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Shii News – Academic Items

1.In 2023 the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations inaugurates the “Franklin Lewis Lecture Series” in Persian Literature. This series is made possible by a generous gift to NELC and the Humanities Division and will support two lectures per year on Persian literature to honor the legacy of the late NELC Professor, Franklin Lewis.

The first two speakers are:

February 16th, 2023 – Paul Losensky, title tbd.

May 4th, 2023 – Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, title tbd.

Please see below the link to the page where the information about the upcoming talks is posted. The events will be in person and on zoom. The zoom links will be posted on this page before each talk.

https://nelc.uchicago.edu/news-events/franklin-lewis-lecture-series

 

 

 

2. CFP Culture and Global Responsibility: Rethinking Habitability in the Age of the Anthropocene

Conference at the University of Warwick

May 12-14, 2023

Organisers:

Stefano Bellin (University of Warwick)

Guido Bartolini (Ghent University)

Michael Niblett (University of Warwick)

Deadline to submit a paper proposal: February 10, 2023

Conference webpage: Rethinking Habitability in the Age of the Anthropocene (warwick.ac.uk)

 

 

 

3. Muslim Philanthropy in Latin America & Latinx U.S. (Dec. 7-8 | Online Colloquium)

  1. The second annual LACISA colloquium, in partnership with the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative.
    ** REGISTER: Muslim Philanthropy in Latin America & the Latinx U.S.
    ————————————————————
    While the literatures on Muslim philanthropy and on Latinx philanthropy are continuously expanding, they lack perspectives on how Latinx Muslims and Muslims in Latin America are part of a wider matrix of generosity, volunteering, and mutual aid within, and beyond, both constituencies. On the one hand, Muslims give to organizations and participate in philanthropic activism at local, national, and global levels, hoping to make the world a better place in accordance with Islam. On the other hand, people who identify as Latinx or who live in Latin America have historically engaged in acts of solidarity and mutual assistance among vulnerable populations, addressing issues related to poverty, education, health, and culture.
    The presentations below — and the resulting special edition of the Journal on Muslim Philanthropy and Civil Society (https://fu-berlin.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=218987e5c8b20ce72c5e7da24&id=eb18236511&e=f70992245e)  — will help move research on the intersections between these fields that much further.
    We welcome you to REGISTER (https://fu-berlin.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=218987e5c8b20ce72c5e7da24&id=a3b95832b3&e=f70992245e)  and join us for the following events. A specialized Zoom link will be sent ahead of the event for all those who register.
    NOTICE: All times are Central European Time (GMT +1). Please adjust for your own time zone.

 

 

 

 

4. The Muslim Difference
Defining the Line between Believers and Unbelievers from Early Islam to the Present

Y Patel

Yale, 2022

https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300248968/the-muslim-difference/

 

 

 

 

5. Announcement: The Best Article Award in Kurdish Studies

This award, sponsored by Kurdish Political Studies Program at the University of Central Florida, recognizes the best article in Kurdish Studies by a rising scholar during the previous calendar year. In this year’s competition, social science and humanities articles published in English language peer-reviewed journals in 2021 were considered. The winning articles share the prize of $800. The selection committee was composed of Michiel Leezenberg (University of Amsterdam), Zozan Pehlivan (University of Minnesota), and Güneş Murat Tezcür (University of Central Florida).

The committee has decided to split the award between two articles:

Özgür Sevgi Göral (2021).Waiting for the disappeared: waiting as a form of resilience and the limits of legal space in Turkey. Social Anthropology, 29(3), 800-815.

Classical accounts of the counterinsurgency campaign pursued by the Turkish state in Kurdish lands discuss how the law became an instrument of domination to discipline, punish, and subdue political dissent. Göral’s argument offers an alternative reading of the role of law in shaping the encounters between Kurdish citizens who lost their loved ones to enforced disappearances. Focusing on a legal case about the high-ranking military officer accused of executing 21 individuals in the early 1990s, she reveals how novel forms of political subjectivities and activism have emerged among the relatives of the disappeared. Her study is based on rich fieldwork involving dozens of in-depth interviews and participant observation in court settings magnifies the voices of these individuals whose long encounters with the state bureaucracy inform their political resilience and resistance. While the trial ended as expectedly (i.e., all defendants acquitted), the very practice of using Turkey’s court system has exposed the fabricated nature of the state narratives, reinforced a sense of belonging among the activists, and validated their lasting loyalty to their family members victimized by the state. By transcending the binary framework between the state and insurgency that often characterizes the study of the “Kurdish question” in Turkey, Göral gives the struggles of ordinary people directly affected by the conflict the attention they deserve.

 

Nicola Degli Esposti (2021). The 2017 independence referendum and the political economy of Kurdish nationalism in Iraq. Third World Quarterly, 42(10), 2317-2333.

The referendum organized by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in September 2017  was the latest bid for sovereignty that remains central to Kurdish political aspirations. Yet it ended in failure and the loss of a significant amount of territory for the KRG. Taking a different approach than the burgeoning literature on the subject, Degli Esposti critically argues that the decision to hold the referendum was not a strategic miscalculation but an attempt to deflect popular unrest. By focusing on the long-neglected political economy of the KRG, Degli Esposti cogently identifies how a non-transparent, unaccountable, and corrupt fiscal system fostered new hierarchies and dependencies that were increasingly sustained by repression. The rise of the self-styled Islamic State, the conflict with the central government of Iraq in Baghdad regarding the budget reallocation, and the global decline in oil prices by 2014 exacerbated social tensions and generated direct threats to the political elite. In this context, the decision to hold the referendum aimed to stoke nationalist sentiments and sustain the political status quo. Degli Esposti’s article brings analytical clarity to this crucial aspect of the referendum and will stimulate much needed discussion about the relationship between Kurdish elites and ordinary people in a time of continuing uncertainty and precariousness in Kurdish lands.

 

The committee has also found the following article worthy of an honorable mention:

Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky (2021). Becoming Armenian: religious conversions in the late imperial South Caucasus. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 63(1), 242-272.

In this rich and elegantly written article, Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky studies voluntary conversions to Armenian Christianity during the late nineteenth century South Caucasus under the rule of the Russian Tsar. These converts included Muslims, Yezidis, Assyrians, and Jews who sought to improve their social standing and material wellbeing in a sociopolitical environment embodying entrenched hierarchies. While the conversions were a slow-moving process subject to approval by the Russian authorities who wielded their power capriciously, they were also emblematic of a social order with relatively fluid identities across the borderlands. This order would be swept away with the outbreaks of intercommunal violence and the rise of ethno-nationalism by the early 20th century. By focusing on a neglected historical dynamic indicating the transmutability of religious identities, Hamed-Troyansky’s article brings a fresh perspective to Kurdish Studies and fosters greater intellectual synergy with other fields of inquiry.

 

 

 

6. History of Islamic Art Association- prize, fellowship, grant

The Margaret B. Ševčenko Prize in Islamic Art and Culture
Deadline: December 15, 2022

Every year the Historians of Islamic Art Association (HIAA) sponsors a competition and awards the Margaret B. Ševčenko Prize for the best unpublished essay written by a junior scholar (pre-dissertation graduate student to three years after the Ph.D. degree) on any aspect of Islamic visual culture. This competition is open to HIAA members only. The Ševčenko Prize recipient receives an award of $500 and a citation, generally presented at HIAA’s annual business meeting. The Prize is named in memory of Margaret Bentley Ševčenko, the first and long-serving Managing Editor of Muqarnas, a journal devoted to the visual culture of the Islamic world and sponsored by the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard and at MIT. The winning essay will be considered for publication by the Muqarnas Editorial Board.
Submissions must include the paper in both Word and PDF format, and a separate sheet with the author’s contact information (address, telephone number, and email address). Papers should not exceed 10,000 words in length (including footnotes) and can be accompanied by up to 15 low-res illustrations.
Please note that submissions cannot be in press or under review with any publisher
A letter of recommendation for the paper should be sent separately by the author’s adviser or referee to the Ševčenko committee chair (sevcenko.hiaa@gmail.com).
All materials should be submitted by email to the Ševčenko committee chair (sevcenko.hiaa@gmail.com) by December 15, 2022. Files exceeding 5 Mb should be transferred by FTP.
For further details, please visit: https://www.historiansofislamicart.org/opportunities/hiaa-prizes/the-margaret-ševčenko-prize-in-islamic-art-and-culture

 

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Grabar Post-doctoral Fellowship
Deadline: December 15, 2022

The Grabar Post-doctoral Fellowship is intended to support post-doctoral scholars at an early stage of their careers in advancing their research. Fellowship funds may be used in one of two ways:

* To spend up to two months in residence as a visiting professor or fellow/research scholar at a university, museum, research institute or similar institution outside their usual country of residence or employment.

OR

* To support additional research to aid in preparing the dissertation for publication.

Applicants should have completed their PhD within the last five years or have submitted their dissertations by the start of the fellowship.

The Grabar Post-doctoral Fellowship will provide up to $2000 US per month, for a maximum of two months. An additional $1000 may be requested for travel or for supplies.

All materials should be submitted by email to the chair of the Grabar post-doctoral fellowship committee chair (grabar.hiaa@gmail.com) by December 15, 2022. Files exceeding 5 Mb should be transferred by FTP.
For further details and to apply, please visit: https://www.historiansofislamicart.org/opportunities/hiaa-prizes/grabar-grants-and-fellowships

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Grabar Travel Grant

Deadline: December 15, 2022

This competition is open to graduate students (doctoral candidates) who have been invited or accepted as participants in a scholarly conference or other professional meeting for the purpose of presenting papers, chairing sessions or moderating discussions.

Applicants must be HIAA members in good standing at the time of application. Grabar Travel Grants must be used within 12 months of the award date.

Applications must include the following components and be submitted in a single pdf to the Grabar Travel Committee Chair (grabar.hiaa@gmail.com) by December 15, 2022:

  • Application cover sheet, available here
  • A cover letter explaining the applicant’s purpose in participating in the conference, the expected benefits of participation, and an itemized travel budget
  • Curriculum vitae
  • Letter of acceptance from the conference/session organizer(s)
  • Abstract of the paper to be presented

Additionally, a letter of recommendation from the applicant’s primary supervisor should be sent directly to the Grabar Travel Committee chair (grabar.hiaa@gmail.com) by the deadline.

Applicants from outside the United States are responsible for meeting the requirements for and obtaining any visas necessary for visits to or residence and research in the United States. Upon request, HIAA will supply documentation of the grant and/or fellowship award, the dates of the award, and financial support.

For further details and to apply, please visit: https://www.historiansofislamicart.org/opportunities/hiaa-prizes/grabar-grants-and-fellowships

 

 

 

 

7. Call for Applications: 2023-2024 PIL–LC Research Fellowship
In collaboration with the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress.
In collaboration with the *John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress,*the *Program in Islamic Law at Harvard Law School *is pleased to invite applications for the 2023-2024 PIL–LC Research Fellowship <https://harvard.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8b92c9ea0db629b61c0751b0d&id=c4c15c7a5e&e=83b705019c>(*due: January 31, 2023*). <https://harvard.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8b92c9ea0db629b61c0751b0d&id=10090d2503&e=83b705019c>This newly offered fellowship is designed to provide an intellectual home to promising young scholars in Islamic legal studies, to advance their research, and to contribute to the intellectual life of the Program, the greater Harvard community, and the Library of Congress community. The unique opportunity afforded by this joint fellowship award allows the selected fellow to pursue independent research on Islamic law and history that utilizes the extensive collections of the Harvard Libraries and the Library of Congress. The PIL–LC Research Fellowship award is a full-time residential fellowship at Harvard Law School (for nine months, during the academic year) and at the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress (for three months, the following summer).
Successful applicants will have completed an advanced degree (JD, PhD, SJD, or the equivalent) before the start of the fellowship, and plan to pursue a scholarly research agenda in Islamic law that engages legal history, law and society, or comparative law approaches. Fellows will receive a stipend for the duration of the fellowship.
To apply for this fellowship, please submit the following materials via the research fellowship online application form <https://harvard.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8b92c9ea0db629b61c0751b0d&id=82dd531709&e=83b705019c>by *January 31, 2023*:

1. a curriculum vitae
2. a research proposal consisting of
* a single-paragraph abstract of your proposed research
* a research statement, not to exceed 1500 words (3 single-spaced pages), and
* a bibliography of works you have consulted that describes the proposed work during the fellowship period.
The proposal should outline research in your area of expertise or interest related to contemporary or historical issues of Islamic law that can be accomplished during the fellowship term; projects are to utilize the Harvard and Library of Congress collections to advance a novel contribution to scholarship through research in Islamic law, with a legal history, comparative law, or law and society approach.
3. an explanation of why Harvard/PIL and the Library of Congress are the required venue for your research (e.g., identification of specific Harvard/PIL resources and Library of Congress collections that are necessary to pursue the research project)
4. a writing sample of no more than 25 pages in length, in English (which can be a recent publication or unpublished work; works-in-progress are especially welcome)
5. 3 reference letters from recommenders who are to upload letters directly at the referee link <https://harvard.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8b92c9ea0db629b61c0751b0d&id=bf296965ca&e=83b705019c>.
A panel of scholars at both Harvard and the Library of Congress will review your application materials. The panel will consider your application in relation to numerous other proposals. Evaluation criteria will include:
* The significance of the contribution that the project will make to knowledge in the field
* The quality or the promise of quality of the work
* The quality of the conception, definition, organization and description of the project
* The likelihood that the applicant will complete the project
* The appropriateness of the research for Harvard/PIL resources and the Library of Congress collections
Please ensure that your references have ample time to consider and comment on your proposal. Letters of reference are more highly regarded if they address the specific proposed activity and how well the candidate is suited to undertake it, as opposed to letters that verify character, limit comments to previous work, or make only general observations on the topic.
Following a process of committee review, applicants will be notified of decisions in March 2023.
<https://harvard.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8b92c9ea0db629b61c0751b0d&id=048915d6cd&e=83b705019c>

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