Archive for 2025

‘Music in the Lives of Alevi Kurds’

Wednesday, 16 April: 12pm Central / 1pm Eastern

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/95772733390?pwd=5HFnVJEvKXCaOGjc11rles8GC4Q5Iy.1

Ozan Aksoy (Ph.D., CUNY Graduate Center) is an Assistant Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences at Berklee College of Music. He is an avid vocalist and a multi-instrumentalist who has founded and led several Middle Eastern and Mediterranean music ensembles in New York City. With the critically acclaimed ensemble Kardeş Türküler (Ballads of Solidarity), Aksoy performed the songs of ethnic and religious minorities, including the Kurds, Armenians, Laz, and Alevi.

https://www.zahrainstitute.org/

1.HYBRID Roundtable “Sufism from Medieval to Early Modern Era: Recent Studies and Emerging Perspectives” by Professor Ilyass Bouzghaia (Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University), Ottoman and Turkish Studies Initiative, New York University, 17 April 2025, 23:30 h CET

This roundtable brings together scholars specializing in Sufism from the medieval to early modern periods. Its primary aim is to foster a collaborative and productive environment where researchers working on related themes can exchange ideas and engage in in-depth discussions on recent developments and challenges in the field of Sufi studies.

Information and registration:

https://as.nyu.edu/research-centers/neareaststudies/events/spring-2025/ots-template.html

 

 

 

 

 

2. International Conference: “Exploring the Meanings of the Holy Quran through Translation and the Role of Emerging Technologies”, Al-Zahra College for Women, Muscat, 3-5 November 2025

The conference will explore innovative solutions and technological tools that can help produce translations that resonate with contemporary audiences while preserving the noble message of the Quran. Themes: Historical perspectives in the translation of the Holy Quran. – Methods and approaches in the translation of the Holy Quran. – Culture in/of the translation of the Holy Quran. – Innovations and emerging technologies in the translation of the Holy Quran

Deadline for abstracts: 15 May 2025. Information: https://www.zcw.edu.om/Research/First-International-Conference-On-QuranTranslation/Scientific-Research-Council.aspx

 

 

 

 

 

3. International conference “Forms of (Un)Freedom: Emancipation and Post-slavery in the Red Sea Region”, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, 13-14 November 2025

Deadline for abstracts: 1 May 2025.

Information: https://networks.h-net.org/system/files/attachments/call-papersred-sea-workshopnovember-2025.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

4. Associate Senior Lecturer in History with Specialisation in Middle Eastern History, Lund University

Qualifications: You hold a doctoral degree or have corresponding research expertise in history that is of value in view of the subject matter of the position and the duties that it will involve. We will primarily prioritise those applicants who have been awarded a doctoral degree after 18 May 2018.

Deadline for applications: 19 May 2025. Information: https://lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:798426/

 

 

 

 

 

5. ONLINE Mediterranean Studies Summer Skills Seminar: “Reading Ottoman Turkish”, 9-12 June 2025

This course will introduce participants to the Ottoman language, it’s alphabet, calligraphic styles, basic grammar and structure, as well as an overview of changes over time. The course will focus on primary sources often used by historians and the paleographic challenges they present.

Deadline for applications: 28 April 2025.

Information: https://www.mediterraneanseminar.org/overview-islamic-legal-texts-2025

 

 

 

 

 

6. ONLINE Mediterranean Studies Summer Skills Seminar: “Islamic Legal Texts: In Depth”, 11-14 August 2025

The seminar is focused on developing the skill of reading Islamic legal texts as opposed to surveying Islamic legal doctrines. It is designed for beginners seeking to build their capacity to investigate Islamic law. Professor Ali will lead participants in a methodical reading of an introduction to Islamic law. Participants will read the chapters on legal obligation (taklīf) and ritual purity (ṭahāra) in Durūs tamhīdiyya fī l-fiqh al-istidlālī by Muḥammad Bāqir al-Īrawānī (b. 1949).

Deadline for applications: 28 April 2025.

Information: https://us9.campaign-archive.com/?e=82aeb6c61d&u=e1ae5bef9757e58afec01a89a&id=62e3b6f14f

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Job advertisement: Lecturer in Islamic Studies

Theology and Religious Studies

School of Critical Studies

University of Glasgow

Grade 7/8, R&T

For more details, visit: https://www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/lecturer-in-islamic-studies-r-and-t

For informal inquiries, please contact Head of Theology and Religious Studies, Dr Mia Spiro, mia.spiro@glasgow.ac.uk .

Closing date: 27 April 2025.

 

 

 

 

8. CfP: South Asia and the Neighboring World in the Mughal Period:

Intellectual and Material Exchanges

École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Marseille

December 10th-11th 2025

The conference examines the intellectual networks, material exchanges, and scholarly interactions between the Mughal Empire (1526-1857) in South Asia and its neighboring regions of the Middle East, Iran, Central and Southeast Asia. This conference takes a transregional perspective to the recent debates surrounding the cosmopolitan nature of early modern intellectual activities and networks. The scholarship in the last decade has heavily focused on the place of Persian—the high literary and administrative language of the Mughal elites as well as its influences on producing a distinct Indo-Persian culture in South Asia. While Indian Ocean studies had privileged the study of peninsular India, recent works have focused on Iran’s cultural and political influence in the creation of a distinct Persianate world. The expanded definition of the “Persianate” has generated insights on literary and cultural practices, elite self-fashioning, religious pluralism, and artistic production. Others have urged to recognize its limits, boundaries, and the severe constraints of relying on Persian literary narratives for writing about pre-modern South Asia. For instance, the vibrant literary practices in Sanskrit and the vernaculars have been increasingly present in examining the region’s multilingualism. Yet, current approaches, as this project argues, do not take into account the inter-regional dynamics specific to Islamic intellectual networks.

The conference invites scholars to take a transregional perspective to Islamicate culture through the influences and trends in legal, religious, and scientific practices from both the perspective of intellectual and material histories. Rather than artificially decouple the Persianate from the Islamicate, a tendency prevalent in most scholarship on South Asia, our aim is to bring together scholars working in diverse genres of textual practices to examine forms of transmission and acculturation in Arabic, Persian, and other languages as mutually coexisting spheres of Islamic knowledge production.

The conference addresses the need to bring into dialogue scholastic debates, norms, and practices with their transmission in writing practices of the period. Early modern relations between these regions were circumscribed by larger intellectual networks that were trans-imperial in nature while also constrained by specific socio-political contexts. In other words, although the Ottomans, Mughals, and Safavids had extensive internal diversity in literate communities, we argue that their connections going beyond the imperial frontiers have to be examined to revise historiographical views that tend to be concentrated on national or regional zones.

We welcome submissions on themes outlined above taking into account wide-ranging discussions in literature, poetry, philosophy, logic, law, medicine and other fields without ignoring the material transmission through the circulation of works across long distances.

Please send an abstract of 300 words and a short bio of 200 words to the following email address by June 10th 2025: fabrizio.speziale@ehess.fr

Organizers: Asad Q. Ahmed (University of California, Berkeley), Naveen Kanalu (EHESS-CRH, Paris), Fabrizio Speziale (EHESS-CESAH, Marseille-Paris).

Venue: École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales/School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Centre de la Vieille Charité, 2 rue de la Charité, Marseille.

 

 

 

 

 

9. Shape of Extinction
Poems by Bijan Jalali
Translated from the Persian by Adeeba Shahid Talukder and Aria Fani
Preface by Domenico Ingenito
Critical Introduction by Aria Fani
Publication date: May 9, 2025

https://asemanabooks.ca/shape-of-extinction/

 

 

 

 

 

10. In-Person Workshop in June- Manchester, England -Decolonial Methods

Workshop Title: Collectively Situated Knowledge: A decolonial research method for constructing collective auto-narratives and positionalities

To Apply: Please fill out the form here- https://share.mayfirst.org/apps/forms/s/dqtPkM7GWQntCCJ8m2mEDQEp
Application Deadline: Until all spaces are filled.
Payment Deadline: June 2nd, 2025
Dates: June 4th-5th, 2025
Time: 10am to 6pm
Location: Manchester, England (Specific details will be provided upon acceptance)

 

‘The Professional’ screening and discussion

1.Whither Global Antiquity? Retrospection and Future Directions

Global Antiquity is convening its second annual symposium that will be held at UCLA, and live-streamed on Zoom, on April 10–11, 2025. Whither Global Antiquity? Retrospection and Future Directions aims to assess the state of ancient studies, its relevance to the Humanities today, and its future directions.

Over the span of two days, the fields of Classics, ancient Near East, ancient East Asia, and ancient Americas will be explored critically and new approaches presented. These include the experience of ancient worlds with race and ethnicity, the entangled relationships between ancient history and modern states, the expansion and re-centering of areas of inquiry, and indigenous ontologies and histories.

In providing a forum for interdisciplinary conversations, the goal of the symposium is to identify a shared vocabulary for the study of the ancient worlds that extends across traditional fields of inquiry to encompass the achievements of the whole of antiquity as humanity’s common patrimony.

Register for the Event in Person and on Zoom

 

 

 

 

2. THE TABLE IS SET: Food Traditions and Legacies in the Islamic World

https://exhibitions.museumwnf.org/the_table_is_set/en/

This exhibition explores the rich culinary traditions of the Islamic world, offering a deeper understanding of Islamic culture and fostering cross-cultural dialogue. Visitors will discover six thematic areas: The Food System at Islamic Courts, Social Life, Religion, Environment, Gendered Roles and Coexistence, featuring artefacts from our Partners across the globe. On display objects and monuments from 76 Partners in 33 countries.
What sets this exhibition apart is its uniquely international approach, with a curatorial team from diverse cultural, professional, and academic backgrounds.

URL

https://exhibitions.museumwnf.org/the_table_is_set/en/

 

 

 

 

 

3. Humour in Iran

Eleven-hundred Years of Satire and Humour in Persian Literature

H Katouzian,

Bloomsbury, 2025

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/humour-in-iran-9780755652167/?utm_source=Bloomsbury+Academic+%26+Professional&utm_campaign=a1ea865258-AP_ACA_MidEast_GLB_CAT-SOLUS_Catalogue_MAR_25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-a1ea865258-605268203&mc_cid=a1ea865258

 

 

 

 

 

4. Three upcoming spring courses in Middle and Classical Persian languages and literatures, specially designed for lovers of Persian literature.

All three courses are organized by the Ferdowsi School of Persian Literature, and are conducted online, making them accessible to anyone interested in deepening their understanding of Persian literary traditions. In line with the school’s mission to make Classical Persian more accessible, I would gratly appreciate it if you could share this announcement with anyone who might be interested.

Below are the courses along with their schedules. For more details, please click on the course titles:

1. The Shahname: An Introduction to the Iranian Epic
   (April 16 – July 30)
2. Introduction to Early Judeo-Persian: Jewish Letters from Xinjiang to Cairo
   (April 28 – May 9, 2025)
3. Introduction to Pahlavi: Online Spring School of Zoroastrian Middle Persian
   (May 12 – May 30, 2025)

You are warmly invited to register for one or more of these courses as soon as possible, to secure your place. Discounts may be available for students and for those who enroll in multiple courses.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to email me. I will be happy to respond as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Ruben S. Nikoghosyan

Ferdowsi School of Persian Literature

Yerevan, Armenia

Website: www.ferdowsi.org

 

 

 

 

5. WEBINAR | Can Inshāʾ Literature Compensate for the Lack of Archives in Medieval Iran?

The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies and Invisible East present a series of monthly online seminars about archives and documents.
Convened by Arezou Azad and Mohamad Tavakoli, the seminars are held monthly on Zoom.
Please join us this month to hear from David Durand-Guédy on ‘Can Inshāʾ Literature Compensate for the Lack of Archives in Medieval Iran?’ Wednesday 9 April at 12PM EST / 5PM GMT. Pre-registration is essential.

https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/WIQppj7tRMGqiqueSdLg0A#/registration

 

 

 

 

 

6. Webinar: Pandemics in Late Modern Iran – A UCSB Talk by Dr. Amir A. Afkhami

Organised by the Iranian Studies Initiative at UC Santa Barbara.

Dr. Amir A. Afkhami from George Washington University will speak this Saturday, April 5th, on ” Pandemics in Late Modern Iran. ”

To attend, please register using this link.

 

 

 

 

 

7. Islam and Self-Development Programme (Cert.) by Al-Mahdi Institute:

Al-Mahdi Institute is proud to present a new course designed to challenge your perspective on Islam, yourself, and the world! The ‘Islam and Self-Development Programme’ running from 15^th – 24^th September 2025 at Al-Mahdi Institute, is a 10-day residential course designed for those eager to deepen their understanding of Islam while engaging in both intellectual and spiritual growth. The programme provides a unique opportunity to critically explore faith, reason, and self-discovery while tackling some of the most profound questions in Islamic thought. No prior knowledge of Islamic studies or Arabic is required to join this programme and all are welcome to join!

Find out more about the Programme here: https://ami.is/isdp  

 AMI is also offering an early bird offer of 40% OFF the course fees until the 31^st June 2025. This offer covers all learning materials, along with lunch, dinner, and refreshments throughout the course. Spaces are limited, so register now to secure your place on the course! For those travelling from outside the area, accommodation can be arranged at an additional cost. Please contact education@almahdi.edu for more details or questions. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. The first cycle of the Iran Heritage Foundation’s 2025 grant programme, with the deadline of 30^th April 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

 

 

 

 

9. Edinburgh University Press – New Series

Critiquing Gender & Islam

https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/series-critiquing-gender-islam?utm_source=Edinburgh%20University%20Press&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=14926525_IMES%20-%20Critiquing%20Gender%20in%20Islam%20-%20series%20email%20-%202025&utm_content=CGI%20series&dm_i=CEQ,8VXDP,MWI2D5,110WUZ,0

 

 

 

 

10. Launching rumi roaming multi-platform, multi-lingual project- Sunday 4/6

Please join us virtually this Sunday for a project launch event, rumi roaming: a multi-platform and multi-lingual anthology. rumi roaming juxtaposes new translations of some of Rumi’s ghazals with contemporary creative non-fiction, poetry, scholarly essays, photo essays, and performance and art videos. Join editors Gita Hashemi and Elena Basile, along with contributors Raul Moarquech, Ferrera-Balanquet, Hajar Hussaini, Öykü Tekten, Mahdi Tourage, and Fatemeh Keshavarz, for a virtual presentation and discussion.

 

Date: Sunday, April 6, 2025

Time: 2 PM EDT

Zoom Link: https://go.umd.edu/rumiroaming

 

 

 

 

 

11. Iran and Persianate Culture in the Indian Ocean World

A Peacock, ed.

Bloomsbury, 2025

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/iran-and-persianate-culture-in-the-indian-ocean-world-9780755656028/?utm_source=Bloomsbury+Academic+%26+Professional&utm_campaign=a0aaf36b85-AP_ACA_MidEast_GLB_NL-CT_Armenian+history_Mar&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-a0aaf36b85-605268203&mc_cid=a0aaf36b85

 

 

 

 

 

12. CFP – Edited volume: Islamization and Arabization of the Arabian Peninsula in light of material evidence

According to the conventional narrative, the Arabian Peninsula became fully Muslim very soon after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, during the reign of the second caliph ‘Umar (d. 644) if not before. Moreover, a natural link has been assumed between the Arabian Peninsula, the Arabic language, and an Arab identity. In recent years, however, important scholarship has questioned these notions. The new scholarship employs mainly contemporary or possibly contemporary sources, e.g., archaeological, epigraphic and poetical evidence. The evidence suggests that the Arabian Peninsula was not exclusively Muslim in the first centuries of hijra: Jews and Christians were living in the region (even in the Hijaz) as late as around 1000 CE. In addition, the spread of Arabic language in the whole Peninsula – along with Arab identity, possibly a separate phenomenon – appears to have taken place in early Islamic times and not before. The spread of Muslim faith, as well perhaps to the distribution of the caliphate administration, are assumed to be the main engines to Arabization, even in the Arabian Peninsula.

This edited volume would contribute to the question of Islamization and Arabization of Arabia during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Some source sets are still underused, and new archaeological and epigraphic continues come to light; the edited volume aims at putting forward new sources and insights on these issues. Moreover, researchers who employ material evidence as their main source (e.g. epigraphers, archaeologists, numismatics) rarely communicate with each other. Bringing them together under one umbrella will thus be beneficial.

We invite contributions that are based on and deal with Arabian epigraphic evidence, numismatics, and other types of archaeological evidence. The volume is expected to be published by late 2027. Authors should submit their papers after proofreading by a native speaker of English.

Book series: Brill’s Arabian Heritage

Editors of the volume: Ilkka Lindstedt (Helsinki) and Hagit Nol (Frankfurt)

Deadlines for submissions

Abstracts (max. 500 words): June 1st 2025

Articles: August 1st 2026

Contact Email

h.nol@em.uni-frankfurt.de

 

 

 

 

13. Events at The Institute of Ismaili Studies

All are welcome to join us at the following upcoming events in London and online from The Institute of Ismaili Studies (and with our partners). Please note registration is required:

TALK: “Reconsidering verses on women in the Qur’an” (Dr Karen Bauer and Dr Feras Hamza)
SOAS, London  | 10 April 2025

TALK: “Conceptual Photography and the Craft of Reading Islamic Historical Texts” (Dr Shahzad Bashir)
Aga Khan Centre, London and Online | 24 April 2025

CONFERENCE: “Devotion to the Prophet’s Family in Islamic Thought and Practice” (The Institute of Ismaili Studies)
Aga Khan Centre, London and Online | 20-22 May 2025

Further events are listed here: https://www.iis.ac.uk/events/

 

 

 

 

 

14. HYBRID Workshop “Christian Arabic Literature: Figures, Thought and Challenges”, Beirut – Tübingen – Venice, 7 April 2025, 9:45-19:00 CET

Papers: Pilar GONZÁLEZ CASADO (Madrid): The concept of law in the secular legal regulations in Ibn aṭ-Ṭayyib’s Fiqh al-Naṣrāniyya. – Martino DIEZ (Milan): Al-Makīn Ibn al-‘Amīd and his Universal history. – Alice CROQ (Montpellier): Not so Christian after all? On the different versions of the Dialogue between the caliph and a Chinese monk. – Alexander TREIGER (Dalhousie): Major themes in Christian Arabic literature. – Etc.

Information and programme : https://www.unive.it/data/33113/4/100547

 

 

 

 

 

15. Articles for the “Journal of Religious Minorities under Muslim Rule” and Edited Volume on “Studies on Religious Minorities in Islam” (Edinburgh UP)

Topics: • Historical evolution of religious minority rights in Muslim societies • Re-examining dhimmitude and similar legal concepts in Islamic law • Impacts of colonialism on religious minority status in Muslim lands • Critical methods in understanding “minorityhood” in Muslim societies • Roles of religious minorities in shaping Islamic art and cultural heritage • Gender dynamics within religious minority communities under Muslim rule. Etc.

Deadline for abstracts: 21 April 2025. Information: Abbas Aghdassi, Ed., aghdassi@um.ac.ir

See also The New York Times, which article is behind a wall.

1. Chapters on “Innovation During the Later Crusades: War & Society” for Book Edited by Martin Neuding Skoog and Stefan Stantche

We will explore the changing character of warfare and statecraft as they relate to the history of crusades after 1291. This volume aims to synthesize current scholarship, present informative case studies, and refine methodologies for studying innovation during the Later Crusades. The volume’s intended audience is broad: specialists, generalist historians, political scientists, students, and anyone with an interest in the history of crusades.

Deadline for abstracts: 31 August 2025. Information: https://mailchi.mp/mediterraneanseminar/contribute-innovation-during-the-later-crusades-war-society?e=82aeb6c61d

 

 

 

 

2. “Selecting Linguistically Appropriate Literary Texts in Teaching Persian Language”
Dr. Mahbod Ghaffari
University of Cambridge

Saturday, 5 April 2025, 12:00 USCT/1:00 EDT  

Zoom Registration Link:
https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/xVWCr9HHQ4SQkzmQ-NlB3w

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

 

 

3. Lecturer in Middle Eastern History
University College London
In this role, the appointee will be responsible for producing high-impact research that contributes to the broader historiographical and theoretical debates in Middle Eastern history. Teaching responsibilities will include designing and delivering undergraduate and postgraduate modules in Middle Eastern history, as well as contributing to broader survey courses in world history, historiography, and historical methodologies.
Deadline | 11 April 2025
More information

 

4. PhD in Classical Arabic and Islamic Linguistics
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
This PhD research will explore the development of classical Arabic linguistic and grammatical studies within the broader framework of Islamic disciplines. The successful candidate will contribute to the work package on external influences on the Arabic linguistic thinking, specifically exploring the interplay between Islamic scholarly traditions and classical Arabic language studies.
Deadline | 7 May 2025
More information

 

 

5. Call for Applications | Rewriting World Archaeology: Middle East Writing Group (2025-2026)

 Online workshops and in-person workshop at BIAA, Türkiye

This programme is designed to equip a cohort of ECRs with the necessary knowledge and skills to access and publish in reputable, international, peer-reviewed academic journals, to develop and lead bold research agendas, and to share their results with the public. It is intended that the programme will significantly advance the careers of these ECRs, strengthen their ability to rewrite the archaeology and cultural heritage of the Middle East, and to use this heritage to help forge a more equitable world archaeology.

Deadline | 14 April 2025

More information