Archive for February, 2026
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Arab Media and Society: Issue 39 & New Call for Papers
https://mailchi.mp/1186645f16d7/now-available-issue-39-new-call-for-papers?e=f1106c9666
2. April 2026 ONLINE WORKSHOP Collectively Situated Knowledge: A Decolonial Research Method for Constructing Collective Auto-Narratives and Positionalities
upcoming opportunities to engage in collective, decolonial, and non-capitalist research practice offered by El Cambalache’s Department of Decolonial Economics.
This workshop is an invitation to unlearn extractive research, re-center care and reciprocity, and create knowledge collectively.
Dates: April 13th – May 5th, 2026
Time: All sessions are Mondays and Tuesdays:
- 8hrs to 10hrs, Mexico City Time,
- 15hrs to 17hrs, UK British Summer Time
- 16hrs-18hrs Central European Time,
- 20:30hrs-22:30hrs India Standard Time
Where? Online (Global Participation)
Language: ENGLISH
Apply Now! Limited spaces available
About the workshop:
This workshop explores collective auto-narrative, situated knowledges, and relational research methods.
Participants will co-create tools to reimagine research as care, relationship, and collective praxis.
This workshop addresses research methods for the creation of scholar/activist knowledge with indigenous, rural and organized urban communities that seek to create decolonial research methodologies. Through participatory practices of knowledge exchange:
(1) we will explore different auto-narrative types, review sample texts followed by writing practice
(2) we will then work to incorporate collective forms of knowledge creation
drawing on the decision-making structures of community assemblies
present in many rural and indigenous communities around the world,
(3) we will explore collective auto-narrative as a research method.
In this process we will dismantle the construction and practice of situating knowledge in order to create collective positionalities that reflect the construction of the self within the collective contexts that we inhabit. By exploring collective forms of agency in knowledge creation, we will delve into the multiplicitous protaganisms that conglomerate in creating praxis and have the potential to resist epistemicide.
This workshop will cover:
– Different auto-narrative types with a specific focus on autoethnography
– Methods and analyses for creating decolonial economic projects.
– Understanding ourselves as situated knowers and how to position ourselves collectively.
– Unlearning colonial paradigms of research and knowledge production.
– Rethinking value, exchange, and labor in research.
– El Cambalache as an example of an anti-capitalist and non-hierarchical research
For more information including a full description and how to apply click here to download a pdf: https://cambalache.noblogs.org/files/2026/02/collective-methods-online-2026.pdf
3. CfP: The International Symposium on Piri Reis and Maritime History – November 2024, Istanbul
In commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Kitāb-ı Bahriye, the International Piri Reis and Maritime History Symposium will be held at Piri Reis University from November 18 to 21, 2026.
The symposium aims to address the life and works of Piri Reis within their historical context through a multilayered perspective. The symposium will address, through an interdisciplinary approach, topics such as the reflections of Mediterranean-centered maritime experience in the Kitāb-ı Bahriye, Ottoman cartography, the circulation of knowledge during the Age of Geographical Discoveries, maritime strategies in the Mediterranean, and global maritime activities in the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean.
In this respect, the symposium seeks to explore the Ottoman maritime heritage within the framework of Piri Reis and the Kitāb-ı Bahriye, and to reassess the stages of development and transformation that maritime practices have undergone from the past to the present within an international academic setting.
For the symposium program, application requirements, and current announcements, please visit the symposium website: https://denizciliktarihi.pirireis.edu.tr/en/
Contact Information
Contact Persons:
Nilay Bahadır
nbahadir@pirireis.edu.tr
Orkun Burak Tafralı
obtafrali@pirireis.edu.tr
Contact Email
URL
https://denizciliktarihi.pirireis.edu.tr/en/
4. New Release: Maria-Vittoria Fontana (ed), Hodeida the Coastal Tehama (Yemen), published by Istituto per l’Oriente C.A. Nallino (Rome, 2025), 3 vols.
These three volumes are devoted to the Yemeni city of Hodeida, the main subject of two targeted survey campaigns
carried out in 1997 and 1999 by the Mission of the (then) Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli (IUO Mission to
Hodeida) under the direction of Maria-Vittoria Fontana; it also covered two other port cities on the Yemeni Tehama
Coast, namely Mocha and Loheia.
Dedicated to the memory of Eugenio Galdieri, this three-volume book discusses these three coastal spaces in
Yemen, though the city of Hodeida takes the lion’s share in the discussion. It contains 43 chapters, which are the
result of a collaborative work of seventeen specialists.
Volume 1:
Foreword by Claudio Lo Jacono,
Note on transliteration,
Maps,
Tribute to Eugenio Galdieri,
Preface and Acknowledgments,
Introduction,
Chapters 1-12 (Hodeida: its geo-morphological context, its history from antiquity to the present, its trade and
inhabitants, its urban planning, its city walls and gates, the city plan of its intra-mœnia city)
Volume 2:
Chapters 13-23 (Hodeida, the intra-mœnia city: the catalogue of the 151 historical buildings and their inscriptions
dating from the late 18th century to the 20th century, the catalogue of the wooden artefacts and the stuccowork,
brickwork, and stained glass of the catalogued buildings, the catalogue of the mosques, the so-called samsara, the
public weigh station, the construction techniques and materials; Hodeida, the extra-mœnia city: the sample buildings
and their inscriptions, their wooden artefacts, stuccowork, brickwork, and stained glass)
Volume 3:
Chapters 24-43 (Hodeida, the extra-mœnia city: the sample mosques, the governors' residences, the cisterns and
forts; Hodeida: the intra- and extra-mœnia cities: insights, comments and comparisons, including two chapters on
the Red Sea Style, the port and shipping lines; Mocha and Loheia: their historical buildings and their inscriptions),
Bibliographical references,
Index of names and places
5. The Digital Lab for Islamic Visual Culture & Collections is pleased to announce the third online calligraphy workshop with international artist and designer Hatem Arafa, taking place 28 Feb – 17 March 2026.
Hatem Arafa is an international designer and calligrapher trained at the Traditional Islamic Arts Faculty at FSMV University in Istanbul. His notable projects include the logo and interior calligraphy artworks for Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage (2023), commemorative coins for Djibouti (2023) and Qatar’s World Cup (2022), and interior calligraphy for the Cary Mosque, USA (2022).
- Duration: 3 weeks, with two 2-hour lessons per week (total of 6 lessons)
- Each 2-hour session will be held Saturdays & Tuesdays 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm EST / 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm UK
- Format: Live online on Zoom
- Focus: Teaching Diwani calligraphy, starting from individual letters to forming words and sentences
- Places are limited
Contact Information
Dr. Glaire Anderson
Senior Lecturer in Islamic Art, University of Edinburgh
Founding Director, DLIVCC
Contact Email
URL
https://www.digitallabivcc.com/calligraphy
6. Astrology and History in Early Islam
Aligning Heaven and Earth
EUP, 2026
Antoine Borrut
7. Cultural Brokerage in Premodern Islamic Societies
Edited by Uriel Simonsohn, Luke Yarbrough
EUP, 2026
8. Open Access – Afghanistan
8.2 (Oct, 2025)
9. Artificial Intelligence in EFL and Academic Writing: Pedagogical, Ethical, and Critical Perspectives from Global Higher Education
We have the pleasure to share with you our full issue on “ Artificial Intelligence in EFL and Academic Writing: Pedagogical, Ethical, and Critical Perspectives from Global Higher Education.”
For the full issue, click here
For the individual paper, click here
Call for papers for the 12th Special Issue on Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), July 2026
Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) welcomes the submission of papers for the July 11th special issue on Computer-Assisted Language Learning (July 2026). The issue publication date is July 2026. The deadline for manuscript submission is April 15, 2026. We ask you kindly to submit your paper according to the Manuscript Guidelines for AWEJ at our website www.awej.orgor go to this particular link http://awej.org/index.php/ps
Please send your paper and a brief bio (four lines for each author) by e-mail to: editor@awej.org
For more details, please click here
Kind Regards,
Editor: Arab World English Journal
https://awej.org/
10. Keynote Speakers Announced for 2026 BRISMES Annual Conference
We are delighted to announce that Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian and Dr Munira Khayyat will be joining us as keynote speakers at this year’s annual conference. Conference registration for presenting delegates is now open and registration for non-presenting delegates will open in April. We recommend booking your accommodation early if you are planning to attend the conference and have put together a list of accommodation options near SOAS University of London to help with this. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch by emailing conference@brismes.org.
11. Watch Recording of BRISMES Webinar “What’s in an Archive?”
We are pleased to share a recording of the BRISMES webinar “What’s in an Archive? The Colonial and Anticolonial Afterlives of MENA Archives” which was hosted by our Outreach & Pedagogy Committee on 27 January 2026.
12. BRISMES – Deadline Approaching for 2026 Early Career Development Scholarship
If you are an early career scholar who would benefit from funding to help support activities geared towards strengthening your academic profile and CV, then please consider submitting an application for the 2026 BRISMES Early Career Development Scholarship. Two awards of £3,000 each are available.
More information about eligibility criteria and how to apply is available on the BRISMES website. The deadline for submissions is 20 March 2026.
https://www.brismes.ac.uk/awards/ecds
13. Lecturer (Modern Middle East after 1800)
University of York
The Department of History is seeking to appoint a Lecturer in the History of the Modern Middle East (after 1800), possessing knowledge of Middle Eastern sources, peoples, communities, and languages. The post is offered on an open contract from September 2026.
Deadline | 19 March 2026
More information
14. Call for Applications | The Gibb Memorial Trust Scholarships
Funding
The Gibb Memorial Trust is offering three annual scholarships to students undertaking doctoral research at a British university in the field of the Trust’s activities. The scholarships support doctoral research in any area of Middle Eastern Studies (7th century to 1918) or in Classical Persian Studies.
Deadline | 30 March 2026
More information
15. Call for Papers | The 2026 International Conference of the Syrian Academics and Researchers’ Network in the UK (SARN UK)
Conference, University of Cambridge, 17-18 September 2026
The Syrian Academics and Researchers’ Network in the UK (SARN UK) is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for its 2026 international conference, co-hosted with the Margaret Anstee Centre for Global Studies (MAC) at Newnham College, University of Cambridge. This year’s theme, “Syria in Transition: Knowledge, Memory, and the Everyday Aftermath,” invites Syrian and Syria-focused scholars to reflect on the evolving role of academic, cultural, and intellectual work in shaping Syria’s futures.
Deadline | 15 May 2026
More information
16. Forced Migration, Masculinities, and Vulnerabilities in the Mediterranean
Book launch (hybrid) | LSE | 10 March
Join the LSE Department of Social Policy for the launch of Forced Migration, Masculinities, and Vulnerabilities in the Mediterranean, a new book examining forced migrant men’s vulnerabilities along the Central Mediterranean Route (CMR), which connects sub-Saharan Africa to Sicily via Libya.
More information
17. Iran, “Reverse savages, victims, saviours” politics, and the human rights moral maze
Online seminar | BISA | 12 March
In this seminar, Shadi Mokhtari will present select themes from her current book project examining the human rights politics surrounding Iran’s 2022 ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement. This event is convened by the Critical Alternatives for World Politics Working Group.
More information
18. UCLA – God’s Law, Man’s Rule: Debating Women’s Right to Health from Sacred Texts to the Taliban
MESA Global Academy
A lecture by Lutforahman Saeed (Visiting Scholar and Islamic Law Lecturer, Birgham Young University Law School, Provo)
Monday, March 2, 2026
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM PST
Online
https://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/event/17566
19. “14th Western Ottomanists` Workshop (WOW)”, Portland State University, Oregon, 15-16 May 2026
The workshop invites proposals on topics related to Ottoman history, culture, literature, art history, religion, and all other relevant fields.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4dzw5w9t
20. ONLINE Seminar: “Along the Borders of the Film Archive: Views of the Ottoman Empire” by Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi (Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam), REDMIX Seminar Series, 31 March 2026, 17:00 CET
Information and registration: https://redmix.eu/news-and-events/
21. 4th Annual Conference of the Research Group Empires on “Responding to Empire (Fo-cus MENA Region)”, University of Freiburg, Germany, 11-13 November 2026
We aim to explore a wide spectrum of responses to empires, moving from the binary of supporters and opposers, through shifting allegiances and unresolved positions, to more nuanced and often contradictory stances. Hence, considering both material practices and epistemological positions, the goal of this conference is to create a multifaceted picture of how these responses shaped the empire through time.
Deadline for abstracts: 13 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yb985ekf
22. “Intensive Summer Program for Ottoman Turkish”, Research Center for Anatolian Civ-ilizations (ANAMED), Koç University, Istanbul, 29 June – 31 July 2026
The program aims to develop students’ reading and comprehension skills and earn them exper-tise in a variety of Ottoman Turkish sources, including archival documents, manuscripts, and ep-igraphic material. The program is designed to accommodate participants with varying levels of Ottoman Turkish literacy. Persian, Arabic, and modern Turkish classes complement Ottoman Turkish classes. The languages of the program are Turkish and English.
Deadline for applications: 21 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yck8pykc
23. École d’été en islamologie IFI-Idéo « Sciences islamiques en dialogue : tradition azhar-ienne et islamologie critique », Le Caire, 13-26 juillet 2026
Condition pour candidater : être francophone (une connaissance en français niveau B1 est souhaitable), être inscrit en thèse de doctorat en islamologie ou dans une discipline affiliée, justi-fier d’un niveau linguistique en arabe équivalent à B1.
Les candidatures doivent être adressées avant le 1er avril 2026.
Information : https://tinyurl.com/2p9kfvs5
24. Mystique et solidarité dans le monde iranien
de Sylvie le Pelletier-Beaufond
Cerf, 2026.
Au coeur des cités iraniennes médiévales s’est développée une chevalerie sans équivalent ail-leurs dans le monde. Ni militaire ni aristocratique, mais urbaine, fraternelle et spirituelle, elle unissait artisans, commerçants et maîtres de métiers autour d’un idéal exigeant de noblesse intérieure. Bonté, générosité, pardon et solidarité n’y relevaient pas du discours moral, mais d’une manière concrète de vivre et d’agir au sein de la cité.
Information : https://tinyurl.com/5fj8eejb
- February 28, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – CfP: The Thought, Life, and Teachings of Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (Leiden, 2-3 December, 2026)
Abstract Deadline: 15 April 2026
- February 27, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- February 26, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.“The Mythmaking of Silk Roads: Reinventing Eurasian Heritage
- in Japan, 1880-1980”.
The Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, and Cluster of Excellence “EurAsia Transformations” (Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna), are pleased to co-host the Tobunken Seminar: “The Mythmaking of Silk Roads: Reinventing Eurasian Heritage in Japan, 1880-1980”.
As the opening event of the four-day programme “EurAsia-Tokyo Academy”, this seminar aims at investigating, by focusing on Japan as a case study, how the knowledge of Eurasian
heritage acquired during the late nineteenth and much of the twentieth centuries have influenced the way in which many people worldwide came to understand the visual, material and textual legacies of the trans-Eurasian trade network called “Silk Roads”.
Date and Time: Tuesday, 17 March 2026, 16:30 (JST)
Venue: Room 302, 3rd floor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia,
University of Tokyo and online via Zoom
Language: English
Pre-registration is required for both in-person and online
participation. Please complete the registration form at
< https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.gle%2FUHwpGULSFWwpbops8&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ccc8948528d2548e7e42908de724aacab%7C2e9f06b016694589878910a06934dc61%7C0%7C0%7C639073862217779188%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=aBfvpCs7hph6Tor4qRZ88iKJTd%2B9ntUJeRRysxxgyvA%3D&reserved=0>
by Tuesday 10 March, 24:00 (JST).
A Zoom link will be sent to all
registrants by the end of the following day.
Co-organised by: Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of
Tokyo, and Cluster of Excellence “EurAsia Transformations” (Austrian
Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna)
Contact: Kazuo Morimoto (morikazu@ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp )
Programme
16:00-16:30 Arrival
16:30-16:45 Welcome: Kazuo Morimoto (The University of Tokyo)
Introduction: Yuka Kadoi (University of Vienna)
16:45-17:15 Shamim Homayun (The University of Tokyo)
Placing Afghanistan on the Silk Road: Japanese Encounters with the
Bamiyan Buddhas, 1926–1969
17:15-17:45 Francesca Fiaschetti (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Mapping the Steppe: Twentieth-Century Japanese Scholarship on Mongols
and Inner Asia
17:45-18:00 Discussion
2. In the Rose Garden: Poetic Reponses to Sa’di. Art of the Islamic Worlds at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.(Deadline: March 1)
Public program at MFAH: March 26, 2026.
Art of the Islamic Worlds invites creative writers to respond to the Gulistan (Rose Garden), the major work of the preeminent 13th century Persian poet, Shaykh Sa’di. A series of amusing, witty, and wise tales interweaving prose and poetry offer reflections on topics such as ‘Love and Youth,’ ‘The Customs of Kings,’ and ‘The Advantages of Silence.’ The work speaks to 21st-century concerns about ethics and justice, as it did to 19th-century poets including Emerson and Thoreau. A 19th-century illustrated manuscript of the Gulistan replete with lively paintings from the Indian kingdom of Alwar is on view in the Hossein Afshar Galleries for Art of the Islamic Worlds. Selected writers will read their works in the Art of the Islamic Worlds Galleries at the MFAH.
For details and submission information, please visit: https://www.mfah.org/art/in-the-rose-garden-poetic-reponses-to-sadi. Contact: ahosain@mfah.org.
3. Open Access Publication – Ars Orientalis 55
The National Museum of Asian Art is pleased to announce the launch of Ars Orientalis (AO) volume 55, co-published with the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
AO is a journal of the latest research in art of the Middle East and Asia, a collection of scholarship that crosses academic disciplines and covers a range of time periods, materials, and regions. After decades of guest-edited thematic volumes, since AO 54, the publishers have returned to a model of open submission, inviting articles related to the arts of Asia without restriction.
In addition to a range of articles on the arts of Asia, AO 55 introduces “New Directions,” an occasional feature comprising a longer, non-peer reviewed article on current scholarship and/or the state of the field. The inaugural “New Direction” piece, written by Gülru Necipoğlu, is based on her 2023 Freer Medal presentation at the National Museum of Asian Art. It offers a fresh perspective on a highly innovative pictorial language that developed in Iran and Iraq at the turn of the fourteenth century and stands out for its adoption of both Chinese and European aesthetics. “Conversations from the Field” is a timely mediation on the role and function of physical and digital replicas of works of art. One essay examines the role of plaster casts of Ancient Near Eastern art and the use of digital apps to strengthen the experience of these works at the Museum of Ancient Near East, Harvard University. A second essay discusses replicas of the rarely seen treasures of the Shōsōin Temple in Nara, Japan. Expanding on the theme of replicas, the “Digital Initiatives” explores the benefits and limitations of interactive digital models for objects of religious art.
The volume is available Open Access: https://asia.si.edu/research/publications/ars-orientalis/browse-volumes/ars-orientalis-issue-55/. The physical volume is also available for pre-order here https://asia.si.edu/research/publications/ars-orientalis/order-ars-orientalis/
Table of Contents
- Introduction. Massumeh Farhad and Sana Mirza
- The Ernst Herzfeld Papers at the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution: Identifying the Palmyrene Squeezes. Eleonora Cussini
- Nebuchadnezzar’s Draw: Revisiting Philips van Winghe’s Sketches of the Azuchi Screens in Lorenzo Pignoria’s Le imagini de gli dei de gli antichi. Mark K. Erdmann
- The Courtesan’s “Role Portrait”: Brothel Performances and the Qiu Ying Models in Late Ming Suzhou.Peng Xu
- 名妓的“角色肖像”：晚明苏州青楼表演与仇英范式. Peng Xu (徐芃)
- The Matter of Sculpture: Isamu Noguchi and Early India. Kalyani Madhura Ramachandran
New Directions
- The Jalayirid Contribution: A Topkapi Palace Album with Images in the Persianate, Chinese, and European Manners (Ca. 1350–1500). Gülru Necipoğlu
Conversations from the Field
- Reviving Neo-Assyrian Casts: Adam Aja in Conversation with Antonietta Catanzariti. Antonietta Catanzariti with Adam Aja
- What is a Replica: Reflections from Shōsōin THE SHOW: Bryan Lowe and Akiko Walley in conversation with Kit Brooks. Kit Brooks with Bryan Lowe and Akiko Walley
Digital Initiatives
- New Perspectives on Religious Art Through the Digital Twin: Two Stelae of Pārvatī from East India.Gerald Kozicz and Di Luo
4. The Islamic College – Short Course: Recitation of the Qur’an
Course name:Recitation of the Qur’an
Type:In-house short course
Instructor: Mrs Alsalemi
Intended for: Men and women over 18 years
Course Structure:
- Part 1: Tajweed One — 6 sessions
- Part 2: Tajweed Two — 6 sessions
- Total: 12 sessions
Course fees:
- £100 for 6 sessions
- £200 for 12 sessions
Schedule:
5 June – 28 August
Every Friday morning, 10:30am – 12:30pm
More information: E-mail admissions@islamic-college.ac.uk or
phone +44 (0) 208 451 9993
Register at:
https://islamic-college.ac.uk/registration-recitation-of-the-quran/
5. Hybrid: UCLA
Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series
Ancient Iran and Central Asia
Interactions and Shifting Identities
Professor Frantz Grenet (Collège de France)
A Series of Four Lectures in March 2026 at 4:00 pm Pacific Time
Royce Hall 314 and via Zoom
Lectures
Wednesday, March 4, 4:00 pm PST
“A World between Worlds: Geography, History, and
Identity of the Early Kušāns
(First Century CE)”
Friday, March 6, 4:00 pm PST
“Kušān Rulers: In Search of an Imperial Narrative
(Second to Fourth Centuries CE)”
Monday, March 9, 4:00 pm PDT
“Eastern Iranian Contributions to the Construction of the Šāhnāme: Kušāno-Sasanians, Sīstānīs, and Sogdians
(Fourth to Eighth Centuries CE)”
Wednesday, March 11, 4:00 pm PDT
“Philhellenism among the Hunnic Elites
(Fifth to Eighth Centuries CE)”
A public reception will follow the final lecture.
Register at:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeZe_cBLuKnqqj9EeyA6_ztn0RkV6UCmch3IQU004bGv8ml3A/viewform
6. Harvard University – NELC – Lecturer in Armenian Studies
https://networks.h-net.org/jobs/69814/harvard-university-nelc-lecturer-armenian-studies
Closing date: 21 March, 2026
7. Call for Workshop Abstracts
Friendship: Intimacy, solidarity, and political transformations in South Asia and the Middle East
The Center for Arab and Islamic Studies (CAIS) at Villanova University invites you to submit abstracts for consideration in a workshop on Friendship: Intimacy, solidarity, and political transformations in South Asia and the Middle East to be held at Villanova on 13-14 November organized by Anusha Hariharan (Villanova) and Aslı Zengin (Rutgers). The accepted papers will be considered for a forum in the Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (JSAMES).
The age-old Aristotelian axiom that ‘friendship forms the basis of political life’ (Ward 1997) has always found purchase in studies of politics across the humanities and social sciences. However, the elevation of friendship as the ideal relationship that provides the moral foundation for democracy became expedient around the mid-20th Century. The end of World War II, and administrative decolonization across Asia and Africa not only illuminated social inequalities, but also gave birth to new nation-states. While the ‘citizen’ was the desired base unit of political life, the ‘friend’ was touted as the relationship category that spoke most to ethical life (Foucault 1997; Derrida 2005; Gandhi 2006; Roach 2012; Nixon 2015). The relational category was – and still is – seen to espouse the central ethics and values of liberalism: equality, fraternity and fellowship. Such essential values, newly minted nation-states believed, would enable fledgling democracies, like themselves, to flourish (Ambedkar [1957] 2011).
Concerns problematizing friendship have become even more pertinent and expedient in the twenty-first century, where it starts to form the critical basis for political life under fascist regimes that erode the human spirit and the moral fabric of communities globally (Whitaker 2011; Nagar et al 2016; Chowdhury and Philipose 2016; Forster and White 2025). Centering these concerns, this workshop brings together scholars of South Asia and the Middle East where major political upheaval has unfolded in the last quarter of a century. Ranging across the humanities disciplines of History, Anthropology, Human Geography, Global/Area Studies, Gender and Queer Studies, participants are asked to center the study of friendship in the context of political activism, community-building and world-making. The symposium participants will be invited to engage with the following questions:
- How do friendship relations form the ethical basis for political solidarity and human flourishing in the twenty-first century?
- What are the different aspects of emotional, ethical and political labor required by activists and community organizers to maintain friendship and solidarity in the longue durée, and work towards social and political transformation in local and global contexts?
The idioms of friendship across South Asia and the Middle East are also inscribed within the particular cultural histories and social dynamics in these regions (Ali and Flatt 2017). In both regions, friendship by default summons the category of the political, as friendship is the relational form that implies liberal choice is forged outside of the normative expectations of kinship and caste/clan. Further, scholars have demonstrated how friendship represents a form of social resistance to both normative society’s boundaries and the state’s repression of intimacy across ethnic, denominational, religious or caste-based differences (Tambar 2019, Hariharan 2025, Zengin 2026, Kanagasabai and Phadke 2023). Friendship communities, in that sense, offer us a glimpse of prefigurative politics, where activists enact the egalitarian and democratic societies that pepper their future political imaginaries.
This workshop will pay attention to these extant cultural idioms and genealogies of friendship, and in doing so, will further Jacqui Alexander and Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s (2010) invitation to: “create knowledge that is location-specific rather than location-bound”. Mapping friendship relations specific to the macro-region of South Asia and the Middle East offers us new avenues to theorize protest cultures and the everyday life of revolution through the lens of intimacy in a part of the world where communities have not only survived the political upheavals they have witnessed in the twenty-first century, but are thriving and flourishing owing to collective human creativity.
All accepted papers will be considered for publication in a forum of the Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (JSAMES), a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal sponsored by the CAIS and published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. The JSAMES is interested in interdisciplinary scholarship that explores the unique political, social, and economic formations and their historical antecedents that contribute to region-making in our contemporary age. The JSAMES is edited by Samer Abboud (Villanova University). Further journal information, including a list of editorial board members, can be found here.
Please direct any questions to JSAMES’ Managing Editor, Dina Baslan (dina.baslan@villanova.edu). For submissions, fill out this form.
The workshop timeline is as follows:
April 3 Submission of abstracts (~250 words)
Late April Notification of acceptance
Early September Virtual participants meetings
October 5 Submission of paper drafts (~4000 words)
November 13-14 Workshop
January 15 Submission of final papers for review (4000 words)
Contact Email
URL
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdElZvt7yWa9otyW4XpLp-28DXRM_cZ5gZs0x2…
8. Hybrid: The University of Edinburgh – Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
The 2026 Montgomery Watt Lecture will take place on Monday 2nd of March at 5pm in Lecture Theatre A (40 George square).
Prof. Emily Selove from the University of Exeter will present on:
Medieval Arabic Magic between Historical Cartoons and Philological Inquiry
Abstract
This lecture explores key themes in the study of Medieval Islamic occult texts, focusing especially on jinn and other unseen entities invoked in Arabic grimoires such as Sirāj al-Dīn al-Sakkākī’s (d. 1229) Kitāb al-Shāmil wa-baḥr al-kāmil. We will examine the methods by which sorcerers, philosophers, and other thinkers of the age studied the nature of these beings and the best way to interact with (or avoid) them. We will also explore the relationship of illusion and trickery to magic and the esoteric in this historical context. Each topic is illustrated with a historical cartoon from Popeye and Curly: 120 Days in Medieval Baghdad. Thus we will walk the line between seriousness and play (jidd wa hazl) in approaching the study of Medieval Arabic literature in general, and the Islamic Occult in particular.
If you would like to join us in person please register here: https://wm-watt-lecture-selove.eventbrite.co.uk
If you would like to join us online, please email marie.legendre@ed.ac.uk for the zoom link.
See also: https://llc.ed.ac.uk/islamic-middle-eastern/events/watt-lecture
- February 24, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Online: ‘Shia Rituals, Student Activism, and Public Space in Italy’ ( M Mirshahvalad, 4.3.26, 18.00 CET)
ONLINE Webinar “From Hidden Rooms to City Streets: Shia Rituals, Student Activism, and Public Space in Italy” by Minoo Mirshahvalad (University of Copenhagen), NYU-Roma Tre Permanent Global Seminar, 4 March 2026, 18:00 CET
This paper examines how Shia Muslims – particularly Iranian students – navigated and reshaped Italian urban spaces between the early 2010s and 2018. It explores how a marginal religious minority negotiates its right to urban presence through evolving practices of visibility, how students act as cultural mediators, and how Italian urban spaces both limit conventional forms of public religiosity, but also open space for creative and locally adapted modes of ritual expression.
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/4hc974ka
- February 23, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. The Islamic College
Monthly Talk: Modern Readings of the Quran
through a Gendered Lens
Speaker: Professor Asma Afsaruddin
Date: 27 February 2026
Time: 6:00-7:30 pm (London time)
Location: Online
https://islamic-college.ac.uk/afsaruddin-registration/
2. Enroll: Medieval & Early Modern Cartography: An Introduction (June 22-25: Remote)
The Summer Skills Seminar, “Medieval & Early Modern Cartography: An Introduction” will be held via Zoom from Monday, 22 June to Thursday, 25 June 2026 from 10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm MDT.
Regular Registration until April 26
This Summer Skills seminar addresses the importance of maps in medieval and early modern society in terms of their production, function, display, and their contribution to a mapping mentality. Over four days we will study different types of maps from Islamic and Christian territories in relation to their form, content, use, and context. This course will not be addressing the geographic accuracy or scientific basis of cartographic works; rather they will be assessed as material, visual, and aesthetic products and as repositories of a newly formulated system of signs that promoted novel ways of seeing. We will work here to integrate maps more fully into art historical discourses while analyzing them as ideological objects.
Course overview
Over the course of the Middle Ages, cartographic works came to play a significant role in Mediterranean visual culture. This Summer Skills course addresses the importance of maps in medieval and early modern society in terms of their production, function, display, and their contribution to a mapping mentality. Over four days we will study different types of maps from Islamic and Christian territories in relation to their form, content, function, and context. This course will not be addressing cartographic works in terms of their geographical accuracy or contribution to scientific knowledge; rather they will be assessed as material, visual, and aesthetic products and as repositories of a newly formulated system of signs that promoted novel ways of seeing. We will work here to integrate maps more fully into art historical discourses while analyzing them as ideological objects. Art historians have long acknowledged the non-transparent nature of visual imagery and the inquiry of cartographic works undertaken in this course will illuminate the great power that maps had for their producers and consumers.
Course sessions:
Day One will set the stage for an in-depth analysis of cartographic works by asking the question “What does it mean to make a map in the medieval and early modern Mediterranean?” The second topic of the day will be mappaemundi or world maps. These maps constitute some of the earliest cartographic works created in the Mediterranean in both Christian and Muslim traditions. Their close connection to religious communities (as both producers and consumers), spatio-temporal qualities, rich visual imagery, and their melding of religious content and geographical information made them powerful storytelling tools. We will conduct contextual analyses of several world maps to assess the cultural work that maps could perform for an array of patrons and audiences. The availability of digital reproductions of these complex maps will allow course participants to analyze the detailed textual and visual content presented in these cartographic works. We will study a number of world maps, including the Hereford Mappamundi, Fra Mauro’s Mappamundi, and al-Idrisi’s map made for Roger II.
Day Two will focus on a revolutionary new form of mapmaking created during a pivotal moment in the history of cartography: portolan charts and texts from the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Previously mapping had existed almost exclusively in the religious domain but this time period saw the formulation of new cartographic representations that were completely secular in nature and practical in function, created to gauge distances and identify ports and landmarks, while elucidating social customs in foreign locales. We will assess the relationship between navigational charts and traditional world maps while exploring how portolans forged a distinctive visuality for a new audience of mariners and merchants. Some monuments addressed in this class session will include the Carte pisane, navigational charts made by Pietro Vesconte, Abraham Cresques, etc., portolan texts such as the Liber de existencia riverarium, and the Compasso da navegare, and maps from the Fatimid Book of Curiosities.
Day Three will introduce cartographic works that served novel functions in medieval and early modern society. By the fifteenth century, secular mapmaking traditions had become so embedded into cultural practices that they were designed for a broader clientele to serve cultural and political purposes: luxury gifts, political statements, expressions of sovereignty, and displays of wealth and sophistication. We will highlight the transformation of maps into aesthetic objects of prestige that were displayed prominently in public settings. We will also look at highly politicized contexts for maps in which they lay claim to territory and visualize sovereignty in a competitive Mediterranean environment. Some works to be addressed on Day Three include Vesconte’s maps for Marin Sanudo’s Liber secretorum, maps by Opicinus de Canistris, atlases and luxury presentation maps, and painted wall maps for homes and palaces.
The second half of Day Three will comprise theoretical considerations of maps and mapmaking. We will approach the cartographic content addressed in the first three days in relation to various methodologies and new approaches to the study of cartography. How does the visual system of a map create a mapping mentality that defines how people perceive spaces, places, and things? How do maps create communities of inclusion and exclusion? How do maps mean differently depending upon one’s gender, ethnicity, occupation, and/or religious affiliation? What new approaches can scholars and students apply to the study of maps to tap their extraordinary cultural potential? We will end the course with a discussion of new directions in the study of cartography.
On Day Four we will summarize and catalyze the content presented in the first three days of the seminar. How can we characterize the field of Mediterranean cartography and what new questions might we ask of this material? What did the participants learn from the seminar and how might this content and methodology be incorporated into their own research agendas. This will be a day of dialogue and discussion concerning new directions in the study of medieval and early modern cartography.
Faculty
The course will be conducted by Prof. Karen Rose Mathews (Department of Art and Art History, University of Miami). She received her B.A. in Art History from UCLA and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Chicago. She has received grants from the Graham Foundation, Kress Foundation, Program for Cultural Cooperation, and the American Research Center in Egypt in support of her research. She published Conflict, Commerce, and an Aesthetic of Appropriation in the Italian Maritime Cities, 1000-1150 (Brill) in 2017 and was lead editor for the volume A Companion to Medieval Pisa (Brill, 2022). Her numerous articles focus on various aspects of medieval Mediterranean visual culture, with a particular emphasis on artistic production in Spain, Italy, and Egypt, including a comparative assessment of civic ceremonial and its architectural framing published in 2025. She has been conducting research on Mediterranean cartography since 2015. An article published in 2022, “Mapping, Materiality, and Merchant Culture in Medieval Italy, 1150-1400,” studies the relationship between cartography, architectural decoration, and new visual systems in the Italian maritime republics. Two more articles in preparation assess Islamic and Christian cartographic traditions in terms of their use in navigation, the perspective they provide on the Mediterranean, and their creation of a new visual vocabulary of signs.
Prerequisites & preparation
Recommended prerequisites: AP Art History courses or introductory surveys. Some upper division or graduate art history coursework is ideal but not required
Please note: sessions will not be recorded; synchronous attendance is required.
Application & Information
The regular application period is until April 26.
There is an [///s/Summer-Skills-Application-Deposit.pdf ]application deposit of $100USD or €100. This will be refunded when course payment is made.
Late applications will be accepted if there is availability and will be subject to a late fee.
If you are not accepted your application deposit will be refunded.
Applicants will be advised of acceptance by May 1. Payment is due on 15 May. Applicants waiting on a grant or subvention should contact us without delay to make arrangements.
Late applicants may be accommodated if space remains. For late applicants full payment will be due within three days of acceptance, including a $75 surcharge for late applications, or be subject to an additional fee.
All payments are final and non-refundable. A letter of confirmation/ receipt will be provided by the Mediterranean Seminar, together with a certificate of completion once the course has concluded.
Apply via this form
NOTE: Numbers are limited; participants are encouraged to apply early.
Fees
There has been no increase in fees for 2026
• $1100 for Full Professors, Librarians & Professionals
• $825 for tenured Associates, Emerita/us, Retired Faculty, Independent Scholars & Non-Academics;
• $575 for non-tenured Associates and Assistants, Postdoctoral Fellows & Graduate and Undergraduate students;
• $400 for Adjuncts, Lecturers & Contingent faculty.
Limited reductions are offered to applicants who are (1) nationals; (2) current residents; (3) AND faculty or students in low-per-capita GDP countries may apply for a reduction (the Low-GDP Bursary program).
Payment information will be provided at the time of acceptance. Posted fees do not include a 5% processing fee.
[///s/How-do-we-determine-our-fees.pdf ]How do we determine our fees?
[///s/Can-I-get-a-reduction-in-fees.pdf ]Can I get a reduction in fees?
[///s/Why-are-there-sometimes-supplementary-charges.pdf ] Why are there sometimes supplementary charges?
[///s/Why-have-our-fees-gone-up.pdf ]Why have our fees gone up?
[///s/What-is-the-low-GDP-Bursary-program.pdf ]What is the low-GDP Bursary program?
Proposed Program
Monday, 22 June 2026: Introduction and Mappaemundi
10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm
1. Introduction to cartographic visuality
2. Mappaemundi—Patrons, audiences, and storytelling potential
Tuesday, 23 June 2026: Portolan Charts and Text
10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm
1. Secular mapmaking traditions—function and audience
2. Relationship of portolans to traditional world maps
Wednesday, 24 June 2026: Novel Uses for Maps and Theoretical Approaches to Cartography
10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm
1. Novel uses for navigational charts and world maps
2. Theoretical Approaches: Maps and/as Representations
Thursday, 25 June 2026: Conclusions and Participant Presentations
10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm
1. Conclusions
2. Participant Presentations
Important dates:
Application period: 26 April 2026
Acceptance/stand by notifications: 5 May 2026
Full payment: 12 May 2026 (subject to extension for late applicants/ or pending grants)
NOTE: Numbers are limited; participants are encouraged to apply early.
Information
For general information regarding fees, enrollment, and administrative matters, contact the Mediterranean Seminar; for questions regarding seminar content and materials, contact the instructor directly.
3. Workshop: Genealogies in Motion: Recording, Visualizing, and Mobilizing Lineage across the Islamicate World.
The Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, in collaboration with the Department of Islamic Studies at the University of Bonn and the Japan Office of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, is organizing a workshop entitled “Genealogies in Motion: Recording, Visualizing, and Mobilizing Lineage across the Islamicate World.”
Dates: 26 March (Thu), 12:00–19:00, and 27 March (Fri), 10:00–15:45 (–17:30) (JST)
Venue: Room 303, 3rd Floor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, and online via Zoom.
For further information, please visit: https://www.ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/news/news_en20260218115213/
4. ONLINE Webinar: ‘Material Networks: The Chehel Sotun Carpet Between Iran and the Deccan’
With Margaret Squires
British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS), 25 February 2026; 5:00 pm UK Time
This talk traces the little-known history of a massive carpet woven in the Deccan for the Chehel Sotun palace in seventeenth-century Isfahan. Dismantled and dispersed in the late nineteenth century, the carpet, said to have measured a staggering 9 by 18 meters, now survives as fragments scattered across at least eleven collections worldwide.
By digitally reconstructing the complete carpet through technical analysis of the fragments, archival sources, and architectural evidence, this research reveals an object shaped by transcultural networks connecting Safavid Iran and the Deccan sultanates. Attention to the distinct material and technical qualities of the fragments is key for understanding the dialogue that took place not only between those who ordered and oversaw the carpet’s production, but the network of designers and weavers who conceived and executed this extraordinarily ambitious project.
This talk will also touch on the carpet’s nineteenth and twentieth century afterlives, during which it was transformed from an integral lining of the palace to a collectible object of fascination
Information and registration:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_K5oi7TiBSiOvny4PMCdjfw#/registration
5. The Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series (VIAHSS) is pleased to announce our Spring 2026 program. Please note that all talks will take place on Tuesdays at 12 noon EST/5PM UK/7PM Turkey (unless otherwise noted). Registration links for individual events will be sent out approximately one week before the program. To receive these links, please sign up for our mailing list at viahss.org .
Spring 2026 Lectures
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
12:00 New York / 16:00 London / 19:00
Istanbul
Hallie Swanson (NYU London)
“Unity and Multiplicity: Deccani Workshop Painting and the Sufi Romance”
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
09:00 Los Angeles / 12:00 New York / 16:00 London / 19:00 Istanbul
Keelan Overton (Independent Scholar)
“The Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin: An Online Exhibition of an Iranian Shrine”
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
12:00 New York / 17:00 London / 19:00 Istanbul
Nancy Micklewright (Independent Scholar)
“Finding the Elusive Fashion Stories of Enslaved Women in Late Ottoman Istanbul”
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
12:00 New York / 17:00 London / 19:00 Istanbul
Claire Dillon (Columbia University)
“Sampling the Sacred: Khaled Sabsabi’s Hip Hop Praxis”
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
12:00 New York / 17:00 London / 19:00 Istanbul
Ryan Mitchell (Temple University)
“Ambition and Spectacle: The Architectural Patronage of Mehmed Ali Pasha of Egypt”
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
URL
6. ONLINE Webinar: ‘Persia’s Greek Campaigns: Kingship, War, & Spectacle
With John O. Hyland
British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS), 18 March 2026; 5:00 pm UK Time
The wars between the Achaemenid Persian empire and the Greek city-states are among the most famous conflicts in world history – above all Xerxes’ expedition of 480-479 BCE, which captured Athens but lost the battles of Salamis and Plataia. In the absence of Achaemenid accounts, this “Persian War” is remembered from the Greek perspective as a disastrous failure,
which ended Persian expansion and empowered Athens’ Classical empire. The full story, though, is more complex. Achaemenid and Near Eastern evidence shows that campaigns led by kings served as political spectacles, designed to project images of royal heroism, imperial cohesion, and logistical mastery through warfare on distant frontiers. Xerxes’ Greek campaign accomplished these objectives, and its initial victories at Thermopylai and Athens permitted a royal claim of overall success, despite the problematic conclusion. The campaign’s mixed legacy set the stage for an evolution of Persia’s frontier imperialism from military to diplomatic methods of power display
Information and registration:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yaUTsEQlRNSmKI8OVvYL3A#/registration
7. Doha Residence Program
in Advanced Arabic & Social Studies
Fall Semester 2026
A number of merit-based tuition waiver and housing support
Master Arabic & Advance Your Studies in the Arab World!
The Language Center at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies (DI) is delighted to invite applications for the Fall 2026-2027 Doha Residence Program in Advanced Arabic Language and Social Studies. This immersive, semester-long program offers a unique opportunity for international non-native and heritage Arabic-speaking graduate students to deepen their linguistic, cultural, and academic proficiency while engaging in a vibrant intellectual exchange.
Why Choose the DI Residence Program?
This one-of-a-kind program fosters rich academic and cultural interactions between the DI’s predominantly native Arabic-speaking graduate students and faculty, representing diverse backgrounds across the Arab world, and their international peers.
Program Highlights:
vFull immersion in Arabic: The program is delivered entirely in Arabic, ensuring maximum language exposure and practice.
vTailored for academic and professional success: Designed to meet the needs of advanced non-native and heritage speakers looking to refine their Arabic language skills for academic and research purposes.
vComprehensive learning experience: A combination of advanced language training and graduate-level coursework, offering students an academically enriching and culturally immersive semester.
What the Program Offers
- Language-Training Component:
- Intensive courses in advanced Arabic and content-based instruction.
- A focus on productive skills, including speaking, writing, and presentations.
- Development of professional proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
- Engagement with a language partner for developing oral fluency in authentic communicative context.
- Academic Component:
- Opportunity to audit graduate courses taught in Arabic at DI’s School of Social Sciences and Humanities and School of Economics, Administration and Public Policy.
- Engagement with an academic partner for enhanced learning.
- Access to DI’s extensive network of conferences, symposia, and guest lectures at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies.
Program Features
- Earn 6 credits of Intensive Arabic
- One-on-one language partner for personalized practice
- Option to audit graduate-level courses taught in Arabic
- One-on-one academic partner
- Access to a rich cultural program
- Participation in exclusive academic events and networking opportunities
Admissions & Fees
- Eligibility: Applicants must have an advanced level of Arabic proficiency.
- Tuition Fees: 9,000 QAR (approximately 2,250€ or 2,465$).
- Housing Costs: 11,000 QAR per semester (approximately 2,650€ or 3,000$).
Apply Now!
Don’t miss this unparalleled opportunity to refine your Arabic language skills, expand your academic and professional horizons, and experience life in one of the most dynamic intellectual hubs of the Arab world.
Submit your application today: Apply Here
Learn more about the DI: Doha Institute
Be part of a transformative academic journey where language, culture, and scholarship converge!
Program Dates:
- Application Deadline: March 15, 2026
- Start of Classes: August 23, 2026
- End of Program: December 03, 2026
* Reading Week Holiday: 25-29 October, 2026
Connect!
language.center@dohainstitute.edu.qa
8. 2026 Ramadan Sale – 20% discount on all Fons Vitae titles
The Fons Vitae 2026 Ramadan Sale
20% DISCOUNT on all Fons Vitae titles!
Ramadan Mubarak! Please enjoy 20% off until ‘Eid March 21st, 2026 with the discount code: “fonsvitae20” GO NOW..
Note: Applies only to books published by Fons Vitae. Cannot be combined with other coupons or discounts. Use the coupon code at checkout.
9. PhD studentship (Classics and Ancient History) at the University of Exeter (UK): ‘Pustules, Palaeogenetics and Pandemics from Galen to Rhazes: How to do the Early History of Smallpox and Measles’
This is a Wellcome funded project (Discovery Award 322103/Z/24/Z), PI: Prof. Rebecca Flemming. This post is available from September 15 2026 to March 15 2030 (42 months), funding covers salary and UK home or international level PhD fees for that period.
The successful applicant will contribute to the work of the project through (1) supporting the research and publication activities of the academic team as they focus around the works of Galen; and (2) undertaking their own PhD research project exploring pandemics, disease and medicine in the ancient/late ancient Mediterranean World.).
Application: For more details of the position, the job requirements, and the application process see the University of Exeter Job Board: ‘Graduate Research Assistant in CAHRT with option to undertake a PhD’. You will need to provide: cv, cover letter, writing sample and PhD project proposal with your application.
The closing date for completed application is 26th March 2026. Interviews are expected to take place in the week beginning April 20th 2026.
10. Generous scholarships available – MA Iranian Studies (SOAS University of London)
An excellent opportunity for talented applicants with a good undergraduate degree (or equivalent) to pursue the MA Iranian Studies in the heart of London at SOAS University of London.
Competitive and generous scholarships are available:
Programme information:
https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.soas.ac.uk%2Fstudy%2Ffind-course%2Fma-iranian-studies&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ceea755a24b924a8a02aa08de6fcb3631%7C2e9f06b016694589878910a06934dc61%7C0%7C0%7C639071115748972750%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=fxF4Zyc4%2Bw0OkS5l6ZG9uksCGTAzauokVD8JCFuUmNg%3D&reserved=0
Kamran Djam Scholarships (deadline 28 March 2026)
https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.soas.ac.uk%2Fstudy%2Fstudent-life%2Ffinance%2Fscholarships%2Fkamran-djam-scholarships&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ceea755a24b924a8a02aa08de6fcb3631%7C2e9f06b016694589878910a06934dc61%7C0%7C0%7C639071115748998931%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=GVpHjUVDsVp7S0bMI%2FiBl3Zp4EoO3ag6TGY92ek9OFQ%3D&reserved=0
Shapoorji Pallonji Scholarships (deadline 21 March 2026):
https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.soas.ac.uk%2Fstudy%2Fstudent-life%2Ffinance%2Fscholarships%2Fshapoorji-pallonji-scholarships&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ceea755a24b924a8a02aa08de6fcb3631%7C2e9f06b016694589878910a06934dc61%7C0%7C0%7C639071115749017645%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=sXCpaWgis4PtWMXIkSicC6fXVAzHPW3x%2FqKd%2FxneAG4%3D&reserved=0
11. ENTANGLED HISTORIES: BORDERS AND CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS FROM THE MEDIEVAL TO THE CONTEMPORARY ERA
Online Seminar Series
Borders have shaped societies, identities, and histories across centuries. This seminar series, promoted by the Faculty of Communication and the Master’s Programme in Media and Cultural Studies at Üsküdar University, invites academics, students, and anyone interested in understanding how boundaries—political, cultural, social, and symbolic, among others—impact our world. Whether your background is in history, literature, anthropology, philosophy, or simply curiosity, you are invited to join a vibrant and interdisciplinary community.
Through a rich programme of talks and discussions, you will:
- Explore how borders have defined and transformed communities, beliefs, and identities.
- Examine boundaries as both barriers and bridges, fostering encounters, conflicts, and creative exchanges.
- Investigate historical and contemporary examples of negotiation, crossing, and reimagining of borders.
- Engage with scholars presenting original research on migration, exile, religious frontiers, literary representations, and the politics of belonging.
Seminars take place every Wednesday at 5 pm (Central European Time) on Zoom.
Zoom link for all meetings:
https://tinyurl.com/aumv88jz
PROGRAMME (FIRST PART OF THE SERIES)
25 February 2026
Elisa Ramazzina (University of Insubria)
Margins, Maps, and Monsters: Negotiating Borders in the “Wonders of the East”
4 March 2026
Muhammet Enes Akdağ (Üsküdar University)
Transnational Film Networks and Moviegoing Culture in the Jerusalem Mutasarrifate (1874–1917)
11 March 2026
Karen Pinto (University of Colorado Boulder)
Through the Eye of the Cartographer: The KMMS Islamicate Vision of the Bilad al-Rum Byzantine Frontier with Syria
18 March 2026
Sonja Brentjes (Independent Scholar)
Formal and Informal Borders: How Much Did They Matter in the Mathematical Sciences in Premodern Islamicate Societies?
25 March 2026
Eleonora Matarrese (University of Bari)
Edible Wild Plants: Widespread and Futuristic Knowledge in the Middle Ages
1 April 2026
(TBA)
8 April 2026
Marusca Francini (University of Pavia)
Beyond Poetry. The Style of the Norwegian ‘Tristrams Saga’
12. The British Association for Islamic Studies is delighted to announce the publication of its 2026 Annual Conference programme.
This year’s conference will be hosted by the Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations and the Institute for Ismaili Studies, London, on Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 May 2026.
The provisional programme can be viewed online HERE.
You can now register as a delegate online HERE.
We are excited by the depth and breadth of this year’s programme and we hope that you will consider joining us for what promises to be a dynamic and stimulating two days of academic exchange and conversation.
We look forward to seeing many of you in May, and please do not hesitate to contact us is you have any questions at all.
With very best wishes,
The BRAIS 2026 Conference Team
13. Islamic Studies Summer School in Leiden 13-17 July 2026
Registration is now open! Please apply or encourage PhD students to apply!
Graduate School of Islamic Humanities:
Approaches to the Study of Islam
Dear colleagues and PhD students,
Our Islamic Studies Summer School is now open and accepting registrations. The theme is Approaches to the Study of Islam.
This annual program aims to foster intellectual exchange and build a global network of early career scholars in Islamic Studies. Designed for PhD candidates and early career researchers, the program will provide an immersive experience combining rigorous academic lectures, workshops, and discussions with opportunities for candid intellectual conversations, networking, and visits to historical sites.
Program Structure
Lecturers will conduct morning sessions (3 hours each), featuring comprehensive lectures and discussions on topics within their areas of expertise. These sessions will be supplemented by interactive afternoon workshops and group discussions to deepen participants’ engagement. Please note that participants are expected to have a working knowledge of the Arabic language and Islamic texts.
Special activities include visits to cultural and historical sites offering participants a unique opportunity to explore Islamic manuscripts and classical texts at Leiden University.
For more information, please visit the Leiden University Centre for Islamic Thought and History page
14. Alwaleed Centre Edinburgh
Hybrid – Book Launch: Islamophobia and Translations of Securitization in the UK, France, and Italy
1:30pm to 3pm GMT on 3 March
Venue: G.03, Doorway 6, Old Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG.
Join us on 3 March when Dr Ugo Gaudino, ESRC Research Fellow (International Relations) at the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex, presents and discusses his new book ‘Islamophobia and Translations of Securitization in the UK, France, and Italy’. Gaudino integrates cross-disciplinary resources to investigate how and why European Muslims are often portrayed as a security threat by both right and left-wing political parties, exploring research on Islamophobia in the West, critical studies on security and terrorism, and scholarship on the normalization of far-right racism across the political spectrum.
This book launch is hybrid. Please register below if you wish to join online.
15. International Review of Social History
‘The World of Sugar’, 70/3, December 2025
16. HYBRID Lecture “Urban Property in Galata: Merchant Companies, Commercial Build-ngs, and the Development of Ownership Patterns in the Late Ottoman Empire” by Prof Ayşe Ozil (Sabancı University), British Institute at Ankara (BIAA), 5 March 2026, 15:30 CET
This talk traces the transformation in urban property in one of the major global commercial centers of the empire, the port of Galata. Focusing on the rise of modern business buildings, it explores the ways in which commercial actors engaged with land and property and contributed to changing patterns of ownership against the background of global business in the late Ottoman period.
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/54285sky
17. 4th Colloquium des jeunes chercheurs en archéologie soudanaise: “Sensory Worlds of the Nile Valley – Past and Present”, INHA, Paris, 10 June 2026, 9:00 CET
This study day explores the multiple dimensions of the history of the senses and of perception in the Nile Valley, from ancient to contemporary periods. This theme invites us to move beyond traditional approaches through a refined reading of material, architectural, iconographic and tex-tual sources. It opens up new avenues of reflection on daily, craft, social, cultural and ritual prac-tices.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4vk4f5ew
18. Research Assistant Predoc (m/f/d) third party funding DFG, 75% part-time, limited to 3 years
The research project examines conceptions of sociology as well as sociological perspectives in Arabic periodicals between 1885 and 1952. The research assistant will contribute to the activities of the overall project, whilst mainly completing a doctoral dissertation (monograph) on conceptions of sociology in Arabic journals during the above-mentioned period.
Deadline for applications: 2 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4bubdpj8
19. PhD Position (3 Years) in the Project “Governing Health, Family and Religion: The Bio-politics of Genetic Counselling and Religious Family Formations (RELI GENE)”, SOAS, London
The project examines how state led genetic healthcare policies intersect with religious and cultural practices in close-knit religious minority communities across Europe and the Middle East. The PhD student will focus on the governmentality of genetic counselling with a primary focus on Germany. Required are a Master’s degree in Social Policy, Political Science, Law, Anthropology or a related discipline, and strong proficiency in German and excellent academic writing skills in English.
Deadline for applications: 27 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3ry46ecf
20. Wissenschaftl. Mitarbeiter:in in Islamwissenschaft, Orient-Institut Beirut
Anforderungen: Promotion in einem islamwissenschaftlichen Themenbereich. – Ausgezeichnete Arabisch-, Englisch- und Deutschkenntnisse sowie Forschung mit arabischsprachigen Quellen. – Hervorragende Veröffentlichungen (der Karrierestufe angemessen). – Kenntnisse und Interesse an arabischer Editionsarbeit sind von Vorteil.
Ende der Bewerbungsfrist: 1. März 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/2wef5f72
21. Senior Academic Position in Islamic Studies, Tel Aviv University
The position is open to outstanding researchers specializing in Early, Classical, or Post-Classical Islam, with particular emphasis on Qurʾānic Studies, including Qurʾānic exegesis, Muslim tradi-tion, and related fields in Islamic thought, such as theology, jurisprudence, and mysticism. Re-quirements: Full command of literary Arabic. – Demonstrated research excellence. – Ability to teach courses in Hebrew. – Ability to teach in Arabic and/or English will be considered an ad-vantage.
Deadline for applications: 15 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/mry68au6
22. Intensive Course: “The Crusades and Islamic History”, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 20-22 July 2026
This three-day intensive course will focus on reading medieval primary sources for the social, economic and religious history of Egypt and Greater Syria, including Palestine during the period of the Crusades, roughly 1050-1500. It is intended for advanced graduate students and other qualified participants and will be offered by Prof. Paul M. Cobb (University of Pennsylvania) in collaboration with Prof. Ann Zimo (University of New Hampshire) and Prof. Reuven Amitai (He-brew University of Jerusalem).
Deadline for applications extended to 6 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3rjsfwpj
23. Research Articles for the “Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (JSAMES)”, University of Pennsylvania Press
The JSAMES is interested in interdisciplinary scholarship that explores the unique political, social, and economic formations and their historical antecedents that contribute to region-making in our contemporary age. We are particularly interested in scholarship that takes the South Asian and Middle Eastern macro-region as the starting point for thinking through the world and across various geographies, languages, identities, exchanges, flows, and networks that shape the life-worlds of people in the macro-region and beyond.
Information: https://tinyurl.com/bdzcrvjr
24. Articles for the Journal “Turkish German Studies (TSG)”, Published by Istanbul University Press
The journal aims to offer an international, interdisciplinary platform for the exchange of academic research on all aspects of Turkish German Studies. We seek to publish scholarly articles in Eng-lish, German, and Turkish from various fields, including literary and cultural studies, linguistics, media and communication studies, sociology, political science, history, and education.
Deadline for manuscripts: 31 May 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/mr5by9w3
25. Nouveau livre : “La Fermeté des faibles” de Sufi Allahyar, Les éditions du cerf, fevr. 2026, 288 pages
Texte majeur de la spiritualité d’Asie centrale rédigé à la fin du XVIIe siècle par le maître Sûfî Allâhyâr, La Fermeté des faibles, traduit ici pour la première fois en français par Alexandre Papas et Marc Toutant, propose une vision intransigeante du soufisme. Loin d’une mystique édulcorée, ce traité composé en vers turks prône un retour radical à la piété et à la Loi. Son style, vif et souvent tranchant, en fait un véritable sermon qui résonne avec une urgence spirituelle flamboy-ante.
Information : https://tinyurl.com/36n8m5yb
- February 21, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – ERC postdoc position on the anthropology of Ansarallah/Houthis in Yemen
Open ERC postdoc position on the anthropology of Ansarallah/Houthis in Yemen. We are looking for someone passionate about Yemen and the interplay between religious authority, institutions, and everyday lifeworlds under Ansar Allah (Houthis).
Details and application:
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/jobs?jh=ul2vchzotpqsbw7khmbxjxjvga0po8c
Short project overview:
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/isa/forschung/forschungsgebiete-des-isa/naher-osten/ideology-in-context
https://oeawnr.onlyfy.jobs/job/vyzifyx8
https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/408980
Closing date: 31 March, 2026
- February 20, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
- February 19, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Imam Ali Seminar (London, Sunday, 1st March 2026 – 2:00 PM)
SEMINAR
TO COMMEMORATE THE MARTYRDOM OF
IMAM ALI (a.s.)
SUNDAY 1st MARCH 2026 – 2:00 PM
VENUE – REGENT’S UNIVERSITY LONDON
TUKE HALL
INNER CIRCLE, REGENT’S PARK, LONDON NW1 4NS
Tube station: Baker Street
Chair: Professor Robert Gleave
Robert Gleave is Professor of Arabic Studies in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK. He researches the history of Shīʿīsm, with a particular interest in Shiite Law. His most recent collaborative publications are (with Kumail Rajani) Shi’ite Legal Theory: Sources and Commentaries (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press / Gibb Memorial Trust, 2023) and (with Omar Anchassi), Islamic Law in Context: A Primary Source Reader (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004). He has carried out research into the history of Shiism and the Shiite communities in Iran, Iraq and India. He is currently British Academy Wolfson Professor – and is completing a monograph on the history of Shiite law in the early 19th century CE.
Dr Reza Shah-Kazemi
Nothing but Beauty: Hazrat Zaynab and the Meaning of Bearing Witness
Dr Reza Shah-Kazemi is an author in the fields of Islamic Studies and Comparative Religion; Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies; and Managing Editor of Encyclopaedia Islamica. He studied International Relations and Politics at Sussex and Exeter Universities before obtaining his PhD in Comparative Religion from the University of Kent.
Shaykh Dr Gulamabbas Murtaza Lakha
Interfaith Reflections on the Psalms of Imām ʿAlī (as) and the Old Testament
Shaykh Dr Gulamabbas Murtaza Lakha is a researcher and tutor in Psychology of Religion at the University of Oxford. His first degree in Economics & Econometrics was followed by the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and entrepreneurship, serving as CEO of an investment firm he founded in 2004. Concurrently, he earned four postgraduate degrees in Psychology and Neuroscience (including neuroimaging of dhikr practice for an MSc dissertation), Theology, Islamic Studies, History and Arabic, with an MPhil thesis on commentaries of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya, together with papers on early biographical dictionaries (ṭabaqāt) on Imām Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (as) and Shaykh al-Kulaynī. He continued at Oxford University for a DPhil in Psychiatry, examining how Islamic concepts and practices can inform psychotherapeutic treatments. Following religious training over two decades, he has lectured widely on contemporary Islam and was accredited as a Shaykh in 2020 by the Hākim al-Sharʿ for Europe of Grand Ayatullah Sistani.
AN OPEN INVITATION
PLEASE BE SEATED BY 2:00 PM
ORGANISER & SPONSOR: THE AHMED FAMILY – C/O MUHAMMADI TRUST (020 8452 1739)
- February 18, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Call for Chapters: Evident Tongues, Evident Bodies: Language, Sense, and Proof in the Early Modern World
Editors: Dr Mary Katherine Newman and Dr Rana Banna
What counted as evidence in the early modern world?
How did language itself – spoken, written, translated, or performed – shape conceptions of proof?
And how did sensory experience lend authority, or uncertainty, to what language claimed as true?
We invite chapter proposals for an edited volume examining how encounters through language and the senses shaped the production of evidence in the early modern period (c.1492–1700). Building on the interdisciplinary reading group Evident Tongues, Evident Bodies held at UCL’s Institute of Advanced Studies, the volume considers how early modern thinkers understood the interplay between linguistic practice and sensory experience in the making of knowledge and truth.
From translation and foreign tongues to sacred utterance, magical speech, the rhetoric of governance, the emerging idioms of science, and the ambitions of poetic language, the early modern world was marked by intense reflection on how words could signify, persuade, and prove. At the same time, theorists and practitioners across domains – from physicians and natural philosophers to theologians, travellers, jurists, and dramatists – debated the evidentiary authority of the senses: what could be seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled as proof?
We seek contributions that illuminate how words, sounds, and sensations became sites of truth, persuasion, or belief, and how embodied perception shaped practices of verification, uncertainty, and doubt. Proposals may explore texts, performances, rituals, objects, archives, or embodied practices, and we welcome work that bridges disciplinary boundaries.
Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Language, translation, and sensory perception: as instruments for verifying truth and negotiating authority in colonial and cross-cultural encounters
- Poetic and literary explorations of evidence: how language and embodied experience imagine or question the conditions of proof
- Material texts and visual proofs: scripts, diagrams, maps, and other graphic traces that make evidence visible
- The search for a perfect or universal language: across poetic, philosophical, scientific, occult, and theological traditions, as a pursuit of linguistic certainty and epistemic clarity
- Legal and theological forms of testimony: confession, revelation, and witnessing as practices of verbal and embodied proof
- Theology and religious treatises: revelation, prophetic vision, and the moral or divine authority of evident speech
- Magical and occult philosophies: alchemy, astrology, divination, and demonology, and their verbal and sensory conjuring of hidden or divine evidence
- Scientific and empiricist efforts to produce evidence: the use of plain rhetorical style, sensory observation, and experiment, alongside continuities with poetic and magical idioms of proof
- Medical and anatomical observation: the witnessing of bodies, wounds, and symptoms as persuasive demonstrations of truth
- Bodily proofs: the senses and bodily perception as modes of testing and demonstrating truth
- The evidentiary status of sound: sermons, songs, chants, oaths, spells, and other vocal acts that establish, challenge, or authenticate belief
- Sensory epistemologies in science and natural philosophy: the interplay of observation and description in producing credible knowledge
- Deception and error: illusion, mistranslation, and doubt in the interpretation of sensory or linguistic evidence
- Pedagogies of the senses and of speech: the training of bodies, tongues, and minds to discern reliable evidence
- Afterlives and continuities: the persistence and transformation of early modern sensory and linguistic epistemologies in later practices of proof
Interdisciplinary approaches welcomed, including, but not limited to:
Literature | History/History of Science | Religious Studies | Art History | Translation Studies | Sensory Studies | Legal History | Theatre & Performance | Philosophy | Anthropology | Colonial & Global Studies | Linguistics | Book History | Musicology
Submission details:
Title
Synopsis/abstract (300-400 words)
Author biography (100-150 words)
Deadline for submissions: 12th April 2026
Please send proposals (300-400 words) with short author biographies (100-150 words) to: mary.newman.14@ucl.ac.uk and r.banna@ucl.ac.uk
Full chapters (6,000–8,000 words) will be due in April 2027
Dr Mary Katherine Newman (she/her)
Quirk Postdoctoral Fellow (2025-6)
Institute of Advanced Studies, UCL
www.maryknewman.com
Coordinator Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation
2. Announcing the Mediterranean Seminar Summer Skills Seminars for 2026
This year the Mediterranean Seminar in conjuction with the CU Mediterranean Studies Group is offering thirteen Summer Skills Seminars – intensive four-day boot-camps for scholars, researchers, graduate and advanced undergraduate students, librarians, teachers, professionals and afficionados. Led by leading authorities and emerging scholars in their respective fields, the Summer Skill Seminars provide either a foundation or an intensive focus on different aspects of Mediterranean Studies. Acquire new skills to augment your research profile and open new areas of specialization, explore a new subject area or theme to enrich your teaching or simply expand your field of knowledge in these small-group hands-on four-day synchronous remote workshops.
This year’s Summer Skills Seminars include:
May 18-21 – Reading Archival Latin
May 18-21 – Reading Medieval Greek Manuscripts
June 15-18 – Reading Ottoman Turkish
June 15-18 – The Archivo General de Indias: A Global Archive (NEW)
June 22-25 – Medieval & Early Modern Cartography
June 22-25 – Medieval Mediterranean Coinage: An Introduction
June 29 – July 2 – Mediterranean Magic: An Introduction
June 2 9 – July 2 – Reading Armenian Manuscripts (NEW)
July 6-9 – Sephardic Culture: An Introduction
July 13-16 – The Archivo General de Simancas: An Introduction
August 3-6 – Reading Medieval Catalan
See below & individual announcements for details.
Regular registration is open until 26 April 2026. Numbers are limited so please register early to guarantee a place.
EXCUSE CROSS-POSTINGS – PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
Information
For general information regarding fees, enrollment, and administrative matters, contact the Mediterranean Seminar; for questions regarding seminar content and materials, contact the individual instructor directly.
May 18-21 2026 – Reading Archival Latin
Focusing on the documents in Latin held at the Archive of the Crown of Aragon in Barcelona, this seminar presents an introduction to Latin diplomatics and the reading of unedited archival documents through the incredible rich collection of Barcelona’s ACA. The seminar combines hands-on reading practice with units on different genres of documents, abbreviations, research techniques, dating systems, and other relevant information.
Instructor: Brian A. Catlos
Prerequisites: Intermediate reading knowledge of Latin is required, but no previous experience in paleography or diplomatics.
May 18-21 2026 – Reading Medieval Greek Manuscripts
Participants will explore Greek manuscript culture through an introduction to paleography with a historical background on the evolution of Greek script. The course emphasizes the major hands and writing styles from antiquity through the Byzantine period, including majuscule and minuscule scripts as well as humanistic and Renaissance scripts. Techniques for deciphering common manuscript abbreviations, ligatures, and symbols, which are essential for understanding Greek manuscripts, will be covered in depth. Participants will also receive guidance on navigating digital repositories and databases for Greek manuscripts, along with tools for accessing online reproductions and secondary literature.
Instructor: Manolis Ulbricht
Prerequisites: Participants need to have reading knowledge of Greek (whether ancient, medieval or modern). The language of instruction is English.
June 15-18 2026 – Reading Ottoman Turkish
This course offers an introduction to Ottoman Turkish, providing an intro level course to the language and a brief overview of Ottoman paleography. By the end of the course, the student will be able to read basic texts in print, recognize different paleographic styles, types of documents, as well as understand how and what dictionary to use for different types of texts. The course is perfect for students with knowledge of Turkish and/or Persian and Arabic, with an interest but no prior knowledge of Ottoman Turkish.
Instructor: Oscar Aguirre Mandujano
Prerequisites: Reading of Turkish and/or Persian and Arabic; no prior knowledge of Ottoman Turkish necessary. The language of instruction is English.
June 15-18 2026 – Introduction to the Archivo General de Indias: A Global Archive (NEW)
This course offers an in-depth introduction to the Archive of the Indies (Archivo General de Indias) in Seville, one of the world’s most important repositories for the study of the Spanish Empire and the early modern Atlantic world. Founded in 1785, the archive houses millions of documents produced by Spanish colonial institutions governing the Americas and the Philippines from the 15th to the 20th centuries, featuring the five continents and numerous different languages. The course is open to anyone -undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, librarians, archivists and general public- interested in early modern, Atlantic, and global history, even with little or no research experience.
Instructor: Jorge Díaz Ceballos
Prerequisites: Applicants should have at least an intermediate level of reading Spanish. The language of instruction is English.
June 22-25 2026 – Medieval & Early Modern Cartography: An Introduction
This Summer Skills Seminar provides participants with an overview of key concepts and methodologies in the study of Mediterranean and Early Modern cartography and the interpretation of maps. The course will address the themes of mobility, connectivity, and encounter in relation to the visual culture of peoples and territories across the sea. Participants will acquire an art historical tool kit to assist them in conducting their own research on the visual culture and artistic production of the medieval Mediterranean.
Instructor: Karen Mathews
Prerequisites: Recommended: AP Art History courses or introductory surveys. Some upper division or graduate art history coursework is ideal but not required
June 22-25 2026 – Medieval Mediterranean Coinage: An Introduction
This Summer Skills Seminar will introduce participants to the dynamic interactions of Roman and Sasanian coinages in the Late Antique period, which gave way to the tripartite division of Latin, Byzantine, and Islamic coinages of the succeeding centuries. We will examine how these three coinages developed and interacted through the later medieval centuries, laying the groundwork for the modern monetary systems.
Instructor: Alan Stahl
Prerequisites: None.
June 29 – July 2 2026 – Mediterranean Magic: An Introduction
This four-day intensive skills seminar will not only provide participants with an overview of magic’s history (broadly defined) throughout the premodern period but also introduce them to recurring patterns in magical practice and representation, significant symbols, and even tools for bringing similar material into their classrooms or personal reflections. As much as possible the content will be catered to participants interests and needs. Medievalists of all disciplines and ranks, graduate students, qualified undergraduate students, library and archival professionals, independent scholars, and modern magic practitioners or enthusiasts are encouraged to apply.
Instructor: Veronica Menaldi
Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites apart from an interest in magic, astrology, and occult science in both culture and literature.
June 29 – July 2 2026 – Reading Armenian Manuscripts (NEW)
From the fifth century CE onward, Armenian writing has spanned an incredible geographic and cultural scope. This intensive and introductory course guides participants to decipher medieval and early modern Armenian manuscripts, running a textual gamut from the work of professional scribes at the Cilician chancellery to the marginal notes of monastic readers, hard pressed for candles (and eyesight); from the personal correspondence of travelers, far from home, to equally well-traveled romances in the worldly vernacular. Through a combination of small-pair and group work, participants will acquire the paleographic skills to accurately read and describe handwritten texts in the Armenian script — a massive corpus that includes works not only in Classical, Middle, dialectal, and modern Armenian, but other languages as well, such as Turkish (Armeno-Turkish) and Persian (Armeno-Persian).
Instructor: Michael Pifer
Prerequisites: Basic reading knowledge of Armenian (Classical or modern) is required.
July 6-9 2026 – Sephardic Culture: An Introduction
This Summer Skills Seminar provides participants with the an overview of main currents in Sephardic Studies including historial and cultural trends, texts, sources for the period 900-1700 CE, and attending to the potential of this field to enhance your own research and teaching. It is designed with academics in mind, particularly graduate students, postdocs, and professors working in disciplines such as history, literature, religious studies, but all interested parties are welcome to apply. Participants will receive a completion certificate which may be listed on your CV and other documents such as grant/fellowship applications. The seminar is held via zoom over four days, with two two-hour sessions each day. Participants are expected to prepare readings in advance of the sessions, which will be a blend of lecture, pair and group discussion, group close readings, and in-class activities.
Instructor: David A. Wacks
Prerequisites: None.
July 13-16 2026 – The Archivo General de Simancas: An Introduction
This seminar offers an introduction early Modern Spanish paleography and the organization of the General Archive of Simancas and an insight into the rich sources of the Spanish monarchy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Using a hands-on approach, students will learn to analyze original documents and to read and transcribe sources in early modern Spanish and in other languages, enabling students to read documents at the AGS and from across the global empire of Early Modern Spain.
Instructor: Prof. Rubén González Cuerva
Prerequisites: Applicants should have a good reading knowledge of modern Spanish. The language of instruction is English.
August 3-6 2026 – Reading Medieval Catalan
The vast and rich corpus of medieval Catalan literature has yet to be given its full due in our overall understanding of medieval European literature and culture. This is the result, in large part, of the fact that medieval Catalan, unlike Old French or Old Spanish, has not evolved to become the major language of a modern European nation state. For similar reasons, there have been few opportunities, outside a few centers, to study this corpus or to learn to read it in its original medieval language. The present course seeks to begin to fill this gap in the knowledge of medieval European vernacular literatures by offering the basic skills necessary to read medieval Catalan through study of key texts in the development of 13th through 15th century Catalan letters.
Instructor: John Dagenais
Prerequisites: Applicants should have at least a good reading knowledge of modern Spanish, French, Italian and/or Portuguese or some knowledge of Catalan. The language of instruction is English.
3. Manuscripts in Partition
February 25, 2026
HMML’s manuscripts tell stories of borders, upheaval, and resilience. Across the 20th century, the creation of new nation-states often disrupted libraries and displaced cultural treasures, leaving minority communities and their manuscripts fragmented and at risk. As part of HMML’s 60th anniversary celebration, this lecture uncovers how these manuscripts bear witness to the human consequences of partition and reveals the remarkable work HMML does to reconnect, preserve, and share what was thought to be lost.
Presenter
Dr. Josh Mugler, Curator of Eastern Christian & Islamic Manuscripts: Oversees HMML’s Eastern Christian and Islamic manuscript collections, directing cataloging and preservation that reconnect dispersed cultural heritage and make it accessible to scholars worldwide.
Registration
Free and open to the public, but registration is required: https://secure.hmml.org/a/winter-lecture-series-february-2026
Contact Information
Dr. Audrey Thorstad
Director of Programming
Hill Museum & Manuscript Library
Contact Email
4. UCLA: Pourdavoud Lecture Series
Elephantine Goes Global, Island of the Millennia
https://pourdavoud.ucla.edu/events/verena-lepper-elephantine-goes-global/
Verena Lepper (J. Paul Getty Museum)
Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 4:00 pm Pacific Time
Royce Hall 306 and Via Zoom
Register at:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd3Gng2bJvY7hfDB24_aLv9L_w2kn_99PscpYLCUn9truatww/viewform
- February 17, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment