Categories : Academic items
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
Shii News – Academic Items
1. ONLINE Webinar ‘The Connected Histories of James Baillie Fraser’s The Kuzzilbash: A Tale of Khorasan’
with Brenden Benjamin
British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS), 28 May, 2025, 5:00 pm UK Time
Information and registration:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_t3w6U1w3RMmE26sS95oqPA#/registration
2. Upcoming online course:
The Meaning of Life in Islamic Thought
July 28– August 02, 2025 | Live Sessions
Hosted by the Sadra International Institute, this unique academic course brings together internationally recognized scholars to explore one of the most profound questions of human existence: What is the meaning of life? through the lens of Islamic philosophy and theology.
📚 Course Topics Include:
- The Concept of Life and Its Purpose in Islamic Thought – Dr. Maria Massi Dakake, George Mason University, USA
- Revelation as a Source of Meaning in Islamic Thought – Dr. Khalil Andani, Augustana College, USA
- The Path to the Perfect Human in Islamic Mysticism – Dr. Saiyad Nizamuddin Ahmad, Florida International University, USA
- Mulla Sadra and the Transcendent Philosophy of Life, Dr. Oliver Leaman, University of Kentucky, USA
- Understanding the Meaning of Life through Islamic Theology – Dr. Ahab Bdaiwi, Leiden University, Netherlands
- Evil and the Search for Meaning in Islamic Thought – Dr. Sajjad Rizvi, University of Exeter, UK
This course is ideal for students, researchers, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of Islamic intellectual traditions and their relevance to contemporary questions of purpose, existence, and fulfillment.
Register here: https://sadrai.com/meaning-of-life-in-islam
3. Call for Expressions of Interest – Visual Anthropology Book Review Editor (2025-2028)
(This is a voluntary role)
Visual Anthropology seeks a new Book Review Editor, the position is also open to a team of two or three people. The position(s) is suitable for a person with a PhD in a field relevant to visual research and practice. This is an exciting time to join VA as we develop the journal and introduce new content types and strategies. This is a high profile position suitable for applicants who are committed to actively and creatively participating in the relaunch of a pivotal journal for our discipline, and engaging with scholars and practitioners in the field. VA publishes approximately five book reviews per issue (with 4 issues a year), requiring the Book Review Editor(s) to identify and commission up to 20 book reviewers each year.
The Book Review Editor(s) will work directly with book publishers to have hard copy or e-books sent directly to reviewers as they are identified.
As the Book Review Editor(s), the successful candidate(s) will manage the commissioning, review and acceptance process for book reviews submitted to the journal, in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief.
The Book Review Editor is responsible for:
- Identifying books for review and coordinating the delivery of review copies/e-books from book publishers to the author,
- Identifying potential book reviewers and commissioning submissions. This includes providing clear instructions as to the format and range of the book review and submission procedures,
- Corresponding with book review authors (e.g., acknowledging receipt of a submitted book review; providing information about its editorial review as necessary),
- Providing feedback to book review authors (e.g., editing reviews to the standard of the journal, including content, references and book information, etc.; conveying the editorial decision and providing guidance for revisions),
- Keeping accurate records to ensure that there is a sufficient flow of reviews,
- Proving progress reports and updates to the Editor-in-Chief and the Associate Editor as required.
Although the Book Review Editor will have independent authority in selecting the reviewers and the books reviewed, the final decisions will be with the Editor-in-Chief.
The Book Review Editor is encouraged to be innovative in their approach. VA welcomes book review sections (where important books on mixed themes are reviewed) and book review symposia (several reviews on newly published key books and comparisons of two or three related books by a single author). We are also open to proposals for launching something new and exciting, as well as for the continuation and revitalisation of book reviews.
Applications should include:
- Your professional C.V. (two pages)
- An example of a book review that you have contributed to a journal yourself
- A Cover Letter of no longer than one page to include the following:
- Your motivation for applying for this role,
- How you would go about undertaking the role and any experience or skills you bring to it,
- Your vision for a new book review section.
Please send your applications (should be sent as attached PDF file) to the Editor-in-Chief (P.Khosronejad@westernsydney.edu.au ) by 30 May 2025 (end of day).
https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/gvan20
4. ‘Khayyām Literacy among Turkman Copyists, Yāraḥmad Rašidi’s Ṭarabkhānẹ’
DONNINI, Piero
Studia Iranica, 52/1 (2023)
https://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=3294138&journal_code=SI
5. On Monday 26/5/2025, from 3.00 pm – 4.30 pm CET, Simon Stjernholm will discuss his latest book “Sensing Islam: Engaging and Contesting the Senses in Muslim Religiosity” (Bloomsbury). After the book talk, Merve Rehyan Kayikci will offer a response, which will be followed by a Q&A.
Abstract
Simon Stjernholm – “Sensory Engagements in the Study of Muslim Piety”
How have practices and imaginaries of sensing been religiously engaged and contested by Muslims? How do contemporary Muslim practices and debates concerning religious sensing relate to historical precedents?
In his new book Sensing Islam: Engaging and Contesting the Senses in Muslim Religiosity (Bloomsbury), Stjernholm analyses examples dealing with contemporary Sufism and Muslim religious oratory in order to explore practices and imaginaries of sensing. Combining the research fields of Islamic Studies, anthropology of Islam, material religion and sensory studies, this book covers a range of materials, including writings by Muslim religious authorities, ethnographic material, audio recordings and videos. In this talk, he will present the general framework of the book and discuss a few examples of its analyses in detail.
Simon Stjernholm is Associate Professor of the Study of Religion at the University of Copenhagen. His work is situated in the anthropology and history of Islam, with particular focus on Sufism and Muslim preaching.
Discussant Merve R. Kayikci is a postdoctoral researcher at the KADOC Documentation and Research Center on Religion, Culture and Society, Belgium.
To register for this meeting, click here.
To subscribe to IED’s maillist, click here.
6. The Islamic College:
A one-day workshop: An adventure in the realm of spiritual & moral personal experiences
Sunday 18 May 2025
10 am – 7 pm (London time)
Venue:
The Islamic College 133 High Road London NW102SW
Register here:
https://islamic-college.ac.uk/islamic-college-events/
7. RUB Workshop June 11-13: The Reception and Transformation of the Late Ancient Knowledge Tradition in the Arabic-Muslim World
The Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) is thrilled to invite you to our upcoming workshop, “The Reception and Transformation of the Late Ancient Knowledge Tradition in the Arabic-Muslim World.”
The workshop’s theme is a key research area of our institute at the RUB. It covers a wide range of topics and texts, and is the first in a series of events to promote the institute’s newly established professorship dedicated to the history of knowledge and its transfer from late antiquity into the Arabic-Muslim world.
Please consider joining us and the distinguished speakers on campus for what we hope will be a memorable and enlightening event.
🗓 Date: June 11–13, 2025
📍 Location: Building GB, Room 5/160, Ruhr University Bochum (Universitätsstraße 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany)
Day One (Keynote Address):
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
18:15–19:45 Asad Ahmed (Berkeley/Paris): “The Legacy of Avicennism in Nineteenth-Century South Asia”
Day Two:
Thursday, June 12, 2025
09:15–09:30 Opening Words by Cornelia Schöck & Andreas Lammer
09:30–10:45 David Wirmer (Cologne): “Ibn Bāǧǧa on the Agent Intellect as ‘Form of Forms’”
11:00–12:15 Ibrahim Safri (Munich): “Re-Thinking Aristotle: An Atomist Account of Motion in Pre-Modern Islamic Philosophy”
13:45–15:00 Miriam Rogasch (Cologne): “al-Fārābī’s Influence on Avicenna’s Ontology of Essence”
15:15–16:30 Alexander Lamprakis (Munich/Utrecht): “The Sources and Afterlife of the Section on Logic in al-Lawkarī’s Bayān al-ḥaqq bi-ḍamān al-ṣidq”
17:00–18:15 Paul Hullmeine (Munich): “al-Bīrūnī’s Reception of Greek Knowledge”
Day Three:
Friday, June 13, 2025
09:00–10:15 Joschka Dunz (Würzburg): “Psychology and Epistemology in Ibn al-Haytham’s Optics”
10:30–11:45 Hanif Amin Beidokhti (Bochum): “In Defence of the Peripatetics: Suhrawardī against Abū l-Barakāt on Void and Body”
11:45–13:00 Cornelia Schöck (Bochum): “Systematic Place and Function of the Division of the Signification of Terms in Avicenna’s Theory of Science”
- May 13, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Hybrid Lecture: Fabrizio Speziale, “Noah’s Grandsons and the Elephant: Functions of Persian Pseudonymous Texts in South Asia”, 2 June 2025
The Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, and the Japan Office of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies are pleased to announce a lecture by Professor Fabrizio Speziale (EHESS). The talk will explore pseudonymous Persian texts as a strategy to domesticate non-Muslim technical knowledge and to legitimize the status of Muslim professional groups in Persianate South Asia. The event will be held in a hybrid format, with online participation available via Zoom.
Lecture Title:
Noah’s Grandsons and the Elephant: Functions of Persian Pseudonymous Texts in South Asia
(Abstract below)
Speaker:
Professor Fabrizio Speziale (École des hautes études en sciences sociales)
Profile: https://www.ehess.fr/fr/personne/fabrizio-speziale)
Date:
Monday, 2 June 2025, 18:00–19:30 (JST)
Venue:
Room 305, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (Tōyō Bunka Kenkyūjo), University of Tokyo
and online via Zoom
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/hMtJDBoAJ8ujpGaL9 .
A Zoom link will be sent by noon (JST) on the day of the event.
This lecture is co-organized by the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo (Regular Research Project W–1, “Approaches to the ‘Persianate World'”) and the Japan Office of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies.
Contact Info:
Kazuo Morimoto
Email: morikazu[at]ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
2. CALL FOR PAPERS
International Conference on GLOBALISATION IN LANGUAGES, EDUCATION, CULTURE, AND COMMUNICATION (GLECC2025)
https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fglecc.org%2F2025%2F&data=05%7C02%7C%7C4e3aedbf0dbb4fb4a60e08dd8d0d8753%7C2e9f06b016694589878910a06934dc61%7C0%7C0%7C638821811444508841%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=QBJiW%2B%2FTEVEMMVTPZuJyLSnCxyIa4MbyYgBYiGVGvss%3D&reserved=0
Dates: 30-31 July 2025 (main conference)
Venue: Manchester, U.K.
Submission deadline extended to: 18 May 2025
Keynote speakers confirmed:
1.“Beyond borders: The interplay of international mobility, culture, and commerce” by Professor Zheng Wang, University of Dundee, UK.
2.“Rethinking language and culture education for a reglobalising world” by Dr Derek Hird, Lancaster University, UK.
The past two decades have witnessed remarkable advancements in the studies into Education, Second and Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting, Cultural Studies & Communication. This growth can be largely attributed to the forces of globalisation. Consequently, adopting the globalisation perspective is timely and provides a natural framework for connecting these diverse yet interlinked disciplines.
This conference aims to bring together researchers, educators, practitioners, and policymakers to disseminate research outcomes, share insights, discuss findings, exchange visions, and identify challenges and trends in an interactive and immersive multidisciplinary environment. The submissions take the forms of abstract, full paper, panel discussion, and workshop proposals.
There is a “conference first” policy in place. Selected papers will be invited to further develop into full journal articles free of APCs. Conference proceedings will be published open access with an ISBN.
There will be optional pre-conference workshops on 29 July and post conference events on 1 August.
Looking forward to the possibility of working together, and we eagerly await your response.
Warm regards,
GLECC2025 Organising Committee
3. Call for Papers
‘Faithful’ Mothers and the Politics of Nurturing Future Secular Citizens
19th June 2025
A Knowledge Exchange Symposium (funded by British Academy VF grant)
Deadline for Abstracts: 26th May 2025
Mothering in relation to religion remains highly understudied, particularly in relation to non-mainstream models of mothering. In a world ridden with inter-communal conflict, this symposium will explore the significant but unrecognised roles that mothers play in the formation of citizens and state-building beyond times of conflict. By exploring how mothers navigate everyday faith and the pushes and pulls of the largely secular contemporary state, it will forefront their socio-political agency, reinstating them as influential actors and not just victims of conflict. It will bring together mothering practices across communities from the global south, to reflect on their analytical, social and political relevance for diasporic communities in the global north. Further, it is hoped the symposium will enable the laying of the ground in thinking around faith and fathering and non-normative parenting. The symposium will break new scholarly ground in religious studies, feminism and sociology and anthropology and revitalize mothering and religion as a field of study. In particular, among other related issues we hope to explore the following research questions:
- When different religious communities live side by side, what impact does this have on practices and ideas of mothering?
- How might a mother’s religious identity shape her lived experience of mothering in the context of the secular state?
- How do state ideologies and policies concerning development, dislocation, or the modern schooling system intersect or clash with practices of mothering, fathering and non-traditional forms of parenting?
- How can learnings from mothering practices from the global south be used to understand diasporic mothering in the global north?
This knowledge exchange symposium is part of the British Academy Visiting Professorship grant funded project. Hosted by Coventry University, it will bring together scholars to critically engage with mothering, fathering, non-normative parenting in the context of the study of religion and everyday faith. The event’s discussions are intended to inform the creation of a network of scholars, facilitate future research and grant applications and possibly plan a proposal for a panel for upcoming conferences and even a special issue for a relevant journal.
For accepted papers, we will be pay for travel costs (for one person per paper) up to 100 pounds per person and contribute towards accommodation costs up to 105 pounds per person for one night only. We will be able to fund a maximum of 20 presenters accordingly.
Submission Guidelines: Please submit proposals that explore one or more of the questions raised above. Feel free to come up with and explore new questions or propose reflective thought papers, formative ‘laying the groundwork’ papers and the like. Proposals to include an abstract of no more than 300 words accompanied by the paper title, presenter’s name and short bio (100 words), institutional affiliation and contact information. Please submit via this form: https://forms.office.com/e/6mrKik4fUV
Enquires: Professor Rowena Robinson (rowena@iitb.ac.in) Professor Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (ac0967@coventry.ac.uk)
Key Dates:
- Abstract Submission Deadline: 26th May 2025
- Notification of Acceptance: 30th May 2025
Registration
Further details about the registration process will be circulated and posted on the website
We look forward to your contributions and to advancing the discussion on religion, faith and mothering, fathering and non-normative parenting in the global south and north.
Symposium Organisers
Professor Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor, Professor Rowena Robinson
4. N Ferreira, ‘What Is the Value of the Persianate to Afghan Studies? or, What Can Afghan History Tell Us about the Persianate? Lessons from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries’
PMLA, 2024 139/2, 307-13
5. Le CeRMI a le plaisir de vous convier à la prochaine séance du séminaire “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du Monde iranien”, qui se tiendra jeudi prochain, 15 mai 2025, 17h-19h, en salle 4.15 à l’INaLCO(65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris XIII, 4eétage).
Nous sommes heureux d’accueillir M. Austin O’Malley (University of Chicago), pour une conférence intitulée: “Mixtapes and Local Jams: Selection and Regionality in the Nozhat al-majāles, an Early Collection of Persian Quatrains“.
Résumé:
Among the Persian metrical forms, the quatrain (robāʿi) stands out for its brevity, popularity, and wide use in an array of social situations and performance contexts, from humble “folk” recitations to sermons and samāʿ sessions to courtly symposia. In this talk, I will investigate the 13th-century Nozhat al-majāles, one of the earliest extant collections of quatrains organized by theme, to better understand the role quatrains played within courtly settings and the larger literary ecosystem. Although centered on the Nozhat, the discussion will also make use of early “genre codes” that discuss the social contexts of quatrains’ production and circulation (i.e., Shams-e Qays’ Moʿjam, the Qābus-nāma) as well as the biographical anthology of ʿOwfi and discourses of Neẓāmi-ye ʿArużi.
Taken together, these investigations show how 13th-century, northwest Iranian potentates engaged in literary culture not only by receiving the “prestige verse” of polished panegyric, but also by presiding over and participating in a more ephemeral process of selection, exchange, and appreciation of quatrains, which were attributed to a wide variety of individuals who were not necessarily professional poets, and many of which were not ultimately preserved in divāns.
Orientations bibliographiques:
– Davidson, Olga M. “Genre and Occasion in the Rubāʿiyyāt of ʿUmar Khayyām: The Rubāʿi, Literary History, and Courtly Literature.” In Writers and Rulers: Perspectives of Their Relations from Abbasid to Safavid Times, edited by Beatrice Gruendler and Louise Marlow, 133–44. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2004.
– Meier, Fritz. Die schöne Mahsati. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1963
– Mir-afżali, Sayyed ʿAli. “Bar-rasi-ye Nozhat al-majāles (bakhsh-e avval).” Maʿāref 4, no. 1 (1376 [1997]): 90–147.
– Mir-afżali, Sayyed ʿAli. “Bar-rasi-ye Nozhat al-majāles (bakhsh-e dovvom).” Maʿāref 14, no. 2 (1376 [1997]): 135–327.
– Seyed-Gohrab, Ali Asghar. “The Flourishing of Persian Quatrains.” In Persian Lyric Poetry in the Classical Era: Ghazals, Panegyrics, Quatrains, edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 488–568. Vol. 2 of A History of Persian Literature, edited by Ehsan Yarshater. London: I.B. Tauris, 2019.
– Shamisā, Sirus. Sayr-e robāʿi dar sheʿr-e fārsi. Tehran: Āshtiāni, 1363 [1984].
– Sharvāni, Jamāl Khalil. Nozhat al-majāles. Edited by Moḥammad Amin-Riyāḥi. 2nd ed. Tehran: ʿElmi, 1375 [1996–97].
Pour rappel, vous retrouverez le programme 2024-2025 du séminaire mensuel de recherche “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du Monde iranien” sur le site du CeRMI :
6. DEADLINE 16 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 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 Friday, 16 May 2025 to ArabicPastsConf@aku.edu. Also please be in touch if you would like to join the digital methods workshop.
7. Anna Contadini’s masterclass at Harvard-I Tatti on two illustrated pages from al-Jazari’s automata of 755/1354 is now published and can be viewed here:
URL
https://vimeo.com/1054171670?turnstile=0.QxjHDSDHh8E0FkKdd5nu3iV9jRRUG6SqvYHlAg…
8. Marcus Milwright’s seminar on ‘Messages from the Past: Temporal Relationships in the Study of Early Islamic Visual Culture’ can now be found on the dedicated ReSIA YouTube channel here:
ReSIA – SOAS Research Seminar in Islamic Art – YouTube
URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNIibY2LlRY&list=PL1z_PGhPjwcqXOrrMPQeQS_OJ0Bd4…
9. The Islamic College:
Zoom Monthly Talk: The Quran and its English Translations
A Talk by Professor Muhammad Abdel Haleem
Wednesday 14 May 2025
6 pm – 7:30 pm (London time)
On Zoom
https://islamic-college.ac.uk/event-register/
10. Zahra Institute – Two talks:
“Language Ideologies and the Discursive Construction of the Persian Language Hegemony in Iran”
Wednesday, 21 May: 12pm Central / 1pm Eastern
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/97305224624?pwd=TY35GbblrFDvcIizxaadWcqJHexeis.1
Jaffer Sheyholislami (Ph.D., Carleton University) is a Professor at the School of Linguistics and Language Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He is the author of Kurdish Identity, Discourse and New Media (Palgrave 2011) and has co-edited a special issue of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language devoted to Kurdish sociolinguistics (2012). He is also the co-editor of the forthcoming volume Oxford Handbook of Kurdish Linguistics. Sheyholislami’s research centers on general linguistics, critical discourse studies, sociolinguistics, and language policy and planning.
“Breakthroughs in Kurdish Lexicography”
Wednesday, 28 May: 12pm Central / 1pm Eastern
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/95130568250?pwd=Dok0HCmMDhvIhdaNw6yyiKbdiyYauu.1
Michael Chyet (Ph.D., UC Berkeley) retired in June 2024 from his position as Cataloger of Middle Eastern languages at the Library of Congress. Formerly he was Senior Broadcast Editor of the Kurdish Service of the Voice of America, and professor of Kurdish at the University of Paris and at the Washington Kurdish Institute. Chyet is working on a third, expanded edition of his Kurdish-English dictionary, Ferhenga Birûskî.
11. WZO’s Annual Seminar
Sunday 01st June 2025 at 10:30
World Zoroastrian House, 1 Freddie Mercury Close, Feltham. TW 5DF London
Please email Shahin Bekhradnia, shahinbekhradnia@hotmail.com , to reserve your seat.
10:30 Opening Remarks
10:45 Alexandra Buhler: Political, economic and social implications of the relations between Zoroastrians in India and Iran during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
12:00 Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani: The Heart of the Empire: Ctesiphon and DilĒrānšahr in the Sasanian World
13:00 Light Refreshments will be available with a vegetarian option.
14:00 Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis: Royal Splendour: the art of the Sasanian kings
15:00 Questions to the Panel of Speakers.
15:30 Close
12. Online lecture. Collecting Islamic and Turkish Art at the Harvard Art Museums with Ayşin Yoltar-Yıldırım.
May 16. 6pm (Turkey). Presented by the Ankara Friends of ARIT.
This talk focuses on the history of art collecting at Harvard by introducing the museum’s history, beginning with the establishment of the Fogg Museum in 1895 and continuing to the present day. It will feature major supporters and donors, the evolving museum culture, provenance studies, and highlights from the Turkish-Islamic collection of the museum. Ayşin Yoltar-Yıldırım is the Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art, at the Harvard Art Museums.
For Zoom Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/XNBdDQ5ATpOmsu7nAEEEDQ. Contact email: ankfarit@gmail.com.
For more information, visit https://aritweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Aysin-Yoltar_.pdf
URL
https://aritweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Aysin-Yoltar_.pdf
13. ONLINE Lecture “Debate and Dialogue: Polemics, Kalam, and the Artistic Inscription in Islamic Spaces” by Hamidreza Azarinia (University of Tehran), Leiden University, 11 May 2025, 15:30 CET
This event is part of the lecture series “Material Culture, Art, and Archictecture of Pre-Safavid Shīʿism” connected with the ERC-funded project “Embodied Imamate: Mapping the Development of the Early Shīʿī Community”.
Information and registration:
14. ONLINE Book Talk “Sensory Engagements in the Study of Muslim Piety” by Simon Stjernholm (University of Copenhagen), “Islam, Ethics and Diversity (IED) Network”, Universities of Gent & Zürich & Brussel, 26 May 2025, 15.00 – 16.30 CET
How have practices and imaginaries of sensing been religiously engaged and contested by Muslims? How do contemporary Muslim practices and debates concerning religious sensing relate to historical precedents? This book analyses examples dealing with contemporary Sufism and Muslim religious oratory in order to explore practices and imaginaries of sensing.
Information and registration: https://iednetwork.ugent.be/sensory-engagements-in-the-study-of-muslim-piety/
15. 23rd Annual Conference of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID): “Defending Democracy in the Muslim World: Why Democracy is Crucial in the Age of Global Authoritarianism”, Georgetown Capitol Campus, Washington, DC, 29 May 2025
Information, program, and registration: https://tinyurl.com/yck6awyh
16. HYBRID “Young Researchers 3rd Indo-Persian Conference”, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 31 May – 1 June 2025
Information, program, and registration:
https://iismm.hypotheses.org/files/2025/05/YRIPW3-ProgrammeSchedule.pdf
17. Workshop: “Forms of Urbanity in the Persianate World”, EHESS, Paris, 4 June 2025
The workshop explores the processes of urbanization and the forms of lived urbanity in the eastern Islamicate world in the medieval and the early modern period. It interrogates the religious, social, economic and cultural dimensions of the urban spaces of Persianate societies in Iran, southern Asia and the Indian Ocean by offering a granular analysis of urban experiences, filtered through a variety of archival, textual, literary and material sources.
Information and program: https://crh.ehess.fr/index.php?10278
18. ONLINE Lecture on “Making Islam Work: Islamic Authority Among Muslims in Western Europe” by Thijl Sunier (VU University Amsterdam), “Islam, Ethics and Diversity (IED) Network”, Universities of Gent & Zürich & Brussel, 23 June 2025, 15.00 – 16.30 CET
In this talk, Sunier 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.
Information and registration:
https://iednetwork.ugent.be/making-islam-work-islamic-authority-among-muslims-in-western-europe/
19. 4th Manuscript Culture Symposium: “Mecmuas in the Ottoman World: Interdisciplinary Approaches and Current Research”, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Hamburg University, 28-30 May 2026
Mecmuas are composite manuscripts as well as multiple-text manuscripts. We invite papers with codicological, literary, cultural, historical or other perspectives on mecmuas and seek to bring together scholars at various stages of the research process.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 May 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/ymvxwe27
- May 10, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies in collaboration with the Department of Middle Eastern Studies and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Chicago
present
“Exploring Persian Language Pedagogy through Sadriddin Ayni’s Literary Lens: Using ‘Notes’ as a Teaching Resource”
Dr. Mehrak Kamali
Ohio State University
Saturday, 10 May 2025, 1:00 EDT/12:00 Central Time
Zoom Registration Link:
https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/ekqkKaUzQhiQ08ptyUy5TQAfter registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
2. Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies – Fellowship in the History of Islamic Art & Material Culture
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68743
Closing date: 20.5.25
3. The Latest Open Access issue of the Cambridge Journal of Anthropology
Articles
‘In the End, We Are Just Bureaucrats’: Shifting State Affects and Bureaucracy in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Lana Askari
Property Documents in Post-Revolution Tunis: Stately Affects and the Multitemporality of Transition Politics
Rosa Sansone
Dismembered Attachment: Documents and the Embodied Continuity of Regional Wars in Iran
Ahmad Moradi
- May 06, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies and Invisible East present a series of monthly online seminars about archives and documents.
Convened by Arezou Azad and Mohamad Tavakoli, the seminars are held monthly on Zoom.
Please join us this month to hear from Delbar Khakzad on ‘Traditional Forms and Modern Contents: The Hijri-Shamsi Calendar and Critical Engagement with Archival Sources’ Thursday 15 May at 12PM EST / 5PM GMT.
Pre-registration is essential.
https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/4EnVuj2YSxeDsJOkivlBkA#/registration
2. Durham University
Sir William Luce Memorial Fund
Anarchiving Sudan memories: present war and troubled past
by the 2025 Sir William Luce Fellow
Dr Mariasole Pepa
Al-Qasimi Building, Elvet Hill Road, Durham DH1 3TU
on Wednesday 11 June 2025 at 12.00pm,
followed by a Buffet Lunch from 1.00pm
R.S.V.P. by Friday 30 May 2025
The Honorary Secretary, The Sir William Luce Memorial Fund,
School of Government and International Affairs, Al-Qasimi Building, Durham, DH1 3TU, UK
e-mail: luce.fund@durham.ac.uk
3. Arab Media & Society,the biannual journal of the Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism in the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the American University in Cairo, is seeking submissions for our next issue on “Media Management and Economics.”
Issue 39, Winter/Spring 2025 on “Media Management and Economics”
The media landscape in the Arab World is undergoing a rapid and profound transformation, shaped by technological advancements, shifting consumer behaviors, and evolving business models. Digital platforms, artificial intelligence, and content creators are redefining the media ecosystem, influencing economic structures, managerial strategies, and regulatory frameworks. As media organizations, content producers, and digital platforms adapt to this changing environment, new challenges and opportunities emerge for sustainable business models, ethical considerations, and innovative revenue streams.
This call for papers seeks to explore the dynamic intersections of media management, economics, and digital transformation in the Arab World. We invite contributions that critically examine how traditional and digital media industries are responding to these shifts and what strategies are being employed to sustain media operations in an era marked by algorithm-driven content distribution, influencer economies, and platformized communication.
Key Themes:
We encourage submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- Economic and Managerial Strategies in the Digital Media Environment
- Business models of digital media companies, streaming platforms and content creators.
- Monetization strategies in platform economies (e.g., subscriptions, advertising, influencer marketing).
- Sustainability and financial resilience of media organizations in the Arab World.
- The Role of Social Media and Content Creators in Media Economies
- The economic impact of influencers, micro-entrepreneurs, and independent content producers.
- Social media monetization and its implications for traditional media businesses.
- Algorithm-driven visibility and its effect on content distribution and economic viability.
- AI, Automation, and the Future of Media Management
- The role of artificial intelligence in newsroom operations, advertising, and audience analytics.
- Ethical concerns and regulatory challenges surrounding AI-driven content moderation and personalization.
- AI’s impact on labor structures in media industries.
- Regulation, Policy, and Media Sustainability
- Media policies and regulations affecting digital media and platform governance in the region.
- The role of governments and regulatory bodies in shaping digital economies.
- Strategies for ensuring content diversity and safeguarding media pluralism in the digital age.
- Audience Behavior, Consumption Patterns, and Market Trends
- Changing media consumption habits across different demographic segments.
- The role of mobile-first and on-demand media consumption in shaping business strategies.
- The effects of disinformation, trust erosion, and audience fragmentation on media sustainability.
- Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and New Business Models
- Media startups, digital entrepreneurs, and emerging players in the Arab Worldern media industry.
- Case studies of innovative digital ventures in content production and distribution.
- The intersection of technology, creativity, and economic models in media entrepreneurship.
- The Global and Local Dynamics of Media Markets
- Internationalization and localization strategies of global media players in the region.
- Cross-cultural influences on media management and content strategies.
- Economic implications of media collaborations and mergers in the Arab World.
The above list is a non-exhaustive set for suggested areas of research. We welcome contributions that explore other dimensions related to media and conflict in the Arab region.
Deadline for Submissions
Authors interested in submitting their research for peer-review consideration must submit manuscripts by July 30, 2025. Other submissions, including book and conference reviews, shorter (non-peer reviewed) research papers, and columns, should be submitted by August 15, 2025
Submission Guidelines: All submissions must be in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx), adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style, and have a maximum length of 10,000 words (including footnotes and citations).Please include the author’s name (as it should be published), their affiliation, and a brief abstract of no more than 150 words. Please email all submissions to: editor@arabmediasociety.com For further information regarding our publishing policies, kindly visit: www.arabmediasociety.com/publishing-policies/
Contact Information: For any inquiries regarding the call for papers, please contact: editor@arabmediasociety.com.
4. Southampton Arts Academy Concert – The Day of Omar Khayyám
Sunday 18/5/25, 3-6 pm
SOAS Brunei Galley
SOAS University of London
Tickets: https://www.southamptonartsacademy.com/ticket
5. SOAS – Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum
9.30am – 7.00 pm, Friday 20 June 2025
The Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum has been running since 2007 and is open to researchers, students and anyone interested in the music and culture of the region. In the spirit of fostering dialogue and interdisciplinarity, we hope that the issues discussed at the Forum will be of interest to a broad audience, including musicologists, ethnomusicologists and other researchers in the arts, humanities and social sciences. In addition, we welcome those working on other aspects of Middle Eastern and Central Asian culture broadly speaking (dance, visual arts, media, film, literature, etc).
6. Institute for Iranian Studies, University of St Andrews
SYMPOSIA IRANICA V – CALL FOR PAPERS
Date of conference: 10-12 April 2026
The Institute of Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews is pleased to announce the Fifth Biennial Symposia Iranica Conference.
We invite Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers from a wide range of disciplines to join us at the University of St Andrews for a friendly, interdisciplinary conference on Iran and the wider Persianate world from the ancient period to the present. Papers are welcome in all related disciplines, including (but not limited to) Archaeology, History, Politics & International Relations, Art, Religious Studies, Language, and Literature. We will also host an early scholars workshop aimed at those seeking a career in academia and the wider research community. Details on this will be released by April.
Each presenter will be allocated 30 minutes, which includes a 20-minute presentation and a 10-minute Q&A session. We welcome individual presenters and panels of 2 or 3 speakers.
Please complete an abstract (up to 300 words) or prepare an excerpt from your presentation paper (up to 500 words). Send this together with your CV (up to 2 pages) to symposiairanica@st-andrews.ac.uk by 31 July 2025. Successful applicants will be informed by 31 October 2025, and we expect to have registration rates and accommodation details confirmed by then.
Please indicate in your application email if you would be comfortable sharing a room with another delegate. Having this information as early as possible will help keep costs low. Individual travel plans will vary but we hope most delegates will arrive on 9 April and leave on 12 April.
Please direct all enquiries regarding topic suitability and logistical arrangements to the email address above.
Symposia Iranica is a sponsored conference and we aim to keep costs low for all participants. In exceptional cases, registration costs may be waived. Symposia Iranica is a sponsored conference which means that it applies for, and receives, financial backing in advance from a range of different sources. This support keeps costs as low as possible for all participants to encourage participation. All applications will be individually considered, and we particularly welcome waiver applications that demonstrate detailed consideration of the impact of a waiver upon their research prospects and general financial circumstances.
7. CONFERENCE 27 & 28 May: ‘Digital Islam Across Europe’ – limited free places available
The Edinburgh Alwaleed Centre is hosting a special conference reflecting on the research findings of its CHANSE-funded project: ‘Digital Islam across Europe: Understanding Muslims’ Participation in Online Islamic Environments’.
Project teams from the UK, Spain, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania will be joined by scholars working across the continent, and beyond, to discuss the impact of online content production, and consumption, on Muslim faith and practice.
We have a limited number of free spaces available for anyone with an interest in the subject. For further information and to book your free place, follow this link: https://llc.ed.ac.uk/digital-islam-across-europe-conference
If you have any questions, please contact the conference team on: digital.islam@ed.ac.uk .
8. Spirituality, Political Religion and Lived Experience in Iran
MESA Global Academy Event
A webinar featuring Leyla Hajimehditajer (Independent Scholar), Maryam Heydarkhani (Barakat Postdoctoral Scholar, Khalili Research Centre, University of Oxford), and Zahra Khoshk Jan (Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Sociology, University of Chicago)
Moderator: Nayereh Tohidi (Professor Emerita, CSUN)
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM PST
Online
Co-sponsored by the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies and the MESA Global Academy
https://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/event/17152
9. Call for Papers
Journal of Social & Cultural Studies is published biannually, with issues released at the end of June and December. Submissions are accepted until April 15 for the June issue and until October 15 for the December issue. The publication languages are Turkish and English.
No article processing or submission fees are charged to authors or their affiliated institutions under any circumstances.
Submission: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/jscs
Contact Information
https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/jscs
https://www.toplumvekultur.com/tvkjml/index.php/en/
Contact Email
URL
https://www.toplumvekultur.com/tvkjml/index.php/en/
10. ONLINE Lecture “Avicenna on Pleasure and the Perception of Beauty. A Multidisciplinary Inquiry” by Dr. Maryam Kheradmand (Tehran), Network “Philosophy in the Modern Islamic World”, 5 May 2025, 18:00 – 20:00 CET
Join us to explore Avicenna’s pathways to questions such as: Does beauty exist independently, or is it co-created by the observer? Why do we sometimes perceive perfection without pleasure? Why does music evoke pleasure while a lecture may not, even if both are “perceived”?
Information and registration:
https://philosophy-in-the-modern-islamic-world.net/en/online-guest-lecture-maryam-kheradmand/
11. ONLINE: “Association of Middle East Children and Youth Studies (AMECYS)”: Introducing the New Mentorship Program for Mentees and Mentors, 7 May 2025, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EST
We invite graduate students and scholars working on the Levant, the Gulf and/or Maghreb, children, adolescents, and/or youth, whether you study these populations in the past or present, and whatever your disciplinary or metho-dological approaches might be, whether in the social sciences, humanities, or natural sciences.
Deadline for registration: 10 May 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/ef26vtsn
12. HYBRID Workshop “Arabic Magical Realisms – Foundations, Concepts and Manifestations”, Cluster of Excellence “Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective”, Freie Universität Berlin, 22-23 May 2025
How does magical realism manifest itself in Arabic literature? Which literary heritages serve as its inspiration? What role does this mode of writing play in contexts of war, displacement and trauma? These texts constitute powerful literary devices, hybrid and often subversive, which bridge the divide between premodern and modern periods, defy textual and physical boundaries, and break societal taboos.
Information, program, and registration: https://www.temporal-communities.de/events/2025/workshop-arabic-magical-realisms.html
13. 4th Conference of the TYPOARABIC Project: “The Role of Italian Presses in Early Arabic Printing. A View from the East”, Università Ca’ Foscari of Venice, 27-29 May 2025
Information and program: https://typarabic.ro/wordpress/
14. Symposium “Transcendence in the Small Gestures of Life: Attention and Care for Nature and Humans in Religious Traditions”, EASA-Muslim Worlds Network, Venice, 2-3 October 2025
This symposium aims to explore those spiritual states that in different religious traditions are searched for to awaken attentiveness and care for the world, other humans, and creation, paying attention to how they can inform the way we study religion and interpret the challenges humankind faces in the contemporary world, particularly the ecological crisis.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 May 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/ms8dknus
15. ONLINE 54th Annual Conference of the North American Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies (NAAIMS): “Islam and AI: Challenges and Opportunities”, University of Cincinnati, OH, 20 November 2025
Themes: – Authenticity of Islamic Religious Authority: The Ulama vs A.I. – Training A.I. in Classical Islamic Sources – Rigor and Responsibility in Using A.I. for Research in Islamic and Muslim Studies – Ensuring Accuracy in A.I. Generated Content about Islam and Muslims – Opportunities and Challenges of Using A.I. as a Teaching Assistant in Islamic or Muslim Studies – Addressing Hegemony and Cultural Biases in A.I. – A.I., Ethics and Morality
Deadline for abstracts: 11 July 2025. Information: https://naaims.org/54th-century/
16. Programme DECRIPT : Contrat Post-Doctoral/ Collaborateur scientifique WP6 (12 mois) : “Récits civilisationnels et Moyen-Orient – Focus Proche-Orient”, Inalco, Paris
Le post-doctorant ou la post-doctorante développera un projet visant à articuler ces enjeux globaux et régionaux à un terrain empirique. Le candidat ou la candidate idéal-e aura une excellente connaissance du Proche-Orient (Israël, Palestine, Liban et/ou Syrie), qui constitue le « focus » du WP6, mais les dossiers relevant d’autres spécialisations aréales seront également étudiés avec intérêt.
Date limite de candidature : 11 mai 2025. Information : https://tinyurl.com/2tv9xvmv
17. Visiting Assistant Professor of Arabic Studies (1 Year), Williams College, Williamstown, MA
Ph.D. is required by the beginning of the appointment. Excellent training and experience teaching all levels of Arabic language to non-native speakers are essential. We are particularly interested in candidates who have a record of success in teaching Arabic 101/102.
Deadline for applications: 15 May 2025. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/167079
18. PhD Research Fellowship in the Modern History of the Middle East
University of Bergen, Norway
The Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion invites applications for a PhD position in the modern history of the Middle East commencing in January 2026, or as agreed upon. The position is for a fixed-term period of four years. The Department is looking for candidates working on the history of the modern Middle East with a temporal focus on the late nineteenth century onwards.
Deadline | 12 May 2025
More information
19. Director SOAS Middle East Institute and MBI AI Jaber Chair of Middle East Studies
SOAS, University of London
SOAS wishes to appoint a Director of the SOAS Middle East Institute and MBI Al Jaber Chair in Middle East Studies. The person appointed will split their time 50/50 between these two roles. The successful applicant will conduct research and teach in their area of speciality and will provide strong leadership to the SOAS Middle East Institute.
Deadline | 25 May 2025
More information
20. Call for Applications | Critical Thinkers PhD Award
Award | The American University in Cairo
The award recognizes outstanding doctoral research that engages critically with the realities and effects of neoliberalism in the MENA region. We invite PhD dissertation submissions that creatively and rigorously explore the complex dimensions of neoliberal economics, policies, ideas, and institutions.
Deadline | 11 May 2025
21. Call for Submissions | Confluence Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies
Journal Issue | June 2025
The Confluence Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, an international, peer-reviewed academic journal published by Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Morocco, is pleased to invite scholars, researchers, and academics to contribute research articles and book reviews for its inaugural issue, to be published in June 2025.
Deadline | 15 May 2025
- May 03, 2025
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment