Categories : Academic items
Shii News – Academic Items
1. A Swedish Officer’s Account of Turkey and Persia, 1816-1817
Mage, 2025
Carl Peter von Heidenstam, W Floor, transl.,
https://mage.com/underrattelser-a-swedish-officers-account-of-turkey-and-persia-1816-1817/
- June 17, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.UCLA Screening of Sloan Winner – JIN – A Kurdish film with themes of Jin Jiyan Azadi and Intersectionality– June 26th, 7-10 PM.
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/jin-short-film-screening-tickets-1371989149479?aff=erelexpmlt
2. JSAI Volume 55 – Studies in Honour of Albert Arazi
We are pleased to announce the publication of volume 55 of Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam(JSAI). This peer-reviewed academic journal covers a range of subjects related to classical Islam, Islamic religious thought, Arabic language and literature, and the interaction between Islam and other civilizations. This honorary volume is presented to Albert Arazi of the Hebrew University and includes papers that highlight his diverse fields of academic interests.
As the flagship project of the Institute of Asian and African Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Max Schloessinger Memorial Foundation is dedicated to providing high-quality research and analysis on the subject of Islam and Arabic studies. We are proud to have published 55 volumes of JSAI to date and we are confident that the latest addition will be of great interest to academics and researchers worldwide.
We invite you to visit our website at https://jsai.huji.ac.il/publications to learn more about JSAI.
The Editors
Max Schloessinger Memorial Foundation
Contact Email
URL
https://jsai.huji.ac.il/about-jsai-0
3. Columbia University – Lecturer/Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68808
4. Join us for our first Digital Lab event in Scotland! The event takes place Wednesday 2-3 July 2025 in Edinburgh, Scotland, with an optional 4 July special excursion to Glasgow. Our focus is on the intersections of Islamic art, architecture, video games/XR, digital cultural heritage and museum collections. This event will bring together our local and international community members and anyone else who shares our interest in bridging academic, video games/entertainment/XR+, and cultural heritage sectors for positive social impact. We’ll combine brief talks with hands-on workshops, and plenty of time for meeting fellow members of the Digital Lab community, strengthening our international connections, and sharing exciting new projects.
2-3 July Digital Lab Days Edinburgh
Day 1 Edinburgh Futures Institute, University of Edinburgh
Bridging the academy and video games/entertainment/XR
Digital Technologies for Islamic Art History & Cultural Heritage
Hands-On Workshop for Digital Cultural Heritage
Day 2
AM: Spotlight on Islamic art, University of Edinburgh Heritage Collections
PM: Spotlight on Islamic art, National Museum Scotland with Friederike Voigt (Principal Curator, West, South & Southeast Asian collections, Head of Asia Section, Department of Global Arts, Cultures and Design)
Optional 4 July Digital Lab Days Glasgow Field Trip
Introduction to Museums in the Metaverse, ARC-XR Lab, University Glasgow
Islamic collections session, Glasgow Life Museums Resource Center with Aisha Asghar (Assistant Curator, World Cultures – Art)
Contact Information
Dr. Glaire Anderson
Founding Director, Digital Lab for Islamic Visual Cultures & Collections
Senior Lecturer in Islamic Art, School of History of Art/ECA
Affiliate, Edinburgh Futures Institute
University of Edinburgh, Scotland
Contact Email
URL
https://dlivcc.kit.com/profile/events
5. The Medieval Mediterranean between Islam and Christianity
Crosspollinations in Art, Architecture, and Material Culture
Edited by Sami Luigi De Giosa and Nikolaos Vryzidis
AUC Press, 2025
https://aucpress.com/9781649031877/
6. CFP: American Historical Review, Special Issue on Methods for Archival Silence in Early History, Sept. 16
The American Historical Review seeks proposals for a special issue illustrating a range of methodological approaches to archival silence developed by scholars of early history. Articles may be grounded in any part of the world and address any topic as long as they are method-driven, focused on archival silence, and situated early within the periodization of your field.
About the Issue
What should historians do when our sources do not tell us what we want to know? Although this may be a universal experience of historical research, the problem arises in various forms. Some silences are intentional, others unintentional. Some sources are minimal, others extensive but off-topic. Some sources are inaccessible, some have not been preserved, some were never created. Sometimes we do not or cannot know whether our desired sources ever existed, or, if they did, what happened to them. Silences cluster around certain topics, places, and periods more than others.
Historians have articulated this problem in a variety of ways. This call uses the language of archival silence and silencing developed by Michel-Rolph Trouillard and Marisa Fuentes. It could have drawn on the concept of the subaltern (Ranajit Guha, Gayatri Spivak), strategically produced silence and plausible stories (Natalie Zemon Davis), records designed for jettison (Marina Rustow), hidden transcripts (James Scott), living oral traditions (Bethwell A. Ogot), or writing off the radar (James Lockhart), to name only a few.
Faced with archival silence, historians have developed a range of methods for working in, through, and around it. Some techniques and approaches have become characteristic of expertise in early periods. Others are applied by historians across specializations. These include but are not limited to reading against the grain; creative combination of well-known sources; creative use of unusual or little-known sources; oral and other forms of non-written record; technical skills in the so-called ancillary disciplines (numismatics, paleography, codicology, epigraphy, and more); interdisciplinary approaches to method (anthropology, archaeology, literature, linguistics, and more) and to what constitutes a source (climate data, aDNA, physical objects, art, and more); critical fabulation or disciplined imagination; and reframing our questions to build on our sources’ strengths.
Submitting a Proposal
Proposals should be submitted via Google Form by September 16, 2025. Proposals should be no more than 800 words in length and should address the following questions:
- What is your field of historical research? In the context of your field, why is your project considered early?
- Briefly describe the archive(s) or bod(ies) of sources on which your project is based. In what sense are these sources silent?
- Briefly describe the method(s) that you use to work with these sources. What methodological intervention does your project make, and why is it significant?
- What form will your project take in the journal?
We invite projects in a wide variety of forms. They can include, but are not limited to:
- Traditional research articles (no more than 8,000 words, excluding footnotes)
- Image- or video-centered projects
- Digital history/humanities projects
- Public history projects or virtual exhibitions
- Pedagogical projects that examine approaches to methodology and archival silence in the classroom
Decisions on proposals will be announced in November 2025. A positive decision does not guarantee publication in the journal but is rather an invitation to submit a full and complete version of the proposed project for peer review. The submission deadline for complete projects for peer review is May 1, 2026. We anticipate publication of the special issue in 2027.
Please contact the special issue editor, Hannah Barker (hannah.barker.1@asu.edu), with questions.
Contact Information
Hannah Barker
Associate Professor, School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies, Arizona State University
Contact Email
URL
https://www.historians.org/news-publications/american-historical-review/how-to-…
7. Birmingham Research Institute for History and Cultures
The Vernacular Millennium: Literary Cultures in History: International Multidisciplinary Workshop
19–20 June, University of Birmingham
Venue: G05, Institute of Advanced Studies(IAS), University of Birmingham, 54 Pritchatts Rd, Birmingham B15 2SA, UK
This hybrid workshop will discuss Sheldon Pollock’s book titled The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India (University of California Press, 2009). Since its publication fifteen years ago, Pollock’s massive book has profoundly reshaped how cultural and literary historians, as well as philologists specialising in the broadest possible linguistic fields, think about the development of languages and the relationship between language and politics. Pollock focused on Sanskrit and its impact on vernacular literary languages in India, suggesting stages for how as a cosmopolitan literary idiom it gave way to local languages. He offered a framework that successfully moved historical models for the development of literary languages away from nationalist teleology, which sees the rise of ‘national languages’ as connected to ethnic identity and as an inevitable process. Since the appearance of the book, scholars have applied Pollock’s vision to their own field, creating new ways of thinking about literary history, philology, historical linguistics, etc., whether in the western hemisphere or the Global South. While some have agreed and others have disagreed with Pollock, problematising his model’s applicability in certain linguistic traditions, critical engagement with his model has proven remarkably fruitful, whether speaking about languages of the ancient Near East, Antiquity, Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages and Early Modernity. This has undoubtedly created new ways of talking about premodern global connectivities and the contingency of the linguistic – and by extension, also the cultural – makeup of the modern world. It is now time to take stock of this impact. The workshop will bring together specialists of diverse linguistic traditions – historians, philologists and linguists from the UK and international academia. The regional and linguistic specialisations of the invitees will include Indology, Iranian, Turkic, Arabic, English, Spanish and Latin Studies.
Those interested but unable to attend in person can participate via Zoom via the links included below.
Thursday, 19 June
https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/83998767478?pwd=4iGaxo9gRCq0PsT4hAVBaKgWTsY7iS.1
Meeting ID: 839 9876 7478, Passcode: 430140
Welcome: 13:30-14:00 Soft opening
14:00-15:00 The Politics of Language in the Nile-to-Oxus Region
Ludwig Paul (University of Hamburg), “The Early History of New Persian”
Ferenc Csirkés (University of Birmingham), “Language Ideologies of Turkic in Premodern Iran”
Discussant: Leire Olabarria
15:00-15:45 Latinitas and Translation in the Medieval Christian West
Elena Caetano Alvarez (University of Birmingham), “Por aver remembrança”: Translation, Adaptation, and the Language of Empire in Alfonso X’s Historiography”
Discussant: Aengus Ward (University of Birmingham, Department of Modern Languages)
[15:45-16:15 Tea/ Coffee]
16:15-17:15 Cosmopolitan Multilingualism in the Early Modern and Modern West
Kamran Khan (University of Birmingham), “Language Citizenship Testing as Border Control”
Warren Boutcher (Queen Mary, University of London), “Beyond vernacularisation: The TextDiveGlobal project and the literary history of early modern Europe in the world”
Discussant: Jing Huang (University of Birmingham)
[18:30- Dinner – Syriana, Edgbaston]
Friday, 20 June
https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81404724181?pwd=XckGnlagv9spC5G1JvabwGeqAyPoDu.1
Meeting ID: 814 0472 4181
Passcode: 512641
09:15-10:15 Cosmopolitanism and Vernacular Traditions in India
Imre Bangha (University of Oxford), “Moving on from the Language of Gods: Revisiting the Emergence of Hindi”
Roy Fischel (SOAS, University of London), “Telling the Local to the World: Cosmopolitan and its Boundaries in the Persianate Deccan”
Discussant: Ferenc Csirkés
[10:15-10:30 Tea/Coffee]
10:30-11:30 Keynote
Nicholas Ostler (Foundation of Endangered Languages), “History of Language Succession”
11:30-13:00 [LUNCH, buffet brought in to accompany round table]
Roundtable, (and next steps?)
8. The Islamic College:
An Online Panel Discussion On: Religious Experience in Abrahamic Traditions
Date: Wednesday 25 June 2025
Time: 6.00 P.M. – 8.30 P.M. (LONDON TIME)
| A Short Account of the Talk:
Religious experience is described in some detail in the Hebrew Bible and yet is not emphasized on the whole in later forms of the religion. There are some Jewish traditions for which experience is significant, but for most Jews it is not so important, and is perhaps replaced by practices such as prayer and law, or a commitment to social justice. There will be a discussion of how and why this occurred, what are its implications and whether or not this presents the religion with a problem. Bio Oliver Leaman is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kentucky and a member of the Accademica Ambrosiana, Milan . He is the author and editor of books and articles in Islamic, Jewish and Asian philosophy and culture, and his most recent book is the Routledge Handbook of Jewish Ritual and Practice, 2022, which he edited.. He remains the editor of the Routledge Jewish Book Series, one of the largest English language academic series of publications. A Short Account of the Talk: The Nature and Significance of Religious Experience: An Islamic Perspective Religious experience in Islamic thought is a profound encounter that fosters spiritual transformation, ethical refinement, and divine proximity. Rooted in the Qur’an and Hadith, it encompasses prayer (salat), supplication (du’a), contemplation (tafakkur), and mystical awareness (ma‘rifah), each serving as a pathway to deeper connection with God (Allah). Bio Hujjat al-Islam Dr. Mohammad Ali Shomali is a distinguished Islamic scholar and philosopher. He studied at the Islamic Seminaries of Qum and also earned his BA and MA in Western philosophy from the University of Tehran and his doctorate in moral philosophy from the University of Manchester. He is the founding director of the Risalat International Institute, which focuses on Islamic curriculum development and educational training. Over the past 28 years, he has led seminars and courses in over 60 cities across four continents, contributing to Islamic education and interfaith dialogue. Dr. Shomali’s work in interfaith engagement has connected him with scholars and religious leaders in Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia. His publications include works on Islamic philosophy, ethics, and spirituality, such as Ethical Relativism, Self-Knowledge, Shi‘a Islam: Origins, Faith & Practices, and Lessons on Islamic Beliefs. Dr Shomali is co-editor of Catholics-Shi’a Dialogue volumes: A Short Account of the Talk: The Christian faith is born in religious experience: the miraculous birth of the Christ child, the many miracles of Jesus, his martyr death, his resurrection and ascension. Today the Christian life is often seen as beginning with the personal reception of a divine encounter with Jesus, called “conversion.” The topic of religious experience within Christianity takes many turns and the literature is rich with philosophers, psychologist, and theologians analyzing the authenticity, especially of the extraordinary accounts of such experiences. In his presentation, Professor Huebner will consider both the exceptional accounts of religious experiences as well as the “ordinary” ones. His main argument is “We could say that it is a religious experience whenever there is a “meeting” of the divine and the human. Or, whenever we receive an act in this world as divine.” Bio Harry Huebner is Professor Emeritus of philosophy and theology at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Canada. In the past few decades, he has been active in interfaith dialogue and teaching. He is the author of several books, his latest being An Introduction to Christian Ethics: History, Movements, People. |
https://islamic-college.ac.uk/event-register/
9. Dust That Never Settles: Literary Afterlives of the Iran-Iraq War is now available through Stanford University Press.
Ami Mousavi deals with the ways in which Iranian and Iraqi writers have dealt with the legacy of the war between their two countries in contemporary Persian and Arabic fiction.
https://www.sup.org/books/middle-east-studies/dust-never-settles
If you’re inclined to purchase one, you can get a 20% discount from SUP by using the code MOOSAVI20.
https://www.sup.org/books/middle-east-studies/dust-never-settles
10. Digital Methodologies for the Study of Religion Symposium
Wednesday 25th June
Coventry University
9.30am-4.15pm
This knowledge exchange symposium is part of the ESRC-funded Digital British Islam research project. Hosted by Coventry University, it will bring together scholars to critically engage with the uses, challenges, and future directions of digital methodologies for the study of religion. The draft programme for the symposium is available on here: https://digitalbritishislam.com/draft-symposium-programme/
Registration is free and includes access to all conference sessions, lunch, refreshments, and networking opportunities. Please note, we are not able to cover travel expenses on this occasion.
Please register on this link as soon as possible: https://digitalbritishislam.com/symposium-registration/
Places are very limited and registration will closed once full or on Wednesday 18th June.
11. IED lecture – 23/6 – Thijl Sunier ‘Making Islam work: Islamic Authority among Muslims in Western Europe’
Thijl Sunnier (VU Amsterdam) will close this first online lecture series with a talk on his latest book ‘‘Making Islam Work: Islamic Authority Among Muslims in Western Europe”.
Date: Monday, June 23rd, 3.00-4.30 pm CET
Registration link: click here to register and save your Teams access link
After his presentation, discussant Dominik Müller (Zürich University) will offer a response, followed by a Q&A
Abstract
Thijl Sunier: ‘‘Making Islam Work: Islamic Authority Among Muslims in Western Europe”.
Who speaks for Islam? Religious authority hinges on persuasiveness and addresses issues of truthfulness, authenticity, legitimacy, trust, and ethics within the realm of religious matters.
While Islamic authority may seem like an inherent status for Muslim scholars, tied to their knowledge of religious sources, Sunier argues that the process of establishing Islamic authority is a continuous dynamic.
His book Making Islam Work: Islamic Authority Among Muslims in Western Europe (Brill) analyses authority as a social and relational practice that extends beyond theological proficiency and personal status, even encompassing objects, activities, and events. Moreover, he contends that the development of Islamic landscapes in Europe is intricately linked to the evolution of Islamic authority.
In this talk, he will explore the diverse ways in which Islamic authority is constituted, with a specific emphasis on the role of ‘ordinary’ Muslims. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted among Muslims in Western Europe from the mid-1980s to 2020, he aims to shed light on the multifaceted dynamics of Islamic authority in this context.
Thijl Sunier is professor emeritus (VU University Amsterdam) and president of the Netherlands Interuniversity School for Islamic Studies (NISIS). His work focuses on the study of migrants in Europe, Turkey and the study of Islamic religious authority
Looking forward to seeing you there!
IED team (An Van Raemdonck, Iman Lechkar, Dominik Müller, Nadia Fadil, Aymon Kreil).
12. Nemati Book Award For Studies on Iran’s Minoritized Ethnic and Religious Communities
The Nemati Book Award honors exceptional monographs on Iran’s minoritized ethnic and religious groups. Established in memory of Mrs. Nemati [from Kermanshah in Iran], the award supports inclusive, interdisciplinary scholarship. The UNC-Chapel Hill Persian Studies Program administers this award in collaboration with the Association for Iranian Studies (AIS).
Prize: $1,000 (awarded biennially)
Eligibility: Books published in the past two years (January 1, 2024- December 31, 2025)
Focus: Communities such as Armenian, Assyrian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Bahá’í, Kurdish, Baluch, Yarsan, and others
Submission: Authors or publishers may submit a digital copy of the book, a nomination letter by authors/publishers, and a CV by January 31, 2026, to yaghoobi@email.unc.edu
13. Hedayat on Religion
Edited by M.R. Ghanoonparvar and Paul Sprachman
Contributors: Iraj Bashiri, Michael Beard, M. Mehdi Khorrami, Nasrin Rahimieh
Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2024.
https://www.mazdapublishers.com/book/hedayat-on-religion
14. The team of the UKRI-funded project Musical Lives: Towards an Historical Anthropology of French Song, 1100-1300 (MUSLIVE) invites expressions of interest from researchers at an early career stage (broadly conceived and inclusive of current PhD students) to participate in a workshop on 17th-18thSeptember at King’s College London.
Our intention is to bring together researchers whose work intersects with the project’s interests in the lives of poets or songmakers who lived in or travelled the Mediterranean, or whose work can be positioned within trans-Mediterranean cultural networks, in the period 1100 to 1300. We take a capacious view of “musical lives” to include all forms of performed speech, with or without melody. We welcome contributions which focus on Arabic, Hebrew, Latin or European vernacular poetic traditions (particularly medieval French and Occitan).
In lieu of a traditional conference paper, we will ask participants to present a primary source, be that an object, text (or extract of a longer text), or document, linked to the project’s core themes and timeframe. Prior to the workshop, participants will submit their object/source for distribution in advance (with English translation provided), along with a short contextual statement about it, some research questions you are working on, and how it might relate to MUSLIVE’s core themes (for example, how it contributes to building a musical life and/or network.) In the workshop, each participant will offer an informal introduction to their item for a maximum of 5 minutes, with ample room afterwards for generative and open-ended conversation in a convivial and supportive atmosphere.
We conceive of the workshop as the first step in an ongoing collaboration through which participants will have the opportunity to develop a chapter for submission to one of the project’s edited volumes. The workshop will be an in-person event, though we anticipate further workshops will be online and/or hybrid.
We ask potential participants to submit an abstract of no more than 250 words outlining their chosen source and their approach to it, along with a short CV. Please submit your materials by June 30th to muslive@kcl.ac.uk and feel free to contact us on that address with any questions.
The project is able to offer a number of bursaries to support travel and accommodation costs, with priority given to those who do not have access to institutional or other funding. Please indicate if you would like to be considered for a bursary when submitting your abstract.
MUSLIVE is a UKRI Frontier Research Grant, running 2023-2028. It was successfully evaluated by the ERC and funded by the UKRI Horizon Europe guarantee (EP/X022501/1). For more information about the project themes, see: https://muslive.kcl.ac.uk
Best wishes,
The MUSLIVE team
15. New Online Course: The Shahname: Introduction to the Iranian Epic
July 11 – August 29, 2025
Ferdowsi School of Persian Literature
https://ferdowsi.org/the-shahname-introduction-2/
16. HYBRID Lecture Reconstructing the Higher Thought of Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Karīm al-Shahrastānī (d.548/1153): Eclecticism or Intellectual Synthesis ?
by Dr. Toby Mayer (Institute of Ismaili Studies, London), INALCO, Paris, 16 June 2025, 18:15 – _20:00 CET
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/2nu8pphy
17. “7th International Conference of the Mediterranean Maritime History Network”, University of Zadar, Croatia, 25-26 May 2026
Main themes: – _On the sea (seamen, ships, navigation, sea trade, war, piracy). – _Around the sea (maritime communities, islands, port cities, shipping, shipping-related, fishing and touristic businesses). In the sea (fishing, maritime resources, environment). – _Because of the sea (maritime transport systems and entrepreneurial networks, maritime empires, international and national maritime institutions and policy). – _About the sea (the maritime culture and heritage).
Deadline for abstracts: 30 September 2025. Information: https://conference.unizd.hr/mmhn2026/
18. Postdoctoral University Assistant (up to 6 Years) in Ottoman/Turkish Studies, University of Vienna
Qualification: Ph.D in Ottoman/Turkish Studies. – _Habilitation project in historical migration research focusing on Turkey. – _Research interests: migration history, minorities, spatial studies. – _Professional and methodological expertise in Ottoman/Turkish and European history, cultural theory, and digital humanities (DH). – _Excellent command of English, Turkish and Ottoman Turkish. – _Very good knowledge of Greek, Hebrew or Ladino.
Deadline for applications: 15 July 2025.
Information: https://jobs.univie.ac.at/job/University-Assistant-postdoctoral/1212816901/
19. Chapters on “The Aesthetics of Monotheism: Islam & the Hermeneutics of Art and Architecture” for Edited Volume of the Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar
The book explores theoretical and practical methods in historiography to examine the aesthetic foundations of Islamic art and architecture. It aims to build a framework grounded in Islamic aesthetics, critique orientalist perspectives, and expand understanding beyond architecture to include poetry, ornament, and music.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 July 2025. Information: Contact Ms. Rayan Khalil (rkhalil@hbku.edu.qa )
- June 14, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.HYBRIDE Journée d’étude „Étudier les polices au Moyen-Orient : penser les formes d’États du VIIIe siècle à nos jours“, CAREP Paris, 23 juin 2025, 09h30 – 17h30 CET
Information, programme, et inscription: https://tinyurl.com/3vnhd4dt
2. Symposium “Islamic Law in Comparative Perspectives: Milestones, Methods, and Epistemologies” in Honour of Professor Nadjma Yassari, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg, 3-4 July 2025
This event will celebrate the extensive and influential research of Professor Nadjma Yassari (Director of the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law) on Islamic law, as well as her outstanding contributions to the field of comparative law. The symposium will feature several panels that explore the past, present, and future of these disciplines together with former members of the research group, colleagues, and long-standing collaborators.
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/ne9vbuay
3. ONLINE 10th Conference of the American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages (AATT): “Bridging Tradition & Technology in Teaching Turkic Languages: Strategies for the Future”, 17 October 2025
Deadline for abstracts: 15 July 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/e2s9k8mz
4. Research Conference on “AI Methodologies and Applications in Middle Eastern/Islamic World Studies”, Global Studies Centre, Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait, 4-5 February 2026
Themes: 1. Opportunities/Challenges/Ethics in incorporating AI in the methodology of the Social Sciences and Humanities disciplines. – 2. Specific Social Sciences or Humanities research projects or applications with significant use of AI or other digital technologies in Middle Eastern and Islamic World Studies. – 3. AI applications in religious law, textual commentary and prophetic traditions. – 4. AI applications in the cultural heritage of the Middle East and Islamic World.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 October 2025. Information: https://www.gust.edu.kw/gsc
5. Assistant Professor (2 Years) in Political Science with Emphasis on the Middle East, The American University in Cairo
Requirements: A PhD is required at the time of appointment. Candidates should demonstrate excellence in teaching and have an active research agenda. Candidates with experience in and familiarity with the North American higher educational system are preferred.
Deadline for applications: 1 January 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yeyjpf4a
6. Articles for the “Turkish Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (TJMES)”, Issue December 2025, Middle East Institute of Sakarya University
TJMES welcomes academic contributions to all aspects of the Middle East. TJMES prefers research written from multi-disciplinary perspectives and from a number of fields, including but not limited to international relations, politics, sociology, history, geopolitics, philosophy, war and peace studies, security, and economics. Particularly, the journal welcomes contemporary issues regarding the Middle Eastern countries.
Information: https://tinyurl.com/ycxyt3am
7. Intellect is pleased to present Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research 18.1.
For more information about the journal and issue click here:
https://www.intellectbooks.com/journal-of-arab-muslim-media-research
and
https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/jammr/browse
- June 10, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.ONLINE Webinar The amazing technicolor Yusuf u Zulaykha manuscript from Bukhara in the Sissinghurst collection
with Jamie Comstock-Skipp
British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS), 18 June 2025, 5:00 pm UK Time
Jaimee Comstock-Skipp will give a lecture on a recently conserved illustrated Persian manuscript belonging to Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson located in Sissinghurst Castle. It is a copy of Yusuf and Zulaykha, a mystical love story composed by the poet Jami, made in Bukhara (present-day Uzbekistan) in the early 1570s. The manuscript is connected to an extraordinary period of commercial productivity in the absence of royal patronage, and is connected to spiritual and economic networks spanning Central and South Asia. The manuscript may have journeyed from its original creation site in Central Asia; was dispatched to India for sale in the country ca. late 16th century or early in the 17th; then perhaps it had a stint in Istanbul or Iran in the late 19th or early 20th centuries, before being carried off to British soil by Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson. Or, Harold’s father, Arthur Nicolson—Lord Carnock—was part of the British Legation in Tehran and may have acquired it there earlier. The Bukharan manuscript testifies to thriving trade crossing continents in the early-modern period, as in our present age
Information and registration:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8_NWTitGS_uBEC98UpACIQ#/registration
2. ‘What the Qur’an really says about Jews, Judaism, and the Bible’
The event is generously hosted at the Aga Khan Centre and is sponsored by the Institute of Ismaili Studies and the Woolf Institute.
Date: 2 July 2025
Time: 13:00 – 14:30 (light lunch will be available from 12:15)
Location: Aga Khan Centre, 10 Handyside Street, London.
The event is free, but registration is required.
To register, please click here.
For more information about the event, please visit the event’s site here.
3. “Words Left Unsaid: A Tribute to Professor Franklin Lewis” a special issue of Middle Eastern Literatures edited by Sunil Sharma.
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/came20/27/1
4. Call for Submissions to an Edited Volume: Deadline July 1, 2025
“My Blood is Cheaper than Oil”: Arabic Literature and the Encounter with Petropolitics
How have 20th-century oil discoveries in the MENA region shaped the emergence of what came to be known as ‘Arab modernity’? How has modern Arabic literature reimagined domestic and social relationships with and through oil? And how have the increasingly precarious conditions of oil production, consumption, and theft over the course of a century transformed the Arabic literary imagination?
More than a material resource, oil is deeply entangled with the cultural production of home, nation, identity, race, religion, family, and legal status. Its presence permeates allegories, metaphors, literary genres, and framing practices. The violent traces of war and the haunting fumes of traumatic memory linger in the words and lacunae of Arabic literature. In Arabic discourse, oil has been both an evocative and lucrative symbol (of prosperity, modernity, war, and hegemony) and a material force shaping everyday life—driving urban development, education, the rise of civil society, the formation of a modern intellectual class, and traumatic phenomena such as epidemics, bodily deformities, forced migration, dispossession, and mass murder. Oil has also seeped into the domestic domain of literature, such as familial gestures, relations, affects, languages, and silences.
This edited volume seeks to center the narratives, affects, temporalities, and life worlds of oil in Arabic literature. From early encounters with oil discoveries and the rise of multinational petroleum industries to contemporary engagements with the aftermaths of petropolitics, the collection brings together diverse literary perspectives on oil’s profound impact on Arab cultures.
We invite chapter submissions for a peer-edited anthology on Arabic literature’s encounter with oil. Contributions may engage with Arabic poetry, short stories, or novels that explore the poetics and practices of oil culture in Arab spaces and their transnational ramifications. This call is open to a broad range of thematic and theoretical approaches. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Oil and migration, land dispossession, and diaspora
- Oil and archaeology, indigeneity, and monumental history
- Oil and war, coloniality, and environmental devastation
- Oil and transnationalism, globalization, and neoliberalism
- Oil and urban utopias/dystopias
- Oil as an archive and index of identity, race, and place
- Multisensory experiences of oil
- Memoirs of oil and empire
- Genealogies of oil
- Oil and the ecological nomad
- Storytelling through oil
Submission Guidelines:
Please send 250-word abstracts and a short bio to yhanoosh@gmail.com and yasminekhayyat@gmail.com by July 1, 2025. Notifications of acceptance will be sent within two weeks after the deadline. Full manuscripts (6000-10,000 words) will be requested by February 20, 2026.
For any inquiries, feel free to contact the editors at the email addresses above.
5. SOAS Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies
10 – 11 June 2025
This workshop, which takes place on two half-days and is taught in person and online, introduces researchers and wider audiences to strategies for preserving research investment using digital methods for the long term through data standards designed for sustainability. Using the collection of Zoroastrian manuscripts at the M.F. Cama Athornan Institute in Mumbai as a case study, the workshop sets out policies for creating digital heritage imagery for long-term preservation.
Workshop participants will be introduced to the creation of a research data repository and to technologies for subsequently annotating imagery and geo-locations. They will also learn how to preserve both images and annotations effectively for the long-term.
On the second half-day, students will get hands-on experience in creating repository accounts of their own. The state-of-the-art annotation techniques presented on day 1 will also be demonstrated in practice.
- Tuesday, 10 June 2025, 2pm – 5.30pm
- Wednesday, 11 June 2025, 9:30am – 12.30pm
For further issues or questions, please email sspizs@soas.ac.uk
6. Translating poetry from other languages into Persian: For whom, why, and how? (With special focus on Brecht.)
A Talk in Persian on Zoom followed by Q&A.
June 9, 2025, 17:30 ET
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7032021982?pwd=R1QzdnFBQzdvdzJjY1YvQXFJcXdpUT09
Meeting ID: 703 202 1982
At the invitation of the Association of Friends of Iranian Culture (Washington), Saeed Yousef will give a speech entitled “Translating Poetry from Other Languages into Persian: For Whom? For what? How to? ” (with special emphasis on Brecht) with questions and answers
The link to attend the program is mentioned above and more information can be obtained through the link below.
7. Séminaire “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du monde iranien”: annulation de la séance prévue ce jour, jeudi 5 juin 2025, et mise en ligne Canal-U
Nous sommes au regret de vous informer que la séance de clôture de notre séminaire prévue ce jour, jeudi 5 juin 2025, est annulée. L’intervention de Mme Alessandra Fiorentini sera reprogrammée dans l’édition 2025-2026 du séminaire “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du monde iranien” à partir de la rentrée prochaine.
Nous reprendrons nos activités en octobre, avec un nouveau binôme d’organisateurs, puisqu’après avoir contribué, sept années durant, à l’encadrement du séminaire, Samra Azarnouche passe la main à Simon Berger, qui rejoint Justine Landau dans ces fonctions. En notre nom à toutes et à tous, nous adressons nos très chaleureux remerciements à Samra pour sa contribution au succès du séminaire sur le long cours – et à Simon pour avoir accepté de reprendre le flambeau.
Nos remerciements les plus vifs vont également à celles et ceux qui ont œuvré pour la diffusion et la pérennisation de nos activités de recherche grâce à la création de la chaîne Canal-U du CeRMI – et avant tout à Poupak Rafii Nejad pour avoir conduit ce projet à bon port, accompagnée de Céline Ferlita (ARDIS) dans le traitement des enregistrements et les formations dispensées auprès des membres et doctorant.e.s de l’équipe. Un grand merci également à Maryam Momtahen et à Davide Scarfagna qui se sont donné la peine d’acquérir la formation technique nécessaire pour assurer la captation des séances cette année. Vous retrouverez d’ores et déjà nombre d’interventions, ainsi que l’ensemble des cinq Conférences Yarshater 2024 prononcées par David Durand-Guédy, sous ce lien : https://www.canal-u.tv/chaines/cermi
Enfin, merci à l’ensemble de l’équipe pour son soutien sans faille et son assiduité à ce séminaire, et à vous toutes et tous qui contribuez si activement à l’enrichissement de nos échanges et de nos discussions.
Dans l’attente du plaisir de vous retrouver à la rentrée prochaine, nous vous souhaitons un très agréable été.
Bien cordialement,
Les organisatrices –
Samra Azarnouche et Justine Landau
Contact: justine.landau@sorbonne-nouvelle.fr
8. Fons Vitae: Sufi masters conversation w/ Peter Sanders, Mostafa al-Badawi & Michael Sugich
A unique conversation recorded in Cairo in December 2022 between three men who have kept company with some of the great living sages of Islam.
Michael Sugich is the author of Signs on the Horizons: Meetings with Men of Knowledge and Illumination and Hearts Turn: Sinners, Seekers, Saints. Peter Sanders is the world’s pre-eminent photographer of the culture and spirituality of Islam. Dr. Mostafa al-Badawi was a student and disciple of Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad from 1979 until his master’s death in 1995. He has devoted the last thirty-five years to the translation into English and interpretation of the knowledge and wisdom of the Ba ‘Alawi Way.
https://fonsvitae.com/about-us/
9. BBC World Service: ‘The riddle of Iranian cinema’
10. We are delighted to announce the launch of the official MELA Notes YouTube channel!
Our new channel will serve as a digital platform to share recorded events, book talks, author interviews, and other content related to Middle Eastern librarianship, scholarship, archives, and publishing. Whether you are a librarian, scholar, student, or simply interested in the intersections of the Middle East and library science, we invite you to explore and engage with our growing archive.
We encourage you to subscribe, like, and share the videos to help us amplify the voices and research featured in MELA Notes.
Warm regards,
The MELA Notes Editorial Board
11. MELA NOTES Book Talks series: ‘The Wonder of the World: Travel Journals of Hajj Sayyah in the U.S. (1874–1875)’ by Ali Ferdowsi
Date: Thursday, July 3, 2025
Time: 3:00 PM Eastern | 2:00 PM Central | 12:00 PM Pacific
Online via Zoom: https://ucsd.zoom.us/j/97244878701
12. Conference of the IUAES Commission on Anthropology of the Middle East: “Anthropology Trans-forming, Middle East in Tension”, Institut Franꞔais des Études Anatoliennes (IFEA), Istanbul, 10-12 September 2025
Panels: 1. Medicalisation. – 2. Games and Sports. – 3. Human-Animal Relations. – 4. Gender and Sexuality in Iran and the South Caucasus at the Turn of the 20th Century. – 5. Memoirs, Life Histories, Stories, Narratives, Oral History and Memory: Individuals of Middle Eastern Societies. – 6. New Realities: The Role of Technology in Shaping Everyday Life in the Middle East. – 7. Rituals in Movement: Pilgrimage, Globalization, and Diaspora. – Etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 June 2025. Information: https://iuaes.ir
13. Gulf Studies Tenth Annual Conference of Gulf Studies: “Bridging Tradition and Progress: Social Transformation Trends in the GCC States”, Qatar University, 16-17 November 2025
As GCC states pursue ambitious national transformation agendas, this conference will explore how these states ba-lance modernization with the preservation of identity, heritage, and social cohesion. Themes include identity, education, family, migration, soft power, and more – framed by the region’s National Visions.
Deadline for abstracts: 20 June 2025.
Information: https://www.qu.edu.qa/en-us/research/gulfstudies-center/events/call-for-papers
14. PhD Candidate (100 %) in the History of Medieval or Early Modern Palestine, Institute for the History and Anthropology of Religions, University of Lausanne
Qualifications: M.A. in History or an equivalent qualification, with a specialization in Islamic history or the history of the Middle East. – Excellent command of Classical Arabic. Proficiency in another source language relevant to the PhD project. – Strong proficiency in the Palestinian dialect. – In-depth knowledge of Palestinian territory and its institutions. – Excellent academic proficiency in French and/or English. – Competence in the use of modern digital research tools.
Deadline for applications: 15 June 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3kb5n2yt
15. Three Doctoral Fellowships (1 Year) and one Postdoctoral Fellowship (6 Months) at the Center for Economic, Legal, and Social Studies (CEDEJ), Cairo
Fellows should be conducting research on modern and contemporary Egypt from humanities or social science perspectives. The fellows will reside in Egypt and participate in the academic life of the Center. They will receive office space, full access to the library, and a monthly stipend.
Deadline for applications: 15 June 2025. Information: communication@cedej-eg.org
16. Post-Doctoral Position (1 Year +) in the Project “Americas and the MENA Region” (American Studies/History), American University of Beirut
Requirements: Ph.D. in a relevant field, such as International Relations, Middle Eastern Studies, Latin American Studies, History, Sociology, or a related discipline. – A demonstrated research interest in the Americas and the MENA region. – Proven ability to work independently and collaboratively within a multidisciplinary environment. – Knowledge of Arabic and/or Spanish is an asset.
Deadline for applications: 15 June 2025. Information: https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68767
- June 07, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Persianate Prose and the Making of Malay Muslim Literature
M Daneshgar
Edinburgh U Press, 2025
2. Graduate Student Paper Award of the “Association of Middle East Children and Youth Studies (AMECYS)”
The AMECYS Graduate Student Paper Prize was established in 2018 to recognize an outstanding graduate contribution to the study of children and youth in the Middle East, North Africa and their diasporic communities. Papers must not have yet been published or submitted for publication. Papers may constitute stand-alone articles or book chapters, and may be at a stage of being readied for journal, monograph, or edited book publication.
Deadline for contributions: 1 August 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/rbhf2vtm
3. Introduction to Pahlavi: Online Summer School of Zoroastrian Middle Persian
July 21 – August 7
The course is designed as an intensive introduction to Zoroastrian Middle Persian, and the literature written in that language, with discussions of broader linguistic, historical and cultural contexts.
https://ferdowsi.org/introduction-to-pahlavi-online-4/
After completing this course, with a total duration of 36 hours, you will be able to easily read Pahlavi texts, such as Kārnāmag ī Ardaxšēr ī Pābagān, Ardā-Wīrāz-Nāmag, Ayādgār ī Zarērān, Bundahišn, etc. on your own. Apart from learning to read in Inscriptional Pahlavi script, a broad overview of the principles of Book Pahlavi script will also be given, which will help you to continue studying the latter later on your own.
Information on the Ferdowsi School of Persian Literature is here.
About the experiences of previous students see here: Testimonials.
Ruben S. Nikoghosyan
Ferdowsi School of Persian Literature
Yerevan, Armenia
Website: www.ferdowsi.org
4. The Great Lakes Adiban Society (GLAS) Ninth Annual Workshop will be held Friday–Sunday, October 10–12, 2025, at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
GLAS provides a regional forum for scholars of Islamicate adab to meet and share their work. We leave our parameters of language and genre intentionally open to invite as wide a collaboration as can be useful. As a group we are generally interested in the literary production of the broad complex of premodern Islamicate societies across the Eastern Hemisphere grounded in similar literary conventions. Thus, our scope focuses on past texts and traditions from the languages of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu, as well as many others including Armenian, Dravidian languages, Kurdish, Georgian, Hebrew and Jewish languages, as well as Slavic languages.
This year, GLAS and the Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Program will host a special guest. On Friday, October 10, 2025, at 16:00 , Professor Jamal Elias will kick off our workshop by discussing his forthcoming book, After Rumi: The Mevlevis and Their World (Harvard Univ. Press, 2025). This talk will be open to the public and will be followed by a reception.
For the workshop on Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12, 2025, GLAS welcomes works in progress that would benefit from extensive discussion and feedback, especially for graduate students and early career scholars. Please submit a proposal by filling out this google form by August 1, 2025. We expect to notify presenters by August 15.
For graduate students: we have a limited amount of funding for travel and lodging (to request funding, see the google form).
For questions and inquiries, please write Jonathan.Brack@northwestern.edu.
5. Festival of Arts, Shiraz-Persepolis 1967-1977 جشن هنر شیراز
M Afshar
Mage, 2025
For an interview with the author, produced by Pejman Akbarzadeh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etoaEjSR7WM
6. The Society for the History of Discoveries announces its 2025 Student Prizes for best graduate and undergraduate student research papers in the history of geographic discoveries.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Monday, June 16th, 2025.
Areas of eligible research include: voyages of exploration, travel narratives, biography relevant to the history of discoveries and exploration, history, cartography, the technologies of travel, impact of travel and cultural exchange, and other aspects of geographic discovery and exploration.
Who is Eligible: Students from any part of the globe currently enrolled in a college or university degree program and who will not have received a doctoral degree prior to 1 June of the submission year. Note: Graduating high school or college students accepted into a program but who do not begin classes until fall of the submission year are NOT eligible. The Research Paper: An eligible research paper shall be original and unpublished, written in English, between 3,000 and 8,000 words, plus footnotes or endnotes. Papers written for college or university class assignments are encouraged, but students may write specifically for this prize. A reasonable amount of illustrative and tabular material will be welcome, but is not required.
The awardee in the graduate student category will receive a prize of $500.00 (US) and the awardee in the undergraduate category will receive a prize of $250 (US). Both winners will be invited to present a version of the paper at the annual meeting of the Society for the History of Discoveries. Information about participation in the conference will be provided to the awardee upon notification of the award, including details concerning costs and travel funding. Acceptance of the prize is not contingent upon your ability to attend the conference. Additionally, the awardee will be invited to submit the winning paper to the society’s peer reviewed journal, Terrae Incognitae, for which it will undergo the usual review process prior to formal acceptance for publication, of which there is no guarantee.
For more information on submission format and eligibility see https://discoveryhistory.org/student-prize
Questions? Contact Dr. Cardona, committee chair Mylynka.Cardona@tamuc.edu
Contact Information
Dr. Mylynka Cardona
Contact Email
URL
https://discoveryhistory.org/student-prize
7. North Carolina State University – Assistant Professor in the history of Arab Migration, Mobility and Diaspora
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68790
Closing date: Open until filled
- June 03, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Hybrid: The Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo (IASA), is pleased to announce a lecture by Mr. Jason Browning (Indiana University-Bloomington / IASA).
The talk will argue that Ibn ʿArabī was familiar with substance-less, accidents-only atomic theories promoted by such earlier scholars as Ḍirār ibn ‘Amr (ca. 728-815 CE) and chose to fashion them into his own innovative, esoteric atomic theory. The event will be held in a hybrid format, with online participation available via Zoom.
Lecture Title:
Ibn ‘Arabī’s Endorsement of Accidents-Only Atomism and His Esoteric Addendum
Speaker:
Mr. Jason Browning (Indiana University-Bloomington / IASA)
Profile: https://ceus.indiana.edu/people/graduate/doctoral/browning-jason.html
Date:
Thursday, 26 June 2025, 18:00–19:30 (JST)
Venue:
Room 304, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (Tōyō Bunka Kenkyūjo), University of Tokyo and online via Zoom
Abstract:
Ibn ‘Arabī is often referred to as a “mystic-philosopher,” but such attributions typically overlook the fact that he was quite rigorous and astute in his critiques of Islamic philosophical and theological traditions. In this talk I will demonstrate that Ibn ‘Arabī’s criticism of Ash‘arī atomism amounts to an endorsement of the competing atomism of Ḍirār ibn ‘Amr (ca. 728-815 CE) and those influenced by him. After drawing out the idiosyncracies of Ibn ‘Arabī’s scholarly methods and writing style, it will become evident that he undoubtably knew of substance-less, accidents-only atomic theories and chose to fashion them into his own innovative, esoteric atomic theory.
How to Participate:
(1) In-person attendance: No prior registration is required. Please note: The institute’s entrance doors will no longer be accessible from outside after 18:00. We recommend arriving before that time. A contact telephone number for those arriving late will be posted at the entrance.
(2) Online attendance: Please register at https://forms.gle/ETF5cb6oog3r1vt39. A Zoom link will be sent by noon (JST) on the day of the event.
This lecture is organized by the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo.
Note:
Mr. Browning’s lecture will be preceded by a lecture by Professor Fuat Dündar, entitled “Re-Examining Ottoman Migrations in Light of Hikiagesha Researches.” For more information, please visit the IASA website.
Contact Info:
Kazuo Morimoto
Email: morikazu[at]ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
2. A full scholarly translation of Abu Mansur al-Maturidi’s Kitab al-tawhid, translated as The Book of Monotheism by Prof. Tahir Uluç has been published by Ibn Haldun University Press.
The book can currently be purchased online from Turkey at this link: https://www.kitapyurdu.com/kitap/kitb-altawd-the-book-of-monotheism-2-cilt/721004.html.
3. The Latin America and Caribbean Islamic Studies Newsletter
Vol. 5, no. 2 | Spring 2025
https://mailchi.mp/b1e2aa2b8d58/latin-america-caribbean-islamic-studies-newsletter-vol5-no2
4. Renaissance Society of America – Islamic World discipline representative would like to invite paper proposals for the following three sponsored panels:
* Histories, Materials, Myths: Perceptions and Depictions of the Distant Past:
https://www.rsa.org/forms/FormResponseView.asp?id=1347254A-6557-43ED-B606-CC2BE85EFAB5
* Presence in Absence, Absence in Presence: Excavating Labour in the Early Modern World:
https://www.rsa.org/forms/FormResponseView.asp?id=182E297E-4701-4F50-9C36-6CF0A8AC29D3
* Out of Sight: Early Modern Depictions and Narratives of the Unseen:
https://www.rsa.org/forms/FormResponseView.asp?id=F66DED93-4700-4AF2-B308-076238A8AE8E
Contact Email
5. The Fons Vitae Tafsir – Quran Commentary Series
NOW ALSO AVAILABLE in PDF & eBOOK formats: Up until now, these fundamental tafasir have remained out of reach for many English speaking Muslims (and non-Muslims). Among the most important sources for understanding the Qur’an are the tafsir works, commentaries on the Qur’an, which help to properly explain and contextualise the Revelation. VIEW ALL COMMENTARIES…
The series aims to make widely available the leading exegetical works in translation for study and research in unabridged form, which are faithful to the letter and meaning of the Arabic.
6. Postdoctoral Research Associate (Arabic and Hebrew Sources)
King’s College London
The Department of History at King’s College London invites applications for one 2-year (24 month) Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) to work on the project ‘ECOMEDS: Economic and cultural connections within Mediterranean ecosystems, c.1250-c.1550’ (a UKRI Frontier Research Grant, previously ERC). The primary objective of PDRA (Arabic and Hebrew Sources) is to collect information regarding the production, consumption and trade of four target commodities (coral, honey, citrus and cheese), especially with regard to Muslim and Jewish communities.
Deadline | 1 June 2025
More information
7. Research Associate
Newcastle University
The post holder will produce trilingual digital resources for parents and Early Years practitioners on supporting early oral language development in young Arabic-speaking children. These include training materials on the importance of early oral language development, guides for using language assessments in Arabic, French and English, and guides for professionals on interpreting language outcomes and advising families on the next steps.
Deadline | 4 June 2025
More information
8. 2025 Mohamed Ali Foundation Fellowship Lectures
Lecture | Durham University & Online | 11 June 2025
The Mohamed Ali Foundation and Durham University’s Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies present two free public lectures that place Abbas Hilmi II and the archive of this last khedive of Egypt in context. This year’s two visiting fellows are Dr Will Hanley and Dr Mohamed Abdou.
9. Kurdish Studies Conference
Conference | London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) | 11-13 June 2025
Organised by the LSE Middle East Centre and the University of Sheffield, this conference will disseminate and discuss the latest research on Kurdish politics and society. Alongside panel discussions, the conference will feature a keynote lecture by Professor Hamit Bozarslan and a film screening of All The Mountains Giveby Arash Rakhsha.
More information
10. Rise, Habibi
Exhibition | The Crypt Gallery, London | 28 May-15 June 2025
In partnership with Saqi Books & Shubbak 2025, Radical Love’s ‘Rise, Habibi’ showcases the groundbreaking poems of 30 Arab & Muslim women writing over 1,000 years ago, taken from Saqi’s cult collection ‘Classical Poems by Arab Women’ translated by Abdullah al-Udhari.
More information
11. Al Jaliah | Magazine for Arab and Arab-Diasporic Affairs
An initiative coming from the Arab-Brazilian diaspora has recently been launched in March, 2025. Al Jaliah – Magazine for Arab and Arab-Diasporic Affairs is directed by Gustavo Racy and Yara Osman and is devoted to the discussion of topics related to the Arab-World and its diasporas. Reviving the original journal published in São Paulo by Sami and Beny Racy (Gustavo Racy’s great-grandfather and great uncle), the initiative aims at bridging the gap between MENA and its diasporas. The magazine is published in Portuguese, Arabic, and English and is completely independent. While building its first steps, and working towards its monetization, the organizers launched its experimental number 0, with content produced by professors, scholar and artists from Brazil, Lebanon, Syria, and Bahrain. The magazine also publishes extra content on its blog and has a continuous open call for those interested in collaborating.
The content, including the first issue of the journal, the blog, and collaboration form, may be checked on www.aljaliahbr.com.
12. BRAIS 2025 at the University of Cambridge (Monday 30 June – Tuesday 1 July): Places still available
With just over a month to go before our Tenth Anniversary Conference at the University of Cambridge, we wanted to encourage any members who are planning to attend to register as soon as possible in order to avoid disappointment.
We have a truly rich and diverse two-day programme in store this year, celebrating the depth and breadth of Islamic Studies. The full programme can be viewed here: https://www.brais.ac.uk/conferences/brais-2025
We are honored to be welcoming Professor Sayed Farid Alatas (National University of Singapore), Professor Recep Şentürk (Hamad Bin Khalifa University) and Professor Amira Bennison (University of Cambridge) for our opening keynote panel, generously sponsored by Islamic Courses and the Centre for Islamic Knowledge.
Our closing keynote welcomes the research team from the ESRC-funded project ‘Digital British Islam‘ to share their fascinating research findings with us.
To register online for BRAIS 2025 click here: https://www.brais.ac.uk/conferences/brais-2025/brais-2025-delegate-registration
13. A Persian-English Translation Workshop: Hafez’s Ghazal 103
Workshop with Philip Grant (University of La Verne)
Friday, June 06, 2025
02:30 PM – 04:30 PM PST
Bunche 10383 & Online
Organized by UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies, co-sponsored by UCLA Iranian Studies
https://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/event/17247
14. Max Planck Research Group Leader (W2) to Head the “Centre of Expertise for the Law of Arab and Islamic Countries”, Hamburg
Your profile: You have an outstanding legal education and have earned a doctoral degree with distinction.
You are an expert on law of Arab and Islamic countries, and you have a strong academic interest in private international law and comparative law. Arabic should be a working language for you; proficiency in Persian is an asset. You are fluent in English and are willing to learn German.
Deadline for applications: 30 June 2025. Information: https://mpi-privatrecht-hh.softgarden.io/job/56325252?l=de
15. Articles on “Spirituality in the History of Iran and Islam” for a Special Issue of the Journal “Spektrum Iran”
This journal is published by the Cultural Consultation of Iran in Germany in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair in Social Health and Development (Tehran, Iran): Themes: Historical and Theological Foundations. – Philosophical and Ethical Perspectives. – Practical Models of Spiritual Care. – Cultural and Social Dimensions. – Artistic and Literary Expressions. – Contemporary Issues and Future Directions.
Deadline for manuscripts: 30 June 2025. Information: https://www.spektrumiran.com/
- May 31, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Workshop for PhD Candidates: “Researching, Writing and Publishing on Gender, Culture and Society: Upskilling Early Career Researchers in Türkiye”, British Institute at Ankara (BIAA), 23-24 October 2025 and 23-24 March 2026
This project aims to support final year PhD candidates and researchers who completed their PhD within the last five years from universities across Türkiye working in interdisciplinary gender studies. Participants will gain insight into writing for publication and applying for grants with editors of leading international journals and publishers of academic monographs. Participants will also be assigned a mentor who will support them to write an article suitable for publication.
Deadline for applications: 13 September 2025. Information: genderwritingworkshops@gmail.com
2. 16th Conference of the “European Association for Modern Arabic Literature (EURAMAL): “Catastrophe and Beyond: Representations of Violence and Trauma in Modern Arabic Literature”, University of St Andrews, 22-26 June 2026
The conference will explore how Arab writers engage with the different forms of violence and trauma that have shaped Arab modernity and how their work can be seen as an attempt to depict catastrophe and imagine a future beyond it. A special panel will be dedicated to Arab authors resident in the UK. The languages of the conference are English, Arabic and French.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 September 2025. Information: https://euramal.org/ & https://euramal.org/contact/join/
3. Applications are now open for the inaugural Āthār wa ashʿār course, to be held at the University of Tübingen in October, 2025.
This year’s course will comprise a practical, hands-on approach to basic and advanced features of al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (Shamela 3.6) and a variety of digital tools for Arabic and Islamic Studies, with a special focus on poetry. The course is open to all researchers, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates and is free to attend.
Venue: University of Tübingen, Germany (in person only)
Dates: October 6-9, 2025
Āthār wa ashʿār is free to attend for accepted applicants, who will be responsible for arranging their own transportation and accommodations (lunch will be provided on days of the course). Participants must have full command of English and proficiency in reading Arabic; no prior experience with Shamela is necessary. Accepted applicants will be provided a guide with links to download the software and practice using it before the course. Please note that seats are limited.
Participants will learn how to:
o effectively use basic and advanced features of Shamela 3.6
o use Acrobat wizards to build bookmarked PDF collections
o synchronize a cloud-shared digital library with Shamela
o add new titles to Shamela, and customize the interface
o navigate the major critical editions of pre- and early Islamic poetry
o effectively use indexes of printed Arabic dīwāns
o locate biographical and genealogical data for poets, tradents, etc.
o work with the Shīʿī and Ibāḍī versions of Shamela, OCR applications, and other online and
desktop too
Equipment: Since Shamela 3.6 is not compatible with Mac devices, participants must bring long a PC (Windows 10/11) device with at least 25 Gb of available storage, and with the full version of Adobe Acrobat Pro/DC installed. A personal cloud subscription, such as OneDrive (recommended) or Google Drive, is optional.
Applications should include:
o A letter of motivation, including a brief statement confirming that the applicant will have
the required equipment and software when attending the course.
o A curriculum vitae
Application Deadline: June 30, 2025
Instructor: Raashid S. Goyal (University of Tübingen)
As seats are very limited, those interested are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.
Applications and all questions may be submitted to Dr. Shuaib Ally (shuaib.ally@uni-tuebingen.de).
4. The second printing (2025) of the book below, in a limited edition, is once again available.
The Inscription in Old Persian Cuneiform of the Achaemenian Emperors:
In Persian, English and French.
By: Rev. Ralph Norman Sharp
Introduction by: St John Simpson
https://www.mazdapublishers.com/book/inscriptions-in-old-persian-cuneiform
5. Mossadegh Foundation Lecture Series, University of Geneva: From Cypress to Platanus: Trees in the Persian Arts, Literature and Cultural Memory
Trees have long held profound symbolic, religious, and literary significance in the Iranian world, a tradition that dates back to the Achaemenid Empire. One of the most emblematic examples is the cypress tree, closely associated with divine kingship in the Zoroastrian tradition. In this context, the cypress symbolizes the legitimate sovereign as a divinely sanctioned patron of the faith. Among these revered trees, the most renowned is the Cypress of Kashmar, located in the Balkh-i Bami district of Tarshiz, Khurasan. This tree occupies a pivotal place in the foundational narrative of Zoroastrianism, commemorating the conversion of King Gushtasp by the prophet Zarathustra. An inscription carved into its trunk marks this seminal moment, celebrating the king’s acceptance of the “good religion” and his role as its earthly protector.
During the Islamic period, arboreal symbolism continued to thrive in Persian cultural production. Trees came to embody not only natural forces but also metaphysical and philosophical ideals, enriching Persian poetry and visual culture. They appear throughout the literary canon—from the epics of Ferdowsi and the courtly verses of Farrokhi Sistani to the mystical works of Jami and Saeb Tabrizi—serving as metaphors for kingship, divine love, spiritual inquiry, and the cyclical passage of time.
In parallel with this literary tradition, trees feature prominently in Persian visual arts, including illustrated manuscripts, album paintings, carpets, textiles, metalwork, and ceramics dating from the tenth to the late nineteenth century. Often depicted alongside blossoming peach and almond trees, they serve to frame romantic encounters, battle scenes, and royal pursuits. In urban design, the symbolic and aesthetic role of trees is also evident: cityscapes incorporate tree-lined avenues, gardens like the Chenaristan, and architectural elements such as pavilions and portals adorned with stylized or naturalistic arboreal motifs in tile and ceramic work.
This one-day international symposium seeks to adopt a multidisciplinary perspective in reassessing the cultural and artistic significance of trees in Persian history. Rather than treating trees solely as ornamental components within the Chahar Baghor other garden typologies, this event foregrounds them as central subjects of inquiry in their own right. Topics will include the literary prominence of trees, their symbolic and philosophical resonances in Persian art and architecture, and their ideological meanings as conveyed through textual and visual sources.
Hosted by the University of Geneva, the symposium will bring together ten scholars from Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Presentations will draw from diverse fields, including material and intangible cultural heritage, literary studies, art history, and philosophy, offering an enriched and nuanced understanding of arboreal imagery in the Iranian cultural sphere. A second round of the conference is scheduled to take place at the Centre for Iranian Studies at the University of Hamburg in 2026 under the direction of Professor Shervin Farridnejad.
PROGRAM
Thursday, June 17, 2025
9:30–10:00 | Welcome and General Introduction
Negar Habibi and Shervin Farridnejad
10:00–12:00 | Trees in Persian Material Culture from the Twelfth to the Nineteenth Century
A Motif In Between: Trees as Central Decorative Elements on Iranian Mina’i and Lustre Ware Bowls
Richard McClary, University of York
Beneath the Garden Tree: Specimen Tree Forms in Persian Manuscript and Carpet Designs
Moya Carey, Chester Beatty Library
Between Branches and Meaning: The Silent Language of Trees in Persian Lacquer Painting
Elika Palenzona-Djalili, University of Bern
12:00–13:30 | Lunch
13:30–15:30 | Arboreal Imagery in Persian Illustrated Manuscripts and Visual Culture
Verdant Thrones: The Tree as a Symbol of Authority in Persian Painting
Negar Habibi, University of Geneva
Rooted in Splendour: The Meaning of Trees in Timurid Gardens as Represented in Illustrated Manuscripts
Shiva Mihan, British Museum
The Poet Sarv: Thriving as a Motif in the Literary and Visual Cultures of the Safavids
Mahroo Moosavi, Max-Planck Institute, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz
15:30–15:45 | Break
15:45–17:00 | Trees in Contemporary Iran
When Roots Remember: The Tree as a Place of Memory in Iran
Sepideh Parsapajouh, CNRS-CéSor
Dissemination or Pruning: The Figure of the Tree in the Novels of Shahrnoush Pârsipour and Nasim Marashi
Julie Duvigneau, INALCO
17:00–18:00 | Keynote Lecture
Blossoms on Fire, Branches of Wisdom, and Trunks of Desire: Trees and the Human Condition in Medieval Persian Poetry
Domenico Ingenito, UCLA
18:00–18:15 questions
18:15-18:30: Conclusion
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Private Visit to the Ariana Museum and its Persian Collection (for speakers only)
Contact Information
Department of Art History, University of Geneva
Salle 211, Bâtiment des Philosophes
Contact Email
6. International Journal of Islamic Architecture 14.2 is out now
For more information about the journal and issue click here>>
https://www.intellectbooks.com/international-journal-of-islamic-architecture
7. NMAA Online Program – Beyond Babur’s Gardens: A Symposium in Honor of Elizabeth Moynihan – June 3–5
Join the National Museum of Asian Art from June 3 to 5, 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. EDT daily for Beyond Babur’s Gardens: A Symposium in Honor of Elizabeth Moynihan. Registration is free and open to the public here.
Inspired by the groundbreaking work of Elizabeth Moynihan (1929–2023), this online symposium explores how ecological concerns and heritage imperatives have impacted the ways we study, view, and reconceptualize historical gardens.
In her long career as researcher, historian, and author, Elizabeth Moynihan left a profound impact on the study of Mughal gardens in South Asia. Her pioneering work includes extensive research on Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty, and publications such as Paradise as a Garden in Persia and Mughal India (1979) and The Moonlight Garden: New Discoveries at the Taj Mahal (2000), among others. In 1996, Moynihan also directed a joint project for the Archaeological Survey of India and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, now the National Museum of Asian Art.
A rich collection of Moynihan’s work has been compiled online in the Elizabeth Moynihan Resource Gateway. It includes her research of the Lotus Garden in Dholpur, the Jai Mahal Garden in Jaipur, Mehtab Bagh (Moonlight Garden) in Agra, and many other Mughal gardens. It also contains correspondence, field notebooks, drawings, sketchbooks, photographs, slides, rock specimens, blueprints, maps, and published articles.
Beyond Babur’s Gardens brings together experts in Mughal art and garden history from around the world. Each day will be centered around a theme: Garden Poetics and Planting; Mughal Gardens in Cultural and Environmental Context; and Conservation, Ecology, and Heritage Management. With a geographic focus on South Asia, Iran, and Central Asia, presenters will discuss topics including garden design, the sensorium, water and climate, rewilding and restoration, and sustainability. In addition to the Elizabeth Moynihan archives, they will synthesize interdisciplinary sources—from poetry and literature to art history and archaeology.
This symposium will weave together the stories of plants and gardens from the sixteenth century to the present day and consider how lessons from gardens past can revitalize efforts to preserve environmental and cultural heritage for the future.
Speakers include:
- Farshid Emami, Rice University
- Kathryn Gleason, Cornell University
- Rachel Hirsch, Harvard University
- Sahar Hosseini, University of Pittsburgh
- Ali Akbar Husain, Independent Scholar
- Ebba Koch, University of Vienna
- Pradip Krishen, Author and Ecological Restoration Practitioner
- Ratish Nanda, Aga Khan Trust for Culture, India
- Laura Parodi, Università de Genova
- Sugata Ray, University of California, Berkeley
- Nicolas Roth, Independent Scholar
- Jyoti Pandey Sharma, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi
- James Wescoat, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (emeritus)
Please visit the program page for more information.
This program is made possible by a generous gift from Farhad and Mary Ebrahimi.
Contact Information
Lizzie Stein
Freer Research Center
National Museum of Asian Art
Contact Email
URL
https://asia.si.edu/research/beyond-baburs-gardens/
8. Should Blood Blend with Milk: A History of Incitement to Vengeance in Arabic Poetry from Jahili Voice to Militant Jihadist Verse
D Fakhro
Brill, 2025
https://brill.com/display/title/71953
9. Oxford Interfaith Forum – Online: ‘Friends of the Devil: Rebellion and the Construction of Early Islamic Caliphal Sovereignty’
29 May, 2025, 6pm UK time
Abstract: Between the eighth and tenth centuries, Muslim caliphs deemed rebellions against their rule as the work of Satan. In the Umayyad (661-750 C.E.) and Abbasid eras (750-1256), several government letters referred to any group who challenged caliphal authority as awliyā ʾ Iblīs (friends of the Devil). Government officials adapted qurʾānic conceptions of the Devil to legitimize the caliphs’ authority as God’s deputies. However, this political-religious conception of the Devil has continuity with the political theology of late antique Christian Roman emperors who used similar language for those who threatened their rule. In this talk, I trace this genealogy of the Devil and his supposed human allies as the caliphate’s archenemies in government letters written for the Umayyad caliphs Hishām b. ʿAbd al-Malik, and Marwān II (r. 744-750), and the Abbasid caliphs, al-Maʾmūn’s (r. 813-833), and al-Radī’ (r. 934–40). By closely examining these official letters, I will reveal in this talk how understanding this political framing of the Devil offers us key insight into the tense construction of early Islamic sovereignty.
Speaker: Dr Mohammed Allehbi is a Mohammed Noah Research Fellow at the Oxford Center of Islamic Studies.
Date: 29 May, 2025
Time: 18:00-19:00 BST | 19:00-20:00 CEST | 10:00-11:00 PST | 13:00-14:00 EST
Venue: online
More information and registration: https://oxfordinterfaithforum.org/thematic-international-interfaith-reading-groups/philosophy-in-interfaith-contexts/friends-of-the-devil-rebellion-and-the-construction-of-early-islamic-caliphal-sovereignty/
10. Events on Islam and the Middle East around Cambridge University – Online
Thu 29 May
Dr Claire Gallien, Dr Majid Daneshgar, Dr Michele Petrone
ONLINE
11:00am – 12:30pm Uk time
11. Fully funded PhD fellowship at Ghent University within the framework of the ERC Consolidator Grant project “KNOW: Polymathy and Interdisciplinarity in Premodern Islamic Epistemic Cultures (1200-1800)”.
We welcome proposals related to the intersections between Islamic law (fiqh) and medicine (tibb), broadly conceived. Possible areas of inquiry include: the intellectual and professional profile of jurist-physicians; the overlap and divergence between legal and medical casuistry; institutional and social contexts in which legal and medical knowledge were produced, debated, and applied; the role of interdisciplinarity in addressing complex ethical, bodily, or forensic questions.
For details and instructions on how to apply:
PhD position: https://www.ugent.be/en/work/scientific/doctoral-fellow-31
Project website: https://erc-know.ugent.be/en
The deadline for applications is June 15, 2025.
12. Zoom – The Oxford Seminars in Cartography 2024-25
Thursday 29 May – “Unmapping Africa in the Age of the Enlightenment”
Online event Petter Hellström (Uppsala Universitet)
Seminar runs from 4.30pm to 6.00pm (UK time) via Zoom Webinar
Join via: https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/tosca
- May 27, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.The University of Edinburgh – Teaching Fellow in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies Vacancy
https://elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1001/job/12516
Closing date: 17/06/2025, 23:59
2. Arash Ghajarjazi, Remembering ʿUmar Khayyām: Episodes of Unbelief in the Reception Histories of Persian Quatrains, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2025. (see https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111626017/html?srsltid=AfmBOooksJSvTLcblM9WuJCSimQksQd4Db9ec9KmswUfRrHnM1ic4M8a and https://beyondsharia.nl/2025/05/08/book-talk-remembering-khayyam-in-modern-iran/)
3. Kings and Dervishes
Sufi World Renunciation and the Symbolism of Kingship in the Persianate World
S A Arjomand
University of California Press, 2025
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/kings-and-dervishes/hardcover#table-of-contents
4. The Department of Near Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures (NESA) at The Ohio State University is hiring a full-time lecturer (non-tenure track) in Arabic culture for the 2025-2026 academic year. This is a one-year position with the possibility of renewal. The position will involve teaching eight (8) courses in Arabic culture, literature, and/or language in-person, with the possibility of some courses online. Required: Master’s degree or PhD in Arabic language or a related field. Preference will be given to applicants who are highly proficient in both Arabic and English; have demonstrated excellence in teaching Arabic culture, literature, and/or language courses at the college level; and have experience using technology to enhance undergraduate learning.
For more information: https://osu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/OSUCareers/job/Columbus-Campus/Lecturer-in-Arabic_R128740-1
5. The American University of Beirut (AUB) Press announced the latest addition to the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Series on Arabic and Islamic Texts and Studies: a groundbreaking study titled Poetry and Spiritual Insights: A Study and Edition of Kitāb al-Shawāhid wa-l-Amthālby Abū Naṣr al-Qushayrī (d. 514/1120), presented by Professors Bilal Orfali, Ramzi Baalbaki, and Francesco Chiabotti.
Based on the Ayasofya 4128 manuscript from Turkey, this volume illuminates Qushayrī’s influential work, renowned for embedding Sufi teachings within the framework of adab—a synthesis of literary and ethical traditions—appealing to scholars and general audiences alike.
This publication brings to light the role of Kitab al-Shawāhid wa-l-Amthāl in weaving Sufism into the cultural and scholarly landscape of medieval Islam. Qushayrī’s innovative use of both oral and written forms to communicate Sufi doctrines, blending poetry with accessible language, effectively “translated” complex mystical concepts for the literati and religious scholars of his time. “This work, which took over a decade to complete, offers a crucial lens on Sufi poetry’s unique role in bridging the mystical and the literary,” shared Orfali.
Through Kitab al-Shawāhid, readers are invited to explore how Sufi teachings evolved within the sophisticated intellectual society of Nishapur, enriching the tradition’s adaptability and resonance across audiences. Baalbaki underscores the value of publishing Arabic manuscripts as “an essential contribution to preserving the textual heritage of Islamic culture,” while Chiabotti highlights Kitab al-Shawāhid‘s significance within Sufism, “a spiritual tradition with profound global impact and relevance.”
The authors’ meticulous study of Kitab al-Shawāhid not only provides an essential resource for understanding the dynamics of language, spirituality, and adaptation in medieval Islamic society but also advances scholarly discourse on the enduring legacy of Sufi poetry within Islamic culture.
The book will be launched during the 66th Beirut Arab International Book Fair during May 2025. For further details on this volume and other titles in the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Series, please visit the AUB Press official website.
To purchase the book, check:
www.aub.edu.lb/aubpress/Pages/shawahid.aspx
6. Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 | Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
in the School of Modern Languages & Cultures, Durham University
The School of Modern Languages & Cultures at Durham University invites expressions of interest from outstanding candidates who wish to apply for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship through Durham University.
Modern Languages and Cultures at Durham gathers together our eight language areas (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hispanic Studies, Italian, Japanese and Russian) and Translation Studies, working within and across these to enable interdisciplinary investigations. Four areas of particular strength characterise our research activities: Medieval and Early Modern Studies;
Digital, Environmental and Medical Humanities; Translation; Visual and Performance Studies. We welcome enquiries from eligible candidates particularly those related to the key research themes in the department (https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/modern-languages-cultures/research/groups/ ), or to relevant Research Centres and Institutes (https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/modern-languages-cultures/research/centres-institutes/).
Candidates are invited to contact a prospective mentor in the School in the first instance (https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/modern-languages-cultures/about-us/our-people/#d.en.466981), with an up-to-date CV and summary of their research proposal (1 A4 page max) by 13 June 2025. If the mentor agrees to support your application, candidates will be supported through an internal review process ahead of submission to the external funder by 10 September 2025.
Further information, including details of eligibility criteria, can be found at: https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/how-to-apply
For any informal enquiries, please contact Dr Amaleena Damlé at amaleena.damle@durham.ac.uk
7. The Book of Sana’a
Edited by Laura Kasinof
Comma Press, 2025
https://commapress.co.uk/books/the-book-of-sanaa
8. The editorial board of MELA Notes, the official journal of the Middle East Librarians Association (MELA), invites submissions for a special issue dedicated to exploring the history and legacy of pioneer libraries and archives, as well as the contributions of influential librarians and bibliographers in the field of Middle East Studies.
This issue seeks to illuminate the foundational roles these institutions and individuals have played in shaping scholarship, preserving cultural heritage, and supporting research across the region.
We seek original short articles and entries (minimum 3,000 words) that examine the development, impact, and historical significance of libraries, archives, librarians, and bibliographers across the Middle East. Submissions may focus on:
- Underrepresented or lesser-known research libraries and archives that have contributed to local or regional scholarship, as well as the broader field of Middle East Studies
- Major national or institutional libraries and archives that have significantly influenced academic research, public knowledge, or cultural preservation
- Institutions notable for their stewardship of rare manuscripts, archival collections, or unique primary sources
- Case studies of libraries and archives that have played pivotal roles in the development of the field of Middle East Studie, bibliographic innovation, or international scholarly collaboration
- Biographical or critical studies of influential librarians, bibliographers, or information professionals whose work shaped library collections, research practices, or bibliographic knowledge in the field of Middle East Studies
We welcome interdisciplinary approaches and encourage contributions from scholars, librarians, archivists, and practitioners engaged in Middle Eastern studies, library and information science, archival studies, manuscript studies, and related fields.
Submission Guidelines
- Length: Submissions must be a minimum of 3,000 words
- Language: Submissions must be in English
- Formatting: Please adhere to the journal’s Guidelines for Contributors, which include instructions on formatting, transliteration, and citation style
- Peer Review: All short articles and entries will undergo double-anonymous peer review
- License: Accepted pieces will be published under a CC BY 4.0 license
Important Dates
- Submission of Abstracts Deadline: Monday, June 30, 2025
- Submission of Full Short Articles and Entries Deadline: Monday, August 11, 2025
Please submit your abstract and, later, your manuscript through the MELA Notes submission portal.
Ensure that your final submission includes your name, institutional affiliation, and current mailing address at the conclusion of the text, if you expect to receive offprints.
For inquiries or further information, please contact:
Farshad Sonboldel,
Editor-in-Chief, MELA Notes
University of California, San Diego Library
Email: fsonboldel@ucsd.edu
9. Yale Library seeks a highly collaborative, knowledgeable, and user-centered Catalog/Metadata Librarian to join the Bibliographic Description Unit within Special Collections Technical Services, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Reporting to the Associate Director of the Bibliographic Description Unit, the Catalog/Metadata Librarian creates, enhances, and maintains original and complex bibliographic and authority records for a wide range of special collections materials in various formats. They may plan, direct, and review the work of cataloging assistants and/or student assistants and provide project management for cataloging and metadata projects. The incumbent will collaborate closely with colleagues across functional units and throughout special collections and the Library in support of the sustainable stewardship and discovery of special collections materials.
Required Skill/Ability 1:
Excellent reading and writing knowledge of Arabic.
Preferred Education, Experience and Skills:
Fluency in Persian, Coptic, Syriac, Turkish, or Armenian. Academic training in Islamic studies or Middle Eastern studies. Experience with Arabic script paleography. Special collections cataloging experience according to AACR2, RDA, and/or Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (DCRM). Record of involvement or desire to engage with special collections and other cataloging communities.
Questions? Please contact Michelle Al-Ferzly: michelle.alferzly@yale.edu
Curator, Yale Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
10. Summer School on Digital Humanities for Islamic Studies
Date: September 1, 2025 – September 4, 2025
Location: Switzerland
Subject Fields: Digital Humanities, Islamic History / Studies
The University of Bern is pleased to host a four-day summer school on Digital Humanities for Islamic Studies, designed for early-career researchers working with Arabic-script materials. This course provides a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience with digital tools and methodologies, engage in scholarly exchange, and explore the latest developments in the field.
The program will feature expert-led sessions by renowned scholars in the field:
- Alicia González Martínez (University of Hamburg)
- Maxim G. Romanov (University of Hamburg)
- Peter Verkinderen (Aga Khan University, London)
Participants will explore key topics such as text digitization, computational analysis, data modeling, and digital corpora, with a focus on Islamic and Arabic-script historical sources.
Application Process
Due to the practical nature of the sessions, on-site participation is limited to 20 participants. Interested candidates must apply by Friday, June 13, 2025, by submitting the following documents:
Motivation Letter (explaining research interests and how the course aligns with them)
Curriculum Vitae (max. 3 pages, highlighting major achievements)
Additional Supporting Documents (if applicable, indicating previous experience in the field)
Format: All documents must be submitted as a single PDF file named “LastName_Name_Bern_IslamicateDH2025”
Submission: Send your application to Sefer Korkmaz at sefer.korkmaz@unibe.ch
Financial Support
A limited number of (partial) scholarships are available for participants who are unable to secure funding from their institutions. If so, please add a statement in your motivation letter specifying that you are also applying for financial support for the travel costs and not only for admission to the summer school.
Scientific Board
Prof. Tobias Hodel
Prof. Serena Tolino
Additional Information
The final program and reading list will be shared with accepted participants. More details will be available soon on the official webpage: University of Bern Summer Schools (https://www.unibe.ch/studies/programs/summer___winter_schools/index_eng.html)
For inquiries, contact organizers:
Sefer Korkmaz (sefer.korkmaz@unibe.ch)
Ilyes Mechentel (mohamed.mechentel@unibe.ch)
Please, find the flyer in this link: https://networks.h-net.org/system/files/attachments/2025summerschoolislamicateflyerv4-kopyasi.pdf
11. Call for Papers
The AHRC-Funded First International Conference of the Syrian Academics and Researchers’ Network in the UK (SARN UK)
18-19 September 2025 | University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
The Syrian Academics and Researchers’ Network in the UK (SARN-UK) and the Middle East and North Africa Centre at Sussex (MENACS), in association with SARN UK’s partner, the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) will co-host SARN UK’s first international conference, which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
We are pleased to announce that our call for papers is now open. In addition to submissions aligned with the conference theme, ‘Rebuilding Syria: Reflections, Innovations and Collaborations’, we welcome papers on a range of topics related to Syrian culture, art, history and politics.
We accept individual as well as co-authored paper proposals.
Please complete this form to submit your proposal by 23.59 (BST) on 20 June 2025.
If you have any queries, please write to Feras Alkabani at f.alkabani@sussex.ac.uk
Conference Themes
Rebuilding Syria: Reflections, Innovations and Collaborations
The collapse of the 54-year Assad dictatorship on 8 December 2024 took the world by surprise. For many Syrians, this was a dream that eventually came true after 14 years of a bloody struggle that left much of the country in ruins.
Yet Syrians continued to work, resist and rebuild. Now more than ever, Syrians need to come together to share, discuss and envisage their future and that of their country.
This interdisciplinary conference invites academics and researchers working on Syria from within the UK and around the world to share their latest research in their areas of expertise to reflect, innovate and collaborate on rebuilding the new Syria.
Themes may include (but are not limited to) the following topics:
- The role of education in the rebuilding process
- Historical approaches and imaginative futures
- The role of art and music in healing and building bridges
- Transitional justice
- Civil liberties, gender relations and sexuality in civic society
- Diasporic connections and intercultural innovations
- Reflective storytelling in literature, art, cinema and dance
- Political plurality and civil society
- Cross-sectarian dialogue
- Multiple identities and belonging
- Syrian culture and soft power
Hardship Fund
We are not charging a registration fee, thanks to our AHRC fund.
We expect scholars with institutional affiliations to request funding to cover their travel and accommodation expenses from their institutions where possible.
However, we may be able to help cover (some of) the travel and/or accommodation costs for a small number of successful UK-based speakers up to a limited maximum total of funds (to be determined later).
But please note that this is the exception (not the norm). We, therefore, encourage you to seek external funding to pay for your travel and accommodation costs if you need to.
Best wishes,
SARN UK
12. Applications Open for Fall 2025 M.A. in Kurdish Studies
Zahra Institute is delighted to announce the opening of applications for our M.A. Program in Kurdish Studies. The deadline for applications for the Fall semester is 15 July 2025. The online, two-year M.A. program consists of 31 credits and welcomes full-time and part-time students.
The Master of Arts in Kurdish Studies is the first of its kind in the United States. It provides access to the language and cultures of approximately forty million Kurds, a Middle Eastern people living in Kurdistan and beyond, spread across the borders of several modern states and linguistic and cultural zones. It focuses on the humanities aspects of Kurdish Studies including history, literature, music, visual arts, and cinema.
For Fall 2025, we offer the following courses: Approaches to Kurdish Studies, History and Literature of the Kurds, Religion in Kurdish Society, and Kurmanji and Sorani Kurdish language courses.
Zahra Institute offers both M.A. and Certificate in Kurdish Studies. Kurdish language courses can be taken as electives in the M.A. program, or as standalone courses. In addition, we offer M.A. and Certificate in Critical Muslim Studies.
For application information, please visit our website: www.zahrainstitute.org.
13. AKU-ISMC’s Short Course on Governing Diversity: Toronto and London
The Aga Khan University (International) in the UK, in collaboration with the Ismaili Centre and the Aga Khan Museum, is pleased to offer an in-person short course in Toronto and London.
Governing Diversity: Engaging with a Complex World
This thought-provoking course explores how different states – from the Roman and Mughal Empires to modern Europe and North America – have approached ethnic and religious diversity. Through a mix of historical case studies, participants will examine how communities saw themselves represented (or not) in state structures, how they managed internal affairs, and how leadership balanced community needs with state demands.
Highlights include:
- Comparative analysis of minority experiences across time and geography
- Insights into legal, political, and demographic impacts on diversity
- A study session at the Aga Khan Museum
- Reflections from the local Ismaili community on historical lessons for today
Full Programme Agenda for Toronto Here.
Full Programme Agenda for London Here.
Please note that the agenda is subject to change, and the final version will be emailed to all registered participants before the event.
Toronto Programme Details
Date
September 16 – 12:00 pm EDT
September 18 – 5:30 pm EDT
Location
The Ismaili Centre, Toronto
49 Wynford Drive Toronto, ON M3C 1K1 Canada
London Programme Details
Date
November 4 – 12:00 pm GMT+1
November 6 – 5:30 pm GMT+1
Location
The Ismaili Centre, London
Cromwell Gardens, London, SW7
Register at:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/governing-diversity-engaging-with-a-complex-world-tickets-1259761022129?aff=oddtdtcreator – for Toronto
14. A Sufi Commentary on the Tao Te Ching: The Way and Its Virtue
Sufi commentary of Tao Te Ching by Seyyed Hossein Nasr
https://fonsvitae.com/product/a-sufi-commentary-on-the-tao-te-ching-the-way-and-its-virtue/
15. Postdoctoral researcher: “Genealogies of ‘humanity’ in Islamic charity’”
for the ERC project ‘Entangled Universals of Transnational Islamic Charity’, based at Leiden University.
The deadline for applications is 15 June.
16. HYBRIDE Atelier-rencontre avec Mehdi Berriah (Ifpo) autour de l’ouvrage “The Medieval Jihad. Texts, Theories, and Practices”, Mehdi Berriah et Abbès Zouache (eds.), IISMM, Paris, 18 juin 2025, 13h00 – 15h00 CET
Loin d’être une simple réaction de l’islam à la croisade ou d’être une idéologie monolithique déclinant un droit de la guerre imposant des normes de comportement à l’ensemble des acteurs sociaux, le jihad est un phénomène revêtant de multiples dimensions : religieuse, jurisprudentielle, idéologique, militaire, politique, économique, sociale, culturelle et littéraire. C’est à ces multiples dimensions que les auteurs de cet ouvrage ont été invités à réfléchir.
Information : https://iismm.hypotheses.org/files/2025/05/Affiche-IISMM_RencontreMBerriah.pdf .
Inscription : https://tinyurl.com/5zjrka5w
17. Conference “Pius XII and Decolonization: Catholicism in North Africa and the Levant, 1939-1958”, Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo, 10-11 November 2025
Key questions: What role did the Catholic Church – both as an institution and as a diverse religious community – play in decolonization? How did Vatican diplomacy interact with local clergy, indigenous populations, and political movements? To what extent were these interactions shaped by competition, hybridization, and exchange? The con-ference aims to critically engage with newly available sources, prioritizing transnational perspectives and highlighting the agency of marginalized actors.
Deadline for abstracts: 10 June 2025. Information: https://iismm.hypotheses.org/files/2025/05/Cfp-Cairo.pdf
18. Postdoctoral Research Associate (2 Years) in the Project “Economic and Cultural Connections within Mediterranean Ecosystems, c. 1250 – c. 1550” (Arabic and Hebrew Sources), King`s College London
Qualification: PhD qualified in relevant subject area. – Good research skills in historical methods e.g. the ability to carry out relevant research, including the relevant linguistic, bibliographic, and, if necessary, palaeographic skills. –
Ability to work with late medieval/early modern sources in Arabic and/or Hebrew and an understanding of the relevant communities under study, their history and historiography.
Deadline for applications: 1 June 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/mtb8a7j7
- May 24, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Syrian-Kurdish Intersections in the Ottoman Period
Eds., Stéfan Winter and Zainab HajHasan
U Toronto Press, 2024
https://utppublishing.com/doi/10.3138/9781487554408
2. American University – Beirut – Post-Doctoral Position: “Americas and the MENA Region” (American Studies/History)
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68767
3. The World History Association (WHA) would like to extend its call for proposals for sessions and papers presenting original research and pedagogical techniques for its annual conference this year in Louisville, KY (June 26-28, 2025).
While the overarching themes of the conference this year are Protest, Prohibition, and Pugilism, the WHA welcomes any topic involving world-global dimensions, including transnational, transcultural, interreligious, international and the like (see https://pretalx.com/wha2025/cfp). The WHA provides a unique opportunity to share research and pedagogy beyond our own respective fields in a mutually supportive interdisciplinary setting.
Proposals are welcome from graduate and doctoral students, scholars, teachers, and other qualified experts around the world. Proposals may take the form of:
Organized Panels (three to four panelists, one chair, and optionally, one discussant) – each paper should be a maximum of 20 minutes in length for three panelists; papers should be a maximum of 15 minutes in length for four panelists
Individual Papers (not part of an Organized Panel) – each paper should be a maximum of 20 minutes in length
Roundtable Sessions (between four to six participants) – five-minute opening statements from each participant followed by conversational dialogue with the audience
Workshop Sessions (between one to four participants) – these are hands on sessions on specific teaching techniques or practices that often include handouts, breakout sessions and/or assignment creation/reflection
Meet the Author Sessions – an excellent opportunity for exchanges between authors and audiences, including explanations of methods and suggestions for use
Innovative Sessions – innovative teaching, research, or other formats not outlined above Proposals from the fields of anthropology, geography, political science, literature, art history and criticism, digital humanities, other humanities and social sciences, as well as natural or physical sciences that address global historical change are also encouraged.
Each organized session should include a 250-word panel proposal and a 250-word proposal for each paper along with a short biographical statement for introduction by the session Chair. Individual papers and all other sessions should include a 250- word abstract and a short biographical statement for introduction by the session Chair.
PLEASE NOTE: Prearranged (organized) panels/roundtables/workshops are given priority in the program and receive earlier notification of acceptance. Individual papers will also be considered and, if accepted, are arranged into suitable panels by the Program Committee. Individual papers may receive later notice of acceptance, pending appropriate placement on panels.
Contact Email: info@thewha.org
4. Call for Submissions to an Edited Volume: Deadline July 1, 2025
“My Blood is Cheaper than Oil”: Arabic Literature and the Encounter with Petropolitics
How have 20th-century oil discoveries in the MENA region shaped the emergence of what came to be known as ‘Arab modernity’? How has modern Arabic literature reimagined domestic and social relationships with and through oil? And how have the increasingly precarious conditions of oil production, consumption, and theft over the course of a century transformed the Arabic literary imagination?
More than a material resource, oil is deeply entangled with the cultural production of home, nation, identity, race, religion, family, and legal status. Its presence permeates allegories, metaphors, literary genres, and framing practices. The violent traces of war and the haunting fumes of traumatic memory linger in the words and lacunae of Arabic literature. In Arabic discourse, oil has been both an evocative and lucrative symbol (of prosperity, modernity, war, and hegemony) and a material force shaping everyday life—driving urban development, education, the rise of civil society, the formation of a modern intellectual class, and traumatic phenomena such as epidemics, bodily deformities, forced migration, dispossession, and mass murder. Oil has also seeped into the domestic domain of literature, such as familial gestures, relations, affects, languages, and silences.
This edited volume seeks to center the narratives, affects, temporalities, and life worlds of oil in Arabic literature. From early encounters with oil discoveries and the rise of multinational petroleum industries to contemporary engagements with the aftermaths of petropolitics, the collection brings together diverse literary perspectives on oil’s profound impact on Arab cultures.
We invite chapter submissions for a peer-edited anthology on Arabic literature’s encounter with oil. Contributions may engage with Arabic poetry, short stories, or novels that explore the poetics and practices of oil culture in Arab spaces and their transnational ramifications. This call is open to a broad range of thematic and theoretical approaches. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Oil and migration, land dispossession, and diaspora
- Oil and archaeology, indigeneity, and monumental history
- Oil and war, coloniality, and environmental devastation
- Oil and transnationalism, globalization, and neoliberalism
- Oil and urban utopias/dystopias
- Oil as an archive and index of identity, race, and place
- Multisensory experiences of oil
- Memoirs of oil and empire
- Genealogies of oil
- Oil and the ecological nomad
- Storytelling through oil
Submission Guidelines:
Please send 250-word abstracts and a short bio to yhanoosh@gmail.com and yasminekhayyat@gmail.com by July 1, 2025. Notifications of acceptance will be sent within two weeks after the deadline. Full manuscripts (6000-10,000 words) will be requested by February 20, 2026. For any inquiries, feel free to contact the editors at the email addresses above.
Editors:
Yasmeen Hanoosh is Professor of Arabic Literature at Portland State University, as well as a literary translator and fiction writer. Her recent projects explore the politics of survival in Arab Detroit and the complexities of literary translation as a colonized subject. She recently co-edited Beyond Refuge in Arab Detroit (Wayne State UP, 2025) and a special issue of the Journal of Arabic Literature titled Cultural Production in Modern Iraq (Brill, 2025)
Yasmine Khayyat is Associate Professor of Arabic Literature at Rutgers University. Her work examines the intersections of memory, narrative, and the environmental and political histories of the Middle East. She is the author of War Remains: Ruination and Resistance in Lebanon (Syracuse UP, 2023), which examines the figuration of the ruin as a site of protest and resistance in contemporary Lebanese cultural production.
5. UCLA: Foreign in Two Homelands: Racism, Return Migration, and Turkish-German History
A lecture by Michelle Lynn Kahn (University of Richmond)
Thursday, May 22, 2025
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM PST
Bunche Hall 6275
Organized by the the UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies and UCLA Department of History
- May 20, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Extended DEADLINE 30 May 2025 – Annual Arabic Pasts Workshop
Arabic Pasts is co-convened by Anna Chrysostomides (Queen Mary), Yossi Rapoport (Queen Mary), Hugh Kennedy (SOAS), Lorenz Nigst (AKU-ISMC), and Sarah Bowen Savant (AKU-ISMC).
The event is 9-10 October, 2025 in London.
The annual Arabic Pasts workshop brings together scholars at all career stages to reflect on methodologies, research agendas, and case studies for investigating history writing in Arabic in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond in any period from the seventh century to the present.
This year the Arabic Pasts workshop welcomes Queen Mary University of London as a partner. We will host the workshop in person at the Aga Khan Centre and welcome proposals that deal with the practical and conceptual challenges of working on history writing in Arabic. We encourage scholars working at all career stages to join us.
By way of example, papers might elucidate the following sorts of questions – or others:
- How do nations today tell their stories with respect to their pasts? In what ways do educational institutions, museums, media organisations and proponents of heritage use history writing to shape loyalties and senses of belonging in society?
- When and how did pre-modern and modern historians writing in Arabic conceptualize the history of Palestine as a distinct geographical and political unit? What are the Arabic historiographical traditions regarding the city of Gaza and its hinterland, and how have they developed in the last two centuries?
- How is the past used in creative arts, re-enactment, games, and augmented reality?
- What do we consider works of fiction and how do they differ in authorial intent from historical chronicles? Does this authorial intent make a difference in how we treat these sources? What can we learn from combinations of fiction and non-fiction sources, if anything?
- What is the relationship between Arabic and other languages and scripts in bi/multi-lingual and bi/multi-alphabetic texts (tarikh, documents, other genres) across time?
- How can marginalised communities and their varieties of Arabic be given due attention?
- How can all genders (including non-binary) be given due attention when our sources are often composed by male political, intellectual and religious elites?
- How can we explore the past algorithmically? Can digital methods enhance our understanding of the past? Can they also limit or even alter it? Which new digital tools are being developed? What seem to be particularly promising approaches? What is lacking?
Prior to the workshop, we will also run a hands-on workshop on digital methods for Arabic texts – no experience necessary. Please get in touch early if you are interested in joining as we will have to cap participation.
Please submit an abstract of 300 words or less in word document by 30 May 2025 to ArabicPastsConf@aku.edu. Also please be in touch if you would like to join the digital methods workshop.
2. Fellowships for Women Researchers (Gotha Research Library)
Germany
Within the framework of the “Thüringer Programm zur Förderung von Nachwuchswissenschaftlerinnen und Nachwuchskünstlerinnen”, the University of Erfurt (Germany) is offering three short-term scholarships for up to five months for female academics who have completed their doctorate to research the holdings of the Gotha Research Library for the year 2025. The scholarship can be taken up on 1 August 2025 at the earliest and ends on 31 December 2025 in any case. Depending on the focus, the scholarship holders are linked to the Gotha Research Centre at the University of Erfurt or to the Centre for Transcultural Studies / Perthes Collection. The application deadline is 15 June 2025.
GOTHA RESEARCH LIBRARY
The Research Library (FBG), located in Gotha’s Friedenstein Castle, holds a remarkable collection on early modern and modern cultural history. After Berlin and Munich and alongside the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel, it houses the most significant collection in Germany of historical sources from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. To these were added in 2003 the Perthes Collection Gotha from the holdings of the Justus Perthes Gotha publishing house, established in 1785. It is considered one of the most significant cartographic collections worldwide.
The library keeps and catalogues these sources, which are part of a European cultural heritage. The library collection encompasses c. 700,000 prints, of which about 350,000 are early modern. Additionally, it holds c. 11,500 manuscript volumes containing a considerable collection of manuscripts, autographs, and literary remains pertaining, among other things, to the cultural history of early modern Protestantism, as well as a collection of some 3,500 oriental manuscripts – the third largest of its kind in Germany. Moreover, the library provides a remarkable collection of letters by German emigrants to America.
The Perthes collection with its collection of maps, cartographic library, and the press archives offers a unique collection in situ. The cartographic collection is comprised of c. 185,000 maps from the late eighteenth to the twentieth century, produced by Perthes and other cartographic printers throughout the world. The cartographic-geographic library comprises 120,000 volumes, a genealogical-statistical book collection, as well as a complete exemplar of the Almanach de Gotha, produced by the Perthes publishing house. The press’ archive, with 800 linear metres of archival material, includes, inter alia, the editorial archive of Petermann’s Geographische Mitteilungen, a collection of the press’ specimen copies, as well as 1,650 copper plates. The FBG is headed by Dr Kathrin Paasch.
GOTHA RESEARCH CENTRE
The Gotha Research Centre (FZG), founded in 2004, is a central academic body of the University of Erfurt. Its main objective is to conduct and facilitate international interdisciplinary research projects in the field of cultural and intellectual history of the modern period, in close cooperation with the institutions and their holdings at Friedenstein Castle. Further information on current projects and thematic focuses can be found here. In addition, the centre offers a rich programme of (guest)lectures, conferences, and colloquia. Our goal is to serve as a platform where scholars from all over the world can conduct research and discuss their ideas and work in progress in a challenging and congenial atmosphere. The Gotha Research Centre is headed by Prof. Martin Mulsow.
CENTRE FOR TRANSCULTURAL STUDIES / PERTHES COLLECTION
The Centre for Transcultural Studies / Perthes Collection (FKTS/SP), newly established at the beginning of 2021, is also a central academic body of the University of Erfurt. It sees itself as a platform for interdisciplinary research on the historical becoming of today’s global world. Its research is oriented towards the Gotha collection contexts since the end of the 18th century and focuses in particular on the Perthes Collection. The centre pursues independent as well as cooperative research projects, among others on the cartography of the oceans and the maps of Africa and Asia (further information here). It works closely with national and international scholars and strives for close cooperation with academics from the global south. The FKTS/SP is headed by Prof. Iris Schröder.
FUNDING PROFILE AND REQUIREMENTS
The programme aims at promoting academic research through the use of the resources of the Research Library Gotha and of the associated historic collection of the Justus Perthes Gotha Publishing House. Its academic orientation intends to carry on the universal spirit of the library itself and its diverse resources. In this sense, the programme has an open thematic and disciplinary character. The holdings of the Thuringian State Archive of Gotha, which is located in the Perthes-Forum, as well as collections held by the museums of the Schloss Friedenstein Foundation can be included in the research project, too.
The short-term is aimed at excellent young women academics with a doctorate who wish to start a new research project or continue or complete a work already begun and use the above-mentioned holdings for this purpose. At the time of the start of the fellowship, the applicant must provide evidence of having successfully passed the examinations within the framework of the doctoral procedure.
The monthly funding amounts to 2,000 euros. In addition, a family allowance of 300 euros is granted for one child and 150 euros for each additional child. The scholarship can be started from 1 August 2025 at the earliest. The scholarship must be completed by 31 December 2025. Regular presence in Gotha and active networking with local academics are required.
Please find the application details here: https://www.uni-erfurt.de/forschungszentrum-gotha/stipendien/fo
3. The University of Oxford is looking for a postdoctoral research associate to support a new collaborative project titled, ‘Knotted Histories: Early Modern Global Carpets, Global Exchange and the Public Country House.’
Led by Prof. Nandini Das (Oxford), Dr Francesca Leoni (Ashmolean Museum), Dr Christo Kefalas & Emma Slocombe (National Trust), ‘Knotted Histories’ aims to illuminate the potential of global carpet collections for rethinking scholarship and heritage sector practice relating to wider histories of production and consumerism, sociability and embodiment, and global networks of exchange.
For more details about the project, the post’s requirements and how to apply, please see the following link:
Closing date: 12 noon, 6 June, 2025
4. 2025 BRISMES Annual Conference
Newcastle University • 1-3 July 2025
We are pleased to announce that registration for non-speaking delegates for the 2025 BRISMES conference “Destruction, Loss, and Recovery in the Middle East” is now open until 12 June 2025.
Please see our provisional conference programme, which includes over 80 panels and plenaries covering diverse topics that fall within and beyond the conference’s main theme.
We look forward to our keynote speech by Dr Rana Barakat (Birzeit University), titled “Palestine Teaches: Why History Matters”. We are also very pleased to host the roundtable plenary “Ruins and Rebuilding: Academic and Activist Solidarities Across Borders”.
Registration for non-presenting delegates open:
https://register.oxfordabstracts.com/event/73980?preview=false
5. ONLINE Lecture “Crafting Communities into Contact: Contextualizing Glyptic Interconnections in the Levant, Egypt, and Aegean (ca. 2500-1500 BCE)” by Nadia Ben-Marzouk, W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, 21 May 2025, 16:00 CET
Stamp and cylinder seal amulets have long factored into debates on the nature of east Mediterranean inter-connectivity during the late third to early second millennium BCE. This lecture presents new research identifying and contextualizing the widespread appearance of a glyptic koine, arguing for sustained interaction and a new focus on the role of skilled labor in the making of an east Mediterranean exchange system.
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/bdhj24sv
6. ONLINE Book Discussion “Edward Said: The Politics of an Oppositional Intellectual” with Author Nubar Hovsepian, American University in Cairo Press, 21 May 2025, 18:00 CET
The political, cultural, and personal dimensions of Edward Said’s thought will be discussed – from his groundbreaking work Orientalism to his enduring advocacy for Palestinian rights and his vision for justice and humanism in global affairs. The conversation will also reflect on Said’s relevance in today’s world and Hovsepian’s unique insights as both a scholar and someone who knew Said personally.
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/3jxabb67
7. Conference “The Kurdish Issue and the Developments in the Middle East”, Centre for Mediterranean, Middle East and Islamic Studies (CEMMIS), University of the Peloponnese, Institute of Inter-national Relations (IDIS), Athens, 24 May 2025, 8:30 – 18:30 CET
Information and program: https://cemmis.edu.gr/images/events/cemmis_agenda_kurdish.pdf
8. ONLINE Séminaire “Paris, Venise, Rome et Constantinople en conflit. Qui protège les églises catholiques de Smyrne au XVIIe siècle ?” avec Alper Metin (Università di Bologna), École Francaise de Rome, 26 mai 2025, 17h30 – 19h00 CET
Ce séminaire éclaire un aspect méconnu de “l’Histoire de la Latinité” en Méditerranée orientale : la rivalité franco-italienne autour de la protection des églises et de l’administration des paroisses catholiques dans les territoires ottomans. L’étude des mutations survenues durant les guerres vénéto-ottomanes (1645-1718), qui renforcèrent l’influence française au détriment de la Sérénissime, révèle la complexité des enjeux politiques, religieux, architecturaux et urbains dans l’Égée.
Information et inscription : https://tinyurl.com/3ex5e27c
9. International Conference “Crises and Preaching in the Middle East: Lexis, Framing, Timings: 19th ‒ 21st Centuries in the Middle East”, PredicMO, Institut Français in Amman, 26-27 May 2025
By focusing on how crisis and preaching have intersected across religious traditions since the late 19th century, this international conference seeks to shed light on the transformation of religious discourse in the contemporary Middle East.
Information and registration: https://iismm.hypotheses.org/122793
10. International Workshop on “Education, Power and Possibility: Rethinking “Quality Education” in the Middle East”, Unit for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Societies (MOMuG), University of Bern, January 2026
This workshop seeks to critically interrogate the notion of “quality education” as international policy directive and universal ideal by examining how the concept of quality education is constructed, negotiated and/or challenged in the Middle East. Our focus will be on how local actors – including educators, students, civil society organizations, policymakers and communities – define and deliberate on what constitutes quality education. Etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 May 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/2s6vh9f5
11. Postdoctoral Position (2 years) in the project “Mapping Occult Sciences Across Islamicate Cultures” Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
Qualification: PhD in Early Modern Ottoman or Islamic Studies, or related fields; – an excellent command of Classical Arabic and Ottoman Turkish (the knowledge of additional languages such as Persian is considered an advantage); – an outstanding publication record relative to career stage; – academic writing and presentation skills in English.
Deadline for applications: 14 June 2025. Information: Contact fatmasinem.eryilmaz@uab.cat1
12. “German-Yemeni Autumn School” for German Master Students Studying in Germany, Amman, Jordan, 29 September – 3 October 2025
The Autum School is organized by the ” Woman Research & Training Center” at Aden University and the “Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO)” in Bonn. We are looking for students with good knowledge of English, who either a) have experience with civil society organizations or demonstrated interest in the topic of social cohesion, science communication and/or Yemen through courses taken and internships done.
Deadline for applications: 8 June 2025.
Information: https://carpo-bonn.org/weitere-inhalte/german-yemeni-autumn-school-in-amman
13. Call for papers : The pilgrimage to Mecca as a social experience
Three dimensions will be emphasized here: The hajj as religious experience and dramaturgy of salvation. – The hajj as an issue of governance and a vector of collective identity. – The hajj as a means of experiencing space.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 October 2025. Information: https://journals.openedition.org/arabianhumanities/15236
14. International Conference “Crises and Preaching in the Middle East: Lexis, Framing, Timings: 19th ‒ 21st Centuries in the Middle East”, PredicMO, Institut Français in Amman, 26-27 May 2025
By focusing on how crisis and preaching have intersected across religious traditions since the late 19th century, this international conference seeks to shed light on the transformation of religious discourse in the contemporary Middle East.
Information and registration: https://iismm.hypotheses.org/122793
- May 17, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment