1.The Qurʾān You Don’t Expect: An Overview of the Multifarious Forms of a Well-Known Text
A special issue of the Journal of Islamic Manuscripts (JIM) will be dedicated to the unexpected outcomes of the Quranic manuscript and material production and its textual excerpts. We welcome contributions that examine unusual features of Quranic manuscripts—or early printed volumes—as well as textual Quranic excerpts in under-studied surfaces. The goal is to document the multifarious aspects of the Quranic production and investigate the geographical, chronological, religious, linguistic and sociocultural contexts in which these unusual manuscript shapes and material uses—on the edge of what can be considered a familiar and somewhat normative text and book-form production—were rooted and made sense.
This special issue therefore aims to cover, discover, illustrate and analyse the contexts of production of what goes beyond the well-known form of the Quranic codices. These range from Quranic scrolls to illustrated Quranic manuscripts and prints, from Quranic cipher texts to Qurans in exceptional formats (large or small), from Qurans written on watermarked paper bearing Christian symbols to Qurans with translations, from relic Qurans to forged Quranic manuscripts (for example, falsely attributed to famous people), from xylograph Qurans to epigraphic Qurans, notably on textiles and coins. The issue aims to include a wide range of nuances in which the sacred text of Islam appears in manuscript or written form, with the aim of contributing to the study of the Quran as a living text.
Please send your paper proposal (500 words plus selected bibliography) to the following addresses for the end of May 2025:
Arianna.dottone@uniroma1.it or benazzouna@unistra.fr
You will be informed about the paper selection in June 2025 and the final text (between 8.000 and 12.000 words, and 8–10 HR images) will be expected for the end of December 2025.
For the stylesheet and transliteration chart, please refer to JIM website.
Contact Information
Nourane Ben Azzouna
Contact Email
URL
https://brill.com/view/journals/jim/16/1/article-p121_7.xml
2. Rethinking the Qur’ān in Late Antiquity
J Cole
De Gruyter, 2025
3. Ottoman Jewry, Leadership, Charity, and Literacy
Y Ayalon
Brill, 2024
4. Pacifism and Non-Violence in Contemporary Islamic Philosophy: Mapping the Paths of Peace
Tom Woerner-Powell
CUP, 2025
Open Acess at:
5. Le CeRMI a le plaisir de vous convier à la prochaine séance du séminaire “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du Monde iranien”, qui se tiendra le jeudi 10 avril 2025, 17h-19h, en salle 4.15 à l’INaLCO(65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris XIII, 4eétage).
Nous sommes heureux d’accueillir M. Nima Asefi (Universität Hamburg), pour une conférence intitulée: “Central Iran during the Late Sasanian and Early Islamic Periods : A Study Based on the Pahlavi Archive of Hastijān and the Tārīkh-e Qom”.
Résumé:
Our understanding of Iran after the Muslim conquests relies mainly on chronicles written two centuries or later after the facts. For a long time, the scarcity of local accounts and limited access to original administrative documents left scholars with little direct evidence from the final years of the Sasanian Empire and the first two centuries of the Islamic period.
In the late 20th century, the discovery of the Pahlavi Archive of Hastijān provided researchers with valuable evidence from Central Iran during the first century following the collapse of the Sasanian Empire. Chiefly spanning the period of 3 to 50 years after the death of Yazdgird III, the last Sasanian king, this economic archive sheds new light on the distribution of wealth, the prerogatives of governors (darhandarzbed, ōstāndār), as well as storekeepers and public ration managers (dārīg). It also documents the presence of Arabs in the region, or the celebration of the Frawardīgān festival, thus offering invaluable insights into the history of that period.
A most useful complement to these documents is provided by the late 10th-century local chronicle of Tārīkh-e Qom, which describes the events following the arrival of the Ash‛ari Arabs in the region, between the years 62 and 82 after Yazdgird’s death. The book does not merely discuss the region of Qom and its surroundings extensively, it offers precious cues to identify protagonists and locate places mentioned in the Hastijān archive. Based on Tārīkh-e Qom, for instance, a recurring placename formerly misread as “Namtar” could be restored as “Namēwar,” and identified with the village of “Nīmwar” which is still standing to this day. Similarly, Tārīkh-e Qom provides a host of information about the life and whereabouts of one Yazdānpādār/Yazdānfāδār, an important character mentioned in both corpora. By cross-reading the data from the Pahlavi Archive of Hastijān and the Tārīkh-e Qom, therefore, we gain new insights about the life and circumstances of the people of central Iran right after the Arab conquests.
Orientations bibliographiques:
– Ansari, M. R. (ed.), 2006, Tārīx-e Qom, Qom: Ketābxāne-ye Omoumi-ye Āyatollāh Marʿaši Najafi.
– Weber, D., 2010, “Villages and Estates in the Documents from the Pahlavi Archive: The Geographical Background.” Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 24, p. 37-65.
– Weber, D., 2014, “Pahlavi Documents of Windādburzmihrābād. The Estate of a Zoroastrian Entrepreneur in Early Islamic Times (with an Excursus on the Origin of the Fulanabad-Type of Village Names).” Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 28, p. 127-147.
– Weber, D., 2014, “Arabic activities Reflected in the Documents of the Pahlavi Archive (Late 7th and Early 8th Centuries).” In R. Gyselen (ed.), Documents, argenterie et monnaies de tradition sassanide, Res Orientales 22. Bures-sur-Yvette, p. 179-189.
– Gignoux, Ph., 2013, “Les documents de Dādēn dans l’Archive de Berkeley/Berlin.” In Pavel Lur’e & S. Tokhtasjev (eds.), Commentationes Iranicae (Sbornik statej k 90-letiju V.A. Livšica). St. Petersburg, p. 157-165.
– Gignoux, Ph., 2010, “La société iranienne du 7e siècle AD d’après la collection de Berkeley.” In Carlo G. Cereti (ed.), Iranian Identity in the Course of History. Proceedings of the Conference Held in Rome, 21–24 September 2005, (Serie Orientale Roma CV, Orientalia Romana 9), Rome, p. 145-152.
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 :
6. Invitation: Bilingual Lecture Series – Abbas Amanat
Calendar and Identity:
Why did the Persian solar calendar survive for 1400 years and become an important feature of Iranian identity?
Abbas Amanat
Monday, April 7, 2025 at 3:00 pm (Pacific), Bunche Hall 10383
Alternate live stream on Zoom:
https://ucla.zoom.us/j/95885037418
(No need to register in advance, just click the link at 4:00pm on April 6 to join)
Since the end of the Sasanian era the Persian solar calendar, and the associated rite of Nowruz, endured as became a significant features of Iranian, and to some extent the Persianate, cultural identity. With Hijra as its starting point but based on vernal equinox, it is a unique solar time reckoning throughout the Muslim world and beyond. This talk explores the circumstances that allowed the survival and its adoption as a national calendar of Iran at the turn of the 20th century. A book of the same title is in the press.
7. Pourdavoud Lecture Series with Yuhan Vevaina
Zoroastrian Hermeneutics in Late Antiquity
The Sūdgar Nask of Dēnkard Book 9
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 at 4:00pm Pacific
Royce Hall 306
Hybrid Zoom Option Available
The Sūdgar Nask of Dēnkard Book 9 is a commentary on the ‘Old Avesta’ of the 2nd millennium BCE produced in Pahlavi (Zoroastrian Middle Persian) in the Sasanian (224–651 CE) and early Islamic centuries. This commentary is a value-laden, ideologically motivated discourse that displays a rich panoply of tradition-constituted forms of allegoresis. It mobilizes complex forms of citation, allusion, and intertextuality from the inherited Avestan world of myth and ritual in order to engage with and react to the profound changes occurring in Iranian society. Despite its value and importance for developing our nascent understanding of Zoroastrian hermeneutics and the self-conception of the Zoroastrian priesthood in Late Antiquity, this primary source has attracted scant scholarly attention due to the extreme difficulty of its subject matter and the lack of a reliable translation. This 2-volume work represents the first critical edition, translation, and commentary of this formidable text which will contribute to the philological, theological, and historiographical study of Zoroastrianism in a pivotal moment in its rich and illustrious history. Reading the Sūdgar Nask is a hermeneutic process of traversing texts, genres, and rituals in both the Avestan and Pahlavi corpora, thus activating nodes in a web or network of textual and meta-textual relations that establish new forms of allegoreses or meaning making. It is argued that this entire hermeneutical complex of weaving a ‘new’ text composed of implicit proof text and explicit commentary renews, extends, and, ultimately, makes tradition.
8. Macaulay Family Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Art of the Islamic World
Smarthistory is seeking applications for a one-year Macaulay Family Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow to develop public art history content in the area of the arts of the Islamic world. This is a one-year full-time position, beginning September 2025. Applicants will have a Ph.D. in art history (earned within the last three years) as well as teaching experience.
The successful applicant will have a commitment to public scholarship and teaching and will be self-motivated and comfortable working remotely for a small organization. The Fellow will work closely with Smarthistory founders and Executive Directors Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker and content editor Dr. Marika Sardar. The position will largely consist of writing Smarthistory-style essays on the art of the Islamic world for a broad public audience. These essays will augment the work of numerous authors who have contributed to Smarthistory over the years. See https://smarthistory.org/islamic/ for existing content created prior to 1900 (note: Modern and Contemporary work is located elsewhere on the site, all of these sections will soon undergo a significant reorganization). The Fellow will also be expected to work with contributors and content editors, to seek new contributors, and help develop syllabi.
The Fellow will receive professional development mentoring, periodic performance evaluations, and will be supported in developing professional relationships with academic contributors, curators, and museums over the course of the year. This is a temporary full-time position with an annual salary of $60,000 (plus a generous health insurance option and a retirement match). The Macaulay Family Foundation Fellow can work remotely but will ideally be available during eastern-time zone working hours.
Smarthistory is a not-for-proft organization dedicated to making engaging yet rigorous art history accessible to learners around the world for free. Learn more about the organization and its mission here: https://smarthistory.org/about/.
Only those with a Ph.D. in art history will be considered (degrees expected to be received by the end of the academic year—prior to August 2025 may apply).
Application deadline: Wednesday, April 30, 2025
URL
https://smarthistory.org/macaulay-family-foundation-postdoctoral-fellowship-in-…
9. Great Mughals Conference – online tickets
The V&A will be hosting a two-day conference in conjunction with the Great Mughals exhibition on Thursday 27th and Friday 28th March.
In-person tickets are almost sold out, but online tickets are available via the website: https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/lXn7Yo3pzK9/the-great-mughals-conference-online-mar-2025
All of the talks will be streamed online, and ticketholders will receive a joining link prior to the event.
10. UW-Madison Annual Conference on South Asia, October 22-25, 2025
Call for Abstract Submission
Panel Discussant: Professor Sylvia Houghteling, Associate Professor of History of Art, Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania
The panel, “Ecological Imaginaries in South Asia’s Art History” invites abstracts for the Annual Conference on South Asia at UW-Madison in Wisconsin from October 22-25, 2025.
The preeminent archive of art and architectural histories—objects, structures, and creative renderings—is produced by the human species. Thereby, human agents such as artists, patrons, and audiences become the essential interlocutors in this disciplinary narrative. How can non-human agency activate the material and materiality of artmaking in new ways? What are the pathways to invigorate and rethink disciplinary methodologies and paradigms in the wake of epochal climate crises? And, how can this recalibration enrich scholarship on spatial and visual cultures of South Asia?
The early glimmers of such an ecological alertness can be seen in longue durée histories of the Mediterranean. Within art history, ecological imaginaries emerge in the North American context through the Land Art Movement and a call from art historian W J T Mitchell to study landscape not just as a “genre” but as a “medium” holding social, political, and cultural meaning (Mitchell 1994).
While the ecocritical turn in art histories of North America and Western Europe began to crystallize in the first decade of the twenty-first century, the ecological turn in South Asian Studies was first discernible in disciplines such as history and anthropology. However, the last few years has seen a growing momentum in South Asian scholarship on exploring the intersections between art history, hydro architecture, climate, materiality, monsoon, and geology in the construction of affect in spaces and works of art. This panel seeks to build on this burgeoning ecological turn in South Asia’s art history to pave the course for critical inquiries on the subject.
The panel invites abstract submissions from Art History and allied disciplines such as Architecture, Geography, Geology, Urban Studies, Anthropology, South Asian Area Studies among others.
The Annual Conference on South Asia invites scholars, students, and professionals to Madison, Wisconsin, for a four-day event featuring research panels and round tables, lectures, performances, film screenings, booksellers, association receptions, and other special presentations! The conference has grown year-by-year since its inception in 1971 and welcomed over 1,200 registered attendees in 2024.
Abstract Submission Deadline: Wednesday, 02, April, 2025
Eligibility:
How to submit?
Email Title: Abstract Submission for Ecological Imaginaries in South Asia’s Art History
Submission Format: Pdf attachment
Documents: 200-300 word abstract and CV
Email address for submission : krishnashekhawat@berkeley.edu
Selected participants will be contacted very shortly after 02 April, 2025.
Organizer: Krishna Shekhawat, University of California, Berkeley
For further information on submission guidelines: See section, “Panel and Single Paper Submission Guidelines” at https://southasiaconference.wisc.edu/conference-submission-guidelines/
11. Online Course: Classical Persian through Historical Texts: Reading Beyhaqī’s History of Mas’ūd
Upcoming online course titled “Classical Persian through Historical Texts: Reading Beyhaqī’s History of Mas’ūd“.
As the title suggests, the main text that we are going to study during this one week course, is the mid-11th c. historical masterpiece of Beyhaqī. You can learn more about the course and the program by visiting the course’s webpage.
The deadline for applications is March 26th, and the course will start on March 31st.
I also want to mention that the course is free of charge.
Ruben Nikoghosyan
Ferdowsi School of Persian Literature
Yerevan, Armenia
Website: www.ferdowsi.org
12. The next lecture in the Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series will take place on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 at 12:00 New York / 16:00 London / 17:00 Venice / 19:00 Istanbul.
Amber Elisabeth Peters (Ca’Foscari University) will present “The Ocean in Early-Modern South Asian Art.”
To attend, please make sure to register in advance here:
https://wellesley.zoom.us/meeting/register/ipegVg01RVGFLnpNRDJigA
Upon registration, you’ll receive the link to access the lecture.
You may also wish to save the date for our subsequent talk, which will be the final lecture of the semester. On Tuesday, April 15, 2025, Carol Bier (Center for Islamic Studies, Graduate Theological Union) will present “Geometry in Islamic Art: Number, Shape, and the Nature of Space.”
As always, you can find a full schedule of upcoming talks and register for our list-serv on our website at www.viahss.org . Although not every talk is recorded, we also have recordings of several recent talks available on the VIAHSS Vimeo page at vimeo.com/viahss . Lastly, you can follow us on Instagram at @theviahss to stay up to date on upcoming events!
13. “AI and the Digital Humanities for the Study of Asia, Africa, and Oceania.”
We are particularly interested in the following strands: Institutional organisation of/around DH and AI. – DH research design with AI. – AI and language. – AI and cultural heritage. – DH, AI and ethics.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 March 2025. Information: https://digitalorientalist.com/2025/03/04/cfp-the-digital-orientalists-virtual-conference-2025/
14. “XIII International Medieval Meeting Lleida”, Universitat de Lleida, Espanya, 3-6 June 2025
Main themes in Medieval Studies: Wars and Crusades. – Institutions, Law and Government. – Islam. – Judaism. – Political History. – Social and Economic History. – Woman and Gender Studies; Etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 March 2025. Information: https://www.internationalmedievalmeetinglleida.udl.cat/en/
15. 58th International Conference of the “ARAM Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies” on “The Aramaeans BC: History and Archaeology,” Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford, 14-15 July 2025
Deadline for registration: 31 March 2025.
Information: https://www.aramsociety.org/conferences/current-conferences/
16. 58th International Conference of the “ARAM Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies” on “The Amorites and Hurrians”, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford, 17-18 July 2025
Deadline for registration: 31 March 2025.
Information: https://www.aramsociety.org/conferences/current-conferences/
17. “Third Conference of Early Modern Ottoman Studies (EMOS)”, Historians Association, Istanbul University, 4-6 September 2025
We invite historians, researchers, and scholars (with a PhD degree or having already started with their doctoral research) specialized in the political, diplomatic, social, economic, cultural, military, etc. intricacies of Ottoman early modernity.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 April 2025. Information:
https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20060592/emos-early-modern-ottoman-studies-2025
18. Workshop “New Approaches to Khārijite History, 7th – 10th Century CE”, SCORE Social Contexts of Rebellion in the Early Islamic Period, University of Hamburg, 16-17 October 2025
The organisers invite contributions that study Khārijism from a decidedly historical perspective. Social-historical approaches are especially welcome, as are more experimental methods and those that bring in (sociological, anthropological …) theory. In order to respond to the dearth of research on Khārijism, we strongly encourage historians of the early Islamicate world and adjacent fields who do not usually work on Khārijites to consider submitting an abstract.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 April 2025. Information: https://www.aai.uni-hamburg.de/voror/medien/kharijite-history-cfp.pdf
19. “Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding”, Nominations for 2025
The total prizes for each sub-category of main languages are up to $200,000 USD. The total value of the award is $2 million. They include the translation from Arabic to German, Turkish and English and vice versa.
Deadline for nominations: 31 March 2025. Information: https://www.hta.qa/pages/topic/1872
The ‘Embodied Imamate’ Project are pleased to announce our upcoming online lecture series, “Material Culture, Art, and Architecture of Pre-Safavid Shīʿīsm,” which will begin on March 28 and will run through the end of the year.
If you would like to attend, please register by sending an email to a.santi@hum.leidenuniv.nl.
We look forward to your participation and hope to see you there.
For more information about our project and upcoming initiatives, visit our website: https://embodiedimamate.hcommons.org/
The Imam Zainul Abideen Legal Internship for the Freedom of Unjust Prisoners
“The one who strives to free a believer from captivity, Allah will free him from the Fire” (Wasā’il al-Shīa, vol. 16, p. 18)
In this blessed month of Ramadhan, the American Muslim Bar Association (AMBA) is pleased to announce the establishment of the Imam Zainul Abideen Legal Internship for the Freedom of Unjust Prisoners.
In Islamic tradition, if someone is wrongfully imprisoned, it is obligatory upon the community to work for their release. In this spirit and ever since its inception, AMBA has worked on cases involving the unjust imprisonment of Muslim prisoners by providing legal support, culturally competent insight to defense teams, fundraising, rallying community and organizational support from allies, leading advocacy efforts, and writing statements of support. These efforts led to the successful resolution and release of two Muslim community members who had been unjustly imprisoned.
Over the past year, AMBA has been working with a family in NY whose son has been unjustly imprisoned in the People’s Republic of China for the past 7 years on a life sentence. To bolster these efforts, AMBA is launching the Imam Zainul Abideen paid internship to be filled by a rising or current second-year or third-year law student.
Imam Zainul Abideen (peace be upon him), the great grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), was unjustly imprisoned by the tyrant of his time following the seminal battle of Karbala, Iraq in the year 680 AD. It was his patience, fortitude, and indomitable spirit which eventually led not only to his own freedom but the fall of the same tyrant only a few years later.
AMBA is accepting applications for the internship immediately.
Please email your resume, an email/letter of interest and 2 references (1 from a law professor or attorney; 1 from a community leader) to info@ambalegal.org.
Job Description: The Imam Zainul Abideen Legal Intern will engage in one or more of the following: advocacy efforts with government agencies, set meetings with elected officials, liaise with human rights and prisoners’ rights organizations, organize PR campaigns on social media, and work directly with affected families and their defense attorneys to help secure release of their innocent loved ones, all with guidance from the AMBA President. This will involve becoming familiar with the details of the legal case of the imprisoned community member, having excellent writing and editing skills, social media expertise, and a sincere interest in advocating for the unjustly imprisoned.
Requirements: 2L or 3L at an accredited US law school, with excellent academic credentials and a demonstrated interest in advocacy, human rights, criminal justice or related fields.
Commitment: 5-10 hours per week
Location: Fully remote
Compensation: $18/hr
Deadline: March 30th, 2025/Ramadhan 30th, 1446
Contact: info@ambalegal.org
1.Fully-funded 3-year PhD positionwithin the ERC-funded ALiDiM project, based at the Department of Asian and North African Studies at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
The call for applications to the Asian and African Studies PhD programwill be available from March 27 to May 7, 2025, with the position starting on September 1, 2025.
This PhD research will explore the development of classical Arabic linguistic studies within the broader framework of Islamic disciplines. The successful candidate will contribute to the work package on the influences on the Arabic linguistic thinking, specifically exploring the interplay between Islamic scholarly traditions and classical Arabic language studies.
We are looking for a motivated researcher with a background in Arabic and/or Islamic studies, proficiency in classical Arabic (preferably with experience in classical Arabic texts), and an interest in interdisciplinary research on Islamic intellectual history. The PhD student will be an integral part of our interdisciplinary team, participating in regular seminar-style meetings where ideas are exchanged, and research is discussed collaboratively. The team emphasizes collaboration and mentorship, providing training opportunities for professional development.
For further details on the position and on the ALiDiM project, please visit our website.
The call for applications will be published on the university website on March 27, 2025, with applications due by May 7, 2025. Please note that, as part of the required documentation, candidates must submit a research proposal that aligns with the topic outlined above, as detailed in the call for applications.
For further details regarding the scientific aspects of the position, prospective applicants are welcome to contact me directly (simona.olivieri@unive.it; alidim@unive.it).
1.SOAS Centre for Iranian Studies
07 – 08 May 2025
In these lectures, two distinctive understandings of Wisdom, from the Zoroastrian and the Sufi Muslim traditions respectively, are discussed in juxtaposition, in a study of two of the most famous examples of their religious literature. Definitions of terms such as ‘wisdom’, ‘knowledge’, ‘understanding’, ‘mysticism’ and ‘esotericism’ will be given, and answers sought, in what will, it is hoped, be an accessible, non-elitist, down-to-earth, exposition.
2. SOAS Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies
Kutar Memorial Lecture Series – Sogdian fire-worship: Between Zoroastrianism and Buddhism
6.00pm, Thursday 01 May 2025
In this lecture, the author will attempt to summarise what we know of fire worship in Sogdiana (the land in present-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) which was inhabited by eastern Iranian people. These groups, being active traders on the Eurasian tracks, developed a sophisticated culture in the pre-Islamic period. The images on mural paintings and other media, archaeological discoveries, and the few references in the written texts show that worship in front of a fire was a significant part of the ritual practices of Sogdians.
3. Zahra Institute: 2025 Spring Speaker Series and Annual Lecture
Untold Kurdish Women’s Histories
Wednesday, 19 March: 12pm Central / 1pm Eastern
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/94141584925?pwd=ebwnEB2UsKcak3VxkYCKZe1PZgacZN.1
Farangis Ghaderi (Ph.D, University of Exeter) is a Kurdish scholar, lecturer in Gender and Kurdish Studies, and Director of the Centre for Kurdish Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of the University of Exeter, UK. She is co-editor of Women’s Voices from Kurdistan (2021) and the Principal Investigator of the Kurdish Digital Archive project at the University of Exeter. Her research focuses on Kurdish cultural production, Kurdish women, translation, literary history, and archives.
‘The Black Box of the Republic’: Dersim ’38 and the Making of the Modern Turkish State
Wednesday, 2 April: 12pm Central / 1pm Eastern
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/96441162849?pwd=GaXrM34WzeUrMGtPKG3KYnNtOFlXRi.1
Cevat Dargın (Ph.D., Princeton University) is a historian and Visiting Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies. His research focuses on the transformation from indirect imperial to centralized nation-state rule in the modern Middle East and North Africa during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Currently he is working on several projects, including a book manuscript which explores the formation of the modern state at the intersection of race, religion, and territory in the late Ottoman Empire and post-Ottoman territories.
Annual Lecture
The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin
Saturday, 5 April: 2:30 – 5pm Central
Where: Loyola University Chicago – Crown Center
Ticket: Free & open to the public | Dinner provided | Register here
Jonathan Phillips (Ph.D., University of London) is a leading historian of the Crusades and presenter of the Public Television series Ancient Roads: From Christ to Constantine. He is the author of several award-winning histories, including The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin (Bodley Head 2019), described by The Times of London as “Superbly researched… enormously entertaining… one of the outstanding books of the year.” His current research focuses on both the history of the Third Crusade and the memory of the crusades in Western Europe and the Near East.
4. Arabic Scholarship at Jordan Language Academy (JLA) – Summer 2025
Objective
The Jordan Language Academy (JLA) Scholarship aims to support exceptional students who demonstrate academic excellence, financial need, and a strong commitment to language learning. This highly competitive scholarship is available to students nominated by their academic departments for a four-week, full-time summer language program at JLA in Amman, Jordan.
Scholarship Details
Eligibility Criteria
Nomination & Application Process
Deadlines & Notification
Scholarship Disbursement
For inquiries or further details, please contact Jordan Language Academy at info@jordanla.com .
5. ‘The Socio-historical Process of Women’s Scientific Progress in Iran’
In: Feminine Visibility in Contemporary Iran
Brill, 2024
A Tavassoli and M Abedi
6. We are still accepting applications for a number of summer courses at the University of Virginia and elsewhere. An offering that may be of particular interest to H-Islamart is:
We hope you’ll consider immersing yourself in bibliographical inquiry alongside us this summer. In-depth course descriptions can be found at: https://rarebookschool.org/schedule/. To apply, visit: https://rarebookschool.org/admissions-awards/application/. We have transitioned into the rolling admissions phase of our admissions cycle, so we recommend applying as soon as possible!
Please feel free to reach out to rbsprograms@virginia.edu, or myself directly (emma.reilly@rarebookschool.org) with questions.
All best,
Emma
—
Emma Reilly (she/her)
Miranker Online Program Manager
Rare Book School
at the University of Virginia
Contact Information
Contact rbsprograms@virginia.edu or myself directly (emma.reilly@rarebookschool.org).
7. Le Centre de Recherche sur le Monde Iranien (CeRMI, UMR8041 CNRS) a le plaisir de vous convier à la XXVIème Journée Monde Iranien, qui se tiendra le vendredi 4 avril 2025 de 10h à 18h dans l’Auditorium du Pôle Langues et Civilisations de l’INaLCO, 65 rue des Grands-Moulins, Paris XIII (accueil café à partir de 9h30).
Vous trouverez le programme détaillé de la Journée en pièce jointe, et en ligne à cette adresse sur le site du CeRMI: https://cermi.cnrs.fr/xxvie-journee-monde-iranien/
Dans l’attente du plaisir de vous retrouver toutes et tous pour cette XXVIème Journée, organisée cette année par notre collègue Wouter Henkelman (EPHE-PSL).
8. ONLINE Lecture “Saints of Dayr al-Naqlun: Fragments of Devotional Life in the Medieval Egyptian Countryside” by Lev Weitz (Catholic University of America), Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture, Harvard University, 25 March 2025, 17:00 CET
This talk brings together documentary sources with archaeological and art-historical evidence from Dayr al-Naqlun, a monastery in Egypt’s Fayyum Oasis, to explore the distinctive ritual practices of Coptic Christianity in the rural hinterland of the Fatimid Caliphate.
Information and registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_23rCJf35S1KkSJVsjUIrIQ#/registration
9. HYBRID OTS-NYU Roundtable: “Halide Edib and Refik Halid Karay in Translation and as Dissidents”, New York University, 4 April 2025, 18:00 CET
This is an interdisciplinary round table on translation, Turkish literature and history, hosting literary scholars and translators İclal Vanwesenbeeck and Nefise Kahraman as well as the Middle Eastern/ Ottoman historian Christine Philliou.
Information and registration: https://nyu.zoom.us/meeting/register/lfGY6sbDTb2ZkTvI3AmUwA#/registration
10. “1st Annual Social Sciences Graduate Student Symposium of the Diyanet Islamic Research Insti-tute”, Lanham, MD, 3-4 May 2025
The Diyanet Center of America promotes informed discussions on Islam and Muslim societies, emphasizing classi-cal Islamic sciences and their contemporary relevance while supporting interdisciplinary research, collaboration, and public engagement.
Deadline for abstracts: 5 April 2025. Information: https://diyanetamerica.org/symposium/
11. „Congress of Qur’anic Studies (CQS)”, Faculty of Theology, Istanbul University, 26-28 September 2025
The congress aims to facilitate networking and intellectual exchange among researchers in the fields of Qur’an and tafsir, offer young academics opportunities to explore different perspectives, discuss past, present, and future studies, and create an environment for collaboration. To encourage discussions from various perspectives and through different academic formats, 12 working groups have been established.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 April 2025.
Information: https://cqs.istanbul.edu.tr/en/content/call-for-papers/call-for-papers
12. International Workshop “Greek Myths in Arabic Literature: Reception, Translation, Circulation, Re-Creation”, Rome, 6-8 November 2025
The workshop aims to stimulate debate on different types of texts, including poetry, staged or manuscript plays, fiction, translations, essays in the periodical press, encyclopaedic entries, school and university curricula, as well as in oral literature, music, cinema, and visual arts. The main focus is modern and contemporary Arabic literary production (1800-today), but special sessions will be dedicated to the reception of Greek myths in premodern Arabic literature.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 May 2025.
Information: https://www.digimyth.eu/digimythpublications/cfp-workshop-greek-myths-in-arabic-literature/
13. Session on „Digital Humanities and Cultural Research“ During „The International Conference on Shaping Knowledge Beyond Digital Archiving”, Abu Dhabi, 21-23 April 2026
Digital tools are redefining the study of literature, history, and cultural heritage. Researchers are using AI-driven text analysis, digital archives, and computational humanities methods to uncover new insights into manuscripts, language studies, and historical narratives. This theme explores innovative digital approaches that contribute to the preservation, interpretation, and recontextualization of cultural and historical knowledge.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 July 2025. Information: https://shapingknowledge.com/en
14. Postdoctoral Researcher (4 Years) in Ottoman History, University of Amsterdam
The researcher will be responsible for the Ottoman subproject within the “Daily Bread” project, which compares food protests between circa 1500-1800 in Dutch, Italian and Ottoman cities. This subproject can include protests in Istanbul and/or additional (major) provincial cities. The postdoc will select relevant cases, building on the existing historiography and their own expertise and linguistic scope. Excellent knowledge of Ottoman Turkish is a must.
Deadline for applications: 10.4 2025.
Information: https://werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies/postdoctoral-researcher-in-ottoman-history-netherlands-13900
15. Altaf S. Al Sabah Visiting Chair (1 Year +) in Women and Societal Development Studies, American University of Beirut
We seek an advanced assistant or associate professor with a demonstrated record of scholarship on women and gender in the Middle East. While the specific area of expertise is open, the successful candidate must contribute to at least one of the core disciplines within SOAM. Applicants should hold a PhD in Women and Gender Studies or a related discipline and demonstrate a strong commitment to undergraduate and graduate teaching.
Deadline for applications: 31 March 2025. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/163961
16. Visiting Assistant Professor (1 Year) in the History of the Mediterranean World, Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia
Successful candidates’ teaching will situate Mediterranean history in a transregional context; preference will be given to candidates focusing on late antiquity or the medieval era.
Deadline for applications: 24 March 2025. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/164566
17. “26th Session of the Intensive Ottoman and Modern Turkish School”, Conducted by the Ottoman Studies Foundation (Boston, Mass.) in Cunda, Turkey, 7 July – 15 August 2025
The program provides daily instruction (2 hours) in reading and translating Ottoman Turkish texts in both manuscript and printed forms. There is a so-called ‘Early Ottoman course’ covering pre-nineteenth-century manuscripts and documents and a ‘Late’ one covering printed texts and documents in rik’a. The school also provides tuition in Persian (including Persian and Arabic elements in Ottoman) and Modern Turkish.
Deadline for applications: 24 March 2025. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20062151/call-applications-26th-session-intensive-ottoman-and-modern-turkish
18. Summer Language Intensive Program in Modern Turkish and Ottoman Turkish, Istanbul University, 7 July – 8 August 2025
This program is ideal for MA and PhD students in the fields of history, literature, and Islamic studies. Included in the Program: 100 hours of intensive language training. – Access to the Islamic Studies Institute Special Collections Library. – Seminars by field experts. – Guided tours to key historical sites: Historical Peninsula, Süleymaniye Manuscript Library, and Presidential Archives. – Istanbul University certificate upon completion.
Information: https://islamtetkikleri.istanbul.edu.tr/en/content/summer-program/summer-language-intensive-program-2025
1.7th Leiden Summer School “Philology and Manuscripts from the Muslim World”, Leiden University, 18-29 August 2025
This summer school is for graduate (MA and PhD) students and researchers who have an interest in handwritten materials, editing, and the tradition of editing in the Muslim world. It offers theoretical lectures as well as hands-on practice with samples from the world-famous collections of the Leiden University Library with thousands of Arabic, Persian and Ottoman manuscripts from the historic heartlands of Islam and from Asia, al-Andalus and Africa.
Deadline for applications: 5 May 2025. Information:
2. Early Scholars Publication Grants for Dissertations that Reconceptualize “Translating Cultures in the Digital Age”, UNESCO Chair in Translating Cultures, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies
We seek dissertations that explore the evolving relationship between humans and advanced AI systems, including the new interpretive strategies required to navigate AI’s fluid, data-driven formulations, and focus on themes such as agency, authorship, translation, and the human-machine interface. Qualification: PhD in a relevant field, such as Arabic language and culture, translation studies, comparative literature, Middle Eastern studies, cultural sociology, etc.
Deadline for applications: 26 May 2025. Information: https://www.kfcris.com/en/unesco/grant/2025
3. Hybrid: Thursday, March 13, 2025, at 18:00 (GMT) in Room B104 (Brunei Gallery Building, SOAS) for Professor Marcus Milwright’s talk titled “Messages from The Past: Temporal Relationships in the Study of Early Islamic Visual Culture”.
This talk explores how time affects the interpretation of early Islamic art, focusing on the phases of creation and the interplay between ancient themes and contemporary sources. Professor Milwright will delve into how emulation and adaptation of earlier artistic traditions shape our understanding of Islamic art and architecture. Professor Milwright is British Academy Global Professor in the Department of History of Art, University of York and Professor of Islamic Art and Archaeology at the University of Victoria, Canada.
To attend in person please make sure to register in advance: https://tinyurl.com/SOAS-ReSIA or write to Matty (mb@royalasiaticsociety.org) to ask for a Zoom link.
4. Pomona College, Art History
Pomona College VAP in Early Modern Art History (European, Islamic, South Asian)
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68623
Closing date: 31.3.25
5. VOL 7 Scenes From The 17th. Century Ottoman Empire
Manchester album and Scroll
MANCHESTER RYELAND MS. 2 AND 4.
(1660- later)
ISBN: 978-90-6921-053-7
17 . Yüzyıl Osmanlı İmparatorluğundan Manzaralar 3
Edited by / Yayına hazırlayan: Mehmet Tütüncü & Ömer Erdem
Graphic Designer: Omer Erdem: omerdem@me.com
CORPUS OF TURKISH ISLAMIC INSCRIPTIONS nr: 50
TÜRK İSLAM KİTABELERİ DİZİSİ no: 50
For ordering, sample pages and more info about published volumes please visit the download page:
https://www.academia.edu/128066168
6. Lecture – Material Transformation as a Catalyst for the Spiritual: The Art of Bianca Bondi
14 March 2025
AFSACK is thrilled to announce its upcoming Salon Conversation with guest moderator Alexandra Baudelot, the Director of the Musée d’Art et de Culture Soufis MTO™, and the visual artist Bianca Bondi, whose work is currently exhibited in Un Ciel intérieur . Exposition inaugurale du MACS MTO™.
Bianca Bondi’s work operates on the border of several worlds, revealing the intangible links that exist between the visible (nature, chemical phenomena, and the transformation of matter) and the invisible (the idea of ritual, which she draws through various forms of mysticism from non-Western sources of knowledge and the sensory experiences evoked through her installations). She creates dreamlike installations that echo the environments in which she exhibits her works. In the context of MACS MTO and its exhibition, the works exhibited resonate with the surrounding nature and river water facing the museum. They reveal the potential for metamorphosis at work in each manifestation of life.
This session will offer the opportunity to explore Bondi’s work and the processes that shape her sculptures and installations.
This event will take place on Zoom.
The Musée d’Art et de Culture Soufis MTO (MACS MTO™) is the first museum dedicated to exploring the principles and artistic expressions of Sufism. Built on a foundational platform of dialogue with the beliefs and questions of our time, MACS MTO engages Sufism as a framework for multidisciplinary exploration.
Contact Information
Parastou Youssefi
Contact Email
URL
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Z0F3snn9TPGIfDr7vhv1wQ#/registration
7. Workshop – Khamseen Pedagogy Workshop (Hybrid Event) – March 28
Khamseen’s pedagogy workshop on teaching Islamic art, architecture, and visual culture on Friday, March 28 at 3:00 pm EST. The event is hybrid, and registration for remote participation can be accessed at the following link: https://myumi.ch/ZD9MN.
Members of Team Khamseen will present flash talks on Khamseen’s free and open-access digital platform. For more information about the talks, see the pedagogy workshop program here.
8. Art Speaks (Back): Historians of Islamic Art Association 2025 Symposium, April 3-5 2025, Boston
Boston College and the MFA Boston.
Please register for the symposium by March 7. Registration for the special events (receptions, lunchtime discussions, art viewing sessions and the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT viewing session) have now closed. All registrants for the sympsoium will receive a confirmation email after March 7, which they will need to present to enter the MFA on Friday April 4th. Those attending the special viewings and lunches will receive separate confirmation emails. While we are not able to host a fully hybrid symposium, Zoom links have been provided below for each session. Online participants will be able to listen to the talks, see the images shared, and ask questions via the Q&A window.
Program
Thursday, April 3 – MIT and Boston College
MIT:
Boston College, Yawkey Center, Murray Room (4th Floor), Boston College, Chestnut Hill, 02467.
Zoom Registration Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/Ixev72N1Ri6h7B3VP9lEoQ
Zoom Registration Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/8DcIe4ZNTV-dXDs7FBpRAA
Location: McMullen Museum, Boston College, 2101 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA
Friday April 4 – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Alfond Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 465 Huntington Avenue,
Boston, Massachusetts, 02115-5523
Moderator: Ayşin Yoltar-Yıldırım, Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Islamic and Asian Art, Harvard Art Museums
Zoom Registration Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/1bqXlaOuQsqvBdd41naHag
Moderator: Matthew Saba, Program Head, Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT
Zoom Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/T9AnIcNhSR6qY91f-1weRQ
Location: Riley Seminar Room (room 156); lunch discussion will be in the Druker Classroom (room 160) – discussion participants will pick up their food/drink in room 156.
Moderator: Emine Fetvacı, Norma Jean Calderwood University Professor of Islamic and Asian Art, Boston College
Zoom Registration Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/z1eNMm5HRUCzrGYGC_ZQ3w
Saturday, April 5, Boston College, Yawkey Center, Murray Room (4th Floor), Boston College, Chestnut Hill, 02467.
Moderator: Alexander Brey, Assistant Professor, Wellesley College
Zoom Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/CLoDMCiUSgKqRG3t-gmsKQ
11:00 – 11:30 am: coffee break
Moderator: Huma Gupta, Assistant Professor, Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, MIT
Zoom Registration Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/Px6Q8Q05SlmqbHW4QQgqUQ
Zoom Registration Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/GfvbKRIiRHW__28pggWWQA
Moderator: Laura Weinstein, Ananda Coomaraswamy Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Zoom Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/GfvbKRIiRHW__28pggWWQA
Location: McMullen Museum, Boston College, 2101 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA
Sunday, April 6
Contact Information
Emine Fetvaci and Laura Weinstein
Contact Email
URL
https://www.historiansofislamicart.
9. In celebration of the launch of the UNESCO backed Khalili Foundation’s ‘Interfaith Explorers’ initiative, a platform that encourages children to explore cultural diversity and foster interfaith and intercultural understanding:
https://www.khalili.foundation/interfaith-explorers/
The Khalili Collection is pleased to introduce a new children’s card game. It comprises of 30 unique cards, each with a score and a fact-file. This fun game is designed for both children and adults and uncovers hidden stories behind each Islamic Art object:
Available to purchase here:
https://www.khalilicollections.org/news/top-trumps-islamic-art-explore-artworks-through-play/
URL
https://www.khalilicollections.org/news/top-trumps-islamic-art-explore-artworks…
10. IED talk 31/3 by Nasima Selim, “Breathing Hearts in Suffocating Times: Sufi healing practices and anti-Muslim racism in Germany”
We are pleased to invite you to IED‘s next lecture on Monday, March 31st, 3.00 – 4.30 CET, on Teams.
Nasima Selim (Bayreuth University) will deliver a talk to present her book “Breathing Hearts in Suffocating Times: Sufism, Healing, and Anti-Muslim Racism in Germany”, which will be followed by Q&A.
Sufism is known as the mystical dimension of Islam. ‘Breathing Hearts’ explores this definition to find out what it means to ‘breathe well’ along the Sufi path in the context of anti-Muslim racism. ‘Breathing Hearts in Suffocating Times’ is the first book-length ethnographic account of Sufi practices and politics in Berlin and describes how Sufi practices are mobilized in healing secular and religious suffering. The book tracks the Desire Lines of multi-ethnic immigrants of color, and white German interlocutors to show how Sufi practices complicate the post secular imagination of healing in Germany.
Nasima Selim is a Postdoctoral Research Associate of Anthropology at the University of Bayreuth. Nasima’s work intersects medical anthropology, global health, public anthropology, and anthropology of Islam across Western Europe and South Asia. She is a breathworker, educator, researcher, and writer.
11. SOAS Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies
Zoroastrianism Summer School 2025
Deadline for applications: 11.59 pm, Wednesday 12 March 2025
The Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies and UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture are pleased to announce that applications for our Summer School are now open. The Institute is hosting the week-long course with the Jordan Center, part of the University of California, Irvine and we welcome Prof. Carlo Careti as he brings his expertise to the school. This year, students will not only learn about how the religion is practiced in Iran but India and the wider diaspora. In addition, students will interview members of the London Zoroastrian community and learn vital research skills.
1.Lundi 10 mars 2025, 10h-13h
Cultivate, celebrate, classify:
Humans and plants from the Bosphorus to Bengal
Interdisciplinary workshop
Iranian Studies and Environmental Approaches
Organizers: Camille Rhoné-Quer (IREMAM, BioArch & Université Aix-Marseille), Justine Landau (CeRMI & Université Sorbonne Nouvelle), Matteo de Chiara (CeRMI & INALCO)
Thanks to the revival carried out for several years by archaeobotany, numerous works shed light with increasing precision on the processes of domestication and circulation of plant species throughout the world, particularly in the Eurasian area. In this vast space structured by countless networks of exchanges, of which the Silk Roads are only one aspect, the dissemination of knowledge and techniques on plants and their uses echoes the multiple economic, social and cultural issues related to the plant world. Plants are omnipresent in the daily lives of the populations of the Turkish-Iranian worlds, which are largely focused on agricultural activities. The objective of this workshop is to propose, through an interdisciplinary approach, a better understanding of the knowledge and methods used during the Holocene (term designating the last 10,000 years) to produce, consume, care for and conserve plants in all their forms. The mobilization of specialists from various disciplines in the sciences of paleoenvironments, humanities and social sciences, languages and literatures will make it possible to reflect on the complementarity of sources, whether they come from scholarly or popular cultures, material or textual, oral or written, private or public.
Room 4.05, INaLCO (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris XIII,4th floor).
To attend the workshop remotely, contact camille.rhone@univ-amu.fr
2. Zoom: Architectural Inscriptions from 10th- to 13th-Century Afghanistan as Recorded in Photographic Archives
The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies and Invisible East present a series of monthly online seminars about archives and documents.
Convened by Arezou Azad and Mohamad Tavakoli, the seminars are held monthly on Zoom.
Please join us this month to hear from Dr Viola Allegranzi on ‘Zooming In: Architectural Inscriptions from 10th- to 13th-Century Afghanistan as Recorded in Photographic Archives’. Thursday 13 March at 12PM EST / 4PM GMT. Pre-registration is essential.
3. The Pearls of Wisdom: An Arabic critical edition of Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam wa Naqsh al-Fuṣūṣ by Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi.
https://www.shiahinstitute.org/publications/the-pearls-of-wisdom/
4. The Gibb Memorial trust scholarship for doctoral study at a British Univeristy. They are open to anyone registered for a doctorate at a British university. Two scholarship schemes are available:
The Gibb Centenary Scholarship (on any area of Middle eastern Studies from 7thcentury to 1918) – the scholarship is up to £2000.
The A H Morton Memorial Scholarship (in Classical Persian Studies) – up to £3000, two scholarships available in 2025.
Details can be found at: Scholarships | The E J W Gibb Memorial Trust
Closing date is 31st March 2025. Results are released by 30 June 2025.
If you have any queries please contact: r.gleave@exeter.ac.uk
5. Le CeRMI a le plaisir de vous convier à la prochaine séance du séminaire “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du Monde iranien”, qui se tiendra jeudi prochain, 13 mars 2025, 17h-19h, en salle 4.15 à l’INaLCO (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris XIII, 4eétage).
Nous sommes heureux d’accueillir M. Pavel Lurje (Musée de l’Ermitage; actuellement chercheur en résidence à l’Institut d’Études Avancées de Paris), pour une conférence intitulée: “Sogdian Documents from Mount Mugh: Historical, Archaeological, Administrative and Economic Geographies of Central Asia on the Eve of Islamization“.
Résumé:
In 1932-33, a set of 80 documents, mostly in Sogdian, but also in Chinese, Arabic and Old Turkic were discovered incidentally in the ruins of the castle on Mount Mugh, in the highlands of Tajikistan 150 km east of Samarkand. The documents, as it soon appeared, are dated to 722 CE (and few decades earlier), and were part of the archive of Dewashtich, the last ruler of Panjakent (the easternmost Sogdian city) and his retinue, who were defeated by Moslem forces and their allies in the mountains. Since the 1960s, the documents have all been made available in facsimile, photos and transliterations; and in the last decade, an updated English translation of the documents was published. Most of the placenames mentioned in the documents were ingeniously identified by the editors, and at a later stage, the tracks of the military expeditions mirrored in the texts could even be outlined. The bulk of the locations mentioned are situated to the east of Samarkand, especially around Panjakent and in the upper Zarafshan valley surrounding mount Mugh, but more distant places are also referred to.
At this time, we possess much better knowledge of the archaeological sites in the area (through survey and excavations), and of the linguistic features of Sogdian. Similar texts have been found elsewhere, and documents pertaining to another crucial moment in the history of Upper Zarafshan, the Russian conquest of 1860s and its aftermath, have been published. These new data have allowed scholars to reconsider the geography of the documents in a new light.
In this talk, the lecturer will present the preliminary results of his research project carried out as a Fellow at the Paris Institute of Advanced Studies. Several issues will be addressed: How was the power and administration in this area organized? What were the main products used, and how were they distributed? Which of the toponyms mentioned in the documents can be associated with known sites? And what was the oikumene known to the authors of these texts?
Orientations bibliographiques:
– Smirnova, O.I., 1963. La carte des régions du haut Zérafchân d’après les documents du Mt. Mugh, Труды двадцать пятого международного конгресса востоковедов. Москва, 9 – 16 августа 1960 г. II, 329–37.
– Ю. Якубов. Паргар в VII – VIII вв. н. э. Душанбе: Дониш, 1979.
– Frantz Grenet, Étienne de la Vaissière, 2002. “The last days of Panjikent”, Silk Road Art and Arcaheology 8, 155–96.
– Livshits, V.A., 2015. Sogdian epigraphy of Central Asia and Semirech’e. London: Corpus inscriptionum iranicarum.
– Begmatov, A., 2019. Sogdian Textual Materials from Central Asia: A Critical Re-Edition of the Documents from Mount Mugh, Unpublished PhD thesis, Kyoto.
– Исаков, А.И., Ю.Я. Якубов & Г.Р. Каримова, 2020. Верховья Долины Зарафшана (Археологическая карта Таджикистана). Душанбе: Дониш.
– Ҳоҷизодаи Мадрушкатӣ, А., 2021. Масчоҳ: Сад Санади Таърихӣ. Душанбе: Меҳроҷ-граф.
– Documentation on the inscription of monuments of Zarafshan-Karakum corridor of the Silk Road in the UNESCO World Heritage list, 2023. Available at: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1675/documents/
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 :
https://cermi.cnrs.fr/seminaires-d
6. Hybrid: The Pourdavoud Institute for the Study of the Iranian World in partnership with the Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies is convening an international conference on The Bible in Its Ancient Iranian Context, held on March 13–14, 2025 at UCLA.
The Bible in Its Ancient Iranian Context
An International Conference Convened by Rahim ShayeganWilliam Schniedewind Catherine Bonesho
co-sponsored by the UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies
March 13–14, 2025 | 314 & 306 Royce Hall(with a live stream option for hybrid attendance)
Morning refreshments and check-in begin at 8:00 am
Zoom link:
https://ucla.zoom.us/j/91611647646#success
Inperson: https://pourdavoud.ucla.edu/event/the-bible-in-its-ancient-iranian-context/
7. Exploring the Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The Laws and Teachings of the Bahá’í Faith
Omid Ghaemmaghami and Shahin Vafai
I B Tauris, 2025
35% discount code (GLR AT8)
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/exploring-the-kit%C3%A1biaqdas-9780755606269/
8. International Conference “Philosophy, the Political, and Politics of Translation in the Modern Islamic World”, Organized by the Scholarly Network for Philosophy in the Islamic World, Berlin, ZMO and Kath. Akad., 10-12 March 2025
At our conference, international scholars address questions such as: How have colonial and political forces shaped philosophical translations in the MENA region? How does translation drive philosophical thought in the modern Islamic world? What do case studies reveal about the political and cultural power of translation?
Information and programme: https://philosophy-in-the-modern-islamic-world.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Konf-Berlin-2025-Programm-final.pdf
9. HYBRID Workshop “People and Powers: Rome, Persia, and Armenia in the Fifth Century”, University of Lille, 31 March 2025
Information, programme and registration:
10. “XIII International Medieval Meeting Lleida”, Universitat de Lleida, Espanya, 3-6 June 2025
Main themes in Medieval Studies: Wars and Crusades – Institutions, Law and Government – Islam – Judaism – Political History – Social and Economic History – Woman and Gender Studies; Etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 March 2025. Information: https://www.internationalmedievalmeetinglleida.udl.cat/en/
11. Graduate Conference “Cartographic Imaginaries: Spaces and Images of Central and Eastern Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Caucasus, and Central Asia”, EHESS, Campus Condorcet, Aubervilliers, 11 June 2025
This conference aims to foster critical reflection on spatial reconfigurations and their resonances in both historical and contemporary contexts. We invite interdisciplinary contributions that re-examine the past and present of this vast region through various disciplines and fields of study, including migration studies, urban and cultural studies, sociology, history, art history, visual anthropology, political science, and critical geography.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 March 2025.
Information: https://cetobac.ehess.fr/system/files/2025-02/appel_a_communications_jd_cetobac.pdf
12. “35th Exeter Gulf Conference: Temporality and Aesthetics in the Arabian Peninsula”, Center for Gulf Studies, University of Exeter, 7-8 July 2025
How does the domain of the aesthetic – in art, architecture, film and literature – allow us to better comprehend how values and ideals are cultivated, enforced, and contested in the region? We invite contributions from the following disciplines: Visual arts – Drama – Film studies – Anthropology and sociology – Human and cultural geography – Environmental and urban studies – Literary studies – Political economy – Gender studies – Political science – History – Migration and diaspora studies, etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 18 April 2025. Information: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/events/details/index.php?event=14823
13. Conference “Beyond Borders Colonial Encounters & Challenges of Religious Minorities between Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Iran (19th – Early 20th Centuries)”, Orient-Institut Istanbul, 16-17 October 2025
Topics: 1) Connections among non-Muslim communities within and beyond the borderlands of Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Iran. – 2) Interaction and Relations of non-Muslim communities with different Muslim groups and political authorities. – 3) Disruption of cross-border relations and forming of new ideas of community and belonging. – 4) Cross-border family histories
Deadline for abstracts: 14 March 2025. Information: https://www.hsozkult.de/event/id/event-152696
14. Doctoral Research Assistant (65 %, 4 Years) in Arabic/Islamic Studies, Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt
Research on “„(De)Colonizing Sharia?“ Tracing Transformation, Change and Continuity in Islamic Law in the MENA in the 19th and 20th Centuries”, chaired by Prof. Dr. Irene Schneider. Qualification: MA in Arabic/Islamic Studies. – Research specialization in modern Islamic law and/or in the fields of law/politics/(post)colonialism. – Knowledge of pre-modern law/colonial law. – Very good knowledge of Arabic, English, if possible, Persian/Turkish/Ottoman Turkish and, if possible, German.
Deadline for applications: 31 March 2025.
Information: https://jobs.uni-erfurt.de/jobposting/7448386011e6231c0ffcee042c7738c0b60bba3e0
15. Postdoc Research Assistant (75 %, 4 Years) in Arabic/Islamic Studies, Max Weber Centre for Advan-ced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt
Research on “„(De)Colonizing Sharia?“ Tracing Transformation, Change and Continuity in Islamic Law in the MENA in the 19th and 20th Centuries”, chaired by Prof. Dr. Irene Schneider. Qualification: PhD in Arabic/Islamic Studies. – Research focus in modern Islamic law or in the areas of law/politics/(post)colonialism. – Knowledge of pre-modern law/colonial law. – Very good knowledge of Arabic, English, if possible, Persian/Turkish/Ottoman Turkish and, if possible, German.
Deadline for applications: 31 March 2025.
Information: https://jobs.uni-erfurt.de/jobposting/aad3a8bd05b31fa09be0a109806abbb9ed7271a40
16. Doctoral Fellowships 2025-26 (7-11 Months) at the Orient-Institut Beirut (OIB)
The OIB awards a number of fellowships-in-residence, beginning on 15 September 2025, designed for doctoral candidates engaged in outstanding research projects in the humanities and social sciences. We invite applications across disciplines, time periods, and geographic coverage. Proposals should articulate the contemporary stakes of the research project, encompassing historiographical, cultural, religious and/or political dimensions.
Deadline for applications: 20 March 2025.
Information: https://www.orient-institut.org/support/fellowships/doctoralfellowships.html
17. Intensive Summer School on “Comparative Habsburg-Ottoman Paleography”, Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies (IHB), Vienna, 7-18 July 2025
This program is dedicated to the comparative study of early modern (1500 – 1800) Habsburg and Ottoman primary sources. The school will be helpful especially for MA and PhD students, and early career researchers who want to improve their Kurrentschrift and/or Ottoman Turkish reading skills. We will accept applications from advanced scholars, but the priority will be given to younger candidates.
Deadline for applications: 16 March 2025. Information: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/ihb/forschungsbereiche/digitale-historiographie-und-editionen/forschung/habsburg-osmanische-diplomatie/summer-school
18. “Manuscripts for Research: An Advanced Course in Arabic Manuscript Studies”, Library of the Academy of Science of Lisbon, 22-25 July 2025
During this workshop, participants will delve into the vibrant manuscript collection at the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon. This remarkable collection encompasses a diverse array of subjects and regions. The course will include interactive lectures on philology, as well as hands-on sessions centred around a selection of manuscripts from this invaluable collection.
Information: https://www.aku.edu/events/pages/event-detail.aspx?EventID=2747
19. Participate: “Postmedieval Mentorship Programme for Scholars Who Have not yet Published in English”, Organised by “postmedieval – a journal of medieval cultural studies”
This programme is intended for scholars who have not yet published in English in peer-reviewed publications, including books and journals, and whose first language is not English. Preference may be given to early career academics and those from the Global South.
Deadline for applications: 31 March 2025.
Information: https://sites.google.com/view/postmedieval/Announcements/call-for-participants?authuser=0
20. Early Scholars Publication Grants for Dissertations that Reconceptualize “Translating Cultures in the Digital Age”, UNESCO Chair in Translating Cultures, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies
We seek dissertations that explore the evolving relationship between humans and advanced AI systems, including the new interpretive strategies required to navigate AI’s fluid, data-driven formulations, and focus on themes such as agency, authorship, translation, and the human-machine interface. Qualification: PhD in a relevant field, such as Arabic language and culture, translation studies, comparative literature, Middle Eastern studies, cultural sociology, etc.
Deadline for applications: 26 May 2025. Information: https://www.kfcris.com/en/unesco/grant/2025
Rethinking Ta‘ziyeh:
Performance, Memory, and Space in a Shi‘a Devotional Tradition
Date: March 10, 2025, 9:00 am-6:15 pm
Location: de Certeau Room (Room 335) Arts and Humanities Building, third floor, UC San Diego
Symposium Schedule
(All times in PST)
Introduction
9:00 AM – 9:15 AM
Panel 1
9:15 AM – 10:45 AM
(9:15 AM PST | 6:15 PM Switzerland | 11:00 AM EST)
Chair: Staci Gem Scheiwiller (California State University, Stanislaus)
Keynote Speaker: Elisabeth Dutton (Freiburg University) (Zoom)
9:15 AM – 9:45 AM
“Playing Satan, playing Job: A medieval Christian example, and one from the Ta’ziyeh”
Sara Khalili (Fribourg University) (Zoom)
9:45 AM – 10:00 AM
“The Fall of Lucifer and Iblis on Stage”
Hawraa al-Hasan (Cambridge University) (Zoom)
10:00 AM – 10:15 AM
“Curiosity, Culture, and Colonial Intrigue in European Responses to the Ta’ziyeh”
Keynote Speaker: Kamran Scot Aghaie (University of Texas at Austin)
10:15 AM – 10:45 AM
“Qajar Elites and the Heavy Reliance on Ta’ziyeh Rituals”
Q&A Session
10:45 AM – 11:00 AM
Coffee Break | 11:00 AM – 11:15 AM
Book Launch
11:15 AM – 12:15 PM
Lucy Deacon (Freiburg University)
“Karbala in the Ta‘ziyeh Episode: Shi‘i Devotional Drama in Iran”
Discussant: Kamran Scot Aghaie (University of Texas at Austin)
Lunch Break | 12:15 PM – 1:30 PM
Memorial for Peter J. Chelkowski
1:30 PM – 2:45 PM
Keynote Speakers:
William Beeman (University of Minnesota)
Ali Mirsepassi (New York University) (Zoom)
Coffee Break | 2:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Keynote Speech
3:00 PM – 4:15 PM
Chair: Muhammad Yousuf (UC San Diego)
Keynote Speaker:
Frank Korom (Boston University)
“Recent Developments in Trinidad’s Hosay: A South Asian Ritual Complex Transplanted in the Caribbean.”
Coffee Break | 4:15 PM – 4:30 PM
Roundtable: “Rethinking Takiyeh Dawlat”
4:30 PM – 6:15 PM
Screening: Documentary: “Takiyeh Dawlat” by Alireza Ghasemkhan
Panelists:
Milad Azram (Ohio University)
Babak Rahimi (UC San Diego)
Co-sponsors: The Middle East Studies Program, Program for the Study of Religion, Department of Literature, UC San Diego
To join us via Zoom, please contact brahimi@ucsd.edu for the link and password.
More info at: https://iah.ucsd.edu/_images/PSR-and-MES-Event.jpg