd–2nd century BCE).
The Third Achaemenid Workshop will be hosted by Columbia University in New York and co-sponsored by the Pourdavoud Institute and Yarshater Center at UCLA on February 21–22, 2025. The Institute shall record this workshop, with lecture videos to be include in our Online Video Library.
For all videos, see:
https://pourdavoud.ucla.edu/videos/
12. CALL FOR PAPERS
Iranian Masculinities Across Time: Historical Perspectives
University of California, Santa Barbara
This projected volume explores the diverse experiences, performances, and discourses involving men and masculinities in Iranian society and culture over a broad span of time, from antiquity to the present day. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
- Mapping historical and/or modern masculinities and institutions and various definitions of masculinities.
- Outsiders’ perceptions, stereotypes, and experiences of Iranian masculinity from the ancient Greeks to the modern period.
- How media ideals and ideologies of masculinity have changed through the 19th-21st centuries.
- Hegemonic and non-hegemonic masculinities; marginalized masculinities, outcast/pariah/abject masculinities; resistant masculinities; ethnic / non-urban / regional/ racialized/class-based masculinities.
- Masculinity and religion; religious and divine masculinities.
- Patriarchy and law.
- Man-making practices, places, and things; passages into manhood; masculine life stages: boyhood, manhood, fatherhood, etc. and life roles (work, volunteerism, parenthood, and more)
- Masculinity and the body; the manly/masculine body; masculinity and sports; masculinity and disability, sexual dysfunction, bodily non-normativity, and/or physical impairment
- Masculinity, same sex desire, and sexual orientation
- Challenges of studying Iranian men and masculinities
- Masculinities in sociopolitical movements
- Masculinities in the arts (including graphic arts, cartoons, cinema), architecture, material culture.
- Masculinities and musical performances
- Masculinities in children’s literature
- The effects of patriarchy on men and boys; the roles of men and boys in bringing about gender equality
- The unmanly; masculinity and women / the feminine
- Masculinity, violence, and emotions
- Male Advocates of Women’s Rights and Gender Equity in Modern Iranian history.
- newly emergent forms of masculinities for a more democratic Iranian society
Proposals/abstracts from all disciplines and all fields are welcomed. They may focus on Iran, the Iranian plateau and neighboring regions, or the Iranian diaspora, and may examine any period from the second millennium BCE up to the present.
Please send your proposal/abstract of no more than 300 words by September 15, 2024 to both Janet Afary (jafary@ucsb.edu) and John W. I. Lee (jwilee@history.ucsb.edu). Individuals whose proposals/abstracts are accepted will be invited to submit a paper (20-25 pages). Deadline for receipt of the paper will be in April 2025. A conference celebrating the authors and exploring the key themes of the projected volume will be held at UCSB in 2025-2026.
- July 16, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- July 15, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Waqfs in Colonial Bengal: History, Administration, Reformation
Mahboob Alam
Radiance, 2024
https://www.bagchee.com/books/BB138386/waqfs-in-colonial-bengal-history-administration-reformation
2. Liminal Minorities
Religious Difference and Mass Violence in Muslim Societies
G M Tezcür
Cornell, 2024
https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9781501774683/liminal-minorities/
3. History of the Ganja Khanate
E Babayev, W Floor (transla)
Mage, 2024
https://magepublishers.com/history-of-the-ganja-khanate/
4. Iranian Art from the Sasanians to the Islamic Republic: Essays in Honour of Linda Komaroff, edited by Sheila S. Blair, Jonathan M. Bloom, and Sandra S. Williams
Edinburgh University Press, 2024.
The volume is available for preorder here: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-iranian-art-from-the-sasanians-to-the-islamic-republic.html.
Please feel free to use the discount code NEW30 for 30% off the list price.
5. Faculty Position in Islamic Ethics (Open Rank), Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Doha, Qatar
Qualification: Ph.D. degree in Islamic studies for conducting research and teaching in Islamic ethics. – Proficiency in both Arabic and English. – 5-10 years of relevant work experience commensurate with the rank applied for (assistant, associate, or full professor) at an accredited international university. – Proven record of research and publications as a leading author, demonstrating competence and adequacy relative to peers active in the same field at major research universities.
Applications immediately until the position is filled. Information:
https://www.cilecenter.org/public-outreach/announcements/faculty-position-islamic-ethics-open-rank
6. Assistant Professor for Modern Arabic Literature & Culture, University of Michigan
The successful candidate will teach a range of courses in modern Arabic literature (from the Nahda to the present), from introductory undergraduate lecture courses through graduate seminars; supervise doctoral dissertations; and participate actively in the programs of the department as well as in area studies initiatives within a larger university community that encourages interdisciplinary efforts.
Deadline for applications: 1 November 2024.
Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/148670
7. “2024 Suad Joseph Student Paper Award” of the “Association of Middle East Anthropology (AMEA)”
Eligibility: A graduate student at any stage in an MA or PhD program. Paper components: 15-35 pages long.
– Anthropological focus. – Regional focus on the Middle East and/or North Africa and/or diasporic communities. – Excellent standards of writing, argumentation, evidence, and ethnographic representation. – Significant contribution to knowledge production.
Deadline for paper: 1 September 2024.
Information: https://mideastanthro.com/suad-joseph-student-paper-award-2/
8. Articles on “Infidels, Enemies or Humanists? The European-Italian “Renaissance” and the Fictional Imaginary of the Muslim-Ottoman Turk” for a Special Issue of the Journal “Religions”
This issue focuses on the inter-connection between the Ottoman world and the Western Europe in the Quattrocento and Cinquecento; in specific, the idea is to work on the reciprocal imaginary that the Ottoman sultanate and the European-Italian potentates reciprocally played in this specific age. The argument is open to a multi-disciplinary approach able to consider the historical, religious, political, artistic, and literary approaches as international relations topics.
Deadline for manuscripts: 30 September 2024.
Information: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/Z3H162B632
- July 13, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- July 10, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.New series from Brill
Islamic Sources / Maṣādir Islāmiyya
مصادر إسلامية
We’re happy to launch a new book series: Islamic Sources / Maṣādir Islāmiyya (ISMI). This series will publish text editions of primary sources of the Arab-Islamic heritage, covering all periods and regions of the Islamic world. The series is open to works from all disciplines. All works will be preceded by a solid scholarly introduction in Arabic, English, French, German or Spanish. Authors are encouraged to submit editions of previously unpublished manuscripts, or new critical editions, annotations, and commentaries that provide significant new scholarly insights. If you are interested in submitting proposals for this series, please contact Abdurraouf Oueslati.
2. Ethics in the Qurʾān and the TafsīrTradition
From the Polynoiaof Scripture to the Homonoia of Exegesis
Tareq Hesham Moqbel
Brill 2024
3. “6th Congress of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies”, University of Strasbourg, 25-27 June 2025
The panels may cover one or more fields of the humanities and social sciences (anthropology, archaeology and art history, law, economics, geography, history, Islamic Studies and religious sciences, linguistics, literature, philosophy, sociology, political science), from a global or regional perspective, in connection with the study of the Middle East and/or the Maghreb, the Muslim worlds in the broad sense, or Islam in the world.
Deadline for proposing panels: 15 September 2024.
Information: http://majlis-remomm.fr/wp-conten
4. Postdoc in Religious Studies: “Muslim Piety and Aesthetic Expressions” (2 Years), University of Copenhagen
We are looking for a post-doc researcher to study the emerging scenes for Islamic art in Scandinavia. It will identify how and where interaction takes place when artistic practices intersect with Muslim piety. The artistic practices can be visual arts, music, literature or performance and the scene can be performance stages, art galleries or literary forums as well as social media and websites. The project is not geographically limited to Denmark.
Deadline for applications: 11 August 2024.
Information: https://jobportal.ku.dk/videnskabelige-stillinger/?show=161941
5. Professor/Lecturer for Islamic Legal and Ethical Tradition, Sultan Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Centre of Islamic Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam
Qualification: PhD in Islamic Studies or a closely related field (with a specialization in Islam, Technology, and Science) from an internationally recognized university. – Outstanding record of research productivity through research grants and publications, and teaching excellence in the above fields. – Experience in designing demand-driven programs for government and/or private sectors and conducting lectures for professional development programs in relevant areas of leadership.
Deadline for applications: 5 August 2024.
Information: https://ubd.edu.bn/job/academic-positions-at-sultan-omar-ali-saifuddien-centre-for-islami-studies-soascis/
6. “Mediterranean Seminar Prize for the Best Source Edition, Book Translation, or Essay Collection, 2025”
The Prize is open to books published from 2022 to 2024 inclusive. The committee is most interested in collections of essay that break new ground conceptually or methodologically, are comparative and/or interdisciplinary, that emphasize the intercultural/interregional/inter-religious contact, that are “of” rather than merely “in” the Mediterranean, and that are both internally coherent and comprehensive.
Deadline for applications: 31 December 2024.
Information: https://mediterraneanseminar.squarespace.com/book-prize-2025
7. SOAS Centre for Iranian Studies
Webinar | Beyond the screen: Critical thinking in creative film production
Beyond the screen: Critical thinking in creative film production
6.00pm, Thursday 11 July 2024
Join us for a talk by Dr. Hamideh Javadi on critical thinking in creative screen production, featuring her short films “Halftone” and “Wordfall.” Explore the intersection of critical theory and visual storytelling.
Dr. Hamideh Javadi holds a PhD in Cinematic Arts from Ulster University. Blending documentary, animation, and experimental film techniques, her work not only tells compelling stories but also galvanizes viewers to engage with pressing global issues. Hamideh has produced award-winning works that challenge conventional narratives.
Her short animation ‘Halftone’ and her recent work ‘Wordfall’ exemplify her approach to critical screen production research emphasizing the transformative potential of critical screen production.
Register at:
https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/beyond-screen-critical-thinking-creative-film-production
8. Soka University of America – Tenure-Track Faculty Position Assistant Professor of Middle East and North African (MENA) Studies
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=67324
Closing date: 30.9.24
9. Ibn Rushd lecture 2024: Muslim Women in Britain: Muslim Institute
London,15 July 2024 6pm UK time
Professor Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor and her new book (edited with
Jamie Gilham) Muslim Women in Britain, 1850-1950: 100 years of Hidden History – https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/muslim-women-in-britain-1850-1950/
Information about the lecture and link to RSVP is available here – https://musliminstitute.org/events/monday-15-july-ninth-annual-ibn-rushd-lecture-2024-history-muslim-women-britain-professor
10. UCLA: Latino and Islamic Cultural Connections
An Evening of Exploration: Latino and Islamic Cultural Connections
Co-sponsored Event
Thursday, July 25, 2024
6:00 – 8:00 PM PST
The Fowler Museum
Details and registration:
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- July 09, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- July 08, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
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
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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
- July 03, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.International Conference “Environmental History Challenging the Mediterranean(16th to 21st Centuries)”, University Côte d’Azur, 27-28 March 2025
The aim of this conference is therefore to take a fresh look at the Mediterranean through the lens of environmental history. How does this field of history enable us to reconsider the spectrum of Mediterranean studies, from economic and maritime history to political history, via cultural and social history? How do Mediterranean societies adapt to external models? How are practices specific to certain Mediterranean regions integrated into other areas.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 September 2024.
Information: https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20037157/cfp-environmental-history-challenging-mediterranean-16th-21st
2. The Edward Zakarian Awardof the Austrian Academy of Sciences recognizes outstanding doctoral dissertations in the fields of Armenology and Iranian Studies written and completed at a university in Europe.
Amount of the award: 4,000 euros
Dissertations may be submitted from all fields of Armenology and Iranian Studies, i.e., from areas of the humanities and cultural studies as well as political science, law, and sociology.
Applications are invited from highly qualified scholars who have completed their doctoral studies no more than 2 years prior to the submission date and have done so in a member state of the European Union or at a university in Armenia, the United Kingdom, Iran, Switzerland, or Turkey.
Deadline for applications: 15 July 2024
Information about the award and the application documents can be found here.
3. CFP – “Textile Ecologies”, Online Workshop – February 2025
Among the artifacts crafted by humankind, textiles have always held a uniquely interdependent relationship with the environment. Textiles derive from vegetal (hemp, raffia, ramie, cotton, or bark cloth), animal (wool, silk) and even mineral origins (as in the case of asbestos fibers). The production of textiles has depended upon access to and the processing of raw materials, while cloth manufacturing has reshaped entire landscapes from the transplantation of mulberry trees for sericulture to the mounds of murex shells discarded after the extraction of Tyrian purple dye. Textile patterns abound with imagery of flora and fauna, while fabrics have come to shape myths and metaphors of the natural world. Textiles have connected distant regions, but they have also been responsible for and complicit in the enslavement of human beings and the exploitation of agricultural, artisanal, and industrial labor. Textile production has led to the despoliation of landscapes and water resources, often in unequal ways that resulted from colonialism and environmental racism. Despite the recent concern with historical legacies of environmental harm, the field of ecological humanities has mostly neglected the textile realm. For this online workshop, we welcome contributions that consider the relationship between textiles and the environment from any time period and geographic region and seek scholars, artists, and cultural practitioners who grapple with the aesthetic dimensions, ecological conditions, and the past, present, and potential futures of cloth.
After a session on “Textile Ecologies” that we organized for the College Art Association (CAA) conference in 2019, we are now inviting proposals for an online workshop that is scheduled to take place February 5-7, 2025. We welcome submissions from artists, practitioners, conservators, art historians, historians of science, anthropologists, and scholars throughout the humanities and social sciences, as well as those analyzing textiles and ecology within the natural sciences. Please send a brief bio and an abstract of maximum 350 words for 20 min presentations by July 15, 2024 to Sylvia Houghteling and Vera-Simone Schulz at textile.ecologies@gmail.com
4. Baylor University – 2 Lecturers in History
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=67315
The positions will begin in August 2025.
Complete applications must be submitted by 11pm Central Daylight Time on October 1, 2024.
- July 02, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- July 01, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment