Archive for January 24th, 2026

1. ‘”Political jurisprudence” in HTS, IS and Al-Qaeda texts: competing visions of Islamic government’

J S Islam, M S Siyech,

Politics, Religion and Ideology, 2025 (26/4)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21567689.2025.2606088

 

 

 

 

2. Online BRISMES event

What’s in an Archive? The Colonial and Anticolonial Afterlives of MENA Archives

Tuesday, 27 January 2026, 3-4:30pm (GMT)

Info and registration:

https://www.brismes.ac.uk/events/outreach-and-pedagogy/mena-archives

 

 

 

 

 

3. Imagining the Lūṭīand the people of Lūṭ

Jonny Lawrence
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 35 / Issue 4, October 2025, pp 985 – 1009
doi: 10.1017/S1356186325101089 Published Online on 14 November 2025

 

 

 

 

 

4. Spring 2026 funding: Laura Bassi Scholarship
The Laura Bassi Scholarship was established in 2018 with the aim of providing editorial assistance to postgraduates and junior academics whose research focuses on neglected topics of study, broadly construed. The scholarships are open to every discipline and the next round of funding will be awarded in Spring 2026
Spring 2026
Application deadline: 8 March 2026
Results: 20 March 2026

All currently enrolled master’s and doctoral candidates are eligible to apply, as are academics in the first five years of full-time employment. Applicants are required to submit a completed application form along with their CV through the application portal by the relevant deadline. Further details, including previous winners, and the application portal can be found at: https://editing.press/bassi

 

 

 

 

 

5. Companions of the Sun:
History and Mystery of Iranian Sacred Dance, Music, and Ritual
By Farima Berenji, PhD
ISBN: 978-1-963433-08-1
Sacred Dance/ Iranian/Persian | Paperback
Paper: 420 pages, 6 X 9, $29.95

See http://farimadance.com/companions-of-the-sun

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Khamseen 2026 Graduate Student Presentation Award

Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online offers talks and other resources to support teaching, learning, and research in Islamic art, architecture, visual culture, and related fields. Since the website’s launch in Fall 2020, new contributions by scholars in the field have grown our catalogue.

Khamseen‘s Graduate Student Presentation Award enables graduate students to feature their expertise and contribute a talk to Khamseen. This year, graduate students may partner with a mentor to collaborate on a presentation.

For this year’s Khamseen Graduate Student Presentation Award, we thus invite:

• PhD candidates (ABD) to submit a script of ca. 1,500 words and accompanying Powerpoint slides for a Topic presentation.

or

• A team consisting of a PhD student and a mentor (professor, curator, librarian, or more senior colleague) to submit a script of ca. 1,500 words and accompanying Powerpoint slides for a Topic, Term, or Hands-On presentation.

The award recipient(s) will work with our team to revise and then produce their presentation, and they also will receive a prize of $500 upon their talk’s launch on the Khamseen website.

Submission Guidelines:

Applications due: April 13, 2026

Notification of decisions: June 1, 2026

Eligibility:

PhD candidates (ABD) and advanced PhD students in their third year or above (for doctoral programs without candidacy) enrolled in a degree-granting program in Islamic art and allied fields. If submitting a collaborative presentation with a mentor, graduate students should be enrolled in a PhD program. We do not accept applications from undergraduate and Masters students.

Application Procedures:

Candidates should submit a polished script of ca. 1,500 words and accompanying Powerpoint slides for a Topic talk or, if in collaboration with a mentor, a Topic, Term, or Hands-On presentation following Khamseen‘s Guidelines. Additionally, applications should include a 3-5 sentence synopsis of the Topic or Hands-On presentation (note: this is not necessary if submitting a Term presentation), a 2-page CV, and a note of support from an advisor (e.g., a dissertation committee member) if the talk is submitted solely by a PhD candidate.

Please submit materials to TeamKhamseen@umich.edu; notes of support by advisors and queries by candidates also should be sent to TeamKhamseen@umich.edu.

URL

https://asia.si.edu/research/publications/seto-and-mino-ceramics-2026/

 

 

 

 

7. CFP: Ephemera & Place in the Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern Worlds

Graduate Conference at Yale University

Department of History of Art

Friday, April 17, 2026

Co-organizers: Blair Betik and Nicole Boyd, Ph.D. Candidates

Keynote Speaker: Professor Abhishek Singh Amar (Hamilton College)

Artists and architects of the ancient, medieval, and early modern worlds worked in anticipation of human action. Altars in Greco-Roman sanctuaries; frescoes in Renaissance villas; screen paintings in East Asian court complexes; and figurines in Mesoamerican tombs were all designed to enrich, animate, and accommodate an assortment of activities, including religious rituals, theatrical performances, diplomatic gatherings, and celebrations. Though these fleeting phenomena are known to art historians thanks to textual, visual, and material evidence, they test the limits of art historical inquiry, which has traditionally prioritized what is enduring, complete, and visible.
Ephemera & Place will bring together graduate students to explore how built spaces and site-specific artworks dating up to the year 1700 shaped and were shaped by ephemeral events. Recent scholarship has emphasized the “global” diffusion and transformation of artistic objects, techniques, forms, and subjects. This conference instead foregrounds the dynamic tensions which emerged in particular places across geographies in the pre-modern world as art and activity converged.

The event invites papers by graduate students across institutions and disciplines which consider:

• Methodologies for studying and representing ephemeral events in situ.
• The traces left on artistic and architectural programs by impermanent events.
• The way pre-modern art or architecture was designed with specific events in mind.
• How the experience of pre-existing art and architecture shaped rituals and events.

To submit: please send a brief abstract (around 300 words), a CV, and a short biographical statement to ephemera.place2026@gmail.com by February 1, 2026
Important Dates:

• February 1, 2026 → *new deadline to submit
• Early February, 2026 → *notification of acceptance
• April 17, 2026 → date of conference

 

 

 

 

 

8. Online Roundtable – Healthcare Architecture in Islamic Traditions/Translations – 7 March 2026

Please join the 2026 International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA) Dialogues online roundtable on the theme “Healthcare Architecture in Islamic Traditions/Translations,” taking place on 7 March 2026.

This annual Dialogues session explores how Islamic societies have shaped health-conscious architecture, from traditional practices to responses to epidemics and pandemics. Cansu Değirmencioğlu, Sara Honarmand Ebrahimi, and Kamyar Salavati will join IJIA Assistant Editor Deniz Avci for a discussion on culturally responsive approaches to healthcare design across hospitals, domestic spaces, and urban environments.

Join us for an interdisciplinary conversation on architecture, health, hygiene, and care in Islamic contexts.

7 March 2026 | 15:00–16:30 GMT / 6:00–7:30 Pacific / 9:00–10:30 Eastern

Register via Zoom:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83691919135?pwd=nNd8AKf7uZvzV3MKBezfZrvzNvevXD.1

URL

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83691919135?pwd=nNd8AKf7uZvzV3MKBezfZrvzNvevXD.1

 

 

 

 

 

9. Rørbye & Bindesbøll.
The Journey to Constantinople

David Collection, Copenhagen, Denmark
5 February 2026 – 23 August 2026
In December 1835, the steamship Levant cuts through cold winter winds as two Danish artists stand on deck, gazing toward the horizon. Ahead lies Constantinople: the great metropolis situated between East and West. For the painter Martinus Rørbye (1803–48) and the architect Gottlieb Bindesbøll (1800–56), their encounter with the city would mark a decisive turning point.
Two Artists Abroad
Rørbye and Bindesbøll crossed paths in Italy in the mid-1830s during their prolonged study tours abroad. After a stay in Naples, they decided to continue travelling together to Greece, which had recently gained independence from Ottoman control. From there, they were unexpectedly given the opportunity to travel on to Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire – an unusual destination for two Danish artists at the time.
They arrived in Constantinople (today Istanbul) in December 1835 and stayed for six weeks, producing a remarkable number of sketches. Rørbye focused on the life of the city: coffee houses, public fountains, and the crowds around the great mosques. Bindesbøll, by contrast, concentrated on architecture – its ornamentation, colours, and structures – often depicted in precise details rather than monumental overviews. On 1 February 1836, they left the city.
The journey to Constantinople proved transformative. Rørbye returned home and created a series of Orientalist paintings that quickly gained him recognition. For Bindesbøll, the impact of the journey was subtler, yet deeply embedded in his architectural work. His encounter with Ottoman ornamentation and polychromy played a significant role in shaping his highly personal style, most notably in Thorvaldsen’s Museum.
The Exhibition
With Rørbye & Bindesbøll. The Journey to Constantinople, the David Collection invites visitors to embark on this shared journey. The exhibition focuses on the stay in Constantinople as a clearly defined yet pivotal chapter in both artists’ careers.
Through travel sketches and a selection of later paintings, the exhibition traces the course of the journey and the motifs that preoccupied the artists. The exhibition combines a partly chronological structure with thematic sections, and reveals how experiences from the journey were processed and transformed after their return to Denmark. At the same time, it tells a broader story about artistic inspiration and about how shared experiences and mutual observation can shape very different artistic expressions.
Works and Publication
The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see works that have never been shown in combination, including several of Bindesbøll’s sketches that are exhibited for the first time. Loans have been secured from some of the country’s most important museums and institutions, as well as from private collections.
In connection with the exhibition, a richly illustrated book will be published in collaboration with Strandberg Publishing, featuring contributions by Mogens Pelt, Peter Thule Kristensen, Jesper Svenningsen, Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen, and Anette Lindbøg Karlsen. In the event program David’s Bazaar, visitors can also learn more about both the exhibition and present-day Turkey.
Dates: 5 February – 23 August 2026
For press images and further information:
m.vindahl@davidmus.dk

 

 

 

 

 

10. Lecture – “Framing Time and Space in Transcultural Dialogue: The Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh and the ‘Pictorial Turn’ in Ilkhanid Mongol Book Art,” Xinyu Liang, Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series, January 27

The first talk for the Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series spring 2026 semester will take place on Tuesday, January 27, at 12:00 New York / 17:00 London / 20:00 Istanbul.
Xinyu Liang (Metropolitan Museum of Art) will present “Framing Time and Space in Transcultural Dialogue: The Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh and the ‘Pictorial Turn’ in Ilkhanid Mongol Book Art.”

To attend, please register in advance here: https://wellesley.zoom.us/meeting/register/wo1hZhtqTDybICFJVwHpqA

Upon registration, you’ll receive the link to access the lecture.

As always, you can find a full schedule of upcoming talks and register for our list-serv on our website at viahss.org. Although not every talk is recorded, we also have recordings of several recent talks available on the VIAHSS Vimeo page at vimeo.com/viahss. Lastly, you can follow us on Instagram at @theviahss to stay up to date on upcoming events!

Contact Information

Drs. Alexander Brey, Jaimee Comstock-Skipp, and Rachel Winter

Contact Email

winterr6@msu.edu

URL

http://viahss.org

 

 

 

 

 

11. Arabic Seminars with Kevin Blankinship 1/29 on al-Maʿarrī’s Fables

Please find below information regarding our first meeting of the semester with Professor Kevin Blankinship (Brigham Young University) next Thursday (1/29) at 7pm EST in Faculty House. The talk is titled: “The Serpent and the Fox, and the Bird in the Jar: Two Eye-Popping Fables by al-Maʿarrī.”

Please note that due to new regulations, non CUID holders will not be allowed into Faculty House without prior notice. If you intend to be present in-person and do not have a Columbia ID, please RSVP ASAP by responding to this message. If we don’t receive your RSVP we will not be able to let you in. You should receive a QR code before Wednesday morning–if not, please reply to this message.  The talk will be live streamed here on ZOOM for guests who can’t make it in person.

We will begin at 7:00 pm. If you would like to join the speaker for dinner at 6:00 pm at Faculty House please RSVP to the seminar’s rapporteur (rma2152@columbia.edu). The cost of dinners is $30, payable via card or check.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SEMINAR IN ARABIC STUDIES

The Serpent and the Fox, and the Bird in the Jar: Two Eye-Popping Fables by al-Maʿarrī

Thursday, January 29, 2026

7 pm EST at Faculty House

Kevin Blankinship

 

 

 

 

12. Opportunity: Library of Congress Asian Division – Librarian In Residence 2026

We have an open call for a short-term Librarian-in-Residence (LIR) with a specific focus on community engagement utilizing the Asian collections: https://www.loc.gov/item/internships/librarian-in-residence/. This is one of seven LIR positions this year, and these are designed for students who earned or will complete their Master’s degree in library and information science from an ALA-accredited program between December 1, 2024 and June 13, 2026. The Asian Division project is the following:

 

• 4. Community Engagement: Researcher and Collections Services/General and International Collections Directorate/Asian Division. The Librarian-in-Residence (LIR) in the Asian Division (AD) will assist with AD’s initiative to engage new, younger, and online audiences, including students and young professionals. AD has traditionally excelled in serving established researchers such as doctoral students, faculty, and scholars at domestic and international institutions. An LIR position focusing on community engagement will help the division broaden its user base by identifying potential new segments and developing targeted outreach strategies to amplify awareness among younger audiences. Working closely with AD librarians and specialists, the LIR will identify content likely to appeal to younger users and will compile LibGuides as the go-to venue for connecting with and serving them. The LIR will also collaborate with the Informal Learning Center and the Office of Communications to determine effective channels and platforms for outreach. Strengthening AD’s social media presence will be another key responsibility, including creating content that resonates with target audiences. The LIR will participate in staff meetings, briefings, and tours; interact with researchers, patrons, and event attendees; and gather insights and feedback to guide the design and content of orientations and instructions. The LIR may also contribute posts to the 4 Corners of the World blog. This project strongly supports the General and International Collections Directorate’s performance goal to increase users’ engagement with services and expertise. It further complements the Researcher Experience Initiative by offering a model for language-based collections. The focus on Asian-language content may serve as a framework adaptable to other collections broadly. Candidates should be able to read in one of these languages: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, South Asian languages (examples: Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Sanskrit, Urdu), Southeast Asian languages (examples: Balinese, Burmese, Indonesian, Javanese, Khmer, Lao, Malay, Tagalog, Thai, Tetum, Vietnamese); Tibetan; Mongolian.

See the link above for more information, including information sessions on Friday January 16 at 12pm Eastern; Wednesday January 21 at 4pm Eastern; and Monday February 2 at 12pm Eastern. Note that the deadline is February 13, 2026. Please feel welcome to reach out to librarians-in-residence@loc.gov with questions, too.

All best,

 

Charlotte Giles, PhD

South Asia Specialist, Asian Division

Library of Congress

chgi@loc.gov

 

 

 

 

13. ONLINE Lecture “Erased in Solidarity: Middle Eastern Women and the US Progressive Imaginary” by Dr. Esha Momeni, Middle East Librarians Association (MELA), District of Columbia, 28 January 2026, 18:00 – 19:00 CET

The scholar will discuss how Middle Eastern women’s experiences and political demands are sys-tematically erased within contemporary US progressive discourse on recent Middle Eastern conflicts. Drawing on two decades of navigating US academia as a Middle Eastern woman and child of war, Dr. Momeni examines progressive responses to the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in Iran and the war on Gaza, demonstrating how gender and class analyses are conspicuously absent from these conversations.

Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/u46vb699

 

 

 

 

14. ONLINE Seminar “The Color Black: Enslavement and Erasure in Iran” by Beeta Baghoolizadeh (Middle East Institute, Columbia University), University of Turin, 29 January 2026, 17:00 CET

This is part of the Seminar Series “Histories Across the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf”

Information and registration: https://zenodo.org/records/18173844

 

 

 

 

15. HYBRID Book Talk “Borícua Muslims: Everyday Cosmopolitanism among Puerto Rican Converts to Islam” by Ken Chitwood (University of Bayreuth), Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies, 2 February 2026, 16:15 – 17:45 CET

Drawing on years of ethnographic research and more than a hundred interviews, Ken Chitwood tells the story of Puerto Rican Muslims as they construct a shared sense of peoplehood through everyday practices. Borícua Muslims thus provides a study of cosmopolitanism as a reality that complicates scholarly and public conversations about race, ethnicity, and religion in the Americas. Expanding the geography of global Islam, Borícua Muslims is an insightful reckoning with the manifold entangle-ments of identity amid late-modern globalization.

Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/3pj8m8wy

 

 

 

 

16. ONLINE “Networking Meeting for Early Career Scholars in Middle East Studies”, Organised by the “German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO)”, 9 February 2026, 12:00 CET

The meeting offers an opportunity to connect with peers, share research ideas, and collaboratively shape the program of the Werkstattgespräche at this year’s DAVO Congress in Munich (September 2026). Your perspectives and contributions are essential: Together, we aim to create a productive forum where you can receive valuable feedback, refine your research, and advance your academic career. The meeting also provides a chance to familiarize yourself with the German academic land-scape and expand your professional network.

Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/23f6kmcz

 

 

 

 

17. New Date of the “Congress of the German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO)”, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, 10-12 September 2026

After members’ feedback that the Oktoberfest begins shortly after the originally planned date, making hotel accommodation scarce and expensive, we have decided – together with the local organisers – to bring the DAVO Congress forward by one week. .

Information: https://tinyurl.com/37ycykmr

 

 

 

 

18. Workshop “Wine in the Middle East and North Africa: Images, Places, Markets, and Brands of a Contested Commodity”, Organised by Steffen Wippel, Freie Universität Berlin, 15-17 March 2027

The workshop aims to better address the still insufficient state of research by studying the Middle Eastern world of wines and vines, both past and present. A decisive theme of the workshop is to consider the region- and country-specific socio-cultural and political contexts and conditions that are usually given little consideration in wine studies. These contexts and conditions can impede the cul-tivation, trade, and consumption of wine, resulting in practices of dissimulation and invisibilisation.

Deadline for abstracts: 30 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/8r6ck9bt

 

 

 

 

 

19. Postdoctoral Fellowship (1 Year) on the Impact of U.S. Economic and Financial Policies on the Southwest Asia and North Africa Region, American University of Beirut

Eligible candidates should hold a PhD in Economics or a closely related field. The fellowship is aimed at researchers with a background in macroeconomics, international trade, finance, or development economics. Applicants should not have held, nor currently hold, a professorial position at another institution.

Deadline for applications: 1 February 2026. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/178844

 

 

 

 

20. Postdoctoral / Post-professional Fellowship (10 Months) for Research in Islamic Art, Architecture,

Urbanism, Design and Preservation at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The program is open to scholars with a Ph.D. and practitioners in any field related to architecture with at least three years of experience. Relevant fields include the history of art, architecture, landscape, and urbanism; as well as contemporary art, design, landscape, heritage studies, urban planning, anthropology, and archaeology.

Deadline for applications: 31 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yrzpwtj6

 

 

 

 

 

21. Financial Support for the Presentation of Research and Recommendations that Facilitate Policy-making in the Euro-Mediterranean Region by the “Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF)”

The Programme seeks to enhance the capacity of academic institutions to translate knowledge into visible, rigorous and actionable policies and practices that benefit civil society and tackle pressing challenges. Selected authors will receive a lump sum of 700 euro net for the production of a Brief and up to 500 euro net for the organisation of a dissemination event in their community of practice (“Academic Dialogue”) to foster peer discussions, intergenerational exchange, and visibility of their research.

Deadline for applications: 23 February 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/p3jbe945

 

 

 

 

 

22. Summer School “Critical Muslim Studies: Decolonial Struggles and Liberation Theologies”, Granada, Spain, 15-20 June 2026

We will have a dynamic faculty team for the 2026 program, bringing together diverse perspectives and approaches within Critical Muslim Studies – including Decolonial thought, Muslim women’s lib-eration perspectives, Islamic theology of liberation, and traditional Islamic scholarship.

Deadline for applications: 1 February 2026. Information: https://www.dialogoglobal.com/granada/