Archive for July 26th, 2025
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Submissions Open for BRISMES Conference Student Paper Prize
Submissions are currently open for this year’s BRISMES Conference Student Paper Prize. Established in 2021, this prize aims to support BRISMES student members in the development of peer-reviewed work. If you are a student member of BRISMES and presented a paper at the conference, please do consider making a submission!
Deadline | 17:00 (UK time) on Friday, 31 October 2025
2. Lecturer (Edu) in the History of the Middle East
School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS are looking for a one-year replacement covering the History of the Middle East for a colleague who will be on research leave during the 2025-2026 academic year. You will be expected to teach and supervise UG and PGT dissertations on the history of the Middle East and related areas. The preferred candidate will hold a PhD in History or a closely related discipline and have gained some initial teaching and supervision experience. A strong commitment to innovative approaches to teaching and research and a collegial working style will be welcome.
Deadline | 27 July 2025
More information
3. Lecturer in Islamic Studies
King’s College London
The Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King’s College London is seeking to appoint a fixed-term Lecturer in Islamic Studies for 12 months, ideally starting 1 September 2025. You will contribute to co-taught undergraduate modules including Global Philosophy, Religious Traditions and God, and to a sole-taught third-year module, Philosophy of Religious Life. You will also contribute to MA modules, possibly ‘Asian Religions in Global Context’ and ‘Religion, Spirituality and Health’.
Deadline | 31 July 2025
More information
4. Call for Papers | Ethnographic Experiments from and within the Arab World
Symposium, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies
This symposium seeks to bring together scholars working in/on/from/with the Arab world who are engaged in developing innovative ethnographic practices and critical contemplations on broader epistemological concerns within the discipline of anthropology. In particular, we seek to bring scholars whose research agenda does not only emerge from the political and existential urgencies of the present moment, but who are also grappling with the incommensurability between the ethnographic practices of the discipline’s older generation of scholars and the contemporary crises shaping this present moment.
Deadline | 10 August 2025
5. Call for Applications | Global Innovation Fellowship: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Fellowship, The British Academy
The objective of the Global Innovation Fellowships is to provide opportunities to UK-based early and mid-career researchers from across the humanities and social sciences to develop their skills, networks and careers in the creative and cultural, public, private and policy sectors to address challenges that require innovative approaches and solutions. The Academy and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace invite applications for fellowships in various areas, one of which is “Middle East and North Africa.”
Deadline | 24 September 2025
6. Call for Applications | Sir William Luce Fellowship
Fellowship, Durham University
The Sir William Luce Memorial Fund committee welcomes applications for the 2026 Sir William Luce Fellowship, 27 April – 26 June 2026. The committee seek to appoint a Fellow whose work will provide fresh perspectives on urgent regional issues in the area comprising Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, the Gulf monarchies and Iran. Fellows are expected to engage with academic staff at Durham and with the distinctive resources available at Durham – The Sudan Archive and the extensive documentary and library collections relating to the MENA region and Gulf in particular.
Deadline | 1 October 2025
7. Book Launch: The Enduring Legacy of the Habsburg Islam Policy
The Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC) is proud to announce the publication of The Enduring Legacy of the Habsburg Islam Policy, edited by Sevgi Adak and Thomas Schmidinger. This timely volume explores how Islam was governed, represented and instrumentalised under the Habsburg Empire, and how these imperial legacies continue to shape the treatment of Muslim minorities in contemporary Central and Southeastern Europe.
Published as part of AKU-ISMC’s Governance in Muslim Contexts series, the book draws on archival and ethnographic research across multiple regions to examine the enduring impact of imperial Islam policies in shaping state–Muslim relations. Published Open Access – download your free copy here.
And join us on Thursday, 16 October 2025 for a Book Launch to celebrate with editors Sevgi Adak and Thomas Schmidinger, who will discuss the key themes and motivations behind the volume. The event will be held at the Aga Khan Centre in London and will also be streamed live via Zoom
Booking
The event is free, but booking is essential.
Register to Attend:
In-Person (Aga Khan Centre, London)
Register on Ticketsource
Online via Zoom
Register for Zoom
8. Asemana Books: The Art of Speaking and Writing by Mirza Agha Khan Kermani – Edited by M. Rezaei Tazik
Fann-e Goftan wa Neveshtan
(The Art of Speaking and Writing)
By Mirza Agha Khan Kermani
Edited by: M. Rezaei Tazik
ISBN: 9781997503071
This volume presents for the first time in book form a complete collection of articles by the influential Iranian thinker Mirza Agha Khan-e Kermani (1853/4–1896), originally published in the Akhtar newspaper of Istanbul. Kermani was one of the pioneering intellectuals of modern Iranian thought, a prominent critic of religion and autocracy, and a foundational figure in the discourse of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution.
During his stay in Istanbul, Kermani contributed to Akhtar with a series titled The Art of Speaking and Writing, spanning twelve articles. These pieces, published between August and November 1889, offer invaluable insights into Kermani’s evolving literary philosophy and intellectual vision at a formative period in his career.
🔗 Order the book:
https://www.lulu.com/shop/mirza-agha-khan-kermani-and-m-rezaei-tazik/the-art-of-speaking-and-writing/paperback/product-7kvpkjw.html
📚 Read more:
https://asemanabooks.ca/the-art-of-speaking-and-writing/
9. CFP – LAMPS Seminar Series, semester one
We are very pleased to announce the attached call for papers for the Late Antique and Medieval Postgraduate Society’s seminar series, to take place in the upcoming semester (September – December 2025). The seminar series is intended to serve as an open forum for postgraduate students from Edinburgh and beyond to present their research and gather valuable feedback and input from an interdisciplinary cohort. As such, we encourage the submission of works-in-progress and completed research alike.
We encourage the submission of abstracts on, but not limited to, the following topics:
- Late Antique Studies
- Archaeology
- Medieval Studies
- Byzantine and Islamic Studies
- Renaissance Studies
- Medieval Romance
- Neo-Medievalism
- Art History
- Reception Studies
Practicalities:
- Seminars will be held in-personon Tuesdays at 17:00, location TBA
- Submissions of a 300-word abstract and professional bio must be made to lampsedinburgh@gmail.com
- Deadline for submissions is the 29thof August, and applicants will be notified by the 1st of September
For further information and a QR code to sign up to our mailing list, see attached the poster for our CFP. For any further enquiries you can contact us at lampsedinburgh@gmail.com.
Kindest regards,
The LAMPS committee
10. New Book: “Covidocracy: Do Pandemics Defend Dictatorships and Challenge Democracies” by Nicolai Due-Gundersen (Bloomsbury Academics)
The book examines Saudi Arabia’s and other responses to Covid. For Saudi Arabia, the book focuses on government responses to previous pandemics, MBS’ rise to power and analyses speeches given by King Salman during Covid before analysing Saudi Arabia’s health diplomacy during Covid.
Information: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/covidocracy-9781350581265/
11. New Open Access Book: “Handbook of Families in the Arab Gulf States” Edited by Md Mizanur Rahman, Kaltham Al-Ghanim, Ziarat Hossain, Sharique Umar (Springer)
The book demarcates how Gulf families are experiencing many formidable challenges and undergoing profound changes due to speedy economic transformation, educational reforms, extensive use of social media, rapid urbanization, migration, women empowerment, and the intersections of popular culture from both the East and the West.
Information and online access: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-96-3412-5
12. New Book: “Islam and Pseudoscience” by Stefano Bigliardi (Cambridge University Press); Free Online 21 July – _4 August 2025
This book discusses, in critical fashion, different ideas and approaches that combine pseudoscience and Islam. It begins by historically reconstructing the debate on Islam-related pseudoscience developed by Muslim and non-Muslim critics. After a section discussing other malpractices and erroneous approaches, which do not strictly qualify as pseudoscience but accompany and foster it, the book ends with the discussion of overarching questions constituting an agenda for future discussions of Islam-related pseudoscience.
Information and online access: https://tinyurl.com/vrk8x6r8
- July 26, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment