Archive for June, 2026

1. IHF Modern Iran Book Series 2026

We are pleased to announce the third round of our call for book proposals under the IHF Modern Iran Series, a new Open Access, peer-reviewed academic book series published by Bloomsbury Academic. The Iran Heritage Foundation (IHF) is supporting successful applicants with Open Access publication costs.

Please submit your proposal to Hassan Hakimian, Series Editor, and Rory Gormley, Senior Commissioning Editor at Bloomsbury Academic.

The deadline for submission for this round is 31 August 2026.

The IHF Modern Iran Series publishes innovative Open Access books with a broad thematic focus on modern and contemporary Iran. The chronological scope of the series covers the late nineteenth century to the present day with thematic areas ranging from cultural and social to political and economic issues.

The full announcement can be read here.

 

 

 

 

 

2. Registration Now Open: A Historical Journey through the Life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH

🌟 In the Light of the Prophetic Radiance
A Historical Journey through the Life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

Join us for a truly unique and comprehensive exploration of the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). This summer, we will journey through the sands and stories of Arabia, uncovering the historical, social, and spiritual landscape that gave rise to one of the most transformative figures in human history.

This intensive 15-session program offers a rigorous exploration of the life of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), examining the historical context of 7th-century Arabia, the Meccan and Medinan periods, and the lasting impact of the Prophetic mission.

📅 August 5–27, 2026
🖥 Live on Zoom (recordings available)
🎓 Certificate provided (upon request)
🌍 Open worldwide
🎓 Partial scholarships available

🔗 Learn more and apply:
[Course Website Link]

We hope you will join us for this unique journey through the life and legacy of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

With warm regards,

Hikmat International Institute
📧 info@hikmat-ins.com
🌐 www.hikmat-ins.com

 

 

 

 

 

3. The Islamic College

Monthly Talk: Reading the Qur’an as a “Discourse of Signs”

Reading the Qur’an as a “Discourse of Signs”

Speaker: Professor William A. Graham

Date: 19 June 2026
Time: 6:00-7:30 pm (London time)

Location: Online

This talk will argue that the Qur’an taken as a whole is best understood as a text offering first and foremost a rehearsal of God’s many signs given freely for the purpose of instruction and guidance of human beings in their behavior in this world.  In other words, the qur’anic notion of ‘ibrah (instructive example or lesson), âyah (sign), and other concepts such as bayyinah, mathal, or burhân, when considered together form a web of didactic and paranetic material that dominates the qur’anic text.  In considering the prominence of these categories, God’s message clearly emerges as a call above all to note and consider His signs in nature, in human history, and in His Word itself and then to live and order one’s life accordingly.

William A. Graham is the Murray A. Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Emeritus, and University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard University. He taught in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 1973 to 2018, serving also as Dean of Harvard Divinity School from 2002-12. His scholarly work has focused on early Islamic religious history and textual traditions and problems in the history of world religion.

https://islamic-college.ac.uk/registration-for-reading-the-quran-as-a-discourse-of-signs/

 

 

 

 

 

4. CSMBR Upcoming Lecture:

The Colour of Dreams

The Physiology of Oneiric Experience in Greek, Arabic, and Latin Traditions

Marco Signori

23 June 2026 – 5 PM (CET)

This talk explores the concept of dream colour as it appears in a selection of medieval Arabic and Latin philosophical and medical texts. Lying at the intersection of psychophysiology, medicine and the doctrine of the rational soul, this subject draws on ancient humoral theory to explain an intriguing aspect of the dream experience.

The idea of a correlation between the colour of oneiric images and the predominance of one of the four humours originates from a concise yet highly significant doxographic passage attributed to Galen, as recorded in the only surviving manuscript, Arabic MS Baġdād (Awqāf 9763), and is referenced in notable resources such as Avicenna’s (Ibn Sīnā, d. 1037) writings and the Persian Book of Science for ʿAlāʾ al-Dawla.

Curiously, however, while other Arabic students of this Galenic excerpt on humoral oneirology, such as Abū l-Faraǧ ibn al-Ṭayyib (d. 1043), omitted references to colour when addressing related topics, this connection reemerges in the Latin tradition, as demonstrated by Albert the Great and, most notably, Boethius of Dacia.

Building on previous scholarship and analysing various intermediary channels, the contribution will discuss the possible historical and doctrinal links between these authors, tracing hypothetical lines of transmission from Greek-Arabic medicine to 13th-century Latin philosophy.

To register for this event, please click here.

 

 

 

 

 

5. ONLINE International Symposium “The Cultural Impact of Janissaries in the Ottoman Periphery”, Forum Tauri, Istanbul, 14 June 2026, 12:00 – 18:00 CET

Focusing on the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Egypt, and North Africa, the symposium invites reflection on how Janissary communities operated within provincial societies. In these regions, Janissaries were not only soldiers; they were urban actors, participants in local economies, members of devotional networks, and agents of institutional transmission. Through ritual practices, brotherhood structures, musical and ceremonial traditions, and social integration, they contributed to the shaping of local cultural land-scapes.

Information, program and registration: https://tinyurl.com/54pkua37

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. HYBRID International Conference “Lost in a Forest of Signs: Describing and Understanding Graphic Variation in Ancient Writing Systems” (Including Middle East), Liège University, Belgium, 15-17 June 2026

One of the main aims of this meeting is to bring together scholars working on undeciphered writing systems with those studying deciphered ones, fostering dialogue and shared insights – particularly through a more precise and nuanced description of the diverse phenomena encompassed by what we term graphic variation.

Information, program and registration: https://tinyurl.com/45zyhrj9

 

 

 

 

 

7. Articles on “Gender, Sexualities, and Middle Eastern Matricultures” for a Special Issue of ” Matrix: A Journal for Matricultural Studies”

Authors are encouraged to explore the symbols and meaning relating to women, mothers, and the feminine in a Middle Eastern society and how these symbols and meanings shape sexual behaviours and gender identities – or vice versa.

Deadline for abstracts: 29 June 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/ynyvz6k7

 

 

 

 

 

8. ONLINE New Article “The World Cup and the Politics of Football in the MENA Region” by André Bank, Idriss Jebari, Hamid Talebian, Eckart Woert, GIGA Focus Middle East, No. 3, 9 June 2026, 10 Pages

A record-high nine men’s national teams from the MENA will take part, testifying to the region’s in-creased role in global football. In this region, the World Cup is stirring up debates over nationalism, sportswashing, and social protests.

Link: https://tinyurl.com/frt8rkaz

 

 

 

 

 

9. ONLINE New Issue on “Female Health Professionals and Colonial and Imperial Medicine in the Middle East and the Ottoman Empire” of the “Journal of Women`s History”, Vol. 38, No. 2, June 2026, 112 Pages

Themes: Representing (Some) Jewish Midwives in the Re-formation of the Ottoman State. – Charity and Social Networks: The Haifa Infant Welfare Association During the British Mandate in Palestine. – From Mobility Restrictions to a Modern Health Center in Baqa Al-Gharbiyyeh: Arab Women Under the Military Government in Israel, 1949-1966. – Doctoring Empire: American Women Physicians and the Politics of Professional Identity in Iran, 1888-1971. – Reproductive Justice: From the Local to the Global.

Link: https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/56910

 

 

 

 

 

10. ONLINE Annales islamologiques 60, Dossier « Symbolismes et représentations de la Kaʿba », IFAO, “Annales islamologiques 60”, juin 2026, 367 Pages

The collected contributions analyse both processes of historiographical sacralisation and the symbolic, visual, and speculative elaborations associated with the sanctuary, from the early period of Islam to Sufi and Shiʿi traditions. By bringing together historical, iconographic, and hermeneutical perspectives, the dossier situates the Kaʿba at the centre of a nexus of practices, narratives, and symbolic construc-tions constitutive of classical Islam.

Information and links to articles : https://tinyurl.com/3bdw5wuv

 

 

 

 

 

11. New Book: “The Yezidis in Kurdish Nationalist and Islamic Discourses after the 2014 Geno-cide” by Qader Saleem Shammo, Yezidi Studies, vol. 4, Berlin: Frank and Timme, 2026, 282 Pages

In the aftermath of the 2014 genocide perpetrated by ISIS against the Yezidis, one critical issue has been largely overlooked: How are the Yezidis represented in Kurdish nationalist discourse within the Kurdistan Region of Iraq? And how are they portrayed in Kurdish Islamic religious discourse beyond Iraq’s borders? This book examines how the Yezidi genocide has been appropriated for political, symbolic, and strategic purposes.

Information: https://tinyurl.com/3yc9685k

 

 

 

 

 

 

12. New Book: “From Fatwa to Genocide: Historic and Contemporary Manifestations of the Islamic Genocide against the Yezidis” by Qader Saleem Shammo, Yezidi Studies, vol. 5., Berlin: Frank and Timme, 2026, 348 Pages

What is the history and the present-day reality of the Yezidis? Are there enduring patterns of discrimi-nation and persecution by Islamic communities and political authorities? And how did and do they affect women and children? This research pays particular attention to the enslavement of Yezidi women and children and to the sûq al-sabâyâ, the slave markets established for their sale.

Information: https://tinyurl.com/bdfv9szc

 

 

 

 

 

13. New Volume “From Cairo to Jerusalem and Beyond: Studies of the Later Islamic Middle Period in Honor of Linda Stevens Northrup” Edited by Mustafa Banister and Fadi Ragheb, Brill, Islamic History and Civilization Series, 8 June 2026, 573 Pages

This volume is a collection of essays dedicated to the esteemed Middle East historian Linda S. Northrup. It presents thirteen original contributions authored by international scholars from diverse fields such as pre-modern history, architecture, and Middle Eastern studies. The first section examines Crusader-era historiography, the second focuses on the “Mamlūk” period, the third explores late medieval medical science, and the fourth investigates urban history and material culture.

Information: https://tinyurl.com/39bhkvvw

 

1. New online Persian literature courses: Farrokhzad, Hafez, Rumi, etc.

Ghand-e Parsi Academy of Persian Language and Literature:
I. Forugh Farrokhzad’s Life and Works: A Deep Dive into Forugh’s Feminist Poetry
The sessions are designed for readers of Persian of all levels (basic, intermediate, advanced, and native speakers) as well as students who have no prior experience with this language and are interested in accessing Farrokhzad’s poetry in English translation. Readings and assignments, both in Persian and English, will be adapted to the individual needs and expectations of each student.
Schedule: Mondays, 22 June – 7 September, 2026
Time: 10:30–11:30 AM (US Pacific), 1:30–2:30 PM (US Eastern), 8:30–9:30 PM (Central European)
More info: https://www.ghandeparsi.com/summerschool/forugh
II. Rumi and Hafez: An Introduction to Persian Mystical Poetry
This course is designed for intermediate and advanced students of Persian as well as readers who are interested in discovering Rumi’s and Hafez’s mystical poetry in English translation.
Schedule: Mondays, 22 June – 7 September, 2026
Time: 9:00–10:00 AM (US Pacific), 12:00–1:00 PM (US Eastern), 6:00–7:00 PM (Central European)
More info: https://www.ghandeparsi.com/summerschool/rumihafez
III. How to Read Persian Poetry: From Iranian Epic Cycles and Omar Khayyam to Safavid and Indo-Persian Poets
(intermediate and advanced)
Schedule: Tuesdays, 23 June – 8 September, 2026
Time: 9:00–10:00 AM (US Pacific), 12:00–1:00 PM (US Eastern), 6:00–7:00 PM (Central European)
More info: https://www.ghandeparsi.com/summerschool/how
 

 

 

2. Deafness in the Premodern Mediterranean

17 – 18 November 2026

This VivaMente conference will explore the topic of deafness and the role of deaf people in Mediterranean antiquity and the pre-modern era, examining it from historical, medical and socio-cultural perspectives.

Despite its historical significance, this topic remains underexplored; however, academic interest in disabilities in the ancient world has undergone a significant renewal in recent years. In light of new research perspectives that move beyond the traditional, pathology-centred approach to encompass a broader consideration of social and cultural dynamics, the history of deafness and deaf individuals represents a field of study requiring an interdisciplinary approach.

Set within the increasing recognition of Deaf culture at public and academic levels, the conference is intended to situate deafness within the broader framework of the history of ideas. Rather than treating deafness solely as a social condition or an object of modern Deaf cultural studies, the conference will examine the evolving intellectual categories through which deafness was defined, explained and categorised in ancient and medieval societies. Particular attention will be paid to the historical transformation of concepts such as hearing, speech, silence, impairment, education, communication and disability, and to the ways in which these categories were shaped by philosophical, theological, legal, linguistic and medical discourses.

A central goal is therefore to promote dialogue between scholars of various disciplines to create the most comprehensive and multifaceted picture possible of deafness in premodern history. Beyond shedding light on specific aspects of ancient and medieval culture, this reflection also aims to encourage critically examining the persistence of certain historical conceptions in contemporary perceptions of deafness and disability as a whole.

Organisation

Scholars working on any area relevant to the conference are invited to submit a proposal consisting of a title and an abstract. Proposals should not exceed 250 words and should be accompanied by a short biographical note. Contributions may address any aspect relevant to the conference’s theme (ancient, medieval, and early modern), as well as broader comparative or methodological approaches.

The deadline for submission is 10 September 2026.

The organisers will select the proposals with a view to both the conference programme and the publication of the proceedings. Selected speakers will be invited to complete the registration process after acceptance. The conference proceedings will be submitted for peer-reviewed publication in the series Palgrave Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Medicine.

For further details and to register for this event, please click here

Andreas Hylla

Centre for the Study of Medicine and the Body in the Renaissance (CSMBR) – Assistant Coordinator

Domus Comeliana, Via Cardinale Maffi 48, 56126 Pisa, Italy

Tel.: +39.02.006.20.51 – Mobile: +39.333.13.12.203

Email: ah@csmbr.fondazionecomel.org 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Exceptionally rare 1948 recording of the Tehran Conservatory Choir. Conducted by the Persian-Armenian musician Roubik Grigorian, the choir performs the beloved folk songGolom Ey Golom:

https://youtu.be/l4AeUM3q1OU

Founded in the 1920s, the Tehran Conservatory Choir was the first choir to perform a repertoire in the Persian language.

 

 

 

 

4. CfPs:

Navigating Fragmented Legal Systems: Women, Agency, and Access in the Middle East

ScienceDirect special issue
https://www.sciencedirect.com/special-issue/333965/navigating-fragmented-legal-systems-women-agency-and-access-in-the-middle-east

Mobilizing Sharīʿa, Law, and Gender Justice in Contemporary Muslim Societies: Legal Pluralism, Lived Islam, and Social Change

Springer Nature special collection in Contemporary Islam
https://link.springer.com/collections/cdgbhehfcj

 

 

 

International Symposium “Healing in Anatolian Culture”, Cappadocia, 24-26 September 2026
International symposium “Healing in Anatolian Culture,” to be held at Cappadocia University in Mustafapaşa, Cappadocia (Türkiye), on 24–26 September 2026.

Anatolia, at the crossroads of millennia of successive civilisations, developed a richly layered culture of healing. The knowledge of figures such as Aretaeus of Cappadocia and the pharmacologist Dioscorides of Anazarbus (Cilicia) converged, along the routes of the Silk Road, with the learning of Ibn Sina of Bukhara, shaping both medical practice and cultural life across the region. From antiquity to the present, healing practices in Anatolia have served as carriers not only of medical knowledge but also of belief systems, gender roles, ritual performance, and cultural memory.

The symposium examines the epistemological and practical dimensions of healing knowledge in Anatolia within a rigorous, interdisciplinary framework, bringing together the history of medicine, art history, archaeology, history, architecture, literature, gastronomy, folklore, and cultural studies. Particular attention is given to the visual and material culture of healing, to questions of identity, image, and cultural continuity, and to the central role of female healers — saints, folk midwives, herbalists, and ritual practitioners — in the transmission of healing knowledge.

The symposium is organised within the framework of an Erasmus Staff Week. Colleagues affiliated with a university may apply for Erasmus+ staff mobility support through their home institution to fund their participation.

Languages: Turkish and English.

Abstract deadline: 15 June 2026. Abstracts (maximum 300 words, with title and keywords) should be sent to sifainanatolia@kapadokya.edu.tr. Participation is free of charge; pre-registration is required.

Full details: https://sifainanatolia.kapadokya.edu.tr/en/home-page/

 

 

 

 

 

5. ONLINE Webinar: Mehmandari: Hosting and Minding Foreign Visitors in Safavid and Qajar Iran, with Rudi Matthee

British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS), 30 June, 2026 5:00 pm UK Time
Mehmandari, the practice of having foreigners visiting in an official capacity welcomed, accompanied, and provided for by the host country, is very old in Iran. My presentation traces the historical roots of the practice and follows its development through the Safavid period and until late Qajar times.  I next examine the responsibilities of the officer in charge, the mehmandar, to argue that, aside from serving as a court-appointed host, this official functioned above all as a minder, tasked to monitor the movements of envoys and to find out the real reasons for their visit. I further discuss the practice of accommodating visitors and their entourage and of providing them with victuals, the per diem official visitors were entitled to, and the burden this put on the local population, with all the corruption and graft it involved.

Information and registration: 

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/8817805722380/WN_OtlBeUE4R4ixVSBvAbYk8Q#/registration

 

 

 

 

 

6. Summer 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 Summer 2026:

Summer 2026
Application deadline: 12 July 2026
Results: 24 July 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

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. CFP: Early Modern Maps and Materialities (RSA Philadelphia March 2027)

We seek proposals for papers for one or more panels about early modern maps and their materialities at the Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, Philadelphia, 11-13 Mar 2027.

How does the material character of the map shape its capacity to communicate? How can the interrogation of format, support, media, techniques, modes of storage and display, marks of classification, ownership and origin add meaning and context to the information on its surface? Do different types and characters of materials and formats shape reception of geographical information? What evidence do we have of the value or valence of materials to mapmakers? Particularly in an age of expanding global awareness, how might materials have connected mapping processes to specific sites? How did materiality signify to Indigenous map traditions? In its consideration of these questions, this session will highlight the importance of the form and format of the early modern map as integral components of its interpretation.
Submissions must include:
Paper title (15-word maximum)
Paper abstract (200-word maximum)
CV (.pdf or .doc)
PhD or other terminal degree completion year (past or expected)
Full name, current affiliation, and email address.

Participants must be members of RSA to present at the conference.
Submission deadline: July 15, 2026.
Notification date: August 1, 2026.

Contact Information

Hayley Cotter, UMASS, Amherst, hcotter@umass.edu

Camille Serchuk, Southern CT State University, serchukc1@southernct.edu

 

 

 

 

 

8. CFP: ISHMap 2027 Barcelona – Symposium and Workshop: Mapping Outside the Metropole

Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya, Barcelona 24-28 May 2027 

We are delighted to welcome proposals to participate in the International Society for the History of the Map (ISHMap) Symposium and Workshop that will take place in Barcelona. The Symposium is organized in collaboration with the Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya.

Spain—as an empire, kingdom, and nation—has been known for its diverse regional cultures, politics, and topographies. In hosting this conference in Barcelona, ISHMap builds on this history through the theme of Mapping Outside the Metropole to think about centers of cultural production outside of the imperial capital. We welcome submissions that highlight national, regional, colonial, post-colonial maps and cartography.

The Symposium is open to everyone working in the history of cartography. The Workshop welcomes applications from professionals at the early stages in academic and public careers. To present or attend a workshop, you must be an ISHMap member by the date you register for the symposium and workshop.

Applications will be accepted until 30 September 2026 for individual papers, panels and roundtables or other proposed sessions. The review and acceptance will occur by 14 December 2026. Additional details about the symposium program and associated activities are forthcoming.

A two-day Workshop (24-26 May 2027) for early career professionals (scholars, curators, archivists, and librarians) working in the history of cartography, will precede the Symposium. Hands-on activities led by experts in the field may include sessions focusing on data, machine learning, and historical maps, Cold War mapping, early sea charts, and the materiality and production of the maps.

The Symposium (26-28 May 2027) will include paper and posters on all aspects of the history of maps and mapping. We particularly welcome proposals that address issues related to mapping outside of the metropole and the central sites of colonial and state power as well as proposals that bring comparative or cross-cultural perspectives to the history of maps and mapping.

This will be an in-person conference with all presentations and papers delivered. The keynote address may be available as a hybrid lecture.

EVENT CALENDAR

• 30 September 2026: Application deadline for Symposium and Workshop.
• 14 December 2026: Acceptances delivered.
• 1 March 2026: Registration for participants closes.
• 15 March 2026: Final program available online
• 26 April 2027: Registration for non-participants (attendees) closes.
• 24-26 May 2027: ISHMap Workshop (in person)
• 26-28 May 2027: ISHMap Symposium (in person)
• 29 May 2027: Post-Symposium Trip

Co-Chairs:

• Noelia Ramos Espinosa, Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya
• David Sánchez. Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya
• David Weimer, Newberry Library

Contact Email

ishmap.society@gmail.com

URL

https://ishmap.com/ishmap-2027-barcelona/

 

 

 

 

9. Online: Women, Life, Freedom in the Mirror of Scholarship: Responses from the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Bilingual Lecture Series

A lecture by Pooyan Tamimi Arab (Utrecht University)

Co-organized by the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies and the UCLA Iranian Studies

Monday, June 8, 2026

11:00 AM – 12:30 PT

https://forms.international.ucla.edu/cnes/event/17649

 

 

 

 

 

10. HYBRID Archaeology Conference “Poles on the Nile”, University of Warsaw, 9-12 June 2026

Information, program and registration: https://tinyurl.com/mr4x9j87

 

 

 

 

 

11. ONLINE Webinar “Abd al-Wahhāb al-Shaʿrānī’s Indebtedness to al-Suyūṭī” by Matthew B. Ingalls (AUD), Series “The Heirs of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 1505 AD)”, OIB/Universities of Bamberg and Göttingen, Beirut, 10 June 2026, 18:00 – 19:30 CET

Though only briefly acquainted, al-Suyūṭī profoundly influenced ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Shaʿrānī’s (d. 1565) intellectual development. This paper explores their biographical and intellectual connections, focusing on al-Suyūṭī’s role in shaping al-Shaʿrānī’s affiliation with the Shādhilī order, his justification for writing a spiritual autobiography, and his integration of Sufism into Islamic legal discourse.

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

 

 

 

 

 

12. HYBRID Book Talk “Cities in Fragments: Modernism, Memory, and the Making of the Contemporary Arab City” by Yasser Elsheshtawy (Arab Gulf States Institute), Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, 11 June 2026, 17:00 – 18:30 CET

This talk introduces Elsheshtawy’s book “Arab Modernism(s): Cities, History and Culture”, exploring how architecture and urban transformation shaped – and were shaped by – the social, cultural, and political trajectories of Arab cities. Moving across a range of cities, it examines modernism not merely as an architectural style but as a lived condition marked by aspiration, memory, displacement, and everyday life.

Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/z73nx7d7

 

 

 

 

 

13. ONLINE International Symposium “The Cultural Impact of Janissaries in the Ottoman Periphery”, Forum Tauri, Istanbul, 14 June 2026, 12:00 – 18:00 CET

Focusing on the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Egypt, and North Africa, the symposium invites reflection on how Janissary communities operated within provincial societies. In these regions, Janissaries were not only soldiers; they were urban actors, participants in local economies, members of devotional networks, and agents of institutional transmission. Through ritual practices, brotherhood structures, musical and ceremonial traditions, and social integration, they contributed to the shaping of local cultural land-scapes.

Information, program and registration: https://tinyurl.com/54pkua37

 

 

 

 

 

14. HYBRID Book Talk “Social Anthropology in the Arab World. The Fragmented History of a Contested Discipline” by Daniele Cantini, Berlin Anthropology Seminars, Freie Universität Berlin, 17 June 2026, 16:15 – 18:00 CET

This book examines the history and institutionalisation of anthropology in the Maghreb, the Mashreq and the Gulf, in an open and collaborative manner and from various perspectives. Its primary focus is two-fold: first, to reorient the anthropological focus towards studies conducted in the region, particularly on the conditions conducive to the institutionalisation of anthropological knowledge; second, to shed light on anthropological studies in languages other than English. offering different theoretical and epistemological perspectives.

Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/fr2xfes9

 

 

 

 

 

15. Journée d’étude « Étudier les langues orientales. Sciences et politique », Inalco, Paris, 19 juin 2026, 9h00 – 17h30 CET

Désigner et nommer des langues, les qualifier d’« orientales vivantes », « d’une utilité reconnue pour la politique et le commerce », en faire des objets d’enseignement, en « composer la grammaire » : voilà des gestes simples en apparence, lourds pourtant d’implicites et de conséquences.

Information et programme : https://tinyurl.com/ykn4bc9t

 

 

 

 

 

16. 9th International Symposium “Politics and Society in the Islamic World”, University of Lodz, Poland, 21-23 October 2026

We invite case studies from across the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, South and Southeast Asia, Europe, and other global contexts. Contributions may adopt national, regional, comparative, or transnational perspectives and combine insights from multiple disciplines.

Deadline for abstracts: 20 June 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/phbmrsfb

 

 

 

 

 

17. Workshop “Imperial Transformations – Comparative Strategies in Empires of Salvation Religions” (Focus Middle Eastern Salvation Religions), Center for Comparative Empire and Transcultural Studies (RomanIs-lam), University of Hamburg, 11-14 November 2026

The Roman, Islamic, and Spanish empires all seem paradigmatic for our understanding of a transformative imperialism. Their imperial missions were driven by Middle Eastern salvation religions. Subsequent empires and political regimes until today have all drawn, in one way or another, on the common heritage of Roman, Islamic, and Hispanic imperial legacies.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 June 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/43tms8mk

 

 

 

 

 

18. “International Qard Symposium: Theory, History and Contemporary Applications”, Istanbul University, 14-15 November 2026

Throughout Islamic civilization, the institution of qard has historically served as an important mechanism of mutual assistance, justice, and social welfare. The symposium aims to examine qard from its classical jurisprudential foundations to its contemporary financial applications through a multidimensional perspective. It will discuss historical experiences, modern financial systems, participation banking, civil society practices, digital finance models, and contemporary economic challenges within an interdisciplinary framework.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 June 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yc3edrw5

 

 

 

 

 

19. Workshop “Identifying as Woman in Transnational Religious Spaces: Contemporary Dynamics of Lived Religion, Femininity, and Womanhood”, Department of the Study of Religion with a Focus on Islam, University of the Bundeswehr, Munich, 18-20 November 2026

Main questions: How are femininity and womanhood negotiated, lived, and embodied in transnational religious spaces. – What does this tell us about current discourses on femininity and womanhood and their intertwining with other global, including colonial and postcolonial, political and social discourses? – What is the lived reality of women in these transnational spaces, and how does it relate to their practice of religions? – How does being in transnational spaces affect women’s lived religion? – Etc.

Deadline for abstracts: 30 June 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4mmwffsr

 

 

 

 

 

20. Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai Visiting Fellowship (1 Academic Year), Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies

We welcome fellowship applications from scholars conducting research on a diverse range of topics:  _Muslim Societies Past and Present  _Identity and Citizenship: Muslims in Britain and the West  _Classical Islamic Sciences  _Economic and Human Development and Islamic Finance  _Science, Technology, Environment and Muslim Societies

Deadline for applications: 15 June 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/375mtbwe

 

 

 

 

 

21. “Gwenn Okruhlik Dissertation Award” of the Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies (AGAPS)

We welcome dissertations from across the disciplines and a variety of perspectives. They must primarily focus on the Arabian Peninsula but can be inclusive of the transnational flows of people, material and ideas across the Gulf, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean. PhD dissertations accepted for the degree of PhD between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026 are eligible.

Deadline for submissions: 15 July 2026. Information: https://agaps.org/awards-2026/

 

 

 

 

 

22. “Graduate Paper Prize” of the Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies (AGAPS)

We welcome graduate papers from across disciplines and a with variety of perspectives. They must primarily focus on the Arabian Peninsula but can be inclusive of the transnational flow of people, goods and ideas across the Gulf, Red Sea and Indian Ocean. The research paper must be unpublished and must have been written between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026.

Deadline for submissions: 15 July 2026. Information: https://agaps.org/awards-2026/

 

 

 

 

 

23. Summer Course “Reading and Analysing Persian Archival Sources from Afghanistan”, Oriental Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, 7-11 September 2026

Participants will work primarily with Persian documents from the 19th and 20th centuries. The summer school will introduce participants to basic archival and palaeographical skills, including reading Nastaʿlīq and Shikasta scripts, identifying document types and seals, and understanding administrative terminology, text structure, and content.

Deadline for applications: 30 June 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/47md9ur4

 

 

 

 

 

24. Chapters on “Alternatives to the Nation-State: Federalism, Autonomy, and Post-Imperial Imaginaries in the Mediterranean Long Nineteenth Century” for Book Edited by Erkjad Kajo & Alexandros S. Balatsoukas

Themes: Imperial decentralization as a design problem (Algerian decentralization debates, khedivial Egypt, the Mount Lebanon mutasarrifiyya as mixed sovereignty). – Constitutional moments and their Mediterranean circulation (Ottoman 1876 and 1908). – Religious internationalisms as political alternatives (pan-Islamism, the Alliance Israélite Universelle). – Mountain and local autonomies (Druze, Maronite, Kabyle) as working models behind larger federalist projects. – Etc.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 July 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4nshrjac

 

 

 

 

 

25. ONLINE Article on “Baraka and Thermodynamics: Migrant Work, Lawful Income, and Economic Growth” by Samuli Schielke in “Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology”, 4 May 2026, 14 Pages

Based on fieldwork with Egyptian workers in the Dubai metropolitan area, I seek to understand the tension between a search for moral and economic stability and processes of growth and mobility that destabilise the foundations and shape of a viable life. I argue that there is a productive tension between the idea of non-destructive thriving expressed in the Islamic concept of baraka (divine blessing) and hydrocarbon-based capitalist growth.

Link: https://tinyurl.com/y2emdud3

 

 

 

 

 

26. New Book “Islamist Political Thought in Turkey” by Michelangelo Guida, IB Tauris, 28 May 2026, 248 Pages

This book provides an intellectual history of Islamism in Turkey, tracing the thought of key figures from the late Ottoman Empire to the contemporary period. Covering also the rise of Islamism as a political movement in the late 20th century, it provides important insight into the intellectual background of Islamism in contemporary Turkey.

Information: https://tinyurl.com/537w2vk9

 

 

 

 

 

27. New Book: “Libya’s Struggle and Unfinished Transformation: Monarchy, Dictatorship, the Reform Dilemma, and the Betrayal of R2P”by Youssef Mohammad Sawani, Palgrave, 1 July 2026, 356 Pages

This book offers a de-colonial examination of Libya’s political evolution and societal dynamics. Analysing the monarchy, the Gaddafi era, and the NATO intervention, it explores the interplay between internal agency and external influences. The book provides essential insights into Libya’s state-building challenges, the 2011 uprising, and its persistent political fragmentation.

Information: https://tinyurl.com/59zamhem

 

ONLINE Contributions to the “Alevi Encyclopedia”
The Alevi Encyclopedia is a multilingual, open-access academic platform for Alevism and related fields. It welcomes scholarly contributions in Turkish, English, and German. Previously published works such as articles, book chapters, dictionary/encyclopedia entries, thesis excerpts, or journalistic essays may be revised and formatted according to the Alevi Encyclopedia criteria. Ongoing or unpublished research may also be submitted.
Deadline for contributions: 15 June 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/ycyv5ue9

1. Online: Cluster of Excellence Lecture Event: Imperial Infrastructures of Communication across Eurasia

Convened by

Tijana Krstic (Central European University) and
Nina Mirnig (University of Vienna)

Date and Time
Monday 8th June 2026, 5:00 PM CET // 8:00 AM PST

Venue
Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies,
University of Vienna, Seminar Room 1, Spitalgasse 2, Hof 2, Eingang 2.7, 1090 Vienna

For online participation, please register below:

https://univienna.zoom.us/meeting/register/je5EJPt-TrWu2f1AthAXVg#/registration

17:00          

Welcome

Tijana Krstic (Central European University) and Nina Mirnig (University of Vienna)

17:05          

Introduction

Sebastian Fink (University of Innsbruck)

17:10          

Lecture 

Assyrian Imperial Communication: Messengers, Animals, and Royal Roads

Sanae Ito, Associate Professor, Research Center for Cultural Heritage and Texts, Nagoya University

17:40          

Panel Discussion

Transregional Perspectives on Imperial Communication 

Ancient Iran

Respondent: M. Rahim Shayegan, Jahangir and Eleanor Amuzegar Professor of Iranian, Director of the Pourdavoud Institute & Yarshater Center, Chair of Global Antiquity, UCLA (online)

Ancient India

Respondent: Upinder Singh, Professor of History, Ashoka University (online

Ottoman Empire

Respondent: Tolga Esmer, Professor at the Department of Historical Studies, Central European University

Moderated by Tijana Krstic and Nina Mirnig

 

 

 

 

 

2. Stoning as Punishment in Early Islam

Syed Atif Rizwan

OUP, 2026

https://academic.oup.com/book/62316

 

 

 

 

 

3. The Cambridge Handbook of Islam and Environmental Law

We are pleased to share the publication of The Cambridge Handbook of Islam and Environmental Law (Cambridge University Press, 2026).

We have a post on Cambridge’s Fifteen Eighty Four blog, What Climate Law Has Been Missing for 1,400 Years, so you can learn more about the project.

TRT World covered the book ahead of COP 31 in Antalya on May 27: link.

On Friday, Mohamed Arafa presented at the Law and Society Association CRN 23 International Law and Politics Multibook Launch in San Francisco.

Please use code TCHIEL26 for 20% off through May 2027 on the publisher’s site. If you can request your library to order a copy, we would appreciate it.

We welcome thoughts and feedback on this project.

Kind regards,

Saba Kareemi, Nadia Ahmad, Erum Sattar, Oluwakemi Ayanleye

 

 

 

 

 

3. Elements Series: Life Forms in Premodern Philosophy

Six Lectures on Aristotle’s “De Anima”

organised by

Fabrizio Bigotti

01 July – 6 August  

Few texts in history have enjoyed the centrality of Aristotle’s De Anima. The work presupposes and at the same time coordinates the entire structure of Aristotle’s inquiry on the living world and remained vital long after other parts of Aristotle’s natural philosophy ceased to command obedience in the academic world. This vitality was due also to the fact that Aristotle posed a question that few others in history have tried to address: what is life?

His answer stirs a middle ground between vitalism and materialism. Condensed into six lectures, these encounters will explore the nuances and complexities of Aristotle’s theory of the soul. Participants will read selected passages of Aristotle in English. Knowledge of Greek is not mandatory, but it would be an advantage as some technical terms are introduced and explained.

For further details and to register for this event, please click here.

Kindest regards,

Andreas Hylla

Centre for the Study of Medicine and the Body in the Renaissance (CSMBR) – Assistant Coordinator

Domus Comeliana, Via Cardinale Maffi 48, 56126 Pisa, Italy

Tel.: +39.02.006.20.51 – Mobile: +39.333.13.12.203

Email: ah@csmbr.fondazionecomel.org 

 

 

 

 

4. Mathhee, R., ‘Bloody Hands: Shāh Ṣafī Ṣafavī’s Ascent to Power, 1038–44/1629–34’

2026, Journal of the American Society for Premodern Asia (JASPA, formerly JAOS), 146:2 , 339-63

https://lockwoodonlinejournals.com/index.php/jaos/article/view/3119

 

 

 

 

 

5. Call for Workshop Abstracts

Iraq: The State of the Field since 2003

The Center for Arab and Islamic Studies (CAIS) at Villanova University invites you to submit abstracts for consideration in a workshop on “Iraq: The State of the Field since 2003” to be held virtually on 12 – 13 February, 2027 organized by Zainab Saleh (Haverford), Sara Farhan (University of Northern British Columbia), and Pelle Valentin Olsen (Lund University).

The American invasion of Iraq in March 2003 constitutes one of the most consequential ruptures in the history of the modern Middle East. Nearly twenty-five years later, the ramifications of the invasion continue to reverberate across the humanities and social sciences. Despite the voluminous literature generated in the wake of the invasion, critical and systematic reflection on intellectual trends, how these trends were formed, the archives and forms of retrieval and collection that enabled them, and who has been authorized to produce knowledge on Iraq remains fragmentary. The Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (JSAMES) invites scholars across the humanities and social sciences to interrogate these foundational questions under a unifying rubric of ‘Iraq: The State of the Field since 2003.’

Structured by an insistence on interdisciplinarity, ‘Iraq: The State of the Field since 2003’ proceeds with the conviction that the Invasion of Iraq marked an epistemological watershed. The invasion and ensuing occupation fundamentally reshaped the conditions of scholarly inquiry: pillaged archives, hollowed out universities, murdered and exiled academics in Iraq and the simultaneous emergence of new repositories, institutions, and conferences in the West. To take stock of scholarship on Iraq since 2003 is therefore an exercise in gauging the barometers of the material and ideological conditions under which that scholarship has been produced. We invite scholars to engage rigorously with this double task while foregrounding the following:

1. Knowledge Production, Methodology, and Positionality

What is the location and positionality of knowledge about Iraq? Who gets to produce knowledge about Iraq, under what conditions, for what audiences and in what languages? What theoretical and methodological paradigms have dominated Iraq studies since 2003, and what intellectual possibilities have they foreclosed? The forum invites critical interrogation of the epistemological frameworks governing the field since 2003, meta-scholarly reflections on paradigmatic tendencies and their consequences, and substantive research presentations in areas that remain underrepresented or invisible.

2. Public, Collective Memory, and Commemorations

What does it mean to write the history of a society whose relationship to its own past has been consistently contested? What do acts of commemoration mean? And who gets to perform them, and what actors, past and present, do they exclude? The sedimentary layers of competing remembrance that continue to shape how Iraqi communities understand themselves and their obligations to their past are an important interdisciplinary concept. The erection and demolition of monuments, the establishment of museums and memorials, the designation of communal or national days of remembrance, the performance of communal rituals, and the official canonization of martyrs and heroes are acts of political will with a long and contentious history that cannot be reduced to the post-2003 moment.

3. Iraqi Archives 

The history of Iraq’s archives enacts the colonial logic that Edward Said identified as the aggregation of the right to govern is, therefore, the right to narrate. The use of plundered records reproduces an asymmetry in which the imperial power that precipitated archival destruction simultaneously becomes the privileged custodian and the interpreter of the Iraqi past. The field cannot be adequately assessed without confronting the structural deficiency that has shaped it since at least 2003: the systematic underutilization of archives in Iraq and the corresponding marginalization of scholarship produced by Iraqi scholars working in Iraqi institutions. The forum presses upon contributors the importance of engaging seriously with these materials and the substantial body of scholarship produced by Iraqi academics, many of whom continue to work under severe institutional constraints.

4. The Case for Interdisciplinarity

History, anthropology, political science, sociology, literary and cultural studies, law, gender studies, geography, and the environmental humanities each illuminate different facets of a reality that resists disciplinary enclosure. The forum is explicitly interdisciplinary in its ambitions. We invite scholars to bring their distinctive disciplinary competencies into conversation with one another, to reflect on what is gained and what is lost in such crossings, and to model forms of collaborative inquiry that move beyond the additive inclusion of multiple methodologies as we work toward engaged intellectual synthesis.

5. Social History

The 2003 U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq profoundly reshaped and reconfigured everyday life. Iraqis not only endured the destruction of infrastructure and the erosion of access to basic needs, but also navigated new realities marked by checkpoints, militarization, displacement, crackdowns on protest movements, and increasing restrictions on women’s and LGBTQ+ rights. The institutionalization of a sectarian quota system further transformed social relations, political belonging, and access to resources and opportunities. How did the invasion and occupation reshape gender relations, senses of belonging, public spaces, and everyday life chances? How were class, sect, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality renegotiated in post-2003 Iraq? In what ways have Iraqis resisted, adapted to, or memorialized these transformations over the past twenty-five years?

Submission Guidelines and Key Dates:

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 that 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.

For submissions, please fill out this form.

If you have any inquiries, reach out to the managing editor of JSAMES, Dina Baslan at dina.baslan@villanova.edu with the following subject heading: “CFP Iraq: The State of the Field since 2003”.

The workshop timeline is as follows:

September 1, 2026                                   Submission of abstracts (~250 words)

Late September 2026                               Notification of acceptance

Mid November 2026                                Virtual participants’ meeting

January 8, 2027                                         Submission of paper drafts (~4000 words)

February 12 – 13, 2027                            Workshop

May 11, 2027                                            Submission of final papers for review (4000 words)

Contact Information

Dina Baslan

Contact Email

dina.baslan@villanova.edu

URL

https://www.villanova.edu/university/liberal-arts-sciences/scholarship/journals…