Archive for 2025
- February 20, 2025
- 0 Comment
- February 19, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Workshop “Diasporas, Exiles, Migrants, and Refugees from Europe in the Middle East and North Africa in the 19th and 20th Centuries”, Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin, 8-10 July 2025
This workshop will think about how historical, spatial, cultural or conceptual imaginations of the nations, regions and their boundaries, have been transformed by the movements of people from Europe who went to MENA. What potential might a decolonial approach to the questions of diaspora, exile, migration and refuge offer, and how does it challenge our understanding of areas or regions in Europeand MENA.
Deadline for abstracts: 12 March 2025. Information: https://www.eume-berlin.de/fileadmin/eume/Bilder/Veranstaltungen/Workshops/CfP-WS_European_Migration_to_MENA.pdf
2. Assistant or Associate Professor in Sociocultural Anthropology of Palestine, University of California, Davis
We seek a scholar with a cutting-edge, ethnographically grounded research agenda whose work addresses key topics in Palestine Studies.
Deadline for applications: 5 March 2025. Information: https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF06996
3. Visiting Assistant Professor (1 Year +) of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies (Focus Middle East/North Africa, and their American Diasporas), Colgate University, New York
The candidate’s areas of research and teaching should be Arab, Arab American feminisms. The candidate should be able to teach broadly materials pertaining to the region. Completion of Ph.D. or appropriate terminal degree is required prior to or shortly after the date of hire.
Deadline for applications: 8 March 2025. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/162764
4. “RIMO Thesis Award 2024-2025” for Research of Students in Islamic and Middle Eastern Law Related to The Netherlands or Belgium
Eligibility requirements: Students who write about topics related to the Netherlands or Belgium, are eligible to apply. Submissions can include theses, journal articles, or other academic works. Participants must not have been older than 35 years at the time of writing their submission.
Deadline for submissions: 1 March 2025. Information: https://www.verenigingrimo.nl/english#thesisprize
5. HYBRID Summer School: “Critical Muslim Studies: Decolonial Struggles and Liberation Theologies”, Granada, Spain, 13-28 June 2025
Critical Muslim Studies is inspired by a need for opening up a space for intellectually rigorous and socially committed explorations between decolonial thinking and studies of Muslims, Islam and the Islamicate. Critical Muslim Studies does not take Islam as only a spiritual tradition, or a civilization, but also as a possibility of a decolonial epistemic perspective that suggests contributions and responses to the problems facing humankind today.
Deadline for application: 30 March 2025. Information and registration: https://www.dialogoglobal.com/granada/
6. Call for Papers:
Motherhood and Unfreedom in the Islamicate World (700-1000)
June 4, 2025
Workshop
This workshop aims to bring together scholars working on women, unfreedom, gender, and households in the Islamicate world (and beyond) to explore how these factors intersected and shaped women’s lives. Through an interdisciplinary lens, the workshop will interrogate the roles that enslaved and free women played in shaping power dynamics, kinship structures, and societal norms. By focusing on both the visible and invisible contributions of women, the workshop seeks to reevaluate the historical record and push the boundaries of current scholarship. Given the collaboration of the Allard Pierson (Amsterdam) we strongly encourage the participation of researchers who engage with material culture in order to shed light on the dynamics of unfreedom.
We invite applications from scholars working inside and outside the field of Islamic studies and welcome contributions investigating unfreedom and motherhood from comparative perspectives (Byzantine, Latin Christendom, Indian Ocean, Central Asia etc.)
Some guiding questions include: How did enslaved women influence family structures, societal views on marriage and sexuality, and ideologies of rulership? How did genealogical shifts challenge notions of Arab nobility?
What role did the maternal family play, and is there evidence for matrilineal influence in early Islamic society? What was the experience of unfree mothers? What legal avenues existed for enslaved women to assert agency, and how do male-written sources depict or omit their presence? How did enslavement and multi-lingualism interact?
Ultimately, this workshop hopes to open new pathways for understanding gender, slavery, and the household, contributing to a more nuanced history of early Islam.
This workshop is organized by Dr. Zahra Azhar and Dr. Leone Pecorini-Goodall, and supported by ERC Horizon Starting Grant Project, “Embodied Imamate: Mapping the Development of the Early Shil Community 700-900 CE (ImBod),” grant number 101077946, led by Dr. Edmund Hayes with the generous support of the Allard Pierson and their collaborative partner, the National Slavery Museum.
Please submit abstracts of up to 500 words to this email address no later than
March 15th:
7. Zoom Panel: Christian, Jewish, Islamic & Secular Law in American & International History (Thurs, Feb 27, 3:30 Eastern US)
Panelists include: Deina Abdelkader (University of Massachusetts), David Novak (University of Toronto), Peter N. Stearns (George Mason University), R. Charles Weller (Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and Washington State University). MC’d by Dr. Heather Salter & Dr. David Kalivas. Sponsored by: The World History Association (WHA) & the New England World History Workshop (NEWHW)
The registration link is https://wsu.zoom.us/meeting/register/NL4vJeFORAOjAhl3A050fg
8. Indiana University’s Summer 2025 Language Workshop is now accepting applications for its intensive online Kurdish program!
- 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
Rolling Application Deadline
- May 16, 2025
Learn more and apply here: https://languageworkshop.indiana.edu/kurdish
Questions? Email the Language Workshop at languageworkshop@iu.edu or join virtual office hours.
9. Indiana University’s Summer 2025 Language Workshop is now accepting applications for its intensive online Turkish program!
- 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
- Accelerate your learning with daily 1-on-1 skills training
- Speed your learning by studying alongside enthusiastic and talented language learners
Rolling Application Deadline
- May 16, 2025
Learn more and apply here: https://languageworkshop.indiana.edu/turkish
Questions? Email the Language Workshop at languageworkshop@iu.edu or join virtual office hours.
10. Indiana University’s Summer 2025 Language Workshop is now accepting applications for its intensive online Persian program!
- 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
- Accelerate your learning with daily 1-on-1 skills training
- Speed your learning by studying alongside enthusiastic and talented language learners
Rolling Application Deadline
- May 16, 2025
Learn more and apply here: https://languageworkshop.indiana.edu/persian
Questions? Email the Language Workshop at languageworkshop@iu.edu or join virtual office hours.
11. Call for Papers: AWEJ for Translation and Literary Studies (May Issue 2025)
Arab World English Journal for Translation and Literary Studies welcomes the submission of papers for the May Issue 2025.Due to requests from many colleagues, the submission deadline is March 15, 2025. The issue publication date is May Issue 2025. Please read the submission.
- February 18, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – ‘The Imam Ali Seminar’ (London, 9.3.25)
SEMINAR
TO COMMEMORATE THE MARTYRDOM OF
IMAM ALI (a.s.)
SUNDAY 9th MARCH 2025 – 2:00 PM
VENUE – ROYAL ACAEMY OF MUSIC
DAVID JOSEFOWITZ RECITAL HALL
MARYLEBONE ROAD, LONDON NW1 5HT
PLEASE NOTE CHANGE IN VENUE THIS YEAR
Tube stations: Regent’s Park, Baker Street
Chair: Professor Justin Jones
Justin Jones is Associate Professor in the Study of Religion in the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford, and specialises in South Asian Islam. His previous published research has focused upon Shi’i Islam in South Asia, including themes such as Shi’i clerical revivalism, religious writing and practice, martyrology, and Shi’i politics. He is the author of Shi’a Islam in Colonial India: Religion, Community and Sectarianism (Cambridge University Press, 2012), the editor of The Shi’a of South Asia: Religion, History and Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2014), as well as having written various articles and other publications in this field.
Gulamabbas Lakha
Developing Islamic AI: Balancing Mental Health Benefits and Theological Risks
Gulamabbas Lakha takes a multi-disciplinary approach to research and teaching at Oxford. His doctorate in Psychiatry investigates mental health applications of Islamic concepts and practices, including empirical work on depression in the UK Muslim population. He serves as a tutor in Psychology of Religion and leads seminars on Neuroscience of Religious Experience, including supervising medical students and postgraduates. In addition, he also teaches Christian-Muslim relations and psychotherapy from Old Testament and Islamic psalms, having previously undertaken research on comparative neuroimaging of dhikr and secular mindfulness practices. His first degree in Economics & Econometrics was followed by the Chartered Financial Analyst programme and subsequently founded an investment firm at which he serves as CEO. He later completed four master’s degrees, spanning Psychology and Neuroscience, Theology, Islamic Studies, History and Arabic. Following religious training over two decades, he was accredited as a Shaykh and has lectured on contemporary Islam for fifteen years.
Dr George Warner
The Blunt Arrow and the Two-Pointed Sword: Encountering Imam Ali in Early Islamic Epic
Dr George Warner is a scholar of Islamic studies specialising in Sunni-Shi’a relations, hadith, ritual, and devotional literature in Arabic and Persian. Having completed his BA and MPhil at the University of Cambridge, he received his PhD from SOAS University of London in 2017. He has previously held academic positions at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, SOAS and the University of Exeter, and is currently a research fellow at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. He has published widely on diverse aspects of Shi’i Islam and its history, including his first book, The Words of the Imams: al-Shaykh al-Saduq and the Development of Twelver Shi’i Hadith Literature, which was published by I. B. Tauris in 2021.
AN OPEN INVITATION
PLEASE BE SEATED BY 2:00 PM
ORGANISER & SPONSOR: THE AHMED FAMILY – C/O MUHAMMADI TRUST (020 8452 1739)
- February 17, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.The Department of Middle Eastern Studies of the University of Chicago is honored to have Prof. Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi as speaker in the Heshmat Moayyad Lecture Series 2025. The lecture will be in person and on zoom on Wednesday, Feb 19 at 5:00 PM US Central Time at The Tea Room, The Social Science Research Building.
Title
Rights Civilization and Governmentality: The Cyrus Cylinder and ‘Equality Rights’ in Cold War Iran
Abstract
“Rights Civilization and Governmentality: The Cyrus Cylinder and ‘Equality Rights’ in Cold War Iran” explores the interplay between historical memory, social rights, and the contested conceptions of governmentality and constitutionality in the four decades prior to the 1979 Revolution. Offering a corrective to the ideological and linear revolutionary narratives of Pahlavi Iran, this historical inquiry elucidates how a multi-confessional conception of Iran and its constitutionally sanctioned “equality rights” of citizens was reconceived at “a moment of danger” during WWII when Iran was invaded by the Allied forces and Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1925-1941) was forced to abdicate. It explores how the endeavor for the promotion of legal equality of women and non-Muslims was opposed on religious and constitutional grounds by those who conceived of Iran as a “Shi‘i nation” (millat-i Shi‘ah). Exploring the concurrent and protracted efforts of lawyers and jurists (fuqaha) to promote two divergent modes of governing the everyday conduct of citizens—one based on “equality rights” and the other on Islamic jurisprudence––this lecture offers a historically situated account of the rights question in Iran in the decades before the 1979 Revolution.
Full information at:
2. Indiana University’s Summer 2025 Language Workshop is now accepting applications for its intensive immersion programs in Arabic, Chinese, and Russian!
- Learn 1 year of language in 2 months and earn college credit
- Accelerate your learning with daily 1-on-1 skills training
- Live the language in immersion housing and classes
- Speed your learning by studying alongside enthusiastic and talented language learners
Rolling Application Deadline
- May 16, 2025
Learn more and apply here: https://languageworkshop.indiana.edu/overview
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
https://languageworkshop.indiana.edu/index.html
3. The Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien invites researchers to apply for up to 3 postdoctoral fellowships forthe academic year 2025/2026 for the research program EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE EAST—THE MIDDLE EAST IN EUROPE (EUME).
Location: Berlin / Closing Date: 26 March 2025, 12.00h (noon) CET
FAQ (PDF): https://www.eume-berlin.de/fileadmin/bilder/Forum/Ausschreibungen/CfA-2025-26-FAQ.pdf
EUME seeks to rethink key concepts and premises that link and divide Europe and the Middle East. The program draws on the international expertise of a growing network of scholars in and outside of Germany and is embedded in university and extra-university research institutions in and outside of Berlin. EUME supports historical-critical philology, rigorous engagement with the literatures of the Middle East and their histories, the social history and life of cities and the study of Middle Eastern political and philosophical thought as central fields of research not only for area or cultural studies, but also for European intellectual history and other academic disciplines. The program explores modernity as a historical space and conceptual frame. EUME is interested in questions relating to ongoing transformation processes in and between Europe and the Middle East, in re-imaginations of the past and present that contribute to free, pluralistic and just societies.
The program puts forward three programmatic ideas:
1) supporting research that demonstrates the rich and complex historical legacies and entanglements between Europe and the Middle East; 2) re-examining genealogical notions of mythical ‘origins’, and ‘purity’ in relation to culture and society; and 3) rethinking key concepts of a shared modernity and future in light of contemporary cultural, social, and political divisions and entanglements that supersede identity discourses as well as national, cultural or regional canons and epistemologies that were established in the nineteenth century.
EUME supports and rests upon interconnected research fields and themes that mark the open framework for the fellowship program that constitutes EUME:
Travelling Traditions: Comparative Perspectives on Near Eastern Literatures
represented by Friederike Pannewick (Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies/Department for Arabic Studies, Philipps-Universität Marburg) and Samah Selim (Rutgers University – New Brunswick) reassesses literary entanglements and processes of translation and canonization between Europe and the Middle East.
Cities Compared: Governance, Participatory Mechanisms and Plurality
represented by Ulrike Freitag and Nora Lafi (both Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin) contributes to the debates on civil society, participation, deliberation, opinion formation, citizenship, migration and mobilization from the experience of cultural and religious differences in cities around the Mediterranean and beyond.
Tradition and the Critique of Modernity: Secularism, Fundamentalism and Religion from Middle Eastern Perspectives
represented by Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva) tries to rethink key concepts of modernity like secularity, tradition, and religion in the context of experiences, interpretations, and critiques from the Middle East in order to contribute to a more inclusive language of culture, politics and community.
Politics and Processes of Change, Archaeologies of the Present, and Imaginations of the Future
are research themes that emerged during the last years and are represented by the work of several EUME Fellows and members of the Collegium (e.g. Cilja Harders, Friederike Pannewick, Rachid Ouaissa, Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin).
The Prison Narratives of Assad’s Syria: Voices, Texts, Publics (SYRASP), directed by Anne-Marie McManus, and Beyond Restitution: Heritage, (Dis)Possession and the Politics of Knowledge (BEYONDREST), directed by Banu Karaca, are two ERC funded projects related to EUME, hosted at the Forum.
Since 1997, more than 400 scholars from and of the Middle East have been EUME Fellows, who, by their scholarly projects, engagement, and their inquiries into the order of knowledge, society and politics, shape the academic program of EUME that is coordinated by Georges Khalil, Jessica Metz, Claudia Pfitzner and Rashof Salih at the Forum Transregionale Studien.
Fellowships
We invite scholars in the humanities and social sciences who want to carry out their research projects in connection with the Berlin-based program. The up to three fellowships announced here are intended to contribute to the mobility of researchers, and are primarily addressed to scholars from outside Germany. This year we especially encourage scholars from Palestine and its diaspora to apply.
As the number of fellowships we are able to offer is limited, we invite interested scholars also to apply with their own funding or contact us with the inquiry for support in finding third party funding. If this may be an option, please contact us via eume(at)trafo-berlin.de anytime.
Applicants should be at the postdoctoral level and should have obtained their doctorate within the last seven years. Fellows gain the opportunity to pursue research projects of their own choice within the framework of Europe in the Middle East—The Middle East in Europe. Successful applicants will be fellows of EUME at the Forum Transregionale Studien, and associate members of one of the university or non-university research institutes listed below or connected to the Forum Transregionale Studien.
The fellowships start on 1 October 2025 and will end on 31 July 2026. Postdoctoral fellows will receive a monthly stipend of 2,500 € plus supplements depending on their personal situation. Organisational support regarding visa, insurance, housing, etc. will be provided. Fellows are obliged to work in Berlin and to help shape the seminars and working discussions related to their research field. The working language of EUME is English.
Application Procedure
We kindly ask you to submit your application via the secure online application platform of the Forum Transregionale Studien by 26 March 2025, 12.00h (noon) CET:
https://application.trafo-berlin.de/
Please note that applications by email will not be considered.
As part of your application, you will be asked to prepare and upload the following:
— a curriculum vitae (including a list of publications);
— a project description (no longer than 5 pages), stating what the scholar will work on in Berlin if granted a fellowship, and
— the names of two university faculty members who can serve as referees (no letters of recommendation required).
In case of questions, please consult the FAQ or send an email to eume(at)trafo-berlin.de
Institutional Framework
Europe in the Middle East—The Middle East in Europe (EUME) has been initiated in 2006 as a joint research program of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. It builds upon the previous work of the Working Group Modernity and Islam (1996-2006). Since 2011 EUME is continued at the Forum Transregionale Studien.
In scholarly terms EUME is steered by a Collegium that currently consists of Ulrike Freitag (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin), Cilja Harders (Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin), Nora Lafi (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin), Rachid Ouaissa (Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Philipps-Universität Marburg / MECAM – Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb), Friederike Pannewick (Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Philipps-Universität Marburg), Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva), Samah Selim (Rutgers University), and Stefan Weber (Museum for Islamic Art, Berlin).
The Forum Transregionale Studien (Forum) is a research organization for the promotion of cross-border cooperation between scholars of different expertise and perspectives on global issues. Transregional approaches connect and confront diverse disciplines, regional, national and local positions and insights on global issues. The Forum provides scope for exchange on questions of science policy, epistemology and ethics, and develops infrastructures and formats that allow transregional research ideas and projects to be tested, implemented and communicated. The Forum is constituted by its members and the diversity of their research expertise and networks. It is committed to strengthening regional studies and to the principle of non-hierarchical research. It appoints scholars from around the world as fellows and engages in joint research programs and initiatives with partners from universities and research institutions in and outside Berlin. The Forum is funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Higher Education and Research, Health and Long-Term Care.
The Forum currently supports the following research programs and initiatives: Europe in the Middle East—The Middle East in Europe (EUME), Prisma Ukraïna – Research Network Eastern Europe, and re:constitution – Exchange and Analysis on Democracy and the Rule of Law in Europe. The Forum is a member of the consortium of MECAM: Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb, and of the research college EUTIM: Europäische Zeiten/European Times – A Transregional Approach to the Societies of Central and Eastern Europe. Zukunftsphilologie: Revisiting the Canons of Textual Scholarship and 4A_Lab: Art Histories, Archaeologies, Anthropologies, Aesthetics are connected programs developed at the Forum that are continued at other institutions.
For more information on the Forum, its programs, initiatives and communication, please visit
www.forum-transregionale-studien.de
TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research
https://trafo.hypotheses.org/
For further information on EUME and for detailed information on the research fields and themes, please visit
www.eume-berlin.de
For information on the research institutions in Berlin participating in EUME, please visit
— Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies, Freie Universität Berlin
https://www.bgsmcs.fu-berlin.de/
— Center for Middle Eastern and North African Politics, Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science,
Freie Universität Berlin
https://www.polsoz.fu-berlin.de/en
— Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient
https://www.zmo.de
— Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of Literary Studies, Freie Universität Berlin
https://www.geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de/en/friedrichschlegel
— Institute of Islamic Studies, Freie Universität Berlin
https://www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/en/e/islamwiss
— Museum for Islamic Art
https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/museum-fuer-islamische-kunst/
— Seminar for Semitic and Arabic Studies, Freie Universität Berlin
https://www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/en/e/semiarab
— Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Philipps-Universität Marburg
https://www.uni-marburg.de/de/cnms
— MECAM – Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb
https://mecam.tn/?lang=en
Contact Email
URL
https://www.eume-berlin.de/en/homepage
4. Indiana University’s Summer 2025 Language Workshop is now accepting applications for its intensive online Pashto program!
- 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
Rolling Application Deadline
- May 16, 2025
Learn more and apply here: https://languageworkshop.indiana.edu/pashto
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
https://languageworkshop.indiana.edu/index.html
5. Book Conversation by Dr. Marilyn Jenkins-Madina
Date: March 4th, 6:00 pm
Place: Columbia University, 825 Schermerhorn Hall
Dr. Marilyn Jenkins-Madina is Curator Emerita of the Department of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. During the forty years she served as a curator in that department, she played a key role in helping to create the museum’s first major (ten-gallery) installation of Islamic art as well as adding to the collection and organizing special exhibitions. With an MA in Art History from Columbia University and a PhD from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, she has lectured widely, published over 30 articles, and written or co-authored seven books, including the classic Islamic Art and Architecture 650-1250 with Richard Ettinghausen and Oleg Grabar. Her memoir, The Lure of the East: A Curator’s Fascinating Journey, was published by Rodin Books in 2024. Please join Dr. Jenkins-Madina in her discussion of her book in conversation with Dr. Lila Abu-Lughod at Columbia University, on March 4th at 6:00 pm.
If you plan on attending, we kindly ask you to register at this Google form no later than February 28th at 3:00 pm to be able to access the Columbia campus: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeru2mAJDzowUFoLW1GaquMSu0LEzifmUNI8D2KVs2i9n5rNQ/viewform
6. The CeRMI is pleased to invite you to the next session of the seminar “Societies, Politics and Cultures of the Iranian World”, which will be held next Thursday, February 20, 2025, 5pm-7pm, in room 4.15 at the INaLCO (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris XIII,4th floor).
We are pleased to welcome Ms. Eva Zahiri (CeRMI, IFI, Sciences-Po), for a lecture entitled: “For an Islamic Law of Our Time: The Renewal of Legal Thought in Iran“.
Summary:
The purpose of this presentation is to examine the transformation of Islamic law in Iran since the 1990s and 2000s. Contrary to the traditional interpretation of foqahā, which is rooted in objective natural law and an apologetic perspective, some contemporary Iranian jurists favor the method of historicity and the critical approach, with a view to enshrine legal subjectivity and equality. Although they do not belong to an established movement, they embody anembryonic but lasting historical process of ongoing restructuring.
Their doctrinal innovations were part of the rationalist usūlī tradition while renewing it in the light of the needs of Iranian society, which was recomposing itself. Despite the diversity of trends and nuances, all stress the need to think of the social contract on the basis of a renewed theory of law and a system of law guaranteeing legal certainty in national legislation. Their goal is to update and perpetuate the cardinal principle of justice to reflect the current Iranian way of life and maintain the universality of Islam.
Bibliographical orientations:
D āwood pherahi, fikh wa siyāsat rate irān-a mo’āser, vol. 1. ET 2 Tehran, Nasr-e, 1392/2013.
– Mohsen KADIVAR, Haqq al-nās. Eslām va hoquq-e bashar, Téhéran, Kavir, 1387/2008.
– Mohammad RĀSEKH, “Sharia and Law in the Age of Constitutionalism,” Journal of Global Justice and Public Policy, vol. 2, n° 2, 2016.
Sedigheh Wasmaghi, Zan, Fikh, ESL ām, Tehran, Samadiyeh, 1386/2007.
As a reminder, you will find the 2024-2025 program of the monthly research seminar “Societies, Politics and Cultures of the Iranian World” on the CeRMI website:
Contact: justine.landau@sorbonne-nouvelle.fr
7. The Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin is hosting a conference showcasing new academic books on the study of Middle Eastern Literature in its ongoing “New Perspectives on Middle Eastern Literatures and Cultures” series.
The conference will start on Thursday, February 27th at 3:30pm with a keynote speech by Nergis Ertürk. The rest of the talks will take place on Friday, February 28th. See this page for the full Friday schedule.
Register for the conference here: https://new-books-on-ME-lit.eventbrite.com.
The event will also be streamed live on Zoom. Register on the Eventbrite page for a virtual attendance ticket, and you will be sent the Zoom link.
8. ONLINE Lecture: „Tents and Fortresses, Palaces and Caves: Literary Architectures in Nezāmi’s Book of Alexander“ by Prof. Paul Losensky (Indiana University), Brown University, Providence, RI, 20 February 2025, 18:00 – 19:15 h CET
Building projects frame the career of Alexander the Great as told by the Persian poet Nezāmi Ganjavi (d. 1209) in his „Eskandarnāmeh“. Although Alexander`s encounters with palaces, religious sites, and domestic dwellings, shape his character significantly, leading to an ascetic critique of architecture as a whole, a critique symbolized by the natural shelter of the cave.
Information and registration: https://events.brown.edu/event/tents-and-fortresses-palaces
9. HYBRID Book Talk “The Political Ecology of Violence: Peasants and Pastoralists in the Last Ottoman Century” by Zozan Pehlivan, Ottoman and Turkish Studies Initiative, New York University, 20 February 2025, 23:30 h CET
The lecture will illuminate the environmental roots of intercommunal conflict in Ottoman Kurdistan during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Drawing on insights from climate science, agronomy, and zoology, Pehli-van offers a groundbreaking perspective on how extreme climate disruptions fueled tensions between Christian Armenian peasants and Muslim Kurdish pastoralists.
Information and registration: https://nyu.zoom.us/meeting/register/uOiEHhBMSHWh1_m4P5otOA#/registration
10. Workshop “Inheriting Empire? Transformations and Contestations of “Ottoman” Heritage”, Berlin, 13-14 March 2025
Through a focus on (post)-Ottoman lands and imaginaries, this workshop aims to engage with civilization, empire, nation, and heritage as constructs in flux, forever dependent on individuals, objects, ideas, and places that carry inherited meanings and become catalysts for new kinds of meaning making, as well. We will examine how multiple political projects have engaged in memory-making and heritage-making practices.
Deadline for registration: 7 March 2025. Information and program:
11. Extended deadline:
Workshop “Faking It – Forgery, Fraud, Deception and Dissimulation in the Pre-Modern Mediterra-nean (Including Near East and North Africa)”, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, 10-11 April 2025
Proposals are welcome from scholars of all ranks from across all disciplines of the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, as are papers from the Sciences, that engage in the broadest sense with social, historical and cultural aspects of the Mediterranean language, linguistics, literature, culture, society, art, and social, economic and political history, as well as anthropology, sociology, and other related humanities and social science disciplines.
Extended deadline for abstracts: 29 February 2025. Information: https://mailchi.mp/mediterraneanseminar/cfp-faking-it-forgery-fraud-deception-and-dissimulation-mediterranean-seminar-spring-2025-workshop-10-11-april-cleveland-2535779?e=82aeb6c61d
12. [KAIS] 2025 Korean Association of Islamic Studies (KAIS) International Conference Call for Papers
The Korean Association for Islamic Studies (KAIS) is pleased to announce that the upcoming joint international conference on “Religious Harmony and Tolerance in a Globalized, Multicultural Society-Religious Diversity and Social Solidarity: Beyond Conflict to Harmony-” will be held at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, Republic of Korea, on May 30th, 2025.
Founded in 1989, KAIS is the only academic association in Korea dedicated to Islamic Studies, with over 200 members from domestic and international universities and research institutions. The association has played a pivotal role in establishing and promoting Islamic Studies in Korea, which was once considered an academic void in the field.
In 2025, KAIS aims to expand its reach beyond Korea by fostering cooperation with universities, research institutions, and public organizations in key Islamic countries. In this regard, we kindly request the cooperation of your esteemed institution for this international conference and encourage the active participation of interested scholars.
This international conference, jointly organized by KAIS, the Korean Association for Buddhist Studies (KABS), and Christianity academic associations in Korea, will feature in-depth discussions on religious diversity, conflict, coexistence, and harmony.
《Session Details》
Session 1 will address “Islamophobia and Migration“. This session will examine the experiences of Muslims who have settled in Korea and the challenges they face. Through insightful presentations and in-depth discussions, we will explore the lives of Muslims living in different cultures and consider how we can move toward greater coexistence and harmony.
If you (or members of the association) are interested in participating, please respond to this email (Islamhakhoe@hanmail.net ) by February 28th, 2025 with a 250-300 abstract, including the title of the paper in English, along with a CV. The CV should include personal information (name, nationality and email address), affiliation & position, research interests, and research activities.
Papers should be presented in English, and participants wishing to present in Arabic should provide the title in English. For the publication of the conference proceedings, we recommend that manuscripts should be 5 to 10 pages on A4 paper or a PPT presentation with no more than 20 slides. The deadline for paper submission is April 30, 2025.
For inquiries or further information, please contact KAIS via our official email: islamhakhoe@hanmail.net
- February 15, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – The Shi’ah Institute: ‘Bringing the Nahj al-Balāghah to the world’
A JOURNEY OF DEDICATION AND WONDER
- February 14, 2025
- 0 Comment
- February 13, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Online Participation: ‘Typology of the Documents from the Safavid Period in the Astan-e Ghods (Tokyo, 22-23 March, 2025)
Applications are now open for online participation in the Two-Day Workshop on “Typology of the Documents from the Safavid Period in the Astan-e Ghods,” led by Elahe Mahbub and scheduled for March 22–23, 2025, in Tokyo.
For further details, please visit https://x.gd/ESWgD.
- February 12, 2025
- 0 Comment
Shi News – Academic Items
1. On Theocratic Criminal Law: The Rule of Religion and Punishment in Iran
Bahman Khodadadi
OUP, 2024
https://academic.oup.com/book/58208
2. UCLA IRANIAN STUDIES OUTREACH
BILINGUAL LECTURE SERIES
‘Women’s Rights and the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran’
Pegah Banihashemi
Sunday, March 9, 2025 at 11:30 am
Lecture in Persian
Zoom Registration:
https://ucla.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pM3LdrXXSriCfDMGfzVg8w
3. Harvard University – Senior Preceptor in Armenian
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68527
4. IJIA Dialogues
1 March, 2025 | 9:00–10:30 Pacific/12:00–13:30 Eastern/ 17:00–18:30 GMT
Building the Vernacular and the Everyday in Islamic Contexts
Much of the built environment in Islamic contexts facilitates the needs of everyday life. Self-built spaces are constructed by the community, and schools, housing and streetscapes are reshaped by users to better meet the needs of local people. Settings for assembly are made, adapted, and reshaped. Investigations of these design practices will broaden our understanding of spatial needs and intentions. Twentieth-century architects borrowed liberally from regional materials and traditions, winning awards for designs based on the work of master builders. We can question whether the vernacular label is a useful categorization for localized traditions or the contemporary revival of local practices. Why does vernacular design continue to be presented as if it is less meaningful than institutionally guided and canonical projects, or to be overlooked altogether? There are many ways to engage place-based design needs, communal spaces, and sites erected to facilitate learning, worship, festivals, ritual, and daily life.
Please join us for the annual ‘Dialogues’ roundtable as the International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA) brings together scholars and practitioners from varied disciplines for a discussion of critical contemporary issues that interrogate the boundaries between architecture, art, anthropology, archaeology, and history. In this year’s session, ‘Building the Vernacular and the Everyday in Islamic Contexts’, IJIA Associate Editor Angela Andersen and panelists Yasaman Esmaili, Hussein Keshani, and Solaiman Salahi will discuss the idea of the vernacular, how current needs act to shift and adapt past traditions, and how the digital realm intersects with local brick and stone.
Zoom registration: https://ubc.zoom.us/meeting/register/rEg-1JwKTmeZl9onMhPVtA
Yasaman Esmaili is an architect and educator based in Tehran, Iran. She is the founder of the award-winning Studio Chahar, which fosters community participation through collaborative architectural processes. Her work was shortlisted for the Aga Khan Award in 2022.
Hussein Keshani is Associate Professor and Program Coordinator in Art History and Visual
Culture at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Canada. He is a specialist in Delhi
Sultanate and Awadhi visual cultures, and digital art history.
Solaiman Salahi is a civil engineer and Fulbright Scholar based in Seattle, in the United States. He is experienced in sustainable design, and has been involved in creating safe learning environments for girls through sustainable educational infrastructure in Afghanistan.
View the event PDF here: https://www.intellectbooks.com/asset/92979/1/IJIA_Dialogues_2025_info.pdf
- February 11, 2025
- 0 Comment