Archive for December 28th, 2024

1.Call for Papers
Special Issue on: “Moratoriums on Islamic Criminal Punishments: Legal Debates and Current Practices”
Publisher: Harvard Law School
Abstract Submission Deadline: January 13, 2025

More information at:

https://iric.org/events/special-issue-of-journal-of-islamic-law/

2. Harvard Divinity School invites applications for a tenured or tenure-track appointment to the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society

Review of applications will begin on January 13, 2025, and continue until the position is filled.

https://iric.org/events/tenured-or-tenure-track-position-in-islamic-studies/

3. Association of East Asian Arabists

International Symposium 2025

Teaching Arabic in East Asia

Researching Arabic, Islamic and Middle East Studies in East Asia

Dates

April 11 & 12, 2025

Venues

On Site at SOAS, University of London or

Online via Zoom or Teams

Languages

Arabic and English

Abstract Deadline

15 February 2025

Association email address:

AEAAInternational@gmail.com

Association of East Asian Arabists (AEAA) is a forum with three sets of objectives. First and foremost, it welcomes scholars from East Asia specialized in Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies and invites them to critically reflect on the pedagogy of teaching Arabic to speakers of East Asian languages at different levels, to share their research priorities, agenda, approaches, and methodologies, and to discuss any problems arising from their professional careers. Second, the Association fosters sharing experiences and mutual enrichments in two aspects of pedagogy and curriculum design in the East Asian context: Arabic language pedagogy; enhancement of the curricular connection between language and content courses; and the challenges of Arabic language teaching in the digital age. Finally, and most importantly, the Association will build a support network for East Asian scholars around the world. The Arabists of East Asian backgrounds face triple marginalization. In North America, Europe and the Middle East, they are pushed out both by North American and European orientalists and scholars of Arabic and Islamic backgrounds. In East Asia, the fields they partake in are marginal to mainstream disciplines and areas of study. AEAA offers space for them to engage with each other’s research and teaching and career concerns. The Association will engage its members through regular online and in person meetings, workshops, lectures, and reading sessions, and trigger further questions for discussion and opportunities for future collaboration such as annual meetings The long-term ambitions of AEAA are the development of new paradigms for approaching Islamic and Middle Eastern studies through the prism of East Asian faith cultures and knowledge traditions.

Background

The Arabic language, which originated from the sixth-century north Arabia, became the lingua franca of the Near East with the spread of Islam. The Arabic language and its literary productions are highly imbued with religious ideas and cultural norms of Arabs. Students from East Asian linguistic, cultural, and religious backgrounds without adequate prior knowledge of the region and religion would encounter challenges when they study more advanced texts. The cultural barrier and lack of relevant knowledge also impede them from appreciating the literary conventions, rhetorics, and poetics of the Arabic language.

While language teaching itself is inseparable from introducing the peoples and societies using the language, the need to combine both into a systematic curriculum is hardly realized in East Asia. At present, Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies in East Asia follows the agenda and pedagogy of either Orientalism or pre-modern knowledge traditions of the Arabic-Islamic world. A coherent curricular structure that takes into consideration the lingual and cultural backgrounds of East Asian students is currently missing.

Technology exerts an unneglectable impact on language teaching. As online Arabic classes and learning tools abound, the efficiency of the traditional teaching methods is called into question. Furthermore, students’ dependence upon technology products such as translation tools and AI programmes for their coursework also undermines the validity of the traditional way of evaluation.

Call for Participation 2025

The Association’s 2025 International Symposium will address two main areas of work that concern teaching and research in Arabic, Islamic and Middle East Studies. It will in addition host a graduate student forum.

We invite and encourage critical reflections on the suitability of textbooks and pedagogy modelled on Orientalism for East Asian lingual and epistemological environments. What are the possibilities of devising curriculum and developing pedagogy that take into consideration the languages and knowledge traditions in which East Asian Arabists are grounded? Papers seeking to reconceptualize religious, cultural, and literary norms and traditions in the Middle Eastern societies in the terms that can be explicated through and even harmonized with East Asian knowledge traditions are most welcome.

First: Teaching Arabic in East Asia

• History of teaching Arabic in East Asia
• Pedagogy and Textbooks
• Syllabi design
• Classroom strategies
• Integrating AI
• Engaging with students of East Asian backgrounds

Second: Research in Arabic in East Asia

• History of research in East Asia
• Engaging with Islam, Christianity and Judaism through the prism of East Asian faith cultures
• Arabic and East Asian Comparative Literature
• Making Arabic studies relevant in East Asia

Third: The Graduate Student Forum

This is an open forum for (post)-graduate students from East Asia to come together to share their experience and concerns with their peers and senior scholars.

All East Asian Arabists are invited to the 2025 international symposium. If you are interested in giving a presentation on one of the two areas identified above, or in taking part in the Graduate Student Forum, please complete the registration form by clicking here.

If you have any enquiries, you can contact us at < AEAAInternational@gmail.com  >.

Ouyang Wen-chin (歐陽文津)

Sumi Akiko ( 鷲見朗子)

Su I-Wen (蘇怡文)

Tsung Pei-Chen (叢培臻)

4. Final Chance to Register – Transformative Course on Islamic Philosophy

Explore the timeless wisdom of Islamic philosophy in an intensive online course from January 2–15, 2025, featuring globally renowned scholars such as Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Gain insights into key philosophical concepts, engage in interactive discussions, and discover the relevance of Islamic thought in addressing contemporary challenges.

Final Registration Deadline: December 30, 2024
Limited Scholarships Available

Learn more and register here:https://hikmat-ins.com/islamic-philosophy