Archive for 2025
Shii News – ‘Contemporary Reformist Responses to Traditional Shi’a Discourses’ – A Akbar
- October 06, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. CFP ACLA Seminar: “World Literature Through the Spectrum of Digital Humanities; Textual Geographies and Technologies of Decentralization.”
This seminar explores how digital humanities reshape the study of world literature by highlighting circulation, adaptation, and resistance across diverse cultural contexts. We welcome papers that engage with:
- Digitization and the geographies of texts, authors, and readers
- Challenges of applying DH to non-Anglophone and non-Latin corpora
- Worlding, minor literatures, and digital infrastructures
- Critical reflections on DH and world literature
For details and submission, please visit this Link: https://www.acla.org/seminar/65659de7-cc35-4a64-98c6-f33019e7b1de
2. Quran Commentary Tafsir Series from Fons Vitae
NOW ALSO AVAILABLE in PDF & eBOOK formats: Up until now, these fundamental tafasir have remained out of reach for many English speaking Muslims (and non-Muslims). Among the most important sources for understanding the Qur’an are the tafsir works, commentaries on the Qur’an, which help to properly explain and contextualise the Revelation. VIEW ALL COMMENTARIES…
The series aims to make widely available the leading exegetical works in translation for study and research in unabridged form, which are faithful to the letter and meaning of the Arabic
3. CFP – Eco-art-histories: Plants and Paintings in the Arts of Asia
Call for PAPERS
ASSOCIATION FOR ART HISTORY 2026 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
8-10 April 2026, University of Cambridge
Eco-art-histories: Plants and Paintings in the Arts of Asia
This panel explores eco-art-historical analysis to re-evaluate received knowledge about the place of plant lives in painting in Asia. Moving away from the art historical tradition of reading ‘iconographically’ into plants in paintings, we turn attention to the acknowledgment that art and ecological phenomenon have always been inescapably entangled and sharpen the focus here on the question of the artist’s place in negotiating their plant worlds—trees, bushes, flowers, weeds.
How did plant ecologies inspire artists of Chinese, Indian, or Persian painting? Is it viable as a critical approach to assume that the European herbals were enough for Mughal painters to learn and include species of flowers in their album paintings? Is Chinese landscape painting in dialogue with the ecologies the artists encountered or simply presents formulaic iconographies? Are plants in Persian paintings of 14th century mindless, isolated, and merely mechanical imitations of specimens seen in fragments of Song textiles or Yuan scroll paintings? How did painted plants represent the less explored forms of multiplex culturation and different manners of perceiving and receiving the nature and environment?
We invite innovative and interdisciplinary approaches, retooling the analytical approach for the study of painting in Asia through the lens of eco-art-history. Such retooling may happen through revisiting the relationship between the medieval/early modern Asian artist and their immediate – or mediated – environment and questioning what constitutes and entails the agency of the artist and their subjective experience of or encounter with nature and its consequential translation into art.
Please email your abstract for a short presentation of about 10-15 minutes to be followed by discussions by November 2, 2025 to:
Sussan Babaie, The Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, Sussan.babaie@courtauld.ac.uk
AND
Mahroo Moosavi, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Max-Planck Institute, Mahroo.moosavi@khi.fi.it
Please keep your abstract to a maximum of 250 words and include a short CV!
Please note that you will need to be an AAH member and register for the conference to take part and present your paper.
For further information, see:
https://forarthistory.org.uk/events/cfp-association-for-art-history-2026-annual-conference/
Contact Email
URL
https://forarthistory.org.uk/events/cfp-association-for-art-history-2026-annual…
4. CfP – Facing the Mongol Empire: The Role of Art History (AAH Conference Session)
- AAH Conference: 8-10 April, 2026, University of Cambridge (UK)
- Call for Papers deadline: Sunday 2 November 2025
In the vibrant field of Middle Period art history, the study of cultures across Northeast Asia, the region from the Korean peninsula to the edges of the Taklamakan desert, is beginning to stand out. In this area Kitan/Liao, Tangut/Xia, Jurchen/Jin, Uighur, Chinese/Song, Korean/Goryeo and latterly Mongol/Yuan cultures, among others, co-existed and/or succeeded one another over the Middle Period (10th-14th centuries). This session seeks to centre and correlate the role (or roles) of art historical practices in approaches to this age in two parts, the first ranging from the Kitan period through to the unification of the Mongols by Chinggis Khaan (r. 1206-27) under the Great Mongol State and the second on the varied state and cultural manifestations under the successors of Chinggis. Proposals that bridge the two halves are also welcome.
Suggested areas of enquiry include: 1) Regional and transcultural/transhistorical character — how did the diverse ecologies of NE Asia shape the arts and patterns of artistic production across dynastic and political boundaries? 2) The priority of sources —scholarship on the groups that inhabited this region have historically relied on texts for information: how are these contradicted, or complicated, by objects and visual histories? 3) Buddhism, especially Himalayan and other esoteric strands of doctrine, and its relation to other religions. 4) Hierarchy of media within art history. 5) How nomad polities shaped the roles of women, and women as role models in cultural production and the generation of value systems. 6) The problematic notion of universal culture under a world empire.
This session will be in two parts. In the first, we consider the arts and the role(s) of art history in the context of nomad-sedentary relations from the arrival of the Kitans in around 908 to the unifying reign of Chinggis Khaan, which marked the launch of the Mongols’ quest to dominate the world. In the second, we shift attention to the ensuing rapid and vast expansion of the Mongol empire under Chinggis’ heirs and successors, whereby many regions of Eurasia far distant from the Mongol homeland in Northeast Asia were now incorporated or else entered into various new diplomatic, confessional, tributary and other relations with the Mongols. Proposals that bridge the two halves are also welcome. We anticipate 3-5 papers per half of the session, followed by a discussion and Q&A.
Submit your Paper via this form. Please download, complete and send it directly to the Session Convenor(s) below by Sunday 2 November 2025:
Eiren Shea, Grinnell College, sheaeire@grinnell.edu
Shane McCausland, SOAS University of London, sm80@soas.ac.uk
Contact Email
URL
https://forarthistory.org.uk/facing-the-mongol-empire-the-role-of-art-history/
5. CFP – Animal Representation in the Global Middle Ages – Bridging the Natural and Social Worlds (AAH Conference Panel)
Animals occupied a multivalent space in the medieval world. As part of nature, they were embedded in ecological systems, yet they were also abstracted into symbols of power, religious allegory, and medicinal knowledge—ultimately serving as a nexus between human societies and the natural environment. This panel explores the representation of animals across the global Middle Ages (c. 500–1500 CE), examining how diverse cultures imbued fauna with meaning through their representation. Moving beyond Eurocentric frameworks, we investigate how animal representations functioned as dynamic sites of meaning-making, from the meticulously rendered beasts in Islamic manuscripts, the symbolic menageries of Chinese paintings and prints, to the creatures that materialized along the Afro-Eurasian trade routes.
How did artists and patrons deploy animal iconography to articulate political authority, spiritual ideologies, or ecological knowledge? In what ways did the circulation of creatures, whether real or imagined, confer social prestige or negotiate cultural encounters? How did depictions of animals reflect or shape premodern environmental consciousness? Adopting a global perspective, we seek to illuminate the interconnectedness of medieval visual cultures while challenging anthropocentric narratives in art history. Of particular interest are studies that demonstrate how animals, as living beings and symbolic constructs, actively participated in shaping artistic traditions across regions. We welcome submissions focusing on understudied geographies and encourage interdisciplinary approaches bridging art history and environmental humanities. Ultimately, this panel aims to reconsider the global Middle Ages through its creaturely representations, revealing how such species—real, mythical, and metamorphic—fundamentally shaped medieval visual knowledge.
Session format
The session will include between three and eight 20-minute research papers, each followed by 5 minutes for questions.
This panel is part of the Association for Art History 2026 Annual Conference, which will be held from 8–10 April 2026 at the University of Cambridge.
https://forarthistory.org.uk/events/cfp-association-for-art-history-2026-annual-conference/
Paper Proposals
The 2026 Annual Conference is open to all, members and non-members of the Association for Art History. Anyone can submit a paper. Speakers, delegates and conveners pay to attend.
Please include in your paper proposal:
- Title of your paper (please make sure the title is concise and reflects the contents of the paper because the title is what appears online, in social media and in the digital programme).
- Brief abstract (max 250 words)
- Your name
- Affiliations (or if independent/freelance)
- Email address for your convenor to contact you
- Social media handles
Submit your Paper via this form. Please download, complete and send it directly to the Session Convenor(s) below by Sunday 2 November 2025:
Yuxi Pan, SOAS University of London, 714232@soas.ac.uk
URL
https://forarthistory.org.uk/animal-representation-in-the-global-middle-ages-br…
6. Al-Mahdi Institute invites paper submissions for its upcoming international conference, “Who Cares? Care and Support Practitioners in Muslim Contexts” (27–28th April 2026).
This interdisciplinary event explores the question of who provides care within Muslim communities, how such work is sustained, and under what ethical, social, and theological frameworks. Scholars and practitioners are invited to examine issues such as mental health, domestic abuse, family breakdown, migration, and the professional–religious dynamics that shape care provision in Muslim contexts.
Selected papers will be featured in an edited volume with Brill.
Abstracts (max. 400 words) are due by 12 January 2026.
Full details: www.almahdi.edu/msc-cfp
7. Journée d’étude – Sociétés et environnement dans le monde islamique médiéval (16/10/2025)
Dear colleagues,
We are pleased to send you, below, the programme for a workshop that my colleague Mathieu Eychenne and I are organising at Paris Cité University on the 16th of October. This workshop, entitled Societies and the Environment in the Medieval Islamic World (7th-16th centuries): Current State of Research and Future Prospects, is open to anyone interested.
Please feel free to share this information with your colleagues and students.
Kind regards,
Camille Rhoné-Quer and Mathieu Eychenne
Chers collègues,
Nous avons le plaisir de vous envoyer, ci-dessous, le programme d’une journée d’étude que mon collègue Mathieu Eychenne et moi-même organisons à l’Université Paris Cité le 16 octobre. Cette journée, intitulée Sociétés et environnement dans le monde islamique médiéval (VIIe-XVIe s.). État des lieux et perspectives de recherche, est ouverte à toute personne intéressée.
N’hésitez pas à relayer cette information auprès de vos collègues et étudiants.
Bien cordialement,
Camille Rhoné-Quer et Mathieu Eychenne
Programme
9h — Accueil des participants
9h10 — Introduction
Camille Rhoné-Quer et Mathieu Eychenne
9h20 — Éléments pour une histoire environnementale de Damas au Moyen Âge. Sources et perspectives
Mathieu Eychenne (Université Paris Cité, ECHELLES – UMR 8264)
9h45 — L’économie circulaire au Maghreb et en al-Andalus : quelques remarques préliminaires
Yassir Benhima (Université Lyon 2, CIHAM – UMR 5648)
10h10 — Discussion
10h30 — Pause café
10h45 — Des mangroves aux montagnes, des wadis aux oasis. Relations sociétés-environnements en Arabie orientale durant la période médiévale islamique par l’archéobotanique
Vladimir Dabrowski (CNRS, Orient & Méditerranée – UMR 8167)
11h10 — Les hommes et leur environnement dans l’Égypte médiévale (VIIe-XVIe s.)
Nicolas Michel (Aix-Marseille Université, IREMAM – UMR 7310)
11h35 — Environnement et sociétés dans la Syrie du Nord médiévale : l’apport des données archéologiques et géographiques
Marie-Odile Rousset (CNRS, Archéorient – UMR 5133)
12h00 — Discussion
12h30 — Déjeuner
14h — La vallée de la basse Moulouya au Moyen Âge : dynamiques de peuplement et transformations socio-environnementales
Jennifer Vanz (Université Paris-Est Créteil, CRHEC – EA 4392)
14h25 — Mandu, cité de l’eau : paysages et environnements au croisement des disciplines (Inde centrale, XIVe-XVe s.)
Anne Casile (IRD, PALOC – UMR 208)
14h50 — Discussion
15h10 — Pause café
15h25 — Quid de l’environnement aux marges d’al-Andalus ? Approche interdisciplinaire des systèmes agrosylvopastoraux d’Albalat (Xe-XIIe s., Estrémadure, Espagne)
Jérôme Ros (CNRS, ISEM – UMR 5554)
15h50 — Archives archéozoologiques du Plateau iranien entre l’Antiquité et le Moyen Âge et indices de changements environnementaux
Marjan Mashkour (Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, BioArch – UMR 7209)
16h15 — (Re)penser la place des moutons dans la vallée de l’Amou Darya à l’époque islamique médiévale : un exemple d’approche interdisciplinaire
Camille Rhoné-Quer (Aix-Marseille Université, IREMAM – UMR 7310)
16h40 — Discussion
17h10 — Conclusion
Contact : mathieu.eychenne@u-paris.fr ou camille.rhone@univ-amu.fr
8. The Institute of Ismaili Studies:
Sculpting the Self: Islam, Selfhood, and Human Flourishing IHTLS lecture invitation 8 October 2025
Please join us at 5 pm (London, UK time) on Wednesday, 8th of October, for the next session of the Islamic History and Thought Lecture Series organised by the Institute of Ismaili Studies.
Professor Muhammad U. Faruque’s talk is titled “Sculpting the Self: Islam, Selfhood, and Human Flourishing”, with Dr Daryoush Mohammad Pour as discussant.
To join, please register for online only attendance at https://www.iis.ac.uk/events/sculpting-the-self/
9. The Sharmin & Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies Postdoctoral Research Associate(s) Application Details
The Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University invites applications for the position(s) of postdoctoral research associate (PDRA) or associate research scholar (ARS) in the relevant fields of Iran and the Persian Gulf in the 19th – 21st century.
Anticipated to start in September 2026, the position is open to scholars of all academic disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. The Term of Appointment is based on rank: the PDRA position is for one year with the possibility of renewal pending satisfactory performance and continued funding; those hired as an ARS have a three-year appointment. The center promotes interdisciplinary approaches to advancing the study of Iran and the Persian Gulf, with special attention to the region’s role and significance in the contemporary world. The goal of the program is to support outstanding scholars of Iran and the wider Persianate world at an early stage of their careers and thus to strengthen the field of Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies in the United States and abroad.
In addition to their salary, researchers receive funding (up to $4,000 per academic year) for research related expenses (books, conferences, travel expenses, etc.). The center provides office space and staff support as well as a taxable moving allowance to help defray domestic or international moving expenses. The work location for this position is in-person on campus at Princeton University.
This offer is contingent upon completion of all requirements for the Ph.D., received between 2023 and the start date. If you do not have proof of Ph.D. before your start date, however, you may be temporarily appointed (for at most one year) as a Senior Research Assistant with a 10% reduction in salary. Upon providing verification that you have completed all requirements for the Ph.D., you would then be promoted in rank and salary. Researchers may not pursue another degree while in this appointment, nor may they hold any other fellowships or visiting positions concurrently. Appointment(s) cannot be deferred to a later term.
Candidates are required to apply online and submit the following documents: (1) cover letter with title and summary of proposed research project (200 words); (2) research proposal (max. 1500 words, exclusive of bibliography), including description of project, bibliography, timetable, explicit goals, and the reason for pursuing at Princeton; (3) curriculum vitae and list of publications; (4) sample chapter (in English) of dissertation or other recent work; (5) contact information for three references.
DEADLINE: All materials must be received by November 3, 2025, 11:59 p.m. EST. Preferred start date is September 1, 2026.
Please visit iran.princeton.edu for further information about the Mossavar-Rahmani Center. View the post on AHIRE to apply.
This position is subject to the University’s background check policy.
Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
10. University of Maryland’s Roshan Institute for Persian Studies Announces the Establishment of Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Persian Digital Library
The University of Maryland’s Roshan Institute for Persian Studies has received a major new gift to establish the Dr. Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Persian Digital Library (EOMPDL) to preserve, study and share Persian literary heritage. The gift comes from the Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute, a private foundation created by Mir-Djalali, a distinguished linguist, educator and philanthropist dedicated to the preservation and global celebration of Persian language, literature and heritage.
Funded by a $1.5 million endowment and $310,000 in startup funds, the EOMPDL will be the first open-access Persian digital library to feature texts that have been professionally edited and vetted by scholars. Building on UMD’s internationally recognized leadership in Persian digital humanities, the initiative will provide free, global access to a constantly expanding body of classical and modern Persian texts. The project will also partner with institutions to help safeguard thousands of at-risk manuscripts and rare books from collections in India, Pakistan and beyond.
As such, the initiative will serve as a hub for training a new generation of digitally fluent Persian scholars, with access to previously inaccessible Persian manuscripts and printed books. “Thanks to this generous support, we are poised to dramatically expand access to Persian literature and create a sustainable future for Persian digital humanities,” saidStephanie Shonekan, dean of UMD’s College of Arts and Humanities. “This investment will inspire the next generation of scholars and attract the brightest minds to contribute to this important work, ensuring that this rich cultural legacy remains accessible for generations to come.”
A 2007 gift from Mir-Djalali enabled the establishment of the university’s Roshan Institute, which has emerged as a global leader in the field of Persian digital humanities. It developed the first major corpus of Persian texts prepared using internationally recognized standards for digital editing and markup. It also created critical digital tools for researchers, including open-source software and digitized collections.
Supported by nearly $3.25 million in grants from the Mellon Foundation, the U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, UMD researchers have revolutionized the use of open-source optical character recognition and handwritten text recognition technologies for Persian texts, which allow users to automatically extract digital texts from scanned images of books or manuscripts. UMD scholars have also spearheaded collaborative projects with universities, libraries and cultural institutions around the world to digitize endangered Persian manuscript collections. “We are delighted with this additional field-building gift in recognition of the institute’s achievements in Persian digital humanities and other academic domains,” said Fatemeh Keshavarz, the Roshan Institute’s chair and director. Matthew Thomas Miller, assistant professor of Persian literature and digital humanities, will lead the creation of the EOMPDL and serve as the Library’s director. He has spearheaded Persian digital humanities work at the Roshan Institute since 2015. “We are opening a new chapter in the preservation and study of Persian literature,” Miller said. “Ultimately we aim to foster deeper appreciation and understanding of Persian culture and ensure its treasures are preserved for future generations.”
11. ONLINE Webinar: ‘Iran and Afghanistan: Toward a Connected (Literary) History’
with Aria Fani
British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS), 15 October 2025, 5:00 pm UK Time
Contrary to the presumption that literary nationalism in the Global South emerged solely through contact with Europe, Reading across Borders shows how the cultural forms of Iran and Afghanistan as nation-states arose from a shared Persian heritage and sustained cross-cultural exchange. In this talk, Aria Fani charts the individuals, institutions, and conversations that made this exchange possible, exploring how Afghans and Iranians invented modern selves through new ideas about literature. Fani illustrates how voluntary and state-funded associations of readers helped formulate and spread “literature” as a recognizable concept, adapting older Persian ideas to fit new national imaginaries. Focusing on early twentieth-century periodicals circulated in Afghan and Iranian cities and their diasporas, the book reveals how nationalism intensified—rather than severed—literary contact between the two societies. This once-vibrant history of exchange was ultimately forgotten, shaping many of the cultural and political tensions between Iran and Afghanistan today.
Information and registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ssVlfjs5Q9mTwWxv6kJyQw#/registration
12. CFP: Roshangar- The Undergraduate Persian Studies Journal
We’re thrilled to share the Call for Papers for the Fall 2025 issue of Roshangar: The Undergraduate Persian Studies Journal (digital, peer-reviewed). This issue focuses on architecture and urbanity in Iran and the Persian-speaking world. We warmly welcome submissions from undergraduates anywhere in the world. The contributors do not need to be a Persian Studies major/minor or a UMD student.
What we’re looking for
- Research essays (English): 1,500–2,000 words, double-spaced, .doc/.docx, MLA citations
- Research essays (Persian): 500–800 words
- Poetry: 1–3 pages
- Creative work (e.g., translations, photo essays, creative nonfiction, etc.) is encouraged if it meaningfully engages the theme
- Abstract: up to 200 words for all submissions
- Bio: 150 words
Deadline: Monday, November 10, 2025
How to submit
Please email your submission, abstract, and brief bio to roshangar@gmail.com. Before sending, kindly review our style guide on the Roshangar website.
13. New Release: Theatre in Travel: Collected Articles
By Duman Riyazi
Asemana, 2025
ISBN: 9781997503125
To read more:
Click here.
To order your Copy
Click here.
14. CFP – RECLAIMING CRAFT: DECOLONIAL PERSPECTIVES ON HERITAGE AND INNOVATION IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD
Craft traditions from the Muslim world have often been framed through colonial and Eurocentric lenses, reducing them to exotic artifacts or static relics of a bygone era. This session seeks to disrupt these narratives by exploring and reimagining traditional crafts in present and future contexts while maintaining their profound historical and cultural significance. Can crafts be represented in contemporary art and museums without erasing their original meaning or commodifying their heritage? Can current theoretical and/or methodological frameworks dismantle colonial legacies and promote equitable engagement with these traditions?
We invite submissions of papers presenting a critical examination of the decolonizing process of craft histories within the Islamic world and their evolving paths. Case studies exploring different artistic traditions are welcome, as well as ones focusing on specific media (including ceramics, textiles, metalwork, woodwork, calligraphy). Panel contributors could address topics such as intersections between craft and contemporary art expressions, technological adaptations of crafts, the role of Islamic aesthetics, and resistance to cultural appropriation. We also encourage different methodological approaches to examine the various facets of craft preservation and innovation, such as postcolonial theory, material culture studies, Islamic art historiography and Islamic epistemologies. Submissions may be in the form of traditional research papers or more informal practice-based presentations. We would also consider combining some presentations into a roundtable discussion, allowing for a more collaborative dialogue.
Ultimately, the session seeks to reframe traditional crafts as dynamic, living practices that contribute to the formation of cultural and spiritual identities, an exploration of the ways in which decolonial perspectives can encourage sustainable and innovative approaches to craft representation and evolution in a global context.
Submit your Paper via this form. Please download, complete and send it directly to the Session Convenor(s) below by Sunday 2 November 2025:
Sami L. De Giosa, University of Sharjah, lgiosa@sharjah.ac.ae
Mariam Rosser-Owen, V&A Museum, m.rosserowen@vam.ac.uk
For further information, see:
15. CFP – Sohbat: Third Biennial Graduate Student Symposium on Islamic Art and Architecture
Sohbat: Third Biennial Graduate Student Symposium on Islamic Art and Architecture
Department of the History of Art | Yale School of Architecture
March 26-27, 2026.
Yale University
CALL FOR PAPERS
Theme
The ever-wider scale of destruction in our present moment has engendered a sense of urgency not only about the preservation and reconstitution of memories but also our roles in this world, stretched across multiple personal and professional identities. We invite papers from a range of historical, geographical, and methodological positions, to respond to this urgency by asking, how can art and architectural histories recuperate the material past, as well as sensory and cognitive experiences that register in the memory and mentalities of a community? To what extent do events of destruction and reconstruction catalyze and heighten sensibilities of the ephemeral?
Taking the imagery of the canopy, which can simultaneously symbolize the sky and suggest a roof or a dome, as a starting point, we ask how the histories of Islamic art and architecture help us recover or reimagine rituals and practices of belief, care, and creativity? How can we see beyond buildings and surfaces to consider and care for embedded systems (craft, ecology, land, etc.) while paying attention to shifts in political, environmental, and global movements?
Logistics
- The symposium will provide meals and two nights of accommodation; travel subsidies are possible depending on funding availability. We encourage students to apply for additional
funding from their institutions for expenses related to travel.
- Each student speaker will present their paper for 15 minutes. There will be time for Q&A in each panel.
Submission Guidelines
Please send your abstract (250 words), a working title, CV, and the images of two artworks related to your proposed paper to singleslidesohbat@gmail.com by 11:59 PM on October 31, 2025.
Please title your email “Submission.” Please send inquiries and submissions to
Notifications will be sent by November 24, 2025.
Symposium Organizers
Graduate Student Organizers: Anas Alkhatib, Hasan Nisar, Julia Qingye Wang, and Yupeng Wu.
16. Lecture – “The Metaverse and its Premoderns: Islam in an Expanding Reality”
Christiane Gruber, Professor of Islamic Art, University of Michigan
📅 Thursday, October 16, 2025
🕙 10:00–11:20 AM
📍 110 Warren, Room 312, Rutgers University–Newark
In this talk, Christiane Gruber explores how today’s Muslim imaginary worlds in the Metaverse draw on pre modern Islamic artworks, objects, and creative expression. She examines the “realm of similitudes” (‘alam al-mithal) from historical Islamic dream thought and considers how technology shapes immersive virtual spaces that connect the past, present, and future. Attendees will gain a fresh perspective on the intersections of faith, art, and digital innovation.
Can’t make it in person? Register for our webinar here
Contact Information
Alex Dika Seggerman, Associate Professor, Rutgers University-Newark
Contact Email
URL
https://sites.rutgers.edu/islam-humanities/event/the-metaverse-and-its-premoder…
17. 2025 Hybrid Bilingual Interdisciplinary Conference: “Druze in the Levant and the Diaspora – Discourses of Tradition and Modernity”, The University of Kansas, 16-17 October 2025.
Information and registration: https://druze.ku.edu/2025druzeconference
18. International Conference On Arabic Language And Linguistics (ICALL), 21.11.25
welcome researchers, students, scholars, and professionals from around the globe. You can meet exceptional personalities, build connections and create remarkable participation.
Information, program, and registration: https://internationalconferencealerts.com/eventdetails.php?id=3257723
19. International Conference “Water Management and Environmental Change in Central Asia and the MENA Region: Politics, Society, and Transnational Connections Since 1945”, University of Padua, Italy, 5-6 February 2026
The conference seeks to bring together scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds to examine the history, legacies, and current challenges of water management and land use. A particular focus will be given to the multifaceted relationships between the socialist bloc and the Middle East.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 October 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3ka6fmww
20. The Sewanee Medieval Colloquium: “Resistance and Refuge in the Medieval Mediterranean”, Sewa-nee, 10-11 April 2026
This sub-theme calls for papers that consider the various forms of resistance and refuge evident across the medieval Middle Sea, broadly-construed. Topics could touch upon a wide assortment of questions across an extensive timeframe across the Middle Ages (c. 500-1500).
Deadline for abstracts: 1 November 2025.
Information: https://www.sewaneemedievalcolloquium.com/refuge-in-the-medieval-mediterranean
21. Call for Papers
Conference on Manumission in the Islamicate World
University of Leicester, UK
_22 April 2026
The study of slavery, manumission and abolition has generally focused on the Western world and the trans-Atlantic slave-trade. The conference seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of slavery and manumission practices within the Islamicate world, and develop conversations and conceptual connections amongst scholars working across different epochs, dynasties, and geographies.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 October 2025. Information: https://www.dosseproject.com/outputs/
22. Tenure Track Professor in Contemporary Middle East Studies, East Asian and Arabic Research Unit, KU Leuven
Profile: PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies or Middle East/North Africa Studies. – _Demonstrated expertise in the study of the politics, society, culture or media of the contemporary Middle East and/or North Africa. – _Proficiency in Arabic at native or near native level is required. – _Strong and validated, international academic portfolio with highly regarded publications.
Deadline for applications: 26 November 2025.
Information: https://www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jobsite/jobs/60559597?lang=en
23. Two Postdoctoral Fellowships Focused on the Histories, Cultures, Societies, and Media of the Global South (Especially Arab World), Northwestern University in Qatar
We are currently accepting applications related to any of our current research themes (Genealogies and Epistemologies of the Global South; Arab Media, Culture, and Politics; Southern Digitalities; Critical Security Studies) and are particularly interested in scholars conducting comparative or transnational research on media, culture, and/or politics in or between the Arab world, Latin America, and Africa.
Deadline for applications: 1 December 2025.
Information: https://www.qatar.northwestern.edu/research/ias_nuq/cfa-pd-2026.html
24. Visiting Assistant Professor in Middle East/Islamic History (3 Years), Colby College
Although the position is for a scholar of medieval Islam, or of the medieval or early modern Middle East or Ottoman Empire, an interest in offering courses which speak to the present would be welcomed. We are particularly interested in candidates who bring to the classroom experiences, identities, ideas, and ways of engaging that resonate with the increasingly diverse student body at Colby.
Deadline for applications: 17 October 2025. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/173987
25. Position in Modern Iranian History (1700 CE to the Present), Princeton University
We seek a dynamic and innovative scholar whose research engages critically with the historical development of Iran and the Persianate World in this timeframe. While the core of the position is historical in nature, we welcome applications from candidates whose work is grounded in History or other related humanities or social science disciplines, and whose scholarship brings fresh perspectives to the study of Iranian history and culture.
Deadline for applications: 15 October 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/mnmh762
26. Membership for Historical Research on the Islamic World, Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton University
Accepted Members receive access to the extensive resources of the Institute, including offices, access to libraries, subsidized restaurant and housing facilities, and some administrative services. A number of memberships are provided by funds dedicated to supporting scholars who meet specific criteria.
Information: https://www.ias.edu/hs/membership
27. Mediterranean Seminar Prize for the Best Authored Monograph in Mediterranean Studies, 2026
Eligible publications are dated 2023 – _2025. Although we focus on the pre- and Early Modern, books ranging from any period will be considered. Books from any of the relevant Humanities and Social Sciences disciplines are welcome, including but not limited to all fields of history, art and material culture, literary and cultural studies, anthropology, and sociology.
The submission deadline is 31 December 2025.
Information: https://mediterraneanseminar.squarespace.com/book-prize-2026-call
28. Call for Papers – ZDMG (Section: Islamic Studies) – 2025
The ZDMG calls for the submission of new and innovative articles in Islamic Studies of various thematic foci to be published in the issues 176.2 (2026) und 177.1 (2027). We particularly welcome articles with a historical orientation grounded in philological analysis. Contributions should focus on pre-modern Muslim societies (up to approximately 1800 CE) and address topics such as history, religion, culture, law, literature, or social structures.
Deadline for submission: 15 October 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/bdhmd2td
- October 04, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – ‘Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Khayyāṭ’s Kitāb al-intiṣār’ – M Asatryan
- October 01, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Call for Papers – English Issue of the Biannual Journal of Metaphysical Investigations
We are pleased to announce that the Biannual Journal of Metaphysical Investigations, a peer-reviewed scientific journal (Grade B, Philosophy Department, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran and indexed in some databases including google scholar, Academia, ISC (Islamic Science Citation), Noormags, Sid, Philosophers’ Index, etc.), after publishing eleven issues in Persian, has now received authorization from Iran’s ministry of Science, Research and Technology to publish one issue per year in English. Accordingly, we cordially invite esteemed scholars to submit their valuable, scholarly articles in all areas of philosophy in English for consideration in this special English-language issue. For further information and submission guidelines, please contact the Editor-in-Chief via email at qorbani48@gmail.com.
The website of the journal is:
https://mi.khu.ac.ir/index.php?slc_lang=en&sid=1
Qodratollah Qorbani
Editor-in-Chief
2. Call for Papers – “Figures of Authority. Argumentative Strategies, Exemplary Motifs, and Narrative Patterns in the Political Advice Literature of the Premodern Islamic World”, University of Tübingen, 15–16 June 2026
The workshop will investigate the rhetorical, narrative, and exemplary
devices through which political advice literature in Arabic, Persian,
and Turkish articulated authority across the premodern Islamic world.
From the circle of justice to the metaphor of the lion-king, from
Aristotle’s words of advice to Alexander to the anecdotes on
Anūshirwān’s court, from the motif of light to signify the ruler’s
authority as guarantor of rights and duties by dispelling obscurity to
the Qurʾānic notion of God as mālik al-mulk (Q. 3:26), from the
sisterhood of religion and kingship to the body-and-organs metaphor
that explains the hierarchical structure of the polity—the repertoire
of political advice literature abounds with recurring allegories,
exemplary figures and narratives that both reflect and shape political
discourse across centuries. Rather than treating these elements as
accessory or stereotypical devices, the aim is to examine how they
operate as integral parts of political reasoning and as powerful
vehicles for specific messages, adapted to different contexts and
audiences.
We welcome proposals from scholars at all career stages.
We invite proposals for papers that address, among others, the following themes:
- The use of literary tropes, historical reports, and popular wisdom as argumentative
tools within individual works or in a comparative approach
- The integration of narrative patterns into broader theoretical or normative frameworks
- The transformation of the political meaning of a metaphor across time and contexts
- The existence and function of alternative versions of the same narrative
- The reuse of the exemplary motifs in different works and the shifts in meaning they
undergo
- The variety of narrative strategies employed to advance similar arguments in different
sources
- The argumentative techniques employed by a specific author
- The interplay between historical anecdote and literary construction in legitimising
political authority
- The role of religious tradition in grounding and reinforcing political legitimacy
Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words, including a select bibliography
and a short CV, by 15 December 2025 to marianna.zarantonello@unituebingen .
de.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by 15 January 2026.
Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered according to budget availability; further details will be provided upon acceptance.
3. International Conference on: Arabic Literature and World: Towards a Universal Dialogue between Self and Other
| The Moroccan Comparative Literature Association (MCLA)
Organizes, in collaboration with The Faculty of Letters & Human Sciences, Ibn-Zohr University, An International Conference On Arabic Literature and World: Towards a Universal Dialogue between Self and Other In Partnership with ICLA Research Committee on Arabic Comparative Literature; AWEJ for Translation and Literary Studies (AWEJTLS); And The Comparative Literature & Society Research Group (CL@S) of the Comparative Humanities and Applied Language Studies Lab (CHALS) Space of Humanities, Faculty of Letters & Human Sciences, Ibn-Zohr University – Agadir, Morocco 16–18 April, 2026 Selected papers of the conference will be published in AWEJ for Translation and Literary Studies (https://www.awej-tls.org/ ). The paper should be in the English language. We kindly ask the authors to register and submit their paper according to the submission guidelines https://www.awej-tls.org/paper-submission/. Please send the final paper in a Word file as an attachment to tls@awej.org by January 30, 2026. Each paper should include: full name, full affiliation, Email address, ORCID ID, and an abstract (150-250 words). For the full call for papers, please click here Download the full call for papers Kind regards, |
4. The Department of History at Georgetown University invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor in the history of the Persianate World from the Muslim conquest to the present, to begin in August 2026.
https://apply.interfolio.com/174364
Deadline: 30 October, 2025
5. January 6 – 15, 2026 | Cambridge, UK
Learn to Read and Analyse Early Christian Arabic Texts
From the early Middle Ages, Christian Arabs have made profound contributions to biblical scholarship, theology, poetry, and history. This winter school invites you to begin reading these remarkable texts for yourself — many of which remain unpublished and underexplored.
Designed for those with at least one year of Arabic study (Classical or Modern Standard), this course offers a gateway into a world of forgotten manuscripts and fresh scholarly discovery.
https://www.westminster.cam.ac.uk/biblical-languages/christian-arabic-2026
6. The International Journal of Islamic Architectureis pleased to announce the call for submissions for the 2026 Professor Hasan-Uddin Khan Article Award.
In honour of Professor Hasan-Uddin Khan’s contributions to the field of Islamic architecture, the International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA) offers this award in recognition of ground-breaking scholarship on the subject published in peer-reviewed journals. The criteria on which papers will be judged are: innovation in approach(es) to posed research question(s), originality, written clarity and style, and the overall impact on research in the field. Articles should provide new insights into the field, making a distinct or significant scholarly contribution to the understanding of architecture, architectural heritage, and the built environment in the Islamic world (both historic and contemporary), especially in marginalized geographies. This award, offered every two years, is judged by a jury that includes three members of the academic community. The third award will be given in 2026 and we are delighted that Professors Doris Behrens-Abouseif, Finbarr Barry Flood, and Attilio Petruccioli will serve on the jury. Papers published in English in a peer reviewed journal in 2024 or 2025 will be eligible for this round of the award.
Nominations should be submitted by scholars or journal editors to the chair of the award, IJIA Associate Editor Dr Mehreen Chida-Razvi, at HUKaward@gmail.com by 16 November 2025. Self-nominations are permitted, of a single article. The nominations should include a PDF of the published paper, full details of publication, and the author’s affiliation and contact information. The winner and runner-up will be announced in March 2026 on the IJIA website, social media platforms, and in the journal’s July issue. The winner will receive a cash prize of $1000 and a two-year subscription to IJIA; the runner-up will receive a two-year subscription to IJIA.
7. 2026 BRISMES Conference
The 2026 BRISMES Annual Conference will be hosted by the Middle East Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, between 23-25 June 2026. The conference theme and call for papers will be announced soon. Please stay tuned!
8. From Subordination to Revolution: A Gramscian Theory of Popular Mobilization
John Chalcraft
At a time of mass discontent, revolutionary weakness, and right-wing ascendancy, John Chalcraft presents a new theory of popular mobilization. From Subordination to Revolution is based on an innovative reading of the living Gramscian tradition, and it offers an alternative to conservative, liberal, Marxist, and poststructuralist theory. Drawing on examples from across the globe, Chalcraft defines popular mobilization as the many ways in which subordinated groups rearrange their relationships to challenge and overcome domination.
Book Launch: LSE, 15.10.25, 5.30 UK time
https://www.lse.ac.uk/government/events/2025/Thinking-Popular-Mobilization-with-Gramsci
9. Fellowship in the History of Visual Culture in the Ottoman Empire
University of Oxford
The Khalili Research Centre for the History of the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East and Wolfson College, University of Oxford, invite applications for a Fellowship in the History of Visual Culture in the Ottoman Empire. This will offer a scholar an exceptional opportunity to carry out research on a major, largely unpublished assemblage of artworks: the Celsing Collection. Both early career and senior researchers are invited to apply.
Deadline | 3 October 2025
10. Lecturer (Teaching) in Middle East Politics
School of Oriental and African Studies
The role holder will be expected to contribute to the Department’s undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. They will convene and teach both general and specialist in-person modules, convene online and distance learning modules, advise both undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations, provide pastoral care for students, and contribute to administrative roles as needed.
Deadline | 12 October 2025
11. 5 Positions as Research Associate and Visiting Faculty in the “Women’s Studies in the Religion Program”
Harvard Divinity School
Proposals for book-length research projects using both religion and gender as central categories of analysis are welcomed. They may address women and religion in any time, place, or religious tradition, and may utilize disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches from across the fields of theology, the humanities, and the social sciences. Positions are open to candidates with doctorates in the fields of religion and to those with primary competence in other humanities, social science, and public policy fields.
Deadline | 15 October 2025
12. New Graduate Programme in Middle East Public History
North Carolina State University is proud to announce the launch of a new Graduate program (MA & PhD) in Middle East Public History, beginning in Fall 2026. This innovative program is the first of this kind in the world, designed to prepare scholars who combine rigorous historical research with public engagement and digital humanities practices. The program brings together outstanding Middle East history scholars, whose expertise spans the late Ottoman Empire, colonial and post-colonial transformations, migration and diaspora, gender and labor, and the modern Middle East. Faculty are committed to mentoring students in both traditional scholarship and new approaches to public history. Anchoring the program is the Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies, the world’s leading institute dedicated to the study of Middle East diasporas. Students will have unique opportunities to work with one of the largest digital archives of Arab migration and heritage, gaining hands-on experience in archive, digital humanities, oral history, public exhibits, and collaborative research.
Deadline | 31 January 2026
13. Two Islamic medicine talks coming up:
In Ibn Al-Nafis’ Shadow
Transformations in Medical Theory in Islamic Societies (1200-1520)
Nahyan Fancy
Webinar: 7 October 2025 – 5 pm (CEST)
Nahyan Fancy shows how Ibn al-Nafīs advanced medical theory beyond the works of Galen, Aristotle and even earlier Islamic physicians through his commentaries on Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine and its abridgements. Examining four commentaries on the Canon plus four on its Epitome, this lecture argues that post-classical practices of taḥqīq (verification) – lexical, philosophical, empirical – played a key role in assessing, revising or rejecting inherited theoretical frameworks.
The Arabic and Latin Science of Compound Medicaments
A New Reading of Book Ten of the «Practica Pantegni»
Anna Gili
Webinar: 11 November 2025 – 5 pm (CEST)
This lecture explores the Arabic and Latin traditions of compound medicaments through al-Maǧūsī’s Kitāb al-Malakī and its Latin translation in Constantine the African’s Practica Pantegni. It highlights how al-Maǧūsī framed antidotes as essential tools in the contest between disease and nature, and how Constantine reshaped this material into a more philosophically charged discussion enriched with earlier Latin learning. At its centre lies Book X of the Practica Pantegni, read as a distinctive synthesis at the crossroads of Arabic and Latin medicine.
- September 30, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Open Access: ‘Maktab-i Tafkīk’s Religious Epistemology in Comparison with Reformed Epistemology’ – A M Emami
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/jj.27775799.13?seq=1
in Analytic Islamic Epistemology: Critical Debates, Edited by Safaruk Chowdhury, Ramon Harvey, Edinburgh, 2025, pp. 173-194 (22 pages)
- September 29, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Invisible East
Invisible East’s Digital Corpus 2.0 & 6th launch of documents
The 2.0 version of the Invisible East Digital Corpus (IEDC) which will be officially launched on 13 October! The digitisation team, with Ed, Mateen and Mike Allaway, have improved our user and search experience; added the ability to download the texts in Word and JSON (XML to be added soon); and, vitally, have produced a Persian language version of the website. Your feedback on this new and improved IEDC before the launch would be very welcome: please let us know what does and doesn’t work for you. The launch will be accompanied by a sixth release of documents, bringing us up to nearly 1,300 texts in the digital corpus
One of the central aims of our project has been to enable digital repatriation – ensuring that manuscripts and documents held in collections around the world can be studied and engaged with in the regions from which they came. With this new Persian language functionality we hope to open up new avenues for engagement and collaboration and to encourage more people to explore and work with these remarkable documents.
2. CfP: Research Seminar on Reproductive Ethics and Kindship (Doha, Jan 2027)
3. Bloomsbury: Lisa Nielson, author of Music and Musicians in the Medieval Islamicate World: A Social History, talks to Morteza Hajizadeh in this podcast from New Books Network.
4. IHF ACADEMIC COMMITTEE ANNOUNCEMENT
The second cycle of the Iran Heritage Foundation’s 2025 grant programme, with the deadline of 31 October 2025, is now open for receipt of application. With the overall aim of fostering knowledge and appreciation of Iran’s rich cultural heritage research grants in various academic disciplines are awarded.
Preference will be given to applications on (in alphabetical order) archaeology, architecture, art, history, linguistics and literature, as well as subjects of contemporary interest, such as cinema, music, sociology and so on; applications from other disciplines will also be considered.
Projects to be supported may include the most varied academic initiatives, from fieldwork to workshops, conferences, building databases and digitising images. The Committee privileges ground-breaking research, which may include editions and translations of key texts. In order to support multiple initiatives grants of up to a maximum of £3,000 will be considered. The application process and conditions for the grants can be viewed on our website.
To apply please click here
For Terms and Conditions please click here
5. Online Monday Majlises organised by the Centre for the Study of Islam, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter
- 6thof October (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).
John Esposito, Among the Believers: A Journey in Islam, the Muslim World and Global Politics
https://universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/uMZuYLICSDqMH2gQW3IwCA
13th of October (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).
Said Reza Huseini, The Arab Conquests in Bactria: Local Politics and Arab Domination (651–750 CE)
https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/4qcbR_CRQ2miDRV35B6zPw
20th of October (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).
Gabriel Said Reynolds, A Faithful Dog and a Clay Bird: The Qur’an in Its Christian World
https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/3uYLlGdRRcGlh0sgg2JnOw
27th of October (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).
Badr Tachouche, The Chanting Faqihs: Retuning Islamic Discourse through Muwashshahs and Zajals
https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/eApkGIWNRlm18Ff1SlXKEg
3rd of November (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).
Michael Shenkar, Sogdian Civilisation and the Arab Conquest.
https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/I4D-2AlYTDSPJ6hkQpmuLw
10th of November (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).
Godefroid de Callataÿ and Laura Tribuzio, A Ruby Which Is Not a Ruby: Symbol, Substance, and Political Imagination in Timurid and Mughal Thought.
https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/m2hq7EbfSBSoC1dFFG3X8g
17th of November (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).
Edith Szanto, Mourning and Performing: Twelver Shi‘ism in Ba‘ath Syria
https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/U4Yl0PCMRYS7s9x-wO4f2A
24th of November (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).
Safa Mahmoudian, Palace Gardens in Lower Mesopotamia: 8th–11th Centuries
https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/nvNXpR70Q_i_ZQ1-12kDdw
1st of December (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).
Pranav Prakash, Exploring the Raison d’Être of the Oldest Dated and Illustrated Manuscript of a Persian Translation of Śiva Purāṇa
https://universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/s6Vjx5M6RZ-cYqGJGOdkZw
8th of December (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).
Alireza Doostdar, Facing Satan: The Iranian Revolution and Its Demons
https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/n-wjuscLTkazo1TgWSQgsQ
In the spirit of the label ‘Majlis’ and also to make the talks even more interesting, our speakers present the topic discussed as embedded in their own journey. You can watch the previous Majlises, since October 2022, here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8YRkUahFj_81oJzCSDLTx4kVQQgeHLc-, but we don’t record the Q&A in order to keep the discussion free. Please come and enjoy the talks and the discussions : )
If you’d like to be included in the CSI (Centre for the Study of Islam, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter) mailing list, please write to I.T.Kristo-Nagy@ex.ac.uk
6. NEW PUBLICATION, available for pre-order now
Elegies of the Earth: Selected Poems by Ahmad Shamlou
Edited and Translated from Persian by Niloufar Talebi
(World Poetry Books, Fall 2025)
7. Exhibition – Mamluks: Legacy of an Empire
he second venue of the Mamluks exhibition presented at the Louvre Abu Dhabi: Mamluks. Legacy of an Empire.
This is a slightly reviewed version of the first venue presented at the Musée du Louvre from 30 April to 28 July 2025.
This second venue is accompanied with a shortened catalogue, edited by Carine Juvin, gathering five introductory essays by Doris Behrens-Abouseif, Carine Juvin, Souraya Noujaim, Nasser Rabbat and Élodie Vigouroux, as well as short entries by numerous specialists (available in English, Arabic and French).
Contact Information
Dr Carine Juvin
Curator of Medieval Near East Collections
Louvre Museum – Paris
Contact Email
8. CALL FOR PROPOSALS: ACLA Seminar “Rethinking Literature’s Persons”
Deadline: Proposals must be submitted by October 2nd, via the ACLA website
The ACLA conference is Feb 26 to March 1 in Montreal.
Co-organizers: Julie Orlemanski (julieorlemanski@uchicago.edu) or Samuel Fallon (fallon@geneseo.edu)
Character, person, speaker, voice: these English-language terms are at once ubiquitous elements of literary criticism and disputed ones. On the one hand, they have never seemed formal enough: caring about character has long been the sign of the sentimental reader; poetic speakers threaten to usurp, or to dissolve back into, the linguistic codes that summon them. On the other hand, such terms have never felt sufficiently historical: when we call Gilgamesh, Layla and Majnun, Hamlet, Anna Karenina, and Superman “characters,” are we really talking about the same thing at all? How responsive, or not, are literature’s anthropomorphic affordances to differing regimes of social identity? This seminar invites presentations on the formal, historical, or generic dimensions of literary persons or person-effects (including characters, narrators, lyric speakers, personifications, types, and other figures). We seek participants who will bring particular texts (or authors, or traditions) to bear on a shared comparative conversation. How might we teach one another to rethink literature’s persons?
A surge of recent scholarship suggests that these questions have gained fresh urgency. In an age of autofiction, the relation of literature to person may itself be changing: “I’m not interested in character,” Rachel Cusk said in 2018, “because I don’t think character exists anymore.” This seminar asks whether it ever did. Recent reevaluations spring as well from the still-unfolding aftermaths of New Criticism and poststructuralism. As those formalisms have aged, the interpretive habits they once instilled have grown strange. In their wake, some have celebrated the cognitive and affective realities of literary characters; others remain fascinated with the disfiguration, reification, and figural drift that a literary person can occasion. Comparative approaches, with their provincialization of received critical idioms, have further catalyzed scholarly interest. Scholars are renovating our common theoretical edifice in light of the heterogeneity of literature’s populace across time and space.
We invite proposals that link case study to concept, or otherwise suggest how a specific interpretation may yield methodological, theoretical, or historiographic transformation (“rethinking”). Organized by a medievalist and an early modernist, the seminar aspires to dialogue across subfields and language traditions and across the modern/nonmodern divide. We welcome papers on poetry and narrative alike, on topics including—how grammatical forms or literary tropes imply models of the person; literature’s relation to historically shifting socio-political regimes of personhood; what voice has to do with literary persons; the porous boundaries of the person, via the poetics of impersonality; extension of mind, feeling, and will beyond the individual or the human; and the responses, including but beyond identification, that literary persons elicit from readers.
Submit proposals via the ACLA submission site no later than October 2nd. Feel free to contact Julie Orlemanski at julieorlemanski@uchicago.edu with queries.
9. News from UCLA’s Center for Near Eastern Studies
New Data Dashboard offers insights about Iranians living outside Iran
The Center has published a public online dashboard that pulls together data on Iranians living outside of Iran. The online tool provides demographic and socioeconomic profiles of Iranian diaspora communities worldwide and is now available through the CNES website.
The dashboard is the product of several years of research conducted by Kevan Harris, associate professor of sociology at UCLA and a president of the CNES Faculty Advisory Committee, and his graduate students. Read more here.
Sohaib Baig writes about manuscripts endowed by Muslim women at UCLA Library Special Collections
UCLA Library stewards the second-largest Islamicate and Arabic-script manuscript collection in North America. Through its ongoing Islamicate Manuscript Initiative, the Library and its partners are working to individually describe and conserve thousands of manuscripts within its collection to make them accessible to scholars and the broader public. This article, co-authored by Sohaib Baig, a MENA librarian and CNES Faculty Advisory Committee Member, highlights the practice of Muslim women endowing individual manuscripts, and introduces examples of these manuscripts held in UCLA Library Special Collections. Read more here.
Surveying the Nile: Scholarly Misaha Manuals in Late Ottoman Egypt
A lecture by Samaa Elimam (UCLA)
Thursday, October 23, 2025
3:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Bunche Hall 10383
Manuscripts in Arabic Script at UCLA: Where Did They Come From?
A workshop featuring Nir Shafir (UCSD), Garret Davidson (College of Charleston), Kathryn Babayan (University of Michigan), Khalil Afzali (UCLA) and Taha Tuna Kaya (UC Davis)
Faculty organizer and moderator: Luke Yarbrough (UCLA)
Organized by UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies. Co-sponsored by UCLA Center for Early Global Studies, UCLA Dean of Humanities, UCLA Islamic Studies, and UCLA Library
Monday, November 17, 2025
9:30 AM
Charles Young Research Library Conference Room
The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life
Film screening followed by a panel with Persis Karim (San Francisco State University) and Kevan Harris (UCLA), and a reception.
Organized by the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Co-sponsored by UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies.
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM PST
Fowler Museum at UCLA
Female Religiosity in Central Asia: Sufi Leaders in the Persianate World
A book talk by Aziza Shanazarova (Columbia University)
Organized by UCLA Program on Central Asia. Co-sponsored by UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies.
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM PST
Bunche Hall 10383
Strange Synchronicities and Familiar Parallels in Asia, 1600–1800
Conference 1: Empires of Thought (Ottoman, Mughal, and Qing Empires)
Organized by Choon Hwee Koh (UCLA), Meng Zhang (UCLA), and Abhishek Kaicker (UC Berkeley). Co-sponsored by UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies.
Friday, December 5, 2025
11:00 AM – 4:00 PM PST
Location TBD
Call for Papers: Fifth International Conference on
Heritage / Community Languages
UCLA National Heritage Language Resource Center is inviting applications for its Fifth International Conference on Heritage / Community Languages. The two-day conference will focus on heritage and community language studies as a multidisciplinary field impacting a variety of educational contexts. Submissions from disciplines including but not limited to anthropology, demographics, linguistics, sociology, applied linguistics, policy, psychology, bilingualism, education, and assessment, are welcome.
Submission deadline: September 30, 2025
10. Analytic Islamic Epistemology: Critical Debates
Edited by Safaruk Chowdhury, Ramon Harvey
EUP, 2025
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-analytic-islamic-epistemology.html
11. DeGruyterBrill
The recording of our webinar “AI and Research Integrity” is now available
12. 3rd Annual Islamic Art History Research Workshop, 5th–6th December 2025
Building on the success of the first two hybrid Islamic Art History Research Workshops, held both in-person at the University of York and online over the last two years, the third workshop, run jointly with the Persian Manuscripts Association, will take place on the 5th and 6th of December this year.
In honour of Sheila Canby, and in line with the aims of the Persian Manuscripts Association, the overarching theme will focus primarily on the material culture of the wider Iranian world in the late medieval and early modern period. However, there are no geographical, chronological or methodological restrictions for the proposals.
The event will include a keynote lecture on the 6th December (speaker TBC), and this announcement also serves as a call for paper proposals from scholars at all career stages. We welcome proposals from those who wish to attend in person in York, as well as those who prefer to present online.
The aim of combining in-person and online participation is to make the event accessible to the largest possible number of scholars and members of the public, regardless of location, and to encourage a diverse range of voices, topics, and approaches. We invite proposals for 20-minute presentations based on your current research on any aspect of Islamic art history.
The deadline for submissions is the 10th October 2025. Please indicate in your proposal whether you prefer to present online or in person. Kindly note that those attending in person on the 6th of December will be responsible for arranging their own travel and accommodation.
Please send your 150-200 word proposals to:
13. Online Talk – The Silent Margins in Ibn al-Bawwab’s Qur’an, 22.10.25
Dr Alya Karame, Cochrane Research Fellow 2025
A Qur’an manuscript copied at the turn of the eleventh century by the renowned Baghdadi calligrapher Ibn al-Bawwab has become one of the most celebrated Qur’ans in the world. With its elegant script and exceptional illumination, Ibn al-Bawwab’s Qur’an, as it is now known, has featured prominently in lectures on Islamic art and was even reproduced as a postcard by the Chester Beatty, where it is housed today. As the earliest dated Qur’an written in the newly adopted round script and on paper – a material that marked a shift away from the earlier use of parchment – its historical and aesthetic significance is undeniable. Yet, what does its elevation as a masterpiece obscure? What assumptions underlie its fame, and what conventions are reinforced in the process? By examining both the manuscript itself and its modern reception, this presentation explores what was gained, and equally, what was lost, on the road to its iconic status: from the construction of authenticity and artistic singularity to the overlooked networks of interconnectivity that shaped book culture in the medieval Islamic world.
💻 Online talk: Please register for online viewing via Zoom HERE.
https://chesterbeatty.ie/whats-on/the-silent-margins-in-ibn-al-bawwabs-quran/
14. Assistant, Associate or Full Professor in Anthropology (Focus MENA), American University in Cairo
Requirements: A PhD in Cultural Anthropology or Social-Anthropology and a demonstrable record of teaching that illustrates an ability to teach courses in the BA in Anthropology and the MA in Sociology and Anthropology programs at AUC, including those with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa, as well as courses in their area of sub-disciplinary expertise. A second regional expertise will be considered advantageous.
Deadline for applications: 15 October 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yk63pj3z
15. Two Postdoctoral Associates (2 Years) in Middle Eastern History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
We seek outstanding junior scholars whose research engages Arab and/or Jewish History in the Middle East and North Africa, in any time period. We have particular interest in scholars working on Palestinian and/or Israeli history or the history of Jewish-Muslim relations. Applicants must have received a Ph.D. in History (or a related field) within the past five years.
Deadline for applications: 22 October 2025. Information: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30660
16. Scholar/Visitor in Middle East History, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
Applications are welcome from scholars with expertise in Middle East history, preferably with a specialization in the period 600-1800 CE. Those with exceptional teaching and a strong research agenda are encouraged to apply. Salary commensurate with experience and rank.
Deadline for applications: 30 September 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yc5w44ns
17. Professor of Comparative Literature (Focus Persian Literature and Culture), Stanford University
Applicants must have demonstrated a commitment to effective teaching and mentoring and the ability to maintain a world-class research program. The successful candidate must have a Ph.D. in a related field. We seek a candidate with a deep understanding of the Persian literary tradition and its relevance within interdisciplinary and comparative frameworks.
Deadline for applications: 25 October 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/mrxxj7rp
18. Grants of the Iran Heritage Foundation UK
Preference will be given to applications on archaeology, architecture, art, history, linguistics and literature, as well as subjects of contemporary interest, such as cinema, music, sociology and so on; applications from other disciplines will also be considered. Projects to be supported may include the most varied academic initiatives, from fieldwork to workshops, conferences, building databases and digitising images.
Deadline for applications: 22 October 2025. Information: https://ihf.org.uk/grants-tsandcs2025/
19. 33rd Islamic Republic of Iran`s World Book Award in Islamic Studies and Iranian Studies in the Categories of Authorship, Translation, and Critical Edition
Books to be considered can be in any language, while need to be on either Islamic Studies or Iranian Studies. They also have to be published (in their first edition) outside of Iran in 2024. Scholars, writers, translators, and publishers are invited to nominate book(s) for consideration.
Deadline for submissions: 22 October 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/462anzth
- September 27, 2025
- 0 Comment
- September 26, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Invisible East
The Islamicate East series
Three books in The Islamicate East series are now listed on the EUP website and will be arriving in bookstores soon:
- The Warehouse of Bamiyan. Economic Life in Medieval Afghanistan by Arezou Azad, with a contribution by Pejman Firoozbakhsh (former Invisible East Postdoc);
- Persian World Histories in the Mongol Era. The Transmission and Reception of Rashid al-Din’s Jami al-Tawarikh, edited by Tomoko Masuya, Osamu Otsuka and Masatomo Kawamoto; and
- The Rise and Fall of the Barmakids: Stories from a Forgotten Persian Manuscripts, edited and translated by Pejman Firoozbakhsh and Arezou Azad.
2. Introducing The Intensive Online Course on The Life of the Prophet Muhammad (s)
December 08 – 13, 2025
A unique opportunity to journey through the profound stages of the Prophet’s life, guided by distinguished scholars of Islamic studies.
Over six interactive sessions, we will explore how the Prophet (s) lived, struggled, and transformed the world around him, with each lecture focusing on a pivotal dimension of his mission:
📖 Course Topics:
– What Qualities in the Prophet’s Early Life Prepared Him for Prophethood?
– How Did the Prophet Receive Revelation and Face the First Waves of Opposition?
– How Did the Prophet Maintain His Mission Under Hardship and Loss?
– How Was the Migration (Hijrah) a Turning Point in Islamic Civilization?
– Battles and Strategy – What Was the Prophet’s Approach to Faith, Diplomacy, and Defense?
– What Is the Lasting Legacy of the Prophet’s Final Years?
✨ Format: 6 live online sessions with Q&A
📅 Dates: December 08 – 13, 2025
📍 Platform: Online (via Zoom)
🎓 Organized by: Sadra International Institute
This is a chance to gain deep insights into the Sirah with the guidance of some of today’s leading Muslim scholars.
🔗 Register now: https://sadrai.com/prophet-muhammad
3. ‘The Military in Safavid Iran, 1501-1736’,
R Mathhee,
In THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF WAR, VOLUME III:
War and the Early Modern World
Edited by D Parrott and G Agoston, 283- 308.
4. Open Access – Music Making in Iran from the 15th to the Early 20th Century
A H Pourjavady,
EUP, 2025
5. Zoom: ASPS Virtual Event Series XV
Actors/Performers, Audience, and Narrative Strategies in Naqqāli:
New Approaches
The Japan Office of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies and the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, are pleased to co-host ASPS Virtual Event Series XV: “Actors/Performers, Audience, and Narrative Strategies in Naqqāli: New Approaches,” an online workshop on naqqāli that gathers together three papers by young naqqāli scholars across the globe. This workshop explores the vast, almost uncharted terrain of naqqāli, Persian professional storytelling in terms of performance, audience, and narrative. It also offers a Shāhnāma-khvāni performance by Mohammadali Mirzaee Jadideslam who is a naqqāl.
Pre-registration is required for the participation.
Date and Time: Thursday, November 27, 2025 at 15:00 (JST)
Venue: Online via Zoom
Language: English
Pre-registration: Please complete the registration form at < https://forms.gle/YFENy7uJwiqWMix67> by November 24, 24:00 (JST). A Zoom link will be sent to all registrants by the end of the following day.
Co-organized by: Japan Office, Association for the Study of Persianate Societies (ASPS Virtual Event Series XV); Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo (Tobunken Symposium).
Contact: Naoki Nishiyama (nishiyama@ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp)
Program
Chair: Kazuo Morimoto (ASPS Japan Office; IASA, UTokyo)
15:00-15:15: Kazuo Morimoto
Opening Remarks
15:15-15:45: Mohammdali Mirzaee Jadideslam (PhD candidate, University of Hamburg):
“Naqqāli, Narrating or Acting?”
15:45-16:15: Sara Mashayekh (PhD candidate, UC Santa Barbara)
“Audience, Performer, Venue: The Role of Spectators and the Space in Shaping Naqqāli Performances”
16:15-16:30: Shāhnāma-khvāni by Mohammad Mirzaee Jadideslam (naqqāl)
Break
16:30-17:00: Radman Rasooli Mehrabani (Independent scholar)
“Negotiating Myth and Reality: Naqqāls’ Strategies for Constructing Narrative Credibility”
17:00-17:20: Kumiko Yamamoto (ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)
17:20-17:45: Discussion
Abstracts:
Mohammdali Mirzaee Jadideslam, “Naqqāli, Narrating or Acting?”
Bahram Beyzaei identifies the naqqāl as an actor who embodies every character of a story alone. In line with Eric Bentley’s definition of theatre—“A impersonates B while C looks on”—naqqāli itself can be considered theatre, and the naqqāl’s performance, a form of acting. Still, a fundamental question emerges: can the naqqāl’s actions be aligned with principles established by major theatre figures such as Stanislavski, Michael Chekhov, or Grotowski? And if alignment exists, does this justify calling the practice “acting”?
To answer, a precise analysis is necessary. First, naqqāli must be examined in its earlier form, when it was closer to the act of narrating. Second, recent elements—innovations within the tradition—must be identified in order to trace their sources, evaluate their impact, and measure their integration. Only then can one assess whether this transformed version of naqqāli has merged with theatrical models, or instead taken an alternative path requiring a new classification.
In 20th-century Iran, Western theatre significantly influenced naqqāli. These influences shaped performance length, rhythm, suspense, vocal expression, and character building. Singing, costume design, and modern literature also contributed to its development. This study therefore positions naqqāli between narrating and acting, aiming to define the skills essential for the naqqāli.
Sara Mashayekh, “Audience, Performer, Venue: The Role of Spectators and the Space in Shaping Naqqāli Performances”
The relationship between the performer and the audience of a performance has long been the subject of scholarly discussions. However, the nature of the group we call “the audience” changes dramatically depending on time, place and the style of performance; naqqāli is no exception. This paper explores the nature of the relationship between the spectators of a naqqāli performance and the naqqāl who is telling the tale, as well as the influential role that the venue plays in shaping this relationship. By looking at the text of tumārs that have been left to us, as well as firsthand observations from those who have witnessed live naqqāli performances, this paper is attempting to make a series of inquiries into the power dynamic between the performers and their spectators, the level of audience’s involvement in altering the story being narrated, as well as the effect of the coffeehouse in shaping the performance.
Radman Rasooli Mehrabani “Negotiating Myth and Reality: Naqqāls’ Strategies for Constructing Narrative Credibility”
Naqqāli, a vibrant and influential performance tradition during the Safavid period, gradually declined from the late Qajar era, and its stories came under increasing criticism in the modern period, especially during the Pahlavi era. In response to these critiques, storytellers (naqqāls) sought to defend their art and enhance its credibility. To counter this, naqqāls sometimes reduced the hyperbolic elements of the stories to render the narratives more “realistic” and believable. Their responses were sometimes expressed explicitly—through interpreting and explaining the stories and by emphasizing that Ferdowsi’s poetry embodied wisdom, reason, and intellect—and at other times implicitly, through modifications within the narratives themselves. Another strategy was the modernization of the stories. Modernization not only made the tales more engaging for contemporary audiences but also functioned as a means of granting credibility. For instance, one storyteller narrated the revolt of Kāveh against Ẓaḥḥāk in a manner resembling modern political revolutions, while another claimed that the American story of Tarzan had been stolen from the tale of Goudarz’s son, yielding millions of dollars in profit abroad. A further strategy was the historicization of the Shahnameh: naqqāls sometimes turned to historical works to compare competing versions and occasionally to critique Ferdowsi’s account. One of them even claimed to be narrating the “real” history. Finally, embedding moral lessons and ethical reflections into the narratives was another strategy, widely regarded as one of the enduring values of the naqqāli tradition.
6. Indiana University’s Summer 2026 Language Workshop is now accepting applications for its intensive online Pashto program!
Online Courses
- Learn 1 year of language in 2 months
- Enjoy 18 hours of live instruction per week, plus cultural activities
- Combine the effectiveness of intensive study with the convenience of an online class
- Speed your learning by studying alongside enthusiastic and talented language learners
Funding Opportunities
- Explore your funding options here: http://go.iu.edu/language-workshop-funding
Priority Application Deadline
- December 5, 2025
Learn more and apply here: go.iu.edu/pashto-workshop
Questions? Email the Language Workshop at languageworkshop@iu.edu or join virtual office hours.
Contact Information
Kathleen Evans, Director, Indiana University Language Workshop
Contact Email
URL
http://go.iu.edu/pashto-workshop
7. Indiana University’s Summer 2026 Language Workshop is now accepting applications for its intensive online Persian program!
Online Courses
- Learn 1 year of language in 2 months
- Multiple levels of instruction
- Enjoy 18 hours of live instruction per week, plus cultural activities
- Combine the effectiveness of intensive study with the convenience of an online class
- Accelerate your learning with daily 1-on-1 skills training
- Speed up your learning by studying alongside enthusiastic and talented language learners
Funding Opportunities
- Explore your funding options here: http://go.iu.edu/language-workshop-funding
Priority Application Deadline
- December 5, 2025
Learn more and apply here: go.iu.edu/persian-workshop
Questions? Email the Language Workshop at languageworkshop@iu.edu or join virtual office hours.
Contact Information
Kathleen Evans, Director, Indiana University Language Workshop
Contact Email
URL
http://go.iu.edu/persian-workshop
8. Indiana University’s Summer 2026 Language Workshop is now accepting applications for its intensive, accelerated Arabic programs!
Online Courses
- Learn 1 year of Arabic in 2 months
- 5 levels of study
- Enjoy 18 hours of live instruction per week, plus cultural activities
- Combine the effectiveness of intensive study with the convenience of an online class
- Speed your learning by studying alongside enthusiastic and talented language learners
Funding Opportunities
- Explore your funding options here: http://go.iu.edu/language-workshop-funding
Priority Application Deadline
- December 5, 2025
Learn more and apply here: go.iu.edu/arabic-workshop
Questions? Email the Language Workshop at languageworkshop@iu.edu or join virtual office hours.
Contact Information
Kathleen Evans, Director, Indiana University Language Workshop
Contact Email
URL
http://go.iu.edu/arabic-workshop
9. Bowdoin College – Assistant Professor of Art History
https://networks.h-net.org/jobs/69128/bowdoin-college-assistant-professor-art-history
- September 23, 2025
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Shii News – Academic Items
1.Spaces of Exchange: Human–Environment Interactions from the Mediterranean to the Indus (Antiquity to the Early Islamic Period)
In recent decades, transcultural history has received increasing scholarly attention, revealing the complex processes through which ideas, practices, and objects moved, adapted, and transformed across regions, religions, societies, and historical periods. This workshop brings together scholars from Assyriology, archaeology, architectural history, and cultural studies to
examine the various methodological approaches used to trace these dynamics. By focusing on the interactions between people and environments, the workshop highlights how spaces such as gardens, palaces, and agricultural landscapes became sites of cultural negotiation, where circulating practices, forms, techniques, and aesthetic tastes intersected with
local geographies, ecological conditions, and social frameworks – crossing cultural and political zones and acquiring new meanings in the process. It will also consider how the translation and circulation of knowledge, especially in scientific and medical texts, functioned as tools for reinterpretation, adaptation, and integration into new intellectual landscapes.
By drawing on a range of case studies and methodologies – from textual and material analysis to landscape archaeology as well as economic and social networks – the workshop encourages interdisciplinary dialogue on how movement, adaptation, and reinterpretation shape cultural and material landscapes.
Convenor: Dr. Safa Mahmoudian
2–3 October 2025
Venue: Department of Near Eastern Studies, Hörsaal, Campus of the University of Vienna, Courtyard 4.1
Free admission – pre-registration required (safa.mahmoudian@univie.ac.at )
URL
2. Virtual and In-Person Lecture – Indonesia’s Islamic Heritage and the Aftermath of Colonialism – Mirjam Shatanawi
Advance registration is required
Thursday, September 25 at 6:30 PM
The Institute of Fine Arts
1 East 78th Street, New York, NY 10075
and Online
To register, please use the link at:
https://ifa.nyu.edu/events/southeast-asia.html
This event, part of the series South-East Asian Connections: Art, History and Archipelagos, is supported by the Institute’s Gulnar Bosch Fund.
3. Between Two Arabic Translators
https://arablit.org/between-two-translators/
In this new monthly interview series, translator Yasmeen Hanoosh talks with talented and celebrated Arabic translators about their work, about making a living as a translator, about the politics and art of translation, about what informs their choices—on a large and small scale—and more.
4. Invisible East
The hybrid series Rethinking History: Returning Archives and Documents kicks off. Registration is essential:
- Wednesday, 15 October 2025, 5PM UK Time: ‘Persian Archives for Histories of Colonial-State Formation in South Asia in the Eighteenth Century’, with Robert Travers, Cornell University.
- Wednesday, 12 November 2025, 5PM UK Time: ‘Framing the Past: Exploring the Godard Photographic Archives of Iran and Afghanistan’, with Martina Massulo, Department of Islamic Art at the Louvre museum.
- Wednesday, 10 December 2025, 5PM UK Time: ‘SAVAK Calling: Exploring the Diaries of Telephone Directives to the Editor of Diplomat’, with Mohamad Tavakoli, University of Toronto.
5. The Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (IASA), University of Tokyo, together with the Kakenhi Grant-in-Aid “Sunnis” and “Shiʿis”: Historical Inquiries into Confessional Identities and Mutual Perceptions” and the Japan Office of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies (ASPS), is pleased to co-host a lecture by Professor David Lelyveld (William Paterson University, retired) entitled “A Reflection on Muslim Identities in South Asia.”
The lecture is open to the public. Please note that advance registration is required for online participation. The co-organizers look forward to your participation.
Lecture Title:
A Reflection on Muslim Identities in South Asia
Speaker:
Professor David Lelyveld (William Paterson University, retired)
Chair:
Professor Kazuo Morimoto (IASA / Japan Office, ASPS)
Date and Time:
24 October (Fri) 2025, at 18:00-19:30 (JST)
Venue:
Room 304, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, Hongo Campus, University of Tokyo (東京大学東洋文化研究所3階、第一会議室304), and online via Zoom
Abstract:
To what extent are the sectarian, regional, ethnic, “caste” and language identities of South Asian Muslims characteristic of historic India as opposed to other parts of the Islamic world? This discussion will concentrate on how such identity categories have been foregrounded or obscured over time with respect to the Aligarh movement, the emergence of Urdu, British social analysis, and nationalist projects. The presentation seeks to stimulate comparisons and ideas for further research.
Speaker’s Bio:
David Lelyveld is the author of Aligarh’s First Generation: Muslim Solidarity in British India (1978, reprinted 2003). His publications also deal with the social and political history of Urdu and its differentiation from Hindi. A graduate of Harvard University, he did his Ph. D at the University of Chicago. He has held faculty and administrative positions at the University of Minnesota, Columbia, and Cornell. He retired as Professor of History at William Paterson University. He lives in New York City and is presently exploring aspects of the cultural relationship between India and Japan in the early twentieth century.
How to Participate:
Pre-registration is required for online participation. Please fill in the form at https://forms.gle/Mn2z2HJ4rG78baq17 by 23 October, at 24:00 JST.
In-person attendance does not require advance registration.
Contact Person: Naoki Nishiyama (nishiyama@ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp)
This event is co-organized by the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo (organized by the Regular Research Project W-1: Approaches to the “Persianate World” as a Tobunken Seminar), Kakenhi Grant-in-Aid “Sunnis” and “Shiʿis”: Historical Inquiries into Confessional Identities and Mutual Perceptions” (23K25371) and the Japan Office of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies (as a Gilas Lecture).
6. Lecture – “Berlin – Toronto – Rome: Mughal Medallion Genealogies Revisited,” Franziska Kabelitz, Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series, September 23
Please join the Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series for our next talk on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, at 12:00 New York / 17:00 London / 18:00 Berlin / 19:00 Istanbul.
Franziska Kabelitz (Museum für Islamische Kunst) will present “Berlin – Toronto – Rome: Mughal Medallion Genealogies Revisited.”
To attend, please register in advance here:
https://wellesley.zoom.us/meeting/register/JgE8_c2xQTuA2tKtGsoYzQ
Upon registration, you’ll receive the link to access the lecture.
The full schedule of talks for the semester is available on our website at
https://viahss.org/. Although not every talk is recorded, recordings of several recent talks are available on the VIAHSS Vimeo page at https://vimeo.com/viahss/videos.
Contact Information
Drs. Rachel Winter, Jaimee Comstock-Skipp, and Alexander Brey
Contact Email
URL
7. HYBRID Keynote “Rebellions, Mandates, and Margins: Placing Druze Studies in the Historiography of the Modern Middle East” by Prof. Michael Provence, “2025 Druze Studies Conference”, University of Kansas, 16 October 2025, 19:15 – _20:45 CET
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/59zjzmhm
8. HYBRID International Conference “Islamic Feminism and Decolonial Futures: Epistemology, Ethics and Praxis”, Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women’s Studies, New Delhi, 1-2 November 2025
This conference invites contributions that critically engage with feminist hermeneutics, ethical reinterpretations of Islamic texts, the politics of knowledge production, legal reform, literary and lived practices of Muslim women across diverse contexts. Submissions are encouraged from scholars, researchers and practitioners who seek to explore the intersections of theory, faith, activism and justice within the framework of Islamic feminism.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 October 2025.
Information: https://networks.h-net.org/system/files/attachments/concept-notepdf.pdf
9. 59th Annual Meeting of MESA, Westin Washington, DC, 22-25 November 2025
There are over 300 sessions of panels, roundtables, workshops, and special sessions.
Deadline for registration at discount price: 24 October 2025.
Program preview: https://mesana.org/pdf/MESA2025_preview.pdf
10. HYBRID “Seventh Annual Islamic Philosophy Conference”, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 5-7 December 2025
We invite academic studies of scholars, methods, institutions, texts, and topics typically considered within the domain of philosophy, as well as those that treat kalam-theology, Islamic legal philosophy (usul al-fiqh), or other intellectual trends that at times may be seen as distinct from philosophy. Papers may be within specific disciplines (Philosophy, Islamic Theology, Religious Studies, etc.) or may be interdisciplinary.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 October 2025. Information: https://asipt.org/conferences/#current-conference
11. Conference “Public History in the Middle East”, Qatar National Library, 19-20 October 2026
This conference seeks to map the current state of public history in the Middle East and foster dialogue on its challen-ges, opportunities and intersections with broader social, political and cultural processes.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 January 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/27mr5xdr
12. Senior Lecturer in Arabic, Gothenburg University
A university lecturer in Arabic must also have demonstrated educational skills and hold a doctoral degree in Arabic. Knowledge and ability to teach in Swedish (or other Scandinavian language), English and Arabic are a requirement from the start of employment.
Deadline for applications: 22 September 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4z2vdnnf
13. Associate or Full Professor in Islamic Studies, Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, Hartford, CT
A successful candidate should demonstrate expertise in a particular area of Islamic Studies, though the research specialization is open. The person must be grounded in the Islamic tradition and able to teach in broad areas related to contemporary issues and themes. The successful candidate will teach at the graduate master’s level and should have the intellectual depth required to direct doctoral level students.
Deadline for applications: 1 October 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/2xaedr9s
14. Faculty Member in Islamic Chaplaincy, Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, Hartford, CT
HIU seeks an engaged, dedicated practitioner-scholar to join our esteemed faculty. We invite applications for a full-time or half-time faculty position in Islamic Chaplaincy (open rank). The ideal candidate would be classically trained in the Islamic tradition, experienced as a chaplain, inter-culturally sensitive, and actively involved with local and broader Muslim chaplaincy communities.
Deadline for applications: 1 October 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/tuc4fhjt
15. Bourses de recherche en islamologie Master 2 (1 à 3 mois) et Doctorants/Jeunes docteurs (6 mois), IRMC & UMIFRE
L’octroi d’une bourse de mobilité devra permettre aux étudiant/es et chercheur/ses d’accomplir un travail de terrain de recherche en islamologie en étant accueilli/es dans une UMIFRE (ou instituts partenaires du programme).
Les dossiers de candidatures sont à envoyer avant le 30 septembre 2025. Information : https://tinyurl.com/53dk3k6v
16. Call for Articles on “Protracted Warfare in West Asia and North Africa: Global Questions for Marxist Approaches to War” for a Special Issue of the “Journal of Labor and Society”
We are interested in contributions that engage with this question of warfare in West Asia and North Africa through the lens of Marxist theoretical struggles and praxis.
Deadline for abstracts: 25 October 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3sp2wznh
17. New Book “Songs of the Arabian Red Sea: A Cultural History” by Dionisius A. Agius, Muhammad Zafer Alhazmi, and Hasan Hujairi, I.B.Tauris-Bloomsbury, 264 pages
Using fieldwork conducted along the Hijaz and Upper Tihama coasts, the book documents examples of different musical forms and styles. Presenting the songs and their lyrics in the context of the geography, culture, oral history and musicology of the region, the book reveals the complex and connected network that influenced their development and the vital place of song and music for diverse communities of the region.
Information: https://tinyurl.com/yncyb6nr
- September 20, 2025
- 0 Comment