Archive for September 17th, 2024
Shii News – Academic Items
1.”35th Deutscher Orientalistentag (DOT)” and “31st Congress of the German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO)”, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 8-12 September 2025
The DOT has been regularly convened by the “Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (DMG)” since 1921. It is the biggest conference of Oriental Studies in the German speaking area and an internationally important conference for the research of languages, cultures and societies of the Near East, Asia and Africa. Contributions of the DAVO-Congress will be presented within the 21 sections and panels of the DOT, which are thematically and organisationally connected to the sections.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 January 2025.
Information: https://www.dot2025.fau.eu/files/2024/08/Call-for-Papers-DOT-2025_ENGLISH.pdf
2. Faculty Leave Fellowship for a Scholar Working of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa (1 Year), Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Brandeis University
The fellowship is open to all faculty members, tenured and non-tenured, in the ranks of assistant, associate, full, and emeritus professor (or equivalent) who work on the contemporary Middle East and North Africa, particularly in the disciplines politics, economics, history, religion, sociology, or anthropology.
Deadline for applications: 1 November 2024. Information: https://www.brandeis.edu/crown/grants/index.html
3. Postdoctoral Research Associate in Iran and the Persian Gulf Studies in the 19th – 21st Century, Princeton University
The position is open to scholars of all academic disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. The term of appointment is based on rank. Positions at the postdoctoral rank are for one year with the possibility of renewal pending satisfactory performance and continued funding; those hired at more senior ranks may have multi-year appointments.
Deadline for applications: 29 November 2024.
Information: https://puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/apply/application.xhtml?listingId=35741
4. Conference – “When a Qur’an makes a name: Trajectories and implications”, Collège de France: Institut des civilisations – October 11
When a Qur’an makes a name
Trajectories and implications
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Quand un coran se fait un nom
Trajectoires et implications
Colloque 11 Octobre 2024
Collège de France: Institut des civilisations, 52 Cardinale Lemoine – Salle Françoise Héritier
Organised by Alya Karame
Fellow – Paris Région
Chaire Histoire du Coran
Programme
9.30: Welcome note and introduction
9.45: Eloïse Brac de la Perrière | Par-delà les normes. Une apologie de “la beauté libre”
10.30: Agathe Salomon | Le “coran bleu” ou la fabrication d’un chef-d’œuvre d’art islamique
11.15: Coffee break
11.30: Umberto Bongianino et Eleonore Cellard | The Pink Qurʾān: A Reverse Biography
12.15: Noha Abou Khatwa | Tales, Journeys and Implications: Stories of three Qur’an Manuscripts
in Fourteenth Century Cairo
13.00: Lunch for participants
14.15: Alain George | The Birmingham Qur’an: Anatomy of a Rise to Stardom
15.00: Simon Rettig | A Matter of Taste? Considerations on Manuscripts of the Qur’an
Copied in Nasta‘līq Script
15.45: Nuria de Castilla | Un coran expérimental ? Le Coran de Mūlay Zaydān
16.30: Coffee break
16.45: François Déroche | Le coran doré en vingt-huit volumes
17.30: Discussion
20.00: Dinner for participants
French version below
What defines a work of art as a masterpiece? What elements make it appreciated as an artistic achievement? And who decides which manuscripts stand the test of time? In Arabic, the term tuḥfa connotes an ideal object, the complete, unique and skilful craftsmanship, a rare gift, signifying a difficult and accomplished artistic achievement. These notions seem to be essential for both the creation and the selection of distinguished Qur’an manuscripts (maṣāḥif, sing. muṣḥaf). Art historians specialised in the Qur’an narrate stories of these manuscripts through their palaeographic, codicological and art historical research. The choices of which manuscripts to study have been limited by their survival and accessibility but are often justified based on the basis of the historical and aesthetic significance of the chosen manuscripts including their high patronage. As their path to fame is paved, these are nominated as chef d’oeuvre; they become immortal, a development with implications not only for current scholarship but also for their perceived status, economic value in the art market, and related collecting practices.
Research on individual Qur’anic manuscripts and their recognition as chef d’oeuvre – either as dispersed leaves or bound folios – have been on the rise, with numerous articles identifying their styles of script and illumination while contextualising them within their milieu of production often including the religious, devotional or aesthetic ideas that helped shape them. More recently, there has been interest in bringing together scholars with different specialisations to study one single Qur’an manuscript in order to offer a more holistic understanding of an individual Qur’an, while also framing its production within transregional or transtemporal artistic networks.
This conference aims at exploring what has been gained and what may have been lost in the process of producing Qur’an manuscript stardom. It is an invitation to rethink the writing of the history of the Qur’an through the phenomenon of ‘star’ manuscript creation. To reevaluate the modes of cultural and artistic production that permitted such judgment, in history and in modern scholarship, is to open space for examining the constitutive elements that made, and makes one Qur’an manuscript recognised more than another. As much as this conference is concerned with what established the manuscript as tuḥfa, it suggests a need to broaden the discussion beyond questions of aesthetic styles – their continuities and ruptures, their contextualisation and circulation – towards different enquiries that may inform our modern understanding of artistic or cultural value, and associated concepts such as original, forgery, appropriation and the construction of myth. It is equally a call to complicate the narratives we tell of Qur’ans in ways that may reverberate with the writing of Islamic art history more generally.
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Qu’est-ce qui fait d’une œuvre d’art un chef d’œuvre ? Quels éléments doivent être présents pour qu’elle soit appréciée comme une réussite artistique ? et qui est responsable de décider quel manuscrit passe l’épreuve du temps ? En arabe, le terme tuḥfa connote l’objet idéal, complet, le cadeau rare, l’œuvre difficile ou la pièce unique maitresse. Ces notions apparaissent comme essentielles pour distinguer des manuscrits coraniques (maṣāḥif, sing. muṣḥaf). Les historiens de l’art spécialistes des corans racontent les histoires de ces manuscrits à travers des études paléographiques, codicologiques et d’histoire de l’art. Le choix de ces manuscrits a été surement limité par leur survie et accessibilité, et justifié par rapport à leur importance historique et esthétique -y inclus leur patronage. En devenant célèbre, ces manuscrits commencent à être considéré comme des chefs d’œuvre, et deviennent immortels, ce qui influe non seulement sur les analyses actuelles, mais aussi sur leur perception en général, ainsi que sur leur valeur économique sur le marché de l’art et donc aussi les pratiques des collectionneurs.
La recherche sur des manuscrits coraniques spécifiques, leur promotion au rang de chef d’œuvre – qu’il s’agisse de feuillets dispersés ou de volumes reliés – devient de plus en plus courante. Plusieurs articles ont été publiés avec le but d’identifier l’origine des manuscrits, leur style d’écriture et décoration, en discutant les milieux de production -y compris les idées religieuses, dévotionnelles ou esthétiques qui les ont entourés. De plus, des tentatives ont été faites pour regrouper des spécialités différentes autour d’un seul manuscrit coranique, pour l’observer plus exhaustivement dans un contexte de réseaux artistiques transrégionaux et trans-temporels.
Cette conférence a pour but d’évaluer les progrès qui ont été faits à travers l’émergence de ces manuscrits coraniques célèbres, mais aussi de réfléchir à ce qui a été perdu ou ignoré pendant ce processus. C’est donc une invitation à réfléchir l’écriture de l’histoire du coran à travers le phénomène de création de manuscrits ‘stars’. Examiner les modes culturels et artistiques de production qui ont permis ce jugement, en histoire et dans la littérature moderne, c’est ouvrir un espace pour pouvoir questionner les éléments constitutifs de cette célébrité et qui ont fait qu’un coran est devenu plus connu qu’un autre. Bien que la question au centre de la conférence soit la création d’un manuscrit comme tuḥfa, l’objectif est aussi de pousser au-delà de la discussion des styles esthétiques – leurs continuités et ruptures, leur contextualisation et circulation – vers des enquêtes différentes qui peuvent informer notre interprétation moderne de divers concepts comme l’original, la falsification, l’appropriation ou même la création de mythes. C’est également un appel à complexifier les récits qu’on raconte de certains manuscrits qui entrent en résonnance avec l’écriture de l’histoire de l’art islamique en général.
Contact Information
Please contact Alya Karame for any queries you might have.
Contact Email
alya.karame@college-de-france.fr
5. JOB – Rice University, Open Rank Professor of South Asia
Close Oct 31, 2024
- September 17, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
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