Archive for 2024
- November 06, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.BRAIS Prize 2024 Winner Annoucement + 2025 Call now open!
The British Association for Islamic Studies is delighted to announce that the winner of the 2024 BRAIS Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World is:
Dr Raashid S. Goyal (Cornell University) for his thesis entitled ‘War and Law in the First Islamic Polity: Arabness, Emigration, and the Dhimma of God and His Messenger’.
Very many congratulations to Dr Goyal who has kindly provided an abstract of his thesis which you can read here: https://www.brais.ac.uk/prize/brais-prize-2024
We are also excited to announce that the 2025 BRAIS Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World is now open for submissions. The submission deadline is 5pm GMT on Friday 24 January 2025. Full details about the submission process, including all rules and regulations, can be found here: https://www.brais.ac.uk/prize/brais-prise-2025-call-for-submissions
This international prize is awarded annually to one outstanding doctoral thesis. English-language submissions on any aspect of the academic study of Islam and the Muslim world, past and present, including Muslim-minority societies are accepted.
2. Zoom: Dr. Joanna Bocheńska will present, “Between Whisper and Revolution: Kurdish Heritage, Art and Literature”. 6.11.24.
Dr. Bocheńska is an Associate Professor and Director of the Section of Kurdish Studies at the Department of Iranian Studies at Jagiellonian University. Between 2020 to 2024, she was the principal investigator of two research projects entitled Citizens of the World: Modern Kurdish Literature and Heritagisation as a Means for Transforming and Revitalising the Kurdish Language and the Oral Tradition, and Activism and Its Moral and Cultural Foundation: Alternative Citizenship and Women’s Roles in Kurdistan and the Diaspora.
𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: Between Whisper and Revolution: Kurdish Heritage, Art and Literature
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧: 12:00 pm Central /1 pm Eastern, Wednesday, 6 November
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: Zoom, https://zoom.us/j/92336051781?pwd=OL4HZsu8SBexwIg46ezoEmfL4qynGW.1
See also: https://www.zahrainstitute.org/.
3. Postdoctoral Research Associate (Mapping Connections)
University of Exeter
The successful applicant will be part of the “Mapping Connections: China and Contemporary Development in the Middle East” project, funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and led by Professor Adam Hanieh at the Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS).
Deadline | 7 November 2024
4. Call for Submissions | Colonial, Postcolonial and Decolonial Paper Prize for Early Career Scholars
Prize | British International Studies Association (BISA)
The prize is aimed at supporting CPD’s early career members in the development of peer-reviewed work, while at the same time carving out space in International Studies to engage with the question of empire and coloniality as fundamental to the discipline.
Deadline | 18 November 2024
5. Call for Papers | From Past and Present to Future: Finding a Positive Path between Ideals and Possibilities in Yemen
Workshop | LSE Middle East Centre
What does Yemen’s political, economic and social history and experience, since unification and before, tell us about what is realistic for the coming decade and beyond? This workshop will provide an opportunity to develop answers to this question through exploring topics within four main themes: peace, governance, economy and society.
Deadline | 2 December 2024
6. Inperson: “AFRICAN INTELLECTUALS IN MEDIEVAL ASIA: DEBATES AND CIRCULATIONS ACROSS THE INDIAN OCEAN”
Mahmood Kooria, University of Edinburgh
Silsila NYU Lecture, Wednesday, November 6th, 6:30pm-8:30pm
In person only, Room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY 10003
Registration for all attendees is essential. Due to current university security restrictions those who have not pre-registered will not be admitted.
In accordance with university regulations, visitors must show a valid government-issued photo ID (children under 18 can provide non-government identification).
Please use the following link to rsvp as an in-person attendee:
https://forms.gle/9gLpFDsTZX8ZhexD7
For full details please visit the Silsila website:
7. Assistant Professor in Global Architecture and/or Urbanism Post 1700 CE
New York University: NYU – NY: Arts and Science (A&S): Art History
Deadline: Nov 29, 2024 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68101
The Department of Art History and its Urban Design and Architectural Studies program (URDS) at New York University seeks applications for a full-time, tenure-track, Assistant Professor in Global Architecture and/or Urbanism Post 1700 CE.
We hope to attract candidates who can contribute to our program’s interdisciplinary, analytic approach to urban design and architecture and our emphasis on student development. We invite applications from candidates working in any of the following geographical areas: Africa, Australasia, Central and South America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and West Asia.
We encourage applications from candidates with enthusiasm and proven success or demonstrated potential for research, teaching, student mentoring, and program development. Candidates should be prepared to teach four courses each academic year: three undergraduate courses in the Department of Art History, consisting of a mix of core curriculum courses, departmental surveys, advanced courses, and seminars in the candidate’s area(s) of expertise and research; and one graduate course at the Institute of Fine Arts. The candidate will supervise undergraduate independent studies and honors theses, and master’s and doctoral theses.
Candidates must have completed the Ph.D. by September 1, 2025. Successful candidates will demonstrate excellence in scholarship and teaching.
The appointment will begin on September 1, 2025, subject to budgetary and administrative approval.
Full details are available on Interfolio: https://apply.interfolio.com/157032
8. British Institute of Persian Studies Hybrid Event:
‘Examining the origins of Iran’s political and cultural ties with Africa under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’
21 November 2024, 5:45PM UK time
with Robert Steele
BIPS AGM Lecture and Ann Lambton Lecture 2024
This talk explores the development of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s Africa policy in the final three decades of his reign, examining both geopolitical developments in the Middle East that compelled Iran to look to Africa, and the specific Iranian context.
To register for inperson/online:
https://www.bips.ac.uk/event/political-ties-with-africa/
9. Please join us in person or online for the symposium “Reinventing Islamic Architecture in the 20th and 21st Centuries,” hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7-8 November, 2024
The symposium investigates the phenomenon of 20th- and 21st-century architecture making references to premodern Islamic monuments and built environments. The modern and contemporary resurrection or reinvention of “classical” Islamic form can serve diverse functions and contexts. It can proclaim connections to a glorious imperial past; craft new national identities through architectural revivals; recall a nostalgic homeland for diasporic communities; or even incorporate Orientalist tropes to convey luxurious consumption or cosmopolitan sophistication. Within the discipline of Islamic art history, scholars have debated the logical terminus for the field’s timeline, with traditional narratives ending before the rise of European colonialism. Recent studies have expanded the consideration of art and architecture beyond this limited framework, but scholars are only beginning to question how the forms and narratives of pre-colonial Islamic art history inform post-colonial architectural practice.
In this symposium, UW-Madison welcomes 11 scholars from the U.S. and abroad. The talks and papers are drawn from transnational, cross-cultural contexts and feature examples from a wide range of geographies such as the Middle East, North Africa, the Americas, Europe, and South Asia. The topics are wide ranging but are united in exploring how scholarly narratives of pre-colonial Islamic art history have shaped these kinds of projects. In doing so, we seek to offer new insights into the connection between modern/contemporary architecture and the historiography of Islamic art.
Online registration is here: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUuceyorjkrH9C34sdOpVvx_qJI-VBNi1TC#/registration
10. Honoring the great Palestinian Female Commentator:
Nāʾila Hāshim Ṣabrī And her Qurʾanic Exegesis:
Tafsīr al-mubṣir li-nūr al-Qurʾan
Qom, University of Tehran, I.R.Iran
Nov. 27, 2024 – In person and Virtual
For Registration: info@zabanshenasitarikhi.ir
11. Upcoming online course, “Introduction to Early Judeo-Persian: Jewish Letters from Dandan Uiliq to the Cairo Genizah.”This 2-week course will introduce participants to Early Judeo-Persian (EJP), a formative variety of Early New Persian that offers valuable insights into the development of New Persian.
Course Details:
- Dates: December 9 – December 19
- Schedule: Monday to Thursday, with 2-hour sessions each day (including a short break)
- Format: Online, with interactive classes and time for discussion
Course Overview: The course will focus on selected EJP texts, including commercial letters, legal records, and religious arguments, providing a close view into historical development of Persian in its earlier stages, as it was used by Jewish communities in regions from Xinjiang to Egypt. Participants will learn to read the EJP script and orthographic conventions, while exploring the dialectal history of Early New Persian through these unique manuscripts.
For more details or to register, please follow the link: https://ferdowsi.org/introduction-to-early-judeo-persian/
12. Le CeRMI a le plaisir de vous convier à la prochaineséance du séminaire “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du Monde iranien”, qui se tiendrale jeudi 14 novembre 2024, 17h-19h, en salle 4.15 à l’INaLCO (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris XIII, 4e étage).
Nous sommes heureux d’accueillir M. Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi (EPHE-PSL, LEM), pour une conférence intitulée: “Poésie mystique persane et exercices spirituels“.
Résumé:
La poésie mystique de langue persane à l’âge classique (Xe-XVe siècle) se caractérise, on le sait, par l’extrême richesse de ses lexiques symboliques : de l’évocation de l’érotisme et des beautés de la nature à la beuverie, à la débauche et à l’immoralité. Le présent examen ne concerne pas ces technicités qui ont été, depuis longtemps, abondamment étudiées ; il s’attachera plutôt à recouvrer une couche de sens méconnue, cachée sous ces lexiques, qui a rapport avec les pratiques ascétiques et les exercices spirituels. Les allusions éparses dans la littérature mystique en prose ou les fables philosophiques symboliques permettent en effet de découvrir des grilles herméneutiques où « la brise du matin » peut désigner des exercices respiratoires matinaux, où « la rosée » peut évoquer la transpiration de l’ascète, et « les pétales de rose », les joues empourprées. De cette manière, chez le grand Ḥāfeẓ par exemple, une description lyrique de la nature ou la complainte du chagrin d’amour peuvent renvoyer, outre leur sens obvie exprimé dans un sublime langage poétique, à des pratiques mystiques spécifiques et à des expériences intérieures.
Orientations bibliographiques:
– Naṣrallāh Pūrjavādī, Zabān-e ḥāl dar ‘erfān va adabiyyāt-e fārsī, Téhéran, Hermes, 1385 solaire/2006.
– Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, « Chanter la douceur de la prière. De quelques aspects méconnus du vocabulaire technique de la poésie mystique persane », Journal des Savants, Janvier-Juin 2014, p. 121-141.
– Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, « Provocation, amour, liberté intérieure. De quelques aspects spirituels de l’islam iranien », Revue des Sciences Philosophiques et Théologiques 101.2 (avril-juin 2017), p. 187-200.
Pour rappel, vous retrouverez le programme 2024-2025 du séminaire mensuel de recherche “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du Monde iranien” sur le site du CeRMI :
13. Jobs: Georgetown University – American Druze Foundation Fellowship
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68135
University of Arizona – Assistant Professor of Persian and Iranian History
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68133
University of California Los Angeles – Call for Applications: Two Postdoc positions (early modern China and early modern Islamicate world) Ahmanson-Getty Core Program Fellowships, 2025–2026
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68123
- November 05, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.BRAIS Prize 2024 Winner Announcement + 2025 Call now open!
The British Association for Islamic Studies is delighted to announce that the winner of the 2024 BRAIS Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World is:
Dr Raashid S. Goyal (Cornell University) for his thesis entitled ‘War and Law in the First Islamic Polity: Arabness, Emigration, and the Dhimma of God and His Messenger’.
Very many congratulations to Dr Goyal who has kindly provided an abstract of his thesis which you can read here: https://www.brais.ac.uk/prize/brais-prize-2024
We are also excited to announce that the 2025 BRAIS Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World is now open for submissions. The submission deadline is 5pm GMT on Friday 24 January 2025. Full details about the submission process, including all rules and regulations, can be found here: https://www.brais.ac.uk/prize/brais-prise-2025-call-for-submissions
This international prize is awarded annually to one outstanding doctoral thesis. English-language submissions on any aspect of the academic study of Islam and the Muslim world, past and present, including Muslim-minority societies are accepted.
2. Zoom: Dr. Joanna Bocheńska will present, “Between Whisper and Revolution: Kurdish Heritage, Art and Literature”. 6.11.24.
Dr. Bocheńska is an Associate Professor and Director of the Section of Kurdish Studies at the Department of Iranian Studies at Jagiellonian University. Between 2020 to 2024, she was the principal investigator of two research projects entitled Citizens of the World: Modern Kurdish Literature and Heritagisation as a Means for Transforming and Revitalising the Kurdish Language and the Oral Tradition, and Activism and Its Moral and Cultural Foundation: Alternative Citizenship and Women’s Roles in Kurdistan and the Diaspora.
𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: Between Whisper and Revolution: Kurdish Heritage, Art and Literature
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧: 12:00 pm Central /1 pm Eastern, Wednesday, 6 November
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: Zoom, https://zoom.us/j/92336051781?pwd=OL4HZsu8SBexwIg46ezoEmfL4qynGW.1
See also: https://www.zahrainstitute.org/.
3. Postdoctoral Research Associate (Mapping Connections)
University of Exeter
The successful applicant will be part of the “Mapping Connections: China and Contemporary Development in the Middle East” project, funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and led by Professor Adam Hanieh at the Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS).
Deadline | 7 November 2024
4. Call for Submissions | Colonial, Postcolonial and Decolonial Paper Prize for Early Career Scholars
Prize | British International Studies Association (BISA)
The prize is aimed at supporting CPD’s early career members in the development of peer-reviewed work, while at the same time carving out space in International Studies to engage with the question of empire and coloniality as fundamental to the discipline.
Deadline | 18 November 2024
5. Call for Papers | From Past and Present to Future: Finding a Positive Path between Ideals and Possibilities in Yemen
Workshop | LSE Middle East Centre
What does Yemen’s political, economic and social history and experience, since unification and before, tell us about what is realistic for the coming decade and beyond? This workshop will provide an opportunity to develop answers to this question through exploring topics within four main themes: peace, governance, economy and society.
Deadline | 2 December 2024
6. Inperson: “AFRICAN INTELLECTUALS IN MEDIEVAL ASIA: DEBATES AND CIRCULATIONS ACROSS THE INDIAN OCEAN”
Mahmood Kooria, University of Edinburgh
Silsila NYU Lecture, Wednesday, November 6th, 6:30pm-8:30pm
In person only, Room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY 10003
Registration for all attendees is essential. Due to current university security restrictions those who have not pre-registered will not be admitted.
In accordance with university regulations, visitors must show a valid government-issued photo ID (children under 18 can provide non-government identification).
Please use the following link to rsvp as an in-person attendee:
https://forms.gle/9gLpFDsTZX8ZhexD7
For full details please visit the Silsila website:
7. Assistant Professor in Global Architecture and/or Urbanism Post 1700 CE
New York University: NYU – NY: Arts and Science (A&S): Art History
Deadline: Nov 29, 2024 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68101
The Department of Art History and its Urban Design and Architectural Studies program (URDS) at New York University seeks applications for a full-time, tenure-track, Assistant Professor in Global Architecture and/or Urbanism Post 1700 CE.
We hope to attract candidates who can contribute to our program’s interdisciplinary, analytic approach to urban design and architecture and our emphasis on student development. We invite applications from candidates working in any of the following geographical areas: Africa, Australasia, Central and South America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and West Asia.
We encourage applications from candidates with enthusiasm and proven success or demonstrated potential for research, teaching, student mentoring, and program development. Candidates should be prepared to teach four courses each academic year: three undergraduate courses in the Department of Art History, consisting of a mix of core curriculum courses, departmental surveys, advanced courses, and seminars in the candidate’s area(s) of expertise and research; and one graduate course at the Institute of Fine Arts. The candidate will supervise undergraduate independent studies and honors theses, and master’s and doctoral theses.
Candidates must have completed the Ph.D. by September 1, 2025. Successful candidates will demonstrate excellence in scholarship and teaching.
The appointment will begin on September 1, 2025, subject to budgetary and administrative approval.
Full details are available on Interfolio: https://apply.interfolio.com/157032
8. British Institute of Persian Studies Hybrid Event:
‘Examining the origins of Iran’s political and cultural ties with Africa under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’
21 November 2024, 5:45PM UK time
with Robert Steele
BIPS AGM Lecture and Ann Lambton Lecture 2024
This talk explores the development of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s Africa policy in the final three decades of his reign, examining both geopolitical developments in the Middle East that compelled Iran to look to Africa, and the specific Iranian context.
To register for inperson/online:
https://www.bips.ac.uk/event/political-ties-with-africa/
9. Please join us in person or online for the symposium “Reinventing Islamic Architecture in the 20th and 21st Centuries,” hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7-8 November, 2024
The symposium investigates the phenomenon of 20th- and 21st-century architecture making references to premodern Islamic monuments and built environments. The modern and contemporary resurrection or reinvention of “classical” Islamic form can serve diverse functions and contexts. It can proclaim connections to a glorious imperial past; craft new national identities through architectural revivals; recall a nostalgic homeland for diasporic communities; or even incorporate Orientalist tropes to convey luxurious consumption or cosmopolitan sophistication. Within the discipline of Islamic art history, scholars have debated the logical terminus for the field’s timeline, with traditional narratives ending before the rise of European colonialism. Recent studies have expanded the consideration of art and architecture beyond this limited framework, but scholars are only beginning to question how the forms and narratives of pre-colonial Islamic art history inform post-colonial architectural practice.
In this symposium, UW-Madison welcomes 11 scholars from the U.S. and abroad. The talks and papers are drawn from transnational, cross-cultural contexts and feature examples from a wide range of geographies such as the Middle East, North Africa, the Americas, Europe, and South Asia. The topics are wide ranging but are united in exploring how scholarly narratives of pre-colonial Islamic art history have shaped these kinds of projects. In doing so, we seek to offer new insights into the connection between modern/contemporary architecture and the historiography of Islamic art.
Online registration is here: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUuceyorjkrH9C34sdOpVvx_qJI-VBNi1TC#/registration
10. HYBRID Lecture “Listening to the Qur’an” by Kristina Nelson (University of California), Centre d’études et de documentation économiques, juridiques et sociales (CEDEJ), Cairo, 3 November 2024, 10:30 am CET
Reciters of the Egyptian melodic tradition of recitation, mujawwad, aim to use their artistry to emotionally and spirit-ually engage listeners in the sonic experience, and they draw on elements of the Arabic music system. Islamic scholars are careful to eschew the term “music” in connection with the Qur’anic text precisely because the text itself is unique, sui generis.
Information and registration:
https://cedej-eg.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Music-and-sound-seminar-series-1-Kristina-Nelson.pdf
11. HYBRID Book Introduction “Why Islamists Go Green: Politics, Religion, and the Environment” by Dr Emmanuel Karagiannis, Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, King’s College London, 4 November 2024, 18:00 – 19:30 GMT
The environmental policies and approaches of Islamist groups have received scant scholarly attention. In the era of globalisation, however, more and more Islamists talk about planting trees, protecting water supplies, and reducing pollution. The presentation focuses on the emergence of Islamist environmentalism as a new phenomenon that requires a scientific investigation.
Information and registration: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/why-and-how-islamists-want-to-protect-the-environment
12. HYBRID Lecture “The Emirates’ Efforts to Promote Religious Tolerance, and Moderate Islam Within and Beyond the Middle East” by Dr Ali Al Nuaimi (Chairman of the International Steering Board of Hedayah, Doha), National University of Singapore, 7 November 2024, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm SGT
Information and registration:
https://mesana.org/resources-and-opportunities/2024/10/28/s-r-nathan-distinguished-lecture-2024
13. International Conference “Perspectives on the Development of Islamic Law: Philosophy of Law & Islamic Medical Ethics”, Berlin Institute for Islamic Theology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 8. – 9. November 2024
Information and programme:
14. Conference “Metempsychosis in Islam II: Community Constructions”, Aix-Marseille Université, 14-16 November 2024
Programme and abstracts:
https://iismm.hypotheses.org/files/2024/10/2024-11-14_16_LIVRET-METEMPSYCOSE-LAUSANNE-AIX-vl.pdf (pages 21-31)
15. University Assistant Predoctoral in Turkish Studies (4 Years), University of Vienna
Qualification: MA or Diploma in Turkish Studies (Ottoman History and Culture) or a related discipline. – Interest in DH and Ottoman Studies, Armeno-Turkish Texts, Cultural Heritage, Environmental History. – Excellent knowledge of Turkish and knowledge of Ottoman Turkish. – Excellent command of written and spoken English (C1).
Deadline for application: 29 November 2024.
Information: https://jobs.univie.ac.at/job/University-assistant-predoctoral/1137021301/
16. Lecturer or Assistant Teaching Professor of Arabic, Pennsylvania State University
Requirements include native or near-native fluency in English and Arabic, a Master’s degree or its equivalent in Arabic or a related field (Ph.D. preferred) by the appointment date, and relevant teaching experience. Candidates who have experience with communicative and standards-based methodologies, program-building experience such as supervision or curriculum development, etc.
Deadline for application: 18 November 2024. Information: https://apptrkr.com/5740511
- November 02, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Passing of Peter Chelkowski
Peter Chelkowski passed away on 21 October.
Here is an obituary prepared by his family that was circulated via ‘Adabiyat’.
Professor Emeritus Peter J. Chelkowski
The world has lost a giant. Dr. Peter Chelkowski, author, scholar and humanist, passed away
peacefully in Turin, Italy on October 21. He was 91.
In lecture halls, on theater stages and TV screens, Professor Chelkowski spent a lifetime
enchanting audiences with the beauty and depth of the Muslim world, his purpose – to
promote cross-cultural understanding and rectify Western misconceptions of Islam, as both
a religion and a multi-faceted culture.
Born and raised in World War II Poland a devout Catholic, he studied Oriental Philology at
the Jagiellonian University and acting in the theater school of Krakow. He escaped to
London to continue his education, as a student of Bernard Lewis, at the School of Oriental
Studies (SOAS). Subsequently, he moved to Iran, where in 1968 he received his P.h.D in
Persian literature from the University of Tehran. the first Pole to ever receive a doctorate in
Iranian Studies. He also worked for the charitable organization CARE Mission, for whom he
traveled over seventy thousand miles to numerous rural villages, building schools and
bathhouses. It was on these journeys that he became fascinated by Ta’zieh, the ritual
passion play of Shi’ite Muslims, which was to play a major role in defining his career, merging
his passion for performing arts and Muslim culture.
In 1968 he was hired as a cultural historian at New York University, where he would remain
and teach for the next 50 years. He was one of the founders of the The Hagop Kevorkian
Center for Near Eastern Studies where he served as both Chairman and Director for
numerous years and collaborated with many of his illustrious colleagues like Richard
Ettinghausen, Annemarie Schimmel, Hamid Dabashi and Ehsan Yarshater.
It was in the lecture halls that Prof. Chelkowski’s passion and vigor was most pronounced. He
would enrapture audiences, bringing humanity and clarity to subjects Americans had never
heard before. In recognition, he won the Golden Dozen Awards at NYU for best professor,
not once but twice.
Professor Chelkowski wrote and edited 12 books, hundreds of articles- from Encyclopedia
Iranica to The Drama Review. The subject matter of his work was always quite varied. In 1975
he wrote about Sufism in Mirror of the Invisible World: Tales from the Khamseh of Nizami
published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The book won the First Place Award by the
American Association of University Presses. In 1999 with Hamid Dabashi he co-wrote
Staging a Revolution: The Art of Persuasion in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Carlo McCormick
(Bookforum), “I urge people to get a hold of this book. . . it provides its readers with a higher
level of understanding than any hundred hours logged on CNN.com”
His lectures were not limited to the classroom, Prof. Chelkowski hosted 46 episodes of
Sunrise Semester on CBS. He was so popular that he graced the cover of The TV Guide. It
read, ““Peter Chelkowski Ph.D., I love you”. He was also the goto expert for the BBC, NBC,
CBS, Voice of America, NPR news networks for all things Middle Eastern. In the 1990’s, he
co-produced Hosay Trinidad, a documentary about Ta’zieh in the Caribbean for the
Smithsonian.
From the shores of the Caspian to the island of Trinidad, he brought Taz’yeh to the attention
of the International theater world, to the likes of Jerzy Grotowski, Eugenio Barba, Peter
Brooks, Richard Shekner, and many others. This culminated in 2002 when Chelkowski in
collaboration with Mohammed Gaffari brought Ta’ziyeh to Lincoln Center to sold out
audiences.
In the end, Professor Chelkowski’s appreciation of Persian and Islamic culture was always
pure and apolitical. He felt comfortable crossing divides where many others felt reluctant.
He was a guest of the Shah at the 2,500 year celebration of the Persian empire in 1971. In
2002, he accepted an invitation from the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to
preside at Ta’ziyeh as the guest of honor in Kermanshah, Iran. In 2010, in conjunction with
UNESCO and ISESCO, he was awarded the Farabi International Award for “Iranian and
Islamic Studies” in Tehran.
He was also the recipient of multiple awards and fellowships from the Smithsonian Institute;
the Hoover Institute on War, Revolution, and Peace Fellowship; and the Social Science
Research Council. In 1997 he was awarded the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Award for
Cross-Cultural Understanding and 2011 he was presented the Commander Cross of the
Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland by the President of Poland. In 2023, the Jagiellonian
University honored him the Plus ratio quam vis commemorative Medal for outstanding
service in scholarship.
In 1975, Prof. Chelkowski described Nizami’s Khamseh, “sensuous, dramatic, gracious and
refined”. If you ever had the fortune of attending one of his lectures or dinner parties you
would probably use these same words to define him – Professor Emeritus Peter Chelkowski,
scholar, orator, educator and most importantly a humanist.
Born in 1933 in Lubliniec, Poland, Peter J. Chelkowski is survived by his wife Goga
Chelkowski, his daughter Monica Tarony, his son Peter Chelkowski and his grandchildren
Paolo Tarony, Sofia Tarony, Clyde Chelkowski and Earl Chelkowski.
- October 30, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Hybrid: ‘Turkic languages and ideology in the Safavid, Ottoman and Mughal empires’ – F P Csirkés (Edinburgh, 4.11.24, 5.15 UK time)
For zoom access please email Ines.Asceric-Todd@ed.ac.uk.
- October 30, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.ONLINE Presentation “ARSHEEF: Getting Closer to Libraries and Archives” by Athena Pfeiffer and Mathias Ghyoot, Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University, 8 November 2024, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST
ARSHEEF is a collaborative project and a website that makes available up-to-date guides to libraries and archives across North Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus, and South Asia, as well as digital options for those who cannot travel. We will also discuss political and practical problems associated with research in these regions.
Information and registration:
https://theias.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtf-ytqzMoGtJpFRoDJDB5oxMigAbcCHCe#/registration
2. Colloque international « Liberté et féminisme dans la pensée arabe des XIXe et XXe siècles. Avancées et blocages », Université Paris Nanterre, 14 novembre 2024, 9h00 – 17h30 CET
Information et programme : https://iismm.hypotheses.org/108756
3. Symposium “Braudel’s La Méditerranée (1949): Paradigms and Possibilities after 75 Years”, Stanford University, 15-16 November 2024
Information and program:
https://cmems.stanford.edu/sites/cmems/files/media/file/braudel-symposium-program-15-oct-2024.pdf
4. ITS-Colloquium “Islamic Feminism – Exploring Boundaries and Embracing Possibilities”, Frankfurt am Main, 22-23 November 2024
The workshop explores Islamic feminism as one of the most discussed intellectual movements in the Islamic world, examining its diversity and reflecting on its boundaries and theoretical potential for further development. Speakers: Sedigheh Vasmaghi (Tehran), Ravza Altuntaş Çakır (Istanbul), Randa Aboubakr (Cairo), Marzieh Bakhshizadeh (Reutlingen), Aicha Barkaoui (Casablanca), Clara Bauer (Freiburg), Kata Moser (Göt-tingen), and Mansooreh Khalilizand (Freiburg).
Deadline for registration: 10 November 2024.
Information and program: https://aiwg.de/colloquium_islamic_feminism/
5. Assistant Professor of Medieval Jewish Literature and Thought in the Islamic World, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Applicants must have a strong command of medieval Hebrew and Arabic and be versed in the philology, aesthetics, and history of both languages and literary traditions. Knowledge of additional relevant languages (Aramaic, Persian, Latin) will be considered an asset.
Deadline for applications: 25 November 2024. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/157195
6. Saturday, 2 November, 12:00 p.m. ET: Teaching Persian Grammar through Literature: Bringing Language to Life in Persian Second Language Classrooms
The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies
in collaboration with the
Department of Middle Eastern Studies and the
Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Chicago
jointly present:
Teaching Persian Grammar through Literature: Bringing Language to Life in Persian Second Language Classrooms
Azita H. Taleghani, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, University of Toronto
Saturday, 2 November 2024, 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time (Canada and US)
Zoom Meeting Registration:
https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvdO2qpjMuGNwq5LZUoaVQ1W2expF2RC-0
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Abstract:
The term grammar has been interpreted as a set of arbitrary rules about fixed structures in language such as verb paradigms and rules about linguistic forms. Grammar is unquestionably much more than this. As Batstone (1994) states, grammar is a broad and diverse phenomenon that characterizes three interdependent dimensions: form, meaning, and use. Teaching grammar is significantly essential for second or foreign language learning. Its main purpose is to help students carry out either verbal or written communicative tasks. This paper explores the use of literature in teaching grammar in second-language classrooms in general and Persian second-language classes in particular. After a brief discussion of various theories and methods of teaching grammar, the benefits, and challenges of using different genres of literature in Persian second-language classes will be examined by answering the following questions: Why are literary texts useful for teaching grammar in Persian second-language classes? What kind of literary texts should be selected and how to use them in Persian second language grammar classes?
7. Online Event at Cambridge:
Fri 1 Nov, 1:00pm – 2:00pm UK time
Istanbul in the 16th Century An Online Specialist Art Short Course
(Convened by Chiara De Nicolais)
8. AKU-ISMC: ‘The Rise of Islam in a Multicultural Setting’ Lecture by Professor Ilkka Lindstedt
London, 20.11.24, 5.30 pm UK time
Inperson only.
Registration required:
9. CfA: International Summer School Towards Inclusive Global Histories
Organized by the European Network in Universal and Global History (ENIUGH) in collaboration with Global Diplomacy Network (GDN), Linnaeus University Center for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies (LNUC), and the Asian Center, University of the Philippines.
The Summer School
Archives and Voices have become much-debated aspects of recent research in global history. Under the overall theme of “Towards Inclusive Global Histories” the summer school aims to further discussion, self-reflection, and the exploration of new avenues in global history. We aim to explore alternative ways of practicing global history and to meet the challenges of connectivity bias, Eurocentrism, Anglophone dominance, and lack of attention to gender perspectives and Indigenous methodologies. In recent years, decoloniality as a research practice and method has raised further questions regarding the situatedness of knowledge and the role of local sources in global history. At the same time, a current nationalist backlash in many countries has led to calls for a return to national history, thereby challenging the fundamental premises of global history.
The summer school will focus on three novel research fields within global history: Global Diplomacy, gender, and environmental questions. By framing approaches that emphasize different voices and alternative archives in terms of “global histories” in the plural, we aim to promote the inclusion of a broad range of voices, perspectives, and orientations within the field, while forcefully rejecting the possibility of insisting on a single, dominating story or grand narrative of global history. The summer school will offer plenary sessions by leading experts in the field and allow for hands-on methodological conversations among all participating scholars. Early career scholars will be encouraged to reflect on key methodological questions along the lines of the summer school themes with scholars from around the world.
We invite contributions consisting of projects based on original research and empirically grounded PhD thesis work in progress. We encourage theoretical, methodological, ethical, and historiographical reflections on how to make global history more inclusive. Although the main language of the summer school will be English, individual presentations and panels in other languages can be accommodated.
In particular, we welcome contributions (individual papers) tailored to one (or more) of the following themes:
- Indigenous, subaltern, gender, LGBTQ+, non-human, and minority studies
- Expanding the global archive along and against digitization
- Diplomatic practices, languages, and concepts of Interpolity Relation, c. 1400-1900
- Global History and Decoloniality
- National history, nationalist backlash, and identity politics
- Global Environmental History
- Nordic Colonialism
With these themes in mind, the European Network in Universal and Global History (ENIUGH) is happy to announce its summer school in partnership with the Global Diplomacy Network and the Concurrences Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies to be held at Växjö, Sweden, on 7-9 September 2025. Early career scholars (PhD students, postdocs, and assistant professors) are invited to present on-going research exploring relations, transfers, and entanglements between actors or groups of actors located in, or spanning, different regions of the world allowing for comparative and longue durée conversations. The summer school provides the perfect platform to kick-start a week of intense discussions that will culminate in the 8th European Congress on World and Global History (10-12 September 2025).
The Application Process
The Call is open to Ph.D. students and early career scholars from history and related disciplines, who work in the interdisciplinary field of writing connected, entangled, or comparative histories that incorporate transnational or transregional perspectives or challenge the confines of national and Eurocentric historiographies.
The language of presentations will be English but papers in other languages are also accepted. Participants are expected to present a paper of 3000–4000 words in length as the basis for discussion with the whole group; the papers will be circulated among the participants beforehand.
On the final day, participants are invited to pitch their research to the audience of the ENIUGH congress, marking the end of summer school and the opening of the ENIUGH congress.
The Summer School will cover the participation fees of early career scholars from the Global South, who may not have access to institutional funding. Travel grants will be considered awarded to outstanding applicants based on availability and individual needs.
Applications should contain:
- a CV
- a summary/exposé of the dissertation
- an abstract of your planned paper
- your contact data and institutional affiliation.
Please send your applications electronically as ONE PDF DOCUMENT to Christoph Gümmer: christoph.gummer@uni-leipzig.de and headquarters@eniugh.org. The last day of submission is 31st January 2025.
10. Hybrid: Book Launch: Governance and Islam in East Africa 7 November 17:30 GMT
Join the Governance Programme of the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisation (AKU-SMC) in a celebration of the publication of Governance and Islam in East Africa: Muslims and the State in Kenya and Tanzania edited by Farouk Topan, Kai Kresse, Erin E. Stiles and Hassan Mwakimako. Focusing on relations between Muslims and the State in post-Independence Kenya and Tanzania, the book brings together scholarship from both the Global North and Global South. Professor Michael Jennings will engage the book’s editors in a discussion that examines this complex topic through the three lenses of politics, institutions and the law.
The book has been published Open-Access, so please download your free copy HERE.
7 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 in the image below or click here.
- October 29, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
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
Shii News – CfP: HYBRID Bilingual Conference: ‘Druze in the Levant and the Diaspora’ – 16-18.10.25
Abstract Submission: Interested participants should submit an abstract of no more than 350 words by 28 February 2025.
- October 25, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Zoom: ‘The Four Books of Shii Hadith’ – A Ehteshami (21.11.24, 5pm UK time)
- October 24, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – 7e Journée d’études sur le chiisme contemporain, EPHE-MSH Paris, 8 novembre 2024, 10h00 – 16h00
7e Journée d’études sur le chiisme contemporain, EPHE-MSH Paris, 8 novembre 2024, 10h00 – 16h00
Organisateurs: Rainer Brunner (CNRS/LEM) et Constance Arminjon (EPHE/LEM);
Information et programme :
https://iismm.hypotheses.org/files/2024/10/Journe%CC%81eChiisme_EPHE-LEM_2024.pdf
- October 23, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment