Shii News – Academic Items

1.The Grimwade Centre for Cultural MaterialConservation,

School of Historical and Philosophical Studies

From Melancholy to Euphoria:
The materialisation of emotion in Middle Eastern Manuscripts Symposium

7-8 February 2018, The University of Melbourne

CALL FOR PAPERS

This Symposium will examine the relationship between text, manuscript production (calligraphy and illumination) and the elicitation and excitation of emotions in this form of transmission of knowledge and beliefs. This symposium is made possible by support from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions. The Middle Eastern Manuscript Collection in the University of Melbourne Library comprises works in Arabic and Persian, as well as Turkish, Urdu, Ethiopic, Syriac, Hebrew, Sanskirt, Pushtu, Prakit and Mongol scripts. The texts include Islamic religious texts, with Qur’ans and commentary on the Qur’an, as well as significant poetic works, educational textbooks and writing on history, biography, astrology, mathematics, philosophy and weaponry. In particular, the collection contains a number of significant Persian texts that examine heightened religious and secular emotional states within literary and visual material culture. These texts provide both an immersive emotional experience for those reading or performing the words, and a translational experience for readers of both the text and images where the beauty of the illumination and calligraphy acts as a catalyst for admiration, veneration and contact.

This symposium will examine the relationship between materiality (the constructed form of the manuscript), the textual content, and the emotional resonance that is elicited by those engaging with the texts. Taking the various manifestations of love, both religious and secular, depicted within these texts, and linking these to the great Persian stories told in text and music, this seminar will explore how a deep understanding of the text and the depiction of the stories within traverses an emotional continuum from melancholy to euphoria.

The symposium program includes four high profile keynote speakers including national and international academics and artists. The two-day symposium includes a public lecture, manuscript exhibition, workshops, and cultural events (Persian traditional music and Sufi dance).

This call for paper invites academics, researchers, industry professionals, post graduate students and scholars to elaborate on the various aspects of the subject by presenting a single 20-minute paper on your nominated topic.

Papers are accepted with a focus on emotions, projected within the stories and poetries of Islamic manuscripts as well as emotions which are excited during the process of manuscript production; calligraphy, painting, book binding, decorating etc.

The emotions include but are not limited to the following:

Melancholy
Fear
Anger

Remorse

Longing

Awe

Ecstasy

Keynote speakers:

Professor Robyn Sloggett AM – Director,
Grimwade Centre for Cultural Material Conservation, University of Melbourne

Dr Stefano Carboni, Director, Art Gallery of Western Australia
Professor Mandana Barkeshli (Malaysia)
Professor Amir Zekrgoo (Malaysia)

Call for Papers

Please send your proposal to Sophie Lewincamp at lews@unimelb.edu.au by the deadline on Saturday 14 October 2017. The submission must include: full name, your title and affiliated institution, a one page bio, proposal title plus up to 600 word abstract with up to one page of references. Short listed papers will be invited to provide their full 2,500 word presentation. Confirmed participants may be invited to submit a full paper (up to 6,000 words with images) for publication in a special edition of the AICCM Bulletin with guest editor Professor Robyn Sloggett.

The paper must be presented in person at the two-day symposium held at the University of Melbourne on 7-8 February 2018.

CALL FOR PAPERS – DUE DATE Saturday 14 OCTOBER 2017

2. Conference: “Gender and Sharia in Muslim Legal Theory and Practice”, Göttingen University, 13-14 October 2017

The Conference is organized by Prof. Dr. Irene Schneider, Göttingen University. It starts on 12 October, 6.00 pm, with an opening lecture by Joseph Massad on “Traditionalising Modernity”.

For further information contact Dr. Nijmi Edres:nijmi.edres@uni-goettingen.de

3. Conference for “Arab Doctoral Students Based in the West”, Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Doha, 24 – 26 March 2018

The conference will provide Arab doctoral students in the social sciences and humanities based at Western universities an open space to present papers rooted in their graduate studies and to benefit from discussions with their peers and with established Arab academics. Participants will also gain the opportunity to have their work published in Arabic, through one of the ACRPS’ publication channels.

Information: http://www.dohainstitute.org/en/News/Pages/ACRPS_Conference_for_Arab_Doctoral_Students_Based_in_the_West.aspx

4. International Conference: „Philosophical Hermeneutics in the Islamicate Context“, Center for Phenomenological Studies, Higher Institute of Philosophy, Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), 9-11 May 2018

This conference aims at putting the universality of hermeneutics to the test of the Islamicate context in interpretative, comparative, and creative dimensions. Conference languages are English and French.

Deadline for abstracts: 5 January 2018. Information: http://cep.ophen.org/2017/10/03/new-cfp-philosophical-hermeneutics-in-the-islamicate-context/

5. International Workshop on Post-Orientalism, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 21-22 September 2018

In the spirit of “Orientalism’s“ 40th anniversary, this workshop seeks to unite scholars from Canada and around the world to critically reflect upon both the origins and travels of “Orientalism”, as well as their places in various parts of world and their relations to decolonization.

Deadline for proposals: 1 November 2017. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/8378/discussions/335618/cfp-international-workshop-post-orientalism-21-22-sept-2018

6. Altaf S. Al Sabah Visiting Chair in Women and Societal Development Studies, American University Beirut

The Chair is to begin on August 15, 2018. It is expected to lead efforts to strengthen AUB’s capacity in the field of women’s studies. Additionally, this Chair would also build and expand on the ongoing Women and Gender Studies (WGS) initiative that offers a multidisciplinary undergraduate minor in Women and Gender Studies.

Deadline for applications: 15 November 2017. Information: http://www.aub.edu.lb/fas/fas_home/academic-employment/Pages/academic_positions.aspx#9

7. Articles for the “2017 European Islamophobia Report”

Articles are invited for the following countries: Long report (6.000 words): Germany, Netherlands, Russia, United Kingdom. Short report (3.000 words): Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Kosovo, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia. Professional fees (1000 € / 500 €) are offered.

Deadline for application: 15 October 2017: Information: http://www.islamophobiaeurope.com/call-for-reports/2017-2/

8. Chapters for Edited Volume: “Civil Society and Social Movements: Challenges and Opportunities”

This volume seeks to examine the roles and contributions of civil society and social movements in terms of women and youth empowerment, freedom of expression, conflict resolution, human rights and community peace-building in different conflict areas around Middle East, Africa and Latin America in particular

Deadline for abstracts: 30 October 2017. Information and contact Dr Ibrahim Natil, mailto:dr.natil59@gmail.com

9. Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham.

Teaching Associate – Theology and Religious Studies (fixed-term)

Reference ARTS365217

Closing Date Wednesday, 8th November 2017

Job Type Research & Teaching Support

Department Theology

Salary £29799 to £38833 per annum, depending on skills and experience (minimum £29799 with relevant PhD). Salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance

Applications are invited for the above post based in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham.

The primary duties of the person appointed will be to teach, assess and administer three undergraduate modules and supervise undergraduate dissertations in the area of Islamic Studies. One module will be the introductory ‘Interpreting Islam’ at level 1. The other two modules will be for advanced undergraduates (levels 2 and 3 together) and cover two different topics in Islamic Studies suited to the post holder’s areas of expertise. Example topics include Islamic theology and philosophy, Islam in Britain, Islam and politics, Sufism, Qur’anic studies, Islamic ethics, and Muslim relations with Christians and/or Jews. Other teaching, pastoral and administrative duties commensurate with the post-holder’s experience and expertise will be arranged with the Head of Department.

Candidates must have a PhD successfully completed or near completion in relevant subject area, previous teaching experience at Higher Education level, and the ability to teach two different topics in Islamic Studies at the advanced undergraduate level. Ability to engage and teach texts in religious traditions other than the Islamic is desirable.

This post will be offered on a fixed-term contract for a period of 13 months to 31 January 2019. Hours of work are full-time. Interviews will held on Monday, 20 November 2017.

Applicants are invited to upload a current CV and covering letter in application for this post.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Jon Hoover or email Jon.Hoover@nottingham.ac.uk. Please note that applications sent directly to this email address will not be accepted.

The University of Nottingham is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

For further details and to apply online, see https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/jobs/currentvacancies/ref/ARTS365217

10. The latest volume of Studies and Sources on Islamic Art and Architecture: Supplements to Muqarnas (vol. 13, Brill, 2017), edited by Gülru Necipoğlu.

This collective study, titled The Arts of Ornamental Geometry: A Persian Compendium on Similar and Complementary Interlocking Figures, focuses on a unique medieval document in Persian. It is the only known Islamic primary source (datable to ca. 1300) featuring geometrical drawings of ornamental patterns that are accompanied with step-by-step textual instructions (Fī Tadākhul al-ashkāl al-mutashābiha aw al-mutawāfiqa, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Ms. Persan 169, fols. 180r–199v). The present volume includes a facsimile of this fascinating manuscript, along with its transcription and translation into English (by Wheeler M. Thackston), and analytical drawings made by the late Alpay Özdural (d. 2003). Selections from Özdural’s unpublished work on the Paris manuscript (made available in the Brill online website) are complemented in this volume by interpretative essays by Jan P. Hogendijk, Elaheh Kheirandish, and Gülru Necipoğlu.

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