Categories : Academic items
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Archival History of Iran’s Relations With Saudi Arabia (1913-1979)
September 2023
Banafsheh Keynoush
2. CSMBR Webinar Series 12. Sept., 5 p.m. (CET): From Dangerous Drug to Miraculous Medicine Uses, Abuses and Medical Rationale of Opium in the Early Modern Period
Edoardo Pierini
12 September 2023 – 5 PM (CEST)
https://csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/events/online-lectures/from-dangerous-to-miraculous-medicine/
3. The Bahmani Sufis: Their Spiritual, Intellectual and Sociopolitical Role in Medieval Deccan, AD 1300 to 1538
M S Siddiqi
Primus Books, 2023
4. University of Chicago – Assistant Professor – Classical Arabic Literature
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=65864
All materials from each applicant must be received by 11:00 PM Central Time/Midnight Eastern Time on November 1, 2023.
5. The Association for Iranian Studies (AIS) Mentorship Committee is pleased to announce a new graduate student workshop/research award.
Interested students should submit a brief proposal; the requested amount of funding and an overall budget; as well as a letter confirming acceptance to a workshop or a comparable academic research venue for participation. Demonstrated financial need will be prioritized. A letter from an advisor is also required and should speak to the relevance of the workshop to the student’s research and financial need.
Deadlines will be September 15th and February 15th annually. We are allotting $6,000 a year, which will be split evenly for the two cycles. Each award will be worth up to $1,000. Following the completion of the workshop/research, awardees will be asked to submit a brief report highlighting their work and the ways in which the award assisted them. Applications should be sent to: mentorship@associationforiranianstudies.org
6. Under the Adorned Dome, Four Essays on the Arts of Iran and India
Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series
Y Porter
Brill, 2023
https://brill.com/display/title/65144
7. Mirzā `Ali-Qoli Kho’i: The Master Illustrator of Persian Lithographed Books in the Qajar Period. Vol. 1
Ulrich Marzolph and Roxana Zenhari
Brill, 2022
https://brill.com/display/title/60564
8. Saints hommes de Chiraz et du Fārs
Pouvoir, société et lieux de sacralité (Xe-XVe s.)
D Aigle
Brill, 2023
https://brill.com/display/title/64599
9. The Fatimids
Select Papers on Their Governing Institutions, Social and Cultural Organization, Religious Appeal, and Rivalries
P Walker
Brill, 2023
https://brill.com/display/title/65057
10. CfP: Objects of Law in the Medieval and Early Modern Worlds (University of Bern, 29–30 August 2024)
International Conference at the University of Bern, Switzerland, 29–30 August 2024
Organized by Corinne Mühlemann (University of Bern) and Fatima Quraishi (University of California, Riverside)
Objects of Law proposes thinking more deeply about the artistic practices that shaped the materiality, iconography, and texts of legal objects in the medieval and early modern period. What forms did these objects take? How did their form confer authenticity and legal authority?
What training or knowledge are evident in the objects? Objects of Law seeks dialogue between scholars working in art history, history, archaeology, legal history, and related disciplines that deal with legal objects. We welcome contributions from all geographical regions that relate to the medieval and early modern period.
We invite contributions that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- The role of objects in legal practices
- The aesthetics of objects of law
- The artistic practices of crafting legal objects
Proposals should consist of an abstract in English for 30-minute papers (max 2000 characters incl. spaces) and a brief biography (max 1500 characters incl. spaces) in a single document (PDF or Word).
Abstracts should be submitted to: Corinne Mühlemann (corinne.muehlemann@unibe.ch) and Fatima Quraishi (fatimaq@ucr.edu) by 1 November 2023.
Graduate students are highly encouraged to apply. Conference participants will be provided with accommodation in Bern for 3 nights, and some travel expenses will be covered.
11. Call to Poetry Translators: Second Cycle of Mo Habib Translation Prize
MELC enthusiastically calls for submissions for the second cycle of the Mo Habib Translation Prize in Persian Literature. Established in partnership with the Mo Habib Memorial Foundation and Deep Vellum Publishing, the prize seeks to enable the publication and dissemination of Persian literary works that stand on their own in engaging English translation. Dr. Michelle Quay was its inaugural winner for her translation of Reza Ghassemi’s novel Woodwind Harmony in the Nighttime.
Deadline: March 1, 2024
12. CfP: CHARISMA, POPULARITY, POWER: GRACE, RELIGIONS AND BELIEF THROUGHOUT HISTORY UNTIL THE PRESENT
The Interdisciplinary “Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society” (JRAT) is an interdisciplinary, international, online open-access journal with a double-blind peer-review process. It was established in 2015, since 2019 it is published with BRILL. Every issue has a distinct thematic focus which is approached from different disciplines. The journal aims at investigating the contribution of religions to the cultural, political, juridical, and aesthetic dynamics in present-day pluralistic societies. Vice versa, it examines the influence of the contemporary processes of social transformation on religions and religious expressions. The mutual impact of religious and societal transformation processes requires the collaboration of different academic disciplines, which creates an interdisciplinary research space both for theologians of different religious and confessional traditions (Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Islamic, etc.), as well as for researchers in the field of Religious Studies, Sociology of Religion, Social Sciences, Law, Jewish Studies, Islamic Studies, Indology, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, Philosophy and Pedagogy, etc. JRAT is included in SCOPUS and WEB OF SCIENCE.
Call for Abstracts
In comparative religious studies, notions of grace (charis) and charisma are widely used, but often in a routine manner. Despite ample criticism of this usage, popular interpretations of the term “charisma” as an indicator of personal appeal can still be found even in scholarly work. Ever since Max Weber attributed sociological significance to the term, charisma has mostly been studied in relation to the leadership skills and appeal of authoritative figures. However, its frequent historical connection with the alleged mystical attributes and powers of individuals, places, and objects, as acknowledged by Weber himself, remains understudied.
The upcoming JRAT Special Issue explores possible theoretical connections, and methods to align historical notions and beliefs in mystical grace (appearing under many names, such as mana, pumba, orenda, etc.) with sociological theories of charisma, addressing the scholarly challenges that arise from studying charismatic individuals and institutional religious authorities in monotheistic traditions and beyond. Studying the charismatic quality of certain people, locations, and items as a socio-anthropological marker, the Special Issue aims for a more nuanced understanding of the history of various religious traditions. JRAT is accepting papers approaching charisma/grace to analyze the emergence, institutionalization, and growth of religious offices tasked with addressing popular religious needs, the strengthening of the exclusivity of the religious profession, sharply distinguished from heresies and sorcery, and the influence of grace on political power. Understanding the influence of grace on rulership could more thoroughly explain the connection between charismatic rulers and priestly hierarchies, and the lasting monopoly over grace among charismatic confraternities as a means of social, economic, jurisprudential, and at times political control.
The Special Issue aims to explore how the supposed monopoly over grace allowed for the emergence and growth of establishmentarian corporate hierarchies that evolved within religious offices over time. Such a comparative historical process can be observed across religious traditions, where the charisma of religious authorities was continuously reinforced by the charisma of their respective offices. These offices often represented specific niches with distinct corporate identities, prerogatives, privileges, and duties, monopolizing access to mystical powers and facilitating charismatic transactions. As a result, religious professionals became exclusive socio-political entities responsible for dispensing institutional divine grace to the rest of the population.
In many regions, the charismatic quality attributed to certain individuals over time became directly associated with the ability to cause praeternatural feats, further enhancing the exclusivity of the profession responsible for matters of faith. These feats included, but were not limited to walking on water, resurrections, thaumaturgical healing, controlling the elements, charming animals, flying, teleportation, opposing malevolent or infernal forces, or displaying superhuman physical feats. Thaumaturgy was a fundamental element of many religious traditions, both Abrahamic and beyond, and religious professionals endeavored to maintain their monopoly over it.
The JRAT Special Issue welcomes articles from various fields, including (but not limited to):
- History
- Religious Studies
- Philosophy
- Sociology and Anthropology
- Political sciences and International Relations
- Law
- Theology
It also welcomes contributions from other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, with open criteria of the period and location. The articles may include empirical cases as well as methodological debates that reflect on both the post-Weberian theories of charisma and other scholarship inspired by these phenomena for the scientific study of religious practices, the relationship between religious authorities and social/political power, the dynamics between religion, orthodoxy, and heterodoxy, as well as the interplay between religion, thaumaturgy, and magic. Papers analyzing ancient, medieval, early modern, modern, and contemporary religions are all welcome. In addition, JRAT is accepting proposals dealing into contemporary esoteric and mystical groups which are founded on similar principles, in order to broaden its comparative perspective.
Contact Information
Proposal: Paper proposals will be reviewed by the Principal Investigators of the Critical Humanities Assembly for Religions in Societies (CHARIS), a collaborative effort of researchers from Central European University, University of Vienna, and University of Navarra. Interested academicians are encouraged to submit applications, which should include an academic CV and a short paper abstract (200-300 words), to Nikola Pantić at nikola.pantic@univie.ac.at by October 31th 2023.
Queries: For any further questions, please contact Rüdiger Lohlker at ruediger.lohlker@univie.ac.at. For any questions or problems relating to your manuscript, please contact the editorial team (jrat@univie.ac.at). For questions about Editorial Manager, authors can contact the Brill EM Support Department: em@brill.com.
Contact Email
13. Association of East Asian Arabists
Inaugural Symposium
Teaching Arabic in East Asia
Arabic, Islamic and Middle East Studies in East Asia
Dates
24 and 25 November 2023
Venues
On Site at National Chengchi University (NCCU), Taipei
Online via Zoom or Teams
Languages
Arabic and English
Call for Interest and Participation
Abstract Deadline
15 October 2023
Association email address
Introduction
Association of East Asian Arabists (AEAA) is a forum with three sets of objectives. First and foremost, it welcomes scholars from East Asia specialized in Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies and invites them to critically reflect on the pedagogy of teaching Arabic to speakers of East Asian languages at different levels, to share their research priorities, agenda, approaches, and methodologies, and to discuss any problems arising from their professional careers. Second, the Association fosters sharing experiences and mutual enrichments in two aspects of pedagogy and curriculum design in the East Asian context: Arabic language pedagogy; enhancement of the curricular connection between language and content courses; and the challenges of Arabic language teaching in the digital age. Finally, and most importantly, the Association will build a support network for East Asian scholars around the world. The Arabists of East Asian backgrounds face triple marginalization. In North America, Europe and the Middle East, they are pushed out both by North American and European orientalists and scholars of Arabic and Islamic backgrounds. In East Asia, the fields they partake in are marginal to mainstream disciplines and areas of study. AEAA offers space for them to engage with each other’s research and teaching and career concerns. The Association will engage its members through regular online and in person meetings, workshops, lectures, and reading sessions, and trigger further questions for discussion and opportunities for future collaboration such as annual meetings.
Background
The Arabic language, which originated from the sixth-century north Arabia, became the lingua franca of the Near East with the spread of Islam. The Arabic language and its literary productions are highly imbued with religious ideas and cultural norms of Arabs. Students from East Asian linguistic, cultural, and religious backgrounds without adequate prior knowledge of the region and religion would encounter challenges when they study more advanced texts. The cultural barrier and lack of relevant knowledge also impede them from appreciating the literary conventions, rhetorics, and poetics of the Arabic language.
While language teaching itself is inseparable from introducing the peoples and societies using the language, the need to combine both into a systematic curriculum is hardly realized in Taiwan. At present, Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies in East Asia follows the agenda and pedagogy of either Orientalism or pre-modern knowledge traditions of the Arabic-Islamic world. A coherent curricular structure that takes into consideration the lingual and cultural backgrounds of East Asian students is currently missing.
Technology exerts an unneglectable impact on language teaching. As online Arabic classes and learning tools abound, the efficiency of the traditional teaching methods is called into question. Furthermore, students’ dependence upon technology products such as translation tools and AI programmes for their coursework also undermines the validity of the traditional way of evaluation.
The Inaugural Symposium and Call for Participation
The Association’s Inaugural Symposium will address three main topics that concern teaching and research in Arabic, Islamic and Middle East Studies. It will in addition host a graduate student forum.
First: Textbooks for teaching Arabic written by academics of East Asian backgrounds, and Arabic language pedagogy in the classroom at East Asian universities.
Convenor: Sumi Akiko (Kyoto Notre Dame University)
- What are challenges in teaching Arabic to speakers of East Asian languages?
- What distinguishes Arabic texts written by East Asian academic from those used in the Arab world, Europe and North America?
- How do East Asian languages, cultures and knowledge traditions play a role in textbook objectives and design?
- Are East Asian learning environments Arabic friendly?
- What role does new technology, such as digitization and AI, play in textbook design and classroom pedagogy?
- Can social media, IT, and AI help to foster a better interconnected Arabic language world for East Asian students?
Second: Curriculum Design for the Humanities
Convenor: Tsung Pei-Chen (NCCU)
- What are the challenges of teaching Arabic-Islamic culture, history, literature, politics and religion to students of East Asian backgrounds?
- What role do local knowledge traditions play in how Arabic, Islamic and Middle East studies are received by East Asian students?
- How do teaching teams manage the diverse knowledge traditions (Arab, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Indonesian, European, North American, etc.) in which they are trained?
- What are the objectives and anticipated outcome of degree programmes?
- Are there sufficient textbooks in East Asian languages?
Third: Challenges and Creativity in Research
Convenor: Su I-Wen (NCCU)
- Facing triple marginalisation, what are the difficulties and challenges for East Asian Arabists in terms of their research?
- What would East Asian Arabists do differently outside European knowledge traditions, such as Orientalism, and academic convention?
- How can they do research creatively, and foster interests in Arabic, Islamic and Middle East Studies in academe and among a general audience?
- What might some strategies be for East Asian Arabists to adopt to generate impact in local research cultures?
Fourth: The Graduate Student Forum
Convenor: Ouyang Wen-chin (Academia Sinica and SOAS, University of London)
- Where do students choose to pursue MA and PhD degrees? Locally, in the Arab world, in other East Asian countries, in Europe or North America? Why?
- What might some of the challenges students face? Mastery of Arabic and research languages? Adjusting to new research traditions? Disciplinary training? Marginalization and isolation?
- Do PhD students publish while pursuing their degrees? What are the challenges?
- What do they think of their career prospects?
- How can AEAA help?
All East Asian Arabists are invited to the inaugural symposium. If you are interested in giving a presentation on one of the three topics identified above, please send an expression of interest to us at <AEAAInternational@gmail.com>.
Ouyang Wen-chin (歐陽文津)
Sumi Akiko ( 鷲見朗子)
Su I-Wen (蘇怡文)
Tsung Pei-Chen (叢培臻)
14. Call for Submissions: 2024 Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize
About the Prize
The prize was established jointly by the Leigh Douglas Memorial Fund and BRISMES in memory of Dr Leigh Douglas who was killed in Beirut in 1986. It is awarded annually to the writer of the best PhD dissertation on a Middle Eastern topic in the Social Sciences or Humanities awarded by a British University in the previous year. The current value of the prize is £600 for the winner and £250 for the runner up.
Eligibility
Any student who has submitted their PhD dissertation on a Middle Eastern topic in the Social Sciences or Humanities to a British University between 1 January and 30 September 2023 is eligible to apply. If you are submitting your thesis after the deadline in 2023, you will be eligible for the following year’s prize.
We recommend that submissions for this prize are made after completion of your viva in order to benefit from feedback from the viva panel, but applicants can make a submission before the viva if they wish. Please note that you can only submit your PhD dissertation once for this prize.
How to Apply
Please send an electronic copy of your thesis and a letter of nomination from your supervisor to office@brismes.org.
Deadline for submissions: Midnight on 1 November 2023
More information: www.brismes.ac.uk/awards/ldmp
15. CFP: The Smith Center First Book Workshop in Map History
The Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography and the Center for Renaissance Studies at the Newberry Library invite applicants for the inaugural First Book Workshop in Map History. Any scholars who are working on their first book about the history of maps and mapping or on a topic that substantially engages the history of maps and mapping may apply. Scholars who have written a previous book or books are eligible so long as those books did not engage substantively with maps. The workshop is open to all periods, locations, and fields.
The workshop will last two days, in person at the Newberry Library in Chicago. Ahead of time, all participants and respondents will read everything the writers submit—whether that is a full manuscript or a subset of chapters and a book proposal. Each scholar will be paired with a senior scholar with expertise relevant to their manuscript. Each day will consist of a series of workshops on specific portions of each writer’s submission and presentations of Newberry material. For 2024, we will be able to accept three participants, at least one of whom is working in the Medieval or Early Modern period. The costs of travel, housing, and meals will be covered for all participants.
To apply, please submit your application online through the Newberry Library portal.
Dates:
- Applications Due: 1 November 2023
- Workshop: 22 and 23 February 2024
Location:
- Newberry Library, Chicago, IL
Eligibility:
- You have at least three chapters of a manuscript and a proposal at the time of submission
- You have not already published an academic book on the history of maps
- You are engaging substantively with the history of maps and mapping
- Your manuscript is in English
Evaluation Criteria:
- The project will make a significant contribution to our understanding of map history
- The project engages substantively with existing scholarship on the history of maps and mapping
- The project has a likelihood of successful completion and publication
Application Materials:
- Abstract (300-600 words)
- One chapter
- One letter of recommendation
- CV
Contact Information
David Weimer
Director, Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography and Robert A. Holland Curator of Maps
Contact Email
URL
https://newberry.slideroom.com/#/permalink/program/75078
16. Workshop – The 2nd Doha Workshop on Countering the Trafficking of Cultural Property with a Focus on Documentary Heritage
September 12, 2023 – September 14, 2023
The phenomenon of illegal trafficking in cultural heritage has grown in the Arab region and the Middle East over the last decade, mainly due to civil unrest, armed conflicts, and natural disasters in the region. Special awareness, attention, and global coordination is paramount to combatting artifact smuggling and transit in the region and beyond.
Following the successful 2022 Cultural Heritage Workshop, QNL is proud to team up with its partners (in the framework of Himaya project) to host this year’s Cultural Heritage Workshop, featuring top international multidisciplinary experts to mitigate and combat this phenomenon.
PROGRAM
Tuesday – 12 September 2023
09:00 – 09:45 AM Official opening of Doha’s workshop
09:45 – 10:10 AM Session# 1, A Summary of QNL Projects since the 1ST Doha Workshop in 2022. By Stephane Ipert, Director of Distinctive Collections at Qatar National Library; Director of IFLA PAC Regional Center for Arab Countries and Middle East.
10:30 – 11:15 AM Session# 2, International Legal Framework and Sanctions – A Legal Perspective on the Restitution of Cultural Artifacts. By Dr. Luigi Marini, Secretary General of the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation, Italy.
11:15 AM – 12:00 PM Session# 3, Illicit trafficking of Cultural Property in the MENA Region: Cultural Assets most at Risk: Typology and available Tools. By Dr. Vincent Michel, Archaeologist, professor of Near Eastern archaeology, University of Poitiers, France; Director of the French Archaeological Mission in Libya
1:00 – 1:45 PM Session# 4, Provenance Research, Repatriations, and Shared Stewardship: One Future for Museums by Dr. Chase Robinson, Director of the National Museum of Asian Art NMAA (Smithsonian Institution), Washington D. C.
1:45 – 2:30 PM Session# 5, The 1995 UNIDROIT Convention – The Core Question of “Due Diligence” by Marina Schneider, Principal Legal Officer and Treaty Depositary, UNIDROIT, Rome, Italy.
2:30 – 3:15 PM Session# 6, Develop Legal and Institutional Frameworks: Case Studies from Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, by Dr. Sultan Barakat, Professor, College of Public Policy, Hamad Bin Khalifa University HBKU; Director of the Global Institute for Strategic Research (GISR)
Wednesday – 13 September 2023
08:30 – 09:15 AM Session# 7, Traceability and Provenance of Documentary Heritage: Improve Registration through Information Sharing, Co-operation and Building up Knowledge. By Arda Scholte, Chair of Expert Group Against Theft, Trafficking and Tampering (EGATTT) , International Council of Archives
09:15 – 10:00 AM Session# 8, Professional and Ethical Consideration for Cultural Goods Restitution., by Nathalie Bondil, Museum and Exhibitions Director, Arab World Institute, Paris.
10:30 – 11:15 AM Session# 9, The Role of the Italian Carabinieri Department in the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Return of Cultural Objects – Case Studies. By Gen. Brig. Vincenzo Molinese, Head of the Carabinieri Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Italy.
11:15 AM – 12:00 PM Session# 10, The Role of FBI Art Crime Team in the Fight against Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property. By Kristin Koch, Supervisory Special Agent with the FBI Art Crime program, U. S.
1:00 – 1:45 PM Session# 11, INTERPOL’s Capabilities in the Fight against Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property. By Gonzalo Giordano, Criminal Intelligence Officer – Works of Art Unit, INTERPOL
1:45 – 2:30 PM Session# 12, Creation the digital platform “Turathi.dz” for the police and customs in Algeria to fight the illegal trafficking in cultural property. By Nawal Dahmani, Director of Foresight Studies, Documentation and Automated Media, Ministry of Culture and Arts, Algeria.
2:30 – 3:15 PM Session# 13, “Practical Measures and Tools UNESCO Tools, World Customs Organization ARCHEO, International Council of Museums Red Lists”. By Maxim Nasra, Head of Preservation and Conservation at Qatar National Library and the IFLA PAC Regional Center for Arab Countries and Middle East.
Thursday 14 September: Special training for customs officials from Qatar and the region.
08:30 – 09:15 AM Session# 14, The Loot: Investigation of a Smuggled Syrian Mosaic (Case Study). By Razmik Madoyan, Assistant Attaché for the Department of Homeland Security at U.S. Embassy Abu Dhabi, UAE.
09:15 – 10:00 AM Session# 15, Customs Techniques for the Fight against Smuggling (Part 1) by Amélie PHA, Investigator at National Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation (DNRED) – France.
10:30 – 11:15 AM Session# 16, Customs Techniques for the Fight against Smuggling (Part 2), by Amélie PHA, Investigator at National Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation (DNRED) – France.
11:15 AM – 12:00 PM Session# 17
Practical Session: Handling and Taking Pictures of the Objects (Part 1) by Haitham Othman, Multimedia and Photography Specialist at Qatar National Library.
1:00 – 1:45 PM Session# 18, The Role of the World Custom Organization WCO in Combating the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Heritage. by Matthew Ciesla, Special Agent with the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and HSI Liaison to the World Customs Organization.
1:45 – 2:30 PM Session# 19, Practical Session: Handling and Taking Pictures of the Objects (Part 2)by Haitham Othman, Multimedia and Photography Specialist at Qatar National Library.
2:30 – 2:55 PM Conclusion of the Workshop by Dr. Amr Al Azm, Associate Professor at Qatar University and Director of the Antiquities Trafficking and Heritage Anthropology Research (ATHAR) Project.
Contact Email
- September 09, 2023
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.ONLINE Launching Event of the Muslim Worlds Network: “Rethinking the Anthropological Enterprise in Light of Muslim Ontologies: Secular Vestiges, Spiritual Epistemologies, Vertical Knowledge”, 7 September 2023, 15:30 – 17:30 Istanbul Time
Because of the difficulty anthropology continues to face in relinquishing its secular vestiges, field encounters with a not-immediately-perceptible reality have usually been deemed insignificant in anthropological ac-counts. In dialogue with the ontological turn and other recent developments in anthropology, we introduce our network advocating for a more profound reconsideration of the role that the encounter with other modes of knowing in the field might have for the discipline tout court.
Information: https://www.easaonline.org/networks/mwn .
Registration: https://www.facebook.com/events/1392692727946547
2. ONLINE Book Talk ” Animal Sacrifice and the Origins of Islam” (Cambridge University Press, 2022) by Prof. Brannon Wheeler, Center for Islam in the Contemporary World, Shenandoah University, VA, 14 September 2023, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm EST
Islam is the only biblical religion that still practices animal sacrifice. Every year more than a million animals are shipped to Mecca from all over the world to be slaughtered during the Muslim Hajj. This multi-disciplinary volume is the first to examine the physical foundations of this practice and the significance of the ritual.
Information and registration: https://www.contemporaryislam.org/brannonwheelertalk.html
3. ONLINE Lecture on the Book “The Kurdish Nobility in the Ottoman Empire: Loyalty, Autonomy, and Privilege” by Nilay Özok Gundogan, Center for Middle East Studies, Brown University, 26 October 2023, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm ET
Focusing on one noble Kurdish family based in the emirate of Palu, a fortressed town in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire, the book provides the first systematic analysis of the hereditary nobility in Kurdistan between 1720 and 1895. The abolishment of the Kurdish nobles’ hereditary privileges and the confiscation of their landholdings in the 1840s triggered a five-decade-long conflict.
Information and registration:
https://watson.brown.edu/cmes/events/2023/nilay-ozok-gundogan-kurdish-nobility
4. Research Student Workshop on “Interreligious Relations in the Middle Ages” with Prof. John Tolan (University of Nantes), University of Haifa, 23 November 2023
Prof. Tolan will conduct a workshop on interreligious relations in the Middle Ages. A selected group of re-searcher students will be invited to present their work as part of the workshop.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 October 2023. Information: https://euqu.eu/2023/07/26/call-for-participation-in-a-research-student-workshop-on-interreligious-relations-in-the-middle-ages/
5. 2nd World Congress of the Society for Global Nineteenth-Century Studies: “Translation, Transposition, and Travel in the Global Nineteenth Century”, Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait, 16-19 January 2025
We welcome proposals for papers that explore transits between places, languages, cultures, and ideas. Top-ics: •Travel and adventure • Travel narratives and nautical fiction • Pilgrimage • Slave trade and the forced movement of peoples • Circulations, transfers, and migrations • Nomadism • Exile and displacement • Ex-plorers and expeditions • Colonization • Translation and life writing • Travel maps and cartographies of navi-gation • The re/discovery of ancient civilizations/Egyptomania
Deadline for abstracts: 15 November 2023. Information: https://www.sgncscongress.com/call-for-papers
6. Tenure-Track Assistant Professor on European Imperialism, Colonization, Decolonization (Focus Middle East), Department of History, Boston University
We welcome candidates specializing in either the early modern or modern period. Candidates should demon-strate a commitment to excellence in research and teaching. Responsibilities include teaching undergraduate and graduate core courses and in fields of specialization. Ph.D. in hand by beginning of employment
Deadline for applications: 1 October 2023. Information: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/25412
7. Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Position in Classics (Mediterranean or Near Eastern Culture Beyond Greece or Rome), College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA
Candidates should be prepared to teach courses on ancient peoples and cultures beyond Greeks and Ro-mans as well as on a language of the ancient Mediterranean or Near East other than Greek or Latin, such as Akkadian, Ancient Egyptian, Aramaic, Classical Arabic, Hebrew, or Phoenician. The teaching and research should be informed by one or more interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks, such as Critical Race and Ethnic Studies; Environmental Studies; or Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies.
Deadline for applications: 22 September 2023. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/130024
8. Chapters for Edited Book on “Disability History in the Middle East”
There are historians contributing chapters from late Ottoman-era Istanbul and Cairo to points east, including early twentieth-century Iran, but we seek one or two scholars of North Africa to make our volume more inclu-sive.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 September 2023. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20003893/cfp-disability-history-middle-east-edited-volume
9. Persian Language Pedagogy lecture series to begin this Saturday, Sep 9
We are resuming our virtual lecture series on Persian pedagogy. Please join us for the first lecture in our 2023 autumn lecture series on Persian Language Pedagogy: New Trends and Innovations organized jointly by the University of Chicago and the University of Toronto. You can register in the link below.
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMkf-yoqDwrEtRnTBB_LZR6s8lKntJmiaHV
Saturday, September 09, 2023
12:00 PM Eastern Time
Discourse Markers in Persian: Description and Instructional Implications
Ali R. Abasi, Associate Professor of Persian, University of Maryland
An examination of naturally occurring instances of talk-in-interaction across various speech exchange systems readily reveals the ubiquity of discourse markers in contemporary Persian. Given their prevalence, one aspect of communicative competence in Persian as an additional language, or in any language for that matter, involves control over their use. Teaching these consequential markers, however, is a challenge for two main reasons. One is that their instruction needs to draw on their empirically grounded functional descriptions – which are largely scares. A second reason has to do with the indexical character of the markers that renders them sequentially contingent, hence surprisingly complex, and rather unwieldly to master. Their status as interactional devices, therefore, entails the relevance of the ongoing debate around teaching interactional/pragmatic competence in instructional contexts. In this light, this paper examines some highly recurrent markers in contemporary Persian and then considers some options for their teaching in classroom contexts.
Bio:
Ali R. Abasi is an Associate Professor of Persian at the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of Maryland. Trained as an applied linguist, his primary research interests include second language writing, discourse analysis, and teaching Persian to speakers of other languages. Some of his publications have appeared in such journals as Journal of Second Language Writing, English for Specific Purposes, Journal of Language and Politics, and International Journal of Applied Linguistics.
- September 05, 2023
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Call for Applications
http://apply.interfolio.com/129608
Visiting Fellow In Gender, Body Politics and Iranian Art
The initiative, developed jointly by the Center for Middle East Studies at Brown University and the Middle East Studies Institute at Columbia University, focuses on gender and body politics in relation to Iran. We are inviting applications from an artist to spend one entire academic year residing one semester at each institution starting January 2024 to December 2024. This fellowship is generously supported by the Persian Heritage Foundation.
Project Description
The project seeks to highlight and amplify the resistance to authoritarianism and prevailing gender norms in Iran, while simultaneously challenging western stereotypes about women in Iran. The artist in residence’s work and public engagement will directly link to questions of gender, body politics and transnational feminism in relation to Iran and the Iranian diaspora. The artist will be in conversation and engage with the host community while also being in conversation and engagement with the partner institution.
The Center for Middle East Studies at Brown and the Middle East Institute at Columbia both offer rich and extensive programming that extends across their respective campus communities and beyond to reach a broad, diverse and international audience. This project will be a strong focal point for the cultural offerings of each institution.
Proposed Project Outcomes
The following outcomes are expected:
- The artist will engage in individual and joint moderated conversations and seminars on-line and in person at both institutions. These conversations will feed into the wider Gender & Body Politics: Art in the Middle East and its Diasporas
- The artist will teach a total of four master classes over the year. The classes will be open to both undergraduate and graduate students.
- An exhibition towards the end of the residence period to be shown at Brown University
- Public panel discussion with the Fellow and a selection of speakers followed by a concert with an Iranian musician at Columbia University.
Qualifications:
Successful candidates possess an established body of work that reveals a command of processes and techniques within a conceptual framework. A related degree and/or relevant teaching experiences are recommended but not a requirement.
The Centers are especially interested in qualified candidates who can contribute, through their research, teaching, and/or service, to the diversity and excellence of the academic community.
Requirements:
Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.
Submission Process and Deadline: The review of applications will begin on October 6, 2023, and will continue until the position is filled. To receive full consideration, the application and the following materials should be received before that date via the application portal in Interfolio. http://apply.interfolio.com/129608
Required Materials
- Statement of Artistic Purpose
- Curriculum Vitae or Resume
- Artist portfolio
- Two letters of recommendation
The compensation amount is fixed and will be discussed with the finalists.
We will conduct online interviews with short-listed candidates at the end of October – early November 2023. The award will be announced in mid-November 2023.
Contact: For further information, please visit the Center for Middle East Studies website. For inquiries, please contact CMES_director@brown.edu.
2. Assistant Professor – Persian Literature
The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position in Persian Literature and Culture with an expected start date of July 1, 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter. Research expertise may be in any period of Persian literature or culture, with a preference for candidates with broad interests in all eras of Persian culture and a specialization in pre-1800 Classical Persian literature. Applicants’ research may focus on any region of the larger Middle East with significant production of Persianate literature.
Qualifications
Applicants should have an active research agenda that would lead to publication in prominent venues in their field or the potential to develop such a publication record and the ability or potential to be an excellent teacher and mentor at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The successful candidate will demonstrate a wide-ranging familiarity with Persian literature and culture and be knowledgeable in the historical contexts in which such literary works were produced. Applicants are expected to have an excellent command of pre-modern and modern Persian. Knowledge of Arabic or Turkish is also desirable. The successful applicant will collaborate with faculty from the adjacent fields and lead the Persian program at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.
Candidates must have completed all requirements for receipt of a Ph.D. in a field related to the search prior to the start of the appointment.
Application Instructions
To apply for this position, please submit the following application materials through the University of Chicago’s academic recruitment site (Interfolio) at http://apply.interfolio.com/130829:
• a cover letter,
• cv,
• a published article or a dissertation chapter,
• a research statement,
• and the names and contact information of three recommenders
All materials from the applicant must be submitted by 11pm Central Time/Midnight Eastern Time on October 16, 2023. Only complete applications can be considered. Applicants may be asked to provide additional materials following initial review.
For information on the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, please go to http://nelc.uchicago.edu. For further questions about this position, please contact Annie Diamond, Academic Affairs Coordinator, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, anniediamond@uchicago.edu.
This position is contingent on final budgetary approval.
3. Irrationality and Madness
Panel convened by:
David Bennett (Institute of Ismaili Studies) and Filip Radovic (University of Gothenburg)
2024 International Congress on Medieval Studies
9-11 May 2024, Kalamazoo, Michigan USA
This panel explores medieval views of madness and irrationality in medical, philosophical, theological and popular literature in various language traditions. We are particularly keen to include contributions from the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions. Behaviour and beliefs that are considered to be pathological, irrational, excessive, or odd are documented and theorised differently in different periods, places and contexts; this panel will seek to discover cross-cutting themes. Some fundamental questions include: How was madness delineated in relation to feeblemindedness and eccentric behaviour? Did medieval people suffer from the same delusions that are commonly documented in modern and contemporary psychiatric literature? The history of the irrational is an understudied topic that connects to our own era of fact resistance, conspiracy theories, and contested criteria of psychiatric disorders.
Submit paper proposals online at the ICMS site: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2024/cfp.cgi
DEADLINE: 15 September 2023
(Be sure to select our panel, Irrationality and Madness)
For more information, contact:
David Bennett (dbennett@iis.ac.uk)
Filip Radovic (filip@filosofi.gu.se)
4. Arab World English Journal for Translation and Literary Studies welcomes the submission of papers for the October Issue – 2023. The deadline for manuscript submission has been extended to September 7, 2023.The issue publication date is October Issue – 2023. For more information, please click here.
| We have the pleasure of sending the full issues of the following:
AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies Volume 7 Number 1. February 2023 For individual papers, click here AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies Volume 7 Number 2. May 2023 For individual papers, click here. 2, No. 3: Jun 15, 2023, The selected papers that were announced by the Social Science Research Network SSRN by Elsevier. We have signed a partnership agreement (Partners in Publishing) with Social Science Research Network SSRN by Elsevier to index (abstract and full PDF) of our Arab world English journals’ papers. Social Science Research Network has already indexed 1,871 papers. Please visit our page on SSRN https://www.ssrn.com/link/Arab-World-English-Journal.html With our best wishes, Kind regards, |
5. Due to the burning of the Qur’an and the backlash in Sweden…
With the help of the Almighty God, the idea of International Qur’anic Parliament (IQP) was proposed on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, with the participation of the Al-Farabi College of Tehran University and the Higher Al-Qur’anic School of the Al-Mustafa International University. It is known that IQP will be active in cultural, academic and political affairs, and it is hoped that the first session will be held in 2024 and in one of Islamic countries.
This parliament, with more than 200 seats from different countries, will guide and protect all matters related to the Holy Quran in the three areas of Quran education and research, Quran recitation and preservation, and communication and culture. The annual meeting of this parliament will be held in one of the Islamic countries.
Each country will have at least 2 seats according to the population as follows:
1. Candidate of the scientific and research department (Group 1), member of the university faculty in the field of Islam and the Holy Quran
2. Candidate of Reciting and Memorizing Qur’an(Group 2) ranked in international competitions
✅ Deputies of IQP:
A) Quranic Education and Research
1. Providing international Quranic scholarships
2. Creating a communication network between Quranic scientific centers
3. Supporting interdisciplinary Quranic research
4. Establishing ISI Quranic research
B) Reciting and memorizing the Holy Qur’an
1. Promoting the skill of reciting the Holy Quran
2. Training Quran memorizers and reciters in the form of support scholarships
3. Supporting Qur’an memorizers and reciters and granting scholarships
C) Culture and Communication
1. Development of Quranic culture in scientific, cultural and political dimensions
2. Defending the sanctity of the Holy Quran against doubts and insults
3. Communication with international associations and organizations such as the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Union of Universities of the Islamic World,…
https://farabi.ut.ac.ir/fa/news/36265
https://www.hawzahnews.com/news/1105398
https://en.abna24.com/story/1389359
Dr. Mohammad Hasan Ahmadi
Asso. Prof. University of Tehran
Islamic Historical Philology
Executive Director of IQP(Ind. Int. Quranic Parliament)
Website:http://zabanshenasitarikhi.ir
Email: ahmadi_mh@ut.ac.ir
6. 10th IDHN Conference: Call for Contributions
The 10th IDHN Conference will take place on Thursday, November 09, 2023.
We are now calling for contributions from both members and guests, who are developing or deploying digital methods and tools in the study of Islam and Muslim communities and languages. Our conference is open to participants from both humanistic and scientific disciplines.
If you wish to participate in the conference, please send an email to team@idhn.org with a preliminary title, abstract (150-300 words), and your academic affiliation by Sunday, October 08, 2023.
We will select four to six presentations for our conference. Each presentation will be 20 minutes long, followed by Q&A for 10 minutes. We will hold the meeting online on ZOOM; the access code and link will be sent to you in the network’s newsletter. We will schedule our conference to accommodate presenters from all time zones. This schedule will correspond with the morning hours in the Americas and evening hours in Europe and the Middle East.
With best wishes,
Irene Kirchner (Georgetown University)
7. Latin America & Caribbean Islamic Studies
Latest newsletter, Vol 3, no. 4, summer 2023
https://www.lacisa.org/newsletter?lightbox=dataItem-llz45nez
8. Forma Fluens blog, Medieval Armenian Medicine.
Dr Viktorya Vasilyan (National Academia of Sciences – Armenia) outlines a fascinating historical fresco of medieval Armenian medical culture, revealing the many parallels between East and West.
See here: https://csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/blog/forma-fluens/medieval-armenian-medicine/
- September 02, 2023
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.HYBRID Tenth Biennial Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art: “Islamic Art History and the Global Turn”, VCUarts Qatar, Doha, 11-13 November 2023
How have art history’s concerns with the global turn, and associated calls for decolonial, diverse, inclusive, and equitable histories, been taken up by scholars, educators, curators, and related practitioners of Islamic art history? The Symposium explores how the past two decades of debating these methodologies have shaped practices in classrooms, galleries, and related settings.
Information, program and registration: https://islamicart.qatar.vcu.edu/
2. International Congress “Channels of Transmission of Astronomical Knowledge in the Otto-man World (14th-18th Centuries)”, Istanbul, 21-24 November 2023
The conference will welcome scholars and colleagues in Hellenic, Byzantine, Iranian, Arabic, Ottoman, and Turkish studies, as well as specialists in the history of astronomical techniques in Europe.
Information and abstracts:
https://ottomanastronomy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/1st-Announcement-Poster-Download.pdf
3. Symposium “The Praxis of Digital Humanities: Expanding Horizons and Transforming Schol-arship in the Arab/Islamic World”, Department of Arabic and Translation Studies (ATS), Amer-ican University of Sharjah (AUS), UAE, 6-7 March 2024
By focusing on an array of topics, including digital archives, computational analysis, close and distant reading methods, digital editions, spatial analysis, translation, storytelling, cultural heritage preservation, lexicography and dialects, this symposium seeks to illuminate the multifaceted ways in which digital technologies are re-shaping our understanding and interpretation of the Arab/Islamic literature and media as well as Arabic/Is-lamic literature in translation.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 October 2023. Information: https://info.aus.edu/ara-2024
4. Workshop “Middle East Migration Studies: Taking Stock, Plotting New Paths”, Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies, North Carolina State University, 16-18 May 2024
We seek papers that offer critical reflection on the core debates and methodologies of MENA migration studies, that sketch out new agendas, and that open up new avenues for research. The organizers will cover all the costs of housing and meals for participants during the conference, and provide some support toward travel. Selected papers will be solicited for a multi-author collection.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 October 2023.
Information: https://lebanesestudies.ojs.chass.ncsu.edu/index.php/mashriq/announcement/view/39
5. 17th World Congress of Bioethics: „Religion, Culture and Bioethics”, Research Center for Is-lamic Legislation and Ethics (CILE), Doha, Qatar, 3-6 June 2024
This theme aims to engage bioethics researchers from a broad range of fields and disciplines and to take full advantage of hosting the WCB in the Arab-Muslim world and the Middle East. Submissions representing religious studies, social sciences, anthropology, and Middle Eastern studies are especially welcome. We also welcome submissions reflecting diverse religious traditions, including Islamic bioethics, Christian Bioethics, Jewish bioethics, etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 September 2023. Information: https://www.cilecenter.org/wcb-call-submissions
6. Symposium on “Copyright in Islamic Legal Tradition”, ISAR Research Center, Istanbul, 28-29 June 2024
We seek original scholarly contributions that delve into the intricate connection between copyright law and the Islamic legal tradition. We also welcome submissions exploring various dimensions of intellectual prop-erty, but priority will be given to submissions that center around copyright-related themes.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 October 2023. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20003349/call-papers-symposium-copyright-islamic-legal-tradition
7. Doctoral Research Associate in Ottoman Studies / Turkish Studies or History of Islam (3 Years), Research Group “Byzantium and the Euro-Mediterranean Cultures of War”, University of Mainz Applicants must have an above-average university degree (Magister, M.A.) in Ottoman Studies, Turkish Studies, History of Islam or a related subject, proficiency in Turkish, Ottoman Turkish and/or Arabic, and a will-ingness to engage in interdisciplinary work. Deadline for applications: 15 October 2023. Information: https://grk-byzanz-wars.uni-mainz.de/files/2023/08/2023_job-advertisement_RTG-2304_3a_2.pdf
8. Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Research Group “REVENANT: Revivals of Empire: Nostalgia, Amnesia, Tribulation” (Focus Ottoman Empire), University of Rijeka (Croatia)
Requirements: PhD in one of the the research fields: ethnology, anthropology, history of art, history, compar-ative literature; expertise in the geographic and historical contexts related to REVENANT (see https://reve nant.uniri.hr).
Deadline for applications: 8 September 2023. Information: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/129812
9. Fellowship at the American Center of Research (4-8 Months), Amman, Jordan
Fields of research include modern and classical languages, linguistics, literature, history, jurisprudence, philosophy, archaeology, heritage studies, comparative religion, ethics, and the history, criticism, and theory of the arts. Social and political scientists are encouraged to apply. NEH-funded fellows must be United States citizens or foreign nationals who have lived in the United States for three years immediately preceding the application deadline for the fellowship.
Deadline for applications: 1 October 2023.
Information: https://orcfellowships.smapply.org/prog/G4z5kMr2fCZmVdBcCS6f/
10. Persian Language Winter School – 8 weeks (or 4-7 weeks), from November 5, 2023, Yerevan, Armenia.
The 8-week winter school will start on November 5, 2023, and last until December 29, 2023.
Applicants may also participate in the 4, 5, 6, or 7 weeks program.
The deadline to apply for winter school is September 21, 2023.
For more details and to apply, please visit https://aspirantum.com/courses/persian-language-winter-school
During the eight weeks of international Persian language winter school, four trips will be organized to Armenia’s most famous cultural heritage sites. On the first day (5 November 2023, Sunday), the school will start with a trip to the Garni pagan temple and Geghard Monastery. During three other weekends, the participants will have guided trips to Amberd fortress, Lake Sevan, Ejmiatsin, Tsaghkadzor, etc.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3PmyCWDsvg
For video testimonials of our previous students, please watch the following videos:
https://twitter.com/ASPIRANTUMcom/status/1695097724817830200
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Please also follow ASPIRANTUM on social media:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/aspirantumcom/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/ASPIRANTUM/
TW: https://twitter.com/Aspirantumcom
| Khachik Gevorgyan |
11. Autumn School 2023: ‘ The Qur’an and Its Interpretive Communities’
October 23 – October 26
Date: 23 – 26 October 2023
Location: VU Amsterdam
The significance of the Qur’an extends far beyond the confines of Islamic theological circles. Its study continues to engross, firstly, the research of academic scholars focussing on early Islam and their attempts to trace the impact of other religions on its origins, the contextual factors influencing its contents and the timing of its collection.
Please register by Friday September 15th 2023 using this link
- August 29, 2023
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Transportation & Technology in Iran, 1800–1940
W Floor
Mage, 2023
2. 2024 Learning Tours and a Unique Course
Hikmat International
https://hikmat-ins.com/learning-tours/tour9/
3. Disenchanting the Caliphate: The Secular Discipline of Power in Abbasid Political Thought
H Yücesoy
Columbia U Press, 2023
https://cup.columbia.edu/book/disenchanting-the-caliphate/9780231209410
4. SYRIAC CHRISTIANITY AND THE HOLY CITY OF JERUSALEM: ENTANGLED HISTORIES IN LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES
CATALIN-STEFAN POPA (ROMANIAN ACADEMY)
Hybrid Event: October 25, 2023 12:00 noon, White-Levy Room, Institute for Advanced Study
The lecture introduces the audience to the process of interaction of one of the most important Middle Eastern Church traditions, Syriac Christianity, with the Holy City and the Holy Land. Even if scholars have often argued that the late antique pilgrimage to the holy places was not of interest in Syriac Christianity, the sources have demonstrated the opposite. At the end of Late Antiquity and beginning of the Middle Ages, the Holy City acted in Syriac Christian canon as a matrix for encountering holiness, and a standardized process of pilgrimage became part of a recurrent devotional custom of monks and lay people.
Registration is required for both in-person or virtual attendance.
To register visit https://bit.ly/3CPZc9W
5. Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series Video Available: Anahita Mittertrainer
‘Symbols of Royal Authority? Early Sasanian Cityscapes in Southwestern Iran’, February 2023
6. “Learn Persian through the Shahname” online course, the Armenian School of Languages and Cultures – ASPIRANTUM.
This course runs for a total of two weeks, but students also have the option to participate in the first week only. The online course is scheduled to commence on September 25, 2023, and conclude on October 6, 2023. We look forward to helping you further your Persian language skills.
For more details and to apply, please visit: https://aspirantum.com/courses/learn-persian-through-shahname
7. The International Journal of Islamic Architecture is pleased to announce the 2024 Professor Hasan-Uddin Khan Article Award.
In honour of Professor Hasan-Uddin Khan’s contributions to the field of Islamic architecture, the International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA) offers this award in recognition of ground-breaking scholarship on the subject published in peer-reviewed journals. The criteria on which papers will be judged are: innovation in approach(es) to posed research question(s), originality, written clarity and style, and the overall impact on research in the field. Articles should provide new insights into the field, making a distinct or significant scholarly contribution to the understanding of architecture, architectural heritage, and the built environment in the Islamic world (both historic and contemporary), especially in marginalized geographies. This award, offered every two years, is judged by a jury that includes three members of the academic community. The second award will be given in 2024 and we are delighted that Professors Kishwar Rizvi, Leïla el-Wakil, and James L. Wescoat Jr. will serve on the jury. Papers published in English in a peer reviewed journal in 2022 or 2023 will be eligible for this round of the award.
Nominations should be submitted by scholars or journal editors to the chair of the award, IJIA Associate Editor Mehreen Chida-Razvi, at HUKaward@gmail.com by 15 November 2023. Self-nominations are permitted, of a single article. The nominations should include a PDF of the published paper, full details of publication, and the author’s affiliation and contact information. The winner and runner-up will be announced in March 2024 on the IJIA website, social media platforms, and in the journal’s July issue. The winner will receive a cash prize of $1000 and a two-year subscription to IJIA; the runner-up will receive a two-year subscription to IJIA.
Contact Information
Dr Mehreen Chida-Razvi
Associate Editor & Chair, Professor Hasan-Uddin Khan Article Award
International Journal of Isamic Architecture
Contact Email
URL
https://www.intellectbooks.com/international-journal-of-islamic-architecture
8. ONLINE Symposium „Mass Violence in the (Post-)Ottoman Lands“, University of Newcastle (Australia), 6 September 2023
From the late nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire came under the increasing strains of both internal upheavals and external pressure from great power rivals. Increasing acts of mass violence accompanied this political instability, most notably the Armenian Genocide. This Symposium interrogates the causes, pro-cesses and consequences of mass violence in the (Post-)Ottoman lands.
Information, program and registration:
https://www.newcastle.edu.au/research/centre/csov/conferences/mass-violence-in-the-postottoman-lands
9. “First Arabic Natural Language Processing Conference (ArabicNLP 2023)” Co-located with EMNLP 2023 in Singapore, 7 December 2023
Submissions must have a clear focus on specific issues pertaining to the Arabic language whether it is stand-ard Arabic, dialectal, classical, or mixed. Papers on other languages sharing problems faced by Arabic NLP researchers, such as Semitic languages or languages using Arabic script, are welcome provided that they propose techniques or approaches that would be of interest to Arabic NLP, and they explain why this is the case.
Deadline for conference papers: 5 September 2023. Information: https://arabicnlp2023.sigarab.org/
10. International Conference of the Asian Federation of Mediterranean Studies Institutes IV: “Spaces of Familiarity, Spaces of Difference in the Mediterranean”, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, 18-19 March 2024
The conference will examine the nature of this “space.” The theme encourages scholars to analyze how peoples interacted with the sea basin in their political, social, economic, cultural, and religious activities and exchanges. The theme also invites researchers to explore “familiarity” and “difference” in the study of the Mediterranean from locations, cultural backgrounds, and contexts in East Asia and elsewhere.
Deadline for abstracts: 8 September 2023. Information: https://mailchi.mp/mediterraneanseminar/cfp-asian-federation-of-mediterranean-studies-institutes-18-19-march-taipei?e=82aeb6c61d
11. HYBRID Workshop “La construction de l’islam en problème public et ses effets sur l’expérience des personnels scolaires minorisés’”, à Campus Condorcet Aubervilliers 26-27 octobre 2023, et à l’UCL Louvain-la-Neuve, 25-26 avril 2024
Cet atelier de travail ― littéralement ― vise moins à exposer des résultats qu’à mettre en discussion, entre chercheur.es intéressé.es par ces problématiques, des recherches en train de se faire. Cet espace de ren-contre sera ainsi particulièrement ouvert à la mise en débat d’enjeux épistémologiques et méthodologiques (points de vue situés, construction de l’objet et des questions, accès et construction des terrains, etc.).
Date limite d’envoi des propositions : 8 septembre 2023. Information : https://www.iremam.cnrs.fr/sites/defa ult/files/2023-07/appel_participation_workshop_personnels_scolaires.pdf
12. Chapters for “Springer Handbook of Linguistic Anthropology: Iran and Shared Spheres in Homelands and Diasporas”
This handbook welcomes scholars from all social and human science disciplines to contribute to linguistic anthropological studies. The scope of this handbook is vast and encompasses a wide range of topics and areas of investigation.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 September 2023.
13. Articles on “US Imperialism from the Middle East to Latin America after the Cold War” for Special Issue of the Journal “Middle East Critique”
Themes: How racism works globally in representations of the populations of Latin America and the Middle East as threats. – The arms trade and security connections between the regions, in particular, the role played by Israel. – Securitization processes against immigrants and refugees from Latin America and the Middle East. – Solidarity with the Palestinians and the transnational movement for boycott, disinvestment, and sanctions against Israel. – Etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 September 2023.
- August 26, 2023
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Postdoctoral Fellowship (4-8 Months) at the American Center of Research (ACOR), Amman
Applicants must be U.S. citizens or foreign nationals living in the U.S. three years immediately preceding the application deadline. Fields of research include modern and classical languages, linguistics, literature, his-tory, jurisprudence, philosophy, archaeology, heritage studies, comparative religion, ethics, and the history, criticism, and theory of the arts. Social and political scientists are encouraged to apply.
Deadline for applications: 1 October 2023. Information: https://acorjordan.org/neh-fellowship/
2. Teaching Faculty Position in Middle Eastern History, Open Rank (Focus on Gender), School of Foreign Service in Qatar, Georgetown University in Qatar
The successful candidate is expected to hold a PhD in Middle East history at the time of the appointment and to be able to teach required undergraduate courses in introductory and regional history, as well as upper-level electives in the candidate’s area of research specialization.
Deadline for application: 1 October 2023. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/128995
3. Tenure-track Position at the Level of Assistant Professor in Political Science (Focus Middle Eastern Studies und Islamic Civilization), Macalester College, Minneapolis-Saint Paul
We invite applications from International Relations scholars with a primary teaching and research emphasis in the subfield of global political economy.
Deadline for applications: 1 October 2023. Information: https://www.macalester.edu/politicalscience contact Bonnie Berger bberger@macalester.edu
4. ACLS Marwan M. and Ute Kraidy Centennial Fellowships (6-12 Months) in the Study of the Arab World and Latin America, American Council of Learned Societies
This year, the fellowships will support early-career scholars who earned their PhDs on or after September 29, 2015, and who are pursuing research on the Arab and/or Latin American worlds, with a special interest in supporting comparative or transnational approaches across these regions.
Deadline for applications: 28 September 2023.
5. Islamic History / Studies
University of Utah – Assistant Professorship in Pre-Modern Middle East/North Africa and Islamic World History, 600-1400 CE
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=65770
closing date: 3.11.23
6. Call for Applications: ACOR-NEH 2024 Postdoctoral Fellowship
ACOR (The American Center of Research, located in Amman, Jordan) is pleased to inform you that we have an NEH fellowship opportunity available for use in 2024. Funding for this fellowship is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship Programs at Independent Research Institutes (FPIRI).
We have opened application for a fellowship that is a minimum of four months. Applications will be accepted until October 1st, 2023. All applicants will be notified of the results by November 2023. For full details, please see: https://acorjordan.org/neh-fellowship/ , and applications should be submitted here: https://orcfellowships.smapply.org/prog/G4z5kMr2fCZmVdBcCS6f/ .
Some details: An award for four months is expected to be $20,000; funds are adjusted proportionately for other terms. Fellowship tenure must be continuous and last at least four months. Short departures (e.g., to attend conferences, conduct research in neighboring areas) are possible, but must be approved in advance. NEH-funded fellows must be United States citizens or foreign nationals who have lived in the United States for three years immediately preceding the application deadline for the fellowship. This fellowship is for individuals who have completed their formal professional training; consequently, degree candidates and individuals seeking support for work in pursuit of a degree are not eligible to hold this fellowship. Advanced degree candidates must have completed all requirements, except for the actual conferral of the degree, by the application deadline for the fellowship. Every NEH fellowship cycle, an external peer review committee is reconstituted in full. So, all applications are seen anew.
We encourage everyone eligible to apply. Robust application to this opportunity helps ensure it remains available to the field in future years.
Contact Information
China Shelton, 209 Commerce St., Alexandria, VA 22314
Contact Email
URL
https://acorjordan.org/fellowships-2/
7. Webinar – British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS)
Excavating the Archives: David Stronach’s fieldwork in Iran with the British Institute of Persian Studies
with Gareth Brereton
6 September, 2023, 5pm UK time
For full information and to register:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/9016891531489/WN_XfAL2rIwTSuGvFqVSUi4ug#/registration
8. University of Chicago
Outreach Coordinator Opening at CMES
https://uchicago.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job/Chicago-IL/Outreach-Coordinator_JR23528-1
Job Summary
Under the supervision of the Director and Associate Director, the Outreach Coordinator will be responsible for working with faculty, staff, students, and various units at the University to plan and implement CMES programming on and off campus. The Outreach Coordinator will primarily work with constituencies in K-12 and community college environments (including Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago) to enhance learning opportunities relating to the Middle East and Islam. Additional engagements involve public libraries, non-profits, and businesses. The primary tasks of the position are event planning, grant administration, and community outreach. Additional tasks include public speaking and educational resource development.
This position is full-time with benefits and a hybrid schedule. The Outreach Coordinator is expected to spend time working on-campus and off-site at various locations. Additionally, the outreach coordinator must be able to commit time for weekend events throughout the academic year.
Interested applicants, please upload all required documents listed in the job posting to be considered for this position, including a resume, cover letter addressing interest in this position and interest working with diverse populations, and references.
Responsibilities
- Maintains and expands ties with national and Chicago-area cultural institutions, local K-12 and post-secondary schools and community organizations as well as other University of Chicago units to collaborate in outreach programming.
- Establishes linkages with local and national educational institutions and initiates collaborative programming: conferences, lectures, teacher-training workshops, identify speakers. Stewards existing and new partnerships.
- Manages all logistics for outreach programming, e.g., develops and distributes publicity, arranges travel, secures venue, etc. This includes the annual International Education Conference (IEC), Summer Institute for Educators (SIE), regular professional development events for K-12 Arabic teachers, and other events as assigned.
- Provides administrative and logistical support for other CMES events, such as with lectures, conferences, receptions, and MA student activities and programming.
- Supports CMES communications through website and social media management, newsletters, online content development, overseeing CMES Ventures podcast and blog production, curating educational outreach resources online and offline, drafting and editing outreach components of internal and external reports.
- Manages the Middle East Education Initiative (MEEI) and Chicago Arabic Teachers Council (CATC) outreach programs. This includes fulfillment of grant planning, responding to needs of teachers and other outreach partners with innovative programming and events, and attention to grant budget regulations and limits.
- Contributes to the Center’s full range of grant writing, management, and reporting.
- Ensures stability and growth of the CMES program by focusing on accomplishing strategic objectives of the program, especially in support of the CMES MA program in Middle Eastern Studies.
- Analyzes program budgets and uses a moderate/high level of authority to recommend or makes budgetary recommendations.
- Interacts with faculty, researchers and staff for committee work or information.
- Performs other related work as needed.
Minimum Qualifications
Education:
Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
Work Experience:
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through < 2 years of work experience in a related job discipline.
Certifications:
Preferred Qualifications
Education:
- Degree in area related to Middle Eastern studies.
Experience:
- Working with teachers and other educators to support international education and global competencies.
- Event planning.
- Public speaking.
- Grant writing, management, and reporting.
- Familiarity with the city of Chicago and the University of Chicago.
- Familiarity with higher education.
Technical Skills or Knowledge:
- Website design/management and graphic design abilities.
- Audio and video production and editing skills.
- Proficiency in Arabic.
Preferred Competencies
- Strong organizational and administrative skills.
- Strong writing, editing, and presentation skills.
Working Conditions
- Hybrid work: on-campus and off-site at various locations.
- Weekend events throughout the academic year.
Application Documents
- Resume/CV (required)
- Cover letter, addressing interest in this position and interest working with diverse populations (required)
- References Contact Information (3)(required)
When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.
Job Family
Administration & Management
Role Impact
Individual Contributor
FLSA Status
Exempt
Pay Frequency
Scheduled Weekly Hours
37.5
Benefits Eligible
Yes
Drug Test Required
No
Health Screen Required
No
Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required
No
- August 22, 2023
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.The Islamic College (London)
Autumn 2023 Courses
Undergrad, Postgrad, PG Certificate Courses, Distance Learning, Short Courses
https://islamic-college.ac.uk/study/
2. Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalistsannounces a thematic dossier on Indian Ocean histories guest edited by Jyoti Balachandran, to be published in 2025. To that end, we are soliciting original research articles that employ the Indian Ocean as their analytical framework to trace and recover the multiple histories that shaped the medieval Middle East, expansively defined to include all geographies with prominent Muslim political, religious, or social presences between the rough parameters of 500 and 1500 CE. Articles that extend the timeline will also be considered based on conceptual connections with other submissions. By emphasizing the significance of the Indian Ocean as a historical category, we are particularly interested in research that goes beyond solely commercial connections to highlight the political, social, cultural, and intellectual dimensions of transoceanic interactions. Building upon the growing scholarly recognition of the importance of expanding our linguistic and archival base to write such histories, we encourage articles that employ archives and texts in one or more regional/inter-regional language(s) of the Indian Ocean in a substantial way. By focusing on a multiplicity of histories and perspectives, we hope to underline the complexity and heterogeneity of the maritime context of the Indian Ocean.
Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists is the only open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the medieval Middle East. To be considered, please submit a title and abstract of no more than 500 words to jzb461@psu.edu by September 30, 2023. An informal draft workshop will be held in Spring 2024, and complete articles will be due by September 15, 2024. All submissions will be subject to the journal’s peer review process.
3. CALL FOR PAPERS: Medieval Ritual Representations: Model of or Model for?
CAA’s 112th Annual Conference | Chicago | February 14–17, 2024
Session sponsored by the International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA)
Session co-organizers:
Robert S. Nelson | Yale University
Alice Isabella Sullivan |Tufts University
This session considers illustrations of medieval secular and/or religious rituals in any media and from any region or religious group. The goal is to understand the function and agency of representations, starting from the opposite poles of model or model for, as Clifford Geertz interpreted ritual. Some images may be evidence of “wie es eigentlich gewesen,” as von Ranke put it, and the reality of medieval performances; others may be aspirational, describing ideal rituals overlayed with the ideological and political. How can we discern the function of medieval illustrations? Are illustrations faithful to textual sources, and if not, why? To whom are these images addressed? Who sees them, when, and how? In sum, why illustrate medieval rituals? Papers may address representations of rituals from any corner of the medieval world, from all parts of Europe, the Mediterranean, and beyond, and from any religion, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and others.
Please submit a title, abstract (max. 500 words), and a brief 2-page CV by August 31, 2023 to: robert[dot]nelson[at]yale[dot]edu and alice[dot]sullivan[at]tufts[dot]edu.
Please indicate “CAA proposal” in the subject line.
4. Visualizing Dyes and Drugs, conference at Basel, 4-6 Sep 2023
5. HYBRID “Fifth Annual Islamic Philosophy Conference”, American Society of Islamic Philoso-phy and Theology, Harvard University, 1-3 December 2023
We are particularly interested in proposals that relate to the theme: “After Mustafa Sabri: What Does a Robust Kalam Engagement with Contemporary Philosophy and Theology Look Like Today?” This year’s conference aims to continue to explore the interface between Islamic Philosophy and Theology and contemporary issues.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 October 2023. Information: https://asipt.org/conferences/conference-paper/
6. Workshop “Territories, Peoples, Nations — Decolonial Approaches to Foundational Concepts in Political Theory”, Northwestern University Qatar, Doha, Qatar, 10-11 January 2024
This workshop explores how the theories, experiences, and stories of postcolonial societies and Indigenous peoples contribute to and reorient debates about territorial sovereignty, political community, and self-deter-mination in political theory and philosophy. We are particularly interested in contributions that discuss the workshop themes as they apply in the Middle East and the Indian Ocean region, but we welcome discussions anchored in other contexts as well.
Deadline for submissions: 20 September 2023. Information: https://easychair.org/cfp/TPN2024
7. International Conference “The Long Twentieth Century of Kurds and Kurdistan”, Yale Univer-sity, 31 March – 1 April 2024
2023 marks the centenary of the Treaty of Lausanne, the agreement that established new borders and rec-ognized the sovereignty of the Turkish state, shaping the geopolitical landscape of the region for decades to come. The conference aims to provide an interdisciplinary scholarly platform to examine the experiences of Kurds during a time of profound changes that accompanied total war, colonial occupations, shifting territorial borders, and the emergence of new nation-states.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 September 2023.
Information: https://cmes.macmillan.yale.edu/events/call-papers-long-twentieth-century-kurds-and-kurdistan
8. Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (3 Years) in “Environmental History in the Medieval Islamicate Mediterranean, c. 600-1100 CE”, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice
The research will focus on water and landscapes and will be based on Arabic sources, such as geographical accounts and cartography, legal texts as well as scientific treatises. Excellent knowledge of Arabic is required; the knowledge of other languages relevant to this area (such as Latin, Hebrew, Greek) is desirable but not essential.
Deadline for applications: 15 September 2023. Information: https://mailchi.mp/mediterraneanseminar/job-environmental-history-in-the-medieval-islamicate-mediterranean-c-600-1100-ce-ca-foscari-university-venice?e=82aeb6c61d
- August 19, 2023
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Early Career Fellowships at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), University of Freiburg
Early Career fellowships are available to researchers from any nationality and discipline based in Freiburg, Germany and abroad. The fellowships enable the researchers up to eight years after completion of their PhD to carry out their own research projects. Applications are welcome from all disciplines that can be supported at the University of Freiburg.
Deadline for applications: 15 September 2023.
Information: https://www.frias.uni-freiburg.de/en/funding-programmes/frias-fellowships?set_language=en
2. Senior Fellowships at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), University of Freiburg
Senior fellowships are available to researchers from any nationality and discipline based in Freiburg, Ger-many and abroad. The fellowships enable scholars with at least eight years of postdoctoral research experience, holders of tenure-track professorships, and full-time professors to carry out their own research projects. Applications are welcome from all disciplines that can be supported at the University of Freiburg.
Deadline for applications: 15 September 2023.
Information: https://www.frias.uni-freiburg.de/en/funding-programmes/frias-fellowships?set_language=en
3. Faculty Position in Arabic Language or Linguistics Associate Professor / Professor, Georgetown University in Qatar
The ideal candidate should have stature and experience in programmatic leadership with qualifications in applied linguistics or language pedagogy and experience in an American university context. Candidates should have native fluency in Modern Standard Arabic; experience in proficiency-based, communicative approaches to teaching the language; and be familiar with proficiency testing and ACTFEL standards.
Deadline for applications: 15 October 2023. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/129108
4. Articles for ZDMG
The Zeitschrift der deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft (ZDMG), one of the oldest academic journals publishing on the Near East, Asia and Africa, calls for new and innovative articles on Islamic Studies of various length to be published in issues 174.2 (2024) und 175.1 (2025).
Deadline for abstracts: 15 October 2023.
Information:
https://www.dmg-web.de/page/aktuelles_en
5. Registration Open for 2023 BRISMES Annual Lecture
Marking the 20-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, BRISMES invites members and non-members to attend the 2023 BRISMES Annual Lecture Re-membering Iraq: On the Wounds of War by Sinan Antoon.
Sinan Antoon is a poet, novelist, scholar, and translator. He was born in Baghdad, Iraq and left after the 1991 Gulf War. He earned a doctorate in Arabic literature at Harvard. He has published three collections of poetry and five novels. Antoon’s translation of Mahmoud Darwish’s last prose book, In the Presence of Absence, won the 2012 American Literary Translators’ Award. His scholarly works include The Poetics of the Obscene in Pre-Modern Arabic Poetry: Ibn al-Hajjaj and Sukhf and articles on Arabic poetry and modern Iraqi culture and politics. His essays have appeared in The Guardian, Washington Post, The Nation, The New York Times, and many pan-Arab newspapers and journals. He is co-founder and co-editor at Jadaliyya.com. Antoon is associate professor of Arabic Literature at New York University.
Date: Thursday, 16 November 2023
Time: 17:30-19:00 GMT
Location: Online (via Zoom)
More information and registration: www.brismes.ac.uk/events/annual-lecture/2023
The BRISMES Annual Lecture provides an opportunity to hear from a distinguished scholar or expert within the field of Middle Eastern Studies and is a major event in the BRISMES calendar. The lecture is free to attend and open to all, but registration is essential.
6. Online Conference – Prospects for Democracy and the Muslim Subject: Reflecting on the Raba’a Massacre Ten Years On
15 – 16 August, 2023
7. On-Line Persian Courses
Hikmat International Institute
- August 15, 2023
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. CfP: ‘Half the World Away – Cultural Circulations between Isfahan and the Early Modern Low Countries’
at Historians of Netherlandish Art Conference 2024 (click here for more details). Cambridge, UK, 10–13 July 2024. Organised by Dr Adam Sammut and Dr Ahmad Yengimolki, University of York.
When Shah ‘Abbas I made Isfahan his imperial capital in 1597, he wished to put Safavid Persia at the centre of the global economy, building the Image of the World Square (Maydan-e Naqsh-e Jahan) with the royal bazaar to the north. This feat of urban planning was praised by an English traveller as ‘as spacious, as pleasant and aromatic a market as any in the universe’, noting that it was ‘six times larger’ than equivalent squares in Paris or London.
The seventeenth century was a golden age of Euro-Safavid diplomacy, transcending political and religious differences on a war-torn continent. Persian ambassadors actively solicited military support from Catholic powers and vice-versa, against their mutual enemy, the Ottoman Turks. At this time, Catholic missionaries including Jesuits were permitted to reside in Isfahan. The relationship was also mercantile. Between 1617–65, the Dutch, English, French and Portuguese all signed trade agreements with the Shahs, entangling Persia in European colonial enterprises and giving new meaning to the saying “Isfahan, Half the World” (esfahan nesf-e jahan).
The European fascination with Persia has been the subject of exhibitions, most recently Rembrandt’s Orient (2020–21). This panel seeks to explore cultural exchange between the Low Countries and Isfahan from both sides. Works of Netherlandish art were acquired by the Safavids as diplomatic gifts but also through trade and Catholic global mission, through which channels engravings and illustrated books also arrived in Isfahan’s bazaars. Armenian merchants were key mediators, importing portraits of contemporary European rulers that were highly prized at the Safavid court. With bases in Amsterdam, Livorno and Rome as well as New Julfa, what cultural presence did Persian Armenians have in the early modern Low Countries?
On the back of commerce and missionary work, at least eleven Netherlandish artists travelled to Persia in the seventeenth century. Jan Lucasz. van Hasselt became master painter to ‘Abbas I, decorating the royal palace at Ashraf, while ‘Abbas II took drawing lessons from Hendrick Boudewijn van Lockhorst. Famously, ‘Abbas II rescued Philips Angel from legal conviction by the VOC, employing him as a court artist on 4,000 guilders per year and presenting Angel with a robe of honour upon his departure. Encounters with Netherlandish art led to a new, “hybrid” style of painting known as Farangi-sāzi, which saw Persian miniaturists adopt European painting techniques and iconography.
To paraphrase Barbara Fuchs, the story of Isfahan in the seventeenth century ‘compromises the narratives of national distinction by emphasizing inconvenient similarities and shared heritages’. The same could be said of Catholic Europe. In Antwerp, Rubens painted the Levantine merchant Nicolas de Respaigne standing on a Herat-type Persian carpet. The same artist copied a corpus of Persian miniatures, annotating the costumes in detail. As for Van Dyck, he painted the English envoy of Shah ‘Abbas I, Sir Robert Shirley, in pendant portraits with his Circassian wife, Terezia Sampsonia, whose habitually magnificent attire helped them negotiate the silk trade in tandem with military alliances. Just how fluid was cultural identity in this period?
Please send proposals of c. 500 words, along with a 1-page CV, to adam.sammut@york.ac.uk and ahmadyengimolki@gmail.com by Friday 29 September 2023.
2. The Exile’s Cookbook
Daniel Newman, transl.
Saqi, 2023
https://saqibooks.com/books/saqi/the-exiles-cookbook/
3. Persian Second Language Pedagogy Fall 2023 Virtual Lecture Series
Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies
in collaboration with
The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization and the Center for Middle
Eastern Studies, University of Chicago
present
Persian Second Language Pedagogy
Fall 2023 Virtual Lecture Series
Zoom Registration
https://utoronto.zoom.us/…/tZMkf-yoqDwrEtRnTBB…
Saturday, 9 September 2023, 12:00 PM Eastern Time
“Discourse Markers in Persian: Description and Instructional Implications for Learners of Persian”
Ali Abbasi, Associate Professor of Persian, University of Maryland
Saturday, 07 October 2023, 12:00 PM Eastern Time
“Relative Difficulty in the Acquisition of the Persian Uvular Stop by English Speakers”
Reza Falahati Ardestani, Lecturer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Saturday, 11 November 2023, 12:00 PM Eastern Time
“Innovative Technology in Language Classroom: Using Virtual Reality in Task-Based Language Teaching”
Peyman Nojoumian, Associate Professor (Teaching) of Persian, University of Southern California
Saturday, 2 December 2023, 12:00 PM Eastern Time
“ABC or BCA: What to Teach First: A Psycholinguistic Approach to Teaching Persian as a Second Language”
Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi, Instructional Professor of Persian, University of Chicago
4. CFP – Contested Art Histories and the Archive in Britain and the British Empire
14-17 February, 2024, Chicago
Full info at:
https://caa.confex.com/caa/2024/webprogrampreliminary/Session12893.html
5. For the International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 9-11, 2024 Kalamazoo, MI) the Great Lakes Adiban Society seeks papers discussing the interconnected “lives of great languages” from across the Afro-Eurasian landmass before 1820.
By “great languages,” we refer to translocal tongues that connected ideas, power, and peoples among overlapping geographies of the pre-modern world. Such languages include Arabic, Aramaic, Bantu languages, Chinese languages, Greek, Hindi languages, Jewish languages, Latin, Persian, Sanskrit, Slavic, and Turkic. Among these traditions and many others, multilingual authors wrote, recited, and crafted texts that reroute current conceptions about politics, religion, and belonging. Analyses of such translocal linguistic and cultural regimes provide scholars ability to understand how classes of professionals, educated elites, and local thinkers produced interconnected social practices at near global scale.
We invite papers from scholars focused on culture, religion, literature, trade, linguistics, and visual arts that explore connections, divergences, and parallel frames among histories of translocal peoples, languages, and texts. By addressing broad categories of power, geography, and creativity, we seek to foster dialogue and points of comparison among scholars whose research concentrates on the linguistic traditions of the globalized pre-modern world.
Before Friday September 15, 2023, please apply for our sponsored hybrid panel by selecting one of the following links:
- To be considered for virtual presentation, apply via this link
- For in-person presentation, follow this link.
We welcome proposals from scholars across all career paths.
For questions and inquiries, please write to us at greatlakesadibansociety@gmail.com or at the address noted below.
Contact Information
Nathan L.M. Tabor, Dept. of History, WMU
Contact Email
6. Albert Houtum Schindler: A Remarkable Polymath in Late-Qajar Iran
D T Potts
Mage, 2023
https://magepublishers.com/albert-houtum-schindler-a-remarkable-polymath-in-late-qajar-iran/
7. ‘A Forgotten Money Heist: The 1746 Mission of Nadir Shah’s Chief Merchant in Russia Revisited’
K Ghereghlou
IRAN, 61, 2023
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/05786967.2020.1829983
8. Middle Eastern Studies – Prize
We are pleased to announce that the Elie and Sylvia Kedourie Prize for Outstanding Article from Volume 58 (2022) of Middle Eastern Studies has been awarded to Siavush Randjbar-Daemi for his article, ‘The Tudeh Party of Iran and the land reform initiatives of the Pahlavi state, 1958–1964’, vol. 58:4, pp.617-35.
Saul Kelly and Helen Kedourie would like to thank the judging panel, drawn from the editorial board, for their work in judging all the submissions and for reaching a decision on the winning article.
We also thank Taylor & Francis for their continuing support. Founded in 2018, the prize is named for Elie Kedourie (1926–1992) founder and editor-in-chief of Middle Eastern Studies until his death in 1992, and Sylvia Kedourie (1925–2016) who took on the editorship of the journal from 1992 until 2016. The award includes a prize payment of £500 and a year’s complimentary subscription to Middle Eastern Studies, with the article free to access on the journal’s website.
The next prize for an outstanding article published in the 2023 volume of Middle Eastern Studies will be awarded in June 2024. Please email your nomination to Saul Kelly (saul.kelly@kcl.ac.uk) or Helen Kedourie (hkedourie@gmail.com), with the subject line ‘Middle Eastern Studies – Nomination for Elie and Sylvia Kedourie Prize’, and include the following in your message: title of article, name of author, and volume and issue number; a brief reason for your nomination (no more than 200 words); your name and affiliation.
9. Articles for “Keshif E-Journal for Ottoman-Turkish Micro Editions”, Volume 1, Number 2
Our vision for Keshif is to provide a forum (and medium) for researchers to make these fragments accessible to a wider audience, including non-Ottomanists, i.e. to bring together the many pieces of the mosaic, such that complete pictures gradually emerge. Keshif is an electronic journal dedicated to collecting and editing small, fine texts and providing easy, free access to the material through a database with sound search functions.
Deadline for submissions: 1 September 2023. Information: https://journals.univie.ac.at/index.php/keshif
- August 12, 2023
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. ‘In the Aura of the Prophet: Dreaming of Fāṭima and the Tropes of Connectedness in Iranian Women’s Pious Circles’
S Chavosian
in
The Presence of the Prophet in Early Modern and Contemporary Islam
Edited by Nelly Amri, Rachida Chih and Stefan Reichmut
Brill, 2023
https://brill.com/edcollchap-oa/book/9789004522626/BP000015.xml
2. The American Association of Teachers of Arabic (AATA) is delighted to announce this year’s Arabic Translation Contest. We kindly ask you to encourage your eligible students to participate in the contest.
Details on the topics, eligibility, requirements, submission date, submission email address, prizes, etc. can be found HERE. Entries will be evaluated by judges who will focus on accuracy in rendering both meaning and style.
The winners will be recognized during AATA’s annual meeting to be held in Montreal, Canada, in conjunction with MESA on 02 November 2023.
All entries must be submitted no later than August 15, 2023 to be eligible for consideration.
- August 08, 2023
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment