Categories : Academic items
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Online: Dr. Sonja Brentjes on “Borders and Cultural Encounters”
We are delighted to invite you to the 14th session of the seminar series “Entangled Histories: Borders and Cultural Encounters from the Medieval to the Contemporary Era”, supported by the Faculty of Communication and the Master’s Programme in Media and Cultural Studies at Üsküdar University.
IMPORTANT: NEW SECURITY & REGISTRATION PROTOCOLS Due to recent malicious “Zoom-bombing” attacks, we have implemented strict new security measures. To attend, advance registration is now mandatory.
Please note that registration is absolutely free of charge.
- Free Registration Link:https://buytickets.at/entangledhistoriesseminarseries
- Genuine Names Only:Please join the meeting using your full real name. Generic names (e.g., “iPhone”, “User”) will not be admitted.
- Link Delivery:To ensure security, the Zoom link will not be sent immediately. Registered attendees will receive the access link via email a few hours before the seminar starts.
- Troubleshooting:If you do not see the link 2-3 hours before the start, please check your Spam/Junk folder for an email from “Ticket Tailor”. For organisational reasons we will not be able to respond to individual emails before the beginning of the seminar.
SEMINAR #14: DR. SONJA BRENTJES
Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Special Time: 18:00 CET (Rome Time) — Please note the exceptional time change for this session only.
Talk Title: “Borders and Cultural Encounters between the 14th and the 18th centuries in the Mediterranean, West Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent: examples and reflections”
About the Speaker: Dr. Sonja Brentjes is a preeminent historian of science and the current President of the International Academy of the History of Science. She is currently a Guest Professor at the University of Wuppertal. Her distinguished career includes positions at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, the University of Seville, Aga Khan University, and the University of Oklahoma. A recipient of the Kenneth O. May Prize, she has published widely on the transmission of knowledge, including her seminal work Teaching and Learning the Sciences in Islamicate Societies (800-1700).
Abstract: Fifty years ago, scholarship was shaped by the belief in “iron curtains” between Catholic Europe and the Islamicate world. Today, we know these narratives are wrong. In this talk, Dr. Brentjes will present examples of scientific and cultural elements in maps and celestial depictions produced across the Mediterranean, West Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent, reflecting on how these spaces interacted through the movement of ideas and practices.
For further information and updates, and for information about our next appointments, please visit our website:https://sites.google.com/view/entangledhistories/home?authuser=0
We thank you for your patience, your solidarity, and your commitment to keeping our intellectual community a safe and respectful space.
Contact Email
entangledhistories.seminars@gmail.com
URL
https://sites.google.com/view/entangledhistories/home?authuser=0
2. Hybrid: 19 Mar 26 – ‘Chairs and Change: Furnishing Mongol Iran’
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh College of Art
We are delighted to announce the eighth talk of the History of Art Research Seminar Series for this semester. It will be delivered by Dr Yusen Yu and the title of the seminar is ‘Chairs and Change: Furnishing Mongol Iran’.
It will take place on Thursday, 19th March, from 5.15 to 6.30pm GMT, at the Hunter Lecture Theatre in the Hunter Building, 74 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh College of Art (ECA).
This talk explores the changing meaning of furniture in Iran during the Mongol century, revealing how the aesthetics of everyday life were integral to social transformation. It examines how the arrangement of furniture, such as chairs, beds or tables, mediates the relationship between space, objects and the perceiving body. Dr Glaire Anderson will chair this seminar.
For the full list of seminars and more information on the speakers, please visit the ECA website: https://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/history-art-research-seminar-series
3. The Latin America and Caribbean Islamic Studies Newsletter
Vol. 6, no. 1 | Winter/Spring 2026
https://mailchi.mp/3958e1c79747/latin-america-caribbean-islamic-studies-newsletter-vol6-no1
- March 17, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.The Tokat Institute for Advanced Islamic Studies is pleased to announce the publication of its journal Islamic Intellectual Traditions (Brill).
Since the journal is Open Access, you can feel free share this link: https://brill.com/view/journals/iit/1/1/iit.1.issue-1.xml
You can also click on the “bell” symbol to the right of the screen at this in order to receive updates on the journal:
2. CfP: “Rabia Balkhi – the first woman- poetess possessing a divan in Tajik-Persian literature.”
The National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan invites you to participate in the International Scientific-Theoretical Conference dedicated to the poetic composition of Rabia Balkhi, on the theme: “Rabia Balkhi – the first woman- poetess possessing a divan in Tajik-Persian literature.”
The conference will take place on June 10–11, 2026.
Main thematic directions of the conference:
- The socio-literary situation of the era of Rabia Balkhi.
- Women and society in the 10th century.
- Prerequisites for women’s status in the literature.
- The role of women in the literary and cultural life of Tajik society.
- The poetry of Rabia Balkhi in the literature of the Samanid period.
- Rabia Balkhi and her contemporary poets.
- Artistic features of the surviving poems of Rabia Balkhi.
- Language and style of Rabia’s poetry.
- Problematics and ideological-thematic content of Rabia Balkhi’s works.
- The influence of Rabia’s views on the formation of love lyric and mystical poetry.
- The poetic mastery of Rabia Balkhi.
- Reflection of Rabia’s life path in the literature.
- Rabia and modern literature.
- Women poets in Tajik-Persian literature.
- Textology and source studies of the surviving works of Rabia.
- Analysis of manuscript sources and problems of attribution of Rabia’s poems.
- Source studies of women poetry.
- Rabia as a precursor of the women’s enlightenment movement.
- The image of Rabia in art and cinema.
- Reflection of Rabia’s biography in visual arts.
To participate in the conference, please send the title and text of your report by May 1, 2026 to the following email addresses:
Conference working languages: Tajik, Russian, and English.
Requirements for the preparation of scientific articles: abstract, keywords, and author information (in Tajik, Russian, and English languages).
The length of the article should not exceed one printed sheet.
The article should be typed in Times New Roman TJ, font size 14, line spacing 1.5.
Selection and approval of articles are carried out by the responsible persons of the conference organizing committee. Conference materials will be published a collection of scientific articles.
Expenses related to participation in the conference are to be covered by the participants themselves.
Address: 734025, Dushanbe, Rudaki Avenue, 21
Website: www.iza.tarena.tj
Phone: 227-29-07; 227-75-50; (+992) 904-46-23-87
Q Khushvakhtzoda
President of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan
3. Call for papers: Religious Freedom?—CIP’s 2026 Cambridge Student Symposium
Undergraduates and postgraduates are invited to propose creative or traditional presentations exploring how religion and freedom intersect across political, social, philosophical, and lived contexts. The symposium takes place on 24 June, with an online colloquium on 15 July; proposals (≈250 words) are due 1 May 2026. Full details at https://www.interfaith.cam.ac.uk/news/call-papers-religious-freedom-2026-student-symposium.
With best wishes,
Convenors of the 2026 Symposium:
Geneva Blackmer (Divinity)
Hannah Peterson (Sociology)
Songzan Xu (Divinity)
Supported by the Cambridge Interfaith Programme
4. Sohbat: Third Biennial Graduate Symposium on Islamic Art and Architecture
March 26-27, 2026
Department of History of Art, Yale School of Architecture | Yale University
190 York Street, New Haven, CT 06520
This year, the symposium will convene around the themes of destruction and reconstruction. The broad range of papers which will be presented over the course of two days respond to this theme from a range of historical, geographical, and methodological positions and address how can art and architectural histories recuperate the material past, as well as sensory and cognitive experiences that register in the memory and mentalities of a community. The symposium will begin with a keynote lecture by Professor Stephennie Mulder on March 26, followed by a full day of panels on March 27.
PROGRAM
Thursday, March 26th
Loria 351
4 p.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks, Loria 351
4.15 p.m. Keynote Lecture by Professor Stephennie Mulder, Associate Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture, University of Texas, Austin.
5:45 p.m. Reception.
Friday, March 27th
Loria 351
9:45 – 10:45 a.m. Panel 1: Crafting Material Worlds
Katelyn Kawthar Yang, Bard: Supple Memories: Leather Pilgrim Flasks and Material Transformation in Ottoman Turkey
Khushi Chaudhary, Bard: Bombay School Pottery: Sindh and Punjabi Origins
Elizabeth Akant, CUNY Graduate Center: Folk Craft, Populism, and Secular Vision in Turkish Modernism in Nurullah Berk’s Series
Discussant: Ayesha Ramachandran, Professor of Comparative Literature
10:45 Tea Break
11 a.m. – 12 p.m. Panel 2: History and Method
Nooralhuda Al Qayem, MIT: Unstable Histories and the Retroactive Construction of Memory: The Case of the King David Hotel Bombing as Told Through Oral Micro-Histories
Masha Nouri Soula, Temple University: Writing as Preservation: Remembering the Lost Life of Toopkhaneh Sqaure
Ms. Iffath Nreetha Uthumalebbe, Eastern University, Sri Lanka: Between Remembering and Preserving: Mapping Islamic Architecture in Eastern Sri Lanka (Online)
Alae El Ouazzani, Columbia University: The Anonymous Square Dirham and the Unmaking of Sijilmassa
Discussant: Morgan Ng, Assistant Professor of History of Art
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Panel 3: Processes and Identities in Islamic Architecture
Muhammad Fateha, MIT: Contextualizing the Demolition of the Islamic Monuments of Cairo
Ryan Mitchell, Temple University: Adapted Eclecticism and the Italians in the History of Late Ottoman Architecture in Egypt
Moaaz Lafi, American University in Cairo: Quiet Spaces of Power: Reinscribing Shi’i Funerary Presence in a Sunni Urban Landscape
Chiara Tedesco, Chartes PSL: The Ottoman Monuments of the Morea, Between Local Histories and Forgotten Heritage
Discussant: Craig Buckley, Associate Professor of History of Art
2:30 Tea Break
2:45 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Panel 4: Remapping Medieval and Early Modern Landscapes
Richard W. Ellis, UW Madison: Painted Ruins in Safavid Manuscripts: From Allegory to Augury
Zahra Rashid, UC Berkeley: The Garden Space of a Mughal Album: Parallel Metaphors in a Sufi Imaginary (Online)
Blair Winter, UIUC: The Shaping of a Medieval Landscape of al-Salihiyyah
Discussant: Jane Mikkelson, Associate Professor of the Humanities
5. Micrologus international conference “Verbositas Arabica, implicatio Graeca, paucitas Latina. Multilingual Text Traditions in the Middle Ages (8th–14th Century)”, which will be held in Louvain-la-Neuve and Leuven on 20-22 January 2027.
The transmission and circulation of philosophical and scientific texts in the Middle Ages did seldom remain within linguistically homogenous spheres. Transfer often occurred in places and periods where different languages coexisted and interacted. These text traditions can be traced through movements of copies, translations, reworkings, excerpts, glosses, and commentaries that continually reshaped the transmitted material, sometimes involving various languages. The transmission from one linguistic area to another, from one world to another, entailed numerous changes in expressions, concepts, and formats, not only on the level of the text, but also, at a larger scale, in the mentality of the receiving milieus. A change of language often involved a change in cultural, historical, and religious backgrounds. The study of these textual traditions, of their context and impact requires that we approach them as multilingual objects in a permanent state of fluidity.
This conference aims to explore various aspects of multilingualism in medieval text traditions in link with the Latin world, with particular attention to the history of science and philosophy in Greek, Arabic, Latin, Hebrew, and vernacular languages, from the eighth to the fourteenth century. We invite contributions that examine how texts were transmitted, translated, transformed, abbreviated, expanded, or reinterpreted as they moved across languages and scholarly communities. Preferred – but not exclusive – topics are:
– The Aristotelian tradition
– Alchemy, and occult sciences in general
– Translations
– Multilingual manuscripts and multilingual traditions
– Medieval reflections on translations
Presentation time should not exceed 25 minutes (excl. discussion). Papers presented at the conference will be published in the Micrologus Library series (SISMEL).
Venue: Louvain-la-Neuve (UCLouvain) and Leuven (KU Leuven)
Dates: 20-22 January 2027
Organisers: Pieter Beullens (KU Leuven) & Sébastien Moureau (UCLouvain)
Deadline for submission: 27 March 2026
Proposals should be sent to Pieter Beullens (pieter.beullens@kuleuven.be ) and Sébastien Moureau (sebastien.moureau@uclouvain.be ). They should contain a title, an abstract (shorter than 500 words), and name and affiliation.
6. ONLINE “Does Islam Have a Liberation Theology?”, 19th Annual Conference of the Muslim Studies Program, Michigan State University, 26-27 March 2026
Information, program, and registration: https://tinyurl.com/yj6nfukx
7. HYBRID International Conference “Perceptions of Health in the Nile Valley: The Social and Cultural Dimension of Healing Practice in the Egyptian Context from Antiquity to the Middle Ages (4th Millennium BCE – 16th Century CE)”, Cairo, 8-9 April 2026
The conference aims to explore new approaches to the study of medicine in Egypt, reconstructing the role of healing and health in the society, with a more comprehensive understanding of the health of individuals in Antiquity. Different types of sources (texts, artefacts, human remains) will be dis-cussed to explore the process of formation, systematisation, dissemination, accessibility and per-ception of healing know-how, and the concept of health.
Deadline for registration: 25 March 2026. Information and program: https://tinyurl.com/3s4a5j87
8. Conference “Mecmuas in the Ottoman World: Interdisciplinary Approaches and Current Research”, Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Vienna, 4-6 June 2026
The conference is dedicated to the study of manuscript miscellanies (mecmuas) as a key yet insufficiently theorised format of knowledge organisation across the Ottoman world and Eurasia. By examining mecmuas as dynamic sites of intellectual, religious, and practical exchange, the conference foregrounds their significance for understanding processes of communication and transformation across regions and periods.
Information, program and registration: https://mecmuaconference.univie.ac.at/
9. CfP: ONLINE Annual Conference Institute for Law and Society in Afghanistan (ILSAF): “Climate Change, Resilience, Law, and Policy Cooperation in Fragile States: The Case of Afghanistan“, 4-5 September 2026
We particularly encourage contributions that explore the intersection of climate change with law, governance, human rights, economic development, gender, migration, natural resource manage-ment, and regional cooperation.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 May 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4nrf2upd
10. 9th International Symposium “Politics and Society in the Islamic World”, University of Lodz, Poland, 21-23 October 2026
The Symposium welcomes contributions that examine how religious beliefs, discourses, and prac-tices interact with politics, international relations, security, social change, identity formation, and power relations, both in Muslim-majority societies and in minority and diaspora contexts.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 May 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/phbmrsfb
11. Postdoc (3 Years) in Reproductive Governance and Family Formations among Minority Communities Focus Arabic Community), Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University, Sweden
Qualification: Doctoral degree within (medical) anthropology, public policy, law, or the religious studies. – Excellent proficiency in at least one Scandinavian language. – Documented ability to conduct qualitative research, including document analysis and fieldwork. – Specialist knowledge or research experience in fieldwork with at least one religious and/or indigenous minority in Scandinavian and Nordic contexts. – Proficiency in minority languages spoken by Sámi, Arabic, or Romani communi-ties.
Deadline for applications: 9 April 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/ssnx4pej
12. Postdoc (2 Years) for Research on “Contemporary Arab Thought”, Radboud University, Netherlands
The project will explore how shifting Arab politics and societies shape 21st century intellectual life within a dynamic, interdisciplinary international environment. Qualification: PhD in Islamic studies, Arabic, history, philosophy, anthropology. – Demonstrated interest in contemporary Arab thought. – Methodological and theoretical background to carry out the proposed research. – Excellent com-mand of written and spoken English and Arabic and a command of additional languages relevant to the research proposal.
Deadline for applications: 22 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/ynuuvrff
13. Assistant Professor (Permanent) in Middle East Politics, School Government & Interna-tional Affairs, Durham University
Applicants with research and teaching expertise in the politics, political economy, or security of the Middle East, with a particular focus on the Arab states, are encouraged to apply. We particularly welcome applications from candidates whose research engages with state-society relations in the Arab world, with a particular focus on the Gulf.
Deadline for applications: 8 April 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/2jz6y4cd
14. PhD Position (3 Years) in the Project “Governing Health, Family and Religion: The Biopol-itics of Genetic Counselling and Religious Family Formations (RELI GENE)”, SOAS, London
The project examines how state led genetic healthcare policies intersect with religious and cultural practices in close-knit religious minority communities across Europe and the Middle East. The PhD student will focus on the governmentality of genetic counselling with a primary focus on Germany. Required are a Master’s degree in Social Policy, Political Science, Law, Anthropology or a related discipline, and strong proficiency in German and excellent academic writing skills in English.
Deadline for applications: 27 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3ry46ecf
15. Editor-in-Chief (5 Years) of “The Journal for Persianate Studies”, Journal of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies (ASPS)
Applicants should be active and published scholars in fields covered by the journal; demonstrate an interest in, and ability to work with, a diverse team of contributors and ASPS board members; and build relationships with researchers in the field of Persianate Studies. Previous editorial work is pre-ferred. We especially welcome applications from tenured scholars and institutional applications from scholarly research centres.
Deadline for applications: 1 April 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/522v4hak
16. Preceptor in Modern Turkish (3 Years), Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
Qualification: Native or near-native fluency in Turkish. – Extensive experience a strong record of effectiveness in teaching Turkish language at all levels. – Thorough experience with proficiency-based, communicative, student-centered, and up-to-date teaching methods in teaching undergradu-ate and graduate learners.
Deadline for applications: 27 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/ked7kkvp
17. Six Online Postgraduate Scholarships for “Global Digital Humanities Online MSc”, University St Andrews
This program offers a flexible, fully online postgraduate route for students interested in the relation-ship between technology, language, literature, culture, and heritage. The program is enriched by the School of Modern Languages’ broad expertise across eight language areas – Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Persian, Russian, and Spanish – as well as Comparative Literature. Each award is worth up to £4,500 towards tuition fees for up to three years.
Deadline for applications: 19 August 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4sp5hyxu
18. Summer School “The Politics of Archives in Turkey and related Geographies”, Consortium for European Symposia on Turkey (CEST), Naples, 20-28 September 2026
The summer school offers a unique week-long theoretical and practical training focused on archives that preserve, organize, and disseminate materials related to the history of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey.
Deadline for applications: 9 April 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4nvp89ut
19. Articles on “The Intellectual Making of Contemporary Islam: An Actor‑Centred Social History” for a Special Issue of the “Revue des mondes musulman et de la Méditerranée (Remmm)”, Edited by Samir Abdelli, Samia Kotele, Sophia Mouttalib
This special issue seeks to address the sociology of the contemporary Islamic intellectual field by reconnecting works and discourses with social history. The individual becomes a privileged entry point for studying three generations of actors in this intellectual formation between the 1910s and 1980s.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 September 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/5eumkbwf
20. Articles on “Global and Regional Governance: The Past Present and Future” (Focus on Sudan and Regional Governance) for a Special Issue of “The Journal of Social Encounters”, Edited by Pat Mische, Ron Pagnucco, Mawa Mohamed
We are calling for papers that explore past and present efforts, successful and unsuccessful, for regional and global governance, and offer visions and propose transitional steps toward the establishment of effective and sustainable systems of regional and global governance. Papers may approach this subject matter from one or more disciplines or perspectives (e.g., historical, cultural, philosophical, psychological, religious, political, economic, educational, media technological, and/or in terms of international law).
Deadline for abstracts: 31 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/y2xy7wpv
21. Articles for the Journal “YILLIK: Annual of Istanbul Studies 2026”, Istanbul Research Institute
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, anthropol-ogy, geography, urban planning, urban studies, and other related disciplines in humanities or social sciences.
Deadline for submissions: 15 May 2026. Information: https://en.iae.org.tr/call-for-papers/20
22. ONLINE New Book: “Ottoman-Era Documents from the Cairo Genizah” by Jane Hathaway, Cambridge Semitic Languages and Cultures/Open Book Publishers, 12 March 2026, 510 Pages
The book illuminates networks of exchange in the early modern Mediterranean. It will appeal to scholars of Jewish history, the Cairo Genizah, the Ottoman Empire, and early modern Egypt; students of Middle Eastern languages and religions; historians of intercommunal relations and trade; and librarians, archivists, and general readers fascinated by Middle Eastern manuscript culture and the vibrant religious and commercial networks of the early modern Mediterranean.
Download: https://tinyurl.com/rpj2ptj3
- March 14, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Online Persian Spring School – From Beginner to Advanced
The Ghand-e Parsi 2026 Spring Schoolis a seasonal program designed to offer learners from all backgrounds a rich, structured, and immersive experience of the Persian language and Persianate culture. With carefully designed courses at the elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels, the Spring School provides a comprehensive learning pathway—from building foundational communication skills to engaging deeply with historical, literary, artistic, and mystical Persian texts.
In addition to the core language levels, the program includes a diverse selection of cross-level courses that open interdisciplinary perspectives, such as Digital Humanities, Persian through Arabic, and Persian Poetry, taught by distinguished instructors. The Spring School brings together language learning, cultural exploration, and scholarly expertise in a unique and intellectually enriching environment.
All course sessions are fully recorded, allowing participants to review materials and watch sessions outside of live class hours.
Below you will find the list of courses offered this spring:
Elementary Courses
- Elementary Persian (Mohammad H. Naraghi)
Intermediate Courses
- Intermediate Persian
- Intermediate Persian through Short Stories
- Intermediate Persian through News Websites in Simple Persian
Advanced Courses
- Persian Literature as World Literature: An Introduction to Persian Poetry in English Translation
- Advanced Persian through Mystical and Sufi Texts
- Advanced Persian through Persian Codicology Texts
- Advanced Persian through Safavid Texts
- Advanced Persian through South Asian Persian Texts
- Advanced Persian through History of Art Texts
- Advanced Persian through Travelogues
- Advanced Persian through Central Asian texts
- Advanced Persian through Ethnographic Texts
Cross-Level Courses
- How to Read Persian Poetry: From the Shahnameh to Hafez and Jahan Malek Khatun
- Persian Language and Culture through Iranian Cinema
- Bridging Arabic & Persian: Learn Faster, Remember Better
- Digital Humanities and Persianate Studies Bootcamp
- Persian for Everyday Conversation
- Persian for Heritage Speakers
We warmly invite you to join us for this Spring School and take part in a meaningful journey into the Persian language and culture. Whether you are continuing your studies or joining Ghand-e Parsi for the first time, we hope this program will be both inspiring and rewarding.
🔗 Learn more about all courses:
https://www.ghandeparsi.com/springschool
🔗 Testimonials:
https://www.ghandeparsi.com/testimonials
📝 Register here:
https://forms.gle/4Qj9cc4jeUDCKJtv8
- March 10, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.The Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of Washington calls for submissions for the third cycle of the Mo Habib Translation Prize in Persian Literature.
Please find the details here.
Closing date: 1 Sept., 2026
Our inaugural winner was a translation by Dr. Michelle Quay of Reza Ghassemi’s Woodwind Harmony in the Nighttime, which is forthcoming by Deep Vellum in two weeks!
2. With the generous support of Farman-Farmaian Family, the IISH launches a new fellowship programme named the Prince Dr Sabbar Farman-Farmaian Fellowships for scholars who wish to use its collections for the study of social and economic history of 18-20 century of Iran, whether from a regional, national, or comparative and transnational perspective.
Fellowships are awarded for six months (1 October 2026 – 31 March 2027). This is a call for applications for fellowships for the year 2026/2027.
Deadline for applications is 15 May 2026.
Fellows receive a monthly stipend up to € 1,500, depending on the difference in average costs of living between Amsterdam and the country of origin. The fellowship also includes an economy return flight to the Netherlands, visa support, as well as arrangements for accommodation. Cost of health insurance in Amsterdam will be reimbursed.
Minimum requirements/selection criteria:
– An MA degree or higher,
– An updated CV, including home address
– A Research proposal in not more than 500 words
– Academic level English
The fellow’s research plan should fit the Institute’s focus on social history.
Fellows are expected:
– To write a report on their research activities at the end of the fellowship period,
– To be present at the institute customarily,
– To take part in the activities of the Institute’s Research Department,
– To interact with other fellows and the IISH’s research staff in the English language,
– To give at least one public lecture.
– To let us know if they need a Schengen visa
Selection will be made based on the quality and novelty of the proposed research project, its affinity to social history research conducted at the International Institute of Social History, and the applicant’s qualifications.
Outcome:
Fellows are expected to present the results of their work both orally to the other members of the Research Department, and in writing with a paper of min. 5000 and max. 8000 words (including notes). It is envisaged that the PDF version of the paper will be published as an occasional paper on the website of the IISH.
Applications:
Applications should be submitted before 1 May 2026 to jacqueline.rutte@bb.huc.knaw.nl
General information about the IISH can be obtained via www.iisg.amsterdam
More information about the fellowship can be obtained from Professor Touraj Atabaki,
e-mail: tat@iisg.nl
3. Zahra Institute
We are pleased to invite you to our upcoming online Spring Speaker Series. Our next event will take place on March 11, featuring Omar Sheikhmousspeaking on “Future Pathways for Kurdish Politics: Autonomy, Sovereignty and the Middle East Order.”
For more information about Zahra Institute’s upcoming programs, please see the attached event and program flyers and visit our website: https://www.zahrainstitute.org/. We appreciate your help in sharing these events within your networks.
March Events
“Future Pathways for Kurdish Politics: Autonomy, Sovereignty, and the Middle East Order”
Omar Sheikhmous, Independent Scholar and Researcher
Wednesday, March 11 — 12 PM Central / 1 PM Eastern
Register: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/MXE-g4HdRVamNMy5yhtYRQ#
“The Limits of Modern Islamic Political Thought: The Radical Ideas of Hoca Mehmed Sadik Efendi”
Alp Eren Topal, Assistant Professor, Ibn Haldun University
Wednesday, March 25 — 12 PM Central / 1 PM Eastern
Register: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/So7mauctQcKRv1krOeNwEg#
4. The American Research Institute in Turkey announces fellowships for research in Turkey. Awards are offered for research in ancient, medieval, or modern times, in any field of the humanities and social sciences. Tenures range from one to three months.
Applications due April 1, 2026
Contact Information
Nancy Leinwand, American Research Institute in Turkey
Contact Email
URL
https://aritweb.org/fellowships/arit-research-fellowships/
5. AN EPIC OF MARTYRS: Revolutionary Images & Muslim Mythologies in 1960s Iraq
Elizabeth Rauh (American University in Cairo)
Thursday, March 12 @ 10:00am | 110 Warren 312
Rutgers University-Newark
In the immediate aftermath of the 1963 Iraqi Ba’ath Party-led coup d’état of the Republic of Iraq and assassination of its democratically elected Prime Minister, Abd al-Karim Qasim, several prominent artists began producing new artworks and public art exhibitions. Iraqi artists drew upon transnational anticolonial symbols and common motifs of the heroic worker, farmer, and revolutionary to visualize collective solidarity and resistance against the new regime. Yet these new artistic activities also began incorporating representations and materials drawn specifically from Islamic religious traditions. The activation of historically religious content into contemporary artworks reveals how anti-authoritarian political resistance increasingly comingled with new heroic mythologies in the 1960s Islamic World.
Contact Information
Alex Dika Seggerman
Contact Email
URL
https://sites.rutgers.edu/islam-humanities/event/an-epic-of-martyrs-revolutiona…
6. The second International Conference on Globalisation/Deglobalisation in Languages, Education, Culture and Communication (GLECC2026) is going to be held 28-30 July 2026, Manchester, UK.
The past two decades have witnessed remarkable advancements in the studies into Education, Second and Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting, Cultural Studies, and Communication. This growth, evident in both the number of active researchers and the volume of scholarly throughput and outcomes, can be largely attributed to the forces of globalisation. Consequently, adopting the globalisation perspective is timely and provides a natural framework for connecting these diverse yet interlinked disciplines.
This conference aims to bring together researchers, educators, practitioners, and policymakers from the realms of education, foreign and second languages, cultural studies, translation, interpreting, and communication to disseminate research outcomes, share insights, discuss findings, exchange visions, and identify challenges and trends in an interactive and immersive multidisciplinary environment.
Keynote speech: “Translation, Chinese Texts, and World Literature” by Professor Yifeng Sun, University of Macau, China.
The conference is co-organised by AT Publishing in association with its journals namely, Research in Education Curriculum and Pedagogy: Global Perspectives (RECAP) [ISSN: 2977-1633]; New Perspectives on Languages (NPL) [ISSN: 3033-490X]; The International Journal of Chinese and English Translation & Interpreting (IJCETI) [ISSN: 2753-6149]; and Recent Advances in Humanities Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) [ISSN: 2978-1345]. There is a “conference first” policy in place. Selected papers will be invited to further develop into full journal articles free of APCs.
Conference proceedings will be published open access with an ISBN.
Submission deadline: 30 April 2026
Click here to find out what the 2025 conference was like and hear feedback from the participants.
The conference proceedings can also be viewed here.
The Area Studies Network list is run by the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, www.llas.ac.uk. LLAS is now a Subject Centre of the Higher Education Academy, www.heacademy.ac.uk
7. Séminaire “L’Afghanistan à travers les âges” – 5e séance mercredi 11 mars 18h-19h30Nnous avons le plaisir de vous convier à la troisième séance du séminaire “L’Afghanistan à travers les âges”, qui se tiendra mercredi 11 mars 2025, 18h-19h30, en salle 3.01 à l’INaLCO(65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris XIII, 3eétage).
Malheureusement la séance avec Alka Patel ne pourra pas avoir lieu et sera remplacée par la présentation des derniers ouvrages sur l’Afghanistan:
- Azad, with P. Firoozbakhsh,The Warehouse of Bamiyan: Economic Life in Medieval Afghanistan, Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2026, 368 pp.
Résumé : Bamiyan, in present-day Afghanistan, is famous for its giant Buddhas, but what was life like for its rural inhabitants 500 years after the Muslim conquest? The Warehouse of Bamiyan uncovers the untold history of the region’s warehouse, revealing the lives of farmers, landholders, the taxes they paid, and their role in the economy. Based on newly discovered documents studied since the late 2010s, Arezou Azad details the reconstruction of the archive and the scholarly methods used behind the scenes to read medieval documents ‘against the grain.’ The book offers a fresh perspective on the medieval eastern Islamicate lands through the lens of medieval Bamiyan, highlighting the significance of agricultural societies and shedding light on the diverse roles of rural communities often overlooked in royal narratives.
- Firoozbakhsh, P. et A. Azad,The Rise and Fall of the Barmakids: Stories from a Forgotten Persian Manuscript, Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2026, 344 pp.
Résumé : This volume offers the first annotated English translation of Ḍiyāʾal-Dīn Baranī’s The Accounts of the Barmakids, based on a little-known manuscript housed in the Bodleian Library, MS Ouseley 217. The Barmakids, originally from the Balkh region in modern-day Afghanistan, were a prominent family of converts to Islam who rose to great power in the 8th century, under the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates. Their influence reached its height under the Abbasid caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd, who eventually brought about their downfall. The Barmakids have intrigued both medieval and modern scholars, with their legacy preserved in regional lore and Western popular culture, the latter particularly through the One Thousand and One Nights. While early Arabic sources provide factual accounts of the family, Baranī’s Persian story cycle, written in the 14th-century, paints a more vivid picture. Contained within this work are 70 tales, including stories of generosity, wise leadership, romance and skulduggery.
- De Chiara et H. Kabir, Dictionnaire pratique pashto-français, Paris : L’Asiathèque, 2026, 512 pp.
Résumé : Le pashto est une langue parlée par près de 60 millions de personnes dans une région s’étendant de l’est de l’Afghanistan à l’ouest du Pakistan, ainsi que dans une très large diaspora à travers le monde. En Afghanistan, c’est la langue officielle avec le dari (persan afghan) depuis 1937, tandis qu’au Pakistan, c’est la langue régionale des provinces de Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (l’ancienne North-West Frontier Province) et du Baloutchistan. Aujourd’hui, nous disposons de nombreux dictionnaires monolingues et bilingues dans le domaine de la lexicographie internationale, certains même de grande dimension, tels que l’Afgansko-russkij slovar’ (pushtu) d’Aslanov (1966, 60 000 mots), le Pashto-Pashto Descriptive Dictionary (1979, 50 000 mots), le Daryāb Dictionary de Qalandar Momand (1994, 70 000 mots), le Dictionnaire général pashto-français de Wardag Akbar (2015, 40 000 mots), ou le Pashto Academy Dictionary (Pashto to Pashto) de Khayal Buxāri (2018, 85 000 mots). Toutefois, la spécificité du présent dictionnaire est celle de considérer avant tout le lexique effectivement utilisé par les locuteurs, environ 15 000 mots, qui comprennent également des dérivés et des locutions polyrhématiques.
Vous trouverez l’intégralité du programme 2025-2026 du séminaire mensuel de recherche “L’Afghanistan à travers les âges” en ligne sur le site du CeRMI: L’Afghanistan à travers les âges – Centre de recherche sur le monde iranien
Vous trouverez également ici le lien de connexion: https://zoom.us/j/96136711428?pwd=jqZ3lotYx6re8bpoU4uAYPl9GRM1CF.1
8. 09/03/2026, 15.00 CET, Dr. Noemie Lucas (University of Edinburgh) and Dr. Dalia Hussein (University of Edinburgh): People and Taxes: The Functioning of the Fiscal Cycle in Abbasid Egypt
This session is part of the project seminar series “Science, Society and Environmental Change in the First Millennium CE”. It analyzes the functioning of the fiscal cycle in Abbasid Egypt, exploring the relationship between people and taxes.
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/4zmeaebr
9. HYBRID Seminar: “Emotions in Early Islam: Method, Text, and the Formation of Sufism” by Riccardo Paredi, Hagop Kevorkian Center, New York University, 10 March 2026, 22:30 CET
While central to religious life, emotions remain under-theorized in Islamic Studies. After reconsidering the category of “emotion” in relation to premodern Islamic sources, Paredi assesses the possibilities and limits of a philological approach to key affective clusters such as sadness, longing, love, envy, and anger. Drawing on early renunciant and Sufi texts. He analyzes how these emotions shaped religious experience and intersected with core Sufi concepts such as manners (ādāb), ethics (akhlāq), and spiritual conditions (aḥwāl).
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/yfcp83fb
10. “32nd Congress of the German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO)”, University of Munich, 10-12 September 2026
Deadline for abstracts: 22 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/bdepfthb
11. Fellowships (1-3 Months) for Research in Turkey, American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT), Istanbul and Ankara
Awards are offered for research in ancient, medieval, or modern times, in any field of the humanities and social sciences. Stipends will range from $2,500 – $5,000. ARIT offers research and study facilities as well as connections with colleagues, institutions, and authorities through its branch cen-ters.
Deadline for applications: 1 April 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/34y7cbrb
12. Summer Abroad Program: ‘’Art Treasures of Anatolia from Byzantine to Seljuk”, Depart-ment of Art History, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konja, 13-27 July 2026
This unique cultural program aims to explore medieval Anatolian art and architecture through on-site study in Konya, with particular emphasis on the region’s Byzantine and Seljuk heritage. The course combines lectures with field trips to major monuments, archaeological sites, and museums, enabling participants to study art and architecture within their historical context.
Deadline for application: 2 June 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/ycys49zs
13. New Book: Challenging the Caliphate
Wahhabism and Mahdism in the Late Ottoman Empire
How did steam transportation and print culture reshape the Ottoman Empire’s centre-periphery relations in the nineteenth century? Challenging the Caliphate offers a fresh perspective on modernization in the Muslim world, exploring how these developments in infrastructure, technology, and communications impacted ideas of the Caliphate, Wahhabism, and Mahdism. Through rich archival re-search and micro-historical examples, Koçyiğit demonstrates how new technologies influenced po-litical authority, religious movements, and the spread of ideas.
Information: https://tinyurl.com/35caxksw
14. Neues Buch: “Zwischen Wort und Sinn: Az-Zamaḫšarī (gest. 538/1144) und die Kunst der Koranexegese” von Dina El Omari, Bibliotheca Academica – Orientalistik, Bd. 39), Ergon, 2026, 150 Seiten
Dieses Buch bietet einen fundierten Zugang zu einem der einflussreichsten Werke der islamischen Koranexegese. Ausgehend von einer biographischen und intellektuellen Verortung des Gelehrten beleuchtet das Buch die theologischen Grundlagen seines Denkens, seine methodische Vielfalt sowie die Besonderheiten seiner exegetischen Argumentation. Das Buch zeigt dabei, warum sein philologisch-rationaler Ansatz auch für eine zeitgemäße Koraninterpretation inte-ressant ist.
Information: https://tinyurl.com/4m4ynw47
- March 07, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Assistant Teaching Professor, Persian Studies Program at Georgetown University
The Persian Studies Program at Georgetown University invites applications for a three-year, full-time, non-tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Teaching Professor to begin August 2026.
https://apply.interfolio.com/182312
2. Le CeRMI a le plaisir de vous convier à la prochaine séance du séminaire “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du Monde iranien”, qui se tiendra le jeudi 12 mars 2026, 17h-19h, en salle 3.03 à l’INaLCO (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris XIII, 5eétage).
Nous sommes heureux d’accueillir M. Thibaut d’Hubert, chercheur associé (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) à l’Institut für Indologie und Tibetologie à la Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität de Munich, pour une conférence intitulée: Poétique du feu et de la lumière à la cour d’un roi soleil.
Résumé :
Fayḍī Fayyāḍī (1547-1595), poète lauréat (malik al-shuʿarā) de l’empereur moghol Akbar (r. 1556-1605) est une des figures de transition du début de la période postclassique dans l’histoire de la poésie persane et un poète canonique dans la tradition indo-persane. L’écho de sa poésie en Inde moghole, dans les sultanats du Deccan, en Iran safavide et, de manière tout à fait remarquable, dans le domaine ottoman s’explique en partie par les fonctions artistiques, administratives et diplomatiques que Fayḍī occupait à la cour moghole. Mais, au-delà de ces raisons pragmatiques et circonstancielles, c’est bien la nature de son style et l’intervention que constituait son œuvre au sein de la tradition poétique persane qui expliquent la réception de son œuvre. Dans cette communication je souhaite revenir sur la fonction de Fayḍī comme chantre de la mystique solaire du dīn-i ilāhī à la cour d’Akbar, mais aussi et surtout je propose d’étudier la dimension proprement poétique de l’imagerie que ce discours théologique et politique lui permit d’exploiter. Le risque de la perception de l’œuvre de Fayḍī comme simple instrument de propagande est de la réduire à sa dimension rhétorique et ainsi d’ignorer l’énergie poétique qui s’en dégage et qui, davantage que le discours politique ou religieux, capta l’attention de générations de poètes et de lecteurs.
Orientations bibliographiques :
– Desai, Z. A. “Life and Works of Faiḍí.” Indo-Iranica 16, no. 3 (1963): 1–35.
– Fayḍī, Abū al-Fayḍ ibn Mubārak. Dīwān-i Fayḍī (954-1004): buzurgtarīn shāʿir-i sada-yi dahum-i sarzamīn-i Hind. Edited by E. Ḍ. Arshad and Ḥusayn Āhī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Furūghī, 1362Sh.
– Fayḍī, Abū al-Fayzḍ ibn Mubārak Fayḍī Fayyāḍī. Inshā-yi Fayḍī. Edited by I.D. Arshad. Vol. 129. Fārsī kā kilāsīkī adab. Lahore: Majlis-i Taraqqī-yi Adab, 1973.
– Grobbel, Gerald. Der Dichter Faiḍī und die Religion Akbars. Berlin: Schwarz, 2001.
– Resalatpanahi, Mohammad Mostafa, and Seyed Mohammad Rastgo. “Reviewing, Analyzing, and Criticizing the Printed Version of Faizi Fayyazi’s Poetical Works.” Textual Criticism of Persian Literature 10, no. 1 (2018): 64–79.
Vous retrouverez l’intégralité du programme 2025-2026 du séminaire mensuel de recherche “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du Monde iranien” en ligne sur le site du CeRMI: https://cermi.cnrs.fr/seminaires-de-recherche/societes-politiques-et-cultures-du-monde-iranien-2025-2026/
Dans l’attente du plaisir de vous retrouver à l’occasion de ces séances, qui se déroulent en présentiel sur le site de l’INaLCO (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris XIII).
Bien cordialement,
Les organisateurs –
Simon Berger et Justine Landau
Contact: justine.landau@sorbonne-nouvelle.fr
3. UCLA: Women, Art, Freedom: Artists and Street Politics in Iran
Pamela Karimi
Cornell University
Persian Lecture
Monday, March 16, 2026 at 2:00 pm Pacific Time
Online via Zoom
Registration Required:
https://ucla.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mvqHL0u4QFGuYqFdFbiikg
- March 03, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Arab Media and Society: Issue 39 & New Call for Papers
https://mailchi.mp/1186645f16d7/now-available-issue-39-new-call-for-papers?e=f1106c9666
2. April 2026 ONLINE WORKSHOP Collectively Situated Knowledge: A Decolonial Research Method for Constructing Collective Auto-Narratives and Positionalities
upcoming opportunities to engage in collective, decolonial, and non-capitalist research practice offered by El Cambalache’s Department of Decolonial Economics.
This workshop is an invitation to unlearn extractive research, re-center care and reciprocity, and create knowledge collectively.
Dates: April 13th – May 5th, 2026
Time: All sessions are Mondays and Tuesdays:
- 8hrs to 10hrs, Mexico City Time,
- 15hrs to 17hrs, UK British Summer Time
- 16hrs-18hrs Central European Time,
- 20:30hrs-22:30hrs India Standard Time
Where? Online (Global Participation)
Language: ENGLISH
Apply Now! Limited spaces available
About the workshop:
This workshop explores collective auto-narrative, situated knowledges, and relational research methods.
Participants will co-create tools to reimagine research as care, relationship, and collective praxis.
This workshop addresses research methods for the creation of scholar/activist knowledge with indigenous, rural and organized urban communities that seek to create decolonial research methodologies. Through participatory practices of knowledge exchange:
(1) we will explore different auto-narrative types, review sample texts followed by writing practice
(2) we will then work to incorporate collective forms of knowledge creation
drawing on the decision-making structures of community assemblies
present in many rural and indigenous communities around the world,
(3) we will explore collective auto-narrative as a research method.
In this process we will dismantle the construction and practice of situating knowledge in order to create collective positionalities that reflect the construction of the self within the collective contexts that we inhabit. By exploring collective forms of agency in knowledge creation, we will delve into the multiplicitous protaganisms that conglomerate in creating praxis and have the potential to resist epistemicide.
This workshop will cover:
– Different auto-narrative types with a specific focus on autoethnography
– Methods and analyses for creating decolonial economic projects.
– Understanding ourselves as situated knowers and how to position ourselves collectively.
– Unlearning colonial paradigms of research and knowledge production.
– Rethinking value, exchange, and labor in research.
– El Cambalache as an example of an anti-capitalist and non-hierarchical research
For more information including a full description and how to apply click here to download a pdf: https://cambalache.noblogs.org/files/2026/02/collective-methods-online-2026.pdf
3. CfP: The International Symposium on Piri Reis and Maritime History – November 2024, Istanbul
In commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Kitāb-ı Bahriye, the International Piri Reis and Maritime History Symposium will be held at Piri Reis University from November 18 to 21, 2026.
The symposium aims to address the life and works of Piri Reis within their historical context through a multilayered perspective. The symposium will address, through an interdisciplinary approach, topics such as the reflections of Mediterranean-centered maritime experience in the Kitāb-ı Bahriye, Ottoman cartography, the circulation of knowledge during the Age of Geographical Discoveries, maritime strategies in the Mediterranean, and global maritime activities in the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean.
In this respect, the symposium seeks to explore the Ottoman maritime heritage within the framework of Piri Reis and the Kitāb-ı Bahriye, and to reassess the stages of development and transformation that maritime practices have undergone from the past to the present within an international academic setting.
For the symposium program, application requirements, and current announcements, please visit the symposium website: https://denizciliktarihi.pirireis.edu.tr/en/
Contact Information
Contact Persons:
Nilay Bahadır
nbahadir@pirireis.edu.tr
Orkun Burak Tafralı
obtafrali@pirireis.edu.tr
Contact Email
URL
https://denizciliktarihi.pirireis.edu.tr/en/
4. New Release: Maria-Vittoria Fontana (ed), Hodeida the Coastal Tehama (Yemen), published by Istituto per l’Oriente C.A. Nallino (Rome, 2025), 3 vols.
These three volumes are devoted to the Yemeni city of Hodeida, the main subject of two targeted survey campaigns
carried out in 1997 and 1999 by the Mission of the (then) Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli (IUO Mission to
Hodeida) under the direction of Maria-Vittoria Fontana; it also covered two other port cities on the Yemeni Tehama
Coast, namely Mocha and Loheia.
Dedicated to the memory of Eugenio Galdieri, this three-volume book discusses these three coastal spaces in
Yemen, though the city of Hodeida takes the lion’s share in the discussion. It contains 43 chapters, which are the
result of a collaborative work of seventeen specialists.
Volume 1:
Foreword by Claudio Lo Jacono,
Note on transliteration,
Maps,
Tribute to Eugenio Galdieri,
Preface and Acknowledgments,
Introduction,
Chapters 1-12 (Hodeida: its geo-morphological context, its history from antiquity to the present, its trade and
inhabitants, its urban planning, its city walls and gates, the city plan of its intra-mœnia city)
Volume 2:
Chapters 13-23 (Hodeida, the intra-mœnia city: the catalogue of the 151 historical buildings and their inscriptions
dating from the late 18th century to the 20th century, the catalogue of the wooden artefacts and the stuccowork,
brickwork, and stained glass of the catalogued buildings, the catalogue of the mosques, the so-called samsara, the
public weigh station, the construction techniques and materials; Hodeida, the extra-mœnia city: the sample buildings
and their inscriptions, their wooden artefacts, stuccowork, brickwork, and stained glass)
Volume 3:
Chapters 24-43 (Hodeida, the extra-mœnia city: the sample mosques, the governors' residences, the cisterns and
forts; Hodeida: the intra- and extra-mœnia cities: insights, comments and comparisons, including two chapters on
the Red Sea Style, the port and shipping lines; Mocha and Loheia: their historical buildings and their inscriptions),
Bibliographical references,
Index of names and places
5. The Digital Lab for Islamic Visual Culture & Collections is pleased to announce the third online calligraphy workshop with international artist and designer Hatem Arafa, taking place 28 Feb – 17 March 2026.
Hatem Arafa is an international designer and calligrapher trained at the Traditional Islamic Arts Faculty at FSMV University in Istanbul. His notable projects include the logo and interior calligraphy artworks for Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage (2023), commemorative coins for Djibouti (2023) and Qatar’s World Cup (2022), and interior calligraphy for the Cary Mosque, USA (2022).
- Duration: 3 weeks, with two 2-hour lessons per week (total of 6 lessons)
- Each 2-hour session will be held Saturdays & Tuesdays 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm EST / 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm UK
- Format: Live online on Zoom
- Focus: Teaching Diwani calligraphy, starting from individual letters to forming words and sentences
- Places are limited
Contact Information
Dr. Glaire Anderson
Senior Lecturer in Islamic Art, University of Edinburgh
Founding Director, DLIVCC
Contact Email
URL
https://www.digitallabivcc.com/calligraphy
6. Astrology and History in Early Islam
Aligning Heaven and Earth
EUP, 2026
Antoine Borrut
7. Cultural Brokerage in Premodern Islamic Societies
Edited by Uriel Simonsohn, Luke Yarbrough
EUP, 2026
8. Open Access – Afghanistan
8.2 (Oct, 2025)
9. Artificial Intelligence in EFL and Academic Writing: Pedagogical, Ethical, and Critical Perspectives from Global Higher Education
We have the pleasure to share with you our full issue on “ Artificial Intelligence in EFL and Academic Writing: Pedagogical, Ethical, and Critical Perspectives from Global Higher Education.”
For the full issue, click here
For the individual paper, click here
Call for papers for the 12th Special Issue on Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), July 2026
Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) welcomes the submission of papers for the July 11th special issue on Computer-Assisted Language Learning (July 2026). The issue publication date is July 2026. The deadline for manuscript submission is April 15, 2026. We ask you kindly to submit your paper according to the Manuscript Guidelines for AWEJ at our website www.awej.orgor go to this particular link http://awej.org/index.php/ps
Please send your paper and a brief bio (four lines for each author) by e-mail to: editor@awej.org
For more details, please click here
Kind Regards,
Editor: Arab World English Journal
https://awej.org/
10. Keynote Speakers Announced for 2026 BRISMES Annual Conference
We are delighted to announce that Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian and Dr Munira Khayyat will be joining us as keynote speakers at this year’s annual conference. Conference registration for presenting delegates is now open and registration for non-presenting delegates will open in April. We recommend booking your accommodation early if you are planning to attend the conference and have put together a list of accommodation options near SOAS University of London to help with this. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch by emailing conference@brismes.org.
11. Watch Recording of BRISMES Webinar “What’s in an Archive?”
We are pleased to share a recording of the BRISMES webinar “What’s in an Archive? The Colonial and Anticolonial Afterlives of MENA Archives” which was hosted by our Outreach & Pedagogy Committee on 27 January 2026.
12. BRISMES – Deadline Approaching for 2026 Early Career Development Scholarship
If you are an early career scholar who would benefit from funding to help support activities geared towards strengthening your academic profile and CV, then please consider submitting an application for the 2026 BRISMES Early Career Development Scholarship. Two awards of £3,000 each are available.
More information about eligibility criteria and how to apply is available on the BRISMES website. The deadline for submissions is 20 March 2026.
https://www.brismes.ac.uk/awards/ecds
13. Lecturer (Modern Middle East after 1800)
University of York
The Department of History is seeking to appoint a Lecturer in the History of the Modern Middle East (after 1800), possessing knowledge of Middle Eastern sources, peoples, communities, and languages. The post is offered on an open contract from September 2026.
Deadline | 19 March 2026
More information
14. Call for Applications | The Gibb Memorial Trust Scholarships
Funding
The Gibb Memorial Trust is offering three annual scholarships to students undertaking doctoral research at a British university in the field of the Trust’s activities. The scholarships support doctoral research in any area of Middle Eastern Studies (7th century to 1918) or in Classical Persian Studies.
Deadline | 30 March 2026
More information
15. Call for Papers | The 2026 International Conference of the Syrian Academics and Researchers’ Network in the UK (SARN UK)
Conference, University of Cambridge, 17-18 September 2026
The Syrian Academics and Researchers’ Network in the UK (SARN UK) is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for its 2026 international conference, co-hosted with the Margaret Anstee Centre for Global Studies (MAC) at Newnham College, University of Cambridge. This year’s theme, “Syria in Transition: Knowledge, Memory, and the Everyday Aftermath,” invites Syrian and Syria-focused scholars to reflect on the evolving role of academic, cultural, and intellectual work in shaping Syria’s futures.
Deadline | 15 May 2026
More information
16. Forced Migration, Masculinities, and Vulnerabilities in the Mediterranean
Book launch (hybrid) | LSE | 10 March
Join the LSE Department of Social Policy for the launch of Forced Migration, Masculinities, and Vulnerabilities in the Mediterranean, a new book examining forced migrant men’s vulnerabilities along the Central Mediterranean Route (CMR), which connects sub-Saharan Africa to Sicily via Libya.
More information
17. Iran, “Reverse savages, victims, saviours” politics, and the human rights moral maze
Online seminar | BISA | 12 March
In this seminar, Shadi Mokhtari will present select themes from her current book project examining the human rights politics surrounding Iran’s 2022 ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement. This event is convened by the Critical Alternatives for World Politics Working Group.
More information
18. UCLA – God’s Law, Man’s Rule: Debating Women’s Right to Health from Sacred Texts to the Taliban
MESA Global Academy
A lecture by Lutforahman Saeed (Visiting Scholar and Islamic Law Lecturer, Birgham Young University Law School, Provo)
Monday, March 2, 2026
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM PST
Online
https://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/event/17566
19. “14th Western Ottomanists` Workshop (WOW)”, Portland State University, Oregon, 15-16 May 2026
The workshop invites proposals on topics related to Ottoman history, culture, literature, art history, religion, and all other relevant fields.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4dzw5w9t
20. ONLINE Seminar: “Along the Borders of the Film Archive: Views of the Ottoman Empire” by Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi (Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam), REDMIX Seminar Series, 31 March 2026, 17:00 CET
Information and registration: https://redmix.eu/news-and-events/
21. 4th Annual Conference of the Research Group Empires on “Responding to Empire (Fo-cus MENA Region)”, University of Freiburg, Germany, 11-13 November 2026
We aim to explore a wide spectrum of responses to empires, moving from the binary of supporters and opposers, through shifting allegiances and unresolved positions, to more nuanced and often contradictory stances. Hence, considering both material practices and epistemological positions, the goal of this conference is to create a multifaceted picture of how these responses shaped the empire through time.
Deadline for abstracts: 13 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yb985ekf
22. “Intensive Summer Program for Ottoman Turkish”, Research Center for Anatolian Civ-ilizations (ANAMED), Koç University, Istanbul, 29 June – 31 July 2026
The program aims to develop students’ reading and comprehension skills and earn them exper-tise in a variety of Ottoman Turkish sources, including archival documents, manuscripts, and ep-igraphic material. The program is designed to accommodate participants with varying levels of Ottoman Turkish literacy. Persian, Arabic, and modern Turkish classes complement Ottoman Turkish classes. The languages of the program are Turkish and English.
Deadline for applications: 21 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yck8pykc
23. École d’été en islamologie IFI-Idéo « Sciences islamiques en dialogue : tradition azhar-ienne et islamologie critique », Le Caire, 13-26 juillet 2026
Condition pour candidater : être francophone (une connaissance en français niveau B1 est souhaitable), être inscrit en thèse de doctorat en islamologie ou dans une discipline affiliée, justi-fier d’un niveau linguistique en arabe équivalent à B1.
Les candidatures doivent être adressées avant le 1er avril 2026.
Information : https://tinyurl.com/2p9kfvs5
24. Mystique et solidarité dans le monde iranien
de Sylvie le Pelletier-Beaufond
Cerf, 2026.
Au coeur des cités iraniennes médiévales s’est développée une chevalerie sans équivalent ail-leurs dans le monde. Ni militaire ni aristocratique, mais urbaine, fraternelle et spirituelle, elle unissait artisans, commerçants et maîtres de métiers autour d’un idéal exigeant de noblesse intérieure. Bonté, générosité, pardon et solidarité n’y relevaient pas du discours moral, mais d’une manière concrète de vivre et d’agir au sein de la cité.
Information : https://tinyurl.com/5fj8eejb
- February 28, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.“The Mythmaking of Silk Roads: Reinventing Eurasian Heritage
- in Japan, 1880-1980”.
The Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, and Cluster of Excellence “EurAsia Transformations” (Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna), are pleased to co-host the Tobunken Seminar: “The Mythmaking of Silk Roads: Reinventing Eurasian Heritage in Japan, 1880-1980”.
As the opening event of the four-day programme “EurAsia-Tokyo Academy”, this seminar aims at investigating, by focusing on Japan as a case study, how the knowledge of Eurasian
heritage acquired during the late nineteenth and much of the twentieth centuries have influenced the way in which many people worldwide came to understand the visual, material and textual legacies of the trans-Eurasian trade network called “Silk Roads”.
Date and Time: Tuesday, 17 March 2026, 16:30 (JST)
Venue: Room 302, 3rd floor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia,
University of Tokyo and online via Zoom
Language: English
Pre-registration is required for both in-person and online
participation. Please complete the registration form at
< https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.gle%2FUHwpGULSFWwpbops8&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ccc8948528d2548e7e42908de724aacab%7C2e9f06b016694589878910a06934dc61%7C0%7C0%7C639073862217779188%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=aBfvpCs7hph6Tor4qRZ88iKJTd%2B9ntUJeRRysxxgyvA%3D&reserved=0>
by Tuesday 10 March, 24:00 (JST).
A Zoom link will be sent to all
registrants by the end of the following day.
Co-organised by: Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of
Tokyo, and Cluster of Excellence “EurAsia Transformations” (Austrian
Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna)
Contact: Kazuo Morimoto (morikazu@ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp )
Programme
16:00-16:30 Arrival
16:30-16:45 Welcome: Kazuo Morimoto (The University of Tokyo)
Introduction: Yuka Kadoi (University of Vienna)
16:45-17:15 Shamim Homayun (The University of Tokyo)
Placing Afghanistan on the Silk Road: Japanese Encounters with the
Bamiyan Buddhas, 1926–1969
17:15-17:45 Francesca Fiaschetti (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Mapping the Steppe: Twentieth-Century Japanese Scholarship on Mongols
and Inner Asia
17:45-18:00 Discussion
2. In the Rose Garden: Poetic Reponses to Sa’di. Art of the Islamic Worlds at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.(Deadline: March 1)
Public program at MFAH: March 26, 2026.
Art of the Islamic Worlds invites creative writers to respond to the Gulistan (Rose Garden), the major work of the preeminent 13th century Persian poet, Shaykh Sa’di. A series of amusing, witty, and wise tales interweaving prose and poetry offer reflections on topics such as ‘Love and Youth,’ ‘The Customs of Kings,’ and ‘The Advantages of Silence.’ The work speaks to 21st-century concerns about ethics and justice, as it did to 19th-century poets including Emerson and Thoreau. A 19th-century illustrated manuscript of the Gulistan replete with lively paintings from the Indian kingdom of Alwar is on view in the Hossein Afshar Galleries for Art of the Islamic Worlds. Selected writers will read their works in the Art of the Islamic Worlds Galleries at the MFAH.
For details and submission information, please visit: https://www.mfah.org/art/in-the-rose-garden-poetic-reponses-to-sadi. Contact: ahosain@mfah.org.
3. Open Access Publication – Ars Orientalis 55
The National Museum of Asian Art is pleased to announce the launch of Ars Orientalis (AO) volume 55, co-published with the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
AO is a journal of the latest research in art of the Middle East and Asia, a collection of scholarship that crosses academic disciplines and covers a range of time periods, materials, and regions. After decades of guest-edited thematic volumes, since AO 54, the publishers have returned to a model of open submission, inviting articles related to the arts of Asia without restriction.
In addition to a range of articles on the arts of Asia, AO 55 introduces “New Directions,” an occasional feature comprising a longer, non-peer reviewed article on current scholarship and/or the state of the field. The inaugural “New Direction” piece, written by Gülru Necipoğlu, is based on her 2023 Freer Medal presentation at the National Museum of Asian Art. It offers a fresh perspective on a highly innovative pictorial language that developed in Iran and Iraq at the turn of the fourteenth century and stands out for its adoption of both Chinese and European aesthetics. “Conversations from the Field” is a timely mediation on the role and function of physical and digital replicas of works of art. One essay examines the role of plaster casts of Ancient Near Eastern art and the use of digital apps to strengthen the experience of these works at the Museum of Ancient Near East, Harvard University. A second essay discusses replicas of the rarely seen treasures of the Shōsōin Temple in Nara, Japan. Expanding on the theme of replicas, the “Digital Initiatives” explores the benefits and limitations of interactive digital models for objects of religious art.
The volume is available Open Access: https://asia.si.edu/research/publications/ars-orientalis/browse-volumes/ars-orientalis-issue-55/. The physical volume is also available for pre-order here https://asia.si.edu/research/publications/ars-orientalis/order-ars-orientalis/
Table of Contents
- Introduction. Massumeh Farhad and Sana Mirza
- The Ernst Herzfeld Papers at the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution: Identifying the Palmyrene Squeezes. Eleonora Cussini
- Nebuchadnezzar’s Draw: Revisiting Philips van Winghe’s Sketches of the Azuchi Screens in Lorenzo Pignoria’s Le imagini de gli dei de gli antichi. Mark K. Erdmann
- The Courtesan’s “Role Portrait”: Brothel Performances and the Qiu Ying Models in Late Ming Suzhou.Peng Xu
- 名妓的“角色肖像”：晚明苏州青楼表演与仇英范式. Peng Xu (徐芃)
- The Matter of Sculpture: Isamu Noguchi and Early India. Kalyani Madhura Ramachandran
New Directions
- The Jalayirid Contribution: A Topkapi Palace Album with Images in the Persianate, Chinese, and European Manners (Ca. 1350–1500). Gülru Necipoğlu
Conversations from the Field
- Reviving Neo-Assyrian Casts: Adam Aja in Conversation with Antonietta Catanzariti. Antonietta Catanzariti with Adam Aja
- What is a Replica: Reflections from Shōsōin THE SHOW: Bryan Lowe and Akiko Walley in conversation with Kit Brooks. Kit Brooks with Bryan Lowe and Akiko Walley
Digital Initiatives
- New Perspectives on Religious Art Through the Digital Twin: Two Stelae of Pārvatī from East India.Gerald Kozicz and Di Luo
4. The Islamic College – Short Course: Recitation of the Qur’an
Course name:Recitation of the Qur’an
Type:In-house short course
Instructor: Mrs Alsalemi
Intended for: Men and women over 18 years
Course Structure:
- Part 1: Tajweed One — 6 sessions
- Part 2: Tajweed Two — 6 sessions
- Total: 12 sessions
Course fees:
- £100 for 6 sessions
- £200 for 12 sessions
Schedule:
5 June – 28 August
Every Friday morning, 10:30am – 12:30pm
More information: E-mail admissions@islamic-college.ac.uk or
phone +44 (0) 208 451 9993
Register at:
https://islamic-college.ac.uk/registration-recitation-of-the-quran/
5. Hybrid: UCLA
Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series
Ancient Iran and Central Asia
Interactions and Shifting Identities
Professor Frantz Grenet (Collège de France)
A Series of Four Lectures in March 2026 at 4:00 pm Pacific Time
Royce Hall 314 and via Zoom
Lectures
Wednesday, March 4, 4:00 pm PST
“A World between Worlds: Geography, History, and
Identity of the Early Kušāns
(First Century CE)”
Friday, March 6, 4:00 pm PST
“Kušān Rulers: In Search of an Imperial Narrative
(Second to Fourth Centuries CE)”
Monday, March 9, 4:00 pm PDT
“Eastern Iranian Contributions to the Construction of the Šāhnāme: Kušāno-Sasanians, Sīstānīs, and Sogdians
(Fourth to Eighth Centuries CE)”
Wednesday, March 11, 4:00 pm PDT
“Philhellenism among the Hunnic Elites
(Fifth to Eighth Centuries CE)”
A public reception will follow the final lecture.
Register at:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeZe_cBLuKnqqj9EeyA6_ztn0RkV6UCmch3IQU004bGv8ml3A/viewform
6. Harvard University – NELC – Lecturer in Armenian Studies
https://networks.h-net.org/jobs/69814/harvard-university-nelc-lecturer-armenian-studies
Closing date: 21 March, 2026
7. Call for Workshop Abstracts
Friendship: Intimacy, solidarity, and political transformations in South Asia and the Middle East
The Center for Arab and Islamic Studies (CAIS) at Villanova University invites you to submit abstracts for consideration in a workshop on Friendship: Intimacy, solidarity, and political transformations in South Asia and the Middle East to be held at Villanova on 13-14 November organized by Anusha Hariharan (Villanova) and Aslı Zengin (Rutgers). The accepted papers will be considered for a forum in the Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (JSAMES).
The age-old Aristotelian axiom that ‘friendship forms the basis of political life’ (Ward 1997) has always found purchase in studies of politics across the humanities and social sciences. However, the elevation of friendship as the ideal relationship that provides the moral foundation for democracy became expedient around the mid-20th Century. The end of World War II, and administrative decolonization across Asia and Africa not only illuminated social inequalities, but also gave birth to new nation-states. While the ‘citizen’ was the desired base unit of political life, the ‘friend’ was touted as the relationship category that spoke most to ethical life (Foucault 1997; Derrida 2005; Gandhi 2006; Roach 2012; Nixon 2015). The relational category was – and still is – seen to espouse the central ethics and values of liberalism: equality, fraternity and fellowship. Such essential values, newly minted nation-states believed, would enable fledgling democracies, like themselves, to flourish (Ambedkar [1957] 2011).
Concerns problematizing friendship have become even more pertinent and expedient in the twenty-first century, where it starts to form the critical basis for political life under fascist regimes that erode the human spirit and the moral fabric of communities globally (Whitaker 2011; Nagar et al 2016; Chowdhury and Philipose 2016; Forster and White 2025). Centering these concerns, this workshop brings together scholars of South Asia and the Middle East where major political upheaval has unfolded in the last quarter of a century. Ranging across the humanities disciplines of History, Anthropology, Human Geography, Global/Area Studies, Gender and Queer Studies, participants are asked to center the study of friendship in the context of political activism, community-building and world-making. The symposium participants will be invited to engage with the following questions:
- How do friendship relations form the ethical basis for political solidarity and human flourishing in the twenty-first century?
- What are the different aspects of emotional, ethical and political labor required by activists and community organizers to maintain friendship and solidarity in the longue durée, and work towards social and political transformation in local and global contexts?
The idioms of friendship across South Asia and the Middle East are also inscribed within the particular cultural histories and social dynamics in these regions (Ali and Flatt 2017). In both regions, friendship by default summons the category of the political, as friendship is the relational form that implies liberal choice is forged outside of the normative expectations of kinship and caste/clan. Further, scholars have demonstrated how friendship represents a form of social resistance to both normative society’s boundaries and the state’s repression of intimacy across ethnic, denominational, religious or caste-based differences (Tambar 2019, Hariharan 2025, Zengin 2026, Kanagasabai and Phadke 2023). Friendship communities, in that sense, offer us a glimpse of prefigurative politics, where activists enact the egalitarian and democratic societies that pepper their future political imaginaries.
This workshop will pay attention to these extant cultural idioms and genealogies of friendship, and in doing so, will further Jacqui Alexander and Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s (2010) invitation to: “create knowledge that is location-specific rather than location-bound”. Mapping friendship relations specific to the macro-region of South Asia and the Middle East offers us new avenues to theorize protest cultures and the everyday life of revolution through the lens of intimacy in a part of the world where communities have not only survived the political upheavals they have witnessed in the twenty-first century, but are thriving and flourishing owing to collective human creativity.
All accepted papers will be considered for publication in a forum of the Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (JSAMES), a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal sponsored by the CAIS and published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. The JSAMES is interested in interdisciplinary scholarship that explores the unique political, social, and economic formations and their historical antecedents that contribute to region-making in our contemporary age. The JSAMES is edited by Samer Abboud (Villanova University). Further journal information, including a list of editorial board members, can be found here.
Please direct any questions to JSAMES’ Managing Editor, Dina Baslan (dina.baslan@villanova.edu). For submissions, fill out this form.
The workshop timeline is as follows:
April 3 Submission of abstracts (~250 words)
Late April Notification of acceptance
Early September Virtual participants meetings
October 5 Submission of paper drafts (~4000 words)
November 13-14 Workshop
January 15 Submission of final papers for review (4000 words)
Contact Email
URL
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdElZvt7yWa9otyW4XpLp-28DXRM_cZ5gZs0x2…
8. Hybrid: The University of Edinburgh – Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
The 2026 Montgomery Watt Lecture will take place on Monday 2nd of March at 5pm in Lecture Theatre A (40 George square).
Prof. Emily Selove from the University of Exeter will present on:
Medieval Arabic Magic between Historical Cartoons and Philological Inquiry
Abstract
This lecture explores key themes in the study of Medieval Islamic occult texts, focusing especially on jinn and other unseen entities invoked in Arabic grimoires such as Sirāj al-Dīn al-Sakkākī’s (d. 1229) Kitāb al-Shāmil wa-baḥr al-kāmil. We will examine the methods by which sorcerers, philosophers, and other thinkers of the age studied the nature of these beings and the best way to interact with (or avoid) them. We will also explore the relationship of illusion and trickery to magic and the esoteric in this historical context. Each topic is illustrated with a historical cartoon from Popeye and Curly: 120 Days in Medieval Baghdad. Thus we will walk the line between seriousness and play (jidd wa hazl) in approaching the study of Medieval Arabic literature in general, and the Islamic Occult in particular.
If you would like to join us in person please register here: https://wm-watt-lecture-selove.eventbrite.co.uk
If you would like to join us online, please email marie.legendre@ed.ac.uk for the zoom link.
See also: https://llc.ed.ac.uk/islamic-middle-eastern/events/watt-lecture
- February 24, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. The Islamic College
Monthly Talk: Modern Readings of the Quran
through a Gendered Lens
Speaker: Professor Asma Afsaruddin
Date: 27 February 2026
Time: 6:00-7:30 pm (London time)
Location: Online
https://islamic-college.ac.uk/afsaruddin-registration/
2. Enroll: Medieval & Early Modern Cartography: An Introduction (June 22-25: Remote)
The Summer Skills Seminar, “Medieval & Early Modern Cartography: An Introduction” will be held via Zoom from Monday, 22 June to Thursday, 25 June 2026 from 10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm MDT.
Regular Registration until April 26
This Summer Skills seminar addresses the importance of maps in medieval and early modern society in terms of their production, function, display, and their contribution to a mapping mentality. Over four days we will study different types of maps from Islamic and Christian territories in relation to their form, content, use, and context. This course will not be addressing the geographic accuracy or scientific basis of cartographic works; rather they will be assessed as material, visual, and aesthetic products and as repositories of a newly formulated system of signs that promoted novel ways of seeing. We will work here to integrate maps more fully into art historical discourses while analyzing them as ideological objects.
Course overview
Over the course of the Middle Ages, cartographic works came to play a significant role in Mediterranean visual culture. This Summer Skills course addresses the importance of maps in medieval and early modern society in terms of their production, function, display, and their contribution to a mapping mentality. Over four days we will study different types of maps from Islamic and Christian territories in relation to their form, content, function, and context. This course will not be addressing cartographic works in terms of their geographical accuracy or contribution to scientific knowledge; rather they will be assessed as material, visual, and aesthetic products and as repositories of a newly formulated system of signs that promoted novel ways of seeing. We will work here to integrate maps more fully into art historical discourses while analyzing them as ideological objects. Art historians have long acknowledged the non-transparent nature of visual imagery and the inquiry of cartographic works undertaken in this course will illuminate the great power that maps had for their producers and consumers.
Course sessions:
Day One will set the stage for an in-depth analysis of cartographic works by asking the question “What does it mean to make a map in the medieval and early modern Mediterranean?” The second topic of the day will be mappaemundi or world maps. These maps constitute some of the earliest cartographic works created in the Mediterranean in both Christian and Muslim traditions. Their close connection to religious communities (as both producers and consumers), spatio-temporal qualities, rich visual imagery, and their melding of religious content and geographical information made them powerful storytelling tools. We will conduct contextual analyses of several world maps to assess the cultural work that maps could perform for an array of patrons and audiences. The availability of digital reproductions of these complex maps will allow course participants to analyze the detailed textual and visual content presented in these cartographic works. We will study a number of world maps, including the Hereford Mappamundi, Fra Mauro’s Mappamundi, and al-Idrisi’s map made for Roger II.
Day Two will focus on a revolutionary new form of mapmaking created during a pivotal moment in the history of cartography: portolan charts and texts from the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Previously mapping had existed almost exclusively in the religious domain but this time period saw the formulation of new cartographic representations that were completely secular in nature and practical in function, created to gauge distances and identify ports and landmarks, while elucidating social customs in foreign locales. We will assess the relationship between navigational charts and traditional world maps while exploring how portolans forged a distinctive visuality for a new audience of mariners and merchants. Some monuments addressed in this class session will include the Carte pisane, navigational charts made by Pietro Vesconte, Abraham Cresques, etc., portolan texts such as the Liber de existencia riverarium, and the Compasso da navegare, and maps from the Fatimid Book of Curiosities.
Day Three will introduce cartographic works that served novel functions in medieval and early modern society. By the fifteenth century, secular mapmaking traditions had become so embedded into cultural practices that they were designed for a broader clientele to serve cultural and political purposes: luxury gifts, political statements, expressions of sovereignty, and displays of wealth and sophistication. We will highlight the transformation of maps into aesthetic objects of prestige that were displayed prominently in public settings. We will also look at highly politicized contexts for maps in which they lay claim to territory and visualize sovereignty in a competitive Mediterranean environment. Some works to be addressed on Day Three include Vesconte’s maps for Marin Sanudo’s Liber secretorum, maps by Opicinus de Canistris, atlases and luxury presentation maps, and painted wall maps for homes and palaces.
The second half of Day Three will comprise theoretical considerations of maps and mapmaking. We will approach the cartographic content addressed in the first three days in relation to various methodologies and new approaches to the study of cartography. How does the visual system of a map create a mapping mentality that defines how people perceive spaces, places, and things? How do maps create communities of inclusion and exclusion? How do maps mean differently depending upon one’s gender, ethnicity, occupation, and/or religious affiliation? What new approaches can scholars and students apply to the study of maps to tap their extraordinary cultural potential? We will end the course with a discussion of new directions in the study of cartography.
On Day Four we will summarize and catalyze the content presented in the first three days of the seminar. How can we characterize the field of Mediterranean cartography and what new questions might we ask of this material? What did the participants learn from the seminar and how might this content and methodology be incorporated into their own research agendas. This will be a day of dialogue and discussion concerning new directions in the study of medieval and early modern cartography.
Faculty
The course will be conducted by Prof. Karen Rose Mathews (Department of Art and Art History, University of Miami). She received her B.A. in Art History from UCLA and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Chicago. She has received grants from the Graham Foundation, Kress Foundation, Program for Cultural Cooperation, and the American Research Center in Egypt in support of her research. She published Conflict, Commerce, and an Aesthetic of Appropriation in the Italian Maritime Cities, 1000-1150 (Brill) in 2017 and was lead editor for the volume A Companion to Medieval Pisa (Brill, 2022). Her numerous articles focus on various aspects of medieval Mediterranean visual culture, with a particular emphasis on artistic production in Spain, Italy, and Egypt, including a comparative assessment of civic ceremonial and its architectural framing published in 2025. She has been conducting research on Mediterranean cartography since 2015. An article published in 2022, “Mapping, Materiality, and Merchant Culture in Medieval Italy, 1150-1400,” studies the relationship between cartography, architectural decoration, and new visual systems in the Italian maritime republics. Two more articles in preparation assess Islamic and Christian cartographic traditions in terms of their use in navigation, the perspective they provide on the Mediterranean, and their creation of a new visual vocabulary of signs.
Prerequisites & preparation
Recommended prerequisites: AP Art History courses or introductory surveys. Some upper division or graduate art history coursework is ideal but not required
Please note: sessions will not be recorded; synchronous attendance is required.
Application & Information
The regular application period is until April 26.
There is an [///s/Summer-Skills-Application-Deposit.pdf ]application deposit of $100USD or €100. This will be refunded when course payment is made.
Late applications will be accepted if there is availability and will be subject to a late fee.
If you are not accepted your application deposit will be refunded.
Applicants will be advised of acceptance by May 1. Payment is due on 15 May. Applicants waiting on a grant or subvention should contact us without delay to make arrangements.
Late applicants may be accommodated if space remains. For late applicants full payment will be due within three days of acceptance, including a $75 surcharge for late applications, or be subject to an additional fee.
All payments are final and non-refundable. A letter of confirmation/ receipt will be provided by the Mediterranean Seminar, together with a certificate of completion once the course has concluded.
Apply via this form
NOTE: Numbers are limited; participants are encouraged to apply early.
Fees
There has been no increase in fees for 2026
• $1100 for Full Professors, Librarians & Professionals
• $825 for tenured Associates, Emerita/us, Retired Faculty, Independent Scholars & Non-Academics;
• $575 for non-tenured Associates and Assistants, Postdoctoral Fellows & Graduate and Undergraduate students;
• $400 for Adjuncts, Lecturers & Contingent faculty.
Limited reductions are offered to applicants who are (1) nationals; (2) current residents; (3) AND faculty or students in low-per-capita GDP countries may apply for a reduction (the Low-GDP Bursary program).
Payment information will be provided at the time of acceptance. Posted fees do not include a 5% processing fee.
[///s/How-do-we-determine-our-fees.pdf ]How do we determine our fees?
[///s/Can-I-get-a-reduction-in-fees.pdf ]Can I get a reduction in fees?
[///s/Why-are-there-sometimes-supplementary-charges.pdf ] Why are there sometimes supplementary charges?
[///s/Why-have-our-fees-gone-up.pdf ]Why have our fees gone up?
[///s/What-is-the-low-GDP-Bursary-program.pdf ]What is the low-GDP Bursary program?
Proposed Program
Monday, 22 June 2026: Introduction and Mappaemundi
10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm
1. Introduction to cartographic visuality
2. Mappaemundi—Patrons, audiences, and storytelling potential
Tuesday, 23 June 2026: Portolan Charts and Text
10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm
1. Secular mapmaking traditions—function and audience
2. Relationship of portolans to traditional world maps
Wednesday, 24 June 2026: Novel Uses for Maps and Theoretical Approaches to Cartography
10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm
1. Novel uses for navigational charts and world maps
2. Theoretical Approaches: Maps and/as Representations
Thursday, 25 June 2026: Conclusions and Participant Presentations
10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm
1. Conclusions
2. Participant Presentations
Important dates:
Application period: 26 April 2026
Acceptance/stand by notifications: 5 May 2026
Full payment: 12 May 2026 (subject to extension for late applicants/ or pending grants)
NOTE: Numbers are limited; participants are encouraged to apply early.
Information
For general information regarding fees, enrollment, and administrative matters, contact the Mediterranean Seminar; for questions regarding seminar content and materials, contact the instructor directly.
3. Workshop: Genealogies in Motion: Recording, Visualizing, and Mobilizing Lineage across the Islamicate World.
The Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, in collaboration with the Department of Islamic Studies at the University of Bonn and the Japan Office of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, is organizing a workshop entitled “Genealogies in Motion: Recording, Visualizing, and Mobilizing Lineage across the Islamicate World.”
Dates: 26 March (Thu), 12:00–19:00, and 27 March (Fri), 10:00–15:45 (–17:30) (JST)
Venue: Room 303, 3rd Floor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, and online via Zoom.
For further information, please visit: https://www.ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/news/news_en20260218115213/
4. ONLINE Webinar: ‘Material Networks: The Chehel Sotun Carpet Between Iran and the Deccan’
With Margaret Squires
British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS), 25 February 2026; 5:00 pm UK Time
This talk traces the little-known history of a massive carpet woven in the Deccan for the Chehel Sotun palace in seventeenth-century Isfahan. Dismantled and dispersed in the late nineteenth century, the carpet, said to have measured a staggering 9 by 18 meters, now survives as fragments scattered across at least eleven collections worldwide.
By digitally reconstructing the complete carpet through technical analysis of the fragments, archival sources, and architectural evidence, this research reveals an object shaped by transcultural networks connecting Safavid Iran and the Deccan sultanates. Attention to the distinct material and technical qualities of the fragments is key for understanding the dialogue that took place not only between those who ordered and oversaw the carpet’s production, but the network of designers and weavers who conceived and executed this extraordinarily ambitious project.
This talk will also touch on the carpet’s nineteenth and twentieth century afterlives, during which it was transformed from an integral lining of the palace to a collectible object of fascination
Information and registration:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_K5oi7TiBSiOvny4PMCdjfw#/registration
5. The Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series (VIAHSS) is pleased to announce our Spring 2026 program. Please note that all talks will take place on Tuesdays at 12 noon EST/5PM UK/7PM Turkey (unless otherwise noted). Registration links for individual events will be sent out approximately one week before the program. To receive these links, please sign up for our mailing list at viahss.org .
Spring 2026 Lectures
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
12:00 New York / 16:00 London / 19:00
Istanbul
Hallie Swanson (NYU London)
“Unity and Multiplicity: Deccani Workshop Painting and the Sufi Romance”
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
09:00 Los Angeles / 12:00 New York / 16:00 London / 19:00 Istanbul
Keelan Overton (Independent Scholar)
“The Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin: An Online Exhibition of an Iranian Shrine”
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
12:00 New York / 17:00 London / 19:00 Istanbul
Nancy Micklewright (Independent Scholar)
“Finding the Elusive Fashion Stories of Enslaved Women in Late Ottoman Istanbul”
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
12:00 New York / 17:00 London / 19:00 Istanbul
Claire Dillon (Columbia University)
“Sampling the Sacred: Khaled Sabsabi’s Hip Hop Praxis”
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
12:00 New York / 17:00 London / 19:00 Istanbul
Ryan Mitchell (Temple University)
“Ambition and Spectacle: The Architectural Patronage of Mehmed Ali Pasha of Egypt”
As always, you can find a full schedule of upcoming talks and register for our list-serv on our website at viahss.org. Although not every talk is recorded, we also have recordings of several recent talks available on the VIAHSS Vimeo page at vimeo.com/viahss. Lastly, you can follow us on Instagram at @theviahss to stay up to date on upcoming events!
Contact Information
Drs. Alexander Brey, Jaimee Comstock-Skipp, and Rachel Winter
Contact Email
URL
6. ONLINE Webinar: ‘Persia’s Greek Campaigns: Kingship, War, & Spectacle
With John O. Hyland
British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS), 18 March 2026; 5:00 pm UK Time
The wars between the Achaemenid Persian empire and the Greek city-states are among the most famous conflicts in world history – above all Xerxes’ expedition of 480-479 BCE, which captured Athens but lost the battles of Salamis and Plataia. In the absence of Achaemenid accounts, this “Persian War” is remembered from the Greek perspective as a disastrous failure,
which ended Persian expansion and empowered Athens’ Classical empire. The full story, though, is more complex. Achaemenid and Near Eastern evidence shows that campaigns led by kings served as political spectacles, designed to project images of royal heroism, imperial cohesion, and logistical mastery through warfare on distant frontiers. Xerxes’ Greek campaign accomplished these objectives, and its initial victories at Thermopylai and Athens permitted a royal claim of overall success, despite the problematic conclusion. The campaign’s mixed legacy set the stage for an evolution of Persia’s frontier imperialism from military to diplomatic methods of power display
Information and registration:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yaUTsEQlRNSmKI8OVvYL3A#/registration
7. Doha Residence Program
in Advanced Arabic & Social Studies
Fall Semester 2026
A number of merit-based tuition waiver and housing support
Master Arabic & Advance Your Studies in the Arab World!
The Language Center at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies (DI) is delighted to invite applications for the Fall 2026-2027 Doha Residence Program in Advanced Arabic Language and Social Studies. This immersive, semester-long program offers a unique opportunity for international non-native and heritage Arabic-speaking graduate students to deepen their linguistic, cultural, and academic proficiency while engaging in a vibrant intellectual exchange.
Why Choose the DI Residence Program?
This one-of-a-kind program fosters rich academic and cultural interactions between the DI’s predominantly native Arabic-speaking graduate students and faculty, representing diverse backgrounds across the Arab world, and their international peers.
Program Highlights:
vFull immersion in Arabic: The program is delivered entirely in Arabic, ensuring maximum language exposure and practice.
vTailored for academic and professional success: Designed to meet the needs of advanced non-native and heritage speakers looking to refine their Arabic language skills for academic and research purposes.
vComprehensive learning experience: A combination of advanced language training and graduate-level coursework, offering students an academically enriching and culturally immersive semester.
What the Program Offers
- Language-Training Component:
- Intensive courses in advanced Arabic and content-based instruction.
- A focus on productive skills, including speaking, writing, and presentations.
- Development of professional proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
- Engagement with a language partner for developing oral fluency in authentic communicative context.
- Academic Component:
- Opportunity to audit graduate courses taught in Arabic at DI’s School of Social Sciences and Humanities and School of Economics, Administration and Public Policy.
- Engagement with an academic partner for enhanced learning.
- Access to DI’s extensive network of conferences, symposia, and guest lectures at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies.
Program Features
- Earn 6 credits of Intensive Arabic
- One-on-one language partner for personalized practice
- Option to audit graduate-level courses taught in Arabic
- One-on-one academic partner
- Access to a rich cultural program
- Participation in exclusive academic events and networking opportunities
Admissions & Fees
- Eligibility: Applicants must have an advanced level of Arabic proficiency.
- Tuition Fees: 9,000 QAR (approximately 2,250€ or 2,465$).
- Housing Costs: 11,000 QAR per semester (approximately 2,650€ or 3,000$).
Apply Now!
Don’t miss this unparalleled opportunity to refine your Arabic language skills, expand your academic and professional horizons, and experience life in one of the most dynamic intellectual hubs of the Arab world.
Submit your application today: Apply Here
Learn more about the DI: Doha Institute
Be part of a transformative academic journey where language, culture, and scholarship converge!
Program Dates:
- Application Deadline: March 15, 2026
- Start of Classes: August 23, 2026
- End of Program: December 03, 2026
* Reading Week Holiday: 25-29 October, 2026
Connect!
language.center@dohainstitute.edu.qa
8. 2026 Ramadan Sale – 20% discount on all Fons Vitae titles
The Fons Vitae 2026 Ramadan Sale
20% DISCOUNT on all Fons Vitae titles!
Ramadan Mubarak! Please enjoy 20% off until ‘Eid March 21st, 2026 with the discount code: “fonsvitae20” GO NOW..
Note: Applies only to books published by Fons Vitae. Cannot be combined with other coupons or discounts. Use the coupon code at checkout.
9. PhD studentship (Classics and Ancient History) at the University of Exeter (UK): ‘Pustules, Palaeogenetics and Pandemics from Galen to Rhazes: How to do the Early History of Smallpox and Measles’
This is a Wellcome funded project (Discovery Award 322103/Z/24/Z), PI: Prof. Rebecca Flemming. This post is available from September 15 2026 to March 15 2030 (42 months), funding covers salary and UK home or international level PhD fees for that period.
The successful applicant will contribute to the work of the project through (1) supporting the research and publication activities of the academic team as they focus around the works of Galen; and (2) undertaking their own PhD research project exploring pandemics, disease and medicine in the ancient/late ancient Mediterranean World.).
Application: For more details of the position, the job requirements, and the application process see the University of Exeter Job Board: ‘Graduate Research Assistant in CAHRT with option to undertake a PhD’. You will need to provide: cv, cover letter, writing sample and PhD project proposal with your application.
The closing date for completed application is 26th March 2026. Interviews are expected to take place in the week beginning April 20th 2026.
10. Generous scholarships available – MA Iranian Studies (SOAS University of London)
An excellent opportunity for talented applicants with a good undergraduate degree (or equivalent) to pursue the MA Iranian Studies in the heart of London at SOAS University of London.
Competitive and generous scholarships are available:
Programme information:
https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.soas.ac.uk%2Fstudy%2Ffind-course%2Fma-iranian-studies&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ceea755a24b924a8a02aa08de6fcb3631%7C2e9f06b016694589878910a06934dc61%7C0%7C0%7C639071115748972750%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=fxF4Zyc4%2Bw0OkS5l6ZG9uksCGTAzauokVD8JCFuUmNg%3D&reserved=0
Kamran Djam Scholarships (deadline 28 March 2026)
https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.soas.ac.uk%2Fstudy%2Fstudent-life%2Ffinance%2Fscholarships%2Fkamran-djam-scholarships&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ceea755a24b924a8a02aa08de6fcb3631%7C2e9f06b016694589878910a06934dc61%7C0%7C0%7C639071115748998931%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=GVpHjUVDsVp7S0bMI%2FiBl3Zp4EoO3ag6TGY92ek9OFQ%3D&reserved=0
Shapoorji Pallonji Scholarships (deadline 21 March 2026):
https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.soas.ac.uk%2Fstudy%2Fstudent-life%2Ffinance%2Fscholarships%2Fshapoorji-pallonji-scholarships&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ceea755a24b924a8a02aa08de6fcb3631%7C2e9f06b016694589878910a06934dc61%7C0%7C0%7C639071115749017645%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=sXCpaWgis4PtWMXIkSicC6fXVAzHPW3x%2FqKd%2FxneAG4%3D&reserved=0
11. ENTANGLED HISTORIES: BORDERS AND CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS FROM THE MEDIEVAL TO THE CONTEMPORARY ERA
Online Seminar Series
Borders have shaped societies, identities, and histories across centuries. This seminar series, promoted by the Faculty of Communication and the Master’s Programme in Media and Cultural Studies at Üsküdar University, invites academics, students, and anyone interested in understanding how boundaries—political, cultural, social, and symbolic, among others—impact our world. Whether your background is in history, literature, anthropology, philosophy, or simply curiosity, you are invited to join a vibrant and interdisciplinary community.
Through a rich programme of talks and discussions, you will:
- Explore how borders have defined and transformed communities, beliefs, and identities.
- Examine boundaries as both barriers and bridges, fostering encounters, conflicts, and creative exchanges.
- Investigate historical and contemporary examples of negotiation, crossing, and reimagining of borders.
- Engage with scholars presenting original research on migration, exile, religious frontiers, literary representations, and the politics of belonging.
Seminars take place every Wednesday at 5 pm (Central European Time) on Zoom.
Zoom link for all meetings:
https://tinyurl.com/aumv88jz
PROGRAMME (FIRST PART OF THE SERIES)
25 February 2026
Elisa Ramazzina (University of Insubria)
Margins, Maps, and Monsters: Negotiating Borders in the “Wonders of the East”
4 March 2026
Muhammet Enes Akdağ (Üsküdar University)
Transnational Film Networks and Moviegoing Culture in the Jerusalem Mutasarrifate (1874–1917)
11 March 2026
Karen Pinto (University of Colorado Boulder)
Through the Eye of the Cartographer: The KMMS Islamicate Vision of the Bilad al-Rum Byzantine Frontier with Syria
18 March 2026
Sonja Brentjes (Independent Scholar)
Formal and Informal Borders: How Much Did They Matter in the Mathematical Sciences in Premodern Islamicate Societies?
25 March 2026
Eleonora Matarrese (University of Bari)
Edible Wild Plants: Widespread and Futuristic Knowledge in the Middle Ages
1 April 2026
(TBA)
8 April 2026
Marusca Francini (University of Pavia)
Beyond Poetry. The Style of the Norwegian ‘Tristrams Saga’
12. The British Association for Islamic Studies is delighted to announce the publication of its 2026 Annual Conference programme.
This year’s conference will be hosted by the Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations and the Institute for Ismaili Studies, London, on Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 May 2026.
The provisional programme can be viewed online HERE.
You can now register as a delegate online HERE.
We are excited by the depth and breadth of this year’s programme and we hope that you will consider joining us for what promises to be a dynamic and stimulating two days of academic exchange and conversation.
We look forward to seeing many of you in May, and please do not hesitate to contact us is you have any questions at all.
With very best wishes,
The BRAIS 2026 Conference Team
13. Islamic Studies Summer School in Leiden 13-17 July 2026
Registration is now open! Please apply or encourage PhD students to apply!
Graduate School of Islamic Humanities:
Approaches to the Study of Islam
Dear colleagues and PhD students,
Our Islamic Studies Summer School is now open and accepting registrations. The theme is Approaches to the Study of Islam.
This annual program aims to foster intellectual exchange and build a global network of early career scholars in Islamic Studies. Designed for PhD candidates and early career researchers, the program will provide an immersive experience combining rigorous academic lectures, workshops, and discussions with opportunities for candid intellectual conversations, networking, and visits to historical sites.
Program Structure
Lecturers will conduct morning sessions (3 hours each), featuring comprehensive lectures and discussions on topics within their areas of expertise. These sessions will be supplemented by interactive afternoon workshops and group discussions to deepen participants’ engagement. Please note that participants are expected to have a working knowledge of the Arabic language and Islamic texts.
Special activities include visits to cultural and historical sites offering participants a unique opportunity to explore Islamic manuscripts and classical texts at Leiden University.
For more information, please visit the Leiden University Centre for Islamic Thought and History page
14. Alwaleed Centre Edinburgh
Hybrid – Book Launch: Islamophobia and Translations of Securitization in the UK, France, and Italy
1:30pm to 3pm GMT on 3 March
Venue: G.03, Doorway 6, Old Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG.
Join us on 3 March when Dr Ugo Gaudino, ESRC Research Fellow (International Relations) at the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex, presents and discusses his new book ‘Islamophobia and Translations of Securitization in the UK, France, and Italy’. Gaudino integrates cross-disciplinary resources to investigate how and why European Muslims are often portrayed as a security threat by both right and left-wing political parties, exploring research on Islamophobia in the West, critical studies on security and terrorism, and scholarship on the normalization of far-right racism across the political spectrum.
This book launch is hybrid. Please register below if you wish to join online.
15. International Review of Social History
‘The World of Sugar’, 70/3, December 2025
16. HYBRID Lecture “Urban Property in Galata: Merchant Companies, Commercial Build-ngs, and the Development of Ownership Patterns in the Late Ottoman Empire” by Prof Ayşe Ozil (Sabancı University), British Institute at Ankara (BIAA), 5 March 2026, 15:30 CET
This talk traces the transformation in urban property in one of the major global commercial centers of the empire, the port of Galata. Focusing on the rise of modern business buildings, it explores the ways in which commercial actors engaged with land and property and contributed to changing patterns of ownership against the background of global business in the late Ottoman period.
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/54285sky
17. 4th Colloquium des jeunes chercheurs en archéologie soudanaise: “Sensory Worlds of the Nile Valley – Past and Present”, INHA, Paris, 10 June 2026, 9:00 CET
This study day explores the multiple dimensions of the history of the senses and of perception in the Nile Valley, from ancient to contemporary periods. This theme invites us to move beyond traditional approaches through a refined reading of material, architectural, iconographic and tex-tual sources. It opens up new avenues of reflection on daily, craft, social, cultural and ritual prac-tices.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4vk4f5ew
18. Research Assistant Predoc (m/f/d) third party funding DFG, 75% part-time, limited to 3 years
The research project examines conceptions of sociology as well as sociological perspectives in Arabic periodicals between 1885 and 1952. The research assistant will contribute to the activities of the overall project, whilst mainly completing a doctoral dissertation (monograph) on conceptions of sociology in Arabic journals during the above-mentioned period.
Deadline for applications: 2 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4bubdpj8
19. PhD Position (3 Years) in the Project “Governing Health, Family and Religion: The Bio-politics of Genetic Counselling and Religious Family Formations (RELI GENE)”, SOAS, London
The project examines how state led genetic healthcare policies intersect with religious and cultural practices in close-knit religious minority communities across Europe and the Middle East. The PhD student will focus on the governmentality of genetic counselling with a primary focus on Germany. Required are a Master’s degree in Social Policy, Political Science, Law, Anthropology or a related discipline, and strong proficiency in German and excellent academic writing skills in English.
Deadline for applications: 27 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3ry46ecf
20. Wissenschaftl. Mitarbeiter:in in Islamwissenschaft, Orient-Institut Beirut
Anforderungen: Promotion in einem islamwissenschaftlichen Themenbereich. – Ausgezeichnete Arabisch-, Englisch- und Deutschkenntnisse sowie Forschung mit arabischsprachigen Quellen. – Hervorragende Veröffentlichungen (der Karrierestufe angemessen). – Kenntnisse und Interesse an arabischer Editionsarbeit sind von Vorteil.
Ende der Bewerbungsfrist: 1. März 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/2wef5f72
21. Senior Academic Position in Islamic Studies, Tel Aviv University
The position is open to outstanding researchers specializing in Early, Classical, or Post-Classical Islam, with particular emphasis on Qurʾānic Studies, including Qurʾānic exegesis, Muslim tradi-tion, and related fields in Islamic thought, such as theology, jurisprudence, and mysticism. Re-quirements: Full command of literary Arabic. – Demonstrated research excellence. – Ability to teach courses in Hebrew. – Ability to teach in Arabic and/or English will be considered an ad-vantage.
Deadline for applications: 15 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/mry68au6
22. Intensive Course: “The Crusades and Islamic History”, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 20-22 July 2026
This three-day intensive course will focus on reading medieval primary sources for the social, economic and religious history of Egypt and Greater Syria, including Palestine during the period of the Crusades, roughly 1050-1500. It is intended for advanced graduate students and other qualified participants and will be offered by Prof. Paul M. Cobb (University of Pennsylvania) in collaboration with Prof. Ann Zimo (University of New Hampshire) and Prof. Reuven Amitai (He-brew University of Jerusalem).
Deadline for applications extended to 6 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3rjsfwpj
23. Research Articles for the “Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (JSAMES)”, University of Pennsylvania Press
The JSAMES is interested in interdisciplinary scholarship that explores the unique political, social, and economic formations and their historical antecedents that contribute to region-making in our contemporary age. We are particularly interested in scholarship that takes the South Asian and Middle Eastern macro-region as the starting point for thinking through the world and across various geographies, languages, identities, exchanges, flows, and networks that shape the life-worlds of people in the macro-region and beyond.
Information: https://tinyurl.com/bdzcrvjr
24. Articles for the Journal “Turkish German Studies (TSG)”, Published by Istanbul University Press
The journal aims to offer an international, interdisciplinary platform for the exchange of academic research on all aspects of Turkish German Studies. We seek to publish scholarly articles in Eng-lish, German, and Turkish from various fields, including literary and cultural studies, linguistics, media and communication studies, sociology, political science, history, and education.
Deadline for manuscripts: 31 May 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/mr5by9w3
25. Nouveau livre : “La Fermeté des faibles” de Sufi Allahyar, Les éditions du cerf, fevr. 2026, 288 pages
Texte majeur de la spiritualité d’Asie centrale rédigé à la fin du XVIIe siècle par le maître Sûfî Allâhyâr, La Fermeté des faibles, traduit ici pour la première fois en français par Alexandre Papas et Marc Toutant, propose une vision intransigeante du soufisme. Loin d’une mystique édulcorée, ce traité composé en vers turks prône un retour radical à la piété et à la Loi. Son style, vif et souvent tranchant, en fait un véritable sermon qui résonne avec une urgence spirituelle flamboy-ante.
Information : https://tinyurl.com/36n8m5yb
- February 21, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Call for Chapters: Evident Tongues, Evident Bodies: Language, Sense, and Proof in the Early Modern World
Editors: Dr Mary Katherine Newman and Dr Rana Banna
What counted as evidence in the early modern world?
How did language itself – spoken, written, translated, or performed – shape conceptions of proof?
And how did sensory experience lend authority, or uncertainty, to what language claimed as true?
We invite chapter proposals for an edited volume examining how encounters through language and the senses shaped the production of evidence in the early modern period (c.1492–1700). Building on the interdisciplinary reading group Evident Tongues, Evident Bodies held at UCL’s Institute of Advanced Studies, the volume considers how early modern thinkers understood the interplay between linguistic practice and sensory experience in the making of knowledge and truth.
From translation and foreign tongues to sacred utterance, magical speech, the rhetoric of governance, the emerging idioms of science, and the ambitions of poetic language, the early modern world was marked by intense reflection on how words could signify, persuade, and prove. At the same time, theorists and practitioners across domains – from physicians and natural philosophers to theologians, travellers, jurists, and dramatists – debated the evidentiary authority of the senses: what could be seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled as proof?
We seek contributions that illuminate how words, sounds, and sensations became sites of truth, persuasion, or belief, and how embodied perception shaped practices of verification, uncertainty, and doubt. Proposals may explore texts, performances, rituals, objects, archives, or embodied practices, and we welcome work that bridges disciplinary boundaries.
Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Language, translation, and sensory perception: as instruments for verifying truth and negotiating authority in colonial and cross-cultural encounters
- Poetic and literary explorations of evidence: how language and embodied experience imagine or question the conditions of proof
- Material texts and visual proofs: scripts, diagrams, maps, and other graphic traces that make evidence visible
- The search for a perfect or universal language: across poetic, philosophical, scientific, occult, and theological traditions, as a pursuit of linguistic certainty and epistemic clarity
- Legal and theological forms of testimony: confession, revelation, and witnessing as practices of verbal and embodied proof
- Theology and religious treatises: revelation, prophetic vision, and the moral or divine authority of evident speech
- Magical and occult philosophies: alchemy, astrology, divination, and demonology, and their verbal and sensory conjuring of hidden or divine evidence
- Scientific and empiricist efforts to produce evidence: the use of plain rhetorical style, sensory observation, and experiment, alongside continuities with poetic and magical idioms of proof
- Medical and anatomical observation: the witnessing of bodies, wounds, and symptoms as persuasive demonstrations of truth
- Bodily proofs: the senses and bodily perception as modes of testing and demonstrating truth
- The evidentiary status of sound: sermons, songs, chants, oaths, spells, and other vocal acts that establish, challenge, or authenticate belief
- Sensory epistemologies in science and natural philosophy: the interplay of observation and description in producing credible knowledge
- Deception and error: illusion, mistranslation, and doubt in the interpretation of sensory or linguistic evidence
- Pedagogies of the senses and of speech: the training of bodies, tongues, and minds to discern reliable evidence
- Afterlives and continuities: the persistence and transformation of early modern sensory and linguistic epistemologies in later practices of proof
Interdisciplinary approaches welcomed, including, but not limited to:
Literature | History/History of Science | Religious Studies | Art History | Translation Studies | Sensory Studies | Legal History | Theatre & Performance | Philosophy | Anthropology | Colonial & Global Studies | Linguistics | Book History | Musicology
Submission details:
Title
Synopsis/abstract (300-400 words)
Author biography (100-150 words)
Deadline for submissions: 12th April 2026
Please send proposals (300-400 words) with short author biographies (100-150 words) to: mary.newman.14@ucl.ac.uk and r.banna@ucl.ac.uk
Full chapters (6,000–8,000 words) will be due in April 2027
Dr Mary Katherine Newman (she/her)
Quirk Postdoctoral Fellow (2025-6)
Institute of Advanced Studies, UCL
www.maryknewman.com
Coordinator Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation
2. Announcing the Mediterranean Seminar Summer Skills Seminars for 2026
This year the Mediterranean Seminar in conjuction with the CU Mediterranean Studies Group is offering thirteen Summer Skills Seminars – intensive four-day boot-camps for scholars, researchers, graduate and advanced undergraduate students, librarians, teachers, professionals and afficionados. Led by leading authorities and emerging scholars in their respective fields, the Summer Skill Seminars provide either a foundation or an intensive focus on different aspects of Mediterranean Studies. Acquire new skills to augment your research profile and open new areas of specialization, explore a new subject area or theme to enrich your teaching or simply expand your field of knowledge in these small-group hands-on four-day synchronous remote workshops.
This year’s Summer Skills Seminars include:
May 18-21 – Reading Archival Latin
May 18-21 – Reading Medieval Greek Manuscripts
June 15-18 – Reading Ottoman Turkish
June 15-18 – The Archivo General de Indias: A Global Archive (NEW)
June 22-25 – Medieval & Early Modern Cartography
June 22-25 – Medieval Mediterranean Coinage: An Introduction
June 29 – July 2 – Mediterranean Magic: An Introduction
June 2 9 – July 2 – Reading Armenian Manuscripts (NEW)
July 6-9 – Sephardic Culture: An Introduction
July 13-16 – The Archivo General de Simancas: An Introduction
August 3-6 – Reading Medieval Catalan
See below & individual announcements for details.
Regular registration is open until 26 April 2026. Numbers are limited so please register early to guarantee a place.
EXCUSE CROSS-POSTINGS – PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
Information
For general information regarding fees, enrollment, and administrative matters, contact the Mediterranean Seminar; for questions regarding seminar content and materials, contact the individual instructor directly.
May 18-21 2026 – Reading Archival Latin
Focusing on the documents in Latin held at the Archive of the Crown of Aragon in Barcelona, this seminar presents an introduction to Latin diplomatics and the reading of unedited archival documents through the incredible rich collection of Barcelona’s ACA. The seminar combines hands-on reading practice with units on different genres of documents, abbreviations, research techniques, dating systems, and other relevant information.
Instructor: Brian A. Catlos
Prerequisites: Intermediate reading knowledge of Latin is required, but no previous experience in paleography or diplomatics.
May 18-21 2026 – Reading Medieval Greek Manuscripts
Participants will explore Greek manuscript culture through an introduction to paleography with a historical background on the evolution of Greek script. The course emphasizes the major hands and writing styles from antiquity through the Byzantine period, including majuscule and minuscule scripts as well as humanistic and Renaissance scripts. Techniques for deciphering common manuscript abbreviations, ligatures, and symbols, which are essential for understanding Greek manuscripts, will be covered in depth. Participants will also receive guidance on navigating digital repositories and databases for Greek manuscripts, along with tools for accessing online reproductions and secondary literature.
Instructor: Manolis Ulbricht
Prerequisites: Participants need to have reading knowledge of Greek (whether ancient, medieval or modern). The language of instruction is English.
June 15-18 2026 – Reading Ottoman Turkish
This course offers an introduction to Ottoman Turkish, providing an intro level course to the language and a brief overview of Ottoman paleography. By the end of the course, the student will be able to read basic texts in print, recognize different paleographic styles, types of documents, as well as understand how and what dictionary to use for different types of texts. The course is perfect for students with knowledge of Turkish and/or Persian and Arabic, with an interest but no prior knowledge of Ottoman Turkish.
Instructor: Oscar Aguirre Mandujano
Prerequisites: Reading of Turkish and/or Persian and Arabic; no prior knowledge of Ottoman Turkish necessary. The language of instruction is English.
June 15-18 2026 – Introduction to the Archivo General de Indias: A Global Archive (NEW)
This course offers an in-depth introduction to the Archive of the Indies (Archivo General de Indias) in Seville, one of the world’s most important repositories for the study of the Spanish Empire and the early modern Atlantic world. Founded in 1785, the archive houses millions of documents produced by Spanish colonial institutions governing the Americas and the Philippines from the 15th to the 20th centuries, featuring the five continents and numerous different languages. The course is open to anyone -undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, librarians, archivists and general public- interested in early modern, Atlantic, and global history, even with little or no research experience.
Instructor: Jorge Díaz Ceballos
Prerequisites: Applicants should have at least an intermediate level of reading Spanish. The language of instruction is English.
June 22-25 2026 – Medieval & Early Modern Cartography: An Introduction
This Summer Skills Seminar provides participants with an overview of key concepts and methodologies in the study of Mediterranean and Early Modern cartography and the interpretation of maps. The course will address the themes of mobility, connectivity, and encounter in relation to the visual culture of peoples and territories across the sea. Participants will acquire an art historical tool kit to assist them in conducting their own research on the visual culture and artistic production of the medieval Mediterranean.
Instructor: Karen Mathews
Prerequisites: Recommended: AP Art History courses or introductory surveys. Some upper division or graduate art history coursework is ideal but not required
June 22-25 2026 – Medieval Mediterranean Coinage: An Introduction
This Summer Skills Seminar will introduce participants to the dynamic interactions of Roman and Sasanian coinages in the Late Antique period, which gave way to the tripartite division of Latin, Byzantine, and Islamic coinages of the succeeding centuries. We will examine how these three coinages developed and interacted through the later medieval centuries, laying the groundwork for the modern monetary systems.
Instructor: Alan Stahl
Prerequisites: None.
June 29 – July 2 2026 – Mediterranean Magic: An Introduction
This four-day intensive skills seminar will not only provide participants with an overview of magic’s history (broadly defined) throughout the premodern period but also introduce them to recurring patterns in magical practice and representation, significant symbols, and even tools for bringing similar material into their classrooms or personal reflections. As much as possible the content will be catered to participants interests and needs. Medievalists of all disciplines and ranks, graduate students, qualified undergraduate students, library and archival professionals, independent scholars, and modern magic practitioners or enthusiasts are encouraged to apply.
Instructor: Veronica Menaldi
Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites apart from an interest in magic, astrology, and occult science in both culture and literature.
June 29 – July 2 2026 – Reading Armenian Manuscripts (NEW)
From the fifth century CE onward, Armenian writing has spanned an incredible geographic and cultural scope. This intensive and introductory course guides participants to decipher medieval and early modern Armenian manuscripts, running a textual gamut from the work of professional scribes at the Cilician chancellery to the marginal notes of monastic readers, hard pressed for candles (and eyesight); from the personal correspondence of travelers, far from home, to equally well-traveled romances in the worldly vernacular. Through a combination of small-pair and group work, participants will acquire the paleographic skills to accurately read and describe handwritten texts in the Armenian script — a massive corpus that includes works not only in Classical, Middle, dialectal, and modern Armenian, but other languages as well, such as Turkish (Armeno-Turkish) and Persian (Armeno-Persian).
Instructor: Michael Pifer
Prerequisites: Basic reading knowledge of Armenian (Classical or modern) is required.
July 6-9 2026 – Sephardic Culture: An Introduction
This Summer Skills Seminar provides participants with the an overview of main currents in Sephardic Studies including historial and cultural trends, texts, sources for the period 900-1700 CE, and attending to the potential of this field to enhance your own research and teaching. It is designed with academics in mind, particularly graduate students, postdocs, and professors working in disciplines such as history, literature, religious studies, but all interested parties are welcome to apply. Participants will receive a completion certificate which may be listed on your CV and other documents such as grant/fellowship applications. The seminar is held via zoom over four days, with two two-hour sessions each day. Participants are expected to prepare readings in advance of the sessions, which will be a blend of lecture, pair and group discussion, group close readings, and in-class activities.
Instructor: David A. Wacks
Prerequisites: None.
July 13-16 2026 – The Archivo General de Simancas: An Introduction
This seminar offers an introduction early Modern Spanish paleography and the organization of the General Archive of Simancas and an insight into the rich sources of the Spanish monarchy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Using a hands-on approach, students will learn to analyze original documents and to read and transcribe sources in early modern Spanish and in other languages, enabling students to read documents at the AGS and from across the global empire of Early Modern Spain.
Instructor: Prof. Rubén González Cuerva
Prerequisites: Applicants should have a good reading knowledge of modern Spanish. The language of instruction is English.
August 3-6 2026 – Reading Medieval Catalan
The vast and rich corpus of medieval Catalan literature has yet to be given its full due in our overall understanding of medieval European literature and culture. This is the result, in large part, of the fact that medieval Catalan, unlike Old French or Old Spanish, has not evolved to become the major language of a modern European nation state. For similar reasons, there have been few opportunities, outside a few centers, to study this corpus or to learn to read it in its original medieval language. The present course seeks to begin to fill this gap in the knowledge of medieval European vernacular literatures by offering the basic skills necessary to read medieval Catalan through study of key texts in the development of 13th through 15th century Catalan letters.
Instructor: John Dagenais
Prerequisites: Applicants should have at least a good reading knowledge of modern Spanish, French, Italian and/or Portuguese or some knowledge of Catalan. The language of instruction is English.
3. Manuscripts in Partition
February 25, 2026
HMML’s manuscripts tell stories of borders, upheaval, and resilience. Across the 20th century, the creation of new nation-states often disrupted libraries and displaced cultural treasures, leaving minority communities and their manuscripts fragmented and at risk. As part of HMML’s 60th anniversary celebration, this lecture uncovers how these manuscripts bear witness to the human consequences of partition and reveals the remarkable work HMML does to reconnect, preserve, and share what was thought to be lost.
Presenter
Dr. Josh Mugler, Curator of Eastern Christian & Islamic Manuscripts: Oversees HMML’s Eastern Christian and Islamic manuscript collections, directing cataloging and preservation that reconnect dispersed cultural heritage and make it accessible to scholars worldwide.
Registration
Free and open to the public, but registration is required: https://secure.hmml.org/a/winter-lecture-series-february-2026
Contact Information
Dr. Audrey Thorstad
Director of Programming
Hill Museum & Manuscript Library
Contact Email
4. UCLA: Pourdavoud Lecture Series
Elephantine Goes Global, Island of the Millennia
https://pourdavoud.ucla.edu/events/verena-lepper-elephantine-goes-global/
Verena Lepper (J. Paul Getty Museum)
Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 4:00 pm Pacific Time
Royce Hall 306 and Via Zoom
Register at:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd3Gng2bJvY7hfDB24_aLv9L_w2kn_99PscpYLCUn9truatww/viewform
- February 17, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Please join the 2026 International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA) ‘Dialogues’ online roundtable on the theme “Healthcare Architecture in Islamic Traditions/Translations”, taking place on March 7, 2026.
This annual Dialogues session explores how Islamic societies have shaped health-conscious architecture, from traditional practices to responses to epidemics and pandemics. Cansu Değirmencioğlu, Sara Honarmand Ebrahimi, and Kamyar Salavati will join IJIA Assistant Editor Deniz Avci to discuss culturally responsive approaches to healthcare design across hospitals, domestic spaces, and urban environments.
Join us for an interdisciplinary conversation on designing for health, hygiene, and care in Islamic contexts.
March 7, 2026 | 15:00–16:30 GMT / 6:00–7:30 Pacific / 9:00–10:30 Eastern
Register via Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83691919135?pwd=nNd8AKf7uZvzV3MKBezfZrvzNvevXD.1
2. Logics of Localisation: Vernacular Islamic tombstone traditions of Sumatra
Jessica Rahardjo
Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 6:30 PM
In-Person and Virtual Lecture
The Institute of Fine Arts
1 East 78th Street, New York, 10075
Tombstones – among the most abundant, datable forms of material culture in maritime Southeast Asia – are widely considered to be synonymous with the adoption of Islam in the region. This paper presents two distinct vernacular traditions of Islamic tombstones: one from Aceh in northern Sumatra and another from the Minangkabau highlands in western Sumatra. It explores the factors driving the adoption of specific tombstone forms and their subsequent transformations, focusing on the interaction between the incoming monotheistic belief and local immanentist modes of religiosity, as well as the impact of successive waves of religious reformism from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
Jessica Rahardjo is Postdoctoral Researcher on the Leverhulme Trust project Mapping Sumatra’s Manuscript Cultures, SOAS University of London, and Research Associate at the Khalili Research Centre, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the material and manuscript cultures of Islamic Southeast Asia. She recently completed her DPhil at Oxford with a dissertation on batu Aceh, a Southeast Asian Islamic tombstone tradition (15th–19th centuries). Jessica was a recipient of the Getty Foundation Indian Ocean Exchanges fellowship (2021–23). She is also a committee member of Teaching the Codex, an initiative dedicated to developing pedagogical approaches to palaeography and codicology.
Registration is essential. To register, please use the form available at:
https://ifa.nyu.edu/events/date/2-19-26.html
3. The Hajji Baba Club Research Fellowship was established in 2018 to promote original scholarship in the field of carpet studies. It provides financial support and visibility for emerging scholars and independent researchers. The maximum fellowship award for 2026-2027 is $8,000 USD.
The fellowship is competitive and applications are due by 5:00 PM EST May 1, 2026.
Please see our website for the application details https://www.hajjibaba.org/research-fellowship/ as well as some information on our current and past fellows: https://www.hajjibaba.org/current-fellow/
URL
https://www.hajjibaba.org/research-fellowship/
4. Position – Assistant, Associate, Full Adjunct Professor – Arts of Iran and Central Asia – History of Art and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures
Position overview
Position title: Assistant, Associate, or Full Adjunct Professor
Salary range: The UC academic salary scales set the minimum pay determined by rank and step at appointment. See the following table(s) for the current salary scale(s) for this position https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/2025-26/policy-covered-october-2025-scales/t1.pdf. The current full-time base salary range for this position is $80,800 – $212,000 (9-month academic year salary). “Off-scale” salaries, which yield compensation that is higher than the published system-wide salary at the designated rank and step, are offered when necessary to meet competitive conditions.
Percent time: 25% – 50%
Anticipated start: As soon as July 2026
Application Window
Open date: January 22, 2026
Most recent review date: Friday, Feb 6, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Applications received after this date will be reviewed by the search committee if the position has not yet been filled.
Final date: Friday, Feb 27, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.
Position description
The Departments of History of Art and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley seek to appoint an Assistant, Associate, or Full Adjunct Professor in the arts of Iran and Central Asia. Applicants should have an active research program, with expertise in relevant languages. The appointee will offer courses with a regional, thematic, or topical focus that contribute to department curricula at all levels. The expected load is two courses per academic year, shared between History of Art and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. In addition to teaching, the appointee is expected to pursue research or other creative work and contribute to the departments through service on relevant committees and/or by mentoring undergraduate and graduate students. We seek candidates who can support the success of all students through inclusive curriculum, classroom environment, and pedagogy. Funding for this adjunct position is available from campus for a period of time thanks to a philanthropic Azarpay endowment.
Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States at the time of hire. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.
Department: https://melc.berkeley.edu/
Qualifications
Basic qualifications (required at time of application)
A PhD (or equivalent international degree), or enrolled in PhD or equivalent international degree-granting program at the time of application.
Preferred qualifications
Demonstrated teaching experience at the college or university level.
Specialization in ancient and/or medieval worlds is preferred. In addition to courses in art history, the successful appointee should be able to teach courses of a regional, thematic, or topical focus that contribute to department curricula at all levels.
Application Requirements
Document requirements
- Curriculum Vitae – Your most recently updated C.V.
- Cover Letter – Please discuss research accomplishments and proposed plans (this can include, for example, your publication record, awards, presentations, inclusive research practices that promote the excellence of your research, and areas for future research), prior teaching experience, teaching approach, and future teaching interests (this can include, for example, specific efforts, accomplishments, and future plans to support the success of all students through inclusive curriculum, classroom environment, and pedagogy), and specific prior and proposed academic, professional and/or public service activities.
Reference requirements
- 3 required (contact information only)
References will only be contacted for those candidates selected for an interview. We will alert candidates and seek their permission before contacting references
Apply link: https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05238
Help contact: ealc_gbs_ap@berkeley.edu
URL
https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05238
5. Two New Online Courses – Ferdowsi School of Persian Literature
1.The Shahname: Introduction to the Iranian Epic (The Story of Alexander) March 6 – April 24, 2026
The readings are selected from the story of Pādešāhi-ye Eskandar in the Shahname, and content-wise continue the readings of the previous round, this time focusing on the adventures of Alexander in the mythical lands:
- The story of the travels of Alexander in the land of Darkness in search of the Spring of Life
- The story of the building of the wall against Yajuj and Majuj by Alexander
- The story of the reaching of Alexander to the speaking tree
- The story of the death of Alexander
2. Central Asia through Persian Historical Texts: An Introduction March 12 – May 14, 2026
This course is designed as an introduction to Classical Persian historical prose, during which several important text relevant for the history of Central Asia will be studied with a particular focus on the analysis of their language:
- Iṣṭakhrī, Mamālik wa Masālik (Cl. Persian translation, 13/14th c.);
- Tārīkh-i Bukhārā, by Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. Jaʻfar Naršakhī.
- Juwaynī, Tārīkh-i Jahāngušāy (13th c.);
- Šaraf-ud-dīn ‘Alī Yazdī, Zafar-nāma (15th c.);
- Mīrzā Muḥammad Haidar Dūghlāt, Tārīkh-ī Rašīdī (16th c.);
- Faẓlullāh b. Rōzbihān Khunji, Mihmān-nāma-yī Bukhārā.
Ferdowsi School of Persian Literature
Yerevan, Armenia
Website: www.ferdowsi.org
6. Digging Wells While Houses Burn
Academic responsibility and the study of religion
23–24 April 2026, in Cambridge and online
In a provocative article titled Digging Wells While Houses Burn (2006), David Gordon White argues that certain studies of religion actively stoke supremacist ideologies and politics. The only way to avoid this unsavoury collaboration is to rethink the way we do our work — the stories we choose to tell, and the methods we use to tell them. According to White, academics of religion who fail to engage with this responsibility are “digging wells while houses burn”, ignoring devastating realities that urgently demand their attention.
In this context, we invite scholars of all religions, across all disciplines, to reflect on the relationship between their academic work, on the one hand, and violence and supremacy, on the other. Particular areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Studying religion in contexts of majoritarian violence, occupation, and genocide (e.g. Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Tibet).
- Systematic critiques (legal, historical, theological, and so on) of the mutually reinforcing relationship between religious discourses and supremacist ideology.
- How have scholarly agendas and university spaces contributed to the entrenchment of religion-infused supremacies?
- Engagements with “authorship”: what is the role of privilege and identity in crafting religion research?
- Intersectional analyses of religious supremacy: gender, sexuality, race, caste, and class.
- Thematic and methodological issues related to the scholarly analysis of “religious” violence.
- Ways forward: how must our concepts and conversations change?
Those interested in participating should complete this form (https://forms.gle/MygENBHjLUA5m3Xu8) by 1st March 2026. Successful applicants will be notified by 10th March 2026. Scholars residing outside the United Kingdom will have the option to present online. In case of any queries, please contact Namrata Narula (nn307@cam.ac.uk) or Dr Hina Khalid (hk410@cam.ac.uk).
_____________________________________________________________________________
Featured Article: White, D. G. (2006). Digging Wells While Houses Burn. History and Theory, 45. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2303.2006.00387.x.
7. Between Text and Image
Diagrams of the (Ventricles of the) Brain in the Medieval Islamicate Tradition
Shahrzad Irannejad
19 February 2026 – 5 PM (CET)
In this lecture, I will discuss the few yet thought-provoking visual representations of the brain and its ventricles in the medieval Islamicate tradition. While some illustrations of the brain appear in the Avicennan tradition, numerous mini diagrams of the brain’s ventricles show up in the Kitab al-Manṣuri fi al-Ṭibb (The Book of Medicine) by al-Razi (865–925 CE) — a concise yet comprehensive and influential encyclopaedia of medicine.
Several manuscript copies of this work contain numerous anatomical diagrams of the ventricles of the brain. The particularly intriguing aspect of these diagrams, which were not necessarily intended to depict reality or precise anatomy, is their variation. In other words, these diagrams, as ‘imagetexts’, were subject to movance — accidental or deliberate changes — just like the text copied by hand from one manuscript to another.
At the nexus of codicology and philology, I explore the utility of the family tree metaphor (stemma codicum) in establishing the relationship between various manuscripts based on the visual affinities of their respective diagrams. I investigate the extent to which establishing anatomical truth and reconstructing the archetype should be prioritised over exploring the dynamism of visual representation resulting from scribal practices across time and space.
To register for this event, please click here.
Centre for the Study of Medicine and the Body in the Renaissance (CSMBR) – Assistant Coordinator
Domus Comeliana, Via Cardinale Maffi 48, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Tel.: +39.02.006.20.51 – Mobile: +39.333.13.12.203
Email: ah@csmbr.fondazionecomel.org
8. Arab World English Journal for Translation and Literary Studies welcomes the submission of papers for the May Issue 2026.The submission deadline is March 30, 2026. The issue publication date is May 2026. Please read the submission guidelines https: //www.awej-tls.org/paper-submission/ and submit your paper: https://www.awej-tls.org/submission-form/. If you have any questions, please contact TLS@awej.org
For more details, please read
Kind regards,
AWEJ for Translation and Literary Studies
https://www.awej-tls.org/
9. UCLA: Pourdavoud Institute for the Study of the Iranian World
Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series
Ancient Iran and Central Asia
Interactions and Shifting Identities
Professor Frantz Grenet (Collège de France)
A Series of Four Lectures in March 2026 at 4:00 pm Pacific Time
Royce Hall 314 and via Zoom
More info and registration at:
https://pourdavoud.ucla.edu/events/frantz-grenet-2026-yarshater-lecture-series/
10. Tajikistan Learning Tour (May 2026)
Join Hikmat International Institutefor an unforgettable Tajikistan Learning Tour—a journey through breathtaking landscapes, rich Persian heritage, and a culture that few have truly explored.
🌄 Explore stunning mountains and natural beauty
🏛️ Visit historical and cultural landmarks
👥 Meet local academics, students, and cultural figures
📚 Attend special educational workshops on:
- Persian Identity in Central Asia
- Society & Transformation in Tajikistan
🍲 And of course… taste authentic Tajik cuisine and traditional sweets you’ve likely never tried before!
https://hikmat-ins.com/tajikistan-learning-tour/
11. CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: 2 post-doc positions at UCLouvain (as part of ERC Synergy MOSAIC project
12. SPRING 2026 AKPIA Lecture Series
A Forum for Islamic Art & Architecture at Harvard University
February 19, 2026
“Harvard’s Safavid Multi-Text Compendium: The Codex as a Communal Gathering of Riddles”
Christiane Gruber
Mehmet Ağa-Oğlu Collegiate Professor of Islamic Art History, University of Michigan
co-sponsored with Standing Committee on Medieval Studies at Harvard University
March 26, 2026
“Picturing the İskendername: Visual Interpretation in Fifteenth-Century Ottoman Manuscripts”
Serpil Bağcı
AKPIA Fellow; Professor, Department of History, Bilkent University
April 30, 2026
“Vaulting Techniques in Iranian Islamic Architecture: An Unpublished Study by Myron Bement Smith and Doǧan Kuban”
David Roxburgh
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor of Islamic Art History, Harvard University
THE AGA KHAN PROGRAM FOR ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Lectures are open to the public and held Thursdays, 6:00-7:30pm, at 485 Broadway, HAA Lower Lecture Hall, Cambridge, MA.
For further information, call 617-495-2355 or email agakhan@fas.harvard.edu
Visit the website https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/news-events
13. 2e Atelier interdisciplinaire – Etudes iraniennes et approches environnementales, lundi 16 février 2026, 10h-13h à la Maison de la Recherche de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Salle Athéna
Nous avons le plaisir de vous convier au 2e atelier interdisciplinaire ” Etudes iraniennes et approches environnementales”, qui se tiendra lundi prochain, 16 février 2026, 10h-13h, à la Maison de la Recherche de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Salle Athéna (4 rue des Irlandais, Paris Ve).
Cet atelier est organisé conjointement par l’Université Aix-Marseille, la Sorbonne Nouvelle et l’Inalco, avec le soutien du CeRMI (UMR 8264), de l’IREMAM (UMR 7310), et de BioArch (UMR 7209).
Vous trouverez le programme ci-dessous, et en pièce jointe.
En espérant vous y retrouver nombreux!
Bien cordialement,
Les organisateurs –
Camille Rhoné-Quer, Justine Landau, Matteo de Chiara
Contact: Camille Rhoné-Quer (camille.rhone@univ-amu.fr)
14. UCLA:
Averroes and Maimonides: Translating Religious Motives into Philosophy
Averroes Lecture Series
A lecture by Ali Benmakhlouf (Mohammed VI Polytechnique University, Morocco)
Moderator: Aomar Boum (UCLA)
Thursday, February 19, 2026
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM PST
Bunche Hall 10383
Organized by the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies. Co-sponsored by the UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies.
https://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/event/17477
15. Hybrid: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SEMINAR IN ARABIC STUDIES
Why wasn’t print adopted in the early modern Middle East?: A New Perspective
Arabic Studies Seminar w/ Nir Shafir Monday 2/23 4pm
Please find below information regarding our upcoming meeting with Professor Nir Shafir (UC San Diego) on Monday (2/23) at 4 pm EST in Faculty House. Please note that we are not holding the talk at our usual day or time this month due to scheduling conflicts. The talk is titled: “Why wasn’t print adopted in the early modern Middle East?: A new perspective”
Please note that due to new regulations, non CUID holders will not be allowed into Faculty House without prior notice. If you intend to be present in-person and do not have a Columbia ID, please RSVP ASAP. If we don’t receive your RSVP we will not be able to let you in. You should receive a QR code before Wednesday morning–if not, please reply to this message. The talk will be live streamed here on ZOOM for guests who can’t make it in person.
We will begin at 4:00 pm. If you would like to join the speaker for dinner immediately following the talk at Faculty House please RSVP to the seminar’s rapporteur (rma2152@columbia.edu). The cost of dinners is $30, payable via card or check.
Abstract:
Why was print not widely adopted in the Ottoman Empire until the late 1800s? It’s a question that has puzzled scholars for almost 400 years. Ottoman subjects had known about European printing for centuries and even had short-lived experiments with printing, but the vast majority of books continued to be copied by hand. Previous explanations have emphasized cultural roadblocks like religious opposition or scribal resistance, but there is little evidence for these theories. In this talk, I posit an economic explanation instead: Manuscript technology continued to flourish because it was more economically rational and printing was too burdensome. The project will analyze 1) the production costs of books, both printed and handwritten, 2) their prices on the secondary market, and 3) the commercialization of the book trades. This will be done across Arabic, Turkish, Armenian, Greek, and Hebrew books. The project promises a new approach to the history of books in the Islamic world and a clearer understanding of commercialization and capitalist development of the early modern Middle East.
Bio:
Nir Shafir is an associate professor of history at the University of California, San Diego. His research investigates the intertwined histories of communication, religion, and science in the Middle East between 1200-1800. His first monograph, The Order and Disorder of Communication: Pamphlets and Polemics in the Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Empire, was published by Stanford University Press in 2024 and was awarded the book prize of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association in 2025. He is an occasional contributor and editorial board member of the Ottoman History Podcast and served as its editor in 2018.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/j/92597500745
16. ITS
RAMADAN DISCOUNT 2026
This Ramadan embrace the spirit of reflection and devotion. Enjoy 15% off all our titles, with free delivery on orders over £25.
Deepen Your Connection with the Qur’an this Ramadan
We invite you to explore the timeless wisdom of Al-Ghazali On Proper Conduct for Reciting the Qur’an, a guide to deepening your connection with the Qur’an during this blessed month.
In order to take advantage of this offer, please visit our website https://its.org.uk and enter the coupon code RAMADAN26. This offer is valid from 17 February to 22 March 2026.
17. HYBRID World Policy Forum: “Muslim-Christian-Jewish Coexistence in the Holy Land”, Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy (CSID), Washington, DC, 17 February 2026, 18:00 CET
This timely forum will bring together three distinguished voices from the Muslim, Christian, and Jew-ish traditions to reflect on the moral, historical, and political foundations of coexistence in the Holy Land, and to explore what a just and sustainable future might require.
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/2rjb3tsj
18. HYBRID World Policy Forum: “Muslim-Christian-Jewish Tolerance and Peaceful Coexist-ence in the Holy Land”, Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), Washington, DC, 17 February 2026, 18:00 – 20:00 CET
This forum will examine the historical foundations, moral traditions, and contemporary challenges shaping relations among the three Abrahamic faith communities in Israel and Palestine. Bringing together leading Jewish, Christian, and Muslim thinkers, the discussion will explore what justice, dignity, and equal rights require today, and how religious and ethical traditions can contribute to a future grounded in coexistence rather than exclusion.
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/2rjb3tsj
19. ONLINE Lecture “Literature’s Refuge: Rewriting the Mediterranean Borderscape” by William Stroebel (University of Michigan), University of Texas, Austin, 17 February 2026, 23:00 – 24:00 CET
The Greco-Turkish Population Exchange of 1923-1925 was the final nail in the Empire’s coffin, up-rooting and swapping nearly two million Christians and Muslims between Europe and West Asia. William Stroebel will recover something of the rich refugee literatures that fell through the cracks of the modern border regime, straddling Greek Orthodoxy and Sunni Islam, Greek-script, Arabic-script, and Latin-script literary traditions.
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/4us88mmy
20. ONLINE Webinar „Excavating Hope in a Time of Cynicism: A New Reading of the Iranian New Wave” by Sara Saljoughi, Center for Middle East Studies, Brown University, Provicence, 4 March 2026, 18:00 – 19:00 CET
Sara Saljoughi (University of Toronto) offers a fresh interpretation of the Iranian New Wave of the 1960s and 1970s. She argues that New Wave cinema carries an anticipatory vision of a better future that ultimately never came to fruition. She suggests that this unrealized potential continues to resonate today, providing new insights into both the films themselves and the ongoing revolutionary strug-gles in Iran.
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/557kzf26
21. American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages (AATT) Graduate Student Conference, 8 May 2026
This conference aims to support and promote research that significantly utilizes sources in Turkish or other Turkic languages by graduate students from fields including but not limited to literature, history, linguistics, language education and related fields at North American academic institutions. It also offers a collaborative platform for the student presenters to share their work and exchange re-search ideas with their peers and the colleagues in attendance from the field.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/mryevjyb
22. Interdisciplinary Symposium “Illuminating the Dark! Night Histories from Byzantion to Istanbul“, Pera Museum Auditorium, Istanbul, 4-5 June 2027
This interdisciplinary symposium will explore Istanbul’s night histories across three pivotal periods; Byzantine Constantinople, Ottoman Istanbul, and republican/contemporary Istanbul, examining con-tinuities, ruptures, and transformations in nocturnal urban life. We seek to foster cross-fertilization between history, urban studies, anthropology, geography, literature, art history, ecology, and the broader emerging field of night studies.
Deadline for abstracts: 13 July 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4rrue7sx
23. Journée d’étude « Construire la déviance religieuse en Islam et dans les Chrétientés mé-diévales. Histoire des représentations et approches sémantiques », Lyon, 12-13 novembre 2026
Cette journée d’étude propose d’analyse du vocabulaire et des représentations discursives et pic-turales de l’exclusion religieuse. La discrimination s’appuie en effet sur un lexique de la stigmatisation et de la différenciation qui prend racine dans le registre de la polémique, se diffuse dans différents domaines de la culture écrite et visuelle, mais peut aussi gagner le domaine du droit.
Propositions de communication avant le 30 avril 2026. Information : https://tinyurl.com/yvnd645h
24. Library Traineeship (Civil Service, “Bibliotheksreferendariat”), Profile “Arabic and Islamic Studies” at the Bavarian State Library, Bayreuth and Munich
The two-year preparatory service (A13h) is starting 1 October 2026 with a practical year in Bayreuth, followed by a theoretical year in Munich. Field profile C: Arabic and Islamic Studies; Master’s degree required, PhD desirable. Full-time, on-site; appointment as civil servant on probation.
Deadline for applications: 25 February 2026.
Information: https://interamt.de/koop/app/stelle?0&id=1393142
25. Visiting Assistant Professorship (2 Years) in International Studies (Focus Middle East), Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Qualifications: All applicants must have either received a bachelor’s degree or lived for a substantial period in Africa, Asia, or Latin America and the Caribbean. They must have earned a Ph.D. in the humanities and/or social sciences after 2021.
Review of applications will begin on 18 February 2026 until the position is filled.
Information: https://trincoll.peopleadmin.com/postings/3749
26. Appeal for the Reopening of the French “Institute for the Near East (Ifpo)” in Syria
Since 2011 two Syrian centers of Ifpo in Damascus and Aleppo have been closed. They brought an internationally recognized input to Near East archaeological research and to studies in humanities and social sciences on the Arab and Muslim world. We firmly call for the swift and full reopening of this historical and unique institution. The more people who sign, the more likely our message will be heard.
Please see the full appeal and sign at https://forms.gle/R68WRCD5W42VJhhy8
27. “DECRIPT Program”: Call for Applications for 20 International Research Residencies (1 Month, Focus Middle and Near East), INALCO, Paris
During their stay, researchers must propose to conduct or formalize high-level academic research related to the program’s core scientific question on civilizational narratives and/or civilizationism, in connection with the Middle and Near East or its methodological area. Compensation: €3,400 covering transportation and living expenses. Location: Paris, Bordeaux, Lille.
Deadline for applications: 28 February 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/2nmn5nyk
28. ONLINE Seminars of the Historians Association (Tarihçiler Derneği) in Ottoman and Karamanli Turkish
Historians Association (TAD) is pleased to announce its 2026 Spring Semester online seminar pro-gram, designed to strengthen methodological, linguistic, and paleographic skills in historical and hu-manities research. Delivered by scholars with recognized expertise in their respective fields, the seminars address a diverse audience from students to professional researchers.
Information: https://tinyurl.com/4589s329
29. Summer School “Reading and Analysing Ottoman Manuscript Sources”, Ifpo and Seven 0ther Institutions, Amman, 13-17 September 2026
The five-day program will introduce young researchers (mostly MA and Ph.D. candidates, though postdocs may also apply) to reading, combining and analysing manuscript sources from various archives of the Ottoman era, produced at the local, provincial and imperial levels. Materials from the 16th through the 20th centuries will receive most of our attention, but explorations into earlier ar-chives are welcome. No tuition fees will be charged.
Deadline for applications: 15 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/432xt9rt
30. Sībawayh et les savoirs de son temps
Influences, dialogues, critiques & héritages
Figure fondatrice de la grammaire arabe, Sībawayh (m. vers 180/796) occupe une place singulière dans l’histoire intellectuelle de l’islam médiéval. Axes thématiques : – Les savoirs reçus par Sībawayh : traditions, maîtres et contexts. – Les éventuelles influences extra-arabes dans le Kitāb de Sībawayh. – Sībawayh comme fondateur : concepts, méthodes et innovations. – Critiques, con-troverses et savoirs concurrents. – Postérités et circulations interdisciplinaires.
Les articles sont à envoyer avant le 31 décembre 2026. Information : https://tinyurl.com/2e8676yk
31. Chapters for Edited Volume on “During the Ottomans, After the Outlaws: Histories of Banditry, Memory, and Heritage in Balkans and Turkey” in Routledgs`s Book Series “Outlaws in Literature, History and Culture”
We especially value contributions that follow the full circuit of representation – from administrative and judicial production (policing, court files, petitions, press) to oral tradition and performance, and onward into museums, monuments, politics, nationalism, curricula, festivals, tourism, and digital af-terlives – while developing concepts and methods that travel across post-Ottoman settings.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 April 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/459nanb6
32. New books:
New Book: “Satellite Ministries: The Rise of Christian Television in the Middle East,” by Febe Armanios, Oxford University Press, 2025, 368 Pages
The book draws on extensive oral history interviews and archival research conducted in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. It examines the history of Arabic, Turkish, and Persian Christian channels in the Middle East for the first time, and it describes the historical links between evangelical media missions and the rise of indigenous Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant channels that launched across the Middle East over four decades.
Information: https://tinyurl.com/3y66fsz7
New Book: “Torn is the Curtain: Early Film Cultures in Istanbul” by Canan Balan, New York and Oxford, Berghan Books, Dec. 2025, 234 Pages
Offering a feminist history of cinema at the edges of empire and the nation-state, this book explores how gender, class, and ethno-religious divisions were projected, performed, and entangled. It fo-cuses on the former Ottoman capital from the late nineteenth century to the early 1930s and inves-tigates how cinema both reflected and shaped Istanbul’s complex social fabric. The analysis reveals how religious and cultural practices informed emerging notions of cinematic modernity and cross-cultural exchange in the region.
Information: https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/BalanTorn
LATIN AND EASTERN CATHOLICISM IN OTTOMAN ANATOLIA: SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND RELIGIOUS INQUIRIES FROM 14th-20th CENTURIES
Edited by Vanessa R. de Obaldía, Radu Dipratu, Anaïs Massot, Padraic Rohan
This book brings together thirteen chapters that examine a variety of primary sources that shed new light on the often-ignored history of Catholicism in Anatolia, from the dawn of the Ottoman Empire to the early Republican era. We are grateful to all contributors whose scholarship and collaboration made this project possible.
Information: https://tinyurl.com/yhbtj3sm
- February 14, 2026
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment