Archive for December 17th, 2025
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Symposium “Ottoman Mobilities and Interactions”, British International Research Institutes (BIRI) & Sabancı University, Istanbul, 13-14 April 2026
Investigating the Ottoman Empire as a dynamic web of circulation in which people, objects, and ideas continually reshaped the imperial fabric.
Deadline for abstracts: 16 January 2026. Information: https://biaa.ac.uk/cfp-ottoman-mobilities-and-interactions/
2. Workshop “Gulf-South Asia Relations in an Era of Deepening Interdependence”, Directed by Zahid Shahab Ahmed and Mujtaba Ali Isani at the “16th Gulf Research Meeting”, Cambridge, 21-23 July 2026
The workshop aims to unpack the multidimensional nature of contemporary Gulf–South Asia relations, by focusing on economic, political, strategic, technological, and cultural dimensions. It seeks to analyze the structural drivers of this transformation, including both internal and external factors, to assess how these forces are shaping patterns of interdependence, cooperation, and competition. The workshop will particularly focus on understanding the policy choices and strategic calculations.
Deadline for abstracts: 5 January 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3e569jhc
3. Short-term Fellowships on the Theme “Praying in a Machine World: Technology & African and Middle Eastern Religious Cultures”, Library of Congress, Washington DC
Researchers are encouraged to propose projects that utilize new methodologies, interdisciplinary approaches, or comparative perspectives. Fellowships will be offered to individuals with doctoral degrees in the humanities or social sciences.
Deadline for applications: 9 January 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/85ch7zk3
4. PhD Programme of the European University Institute (EUI) on Middle Eastern Studies, Florence
The Department of History at the EUI welcomes projects in Mediterranean history, Ottoman history, and the history of the Middle East and North Africa, represented by Professor Giancarlo Casale and Professor M’hamed Oualdi. Students interested in Ottoman history will also have the opportunity to take part in the Ottoman History Working Group.
Deadline for applications: 15 January 2026. Information: https://iismm.hypotheses.org/138943
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5. ONLINE Course “Introduction to Arabic Manuscript Studies”, Summer 2026, Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, Colleville, MN, 22-26 June 2026
The course will introduce students to the study of Arabic manuscripts in their historical, cultural, and material dimensions and to a diversity of Arabic manuscript traditions from West Africa and the Middle East, both Islamic and Christian; provide basic introduction to paleography, codicology, and philological practices, with a special focus on the application of these skills in a digital context; and highlight a wide range of scholarly reference tools for the study of Arabic manuscripts.
Deadline for applications: 6 March 2026. Information: https://hmml.org/programs/arabic-mss-studies/
6. Fourth Intensive Summer School on “Comparative Habsburg-Ottoman Paleography”, Au-strian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, 6-17 July 2026
This two-week intensive program is dedicated to the comparative study of early modern (1500–1800) Habsburg and Ottoman primary sources. Paleography courses encompass the study of various scripts in the target languages, the utilization of diverse source materials, their critical analysis, and the examination of intricate linguistic structures in them.
Deadline for applications: 1 February 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3w2wbd9m
7. Call for applications | Postdoctoral positions in ERC project “ALiDiM” on Classical Arabic @ Ca’ Foscari | deadline 29.01.2026=
I am pleased to share that we are currently advertisingtwo 2-year postdoctoral positions(“contratto di ricerca”) within the ERC-funded ALiDiM project at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
We are seeking two motivated researchers with a strong background in Arabic and Islamic studies; research experience on Classical Arabic and classical texts; and interest in interdisciplinary research on Islamic intellectual history.
Position 1 will examine the intellectual history of the early Arabic linguistic tradition by exploring how ideas were transmitted, adapted, and transformed; while Position 2 will focus on the role of language data in shaping early linguistic discourse and norms.
The selected candidates will be an integral part of our interdisciplinary team, participating in weekly seminar-style meetings where ideas are exchanged, and research is discussed collaboratively. The team emphasizes collaboration and mentorship.
The application deadline is January 29, 2026, 13:00 CET. For full details on the positions, as well as information on the application and selection process, please refer to the calls for applications published on the university website (call Position 1; call Position 2). The positions will start May 1, 2026.
Feel free to share the calls and reach out to us at simona.olivieri@unive.it or alidim@unive.it for further details on our research!
Best regards,
Simona Olivieri
Assistant professor of Arabic language
PI ERC project ALiDiM – Arabic Linguistic Discourse in the Making
Department of Asian and North African Studies
Ca’ Cappello
Calle del Magazen, San Polo 2035
30125 Venezia
- +39 041 234 8848
- simona.olivieri@unive.it
8. JLA Arabic Language and Culture Scholarships – Summer 2026
https://jordanla.com/user_site/site/home_page.aspx
9. Call for Papers: Thematic Section on Muslim Communities and Conversion to Islam in Latin America
A special call for papers from the International Journal of Latin American Religions
Deadline: Jan 31, 2026
10. UCLA: Pourdavoud Institute for the Study of the Iranian World
The recorded lecture of Lucinda Dirven, delivered at UCLA as part of the Pourdavoud Lecture Series on November 5, 2025.
Unlike the tendency to emphasize the multifaceted and diverse aspects of religious life in the Parthian Empire, this talk aims to identify shared characteristics by focusing on the religious preferences of the Arsacid rulers. Although Zoroastrianism was not yet clearly defined at this time, evidence suggests that Zoroastrian ideas influenced the ideology of Arsacid kingship. Conversely, the ideology of the King of Kings influenced the practices of families and rulers who reigned under their suzerainty, including those who were otherwise unaffected by Zoroastrianism. Although such practices were rare, they still had repercussions for the religious lives of the populace in the Arsacid Empire.
11. Voyant Tools is now fully available for the Persian language, including a complete Persian interface. This update makes it much easier for researchers, instructors, and students working with Persian texts to explore digital methods of reading and analysis.
For those who may not be familiar with it, Voyant Tools is a free, web-based platform for textual analysis. It allows users to upload a text—or a collection of texts—and immediately access a wide range of interactive visualizations and computational tools. These include word frequency charts, keyword-in-context searches, topic clusters, term correlations, and other features that help reveal patterns within a text that are not always visible through traditional close reading.
Voyant is widely used in digital humanities, literary studies, linguistics, and classroom teaching because of its accessibility and intuitive design. With the addition of a Persian interface and improved support for Persian scripts, it is now much more suitable for work with Persian literature, archival materials, historical documents, and student essays.
- December 17, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment