Archive for April 12th, 2025
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Eleventh Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies, London, May 8-10, 2025
David Sizer Lecture Theatre, Mile End Campus, Queen Mary University London
REGISTRATION IS AVAILABLE UNTIL APRIL 25, 2025
If you want to attend, please first register here: https://mamluk.uchicago.edu/sms2025attend.html
Then follow this link to proceed to payment: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/school-of-mamluk-studies-conference-2025-tickets-1206799593069
For more info: https://mamluk.uchicago.edu/sms-conference.html
2. Online Lecture – “Geometry in Islamic Art: Number, Shape, and the Nature of Space,” Carol Bier, Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series, April 15
The final talk of the Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series for the spring 2025 semester, will take place on Tuesday, April 15, 2025 at 9:00 Berkeley / 12:00 New York / 17:00 London / 19:00 Istanbul.
Carol Bier (Center for Islamic Studies, Graduate Theological Union) will present “Geometry in Islamic Art: Number, Shape, and the Nature of Space.”
To attend, please make sure to register in advance here:
https://wellesley.zoom.us/meeting/register/pQCnTcDFQnOlMVLtV402mA
Upon registration, you’ll receive the link to access the lecture.
3. Zahra Institute – Zoom: “Imaginaries of Shingal as a Landscape of Resistance-Narratives around Yezidi Shrines Since the ISIS Genocide”
Wednesday, 30 April: 12pm Central / 1pm Eastern
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/93743788619?pwd=L9YZaH1Bbdcd5Kyud91OuaayMxAZOa.1
Benjamin Raßbach (Ph.D., Leipzig University) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Orient-Institute Beirut. His research focuses on politics of autonomy, material cultures and knowledge production among various Middle Eastern minority groups and political organizations.
https://www.zahrainstitute.org/
4. Kamran Djam Lectures 2025
The Wisdom of Iran: From the Gāthās of Zarathushtra to the Masnavī of Rūmī
Two Lectures by Professor Alan Williams, The University of Manchester
7–8 May 2025
Lecture 1: 6.30pm, Wednesday 7 May. Followed by a reception.
The Wisdom of the Gāthic tradition in Pahlavi literature: Dēnkard VI (9th Century A.C.)
In 1979 Shaul Shaked published his Wisdom of the Sasanian Sages (Dēnkard VI), which was a revised version of his own doctoral thesis on Pahlavi andarz (gnomic) literature (1964). Shaked had foreshadowed the bold ideas of his thesis about the gnomic aphorisms of Dēnkard VI in an article with the controversial title ‘Esoteric trends in Zoroastrianism’ (Jerusalem, 1969).
This latter article did not meet with much favour among Western scholars at the time. In this lecture, 56 years after its first publication, there will be a further consideration of Shaked’s ideas about ‘esoteric trends’ in Zoroastrianism and andarz literature in general.
Lecture 2: 6.30pm, Thursday 8 May
Wisdom in the Masnavī of Mowlānā Jalāloddīn Rūmī Balkhī (1207-1273)
Rūmī is a Persian ‘Sūfī’ poet who has been afforded ‘saintly’ status in the Muslim world, and is nowadays fêted globally as the epitome of mystical knowledge and love. Yet, in the Masnavi, Rūmī appears as a Ḥanafī Muslim who cites from the Qur’ān and Ḥadīth countless times. The question whether Rūmī himself was ‘orthodox’, on the one hand, or ‘antinomian’ and unorthodox, remains a live issue for Muslims.
Also, it is possibly of concern to many influenced by the ‘versions’ of those who edit out Rūmī’s Muslim background and depict him as a ‘universalist’ thinker whose poetry transcends religious boundaries and categories.
5. University of Maryland 2025 Summer Language Institute in Arabic and Persian
https://sllc.umd.edu/special-programs/arabic-persian/summer-langage-institutes
6. Study Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish at MEDLI this summer (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
The Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Language Institute (MEDLI), formerly known as the Arabic, Persian, and Turkish Language Institute (APTLI) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, offers high-quality, proficiency-based courses in 4 languages for undergraduates, graduate students, and adult learners. Our 8-week programs are the equivalent of one year of study. Students learn speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills though classroom instruction and a full range of co-curricular activities. Students will receive 8 credits and a letter grade (A-F) after completing the program. MEDLI participants must complete both 4-week sessions for a total of 8 weeks. Courses meet Monday-Friday, 9-11am and 12-2pm (CST), from June 16 – August 8, 2025.
Funding is available to cover ½ of tuition for all applicants.
About MEDLI: https://medli.wisc.edu/
Application form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf99qeeSMJea24N4Ws_JHY1KXL99pTzQsE0zH3fWm6PI2HxiA/viewform
7. The full programme, abstracts and free registration for our 2-day global online conference Proofs for God’s Existence in Islamic Thought, hosted by Cambridge Muslim College on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th April, is available through the following link: https://www.cambridgemuslimcollege.ac.uk/research/existence/
8. AMEWS Book Award
The Association for Middle East Women’s Studies (AMEWS) Book Award recognizes and promotes excellence in the field of Middle East gender, women’s and sexuality studies. Books published (copyrighted) in 2024 will be considered for the 2025 award. The competition is open only to books published in English. The winner is recognized at the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association and receives a monetary prize. Other books deemed exceptional may receive an honorable mention.
Copies of the nominated book must also be sent to the individual Award Committee members (3 in total) listed below under “Instructions.” Works submitted without an accompanying nomination form and book copies will not be considered–both are required.
The deadline to submit the nomination form and the three copies of each nominated book is June 17, 2024. If you have any questions about the book award process, please contact Ellen McLarney at ellenmc@duke.edu with any questions.
Requirements:
- Books published between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024 are eligible for this year’s award.
- Books must be non-fiction scholarly monographs based on original research. Works that are not eligible include edited collections and compilations, proceedings of symposia, new editions of previously published books, bibliographies, dictionaries, textbooks, and surveys.
- Books that have already been nominated for this book award cannot be renominated.
To Nominate a Book:
- The deadline is June 15, 2025
- Send copies of the book to each of the three members of the committee (information below).
- The books should be postmarked by June 1, 2025.
Instructions:
Mail one copy of the nominated book to the members of the Book Award Committee:
Ellen McLarney
3901 Darby Road
Durham, NC 27707
Amy Kallander
145 Eggers Hall
Syracuse University Syracuse, NY 13244
Hatoon Alfassi
7252 al-Hamawi Street
AlNafel, Riyadh 13312, Saudi Arabia
hatoon.alfassi@manchester.ac.uk
The nomination is not complete until each member of the committee receives a copy of the nominated book, which should be postmarked by June 1, 2025 to ensure delivery by June 15, 2025. Books cannot be returned.
9. Moroccan Book-making and Manuscript Production: Approaches to Materials, Traditions and Functions (Inperson/online)
14 – 15 April – Qatar National Library is organizing this academic symposium that will bring together a distinguished group of experts and scholars. The symposium will explore the history of book-making (wiraqah) in Morocco and the Maghreb, delving into traditions of authorship and copying, the evolution of materials used in writing, and their impact on the circulation of knowledge.
Key topics of the symposium
- Authorship, copying, editing and textual verification traditions in Morocco, and the role of scribes and bookmakers (warraqon) in the transmission of learning
- The history of libraries and their role in manuscript preservation
- Materials used in writing: parchment, paper and inks
- Maghrebi and Andalusian scripts: their varieties and historical development
- The aesthetics of Moroccan manuscripts: illumination, decoration and binding
- Paratexts: marginalia, ownership and documentation notes
Event page details and registration: https://events.qnl.qa/event/gowvd/EN
Contact Email
URL
https://events.qnl.qa/event/gowvd/EN
10. ONLINE Panel Discussion: “Freedom of Speech, Trump and Campus Repression: The Case of Badar Khan Suri”, Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU), Georgetown University, 14 April 2025, 22:00 h CET
Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown, was seized by federal agents outside of his apartment. Nearly a dozen known students and faculty members have been detained by the Trump Administration in recent weeks. More than 300 visas and green cards have been revoked. How can we best understand this assault on freedom of speech in the United States? What political and constitutional principles are at stake in this crisis?
Information and registration: https://georgetown.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DiwuSWE5T6yc_cUpNqTfqQ?#/registration
11. The Persian Manuscripts Association offers a £1000 research grant to support innovative scholarly projects focused on any aspect of Persian studies. This grant aims to foster research that explores the rich cultural, artistic, linguistic, and historical aspects of Persian studies.
The grant is open to postgraduate and independent researchers working on wide-ranging topics related to any discipline as applied to Persian studies. The funds may be used to support research activities such as archival visits, publication costs, or for the organisation of scholarly workshops. Projects concentrated on Persian manuscripts are prioritised, but everyone is welcome to apply.
Deadline for abstracts: 16 May 2025. Information: https://persianmanuscripts.org/grants/
12. Ferdowsi PhD Dissertation Award
The Persian Manuscripts Association awards an annual Dissertation Award to recognize outstanding doctorate research in Persian studies. This award is part of the PMA’s broader commitment to fostering scholarship of the Persianate world across wide-ranging fields of study, and celebrating the intellectual traditions of the Persian-speaking world. The prize aims to support early-career scholars and promote high-quality research on regions ranging from Iran to Central Asia and beyond.
Eligible dissertations must be written in English or Persian and submitted between January 2023 and December 2024. In addition to the cash prize, winners have the opportunity to publish in the PMA’s academic journal, Shamsa.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 June 2025. Information: https://persianmanuscripts.org/grants/
- April 12, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment