Archive for 2025
Shii News – The Imam Zainul Abideen Legal Internship for the Freedom of Unjust Prisoners
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
- March 21, 2025
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Shii News – Academic Items
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).
- March 18, 2025
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Shii News – Academic Items
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
- Location:Jordan Language Academy, Amman, Jordan
- Duration:4 weeks (Full-time)
- Available Sessions:
- June 10 – July 7, 2025 OR
- July 8 – August 4, 2025
- Language Level:Intermediate
- Scholarship Awards:
- One full scholarshipcovering 100% of tuition fees for one session
- One partial scholarshipcovering 50% of tuition fees for one session
Eligibility Criteria
- Academic Excellence:Strong academic record with proven potential in language studies.
- Financial Need:Priority consideration for students demonstrating financial hardship.
- Language Proficiency:Applicants must have an intermediate level of Arabic proficiency.
- Departmental Nomination:Formal nomination by the applicant’s academic department is required.
- Commitment to Cultural Exchange:Enthusiasm for cross-cultural engagement and learning.
- Personal Statement:A compelling statement outlining the applicant’s motivation for studying at JLA, future academic goals, and how the scholarship will support their aspirations.
- Interview:Shortlisted candidates must participate in an interview.
Nomination & Application Process
- Academic departments must submit a nomination letterendorsing the applicant.
- Nominated students must complete a formal application, including:
- Academic transcripts or records
- A personal statement detailing academic goals, financial need, and commitment to language learning
- A faculty letter of recommendation
- Arabic Essay:A 500–700 word essay in Arabic explaining the applicant’s motivation for studying at JLA, how the scholarship will support their goals, and their role in promoting cultural exchange
- JLA will evaluate applications based on academic merit, financial need, interviews, and nomination endorsements.
- Selected recipients will receive an official scholarship award notification with enrollment instructions.
Deadlines & Notification
- Application Deadline:April 20, 2025 24:00 GMT (Late applications will not be considered).
- Notification Date:Scholarship recipients will be informed by May 1, 2025.
Scholarship Disbursement
- Scholarship funds will be directly applied to tuition fees at JLA.
- Recipients are responsible for covering additional costs, including accommodation, travel, optional excursions, and personal expenses.
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:
- M-85 Introduction to Islamicate Manuscripts, taught by Kelly Tuttle at the Free Library of Philadelphia
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
- March 15, 2025
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Shii News – CFP: ‘The Quran and Shi’i Islam’ (Toronto, 25-26 August, 2025)
- March 12, 2025
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Shii News – Academic Items
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:
- 10:30am – 1:00pm: Viewing of the collections and the exhibition “Refracted Histories through Stained Glass: 19th Century Islamic Windows as a Prism into MIT’s Past, Present, and Future,” followed by a light lunch. Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT. Capped at 30, please register.
Boston College, Yawkey Center, Murray Room (4th Floor), Boston College, Chestnut Hill, 02467.
- 3pm: Welcome Remarks, Emine Fetvacı and Laura Weinstein
- 3:15 – 4:45 pm: Roundtable: Provenance and Islamic Art: Current Discussions and Future Directions.Speakers: Elizabeth Dospel Williams, Gwendolyn Collaço, Inês Fialho Brandão, Margaret Graves, Amanda Phillips, Eiren Shea, Alyson Wharton(-Durgaryan), Franziska Kabelitz
Zoom Registration Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/Ixev72N1Ri6h7B3VP9lEoQ
- 5 – 6:30 pm: Keynote lecture: Writing (Art) History in the Time of War, Nasser Rabbat, Aga Khan Professor and Director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, MIT.
Zoom Registration Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/8DcIe4ZNTV-dXDs7FBpRAA
- 7:00 – 9:00 pm: Opening reception and visit “Wonders of Creation: Art, Science and Innovation in the Islamic World.”
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
- 9:00 – 11:00 am: Panel 1: Inscribed Meaning, Memory, and Identity: The Embodiment of Textiles, Dress and Jewels in the Islamic World
- ‘Reading’ Inscribed Textiles in Context: an Abbasid tiraz textile in a Fatimid Burial. Arielle Winnik, Postdoctoral Associate, Yale University Art Gallery
- Messages in Minerals: Decoding Inscribed Gemstones. Courtney Stewart, Research Associate, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Two Inscribed Ghurid Talismanic Jewels in the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait. Jochen Sokoly, Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University, Qatar
- Traceable Origins of Coins, Embroidery & Adornment in Palestinian Headdress, (Late 19th – Early 20th Centuries). Wafa Ghnaim, Founder, Tatreez Institute and Research Scholar, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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
- 11:00 – 11:30 am: Coffee break
- 11:30 – 1:00 pm: Panel 2: “Writing, Speaking”
- Flipping the Script of a Historical Whodunnit: An Epigraphical Forgery at the Abbasid Nilometer in Cairo. Heba Mostafa, Associate Professor, University of Toronto, St George
- Playing with Arabic Script: Visual Analogies and the Imagination in Medieval Islamic Aesthetics. Zahra Kazani, Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Cambridge
- Cloths of Mourning: Late Safavid Epigraphic Textiles. Sarah Molina, PhD Candidate, Harvard University
Moderator: Matthew Saba, Program Head, Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT
Zoom Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/T9AnIcNhSR6qY91f-1weRQ
- 1:15 – 2:00 pm: lunch break
- Optional lunchtime discussion: AI and Islamic Art History. Led by Nancy Um, Associate Director for Research and Knowledge Creation, Getty Research Institute, and Hossein Nakhaei, PhD Candidate, University of Pittsburgh. Capped at 20.
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.
- 2:00 – 3:30 pm: Collection viewings, limited capacity. Please register.
- “Inscribed Meaning, Memory, and Identity: Dress and Adornments in the MFA Collections”
- “Contemporary Calligraphy – New Acquisitions”
- 3:30 – 5:30 pm: Panel 3: “Architecture Speaks”
- Architecture as Archive: Re-framing Mughal Imperial Lineage. Srinanda Ganguly, PhD Candidate, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
- A Seventeenth-Century T-Shaped Mosque in Anatolia? The Byzantinizing Mosque of Hüsrev Paşa near Eskişehir. Zeynep Oguz, University of Zagreb
- The “Defender of Islam” Defiant: The Mausoleum of Qus and the Virtual Hajj.” Mikael Muehlbauer, Interim Assistant Educator, Office of Academic and Professional Programs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Forging locality in domes: Muslim architecture of Quanzhou, Chendai, and Baiqi in the 20th and 21st centuries. Sylvia Wu, Assistant Professor, the University of Texas at Austin
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.
- 9:00 – 11:00 am: Panel 4: “The Architecture and Arts of Islamicate Central Asia during Dynastic Ruptures”
- Bihzad’s Ghost: The Timurid—Abu’l-Khayrid transition in Transoxiana, 1480–1510. Jaimee Comstock-Skipp, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, University of Oxford
- Qarakhanid Architecture Re-examined: Portals, Patronage, and Consolidating Turko-Islamic Power in eleventh-century Transoxiana. Dilrabo Tosheva, AKPIA Fellow, Harvard University
- The pre-Mongol City of Balkh as Seen by its Residents: a Report from the Fadaʾil-i Balkh. Said Reza Husaini, Research Fellow, King’s College, Cambridge University
- Historical Madrasas as Spolia: Appropriating Timurid and Abu’l-Khayrid Monuments in Toqay-Timurid Urban Squares. Yue Xie, PhD Candidate, Harvard University
Moderator: Alexander Brey, Assistant Professor, Wellesley College
Zoom Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/CLoDMCiUSgKqRG3t-gmsKQ
11:00 – 11:30 am: coffee break
- 11:30 am – 1:30 pm: Panel 5: “Responding to a Changing World”
- Tool of Craft or Homage to Profession? A Study of a Qajar Architectural Tablet and a Futuwwatnama of Architects. Salimeh Hosseini, PhD Candidate, University of Chicago,
- The meaning of ‘photography’ (fotogerāfi) is light-drawing (nūr-negārī)”: Mystical Metaphors in Technical Manuals of Photography in Nineteenth-Century Iran. Chaeri Lee. PhD Candidate, Indiana University
- “The Gift of the Orient”: Ottoman Cultural Brokers in the US, ca. 1900. Roxanne Goldberg, PhD Candidate, MIT
- The Spatial Realms of Ottoman Imperial Portraiture: Sultan Selim III, Self-Representation, and Topkapı’s Renewal. Hilal Uǧurlu, Associate Professor, MEF University, Istanbul, and Deniz Türker, Assistant Professor, Rutgers University
Moderator: Huma Gupta, Assistant Professor, Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, MIT
Zoom Registration Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/Px6Q8Q05SlmqbHW4QQgqUQ
- 1:30 – 2:45 pm: Lunch break
- Optional lunchtime discussion: Teaching Difficult Topics. Led by Zohreh Soltani, Assistant Professor, Ithaca College, and Emily Neumeier, Assistant Professor, Temple University. Capped at 20, please register.
- 2:45-3:00 pm In Remembrance, presented by Dr. Marianna Shreve Simpson, Research Associate, Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, University of Pennsylvania
Zoom Registration Link: https://bccte.zoom.us/meeting/register/GfvbKRIiRHW__28pggWWQA
- 3:00 – 5:00pm: Panel 6: “Realms of Response: Javab and Cultural Production in Early Modern Iran and South Asia”
- The Poetics of Pottery and the Aesthetics of Absence: Isfahan’s Music Room. Michael Chagnon, Aga Khan Museum
- Speaking Cities: The City and the Self in Premodern Urban Descriptions. Farshid Emami, Assistant Professor, Rice University
- Mirroring the Cosmos: The Mi‘raj as an Inner Journey Towards God in Hindustani Painting. Murad Khan Mumtaz, Associate Professor, Williams College
- Self/Reflection: Ghiyas/Sherley, or how to talk back in Safavid art and history. Kishwar Rizvi, Professor, Yale University
- Discussant: Paul Losenky, Professor, Indiana University
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
- 5:30 – 6:30pm: Wonders of Creation: Art Science and Innovation in the Islamic World, with Dr. Ladan Akbarnia, Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art, San Diego Museum of Art
Location: McMullen Museum, Boston College, 2101 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA
- 6:30 – 8:00pm: Closing reception at the McMullen Museum, Boston College, 2101 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA
Sunday, April 6
- 10am: Walking tour of Boston’s Little Syria with Dr. Lydia Harrington
- Tour meets at the Chinatown Gate (John F Fitzgerald Surface Rd & Beach St, Boston, MA 02111) and ends near Peter’s Park in the South End. The tour will take approximately 1 ½ to 1 ¾ hours. Optional post-tour lunch at Anoush’ella. To sign up, email lharrin@bu.edu. To contact Lydia on the day of the tour, call 857-488-2878.
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.
- March 11, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
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.
- Camille Rhoné-Quer and Matteo De Chiara – Iranian Studies and Environmental Approaches: State of Play and Perspectives
- Margareta Tengberg – Contribution of paleo- and archaeobotanical disciplines to the knowledge of human-plant relations in the ancient Iranian world
- Parviz Mohebbi – The introduction of the potato in Iran
- Justine Landau – Is the cure in verse? Plant literature and knowledge transfer in pre-Mongol Iran
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
- March 08, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Hybrid: ‘Rethinking Ta‘ziyeh: Performance, Memory, and Space in a Shi‘a Devotional Tradition’ (10.3.25, San Diego, 9:00 am-6:15 pm, Pacific Time)
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
- March 06, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – ‘Howzevi Women in Iran’ – A Tawasil
https://iupress.org/9780253070869/paths-made-by-walking/
ZOOM: March 7th, 2025, 3-5 pm CET, 9-11 am EST
A conversation with Dr. Amina Tawasil (Teachers College, Columbia University) who is the author of the book Paths Made by Walking: The Work of Howzevi Women in Iran (Indiana University Press, 2024) and our discussant, Prof. Yafa Shanneik (Lund University).
The conversation will be followed by a generous Q&A session.
To register, please email Dr. Minoo Mirshahvalad mmi@hum.ku.dk
- March 05, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. ONLINE Webinar ‘Book Launch: Karbala in the Ta’ziyeh Episode, Shi’i Devotional Drama in Iran’
With Lucy Deacon
In this webinar, Dr. Lucy Deacon presents on her new book ‘Karbala in the Ta’ziyeh Episode, Shi’i Devotional Drama in Iran’ (2024). Verisimilitude is not the endeavour of ta’ziyeh passion plays; this is a devotional offering that stirs lament for the the Shiʿi martyrs by representing events crucial to sacred history. But what does that retelling entail? Through study of four of its main episodes—from their long inter-female dialogues to the protagonists’ encounters with jinn, dervishes, and foreigners—this book explores the taʿziyeh repertoire’s compositional features. Combining a wide range of historical scripts, largely unpublished manuscripts, with witness accounts, it tracks the tradition’s development from Safavid to Qajar Iran asking, who were its contributors? And, how have they left their mark?
British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS),
26 March, 2025, 5:00 pm UK Time
Information and registration:
2. ISIC 2025
The Eighth International Conference on Islamic Civilisation
Call for Papers
Sects, Sectarianism, and Sectarian Identities in Islam
Dates: 1–2 November 2025
Venue: National Chengchi University (Taipei, Taiwan) and Online
Organized by
Department of Arabic Language and Culture, National Chengchi University (Republic of China)
Institut Islam Hadhari, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (Malaysia)
Sectarian divisions within the Islamic world have long been misunderstood by both the media and the general public. While communal violence and conflict in modern Muslim-majority countries are often framed in sectarian terms, attributing these conflicts solely to historical sectarian divides —such as the Sunni-Shiʿa split — is misleading and reductive. Medieval Muslim sources and heresiographical literature use terms like firaq, niḥal, ṭāʾifa, or madhhab to refer to religious communities, groups, or schools of thought. These are often translated as “sects,” a term that carries connotations of schism and heresy in the Christian tradition, implying a division from an established orthodoxy. However, applying this conceptualization of sects and sectarianism to the Islamic context can be problematic. Over the past fourteen centuries, medieval Islamic societies have largely been tolerant—and at times even appreciative—of diverse, sometimes contradictory, interpretations of revealed truth. The existence of multiple sects and schools of thought within Islam highlights the richness and diversity of Islamic expressions of faith.
While the formation of groups based on shared qualities is a universal human phenomenon, what distinguishes the Islamic world—both past and present—is the ubiquity of sectarian identities, symbols, and ideas, which permeate various genres of literature, daily rituals, and art forms. Beyond the major sectarian alignments of Sunnis and Shiʿas, Muslim sects or schools are often subject to further divisions and subdivisions throughout history. Sectarian identity is frequently entangled with other social, political, and cultural affiliations, making any attempt to define an Islamic sect or sectarian identity inherently complex and multi-faceted.
Due to the nature of available sources, the formation of Muslim sects and sectarian identities during the first three centuries of Islam remains an underexplored field that warrants systematic and rigorous study. Furthermore, the historical development of Islamic sects and schools in the post-formative period should be considered in order to reassess the validity and utility of classifications based on sectarianism.
ISIC 2025 invites paper submissions on a wide range of topics related to sects, sectarian identities, and sectarianism in both pre-modern and modern Islamic contexts. Topics include, but are not limited to:
- Islamic firaq or heresiographical literature
- The diachronic use and meaning of sectarian labels in various genres of literature and historical contexts
- Sectarian denominations in modern Muslim politics
- Reflections on the concept of sects and sectarianism
- Origins and formation of sectarian identities and communities
- The evolution of sects in different parts of the Islamic world in pre-modern and modern periods
Proposals for pre-arranged panels dedicated to the above themes are also welcome.
Submission Guidelines
Please submit anonymized abstracts (250-300 words) in English, along with a one-page CV, to isu@nccu.edu.tw by 15 May 2025. Both the abstract and CV should be submitted in Word docx format. The conference will take place in a hybrid format on 1-2 November 2025 at National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan. The official language of the conference is English.
Panel Proposals
Panel proposals should include a 600-word abstract with the following details:
Introduction to the topic
The number of presenters
Short biographical information about the presenters and convenor (the person submitting the proposal)
Contact Email:
isu@nccu.edu.tw
Abstract Submission Deadline: 15 May 2025
Notification of acceptance will be sent by mid-June 2025.
3. Aga Khan Museum – Curator
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68607
4. Ghada Karmi’s Murjana: A Tale of Love and Passion in Medieval Baghdad
Book Launch | Online on Zoom | 18 March 2025
Dr Ghada Karmi is going to tell us more about her novel, Murjana, and discuss it with two prominent scholars of Arabic literature: Prof Caroline Rooney and Prof Wen-chin Ouyang. The discussion will be followed by a live Q&A from the audience. The event is chaired by BRISMES Trustee Dr Feras Alkabani.
More information
5. The Silk Road Talk & Exhibition
Talk & Exhibition | MENACS, Brighton | 21 March 2025
Sussex based artist Carole Bennett will discuss her work and Silk Road inspirations covering a range of related topics from ceramics and pottery to Medieval Arabic poetry and texts, which she uses to decorate her pots and artefacts. A small selection of her work will be on display.
More information
6. “After 100 Years: The Past, Present and Future of Persian Art”
Dr. Yuka Kadoi
University of Vienna
Friday, 14 March 2025, 1:00 p.m. EDT
Location for In-Person Attendance:
Rm 304, 4 Bancroft Ave
Toronto, ON, M5S 1C1
Zoom Registration Link for Virtual Attendance:
https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUuf-ytrD8iHNIbx2IQTFku6OO7gkHyjVSu
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
7. IQP Series of Meetings
“*جولة فی المتاحف القرآنیه العالمیة:* متحف صحف القرآني في لبنان انموذجا”
*فضیلة الشیخ علی خازم*
(مدير مركز صحف لحفظ التراث القرآني والكتابي فی لبنان)
Wednesday Mar. 5, 2025 | (٤ رمضان المبارك)*
🕞 15:30_16:30 (Tehran Time)
*عبر الرابط:*
http://vroom.ut.ac.ir/farabi1
*الالقاء سیتم باللغة العربية*
- March 04, 2025
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