Categories : Academic items
Shii News – Academic Items
1.CfP: Muslim Chaplaincy. Practice, Research and Recognition
June 24th-26th 2025, Fribourg Switzerland
The Swiss Centre for Islam and Society and the Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK
Submission deadline: 1.10.2024
https://www.unifr.ch/szig/fr/recherche/colloques/muslim-chaplaincy.html
2. The Islamic College:
Monthly Talk: The Greatest Islamic Philosopher You’ve Never Heard Of: Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī
A Talk by Professor Peter Adamson
Thursday 25 July 2024
6.00 P.M. – 7.30 P.M. (LONDON TIME)
on Zoom
Meeting ID: 827 8165 9584 Passcode: 499950
https://islamic-college.ac.uk/event-registration/
3. Arab World English Journal for Translation and Literary Studies welcomes the submission of papers for the August Issue 2024. The submission deadline has been extended until July 15, 2024. The issue publication date is AugustIssue 2024. For more details, click here.
Please send your submission as an attachment to TLS@awej.org
We have the pleasure of sending the full issue of AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies Volume 8 Number 2. May 2024
For individual papers, click here.
4. CfP: Hybrid Exploratory Workshop: Diaspora as a (Re)Source – Interactions and Interdependencies between Arab Diaspora Communities in Latin America and their Communities/Countries of Origin
Convenors: Katrin Köster, Roberto Cruz Romero
Keynote Speaker: Prof. Dr. Lily Pearl Ballofet (UC Santa Cruz)
Date: 01.+02. November 2024
Format: Hybrid
Location: Research Centre Global Dynamics, Leipzig University (and Zoom)
Context
Latin American countries and especially the Arab diaspora communities in these countries are an important political, socioeconomic, and cultural resource for Arab communities in the Levant and the wider Middle East. In recent months, the world has been reminded of this by the numerous Latin American expressions of solidarity with Gaza. Similarly, during the past few years, Arab diaspora communities have rallied to support Syrian refugees and economically drained Lebanese communities. These acts of solidarity are not singular in nature, but are part and parcel of long-lasting and deep-rooted ties between Middle Eastern and Latin American communities.
The ties between these two world regions go back to the late nineteenth century, the era of worldwide labor migration to the Americas. Impoverished Arabs, predominantly Christians but also Druze, Alawis, and Sunni Muslims from the Levant, migrated to the Americas, especially drawn to Latin America. During the 1920s and 1930s, they were joined by a second wave of migrants dominated by intellectuals fleeing from oppression and censorship. Today, particularly Argentina and Brazil, as well as some smaller Latin American countries, are home to huge Levantine Arab communities who have great influence on political, socioeconomic, and cultural developments in both their “new” and “old” home countries.
The ways diaspora communities have influenced and continue to influence their Arab communities or countries of origin are varied and manifold. For instance, politicians try to rally diaspora communities to affect election outcomes at home or international politics pertaining to developments in the Middle East, while Arab intellectuals in the diaspora frequently make decisive contributions to discourses in the region. The economic solidarity of diaspora communities has often played a significant role in softening the hardship of economic crises for specific communities and villages, and mahǧar (diaspora) literature and diaspora film productions have profoundly influenced the Arab cultural scene. Furthermore, sociocultural practices like St. Mary’s shrines, Salsa music, and first and foremost Mate tea consumption enjoy immense popularity in Arab countries, especially the Levant.
Existing Research
The past few decades have seen increased scholarly interest in Middle Eastern migration studies in general and Arab diaspora communities in Latin America in particular. This interest was primarily kindled and stoked by the works by Akram Khater, Reem Bailony, Lily Pearly Ballofet, Roberto Khatlab, Stacy D. Fahrenthold, and John Tofik Karam as well as the Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies, which is edited by Fahrenthold and Khater and published by the Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies. Additionally, individual studies, for example by Ottmar Ette and Frederike Pannewick, have highlighted literary entanglements between the Americas and the Middle East. Most of the existing studies, however, pertain to one of these three areas of research: connections between diaspora communities and their home countries during the first decades of the migration movement (i.e., the late nineteenth and early twentieth century up the 1940s), the significance of diaspora literature for Arab language literature, and diaspora communities within the context of their “new” home countries. Significantly less has been published on the interactions and interdependencies between Arab diaspora communities in Latin America and their communities/countries of origin during later decades of the twentieth century and the early twenty-first century.
Workshop Design
This workshop sets out to explore these interactions and interdependencies on the personal, political, social, economic, and cultural level, with a focus on the time period from the 1940s to the 2020s. We are especially interested in investigating how these various kinds of entanglements have been influencing and shaping Middle Eastern communities and countries and how diaspora communities function as a catalyst or as (re)sources for political, socioeconomic, and cultural transformations in the Arab world.
Possible research topics and questions include but are not limited to:
Latin American Arab diasporas as a resource in times of political and economic crises,
Latin American Arab diasporas as advocates of Arab interests within interational politics,
Economic entanglements and trade connections between Latin America and the Middle East,
Intellectual and cultural transfers between Latin America and the Middle East,
Cold War solidarities and Peronism’s influence on Nasserism
In the course of the workshop, we would also like to discuss the specifics of research on Arab diasporas in Latin America and their entanglements with their respective communities and countries of origin. In how far does this research relate to diaspora studies in general and in how far can it open up new avenues of investigation and/or contribute to existing research on a theoretical and methodological level?
This workshop is designed as an exploratory workshop and intends to bring together scholars who want to further research on Latin American–Middle Eastern entanglements. The workshop is also designed as a first step in a longer process and therefore primarily serves to set the stage for future empirical and theoretical research by shaping the research parameters and developing methodological approaches appropriate for investigating Latin American–Middle Eastern entanglements.
Application and Funding
If you are interested in participating in our workshop, please send a short abstract (250–350 words) and a short biography (max. 100 words) to Katrin.koester@uni-leipzig.de by 1 August 2024. Early career scholars are especially invited to apply.
Participants are expected to attend the entire workshop (either online or in person) and give a 20-minute presentation on a research topic related to the themes of the workshop. Presentations in English, Arabic, and Spanish are welcome, but we kindly ask you to provide an English abstract.
Limited funding is available for this workshop. We will organize accommodation at a nearby hotel for the participants for the duration of the workshop and will cover transportation costs as far as possible.
Please indicate in your application whether you want to participate online or in person and, in the latter case, from where you will be travelling to Leipzig. This will not have any effect on the selection process but will facilitate the workshop logistics.
Schedule and Further Plans
01.08.2024 Deadline for applications
07.08.2024 Notification of accepted applicants
11.10.2024 Deadline for extended abstracts
01.+02.11.2024 Workshop
01.08.2025 Deadline for finalized papers
10–12.09.2025 Second Meeting in the form of a panel at the 8th European Congress on Universal and Global History in Växjö, Sweden (attendance is self-funded by participants, online attendance is possible)
2026 Publication of a special issue
5. Meşher’s “Istanbul as Far as the Eye Can See: Views across Five Centuries” exhibition has been extended until 29 September 2024 due to popular demand!
About Meşher
Initiated by the Vehbi Koç Foundation (VKV), Meşher advocates the creation of new dialogues across time and cultures, not only through its exhibitions ranging from historical research to contemporary art but also its comprehensive array of parallel activities such as publications, workshops, and conferences. With its overall interdisciplinary approach, Meşher, which takes its name from the Ottoman Turkish word meaning exhibition space, has been active since September 2019. Meşher presents exhibitions on a wide range of subjects, across a time span ranging from the Middle Ages to the present. With its versatile program, research-based academic aspect, and publications, Meşher continues to acts as a reference point for Istanbul’s arts and culture scene.
Located on İstiklal Street, Meşher welcomes visitors with free access to exhibitions, events, and guided tours. It is open six days a week, being closed on Mondays.
Meşher, Istanbul’s leading interdisciplinary exhibition space, hosts Istanbul as Far as the Eye Can See: Views across Five Centuries, curated by Şeyda Çetin and Ebru Esra Satıcı that opened on 20 September 2023. Based on a selection of more than 100 rare works from the Ömer Koç Collection, the exhibition spans 500 years, from the 15thcentury – when Istanbul became Ottoman Empire’s capital – to the first quarter of the 20th century. Paintings and engravings showing wide-angle views, together with rare books, albums, panoramic photographs, and even souvenirs of Istanbul, offer visitors a richly varied visual record of the city.
The many producers of these works are also very diverse, including a ship captain, travellers, soldiers, ambassadors, writers, photographers, architects, and city planners; many of them are Westerners with agendas ranging from political to military to aesthetic, and the medium they used varied. Their work reveals both diplomatic relations and the city’s multi-cultural structure and social life; they also trace the major changes that have taken place in the city over time. Quotations from written sources accompany the visual representations, creating a dialogue between Western perspectives and 19th- and early 20th-century Ottoman/Turkish literature. Rather than being yet another ode to the city, the exhibition encourages reflection on the diversity of its narratives and the differences in its many depictions.
Istanbul as seen through Western eyes
Henry Aston Barker’s panorama of Istanbul, which he made from the top of the Galata Tower in 1800; an engraving after Philipp Franz von Gudenus’s drawing from the roof of the Swedish Embassy in 1741, sketched when he was stationed in Istanbul; and Joseph Schranz’s panorama from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara: these are only some of the images now showcased at Meşher. The works of James Robertson, known to have taken the earliest 360-degree panoramic photographs of Istanbul, are also on display, including his panorama taken from the Bayezid Tower in May 1854 and presented in an album that bears the artist’s signature.
The panoramic views that enable us to see Istanbul from end to end and top to bottom in Istanbul as Far as the Eye Can See contain many interesting details as well. Shopkeepers in local dress, women making excursions in ox-drawn carriages, Europeans distinguishable by their hats, children, and four-legged friends of the city complete Istanbul’s historical silhouette.
The oldest work is from 1493
Curators Şeyda Çetin and Ebru Esra Satıcı shared the following about the exhibition spread across Meşher’s three floors: “We aimed to include works depicting as many vistas as possible, from different points of view and of different neighbourhoods across the city. We display over 100 works across three floors of Meşher, the oldest being the Liber chronicarum (1493) by Hartmann Schedel; among the most recent is an album (1922–1924) of original designs and drawings by Alexandre V. Pankoff. The themes and stories that come to the fore are not separated by sharp boundaries; on the contrary, they nourish and complement each other. We believe that revealing the relationships between the works, rather than classifying them according to period or medium, will contribute to our understanding of this multi-layered city.”
Meşher’s director Nilüfer H. Konuk stated that the exhibition team seeks to reach a wide audience. Konuk added, “Some of these exhibits are the earliest printed edition of a work or the sole surviving copy, while others are pioneering examples of their period. Some are being exhibited in Istanbul for the first time. We are delighted to bring these rare works from Ömer Koç’s precious collection to a wide audience at Meşher.”
Istanbul as Far as the Eye Can See will be open until 29 September 2024. The exhibition is accompanied by a programme of events, including workshops for adults and children organised by the curators and the Meşher team. The full up-to-date event programme can be accessed on the Meşher website and through its social media accounts.
Exhibition catalogue
Published both in English and Turkish, the exhibition catalogue draws attention to the diversity of Istanbul’s representations with contributions from experts in the field. Catalogue entries are written by Sven Becker, Briony Llewellyn, Bahattin Öztuncay, and Claude Piening. Beginning with a preface by Ömer M. Koç, the book contains an introduction to the exhibition by the curators Şeyda Çetin and Ebru Esra Satıcı, as well as an essay by Prof. Zeynep Çelik entitled “We, the city of Istanbul, we are beautiful.”
Contact Email
URL
6. The Art of the Saljuqs in Iran and Anatolia
Robert Hillenbrand
First soft cover edition published in 1994
Mazda, 2024 with new, expanded introduction
http://www.mazdapublishers.com/book/art-of-the-saljuqs-in-iran-and-anatolia
7. Employment opportunity | Associate Director of the Center for Middle East Studies (CMES) at Brown University
Full information at:
https://brown.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/staff-careers-brown/job/Associate-Director_REQ196303
8. Research Associate (3 Years), Chair for the History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Your tasks: Research in the field of Ottoman history with a special focus on Southeast Europe and/or the Mediterranean regions and teaching. Your profile: Completed master’s degree in history and good knowledge of at least one Southeast European language.
Deadline for applications: 15 July 2024.
Information:
https://jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/jobposting/c6f3d953370e1d75fa69f4f97d02ed8b798ed1950?ref=homepage
- July 06, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.International Conference “Environmental History Challenging the Mediterranean(16th to 21st Centuries)”, University Côte d’Azur, 27-28 March 2025
The aim of this conference is therefore to take a fresh look at the Mediterranean through the lens of environmental history. How does this field of history enable us to reconsider the spectrum of Mediterranean studies, from economic and maritime history to political history, via cultural and social history? How do Mediterranean societies adapt to external models? How are practices specific to certain Mediterranean regions integrated into other areas.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 September 2024.
Information: https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20037157/cfp-environmental-history-challenging-mediterranean-16th-21st
2. The Edward Zakarian Awardof the Austrian Academy of Sciences recognizes outstanding doctoral dissertations in the fields of Armenology and Iranian Studies written and completed at a university in Europe.
Amount of the award: 4,000 euros
Dissertations may be submitted from all fields of Armenology and Iranian Studies, i.e., from areas of the humanities and cultural studies as well as political science, law, and sociology.
Applications are invited from highly qualified scholars who have completed their doctoral studies no more than 2 years prior to the submission date and have done so in a member state of the European Union or at a university in Armenia, the United Kingdom, Iran, Switzerland, or Turkey.
Deadline for applications: 15 July 2024
Information about the award and the application documents can be found here.
3. CFP – “Textile Ecologies”, Online Workshop – February 2025
Among the artifacts crafted by humankind, textiles have always held a uniquely interdependent relationship with the environment. Textiles derive from vegetal (hemp, raffia, ramie, cotton, or bark cloth), animal (wool, silk) and even mineral origins (as in the case of asbestos fibers). The production of textiles has depended upon access to and the processing of raw materials, while cloth manufacturing has reshaped entire landscapes from the transplantation of mulberry trees for sericulture to the mounds of murex shells discarded after the extraction of Tyrian purple dye. Textile patterns abound with imagery of flora and fauna, while fabrics have come to shape myths and metaphors of the natural world. Textiles have connected distant regions, but they have also been responsible for and complicit in the enslavement of human beings and the exploitation of agricultural, artisanal, and industrial labor. Textile production has led to the despoliation of landscapes and water resources, often in unequal ways that resulted from colonialism and environmental racism. Despite the recent concern with historical legacies of environmental harm, the field of ecological humanities has mostly neglected the textile realm. For this online workshop, we welcome contributions that consider the relationship between textiles and the environment from any time period and geographic region and seek scholars, artists, and cultural practitioners who grapple with the aesthetic dimensions, ecological conditions, and the past, present, and potential futures of cloth.
After a session on “Textile Ecologies” that we organized for the College Art Association (CAA) conference in 2019, we are now inviting proposals for an online workshop that is scheduled to take place February 5-7, 2025. We welcome submissions from artists, practitioners, conservators, art historians, historians of science, anthropologists, and scholars throughout the humanities and social sciences, as well as those analyzing textiles and ecology within the natural sciences. Please send a brief bio and an abstract of maximum 350 words for 20 min presentations by July 15, 2024 to Sylvia Houghteling and Vera-Simone Schulz at textile.ecologies@gmail.com
4. Baylor University – 2 Lecturers in History
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=67315
The positions will begin in August 2025.
Complete applications must be submitted by 11pm Central Daylight Time on October 1, 2024.
- July 02, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Hajar Hussaini Wins Mo Habib Translation Prize in Persian Poetry
M Marsden
Afghanistan, 7.1, 2024
3. Journal of Cultural Analytics
Mohamed, Eid. “The Potential and Limits of Arabic Digital Humanities.” Journal of Cultural Analytics, vol. 9, no. 3, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.22148/001c.116818.
4. ASPS/JPS Graduate Student Prize
The Association for the Study of Persianate Societies announces the inauguration of a biennial Graduate Student Prize in order to encourage and reward scholarship about the broader Persianate world by promising graduate student members of ASPS. Interested applicants are invited to submit original and unpublished work to the Journal of Persianate Studies by 09 September 2024.
Based on creativity of topic and source materials, originality of analysis, and overall scholastic contributions, an ASPS prize committee will select a winner, who will be announced at the upcoming ASPS virtual graduate student conference (23 October 2024). The winning paper will be published in the Journal of Persianate Studies after any revision that may be required by the editorial office. In addition, the winner will be invited to present their paper at our biennial conference to be held in Tashkent in August 2025 and will receive funding from ASPS for some of the cost of attending that conference. Runners-up may also be considered for publication in JPS.
The Journal of Persianate Studies is a peer-reviewed publication of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies. The journal publishes articles on the culture and civilization of the geographical area where Persian has historically been the dominant language or a major cultural force, encompassing Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, as well as the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, and parts of the former Ottoman Empire.
Eligibility: graduate students who, at time of submission, are members of ASPS and have not received their doctorate at the time of submission, and have also submitted an abstract to the 2024 ASPS online graduate conference.
Application procedure: Paper submissions must fall within the purview of JPS and must be original and previously unpublished; they must also follow all regular JPS style and citation guidelines, found online at: https://brill.com/fileasset/downloads_products/Author_Instructions/JPS.pdf. Prize applicants should submit their papers online through Editorial Manager (https://www.editorialmanager.com/JPSBRILL), selecting ‘Graduate Student Prize’ as the article type. By submitting a paper, applicants acknowledge intent to participate in the ASPS/JPS Graduate Student Prize and waive the right to withdraw their paper from publication, if selected.
5. Sugar and the Indian Ocean World
Trade and Consumption in the Eighteenth-Century Persian Gulf
N Daito
Bloomsbury, 2024
6. BRISMES Student Prize
From Monday 1 July, we will be inviting submissions for the 2024 BRISMES Conference Student Paper Prize. Established in 2021, this prize aims to support BRISMES student members in the development of peer-reviewed work. If you registered as a student and are presenting a paper at the conference, please do consider submitting your paper and if you are chairing or attending a panel with student presenters, please encourage them to apply for this prize!
The prize winner will receive £300 and will be mentored through a review process at the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (BJMES) by a senior member of the BRISMES academic community. Such a mentor will be identified on the basis of the disciplinary field and topic of the awarded conference paper. In addition, the desk review process will be skipped and the journal will commit to sending the paper directly to external reviewers for the final decision about publication. The deadline for submissions will be 5pm on Monday, 22 July 2024.
https://www.brismes.ac.uk/awards/brismes-conference-student-paper-prize
7. The second and third issues of Volume 51 of the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (BJMES) are now available online on the Taylor & Francis website.
Volume 51, Issue 2 is a special issue on Propagandas, cultural production, and negotiating ideology in Iran (Guest editors: Goulia Ghardashkhani, Olmo Gölz and Kevin L. Schwartz).
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cbjm20/51/2
8. Departmental Lecturer in Islamic Art and Architecture
University of Oxford
The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies aims to appoint a Departmental Lecturer (DL) in Islamic Art and Architecture, for twelve months to cover the teaching and certain other duties of a permanent post-holder during a period of research leave. (You must be able to start by 1st January 2025) This position is a great opportunity for a suitably qualified scholar to develop their career through research, teaching and collaborative work in Islamic Art and Architecture at Oxford.
Deadline | 10 July 2024
More information
9. Lecturer (Teaching) in Political Theory
SOAS University of London
The Department of Politics and International Studies is pleased to invite applications for a Lectureship (Teaching) focused on Political Theory for the academic year 2024-2025 (0.5FTE). The Department is known for its combination of both academic and professional training in politics and international relations with a focus on the politics and international relations of the Global South (Asia, Africa, and the Middle East).
Deadline | 15 July 2024
More information
10. Learn Kurdish for free with the Institute for Middle East Studies at GW
The Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University invites you to participate in our Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in Sorani Kurdish. This free beginner online course, led by Dr. Benjamin Priest, is designed to build fundamental conversational skills, and provide an introduction to the Kurdish writing system, culture and history. Starting in August 2024, classes will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
11. Reinterpreting History and Memory: Contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Conference | British Academy | 12-13 October 2024
This British Academy international conference will explore how history and memory is reflected through contemporary art in the MENA region, and art’s association with broader social and intellectual practices.
12. Hudood: Rethinking Boundaries
Symposium | SOAS Middle East Institute | 12 July 2024
Hudood: Rethinking Boundaries introduces contemporary art from the Barjeel Art Foundation, with a focus on the overarching theme of ‘boundaries’ as both a subject and a tool for meaningfully accessing a diverse array of art from the Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region.
13. Foreign Policy Working Group (FPWG) Third Annual Conference
Conference | BISA FPWG | Gulf Research Centre Cambridge | 8 July 2024
The Foreign Policy Working Group’s mini-conference is titled ‘Critical Reflections on Contemporary Foreign Policy Analysis’ and is hosted by the Gulf Research Centre Cambridge. The conference is coordinated and led by FPWG’s co-convenors, Dr Marianna Charountaki (University of Lincoln) and Dr Sharad Joshi (Middlebury Institution of International Studies).
14. “Sex in Translation” International Conference, 4th-5th July 2024, QMUL
The programme for an international conference on “Sex in Translation” on 4th-5th July 2024, hosted by Queen Mary University of London and supported by the BCLA, is available on the conference page here,* where those interested in attending can also register.
The conference is free, but exclusively in-person, and only registered attendees will be admitted onto campus.
*If the link doesn’t work, please copy and paste the following: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sex-in-translation-tickets-925804314627?aff=oddtdtcreator
15. Hajj Across Empires: Pilgrimage and Political Culture after the Mughals, 1739–1857
R Choudhury
Cambridge, 2024
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/hajj-across-empires/8D3901BC94DD6D26BB34B7DFC8E5FDF0
16. Hybrid event: July 9-10 – International Workshop “Judaeo-Iranian Intellectual Landscapes and Beyond”
International Workshop “Judaeo-Iranian Intellectual Landscapes and Beyond: Cultural History of Jewish Communities Across the Centuries”.
The Workshop will take place on July 9-10, 2024, at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, both in person and via Zoom.
To join, please register for either in person or online attendance via the link in the attached announcement or here: https://iias.huji.ac.il/RG_Conference_Jud%C3%A6o-Iranian_Registration
Tuesday, July 9
10:30 | Gathering
10:45 | Greetings
Prof. Yitzhak Hen, Director, IIAS
Dr. Julia Rubanovich (Hebrew University and IIAS) Prof. Ludwig Paul (University of Hamburg and IIAS)
Session I | 11:00-12:30
Chair: Dennis Halft (University of Trier and IIAS) Shai Secunda (Bard College)
One Who Sold his Slave to a Frahang (b. Gittin 44a) Simcha Gross (University of Pennsylvania and IIAS)
Shapur’s Serpent: The Shifting Cultural Contexts of a Rabbinic Tale
Session II | 13:45 – 16:00
Chair: Donna Shalev (Hebrew University) Ali B. Langroudi (University of Trier)
Judæo-Persian Torah Scribes: An Introduction
*Zoom
Dennis Halft (University of Trier and IIAS)
Persian Bible Translations Leaving the “Literary Ghetto” (W. Fischel) of Judæo-Persian
Jason Sion Mokhtarian (Cornell University) *Zoom
Judæo-Persian Translations of the Bible in the Vecchietti Collection at the Bibliothèque nationale de France
Wednesday, July 10
Session III | 9:30 – 11:00
Chair: Simcha Gross (University of Pennsylvania and IIAS) Avigail Manekin-Bamberger (Hebrew University)
Demons and Jewish Society in Sasanian Babylonia
Yakir Paz (Hebrew University) and Ofir Haim (Mandel Scholion Research Center, Hebrew University)
The Reception of Midrashic Literature among Iranian Jews in the First Centuries of Islam
Coffee
Session IV | 11:15 – 12:45
Chair: Vera B. Moreen (Independent Scholar and IIAS)
Julia Rubanovich (Hebrew University and IIAS)
The Tale of Rebecca and the Servant of Abraham in Shāhīn’s Epic Rendition of the Book of Genesis
Ludwig Paul (University of Hamburg and IIAS)
Understanding the Sefer ha-Melitza, a Hebrew-Persian Dictionary of the 14th Century, in its Various Contexts
Lunch
Session V | 14:00 – 16:15
Chair: Ofir Haim (Mandel Scholion Research Center, Hebrew University) David Gilinsky (University of Hamburg) *Zoom
Manuscripts of Shāhīn’s Mūsā-nāma and their Reception
Oded Zinger (Hebrew University)
Schmoozing Outside of Court? Informal Relations between Jews and Qadis in Medieval Egypt
Vera B. Moreen (Independent Scholar and IIAS)
The Muslim and Sufi Vocabulary of Darvīsh-i Sabzavārī (16th century)
Coffee
Session VI | 16:30 – 18:00
Chair: David Yeroushalmi (Tel Aviv University)
Ariane Sadjed (Institute of Iranian Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences) The Everyday Lives of Judæo-Persian: Locality and Interconnection between Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia
Shir Kochavi (Bar-Ilan University) Collecting Memories of North African Jewish Life
Concluding Remarks
17. Conference “First European Round Table on Modern Persian Literature”, Iranian Studies, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, 4-7 July 2024
The First European Round Table on Modern Persian Literature is jointly organised by the Iranian Studies Department in Bamberg and CERMOM/INALCO in Paris. This is also the 2024 Mid-Term Conference of the Societas Iranologica Europaea. We aim to address the study and reception of modern and contemporary Persian literature across all genres from a European perspective.
Information and program: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/iranistik/aktuelles/artikel/first-european-round-table-of-modern-persian-literature/
- June 29, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.International Conference “Law, Empire, and Gender in Muslim Societies”, University of Amsterdam, 19-20 December 2024
Academics who work in the field of legal history, gender history and/or social history (or a combination of these) are invited to share their research on the laws that were introduced in the Muslim territories during (French, Dutch, British, Russian, …) colonial rule that touch upon gender. Proposals may concern various periods and topics, ranging from property law and land tenure to criminal law and family law.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 July 2024. Information: https://ash.uva.nl/content/news/2024/06/call-for-papers-international-conference-on-law-empire-and-gender-in-muslim-societies.html?origin=KOq8zc9JRa%2BM7NabIsyXHg
2. Workshop “Knowledge in the Islamic Court: Evidence, Proof, Procedure Symposium”,
Netherlands Institute Morocco (NIMAR), Rabat, 14-15 May 2025
Themes: How do qadis evaluate various evidentiary forms, and to what extent does this relate to discursive Islamic legal traditions? How are evidentiary forms produced and made probative before the qadi? What is the role of sensory perception? Etc. – Co-organizers: Dr. Nurul Huda Mohd. Razif (University of Bergen) and Dr. Ari Schriber (Utrecht University).
Deadline for abstracts: 30 June 2024.
Information: https://forms.gle/jk6unUFnTtEeVCNn8
3. Assistant Professor of Modern (post-1750) Social and/or Political History of the Middle East and North Africa, Indiana University, Bloomington
Postdoctoral candidates must be able to train graduate students and advanced undergraduates in the critical use of Arabic-language historical and cultural sources, including but not limited to oral histories, archival sources, and material culture; as well as in Arabic-language historiography. Additional professional competence in one or more modern Middle Eastern languages other than Arabic is also highly desirable, but not required.
Deadline for applications: 30 September 2024.
Information: https://indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/24648
4. 2025 Sir William Luce fellowship: call for applications
This residential fellowship (Apr-June 2025) carries a grant, accommodation and meals, and is a valuable research and publication opportunity for post-doctoral scholars, diplomats, politicians, or business executives, working on regional issues that particularly affect the Sudans, Gulf States, Yemen or Iran: more details are provided in the notice. The application deadline is Tuesday 1 October 2024.
For more information:
The Sir William Luce Papers series can be found at:
5. Summer 2024 funding: Laura Bassi Scholarship
The Laura Bassi Scholarship was established in 2018 with the aim of providing editorial assistance to postgraduates and junior academics whose research focuses on neglected topics of study, broadly construed. The scholarships are open to every discipline and the next round of funding will be awarded in Summer 2024:
Summer 2024
Application deadline: 24 July 2024
Results: 10 August 2024
All currently enrolled master’s and doctoral candidates are eligible to apply, as are academics in the first five years of full-time employment. Applicants are required to submit a completed application form along with their CV through the application portal by the relevant deadline. Further details, including previous winners, and the application portal can be found at: https://editing.press/bassi
6. Scholarship to learn Persian in Yerevan with ASPIRANTUM – Winter school 2024
Deadline: August 5, 2024
For more details, please visit: https://aspirantum.com/scholarships/scholarships-for-persian-language-courses-from-armacad
You can see the profiles of our previous scholarship recipients here: https://www.instagram.com/aspirantumcom/
Students pursuing Undergraduate (BA), graduate (MA), and postgraduate (Ph.D.) programs, as well as researchers in Iranian Studies and related fields who are enrolled in universities or academic institutions in the countries specified below, can apply for the ARMACAD scholarship. The ideal candidates will be 19 – 39 years old by the program’s start.
This scholarship is only available to citizens of the following countries.
Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America.
For more details, please visit: https://aspirantum.com/scholarships/scholarships-for-persian-language-courses-from-armacad
7. The Khalili Collection ‘The Tale and the Image’ in three volumes
Volume One. History and epic paintings from Iran and Turkey (2022) and The Tale and the Image Volume Two. Illustrated manuscripts and album paintings from Iran and Turkey (2024).
Volume One. History and epic paintings from Iran and Turkey
Eleanor Sims with contributions by Manijeh Bayani and Tim Stanley
This volume is devoted to the Collection’s illustrated manuscripts and detached folios with historical and heroic epic subjects. Produced in Iran, India and Turkey, they date from the early 14th to the 20th centuries; many are of major artistic importance. A number of folios in the Collection come from manuscripts of Firdawsi’s Shāhnāmah. Among them are a single folio from the Ilkhanid ‘Great Mongol’ Shāhnāmah and 10 from the Shāhnāmah executed for Shah Tahmasp. Complete illustrated manuscripts of Firdawsi’s epic include a splendid copy, with 62 paintings, dated AH 1011 (AD 1602). The Collection also has illustrated folios from several dispersed but significant works of universal and dynastic history, including two from the earliest surviving illustrated copy of the Ẓafarnāmah of Sharaf al-Din Yazdi. One especially important painting is a later 15th-century vision of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions in the company of Moses and the Virgin and Child. The entries on 93 manuscripts and detached folios are accompanied by essays, including one reconstructing the Safavid Tārīkh-i Jahān-gushā-yi Khāqān-i Ṣāḥib-Qirān and its illustrations; on early copies of the Shāhnāmah; on Shāhnāmahs illustrated by Mu‛in Musavvir; and on two complete copies once in the Mughal royal library.
422 pages; fully illustrated in colour; section on inscriptions with translations; hardback with dust jacket (slipcased); 36 x 26cm; 2022; ISBN 978-1-874780-80-9
Volume Two. Illustrated manuscripts and album paintings from Iran and Turkey
Volume Two. Part One
J.M. Rogers with contributions by Manijeh Bayani and Emily Shovelton
Volume Two. Part Two
J.M. Rogers with contributions by Manijeh Bayan, Emily Shovelton, Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam and Tim Stanley
This volume, which is in two parts, is mainly devoted to the Collection’s illustrated manuscripts and detached folios with painted illustrations – primarily romantic poetry and anthologies – and single page compositions – mostly portraiture and genre painting – from Iran and Turkey, dating from the 14th to the mid-19th centuries. Many items are of major artistic importance.
Illustrated Persian manuscripts include several copies of the Khamsah of Nizami and a Divan of Hafiz dated AH 975 (AD 1567–8) with superbly illuminated margins and two exquisite paintings, one by Muhammadi and the other by ‘Abdallah al-Mudhahhib al-Shirazi.
The large group of detached folios from Iran includes several of the late 15th century in the style of Muhammad Siyah Qalam (otherwise best represented in albums in the Topkapı Palace Library). Particularly strong in drawings from 17th-century Isfahan, it includes works by its most famous painters, Riza-yi ‘Abbasi, Muhammad Qasim, Mu’in Musavvir, and the eclectic artists Muhammad Zaman, ‘Ali Quli Jubbah-dar and Shaykh ‘Abbasi.
Ottoman paintings include two folios from the Siyer-i Nebi (‘Life of the Prophet’) made for Sultan Murad III, and an exquisite 16th-century drawing of a dragon in foliage in the style of Süleyman the Magnificent’s court painter, Shah Quli.
Set two parts; 583 pages plus bibliography and index (the set); fully illustrated in colour, section on documentary inscriptions with translations; hardback with dust jackets (slipcased); 36 × 26 cm; ISBN: 978-1-874780-81-6
Available to purchase here:
For more information on Khalili Publications:
https://www.khalilicollections.org/publications/
8. Omar T. Nasr and Tim Corbett, PaRDeS: Diversifying Modern Austrian History: Exploring Parallels and Intersections between Jewish and Muslim Histories in Austria, in: Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany 29 (2023): 137-148
Open access here:
https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/62207
9. Iran through maps 20. The Lar Valley (Central Alborz)
Les nomades de la vallée du Lâr (Alborz central)
The Nomads of Lâr (Central Alborz)
عشایر کوچ نشین لار (البرز مرکزی)
Depuis les Seljoukides jusqu’en 1978, la vallée du Lâr, fut la capitale (d’été) de l’Iran.
From the Saljuks until 1357, the Lâr valley was the (summer) capital of Iran.
از سلجوقیان تا سال ١٣٥٧ دره لار پایتخت (تابستانی) ایران بود.
Source et analyse en Français : Bernard Hourcade. La vallée du Lâr (Alborz central), capitale de la Perse/ Iran (1046-1978). CNRS, CeRMI, 2019. (Power point, d’une conférence) https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04605445
Source and summary in English : Bernard Hourcade. The Lâr valley (central Alborz), capital of Persia/Iran (1046-1978). CNRS, CeRMI, 2019. (Pdf of the Power Point of a lecture) La vallée du Lâr (Alborz central), capitale de la Perse/ Iran (1046-1979)
منبع : دره لار (البرز مرکزی)، پایتخت ایران (١٣٥٧ ٤٢٥.( CNRS، CerMI2019
.(پاور پوینت، یک سخنرانی(.
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04605445
IRANCARTO.CNRS.FR CARTORIENT.CNRS.FR
CeRMI Centre de Recherche sur le Monde iranien. https://cermi.cnrs.fr
- June 25, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Exhibition – Beyond Words: Calligraphy from the World of Islam, The David Collection, Copenhagen, Denmark
Explore the history of calligraphy and calligraphy as an artform in the exhibition Beyond Words: Calligraphy from the World of Islam at The David Collection in Copenhagen, Denmark. The title is meant literally because the words and the beautiful letters may assume several different meanings.
Calligraphy means the art of writing beautifully. Over time, writing has been developed and refined to a point where it has become an art form in its own right. Calligraphy is frequently used in almost every kind of media within the Islamic world – and hence has become a unique testimony to Islamic culture. The most skilled calligraphers have gone on to become famous artists, and several have formed schools within their respective fields.
After the rise of Islam in the seventh century and its initial spread, the Arabic script took on a very special significance becoming a unifying factor – an identity marker – across geography and ethnicity. The use of imagery of living beings was not practiced in religious contexts – even in early Islam – and therefore beautifully conducted handwriting took on a notable role in Islamic culture.
In the Islamic world, inscriptions appear in far more contexts than in most other cultures. We see calligraphy on everything from parchment and paper to everyday objects and buildings. The calligraphic quotations also range from poetic extracts written by famous poets to passages honouring the rulers or owners of the commissioned works as well as texts about the artists themselves. Very often, however, we find Koranic quotations. The Koran is written in Arabic, and therefore the writing alone – when beautifully performed – is considered a tribute to God.
The exhibition presents 128 individual works, all of which exemplify the importance and role of calligraphy. The audience is introduced to different types of writing and the different usages from official documents to metal work, ceramics, textiles and architecture.
The exhibition design was created in collaboration with the design studio Mentze Ottenstein.
Alongside the exhibition, a publication, sharing the same title as the exhibition, will be published and available in both Danish and English at the museum shop.
Beyond Words: Calligraphy from the World of Islam is open to the public from 24 May until the 26 January 2025.
Here you can find one of the most comprehensive collections of Islamic art in the Western world, a fine selection of European eighteenth-century art and a small but exquisite representation of modern painting and sculpture.
For more information: www.davidmus.dk
2. The New York Public Library is pleased to announce its first Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Fellowship to support advanced research on Library’s holdings of materials from the Arab world, Africa, Turkey, Iran, South Asia, Central Asia, and their diasporas in the United States.
Fellowships are open to Ph.D. candidates, post-doctoral scholars, and independent researchers with projects that would significantly benefit from research drawing on collections accessible at The New York Public Library. Projects requiring access to original materials including manuscripts, archives, books, photographs, prints, maps, newspapers, and journals will be given preference, but all worthy projects will be considered. Applicants studying the humanities as well as those working in the visual, auditory/performing, and literary arts are welcome to apply.
The Fellowship Program will support one fellow annually for three months with a stipend of $25,000. The annual fellow will have full access to the Library’s collections and staff, as well as a dedicated place to work in the Vartan Gregorian Center for Research in the Humanities at NYPL’s flagship building in Midtown Manhattan.
The Library will also explore how to support international scholars with visa requirements.
Deadline for application is August 5, 2024 and recipients will be announced in November, 2024.
To apply, please complete the electronic form in the NYPL Fellowship Portal and upload an updated C.V., a project proposal of no more than five pages, and two professional letters of recommendation.
For assistance with the application process, email fellowships@nypl.org. Library staff cannot provide feedback on individual applications or project proposals (see below). Applicants are encouraged to contact the Curator for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Dr. Hiba Abid (hibaabid@nypl.org) with any questions regarding collections or additional holdings.
Read the full announcement on The New York Public Library’s website.
Key Dates:
Applications open: May 20, 2024
Application deadline: August 5, 2024
Recommendation letters due: August 12, 2024
Applicant notification: November 2024
Award period: January 2, 2025 – June 30, 2025
Project Proposal:
Successful project proposals will include a thorough explanation of how in-person access to collections accessible at The New York Public Library is essential to the progress and completion of the research project. Proposals should also include:
Abstract of the project’s major themes, questions, and arguments
Significance of the project
Specific Library collections and holdings to be consulted during the fellowship
Project plan, including a timeline of your work with the Library’s collections during the fellowship term and a description of the proposed methodological approach
Expected project outcomes
Suggested topic for public presentation
Desired dates of residence
Contact Information
Hiba Abid | The New York Public Library
Curator for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
The New York Public Library
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
476 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
Tel: (212) 930-9297 / Email: hibaabid@nypl.org
NYPL Fellowships | The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
476 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
Email: fellowships@nypl.org
Contact Email
URL
https://www.nypl.org/fellowships/middle-eastern-islamic-studies#:~:text=The%20N…
3. CFP – Call for Submissions for Pedagogy Files in Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā
Is there a primary source from the medieval Middle East that you particularly enjoy teaching? If so, we encourage you to submit a “pedagogy file” to Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā. Our new pedagogy section, launched in 2023 with a file entitled “Textiles across Medieval Eurasia,” is focused on primary sources—images, objects, buildings, poems, inscriptions, or prose passages—contextualized for the undergraduate classroom. Submissions should briefly introduce the primary source, provide basic background and explanatory notes in the form of bullet points, and suggest discussion questions or overall takeaways. Images and short bibliographies are encouraged. Submissions should be between 1000 and 4000 words and will be subject to editorial, but not peer, review. For the 2024 issue, pedagogy files should be received by September 1.
Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā is the only open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the medieval Middle East, expansively defined to include all geographies with prominent Muslim political, religious, or social presences between the rough parameters of 500-1500 CE. The open-access publication of al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā is made possible by Middle East Medievalists (MEM), an international, non-profit association of scholars. To support the journal, please consider joining MEM or renewing your MEMbership today!
4. Publication – Collecting Asian Art: Cultural Politics and Transregional Networks in Twentieth-Century Central Europe
Edited by Markéta Hánová, Yuka Kadoi, and Simone Wille
Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2024
272 pp., 31 pls.,
ISBN: 978 94 6270 378 0
(Europe) https://lup.be/book/collecting-asian-art/
(US) https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9789462703780/collecting-asian-art/
Open Access ebook available for downloading:
https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/87367
5. The Islamic College’s Monthly Talk: What’s “Islamic” about Islamic Art?
A Talk by Professor Stephennie Mulder
Thursday 27 June 2024
6.00 P.M. – 7.30 P.M. (LONDON TIME)
on Zoom
Meeting ID: 942 5652 0577 Passcode: 328975
https://islamic-college.ac.uk/event-registration/
6. Hybrid talk: “Time for Atoms”
5 pm (London time), Wednesday 26 June as a session of the Islamic History and Thought Lecture Series organised by the Institute of Ismaili Studies.
By Dr David Bennett, with Professor Peter Adamson as discussant.
To join please register for either online or in person attendance at https://www.iis.ac.uk/events/time-for-atoms/
In turbulent times, 9th-century practitioners of kalām devised a cosmology of jawāhir (discrete, primary entities) and accidents (natural properties) that accounted for all of God’s creation. Influences from all directions infused this physical theory with a syncretic, ever-shifting vibe; for generations, the struggle to articulate the workings of the natural world evolved. A cosmology suited to explain divine creation thrashed against conceptions of psychology and time, however; what worked in an immovable field of concrete particulars still had to account for the vagaries of experience and spiritual imperatives.
In this discussion, we will examine three key problems that illustrate kalām reckoning with developments in theories of time and causality:
- volition and the temporal process of thought;
- the so-called “ceasing instant” problem (when did “now” end?);
- and the notorious Muʿtazilite theory of secondary causality (the efficacy of intermediate, generated states).
By focusing on the adaptation of the jawāhir model to these challenges, we can better appreciate the viability of kalām and demonstrate the genius of early Islamic thought.
7. ONLINE Webinar: ‘The New Persian Romance in a Global Middle Ages’
with Cameron Cross
British Institute of Persian Studies, 17 July 2024, 5PM (UK time).
On Zoom.
In the early tenth century CE, a remarkable literary event took place, in which well-known stories of lovers were recast by court-affiliated poets as independent versified works in the emergent New Persian language.
With a focus on the remarkable story of Vis & Ramin, this talk seeks to situate that event in the broader context of the entangled literary histories of southwestern Afro-Eurasia from late antiquity to the medieval period, showing how the Persian corpus plays a crucial role in the history of romance writing at large.
8. The Department of Turkish Language and Literature at Boğaziçi University invites applications for a full-time position at the rank of Assistant Professor in modern Turkish literature.
The application deadline is 1 August 2024.
Full-time Assistant Professor position in modern Turkish literature/Yeni Türk edebiyatı
alanında Dr. Öğretim Üyesi Pozisyonu
The Department of Turkish Language and Literature at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey
invites applications for a full-time position at the rank of Assistant Professor in modern
Turkish literature. Applicants must have a Ph.D. in modern Turkish literature or a related field
with a focus on modern Turkish literature and contemporary literary theory. Applicants should
possess native or near-native proficiency in Turkish and English. They will demonstrate
evidence of advanced teaching and research at an international level and an ability to teach
courses on modern Turkish literature (poetry, fiction, and theatre), comparative literature,
and literary theory at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In addition, applicants
should have the necessary skills to supervise M.A. and Ph.D. theses and lead national and
international research projects. The department’s teaching load for Assistant Professors is
generally two to three undergraduate and/or graduate courses per semester. Promising
young scholars who have recently completed or are about to finish their doctoral degrees are
especially encouraged to apply. Successful applicants will be required to teach in both
English and Turkish.
Applicants should upload their CV, at least one article published in an AHCI, SSCI, or
SCOPUS-indexed journal and a book chapter in a volume published by an internationally
acclaimed publisher, a sample syllabus, and a statement of research interests to
https://academicjobapplications.bogazici.edu.tr/. Three letters of recommendation should
also be sent to halim@bogazici.edu .tr directly by the referees. The application deadline is 1
August 2024.
Research interests:
modern Turkish literature, comparative literature, literary theory
Department of Turkish Language and Literature: https://turkishliterature.bogazici.edu.tr/en
Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey: https://bogazici.edu.tr/en-US/Index
Adayların yeni Türk edebiyatı, karşılaştırmalı edebiyat veya benzeri bir alanda doktora
derecesine sahip olmaları, doktora ve araştırma alanlarının odağında yeni Türk edebiyatı ve
çağdaş edebiyat kuramlarının yer alması gerekmektedir. Başvuracak adayların Türkçe ve
İngilizce olarak ders vermeleri, eğitim ve öğretim deneyimine sahip olmaları, öğretim ve
araştırma faaliyetlerinde ileri düzeyde ve uluslararası çalışmalar yapmış olduklarını
kanıtlamaları beklenmektedir. Adayların ayrıca yeni Türk edebiyatı (şiir, kurmaca, tiyatro),
karşılaştırmalı edebiyat ve edebiyat kuramları alanlarında lisans ve lisansüstü ders
verebilecek, yüksek lisans ve doktora tezi danışmanlığı yapabilecek, ulusal ve uluslararası
araştırma projeleri yürütebilecek yetkinlikte olmaları gerekir. Bölümümüzde doktor öğretim
üyelerinin bir eğitim-öğretim yılında dönem başına genellikle iki-üç lisans ve/veya lisansüstü
ders yükü vardır. Doktorasını yeni bitirmiş veya bitirmek üzere olan genç akademisyen
adaylarının başvurusu özellikle teşvik edilmektedir.
Adayların özgeçmişleri, en az bir AHCI/SSCI/SCOPUS’ta taranan uluslararası dergilerde
yayımlanmış özgün makale ve saygın uluslararası yayınevleri tarafından yayımlanan kitap
bölümü, bir ders izlencesi (syllabus) örneği, araştırma ve eğitim alanlarındaki hedeflerini
içeren bir amaç sunum mektubu ile https://academicjobapplications.bogazici.edu.tr/ adresine
başvurmaları gerekmektedir. Üç adet referans mektubunun referansı yazan kişiler tarafından
halim@bogazici.edu.tr gönderilmesi beklenmektedir. Başvuru için son tarih 1 August
2024’tür.
Araştırma alanları: yeni Türk edebiyatı, karşılaştırmalı edebiyat, edebiyat kuramları
Boğaziçi Üniversitesi: https://www.bogazici.edu.tr/
Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı Bölümü: https://turkishliterature.bogazici.edu.tr/tr
9. Open Access – ‘Archiving Resistance: A Conversation with Omar Sheikhmous’
F Ghaderi,
Kurdish Studies Journal
Brill, 2024
Kurdish scholars have lamented the loss of a sizeable portion of Kurdish manuscripts and documents, particularly in the twentieth century. Stories of loss and destruction of Kurdish collections and archives are prevalent in Kurdish historiographical and biographical accounts, as well as in literature. Besides tragic accounts of loss, however, there are untold stories of determination to uncover, collect, and preserve Kurdish records. Over recent decades, significant archival initiatives have been founded in Kurdistan and in the diaspora, promising a new era of Kurdish knowledge production, and driving new ways of thinking about Kurds and Kurdistan. Archives, fonds, and collections are found in Kurdistan and the diaspora and testify to the vision and dedication of unsung guardians of a nation’s heritage and memory. One of the most significant Kurdish private archives in Europe is the Omar Sheikhmous Archive hosted at the University of Exeter (EUL MS 403), which records his lifetime’s involvement in Kurdish political and academic activities. This conversation covers his involvement with and contributions to Kurdish political and academic activities, his archive, challenges of archiving resistance movements, and the intersection of activism and archival practice.
https://brill.com/view/journals/ksj/2/1/article-p91_5.xml
10. Researcher for the “Middle East Forum’s Islamist Watch Project”, Remote Anywhere in the USA
The Research Associate is a critical position focused on tracking and analyzing the networks, activities, and financing of radical Islamist organizations and individuals. Qualification: Knowledge of open-source research tools and techniques; experience parsing and analyzing large datasets; some knowledge of Python or JavaScript; proficiency in Arabic, Turkish, Persian, or Urdu; Legal work experience, including familiarity with drafting FOIA requests.
Deadline for applications: 1 July 2024. Information:
https://us12.campaign-archive.com/?e=1a855d214f&u=b7aa7eddb0f2bb74bfa4f6cb5&id=f8f165497b
- June 22, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.HYBRID Annual Conference of the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore, 25 June 2024, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm SGT
This conference aims to examine the pivotal role of education in driving social reforms across the Gulf region.
By delving into the root causes of the education-labor market mismatch and exploring lessons learned from both Gulf countries and Singapore, we seek to foster dialogue and identify actionable strategies for harnessing the potential of the region’s burgeoning youth population.
Information, programme and registration: https://mei.nus.edu.sg/event/mei-annual-conference-2024/
2. ONLINE Research Seminar “French Colonial Psychiatry`s Views on North African Women” by Nina S. Studer (University of Geneva), CEDEJ, Cairo, 26 June 2024, 5:00 pm CET
In this presentation, the speaker will provide an introduction into how Orientalist theories about non-patient Muslim women influenced psychiatric theories and practices in the first half of the 20th century, and how this differed from the treatment of Muslim men in colonial institutions.
Information and registration:
3. HYBRID International Symposium “Phanariot Materialities: Domestic Architecture, Urban Culture, and Social Mobility”, ANAMED, Koç University, Istanbul, 29-30 June 2024
The Symposium focuses on the material and social history of the Greek-speaking, Orthodox Christian, Istanbul-based Ottoman mercantile elites who served in the Ottoman administration as imperial dragomans and rulers of Moldavia (Boğdan) and Wallachia (Eflak) under Ottoman suzerainty, the Phanariots. The symposium, will host Christine Philliou, Shirine Hamadeh and Constanta Vintilă as keynote speakers.
Information and registration:
4. Workshop “Philosophie und Ethik in der Islamischen Welt”, Department Islamisch-Religiöse Studien, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Erlangen, 19. Juli 2024
In Verbindung mit der Abschiedsvorlesung von Prof. Dr. Reza Hajatpour „Abschied vom islamischen Theozentrismus – Plädoyer für einen ethischen Selbstentwurf“.
Anmeldung bis 10. Juli 2024.
Einladung und Programm:
https://www.dirs.phil.fau.de/2024/06/12/workshop-philosophie-und-ethik-in-der-islamischen-welt/
5. Workshop “Cooperations Across Religious and Ethnic Boundaries in the Study of the Qurʾan”, ERC Synergy Project the European Qur’an (EuQ), University of Amsterdam, 6-7 March 2025
This workshop examines how the Qur’an was studied between different religious groups and individuals. How did such encounters come about? Who determined places and times? What was voluntary collaboration and what was done under duress? Who decided in such settings about the process, which sorts of texts were used (e.g. tafsīr, asbāb al-nuzūl, polemical sources)? What were the social and political fields in which these encounters took place? Etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 September 2024.
6. Postdoctoral Researcher (80 %) for the Project “Participation in Islamic-social-ethical Reflections”, Swiss Centre for Islam and Society (SCIS), University of Fribourg/Switzerland
Requirements: Doctorate in Islamic Studies, Islamic Theological Studies, Religious Studies, Sociology or anothersocial/cultural science discipline; • Research interest in the topic of the project; • In-depth knowledge of relevant research methods; • Knowledge of German and/or French.
Deadline for applications: 30 August 2024.
Information: https://www.unifr.ch/webnews/content/159/attach/12508.pdf
7. Membership at the School of Historical Studies 2025-26 (Focus Islamic World), Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Princeton
Scholars (with a Ph.D.) are invited who are concerned with research on the history of western, near eastern and Asian civilizations, with particular emphasis upon the Greek and Roman world, the history of Europe (medieval, early modern, and modern), the Islamic world, East Asian studies, art history, history of science, and musicology.
Deadline for applications: 15 October 2024.
8. Invitation to Join the “Global Turkology Academic Network” Hosted by Virginia Tech University
This network facilitates academic interaction, exchange, and cooperation among students and scholars working on any aspect of global Turkic communities. It provides an interdisciplinary academic venue for a non-Orientalist, critical, and nuanced understanding of the Turkic world’s histories, cultures, politics, languages, and societies.
If you would like to share your new book or article, conference or panel information, or other academic activities, contact Tugrul Keskin: global-turkology-g@vt.edu
9. Exhibition “TYPARABIC. Les premières imprimeries arabes chrétiennes en Orient”, BULAC, Paris
This ERC-funded project has been developed in Bucharest. The exhibition presents Arabic books printed in the 17th-19th centuries in Western European presses and those of Aleppo and Khenshara (Mount Lebanon), in the Ottoman epoch. Free entry.
Information on the exhibition and a virtual tour on the BULAC website: https://www.bulac.fr/typarabic-les-premieres-imprimeries-arabes-chretiennes-en-orient
10. HYBRID Lecture Series “Humanity, Sufi Thought, and Healing”, Institute for Sufi Studies, Üsküdar University, Istanbul, 10-14 July 2024
It is a paid certificate program organised by the Institute of Sufi Studies. Participants will receive a program certificate from Üsküdar University. The program includes 20 lectures by 15 scholars. Participants will have the opportunity to meet the scholars in person and raise questions. All conferences will be simultaneously translated into Turkish and English.
Deadline for applications: 3 July 2024.
Information:
https://tasavvuf.uskudar.edu.tr/en/announcement/588/humanity-sufi-thought-and-healing-lecture-series
11. Great Lakes Adiban Workshop CfP
The Great Lakes Adiban Society (GLAS) invites submissions for its seventh annual workshop, scheduled to take place in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on October 19–20, 2024. We welcome works in progress that would benefit from extensive discussion and feedback, and especially encourage graduate students to participate.
The Society aims to provide a regional forum for scholars of Islamicate adab, particularly of the medieval and early modern periods, to meet and share their work. We leave our parameters of language and genre intentionally open in order to invite as wide a collaboration as can be useful, but as a group we are generally interested in the literary production of the broad complex of premodern Muslim societies across the Eastern Hemisphere. This naturally includes the major Islamicate languages of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu, as well as many others (Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Hebrew, Spanish, etc.) that participate in similar literary conventions.
Those who wish to participate can apply by filling out our online application by August 19, 2024. Please note that each accepted participant will be given 45 minutes to present and discuss their work; because of this, we have limited space and may have to turn down some submissions if we receive too many. In such an event, preference will generally be given to graduate students, junior scholars based in the Great Lakes region, and works in progress. By default, all participants should plan to cover their own costs; however, graduate students may apply for financial support to cover travel and lodging expenses.
All applicants can expect to hear back from us by late August, and we plan to have the schedule finalized by mid September.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at greatlakesadibansociety@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
- June 18, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. SOAS: Bahman Maghsoudlou Film Festival
Daryush Mehrjui: Making The Cow
4.00pm, Sunday 16 June 2024
This is the eighth session in the Bahman Maghsoudlou Film Festival at SOAS.
This feature documentary examines the making of The Cow (1968) and how it became regarded as one of the most important films of the Iranian New Wave, and its impact on Iranian films before and after Iran’s 1979 revolution. The film was smuggled to Venice and won FIPRESCI Prize (1971).
This documentary was shot by twelve different cinematographers in eight cities (Tehran, Rome, London, Paris, Toronto, New York, Denver, Washington DC) in six countries from 2002 to 2022. s
2. SOAS: Abbas Kiarostami: A report
4.00pm, Saturday 22 June 2024
For the penultimate screening in the Bahman Maghsoudlou Film Festival director, writer and executive producer Dr Maghsoudlou himself will join us. Following the film, there will be a Q&A session and an opportunity to engage in a conversation with him.
An analysis of the style and vision of Abbas Kiarostami, the world’s most iconic Iranian filmmaker, through the lens of his earliest work, including his first short film (Bread & Alley, 1970) and, particularly, his first feature, The Report. This early example of Kiarostami’s work gives insight into his poetic, humanistic tendencies, combining allegorical storytelling with a documentary, neo-realist sensibility, and often exploring the very nature of film as fiction, that have pervaded his work ever since, including such recent international sensations as A Taste of Cherry and Certified Copy.
3. SOAS: Razor’s Edge: The Legacy of Iranian Actresses
3.00pm, Sunday 23 June 2024
In the final session of this Film Festival Dr Bahman Maghsoudlou, the director, writer and executive producer will join us for this screening. Following the film, there will be a Q&A session and an opportunity to engage in a conversation with him.
The culture and art of Iran, like those of nations throughout history, have always been inextricably tied to its societal problems, including its attitudes and treatment of women. Its cinema was not an exception.
In a traditional, religious and male-dominated society, actresses dared to assert themselves within the relatively new art form, sacrificing to force acceptance of their presence in the cinema and subsequently bring modernity to the culture.
This documentary approaches its subject on four levels: the biographical, the historical, the socio-political and the theoretical. Through interviews with many leading actresses of the time and unprecedented access to rare film clips of their work, filmmaker Bahman Maghsoudlou sheds a light on the important and controversial role women played in the development of Iranian cinema during the secular period from the 1930s right up to the Islamic revolution of 1979, examining the evolution of women’s roles, the difficulty of making films that broke from the patriarchal mode and the darkness that descended upon the arts when a new fanaticism began to take hold of the nation.
4. SOAS : Book Launch
Translating Ulysses into Persian: Pleasure or pain, is it?
6.30pm, Friday 21 June 2024
Launching the fourth volume of Ulysses in Persian, Chapters 13-14. This edition of Ulysses is translated by Akram Pedramnia into Persian and published by Nogaam publishing in London. This project is a combination of research and translation presented in six volumes supported by Literature Ireland. The first volume was released in May 2019, the second volume was published in November 2020 and the third volume in June 2022. This project will be completed by the end of 2026.
Please note that this event’s proceedings will be held in Persian language.
5. Treasure of Persian Ceramics | The Hague Municipal Museum
(Photo & Video):
https://persiandutch.com/2018/12/12/persian-ceramics-treasure-of-the-hague-municipal-museum/
6. AKU-ISMC: 19 June 2024 Virtual Open Day
Join AKU-ISMC students, staff and academics online for a Virtual Open Day at 12:00 -13:00 (London Time) to explore educational study options at AKU-ISMC (Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations) and discover the various opportunities we have to offer.
Any queries should be directed to: ismc.marketing@aku.edu
The Aga Khan University Institute’s for the Study of Muslim Civilisations
Handyside Street
London, | N1C 4DN United Kingdom
7. New article on the classification of the sciences in the Islamicate world
“Classification of the sciences in Islamic cultures” is now available online at
https://www.isko.org/cyclo/islamic (ISKO Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization). It currently includes the description of about 50 Arabic, Persian and Turkish classifications.
This article is a sort of companion to M-Classi, the digital tool recently created to store, catalogue, search, and visualize the classifications of science in the Islamicate world. M-Classi is freely available at: https://www.m-classi.eu/.
To get access, send an email to:
gdecallataycontacts@listes.uclouvain.be
8. The Materiality of Pious Texts: The Qur’an and Devotional Manuscripts
EuQu: The European Qur’an
Alya KARAME, Umberto BONGIANINO
24 June 2024
Part 1 at 9am
Part 2 at 11am
Information at:
https://euqu.eu/2024/05/14/the-materiality-of-pious-texts-the-quran-and-devotional-manuscripts/
9. Sanabel Abdelrahman: Palestinian Magical Realism as Resistance Literature, Monday, 17 June, 6:15 pm (CEST)
Institut für Arabistik und Islamwissenschaft, Universität Münster
Schlaunstr. 2, 2nd floor, RS 225
For online attendance via Zoom, please contact Barbara Winckler (barbara.winckler@uni-muenster.de).
[https://www.uni-muenster.de/ArabistikIslam/aktuelles/aktuelles.html]
10. HYBRID “Three Mohamed Ali Foundation Fellowship Lectures”, Durham University, 20 June 2024, 13:00 – 16:00 BST
Lectures: “Finance, Technology, and Politics in Egyptian Railways during the Reign of Abbas Hilmi II” by Dr Xiaoyue Li. – “Egypt’s Borders and Their Crossers, 1875-1937: A History of Mobility, State, and Society” by Prof. Lucia Carminati. – “Mohamed Ali Pasha’s Waqfiyyah and His Endowment as a Testimony to His Indissoluble Bond with His Motherland Kavala” by Dr Dimitrios Lamprakis.
Information and registration:
https://durhamuniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EXldlUPjTUqxQLSJ6hEZ8g#/registration
11. Articles for the Journal “YILLIK: Annual of Istanbul Studies 6 (2024)”
The Journal is accepting submissions of original research articles, opinion pieces and visual essays (Meclis), book and exhibition reviews in Turkish or English, by researchers working on any period of the city through the lens of history, history of art and architecture, archaeology, sociology, anthropology, geography, urban planning, urban studies, and other related disciplines in humanities or social sciences.
Deadline for submissions: 24 June 2024.
Information: https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20032371/yillik-annual-istanbul-studies-6-2024-and-7-2025-call-papers
- June 15, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Evolution of Kurdish Nationalism in the Middle East
Part of the Middle East Librarians Association (MELA) Social Justice Lecture Series
2024-2025 season, Lives in the Margins: Ethnic and Religious Minorities in the Middle East
June 26th, 2024, 12:00 PM EST, 11:00 AM CST.
Register here:https://bit.ly/3Xeeb8X
2. HYBRID Workshop “Reflections on Digital Data Collection Methods in the MENA Region” by Marion Breteau (CEFREPA), Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), Berlin, 10 June 2024, 9:45 am – 4:30 pm CEST
New technologies of communication have induced significant shifts in contemporary Arab societies. The purpose of this workshop is to explore from a methodological perspective how new technology systems, web access, content creators’ cultures, and online forms of entertainment can be addressed in regard to more digital-inclusive approaches.
Information and registration:
https://www.zmo.de/veranstaltungen/reflections-on-digital-data-collection-methods-in-the-mena-region
3. ONLINE Roundtable Discussion “Reorienting Islamic Studies in Asia”, Leiden University, 13 June 2024, 15.00 – 17:00 CEST
Asian Islam tends to be overlooked, excluded, or considered derivative of a supposedly normative and authentic Islam, defined as Middle Eastern or Arabian. Speakers will discuss and evaluate these dynamics through the launch of “Centering Islamic Studies in Asia“, a recently published special issue of the “Inter-national Issue of Islam in Asia”.
Information and registration: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/2024/02/roundtable-discussion-reorienting-islamic-studies-in-asia
4. HYBRID Book Launch “Nafssiya, or Edward Said’s Affective Phenomenology of Racism” by Norman Saadi Nikro (ZMO), Discussant Smaran Dayal (Stevens Institute of Technology New York), Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, 17 June 2024, 5:00 pm CEST
This book adapts the Arabic term “nafsiyya” to trace the phenomenological contours of Edward Said’s analysis of the affective dimensions of colonial and imperial racism. Reflecting on what he called his “colonial education,” Said rendered his Palestinian/Arab background and experience of racism an enabling component of his academic work. The argument focuses on his “personal dimension” section in his introduction to his famous volume Orientalism.
Information and registration:
https://www.zmo.de/en/events/nafssiya-or-edward-saids-affective-phenomenology-of-racism
5. ONLINE Conference “Philosophy Between the Islamicate and Latin American Traditions: Civilizational Perspectives on Alienation/Ghayriyya in the Knowing/Being”, University of Sevilla, 22-24 June 2024
Given the centrality and fruitfulness of the concepts of “alienation” and “ghayriyya” (otherness), this is an opportunity to investigate how it can serve as a framework for future dialogue within and across cultural spheres. Lecturers and everyone attending are encouraged to explore, independently of “Western” model of explanation per se.
Information and registration: https://wp.me/pfeP2i-k
6. HYBRID Lecture “Imam/Merchant/King: Floating Sovereignty and the Indian Ocean World” by Taushif Kara (King’s College London), Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, 24 June 2024, 5:00 pm CEST
This lecture explores the question of de-territorialized sovereignty through the history of one of the Indian Ocean world’s itinerant Muslim merchant communities: the Khojas from Gujarat who came to dominate oceanic trade during the colonial period. The lecture considers the relationship of the Khojas to their imam, the Aga Khan, and argues that his person came to function as a unique figuration of their otherwise “invisible” sovereignty.
Information and registration: https://www.zmo.de/en/events/imammerchantking-floating-sovereignty-and-the-indian-ocean-world
7. International Congress of the German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO), University of Goettingen, 26-28 September 2024
Proposals are particularly welcome for the following thematic sections: Law – Philosophy and History of Ideas – Theology and Religious Practice – Economics, Politics and Society – Islam in Europe – Language and Culture – Education and Knowledge Transfer – Etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 June 2024.
Information: https://gesellschaften-im-wandel30.de/frontend/index.php?folder_id=8397&page_id=
8. Conference “Disasters in and of the Middle East: Event, Place, Intensity”, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, 29-30 March 2025
Potential themes: Disaster imperialism in the Middle East. – Intersections of “natural” disaster & war (e.g, conflict ecology, compound crises). – Disaster, disability and debility. – Disaster and work/labor. – Historical approaches to disaster management. – Disaster vis-à-vis the projects of Enlightenment and modernity. –Ruination and memory. – Disasters, nonhuman beings and the more-than-human experiences.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 June 2024.
Information: https://networks.h-net.org/system/files/attachments/cfpdisastersmiddleeastharvard2025.pdf
9. ONLINE Mediterranean Skills Seminar “Reading Arabic Manuscripts”, 24-27 June 2024
The Course will build participants’ ability to read handwritten Arabic manuscripts and documents, primarily those written before the twentieth century. It is designed with academics in mind, particularly graduate students, postdocs, and professors working in disciplines such as history, literature, and religious studies. All interested parties with at least two years of Arabic language training are welcome to apply.
Extended Deadline for applications: 18 June 2024.
Information: https://www.mediterraneanseminar.org/overview-reading-arabic-manuscripts-2024
- June 11, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Call for articles for CLCWEB special issue on “Cineture: Cultural Negotiation between Iran and the US through Intermediality and Transmediality”.
More information on how to apply can be found here. The extended deadlines are as follows:
Deadline for Abstracts: June 15, 2024.
Notification about proposals until July 15, 2024.
Deadline for the full article is October 31, 2024.
2. Interactions Between Iranian and American Literatures
Strange Affinity
N Esmaeilpour
T&F, 2024
3. CALL FOR PAPERS
Iranian Masculinities Across Time: Historical Perspectives
University of California, Santa Barbara
2025
This projected volume explores the diverse experiences, performances, and discourses involving men and masculinities in Iranian society and culture over a broad span of time, from antiquity to the present day. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
- Mapping historical and/or modern masculinities and institutions and various definitions of masculinities.
- Outsiders’ perceptions, stereotypes, and experiences of Iranian masculinity from the ancient Greeks to the modern period.
- How media ideals and ideologies of masculinity have changed through the 19th-21st centuries.
- Hegemonic and non-hegemonic masculinities; marginalized masculinities, outcast/pariah/abject masculinities; resistant masculinities; ethnic / non-urban / regional/ racialized/class-based masculinities.
- Masculinity and religion; religious and divine masculinities.
- Patriarchy and law.
- Man-making practices, places, and things; passages into manhood; masculine life stages: boyhood, manhood, fatherhood, etc. and life roles (work, volunteerism, parenthood, and more)
- Masculinity and the body; the manly/masculine body; masculinity and sports; masculinity and disability, sexual dysfunction, bodily non-normativity, and/or physical impairment
- Masculinity, same sex desire, and sexual orientation
- Challenges of studying Iranian men and masculinities
- Masculinities in sociopolitical movements
- Masculinities in the arts (including graphic arts, cartoons, cinema), architecture, material culture.
- Masculinities and musical performances
- Masculinities in children’s literature
- The effects of patriarchy on men and boys; the roles of men and boys in bringing about gender equality
- The unmanly; masculinity and women / the feminine
- Masculinity, violence, and emotions
- Male Advocates of Women’s Rights and Gender Equity in Modern Iranian history.
- newly emergent forms of masculinities for a more democratic Iranian society
Proposals/abstracts from all disciplines and all fields are welcomed. They may focus on Iran, the Iranian plateau and neighboring regions, or the Iranian diaspora, and may examine any period from the second millennium BCE up to the present.
Please send your proposal/abstract of no more than 300 words by July 10, 2024 to both Janet Afary (jafary@ucsb.edu) and John W. I. Lee (jwilee@history.ucsb.edu).
Individuals whose proposals/abstracts are accepted are invited to submit a paper (20-25 pages) by December 15, 2024. A conference celebrating the authors and exploring the key themes of the projected volume will be held at UCSB in 2025.
4. ‘The Status of Music in Islamic Law: Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī’s (d. 974/1567) Treatise Against Recreation in its Polemical Context’
F Morrissey
Islamic Law and Society, 2024
5. Muslims Making British Media
Popular Culture, Performance and Public Religion
C Morris
Bloomsbury, 2024
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/muslims-making-british-media-9781350265394/
6. ‘Reading Sources in Area Studies: Privacy Uncovered: Daily Life in the Turco-Iranian World through Archival Documents, 8th-18th Centuries’
12/06/2024 9 h 30 – 18 h 00
Lire les sources en études aréales – Dévoiler le privé : le quotidien à travers les documents d’archives du monde turco-iranien, VIIIe-XVIIIe siècle
3rd Research and Training Workshop / 3e Atelier de recherche et de formation
Wednesday 12 June 2024 / Mercredi 12 juin 2024
PARIS and ONLINE
Maison de la Recherche de la Sorbonne nouvelle
4 rue des Irlandais, 75005 Paris
Salle Athéna, 09:30 – 18:00
To attend ONLINE, please contact Simon Berger (simon.berger@cnrs.fr )
More informations: https://cermi.cnrs.fr/reading-sources-in-area-studies-privacy-uncovered-daily-life-in-the-turco-iranian-world-through-archival-documents-8th-18th-centuries/
7. 2024 Rethinking History: Return to Archives and Documents
‘(Re-)discovering the Firuzkuh Documents from Afghanistan, 12th-13th century’ with Nabi Saqee, University of Oxford
Thursday, 13 June 2024, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time
https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvd-GvqjgoGdM0BEPAFqUSCvO6E-…
8. Travellers in Ottoman Lands CFP.
CFP for the Travellers in Ottoman Lands Conference scheduled to occur in Istanbul next April.
- June 08, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Panel Ethno-history of the Middle East and Central Asia: “How Can We Write Ethno-histories in the 21st Century?” Chair: Fakhri Haghani, International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Commission on Anthropology of the Middle East, Institut Francais d’Etudes Anatolienne, Istanbul, 4-6 September 2024.
How cultural productions such as artworks, street protests, performances, and slogans, and religious practices, along with political gestures and stands, lawlessness of situations, mobilization of civilians, expression of anger, trauma, and love have contributed to alternative forms of historical records? Can this analysis shift the methodological process, sources, and even literal terminology of what is defined as “history?”
Deadline for abstracts and a short bio: 15 June 2024. To be sent to Fakhri Haghani, the.fakhrih@gmail.com
Information: http://iuaes.ir/
2. International Congress on “Gender and Contemporary Arab Artistic Creation Khalaqat”, ADHUC Universitat de Barcelona, 14-15 November 2024
Academics are invited to share current ideas, theories, and research addressing Arab artistic creation from a gender perspective. Participants are encouraged to explore different forms of artistic and creative expression, engaging with new and interdisciplinary methodologies. Proposals for artistic projects and artist presentations are highly valued.
Deadline for abstracts: 20 June 2024.
Information: https://www.ub.edu/adhuc/en/node/5998
3. Conference “Endgame of Empires: Post-Imperial Transitions, Incomplete Transformations and Imperial Legacies”, New York University Abu Dhabi, 21 April 2025
Main themes: What were the legacies of the Russian and Ottoman empires in the immediate aftermath of imperial collapse? – How did the transition transform the lives of workers, peasants, migrants, and revolutionaries? – What were some of the long-term institutional legacies of empire across Soviet and post-Ottoman space? – How was the transition from imperial to post-imperial statecraft reflected in the new sciences that emerged in Soviet and post-Ottoman states?
Deadline for abstracts: 30 August 2024.
Information: https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20034780/cfp-endgame-empires-post-imperial-transitions-incomplete
4. Research Assistant at the Institute for Islamic Studies (50%, Praedoc, 4 Years), Freie Universität Berlin
Job description: Participation in teaching and research in the subject area of “Classical Islam”; administrative work at the institute, and assistance in the preparation of third-party funding applications. The position provides the holder with the opportunity to improve their level of academic qualification. Requirements: Completed university degree (MA level) in Islamic Studies or a closely related discipline.
Deadline for applications: 24 June 2024.
Information:
https://www.fu-berlin.de/universitaet/beruf-karriere/jobs/english/GK-WiMi_Praedoc_10-2024_CM.html
5. Articles on “Religious Conversions. Believing and Doing on the Move in the Mediterranean Area” for a Special Issue of the Journal “L´Année du Maghreb” (34|2, décembre 2025)
This issue looks at religion in terms of its ability to mobilise institutions, groups and individuals around plural dynamics that contribute to the redefinition of the religious field itself. Main themes: Media coverage. The stakes, politics and discourse of conversion. – Investing in the cultural field. Production, promotion, mediation. – Everyday life. Local, family and intimate scales.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 June 2024.
Information: https://journals.openedition.org/anneemaghreb/13128#tocfrom1n5
6. Articles on “China’s Policy Toward the Middle East Including Iran and Turkey and the Maghreb from Zhou Enlai to the Present Day” for a Special Issue of the Journal “The Maghreb Review”
Themes: China’s new approach towards the Middle East and North Africa region. – China’s Diplomatic relations with the Middle East and North Africa since Zhou Enlai. – Chinese economic involvement in the region through loans, investments, and trade. – Tacit Alliance: The Political Economy of Chinese-Iranian Relations– China-U.S. Rivalry in the Middle East and North Africa. – China’s position on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Etc.
Deadline for papers: 30 June 2024.
Information: https://www.maghrebreview.com/en/authors.html
7. M.A. in Kurdish Studies: Applications Open for Fall 2024
Zahra Institute is delighted to announce the opening of applications for our M.A. Program in Kurdish Studies. The deadline for applications for Fall semester is 15 July 2024. The online, two-year M.A. program consists of 31 credits and welcomes full-time and part-time students.
The Master of Arts in Kurdish Studies at Zahra Institute is the first of its kind in the United States. Our courses offer insights into the lives and cultures of the Kurds, a Middle Eastern people living in Kurdistan and beyond, spread across the borders of several modern states and linguistic and cultural zones.
For the 2024 Fall semester courses, Zahra Institute offers the following: Approaches to Kurdish Studies, Introduction to Linguistics and Kurdish Studies, History and Literature of the Kurds, and Kurmanji and Sorani Kurdish language courses.
The M.A. Program provides excellent background preparation for a doctoral degree in any field related to the Middle East and for those interested in pursuing careers in media, government, and international organizations. Our liberal arts approach to Kurdish Studies is based on rigorous academic standards and a strong commitment to scholarly freedom.
We offer both M.A. and Certificate in Kurdish Studies. Kurdish language courses are offered as electives in the M.A. program, or as standalone courses. For application information, visit our website: www.zahrainstitute.org .
Zahra Institute, a research center and graduate school located in Chicago, intends to provide an open, collaborative environment for learning, teaching, and scholarship in the fields of Kurdish Studies and Critical Muslim Studies.
8. Hybrid: Cambridge: Afghanistan: A Neglected Reality
Fri 7 Jun 2024 9:00 AM – 6:30 PM (Time zone: London)
https://teamup.com/event/show/id/dezZPnC1p9xqXffpoNcMNYnkQb5RLj
9. Pop Islam, Seeing American Muslims in Popular Media
Rosemary Pennington
Indiana, 2024
https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9780253069375/pop-islam/
10. ONLINE Webinar: ‘The New Persian Romance in a Global Middle Ages’,
with Cameron Cross
British Institute of Persian Studies, 17 July 2024, 5PM (UK time).
On Zoom.
In the early tenth century CE, a remarkable literary event took place, in which well-known stories of lovers were recast by court-affiliated poets as independent versified works in the emergent New Persian language.
With a focus on the remarkable story of Vis & Ramin, this talk seeks to situate that event in the broader context of the entangled literary histories of southwestern Afro-Eurasia from late antiquity to the medieval period, showing how the Persian corpus plays a crucial role in the history of romance writing at large.
Register at:
https://www.bips.ac.uk/event/persian-romance/
11. Eighth European Congress on Universal and Global History
Critical Global Histories: Methodological Reflections and Thematic Expansions
Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden, 10−12 September 2025
Since its foundation in 2002, the European Network in Universal and Global History (ENIUGH) has emerged as the leading international association for research and teaching in world and global history. Following seven successful congresses in Leipzig, Dresden, London, Paris, Budapest, Turku, and The Hague, the next ENIUGH congress will be held at Linnaeus University in Växjö, Sweden. The congress will be on site only, although panel chairs may in exceptional cases allow participants to present their papers remotely.
Under the overall theme of “Critical Global Histories” we aim to further discussion, self-reflection, and the exploration of new avenues in global history. Over the past decade, global history has expanded internally (quantitatively and thematically, as well as methodologically and theoretically) and has, in doing so, influenced many other fields of research in the humanities and social sciences. At the same time, the expansion has led to debate and criticism, not least within the field. Objections have been raised against global history’s alleged macro-historical emphasis, connectivity bias, Eurocentrism, Anglophone dominance, and lack of attention to gender perspectives and Indigenous methodologies. Global history has also been accused of being imbued with neo-imperial, teleological, globalizing, exoticizing and neoliberal leanings. In recent years, decoloniality as a research practice and method has raised further questions regarding the situatedness of knowledge and the role of local sources for global history. At the same time, a current nationalist backlash in many countries has led to calls for a return to national history, thereby challenging the fundamental premises of global history.
At the Eighth ENIUGH Congress, we aim to pick up on these discussions and take a step forward by opening a space of dialogue, both between global historians and between global historians and their colleagues in other disciplines who are involved in the study of the global human pasts or who work with transnational, transregional, transcultural approaches in their respective fields. The Eighth ENIUGH-Congress will be a meeting place for scholars from all of the fields that go beyond methodological nationalism and Eurocentrism. We believe that critical thinking – both in the sense of impartial and intellectually disciplined thinking and in the sense of an augmented awareness of the many pitfalls associated with global history – can provide some of the means by which the field can evolve and retain its intellectual vigour and contemporary relevance. By framing the theme in terms of “global histories” in the plural, we aim to promote the inclusion of a broad range of voices, perspectives and orientations within the field, while forcefully rejecting the possibility of insisting on a single, dominating story or grand narrative of global history. The overall theme of the congress will be explored in a series of keynote events, roundtables, and panel discussions and in several of the regular panels and presentations at the congress.
Aside from the events related to the overall theme of the congress, we expect the congress to reflect the entire span of current research in global history, and we look forward to welcoming to Växjö scholars from all over world working on global and world history and related fields of study. Proposals can include a wide range of topics related to global, entangled, and transnational historical processes and phenomena, with no geographic or chronological limitations. While we expect most of the congress delegates to be historians, we also welcome scholars from other disciplines engaged in the study of humanity’s global pasts.
We invite contributions consisting of presentations of original research and empirically grounded work in progress, as well as theoretical, methodological, ethical, and historiographical reflections. We particularly encourage contributions that reflect on how critical thinking can be applied in global historical investigations. Although the main language of the congress will be English, individual presentations and panels in other languages can be accommodated (see further below).
In particular, we welcome contributions (both panels and individual papers) tailored to one of the following themes:
- Temporalities and periodizations in global history
- Ethical aspects of doing global history
- Expanding the global archive
- Multivocality in global history
- Global history and decoloniality
- Transdisciplinary approaches
- Indigenous perspectives and methodologies
- Challenging modernity from the perspective of global history
- National history, nationalist backlash, and identity politics
- Global environmental history
- Nordic colonialism
In addition to the main conference themes we also invite proposals dealing with relations, transfers and entanglements between states, peoples, communities and individuals located in or spanning different parts and regions of the world.
Proposals
We invite proposals for panels, double panels, roundtables, and individual papers. Papers and presentations may be in any language, but abstracts for all panels, roundtables, and papers must be provided in English. Panel chairs must ensure the openness, accessibility, and coherence of their panel, and it is recommended that Q&A sessions be held in English regardless of the language of the presentations. All congress delegates are expected to participate on site in Växjö. In exceptional circumstances, panel chairs may allow a minority of presentations to be held remotely.
Panels may comprise up to four presentations, and double panels may comprise up to eight presentations, in addition to commentators and chairs. Panels must consist of scholars representing at least two different institutions in at least two different countries. Double panels must include participants from at least three different institutions in at least three different countries.
Roundtables may include up to five participants, in addition to commentators and chairs. Like double panels, roundtables must include scholars from at least three different institutions in at least three different countries.
We also welcome proposals for individual papers, which, if accepted, will be assigned to a panel by the steering committee of ENIUGH. Papers that speak to one or several of the themes listed above are particularly welcome, and the theme of most relevance to the proposal should be indicated in the submission form.
Submissions:
All abstracts for panels and papers must be submitted by October 15 via the congress website: https://research.uni-leipzig.de/~eniugh/congress/. Please note that all speakers of a panel must submit their papers individually in addition to the collective panel submission.
Abstracts for panels should be 250 – 300 words long and should indicate all panellists, their institutional affiliations as well as their paper titles. Additionally, panel abstracts should be pertaining to one of the conference themes.
Abstracts for papers should be 200 – 250 words long and indicate whether the paper is submitted as an individual paper or as part of a panel. In the latter case the abstract should name the panel title as well as the convenor’s name.
All abstracts should be in English. If the presentation is in a language other than English, please state this in the abstract. (Papers are selected solely on the basis of content, not linguistic criteria.)
Abstracts should also indicate whether you plan to participate in person or online. Please note that the convenor and a majority of participants in each panel must participate on site.
Selected panels and papers will be notified in December 2024.
Kind regards from the Organizing Committee,
Stefan Eklöf Amirell (Professor of Global History, Director, Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies
Birgit Tremml-Werner (Stockholm University, affiliated researcher at Linnaeus University)
Katrin Köster (Leipzig University)
Contact: congress@eniugh.org
Website: https://research.uni-leipzig.de/~eniugh/congress/
12. The Heidi Marx Prize: Call for Submissions
Submissions will open on 1 July for the inaugural Heidi Marx Prize.
We have established this prize, in recognition of Heidi Marx’s ongoing scholarly contributions, not least her co-founding of ReMeDHe, to be awarded annually for the best article on medicine, health, and healing in the ancient Mediterranean. Articles published within the last three years are welcome, and the winner will receive $250 toward books of their choosing as well as recognition on the ReMeDHe website.
Nominations and self-nominations are all welcome, with a final deadline of 1 March 2025 for an announcement in June 2025.
Full details, including eligibility, selection criteria, and instructions, are available on the ReMeDHe website. Inquiries and questions can be sent to Kristi Upson-Saia (upsonsaia@oxy.edu) or Jonathan Zecher (jonathan.zecher@acu.edu.au).
- June 04, 2024
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment