Shii News – Academic Items

1.The British Association for Islamic Studies is looking for a BRAIS Projects Coordinator to help drive forward its work over the coming year. The post would be ideal for a UK-based PhD student whose academic interests intersect with any aspect of Islamic Studies, broadly understood.

This is a Guaranteed Hours post available from October 2021 for a period of one year, working a minimum of 250 hours over the fixed-term period (more hours may be available by negotiation).

Further details, including how to apply, can be found here: http://www.brais.ac.uk/home/brais-projects-coordinator

Location

The post holder can be based anywhere in UK. Work will be undertaken remotely, with meetings and catch-up taking place online.

How to Apply

Applications should be submitted via email to BRAIS Secretary, Tom Lea (brais@ed.ac.uk), by 5pm on Friday 3rd September 2021.

 

 

 

 

2. Persian Language Course – Starting: 20th Aug 2021
Mondays & Wednesdays

The Islamic College has organized a Persian Language Course for those who want to learn modern Farsi. The Course has three semesters.
This course offers an excellent opportunity to master a very important language which provides an entry into a rich and diverse culture. Since Persian has not changed significantly in over a millennium, the basic grammar for the classical and modern forms of the language is virtually the same and is relatively easy to learn.
One of the benefits of learning Farsi is the ability to access a huge body of literature and sources of Islamic knowledge.
The Course Registration Fee is £50/semester.

The registration deadline is 20th Aug 2021.
An attendance certificate would be granted at the end of the course.

To register please complete this form or contact the Short Course Department by email: shortcourses@islamic-college.ac.uk

 

 

 

3. The Great Lakes Adiban Societyseeks papers for two sponsored sessions at the International Congress for Medieval Studies to convene online, May 9–14, 2022.

We welcome any scholars engaging all manner of traditions and texts from across the pre-modern Islamicate world. Abstracts are due Sept. 15, 2021 via the ICMS submission portal.

Please see our brief panel descriptions below, and for further details and directions on how to apply, follow this link.

 

Panel 1: Sociability between Justice and Tyranny

This panel considers Islamicate ambivalences toward sociability and despotism to better understand the competitive nature of friendship and the seductive pull of absolutist rule by closely reading and contextualizing a wide variety of pre-modern texts.

 

Panel 2: Medieval Islamicate Paratexts in Contexts

This panel will explore the nature of the paratext in the lettered traditions of the medieval Islamicate world and ask how developments in textual technology (manuscript, lithograph, print, digital) as well as practices of reading and editing have changed how such works are understood and valorized.

 

Please feel free to widely circulate this CfP and remember to apply for our regional conference coming up this fall.

 

 

 

 

4. Arabic Online Language Course

Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced
Tuesdays & Thursdays
Starting: 9th September 2021

 

The Islamic College has organized an Arabic Course for those who want to learn the language of the Islamic revelation.

The course has three semesters which are designed to prepare students with no previous knowledge of Arabic to read and understand Quranic and classical Islamic texts.

At the end of the course, students would have developed the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and grammar. Students who successfully complete the course will be awarded an Islamic College Certificate of attendance.

What will you learn?

This course focuses on the Arabic language which is ideal for anyone interested to learn how to read, write and speak Arabic. The course dives deep into Classical Arabic vocabulary and basic grammar rules. It’s designed to provide a solid foundation of the most common vocabulary and will enable you to go through daily life, navigate a variety of situations, and have significant conversations with speakers of Arabic.

We will start with learning the alphabet and how to read and write the letters with their different shapes. You’ll gain a comprehensive understanding of the basics, including word and sentence formation, and how to use and form pronouns, verb patterns and tenses, adjectives, and plurals.

You’ll learn how to ask questions, use common greetings, talk about your family and introduce yourself. You’ll also learn essentials such as using numbers, telling the time, and setting dates.

You’ll be introduced to the language from the ground up and work your way to being capable to read and write basic Arabic texts and feeling comfortable having a simple conversation with native Arabic speakers.

There will be weekly Kahoot activity, homework, and translation time which can solidify and enrich your ability to talk Arabic confidently.

 

To register please complete this form or contact the Short Course Department by email: shortcourses@islamic-college.ac.uk

 

 

 

 

5. Postdoctoral Research Associate
University of Exeter
The College wishes to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to participate in the Writing the Future project, which has explored metadiscourse in Arab students writing in both English and Arabic.  It is a corpus study, creating a unique Arab-English corpus of writing, and complemented by interviews with the authors. The post will include preparing the corpus for archiving on a website, literature reviewing, as well as general research duties linked to the final year of the project, such as assisting with conference presentations and publications, as appropriate.
Closing date for applications | 6 August 2021
Further information

 

 

 

 

6. Decades of Fire: A Special Issue on Middle East and North Africa
Call for Submissions | The Michigan Quarterly Review

The Michigan Quarterly Review (MQR) is seeking contributions to a special issue on the Middle East and North Africa focused on the region’s political, social, and cultural transformations in the last three decades. MQR invites articles, essays, memoirs, fiction and poetry in English translation that examine the impact the multiple tensions and conflicts of the last three decades have had on the people of the Middle East and North Africa. Submissions are encouraged from migrant voices in the region, LGBTQIA+ voices, and writing from voices typically underrepresented in anthologies on the Middle East and North Africa.
Deadline for Submissions | 1 November 2021

Further information

 

 

 

7. 22 and 29 October 2021 Short Course – Religious Cultural Heritage: Concepts and Issues in the Modern Middle East – Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations

This is a two-day introductory course on the theme of religious cultural heritage (RCH) in the Middle East. It aims to contextualise RCH as the living cultural heritage of its community of users. In addition, the course attempts to present RCH as a contemporary construct of its socio-political and religious context through its connections to ethnicity, gender, nationalism, as much as religion.

Read and download course structure.

Date and Time

22 and 29 October 2021, 13:30 – 16:00 (London Time).
Tickets and Booking

Tickets: £75 professionals | £45 students, AKU alumni and staff. Book as soon as possible.
*The course will be delivered via Zoom. Readings and further details will be provided later upon registration.

*The course will not be recorded.

Posted in: Academic items