Archive for October 26th, 2024
Shii News – Academic Items
1.The Centre de Recherche sur le Monde Iranien (CNRS, Sorbonne nouvelle, Inalco, EPHE-PSL) is pleased to announce the
Ehsan and Latifeh Yarshater Distinguished Lectures in Iranian Studies in Paris
(XIe Conférences d’études iraniennes Ehsan et Latifeh Yarshater)
To be held on November 18, 20, 26, and December 2 and 9, 2024
at the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art (INHA)
2 rue Vivienne 75002 Paris, Auditorium Jacqueline Lichtenstein
Our speaker, Dr. David Durand-Guédy (Universität Hamburg) will deliver five lectures (in French) on the theme:
Une histoire de l’espace à l’époque des premières dynasties turques et mongoles
Further information at: https://cermi.cnrs.fr/evenements-periodiques-du-cermi/conferences-detudes-iraniennes-ehsan-et-latifeh-yarshater/
Since 2001, the Centre de Recherche sur le Monde Iranien is the recipient of an endowment provided through the Persian Heritage Foundation for a biennial lecture series in Iranian Studies – the Ehsan and Latifeh Yarshater Distinguished Lectures in Iranian Studies in Paris.
Information regarding past lectures can be found here:
2. UCLA : ‘Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State’
Historiography of the Middle East Lecture Series
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM PST
UCLA Bunche Hall 10383
3. The Supreme Wisdom Lessons
A Scripture of American Islam
Michael Muhammad Knight,
University of Central Florida, 2024
series: Comparative Islamic Studies
For more information and to order at 25% off quoting the code RELIGION visit the book page:
https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/supreme-wisdom-lessons/
Part of our Equinox Religion Library Islamic Studies Collection:
https://equinoxreligionlibrary.com/projects/islamic-studies-collection
4. Writing People’s Histories: Sanaa Alimia / Asim Qureshi / Fatima Rajina
Join the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations for an evening of conversation as the journalist and presenter Malia Bouattia discusses with Sanaa Alimia, Asim Qureshi and Fatima Rajina how their books are woven together through the writing of people’s histories and rendering visible racialised, purposefully marginalised and often dehumanised subjects.
1 November 2024, 17:30
Aga Khan Centre, 10 Handyside St, London N1C 4D
REGISTER NOW TO ATTEND IN PERSON OR ONLINE
Further details are provided here.
5. The MBRN and Cardiff’s Islam in UK Centre are organising a conference about conversion to Islam, see below and attachment. The deadline for the CfP is 31 October.
Do you study conversion or work with converts? We’re looking forward to welcoming you to the next Muslims in Britain Research Network and Islam UK Centre conference on the impact of Muslim Converts in Britain.
The Islam-UK Centre, Cardiff University & MBRN (Muslims in Britain Research Network) invite submissions for academic papers and professional contributions to a one-day conference about Muslim converts in Europe. This interdisciplinary conference is open to academic scholars, non-academic professionals and practitioners, and members of religious communities.
We will showcase contemporary research and practice in relation to Muslim converts in Britain, and identify topics for future research and practice by addressing the following questions:
- What impact have British Muslim converts had on Muslim communities and wider British society?
- What resources do British Muslim converts use to create progress and change in their own lives, and more widely?
- What are the challenges and needs faced by British Muslim converts in the contemporary context, and how can research help to identify and address these?
Find further information on submission criteria here:
https://mbrn.org/upcoming-events/
6. AKU-ISMC’s new Centre for the Languages of the Muslim World is delighted to offer this short course as part of its Professional Development series. Arabic Transliteration for Academics, Publishers and Librariansis aimed at professionals, scholars and students who work with Arabic text and would like to acquire knowledge of transliteration systems and gain or improve their practical transliteration skills under the guidance of experienced tutors.
The course is a 5-hour practical workshop-style course taught in two highly interactive sessions. Both sessions incorporate tailored feedback from the tutors.
In session I, participants will learn about transliteration and transcription, the various conventions and scholarly traditions, linguistic issues, contextual needs, and specific problems of Arabic-to-roman rendering; participants will learn and practise contextually appropriate practical transliteration, with tailored feedback from the tutors. Session II will comprise a “problem clinic” workshop focused on short, sample texts chosen by each participant and submitted in advance. During the course, consideration will also be given to issues of bias and ideology.
The course is equally well suited to native and non-native speakers of Arabic.
Aims of the course
Develop an understanding of transliteration and transcription, linguistic issues, contextual needs, and specific problems of Arabic-to-roman rendering
Familiarisation with the various conventions and scholarly traditions
Practise contextually appropriate practical transliteration, with tailored feedback from the tutors.
Date and time
5 December | 14:00 – 17:00 (London time) 12 December | 14:00 – 16:00 (London time)
Eligibility Criteria
The course assumes full reading ability of the Arabic script, and at least some basic knowledge of, or working familiarity with, the Arabic language. The course is equally well-suited to both native and non-native speakers of Arabic.
Note
The course will be delivered via Zoom. Readings and further details will be provided later upon registration.
This course will not be recorded.
7. CFP: Sensescapes of War and Ritual in the Early Modern Islamic World, c. 1500-1800
International Conference, Utrecht University, 13-14 February 2025
The religiopolitical landscapes of Islamicate empires were reshaped by the introduction of new destructive warfare technologies and intense ideological propaganda during the early modern period. In this crucial era, collective religious identities were recast in the crucible of prolonged conflicts and contending visions of piety, eschatology, and community. Warfare and rituals were deeply intertwined, as both served performative and symbolic roles in the construction and maintenance of confessional boundaries. These symbolically loaded phenomena served to purify communities of heresy and reinforce distinct religious identities. The ritualization of violence shaped the sensory experience of both warfare and religious ritual. This conference, convened by the SENSIS research project at Utrecht University, invites contributions that examine how sensory experiences both shaped and were shaped by religious transformation, mobility, and violence in this pivotal period between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.
By searing the traumatic experiences of battle into collective memory and affecting the psychological and emotional states of both combatants and noncombatants, wars were not only fought on the battlefield but also felt in the streets, in homes, and in the imaginations of people, thereby creating new emotional and sensory communities. Although research on the early modern Islamic world has made great strides in exploring military technology, the mobilization and provisioning of armies, and the relationship between warfare and state-building, the impact of these developments on the sensory regimes and experiences of early modern Muslims remains largely unexplored. This conference aims to address this gap by highlighting how warfare transformed sensory experiences, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of the sensory dimensions of early modern Islamic societies.
Moreover, apart from the visceral theaters of war, the early modern period saw the rise of states that legitimized themselves through elaborate public rituals, offering new multisensory experiences. Clamorous commemorations, carnivalesque ceremonies, and starkly embodied rituals stimulated and calibrated the senses. New sartorial, sonic, tactile, and olfactory practices enriched the senscapes of war and religious rites. While scholarship has advanced the study of confessionalization in the context of the Ottoman and Safavid empires, the sensory dimensions of public expressions of religious identity formation remain underexplored. Parallel to the theme of warfare, this conference also seeks to highlight how sensory experiences contributed to the formation of religious identities in Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal contexts.
The conference will address the following key questions:
How did the development and adoption of new military technologies by Muslim dynasties transform the sensory experience of battlefields in the early modern era? How did early modern authors construct, mediate, and express the sensorium of warfare? How did violence reshape the sensory perception of landscapes, sacred spaces, and bodies? In what ways did religious transformations, imperial conversions, and polemical encounters reconfigure the sensory experiences of people? How did they contribute to the crystallization of confessional differences both within and between Sunni and Shia Islamic traditions? How did mobility (particularly pilgrimage, travel, and migration) transform the sensory worlds of early modern Islamicate empires? How can sensory history complement our understanding of broader historical dynamics in the early modern period, such as the formation and development of empires, intercommunal relations, and the transformation of religious practices?
Possible topics for papers include, but are not limited to, the senses in:
- Experiences of violence and war
- The performance of rituals
- Sectarian conflict
- Devotional practices
- Mysticism and occult sciences
- Islamic law, theology, philosophy, and ethics
- Mobility (travel, migration, pilgrimage, and exile)
- Cross-cultural encounters
- Religious change and its effects on the sensory landscape of sacred spaces
- Religious identity
- Material cultures of war and religious ritual
- Colonial expansion and war
Paper proposals:
Please send your proposals to sensis@uu.nl including paper title, abstract (max 250 words), name, and institution, by December 15. We welcome scholars regardless of geographical location and particularly encourage graduate students and early-career scholars to submit paper proposals. We have limited funds available to supplement travel costs of presenters. Please indicate in your email if you would like to be considered for a travel grant and/or whether you can secure travel funding from your home institution. No registration fee is required for participation.
Please note that this will be the second of three conferences organized by the SENSIS research group. The final conference, scheduled for May 2025, will focus on sensory history approaches to material culture. For more details, visit our website: https://sensis.wp.hum.uu.nl.
Contact Email
URL
https://sensis.wp.hum.uu.nl/2024/10/call-for-papers-sensis-conference-2025/
8. International Workshop “Accessing the Sea in the Middle Ages: Quantitative Approaches to Mediterranean Mobility”, Heidelberg University, 30-31 October 2024
Utilising the eponymous ‘Database of Medieval Maritime Predation’ as a tool, the medievalists are collecting and analysing documents from the Archives of Barcelona, Valencia, Mallorca, Genoa, Venice and Malta to track maritime predators from East to West and vice versa.
Information and program: https://rmblf.be/2024/10/04/colloque-accessing-the-sea-in-the-middle-ages-quantitative-approaches-to-mediterranean-mobility/
9. Post-doctoral Fellowship (2 years, for Non-German Female Researcher) for the Project “Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam (LAESSI)”, University of Göttingen
The Projects investigates religious, political, cultural, economic trajectories from Late Antiquity to Early Islam (ca. 300 to ca. 930) in the MENA region. Individual proposals related to this overall theme are welcome. Applications should comprise a CV, a list of publications and a short proposal (max. five pages).
Deadline for applications: 3 November 2024.
Contact Prof. Dr. Jens Scheiner (jschein@uni-goettqaboo.de )
- October 26, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment