Hosted by the Sadra International Institute, this unique academic course brings together internationally recognized scholars to explore one of the most profound questions of human existence: What is the meaning of life? through the lens of Islamic philosophy and theology.

📚 Course Topics Include:

The Concept of Life and Its Purpose in Islamic Thought – Dr. Maria Massi Dakake, George Mason University, USA
Revelation as a Source of Meaning in Islamic Thought – Dr. Khalil Andani, Augustana College, USA
The Path to the Perfect Human in Islamic Mysticism – Dr. Saiyad Nizamuddin Ahmad, Florida International University, USA
Mulla Sadra and the Transcendent Philosophy of Life, Dr. Oliver Leaman, University of Kentucky, USA
Understanding the Meaning of Life through Islamic Theology – Dr. Ahab Bdaiwi, Leiden University, Netherlands
Evil and the Search for Meaning in Islamic Thought – Dr. Sajjad Rizvi, University of Exeter, UK

This course is ideal for students, researchers, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of Islamic intellectual traditions and their relevance to contemporary questions of purpose, existence, and fulfillment.

3. Call for Expressions of Interest – Visual Anthropology Book Review Editor (2025-2028)

(This is a voluntary role)

Visual Anthropology seeks a new Book Review Editor, the position is also open to a team of two or three people. The position(s) is suitable for a person with a PhD in a field relevant to visual research and practice. This is an exciting time to join VA as we develop the journal and introduce new content types and strategies. This is a high profile position suitable for applicants who are committed to actively and creatively participating in the relaunch of a pivotal journal for our discipline, and engaging with scholars and practitioners in the field. VA publishes approximately five book reviews per issue (with 4 issues a year), requiring the Book Review Editor(s) to identify and commission up to 20 book reviewers each year.

The Book Review Editor(s) will work directly with book publishers to have hard copy or e-books sent directly to reviewers as they are identified.

As the Book Review Editor(s), the successful candidate(s) will manage the commissioning, review and acceptance process for book reviews submitted to the journal, in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief.

The Book Review Editor is responsible for:

Identifying books for review and coordinating the delivery of review copies/e-books from book publishers to the author,
Identifying potential book reviewers and commissioning submissions. This includes providing clear instructions as to the format and range of the book review and submission procedures,
Corresponding with book review authors (e.g., acknowledging receipt of a submitted book review; providing information about its editorial review as necessary),
Providing feedback to book review authors (e.g., editing reviews to the standard of the journal, including content, references and book information, etc.; conveying the editorial decision and providing guidance for revisions),
Keeping accurate records to ensure that there is a sufficient flow of reviews,
Proving progress reports and updates to the Editor-in-Chief and the Associate Editor as required.

Although the Book Review Editor will have independent authority in selecting the reviewers and the books reviewed, the final decisions will be with the Editor-in-Chief.

The Book Review Editor is encouraged to be innovative in their approach. VA welcomes book review sections (where important books on mixed themes are reviewed) and book review symposia (several reviews on newly published key books and comparisons of two or three related books by a single author). We are also open to proposals for launching something new and exciting, as well as for the continuation and revitalisation of book reviews.

Applications should include:

Your professional C.V. (two pages)
An example of a book review that you have contributed to a journal yourself
A Cover Letter of no longer than one page to include the following:
Your motivation for applying for this role,
How you would go about undertaking the role and any experience or skills you bring to it,
Your vision for a new book review section.

Please send your applications (should be sent as attached PDF file) to the Editor-in-Chief (P.Khosronejad@westernsydney.edu.au ) by 30 May 2025 (end of day).

https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/gvan20

4. ‘Khayyām Literacy among Turkman Copyists, Yāraḥmad Rašidi’s Ṭarabkhānẹ’
DONNINI, Piero
Studia Iranica, 52/1 (2023)
https://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=3294138&journal_code=SI

5. On Monday 26/5/2025, from 3.00 pm – 4.30 pm CET, Simon Stjernholm will discuss his latest book “Sensing Islam: Engaging and Contesting the Senses in Muslim Religiosity” (Bloomsbury). After the book talk, Merve Rehyan Kayikci will offer a response, which will be followed by a Q&A.

Abstract

Simon Stjernholm – “Sensory Engagements in the Study of Muslim Piety”

In his new book Sensing Islam: Engaging and Contesting the Senses in Muslim Religiosity (Bloomsbury), Stjernholm analyses examples dealing with contemporary Sufism and Muslim religious oratory in order to explore practices and imaginaries of sensing. Combining the research fields of Islamic Studies, anthropology of Islam, material religion and sensory studies, this book covers a range of materials, including writings by Muslim religious authorities, ethnographic material, audio recordings and videos. In this talk, he will present the general framework of the book and discuss a few examples of its analyses in detail.

Simon Stjernholm is Associate Professor of the Study of Religion at the University of Copenhagen. His work is situated in the anthropology and history of Islam, with particular focus on Sufism and Muslim preaching.

Discussant Merve R. Kayikci is a postdoctoral researcher at the KADOC Documentation and Research Center on Religion, Culture and Society, Belgium.

To register for this meeting, click here.

To subscribe to IED’s maillist, click here.

6. The Islamic College:

A one-day workshop: An adventure in the realm of spiritual & moral personal experiences

Sunday 18 May 2025

10 am – 7 pm (London time)
Venue:
The Islamic College 133 High Road London NW102SW

https://islamic-college.ac.uk/islamic-college-events/

7. RUB Workshop June 11-13: The Reception and Transformation of the Late Ancient Knowledge Tradition in the Arabic-Muslim World

The Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) is thrilled to invite you to our upcoming workshop, “The Reception and Transformation of the Late Ancient Knowledge Tradition in the Arabic-Muslim World.”

The workshop’s theme is a key research area of our institute at the RUB. It covers a wide range of topics and texts, and is the first in a series of events to promote the institute’s newly established professorship dedicated to the history of knowledge and its transfer from late antiquity into the Arabic-Muslim world.

Please consider joining us and the distinguished speakers on campus for what we hope will be a memorable and enlightening event.

🗓 Date: June 11–13, 2025

📍 Location: Building GB, Room 5/160, Ruhr University Bochum (Universitätsstraße 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany)

Day One (Keynote Address):

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

18:15–19:45 Asad Ahmed (Berkeley/Paris): “The Legacy of Avicennism in Nineteenth-Century South Asia”

Day Two:

Thursday, June 12, 2025

09:15–09:30 Opening Words by Cornelia Schöck & Andreas Lammer

09:30–10:45 David Wirmer (Cologne): “Ibn Bāǧǧa on the Agent Intellect as ‘Form of Forms’”

11:00–12:15 Ibrahim Safri (Munich): “Re-Thinking Aristotle: An Atomist Account of Motion in Pre-Modern Islamic Philosophy”

13:45–15:00 Miriam Rogasch (Cologne): “al-Fārābī’s Influence on Avicenna’s Ontology of Essence”

15:15–16:30 Alexander Lamprakis (Munich/Utrecht): “The Sources and Afterlife of the Section on Logic in al-Lawkarī’s Bayān al-ḥaqq bi-ḍamān al-ṣidq”

17:00–18:15 Paul Hullmeine (Munich): “al-Bīrūnī’s Reception of Greek Knowledge”

Day Three:

Friday, June 13, 2025

09:00–10:15 Joschka Dunz (Würzburg): “Psychology and Epistemology in Ibn al-Haytham’s Optics”

10:30–11:45 Hanif Amin Beidokhti (Bochum): “In Defence of the Peripatetics: Suhrawardī against Abū l-Barakāt on Void and Body”

11:45–13:00 Cornelia Schöck (Bochum): “Systematic Place and Function of the Division of the Signification of Terms in Avicenna’s Theory of Science”

Posted in: Academic items

May 13, 2025
by Andrew Newman
0 Comment

Shii News – Academic Items

1.Hybrid Lecture: Fabrizio Speziale, “Noah’s Grandsons and the Elephant: Functions of Persian Pseudonymous Texts in South Asia”, 2 June 2025

The Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, and the Japan Office of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies are pleased to announce a lecture by Professor Fabrizio Speziale (EHESS). The talk will explore pseudonymous Persian texts as a strategy to domesticate non-Muslim technical knowledge and to legitimize the status of Muslim professional groups in Persianate South Asia. The event will be held in a hybrid format, with online participation available via Zoom.

Lecture Title:
Noah’s Grandsons and the Elephant: Functions of Persian Pseudonymous Texts in South Asia
(Abstract below)

Speaker:

Professor Fabrizio Speziale (École des hautes études en sciences sociales)

Profile: https://www.ehess.fr/fr/personne/fabrizio-speziale)

Date:
Monday, 2 June 2025, 18:00–19:30 (JST)

Venue:
Room 305, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (Tōyō Bunka Kenkyūjo), University of Tokyo
and online via Zoom

How to Participate:
(1) In-person attendance: No prior registration is required.
Please note: The institute’s entrance doors will no longer be accessible from outside after 18:00. We recommend arriving before that time. A contact telephone number for those arriving late will be posted at the entrance.
(2) Online attendance: Please register at https://forms.gle/hMtJDBoAJ8ujpGaL9 .
A Zoom link will be sent by noon (JST) on the day of the event.

This lecture is co-organized by the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo (Regular Research Project W–1, “Approaches to the ‘Persianate World'”) and the Japan Office of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies.

Contact Info:
Kazuo Morimoto
Email: morikazu[at]ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp

2. CALL FOR PAPERS

International Conference on GLOBALISATION IN LANGUAGES, EDUCATION, CULTURE, AND COMMUNICATION (GLECC2025)
https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fglecc.org%2F2025%2F&data=05%7C02%7C%7C4e3aedbf0dbb4fb4a60e08dd8d0d8753%7C2e9f06b016694589878910a06934dc61%7C0%7C0%7C638821811444508841%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=QBJiW%2B%2FTEVEMMVTPZuJyLSnCxyIa4MbyYgBYiGVGvss%3D&reserved=0
Dates: 30-31 July 2025 (main conference)
Venue: Manchester, U.K.
Submission deadline extended to: 18 May 2025
Keynote speakers confirmed:
1.“Beyond borders: The interplay of international mobility, culture, and commerce” by Professor Zheng Wang, University of Dundee, UK.
2.“Rethinking language and culture education for a reglobalising world” by Dr Derek Hird, Lancaster University, UK.
The past two decades have witnessed remarkable advancements in the studies into Education, Second and Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting, Cultural Studies & Communication. This growth can be largely attributed to the forces of globalisation. Consequently, adopting the globalisation perspective is timely and provides a natural framework for connecting these diverse yet interlinked disciplines.
This conference aims to bring together researchers, educators, practitioners, and policymakers to disseminate research outcomes, share insights, discuss findings, exchange visions, and identify challenges and trends in an interactive and immersive multidisciplinary environment. The submissions take the forms of abstract, full paper, panel discussion, and workshop proposals.
There is a “conference first” policy in place. Selected papers will be invited to further develop into full journal articles free of APCs. Conference proceedings will be published open access with an ISBN.
There will be optional pre-conference workshops on 29 July and post conference events on 1 August.
Looking forward to the possibility of working together, and we eagerly await your response.
Warm regards,
GLECC2025 Organising Committee

3. Call for Papers

‘Faithful’ Mothers and the Politics of Nurturing Future Secular Citizens

19th June 2025

A Knowledge Exchange Symposium (funded by British Academy VF grant)

Deadline for Abstracts: 26th May 2025

Mothering in relation to religion remains highly understudied, particularly in relation to non-mainstream models of mothering. In a world ridden with inter-communal conflict, this symposium will explore the significant but unrecognised roles that mothers play in the formation of citizens and state-building beyond times of conflict. By exploring how mothers navigate everyday faith and the pushes and pulls of the largely secular contemporary state, it will forefront their socio-political agency, reinstating them as influential actors and not just victims of conflict. It will bring together mothering practices across communities from the global south, to reflect on their analytical, social and political relevance for diasporic communities in the global north. Further, it is hoped the symposium will enable the laying of the ground in thinking around faith and fathering and non-normative parenting. The symposium will break new scholarly ground in religious studies, feminism and sociology and anthropology and revitalize mothering and religion as a field of study. In particular, among other related issues we hope to explore the following research questions:

When different religious communities live side by side, what impact does this have on practices and ideas of mothering?
How might a mother’s religious identity shape her lived experience of mothering in the context of the secular state?
How do state ideologies and policies concerning development, dislocation, or the modern schooling system intersect or clash with practices of mothering, fathering and non-traditional forms of parenting?
How can learnings from mothering practices from the global south be used to understand diasporic mothering in the global north?

This knowledge exchange symposium is part of the British Academy Visiting Professorship grant funded project. Hosted by Coventry University, it will bring together scholars to critically engage with mothering, fathering, non-normative parenting in the context of the study of religion and everyday faith. The event’s discussions are intended to inform the creation of a network of scholars, facilitate future research and grant applications and possibly plan a proposal for a panel for upcoming conferences and even a special issue for a relevant journal.

For accepted papers, we will be pay for travel costs (for one person per paper) up to 100 pounds per person and contribute towards accommodation costs up to 105 pounds per person for one night only. We will be able to fund a maximum of 20 presenters accordingly.

Submission Guidelines: Please submit proposals that explore one or more of the questions raised above. Feel free to come up with and explore new questions or propose reflective thought papers, formative ‘laying the groundwork’ papers and the like. Proposals to include an abstract of no more than 300 words accompanied by the paper title, presenter’s name and short bio (100 words), institutional affiliation and contact information. Please submit via this form: https://forms.office.com/e/6mrKik4fUV

Enquires: Professor Rowena Robinson (rowena@iitb.ac.in) Professor Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (ac0967@coventry.ac.uk)

Key Dates:

Abstract Submission Deadline: 26th May 2025
Notification of Acceptance: 30th May 2025

Registration

Further details about the registration process will be circulated and posted on the website

We look forward to your contributions and to advancing the discussion on religion, faith and mothering, fathering and non-normative parenting in the global south and north.

Symposium Organisers

Professor Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor, Professor Rowena Robinson

4. N Ferreira, ‘What Is the Value of the Persianate to Afghan Studies? or, What Can Afghan History Tell Us about the Persianate? Lessons from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries’

PMLA, 2024 139/2, 307-13

https://www.academia.edu/129074892/What_Is_the_Value_of_the_Persianate_to_Afghan_Studies_or_What_Can_Afghan_History_Tell_Us_about_the_Persianate_Lessons_from_the_Sixteenth_and_Seventeenth_Centuries?email_work_card=view-paper

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, 15 mai 2025, 17h-19h, en salle 4.15 à l’INaLCO(65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris XIII, 4^eétage).

Nous sommes heureux d’accueillir M. Austin O’Malley (University of Chicago), pour une conférence intitulée: “Mixtapes and Local Jams: Selection and Regionality in the Nozhat al-majāles, an Early Collection of Persian Quatrains“.

Résumé:

Among the Persian metrical forms, the quatrain (robāʿi) stands out for its brevity, popularity, and wide use in an array of social situations and performance contexts, from humble “folk” recitations to sermons and samāʿ sessions to courtly symposia. In this talk, I will investigate the 13^th-century Nozhat al-majāles, one of the earliest extant collections of quatrains organized by theme, to better understand the role quatrains played within courtly settings and the larger literary ecosystem. Although centered on the Nozhat, the discussion will also make use of early “genre codes” that discuss the social contexts of quatrains’ production and circulation (i.e., Shams-e Qays’ Moʿjam, the Qābus-nāma) as well as the biographical anthology of ʿOwfi and discourses of Neẓāmi-ye ʿArużi.

Taken together, these investigations show how 13^th-century, northwest Iranian potentates engaged in literary culture not only by receiving the “prestige verse” of polished panegyric, but also by presiding over and participating in a more ephemeral process of selection, exchange, and appreciation of quatrains, which were attributed to a wide variety of individuals who were not necessarily professional poets, and many of which were not ultimately preserved in divāns.

Orientations bibliographiques:

– Davidson, Olga M. “Genre and Occasion in the Rubāʿiyyāt of ʿUmar Khayyām: The Rubāʿi, Literary History, and Courtly Literature.” In Writers and Rulers: Perspectives of Their Relations from Abbasid to Safavid Times, edited by Beatrice Gruendler and Louise Marlow, 133–44. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2004.

– Meier, Fritz. Die schöne Mahsati. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1963

– Mir-afżali, Sayyed ʿAli. “Bar-rasi-ye Nozhat al-majāles (bakhsh-e avval).” Maʿāref 4, no. 1 (1376 [1997]): 90–147.

– Mir-afżali, Sayyed ʿAli. “Bar-rasi-ye Nozhat al-majāles (bakhsh-e dovvom).” Maʿāref 14, no. 2 (1376 [1997]): 135–327.

– Seyed-Gohrab, Ali Asghar. “The Flourishing of Persian Quatrains.” In Persian Lyric Poetry in the Classical Era: Ghazals, Panegyrics, Quatrains, edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 488–568. Vol. 2 of A History of Persian Literature, edited by Ehsan Yarshater. London: I.B. Tauris, 2019.

– Shamisā, Sirus. Sayr-e robāʿi dar sheʿr-e fārsi. Tehran: Āshtiāni, 1363 [1984].

– Sharvāni, Jamāl Khalil. Nozhat al-majāles. Edited by Moḥammad Amin-Riyāḥi. 2nd ed. Tehran: ʿElmi, 1375 [1996–97].

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-de-recherche/societes-politiques-et-cultures-du-monde-iranien-2024-2025/

6. DEADLINE 16 May 2025 – Annual Arabic Pasts Workshop

Arabic Pasts is co-convened by Anna Chrysostomides (Queen Mary), Yossi Rapoport (Queen Mary), Hugh Kennedy (SOAS), Lorenz Nigst (AKU-ISMC), and Sarah Bowen Savant (AKU-ISMC).

The annual Arabic Pasts workshop brings together scholars at all career stages to reflect on methodologies, research agendas, and case studies for investigating history writing in Arabic in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond in any period from the seventh century to the present.

This year the Arabic Pasts workshop welcomes Queen Mary University of London as a partner. We will host the workshop in person at the Aga Khan Centre and welcome proposals that deal with the practical and conceptual challenges of working on history writing in Arabic. We encourage scholars working at all career stages to join us.

By way of example, papers might elucidate the following sorts of questions – or others:

How do nations today tell their stories with respect to their pasts? In what ways do educational institutions, museums, media organisations and proponents of heritage use history writing to shape loyalties and senses of belonging in society?
When and how did pre-modern and modern historians writing in Arabic conceptualize the history of Palestine as a distinct geographical and political unit? What are the Arabic historiographical traditions regarding the city of Gaza and its hinterland, and how have they developed in the last two centuries?
How is the past used in creative arts, re-enactment, games, and augmented reality?
What do we consider works of fiction and how do they differ in authorial intent from historical chronicles? Does this authorial intent make a difference in how we treat these sources? What can we learn from combinations of fiction and non-fiction sources, if anything?
What is the relationship between Arabic and other languages and scripts in bi/multi-lingual and bi/multi-alphabetic texts (tarikh, documents, other genres) across time?
How can marginalised communities and their varieties of Arabic be given due attention?
How can all genders (including non-binary) be given due attention when our sources are often composed by male political, intellectual and religious elites?
How can we explore the past algorithmically? Can digital methods enhance our understanding of the past? Can they also limit or even alter it? Which new digital tools are being developed? What seem to be particularly promising approaches? What is lacking?

Prior to the workshop, we will also run a hands-on workshop on digital methods for Arabic texts – no experience necessary. Please get in touch early if you are interested in joining as we will have to cap participation.

Please submit an abstract of 300 words or less in word document by Friday, 16 May 2025 to ArabicPastsConf@aku.edu. Also please be in touch if you would like to join the digital methods workshop.

7. Anna Contadini’s masterclass at Harvard-I Tatti on two illustrated pages from al-Jazari’s automata of 755/1354 is now published and can be viewed here:

https://vimeo.com/1054171670

URL

https://vimeo.com/1054171670?turnstile=0.QxjHDSDHh8E0FkKdd5nu3iV9jRRUG6SqvYHlAg…

8. Marcus Milwright’s seminar on ‘Messages from the Past: Temporal Relationships in the Study of Early Islamic Visual Culture’ can now be found on the dedicated ReSIA YouTube channel here:

ReSIA – SOAS Research Seminar in Islamic Art – YouTube

URL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNIibY2LlRY&list=PL1z_PGhPjwcqXOrrMPQeQS_OJ0Bd4…

9. The Islamic College:

Zoom Monthly Talk: The Quran and its English Translations

A Talk by Professor Muhammad Abdel Haleem
Wednesday 14 May 2025

6 pm – 7:30 pm (London time)
On Zoom

https://islamic-college.ac.uk/event-register/

10. Zahra Institute – Two talks:

“Language Ideologies and the Discursive Construction of the Persian Language Hegemony in Iran”

Wednesday, 21 May: 12pm Central / 1pm Eastern

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/97305224624?pwd=TY35GbblrFDvcIizxaadWcqJHexeis.1

Jaffer Sheyholislami (Ph.D., Carleton University) is a Professor at the School of Linguistics and Language Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He is the author of Kurdish Identity, Discourse and New Media (Palgrave 2011) and has co-edited a special issue of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language devoted to Kurdish sociolinguistics (2012). He is also the co-editor of the forthcoming volume Oxford Handbook of Kurdish Linguistics. Sheyholislami’s research centers on general linguistics, critical discourse studies, sociolinguistics, and language policy and planning.

“Breakthroughs in Kurdish Lexicography”

Wednesday, 28 May: 12pm Central / 1pm Eastern

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/95130568250?pwd=Dok0HCmMDhvIhdaNw6yyiKbdiyYauu.1

Michael Chyet (Ph.D., UC Berkeley) retired in June 2024 from his position as Cataloger of Middle Eastern languages at the Library of Congress. Formerly he was Senior Broadcast Editor of the Kurdish Service of the Voice of America, and professor of Kurdish at the University of Paris and at the Washington Kurdish Institute. Chyet is working on a third, expanded edition of his Kurdish-English dictionary, Ferhenga Birûskî.

11. WZO’s Annual Seminar

Sunday 01^st June 2025 at 10:30

World Zoroastrian House, 1 Freddie Mercury Close, Feltham. TW 5DF London

Please email Shahin Bekhradnia, shahinbekhradnia@hotmail.com , to reserve your seat.

10:30 Opening Remarks

10:45 Alexandra Buhler: Political, economic and social implications of the relations between Zoroastrians in India and Iran during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

12:00 Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani: The Heart of the Empire: Ctesiphon and DilĒrānšahr in the Sasanian World

13:00 Light Refreshments will be available with a vegetarian option.

14:00 Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis: Royal Splendour: the art of the Sasanian kings

15:00 Questions to the Panel of Speakers.

15:30 Close

12. Online lecture. Collecting Islamic and Turkish Art at the Harvard Art Museums with Ayşin Yoltar-Yıldırım.

May 16. 6pm (Turkey). Presented by the Ankara Friends of ARIT.

This talk focuses on the history of art collecting at Harvard by introducing the museum’s history, beginning with the establishment of the Fogg Museum in 1895 and continuing to the present day. It will feature major supporters and donors, the evolving museum culture, provenance studies, and highlights from the Turkish-Islamic collection of the museum. Ayşin Yoltar-Yıldırım is the Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art, at the Harvard Art Museums.

For Zoom Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/XNBdDQ5ATpOmsu7nAEEEDQ. Contact email: ankfarit@gmail.com.

For more information, visit https://aritweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Aysin-Yoltar_.pdf

URL

https://aritweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Aysin-Yoltar_.pdf

13. ONLINE Lecture “Debate and Dialogue: Polemics, Kalam, and the Artistic Inscription in Islamic Spaces” by Hamidreza Azarinia (University of Tehran), Leiden University, 11 May 2025, 15:30 CET

This event is part of the lecture series “Material Culture, Art, and Archictecture of Pre-Safavid Shīʿism” connected with the ERC-funded project “Embodied Imamate: Mapping the Development of the Early Shīʿī Community”.

Information and registration:

14. ONLINE Book Talk “Sensory Engagements in the Study of Muslim Piety” by Simon Stjernholm (University of Copenhagen), “Islam, Ethics and Diversity (IED) Network”, Universities of Gent & Zürich & Brussel, 26 May 2025, 15.00 – 16.30 CET

How have practices and imaginaries of sensing been religiously engaged and contested by Muslims? How do contemporary Muslim practices and debates concerning religious sensing relate to historical precedents? This book analyses examples dealing with contemporary Sufism and Muslim religious oratory in order to explore practices and imaginaries of sensing.

Information and registration: https://iednetwork.ugent.be/sensory-engagements-in-the-study-of-muslim-piety/

15. 23rd Annual Conference of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID): “Defending Democracy in the Muslim World: Why Democracy is Crucial in the Age of Global Authoritarianism”, Georgetown Capitol Campus, Washington, DC, 29 May 2025

Information, program, and registration: https://tinyurl.com/yck6awyh

16. HYBRID “Young Researchers 3rd Indo-Persian Conference”, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 31 May – 1 June 2025

Information, program, and registration:

https://iismm.hypotheses.org/files/2025/05/YRIPW3-ProgrammeSchedule.pdf

17. Workshop: “Forms of Urbanity in the Persianate World”, EHESS, Paris, 4 June 2025

The workshop explores the processes of urbanization and the forms of lived urbanity in the eastern Islamicate world in the medieval and the early modern period. It interrogates the religious, social, economic and cultural dimensions of the urban spaces of Persianate societies in Iran, southern Asia and the Indian Ocean by offering a granular analysis of urban experiences, filtered through a variety of archival, textual, literary and material sources.

Information and program: https://crh.ehess.fr/index.php?10278

18. ONLINE Lecture on “Making Islam Work: Islamic Authority Among Muslims in Western Europe” by Thijl Sunier (VU University Amsterdam), “Islam, Ethics and Diversity (IED) Network”, Universities of Gent & Zürich & Brussel, 23 June 2025, 15.00 – 16.30 CET

In this talk, Sunier will explore the diverse ways in which Islamic authority is constituted, with a specific emphasis on the role of ‘ordinary’ Muslims. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted among Muslims in Western Europe from the mid-1980s to 2020, he aims to shed light on the multifaceted dynamics of Islamic authority in this context.

Information and registration:

https://iednetwork.ugent.be/making-islam-work-islamic-authority-among-muslims-in-western-europe/

19. 4th Manuscript Culture Symposium: “Mecmuas in the Ottoman World: Interdisciplinary Approaches and Current Research”, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Hamburg University, 28-30 May 2026

Mecmuas are composite manuscripts as well as multiple-text manuscripts. We invite papers with codicological, literary, cultural, historical or other perspectives on mecmuas and seek to bring together scholars at various stages of the research process.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 May 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/ymvxwe27

Posted in: Academic items

May 10, 2025
by Andrew Newman
0 Comment

Shii News – Registration and Programme: Tenth International Shi’i Studies Conference (London, 10.5.25)

Tenth Annual Conference 2025

Posted in: Field-specific (academic)

May 08, 2025
by Andrew Newman
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Shii News – BBC: ‘Syrian security forces monitored armed civilians who killed Alawites’

Posted in: News, Syria

May 08, 2025
by Andrew Newman
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Shii News – SRW: Incidents of Anti-Shiism April 2025

Incidents of Anti-Shiism, April 2025

Posted in: News, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria

May 07, 2025
by Andrew Newman
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Shii News – Academic Items

1. The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies in collaboration with the Department of Middle Eastern Studies and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Chicago

present

“Exploring Persian Language Pedagogy through Sadriddin Ayni’s Literary Lens: Using ‘Notes’ as a Teaching Resource”
Dr. Mehrak Kamali
Ohio State University

Saturday, 10 May 2025, 1:00 EDT/12:00 Central Time

Zoom Registration Link:
https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/ekqkKaUzQhiQ08ptyUy5TQAfter registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

2. Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies – Fellowship in the History of Islamic Art & Material Culture
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68743

Closing date: 20.5.25

3. The Latest Open Access issue of the Cambridge Journal of Anthropology

Articles
‘In the End, We Are Just Bureaucrats’: Shifting State Affects and Bureaucracy in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Lana Askari

Property Documents in Post-Revolution Tunis: Stately Affects and the Multitemporality of Transition Politics
Rosa Sansone

Dismembered Attachment: Documents and the Embodied Continuity of Regional Wars in Iran
Ahmad Moradi

Posted in: Academic items

May 06, 2025
by Andrew Newman
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Shii News – Hybrid Workshop: ‘Sunni-Shii Borderlands in the Ottoman Middle East’ (IFEA, Istanbul, 29-30 May 20250

Posted in: Field-specific (academic), Iran, Iraq, Turkey

May 05, 2025
by Andrew Newman
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Shii News – Academic Items

1.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 Delbar Khakzad on ‘Traditional Forms and Modern Contents: The Hijri-Shamsi Calendar and Critical Engagement with Archival Sources’ Thursday 15 May at 12PM EST / 5PM GMT.

Pre-registration is essential.

https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/4EnVuj2YSxeDsJOkivlBkA#/registration

2. Durham University

Sir William Luce Memorial Fund

Anarchiving Sudan memories: present war and troubled past

by the 2025 Sir William Luce Fellow

Dr Mariasole Pepa

Al-Qasimi Building, Elvet Hill Road, Durham DH1 3TU

on Wednesday 11 June 2025 at 12.00pm,

followed by a Buffet Lunch from 1.00pm

R.S.V.P. by Friday 30 May 2025

The Honorary Secretary, The Sir William Luce Memorial Fund,

School of Government and International Affairs, Al-Qasimi Building, Durham, DH1 3TU, UK

e-mail: luce.fund@durham.ac.uk

3. Arab Media & Society,the biannual journal of the Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism in the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the American University in Cairo, is seeking submissions for our next issue on “Media Management and Economics.”

Issue 39, Winter/Spring 2025 on “Media Management and Economics”
The media landscape in the Arab World is undergoing a rapid and profound transformation, shaped by technological advancements, shifting consumer behaviors, and evolving business models. Digital platforms, artificial intelligence, and content creators are redefining the media ecosystem, influencing economic structures, managerial strategies, and regulatory frameworks. As media organizations, content producers, and digital platforms adapt to this changing environment, new challenges and opportunities emerge for sustainable business models, ethical considerations, and innovative revenue streams.

This call for papers seeks to explore the dynamic intersections of media management, economics, and digital transformation in the Arab World. We invite contributions that critically examine how traditional and digital media industries are responding to these shifts and what strategies are being employed to sustain media operations in an era marked by algorithm-driven content distribution, influencer economies, and platformized communication.
Key Themes:
We encourage submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

Economic and Managerial Strategies in the Digital Media Environment
- Business models of digital media companies, streaming platforms and content creators.
- Monetization strategies in platform economies (e.g., subscriptions, advertising, influencer marketing).
- Sustainability and financial resilience of media organizations in the Arab World.
The Role of Social Media and Content Creators in Media Economies
- The economic impact of influencers, micro-entrepreneurs, and independent content producers.
- Social media monetization and its implications for traditional media businesses.
- Algorithm-driven visibility and its effect on content distribution and economic viability.
AI, Automation, and the Future of Media Management
- The role of artificial intelligence in newsroom operations, advertising, and audience analytics.
- Ethical concerns and regulatory challenges surrounding AI-driven content moderation and personalization.
- AI’s impact on labor structures in media industries.
Regulation, Policy, and Media Sustainability
- Media policies and regulations affecting digital media and platform governance in the region.
- The role of governments and regulatory bodies in shaping digital economies.
- Strategies for ensuring content diversity and safeguarding media pluralism in the digital age.
Audience Behavior, Consumption Patterns, and Market Trends
- Changing media consumption habits across different demographic segments.
- The role of mobile-first and on-demand media consumption in shaping business strategies.
- The effects of disinformation, trust erosion, and audience fragmentation on media sustainability.
Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and New Business Models
- Media startups, digital entrepreneurs, and emerging players in the Arab Worldern media industry.
- Case studies of innovative digital ventures in content production and distribution.
- The intersection of technology, creativity, and economic models in media entrepreneurship.
The Global and Local Dynamics of Media Markets
- Internationalization and localization strategies of global media players in the region.
- Cross-cultural influences on media management and content strategies.
- Economic implications of media collaborations and mergers in the Arab World.

The above list is a non-exhaustive set for suggested areas of research. We welcome contributions that explore other dimensions related to media and conflict in the Arab region.
Deadline for Submissions
Authors interested in submitting their research for peer-review consideration must submit manuscripts by July 30, 2025. Other submissions, including book and conference reviews, shorter (non-peer reviewed) research papers, and columns, should be submitted by August 15, 2025
Submission Guidelines: All submissions must be in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx), adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style, and have a maximum length of 10,000 words (including footnotes and citations).Please include the author’s name (as it should be published), their affiliation, and a brief abstract of no more than 150 words. Please email all submissions to: editor@arabmediasociety.com For further information regarding our publishing policies, kindly visit: www.arabmediasociety.com/publishing-policies/
Contact Information: For any inquiries regarding the call for papers, please contact: editor@arabmediasociety.com.

4. Southampton Arts Academy Concert – The Day of Omar Khayyám

Sunday 18/5/25, 3-6 pm

SOAS Brunei Galley

SOAS University of London

Tickets: https://www.southamptonartsacademy.com/ticket

5. SOAS – Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum

9.30am – 7.00 pm, Friday 20 June 2025

The Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum has been running since 2007 and is open to researchers, students and anyone interested in the music and culture of the region. In the spirit of fostering dialogue and interdisciplinarity, we hope that the issues discussed at the Forum will be of interest to a broad audience, including musicologists, ethnomusicologists and other researchers in the arts, humanities and social sciences. In addition, we welcome those working on other aspects of Middle Eastern and Central Asian culture broadly speaking (dance, visual arts, media, film, literature, etc).

6. Institute for Iranian Studies, University of St Andrews

SYMPOSIA IRANICA V – CALL FOR PAPERS

Date of conference: 10-12 April 2026

The Institute of Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews is pleased to announce the Fifth Biennial Symposia Iranica Conference.

We invite Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers from a wide range of disciplines to join us at the University of St Andrews for a friendly, interdisciplinary conference on Iran and the wider Persianate world from the ancient period to the present. Papers are welcome in all related disciplines, including (but not limited to) Archaeology, History, Politics & International Relations, Art, Religious Studies, Language, and Literature. We will also host an early scholars workshop aimed at those seeking a career in academia and the wider research community. Details on this will be released by April.

Each presenter will be allocated 30 minutes, which includes a 20-minute presentation and a 10-minute Q&A session. We welcome individual presenters and panels of 2 or 3 speakers.

Please complete an abstract (up to 300 words) or prepare an excerpt from your presentation paper (up to 500 words). Send this together with your CV (up to 2 pages) to symposiairanica@st-andrews.ac.uk by 31 July 2025. Successful applicants will be informed by 31 October 2025, and we expect to have registration rates and accommodation details confirmed by then.

Please indicate in your application email if you would be comfortable sharing a room with another delegate. Having this information as early as possible will help keep costs low. Individual travel plans will vary but we hope most delegates will arrive on 9 April and leave on 12 April.

Please direct all enquiries regarding topic suitability and logistical arrangements to the email address above.

Symposia Iranica is a sponsored conference and we aim to keep costs low for all participants. In exceptional cases, registration costs may be waived. Symposia Iranica is a sponsored conference which means that it applies for, and receives, financial backing in advance from a range of different sources. This support keeps costs as low as possible for all participants to encourage participation. All applications will be individually considered, and we particularly welcome waiver applications that demonstrate detailed consideration of the impact of a waiver upon their research prospects and general financial circumstances.

7. CONFERENCE 27 & 28 May: ‘Digital Islam Across Europe’ – limited free places available

The Edinburgh Alwaleed Centre is hosting a special conference reflecting on the research findings of its CHANSE-funded project: ‘Digital Islam across Europe: Understanding Muslims’ Participation in Online Islamic Environments’.

Project teams from the UK, Spain, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania will be joined by scholars working across the continent, and beyond, to discuss the impact of online content production, and consumption, on Muslim faith and practice.

We have a limited number of free spaces available for anyone with an interest in the subject. For further information and to book your free place, follow this link: https://llc.ed.ac.uk/digital-islam-across-europe-conference

If you have any questions, please contact the conference team on: digital.islam@ed.ac.uk .

8. Spirituality, Political Religion and Lived Experience in Iran

MESA Global Academy Event

A webinar featuring Leyla Hajimehditajer (Independent Scholar), Maryam Heydarkhani (Barakat Postdoctoral Scholar, Khalili Research Centre, University of Oxford), and Zahra Khoshk Jan (Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Sociology, University of Chicago)

Moderator: Nayereh Tohidi (Professor Emerita, CSUN)

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

1:00 PM – 2:30 PM PST

Online

Co-sponsored by the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies and the MESA Global Academy

https://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/event/17152

9. Call for Papers

Journal of Social & Cultural Studies is published biannually, with issues released at the end of June and December. Submissions are accepted until April 15 for the June issue and until October 15 for the December issue. The publication languages are Turkish and English.

No article processing or submission fees are charged to authors or their affiliated institutions under any circumstances.

Submission: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/jscs

Contact Information

editor@toplumvekultur.com

https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/jscs

https://www.toplumvekultur.com/tvkjml/index.php/en/

Contact Email

editor@toplumvekultur.com

URL

https://www.toplumvekultur.com/tvkjml/index.php/en/

10. ONLINE Lecture “Avicenna on Pleasure and the Perception of Beauty. A Multidisciplinary Inquiry” by Dr. Maryam Kheradmand (Tehran), Network “Philosophy in the Modern Islamic World”, 5 May 2025, 18:00 – 20:00 CET

Join us to explore Avicenna’s pathways to questions such as: Does beauty exist independently, or is it co-created by the observer? Why do we sometimes perceive perfection without pleasure? Why does music evoke pleasure while a lecture may not, even if both are “perceived”?

Information and registration:

https://philosophy-in-the-modern-islamic-world.net/en/online-guest-lecture-maryam-kheradmand/

11. ONLINE: “Association of Middle East Children and Youth Studies (AMECYS)”: Introducing the New Mentorship Program for Mentees and Mentors, 7 May 2025, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EST

We invite graduate students and scholars working on the Levant, the Gulf and/or Maghreb, children, adolescents, and/or youth, whether you study these populations in the past or present, and whatever your disciplinary or metho-dological approaches might be, whether in the social sciences, humanities, or natural sciences.

Deadline for registration: 10 May 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/ef26vtsn

12. HYBRID Workshop “Arabic Magical Realisms – Foundations, Concepts and Manifestations”, Cluster of Excellence “Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective”, Freie Universität Berlin, 22-23 May 2025

How does magical realism manifest itself in Arabic literature? Which literary heritages serve as its inspiration? What role does this mode of writing play in contexts of war, displacement and trauma? These texts constitute powerful literary devices, hybrid and often subversive, which bridge the divide between premodern and modern periods, defy textual and physical boundaries, and break societal taboos.

Information, program, and registration: https://www.temporal-communities.de/events/2025/workshop-arabic-magical-realisms.html

13. 4th Conference of the TYPOARABIC Project: “The Role of Italian Presses in Early Arabic Printing. A View from the East”, Università Ca’ Foscari of Venice, 27-29 May 2025

Information and program: https://typarabic.ro/wordpress/

14. Symposium “Transcendence in the Small Gestures of Life: Attention and Care for Nature and Humans in Religious Traditions”, EASA-Muslim Worlds Network, Venice, 2-3 October 2025

This symposium aims to explore those spiritual states that in different religious traditions are searched for to awaken attentiveness and care for the world, other humans, and creation, paying attention to how they can inform the way we study religion and interpret the challenges humankind faces in the contemporary world, particularly the ecological crisis.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 May 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/ms8dknus

15. ONLINE 54th Annual Conference of the North American Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies (NAAIMS): “Islam and AI: Challenges and Opportunities”, University of Cincinnati, OH, 20 November 2025

Themes: – Authenticity of Islamic Religious Authority: The Ulama vs A.I. – Training A.I. in Classical Islamic Sources – Rigor and Responsibility in Using A.I. for Research in Islamic and Muslim Studies – Ensuring Accuracy in A.I. Generated Content about Islam and Muslims – Opportunities and Challenges of Using A.I. as a Teaching Assistant in Islamic or Muslim Studies – Addressing Hegemony and Cultural Biases in A.I. – A.I., Ethics and Morality

Deadline for abstracts: 11 July 2025. Information: https://naaims.org/54th-century/

16. Programme DECRIPT : Contrat Post-Doctoral/ Collaborateur scientifique WP6 (12 mois) : “Récits civilisationnels et Moyen-Orient – Focus Proche-Orient”, Inalco, Paris

Le post-doctorant ou la post-doctorante développera un projet visant à articuler ces enjeux globaux et régionaux à un terrain empirique. Le candidat ou la candidate idéal-e aura une excellente connaissance du Proche-Orient (Israël, Palestine, Liban et/ou Syrie), qui constitue le « focus » du WP6, mais les dossiers relevant d’autres spécialisations aréales seront également étudiés avec intérêt.

Date limite de candidature : 11 mai 2025. Information : https://tinyurl.com/2tv9xvmv

17. Visiting Assistant Professor of Arabic Studies (1 Year), Williams College, Williamstown, MA

Ph.D. is required by the beginning of the appointment. Excellent training and experience teaching all levels of Arabic language to non-native speakers are essential. We are particularly interested in candidates who have a record of success in teaching Arabic 101/102.

Deadline for applications: 15 May 2025. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/167079

18. PhD Research Fellowship in the Modern History of the Middle East
University of Bergen, Norway
The Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion invites applications for a PhD position in the modern history of the Middle East commencing in January 2026, or as agreed upon. The position is for a fixed-term period of four years. The Department is looking for candidates working on the history of the modern Middle East with a temporal focus on the late nineteenth century onwards.
Deadline | 12 May 2025
More information

19. Director SOAS Middle East Institute and MBI AI Jaber Chair of Middle East Studies
SOAS, University of London
SOAS wishes to appoint a Director of the SOAS Middle East Institute and MBI Al Jaber Chair in Middle East Studies. The person appointed will split their time 50/50 between these two roles. The successful applicant will conduct research and teach in their area of speciality and will provide strong leadership to the SOAS Middle East Institute.
Deadline | 25 May 2025
More information

20. Call for Applications | Critical Thinkers PhD Award

Award | The American University in Cairo

The award recognizes outstanding doctoral research that engages critically with the realities and effects of neoliberalism in the MENA region. We invite PhD dissertation submissions that creatively and rigorously explore the complex dimensions of neoliberal economics, policies, ideas, and institutions.

Deadline | 11 May 2025

More information

21. Call for Submissions | Confluence Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies

Journal Issue | June 2025

The Confluence Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, an international, peer-reviewed academic journal published by Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Morocco, is pleased to invite scholars, researchers, and academics to contribute research articles and book reviews for its inaugural issue, to be published in June 2025.

Deadline | 15 May 2025

More information

Posted in: Academic items

May 03, 2025
by Andrew Newman
0 Comment

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