Categories : Academic items

1.Departmental Lecturer of Indian History and Culture, Oxford

Faculty of Oriental Studies, Pusey Lane, Oxford

Grade 7: £32,817 – £40,322 per annum

The University is seeking to appoint a Departmental Lecturer of Indian History and Culture. The University interprets History and Culture widely, to include any historical period ancient, medieval, or modern, and any cultural field. Applications are invited from scholars of Indian history and culture regardless of disciplinary specialisation. On this occasion, however, we would particularly welcome applications from scholars in the field of sixteenth to twentieth century Indian history and culture. The Faculty of Oriental Studies is committed to the view that all disciplines must be studied on the basis of mastery of original languages.

The Departmental Lecturer will engage in advanced study and, primarily, lecture and teach undergraduate and graduate students, and conduct independent research.

You will have a doctorate or equivalent in a relevant subject by the time of appointment, a proven ability to give lectures and classes, and a solid linguistic knowledge of at least one Indian language apart from English required for the study of Indian history. The successful candidate will have a broad vision of the scope of Indian history, a current and projected research and publications record in one or more aspect(s) of Indian history and culture, an ability to initiate the organization of, and to participate in, conferences, seminars and other research meetings, and an ability to contribute to Faculty administration.

This position is based in central Oxford. This is a full-time, fixed-term position between 1 October 2021 and 30 September 2024, to cover the teaching and other duties of the vacant Professor of Indian History and Culture post.

The closing date for applications is 12 noon on 26 March 2021.

 

Contact Person :	Recruitment Administrator	Vacancy ID :	149478
Contact Phone :	01865 278201	Closing Date & Time :	26-Mar-2021 12:00
Contact Email :	recruitment@orinst.ox.ac.uk

 

https://my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.display_form?p_company=10&p_internal_external=E&p_display_in_irish=N&p_process_type=&p_applicant_no=&p_form_profile_detail=&p_display_apply_ind=Y&p_refresh_search=Y&p_recruitment_id=149478

 

 

 

 

2. PERSIA: An Area Study, 1633

By Joannes de Laet, Translated from the latin by Willem Floor & Colette Ouahes

Mage, 2021

https://magepublishers.com/persia-an-area-study-1633/

 

 

 

 

3. ONLINE Panel on “Higher Education and Academic Freedom in Turkey: Boğaziçi Yesterday and Today”, Sponsored by OTSA and MESA, Istanbul, 15 February 2021, 12:00 pm EST

Former and current Boğaziçi professors will discuss the state of higher education in Turkey by reflecting on the past of Boğaziçi University and analyzing the recent events that have been unfolding since the appointment of a new university president.

Information and registration: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwvcumorTktHN0ZxQRihHj0uqq1LZ-7Uy6s

 

 

 

 

4. ONLINE Workshop: “Realising Understanding: Language in Cross-cultural Migration/Integration and Secular-Religious Contexts (Focus: Interaction between European and Islamicate Cultures) ”, Freie Universität Berlin, 18 February 2021, 10:00 am – 4:30 pm CET

The workshop will discuss the use of language in multi- and cross-cultural contexts shaped by different linguistic and cultural backgrounds of the communicating parties and analyze (mis-) understandings in the context of migration and integration with the intention to identify factors that can support genuine understanding.

Registration: housamedden.darwish@uni-leipzig.de; Information and program: https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/sites/academicsinsolidarity/news/Realising-Workshop.html?fbclid=IwAR3uMlwcAk0frV4qP0VhOFOjtgnthcWbSvMj637X3Nou0n-gYOzHgO4N524

 

 

 

 

5. ONLINE Seminar on “Cultural Brokerage in Pre-modern Islam: Magic and Divination in the Cairo Genizah: Jewish, Muslim and Other Texts” by Prof. Gideon Bohak (Tel Aviv University), 22 February 2021, 17:30-19:00 IST

Information and registration: https://iias.huji.ac.il/event/magic-and-divination-cairo-genizah-jewish-muslim-and-other-texts-seminar

 

 

 

 

6. ONLINE Seminar: “Bernard Lewis, Fouad Ajami, and the ‘Clash of Civilizations’”, Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA), 23 February 2021, 12:00 pm EST

Prof. Martin Kramer will examine how the founders of the ASMEA related to the influential concept popularized by Samuel Huntington. Both Lewis and Ajami demonstrated an initial ambivalence, and a later acceptance. Kramer will pose the question of which of their rationales speak to us most clearly today.

Information: https://www.asmeascholars.org/webinar

 

 

 

 

7. ONLINE Discussion by Alexandre Caeiro and Nathan Brown on “The Government of Pearling: A Social History of Law in the Arabian Gulf (1860-1950)”, 4 March 2021, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm EST

The scholars will discuss the legal regulation of the pearl trade; the effects of British attempts to re-organize the pearling industry and reshape the legal systems of the Gulf sheikhdoms; and the relationship between “ruler’s courts”, “merchants’ courts,” and “Islamic courts.”

Information and registration: https://imes.elliott.gwu.edu/calendar_event/the-government-of-pearling/

 

 

 

 

8. ONLINE Panel: “Pan-Asian Modernity Beyond the Colonial Gaze: Education, Social Ethics, and Universal Religion”, Virtual Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), 25 March 2021, 8:30 am – 10:00 am ET

Panel organizer and speaker: Maria-Magdalena Pruss (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient Berlin). This panel focuses on translocal intellectual and social networks between the Middle East and other parts of Asia from the 17^th to the 20^th centuries which were created by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. It investigates how knowledge about Islam and the Muslim world was produced, translated, disseminated and adapted through these networks.

Registration deadline at reduced-rate: 1 March 2021 at https://www.asianstudies.org/conference. Information: https://www.eventscribe.net/2021/AASVirtual/agenda.asp?startdate=3/25/2021&enddate=3/25/2021&BCFO=M|OD&pfp=FullSchedule&tn=&cpf2=&cus2=&pta

 

 

 

 

9. Two-year Post-doctoral Fellowship, Haifa Center for Mediterranean History (2021-2023)

We are looking for candidates able to demonstrate proven academic excellence in their respective fields of expertise, together with an extensive background in Mediterranean studies. We encourage applications from candidates working in all related fields. Applicants must hold a Ph.D. by the beginning of the fellowship tenure period, and no longer than five years.

Deadline for applications: 1 March 2021. Information: https://mailchi.mp/mediterraneanseminar/apply-two-year-post-doctoral-fellowship-at-the-haifa-center-for-mediterranean-history-2021-23?e=82aeb6c61d

 

 

 

 

10. One-Year Visiting Assistant Professorship in Arabic Studies, Arabic Studies Department at Williams College, Williamstown (MA)

Candidates should have native or near-native fluency in Arabic; provide evidence of demonstrated excellence in undergraduate teaching of the Arabic language; and hold a Ph.D. in a relevant field by the beginning of their appointment on 1 July 2021.

Applications should be submitted by 1 March 2021. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/83612

 

 

 

 

11. Postdoctoral Fellowship for Modern Arabic Literature, Tulane University, New Orleans

Requirements: Candidates must have received their PhD after 1 September 2018 and no later than 30 June 2021. They are expected to design and teach courses on literature and cultural production from the MENA region, time period open.

Deadline for applications: 30 March 2021. Information: https://mesana.org/resources-and-opportunities/2021/02/12/mellon-postdoctoral-fellowship-in-the-humanities-modern-arabic-literature

 

 

 

 

12. Call for Submissions

The Board of Directors of Middle East Medievalists (MEM) is pleased to request submissions for its biennial prize for best book on the medieval Middle East (ca. 500-1500 CE). The prize will be awarded at the 2021 annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association.
Below is a list of criteria for the upcoming competition:

1. Books published between April 1, 2019 and March 31, 2021 are eligible for this year’s prize.
2. Books must be non-fiction scholarly monographs based on original research.  Works not eligible include edited collections and compilations, proceedings of symposia, new editions of previously published books, bibliographies, dictionaries, textbooks, and surveys.
3. Authors must be current members in good standing of Middle East Medievalists to be considered. To join MEM or renew your membership, please visit our MEMbership page.

TO NOMINATE A BOOK

Deadline:  April 1, 2021

1. Authors or publishers should submit a short letter of nomination (preferably in an e-mail) noting the title, publisher, date of publication, and series (if appropriate) to the Chair of the Selection Committee, Najam Haider nhaider@barnard.edu , by April 1 2021.
2. Send hard copies of the book to each of the *four* members of the Selection committee (addresses listed below) postmarked by April 15 2021.

If you have questions about the prize, please contact Najam Haider ( nhaider@barnard.edu )

 

 

 

 

13. Re-launched Journal: Middle Eastern Literatures

I’m writing to announce that after 10 years as editor of the journal Middle Eastern Literatures, Prof. Wen-Chin Ouyang has handed the journal off to a new group of co-editors (Huda Fakhreddine, Charis Olszok, Nora Parr, and me!). We’re very excited for the new era of this important journal and have recruited an excellent editorial board to support and guide us.

We are especially excited to help the journal become a leading platform for a comparative literature that is not centered on Euro-American history and “research that identifies literature and culture of the Middle East not just as subjects of study, but as locations of knowledge with relevance beyond any one academic discipline or field of thought.”

The co-editors and the members of the editorial board are committed to nurturing ambitious scholarship, to providing constructive, challenging, and supportive feedback, and to so in a timely fashion. We are committed to completing peer review of submissions within 3 months.

It is time for the historical, contemporary, and potential cultures, which we love and serve through our scholarship, to occupy the center of a broad and dynamic scholarly conversation and not simply to be reduced to a footnote in the World Literature juggernaut.

You can reach us at MELiteratures@gmail.com

 

We look forward to working with you over the decade to come!

 

Yours,

Huda Fakhreddine

Charis Olszok

Nora Parr

Adam Talib

1. History of Hospitals in Iran, 550–1950

W Floor

Mage, 2020

https://magepublishers.com/history-of-hospitals-in-iran-550-1950/

 

 

 

2. Online lecture – Anna Contadini, “Book culture in the Arab world: An illustrated herbal of the 13th century” – 23 February 2021

Professor Anna Contadini (SOAS, University of London) will deliver a lecture on recent research on the illustrated Arabic Dioscorides in the University Library of Bologna. Entitled “Book culture in the Arab world: An illustrated herbal of the 13th century”, the lecture is organized by the Oxford Bibliographical Society and the Centre for Islamic Studies.

Tuesday 23 February 2021 at 17:00 GMT. https://www.oxbibsoc.org.uk/lectures/book-culture-in-the-arab-world

The lecture will be held virtually, by ZOOM. Open to all, to attend please contact sarah.cusk@lincoln.ox.ac.uk

 

 

 

3. Iranzamin is the first survey exhibition of Persian arts and crafts acquired by the Powerhouse Museum (Sydney) since its founding in 1880. It explores the stories behind rarely seen artefacts from the middle of the 19th century to now, shedding light on the diverse social and cultural history of Persia – today’s Iran – and its people.

The exhibition examines how objects inspired by traditional arts and crafts were used in Persian society, focusing on seven themes: Joy and Happiness; Purification and Cleansing; Spirituality and Devotion; Poetry and Calligraphy; Rituals and Performance; Patronage and Craftsmanship; Nature and Design. Iranzamin encompasses a diversity of materials and techniques, including hand-woven crafts, carpets and rugs; arms and armour; glass, ceramics and tiles; textiles, embroidery and foundry.

Iranzamin examines how the influence of Persia, situated between two major trade routes – the Silk Road and the Indian Ocean – spread out into the world. Special attention is paid to the influence of Persian culture on non-Iranian craftsmen and artists such as Australian painter and textile designer Florence Broadhurst. This includes original Broadhurst wallpaper prints titled Persian Phoenix (Simorgh), Persian Birds, and Persian Pomegranates and Flowers.

The opening of Iranzamin coincides with the Persian new year Nowrouz. Programs will include the celebrations of Nowrouz, Haftsin, a table traditionally set for the Persian new year on 20 March, and Sizdehbehdar, the Persian national day for the celebration and admiration of Mother Nature, which will be held in the Powerhouse Museum on 3 April 2021.

https://maas.museum/event/iranzamin/?fbclid=IwAR0-Uw4Jzd55sx-TDJcKMqvJlo8N_PrnpxQo8tChIWXO…

 

 

 

 

4. I B Tauris:

Armenians in the Modern and Early Modern World series

Recent decades have seen the expansion of Armenian Studies from insular history to a broader, more interactive field within an inter-regional and global context. This series responds to this growth by promoting innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to Armenian history, politics, and culture in the period between 1500-2000. Focusing on the geographies of the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Contemporary Russia, it directs specific attention to imperial and post-imperial frameworks.
If you have a book project or idea that you’d like us to consider for the series, please contact the series editor Dr Bedross Der Matossian or Rory Gormley, Commissioning Editor at I.B.Tauris, both of whom will be pleased to give you feedback on your idea.

 

 

 

5. The IISS at the University of Michigan is pleased to announce our next event with Ertuğrul Ökten (Assistant Professor of History, Istanbul 29 Mayıs University), entitled Re-Engaging with Abd al-Rahman Jami: An Intellectual History Project on FEB 16, 1:00 PM.

Please register here: https://myumi.ch/qg71e

For more information: https://ii.umich.edu/islamicstudies/news-events/events.detail.html/80968-20824899.html

 

 

 

 

6. MOSF Journal of Science Fiction has published the latest issue online, with a particular focus on Middle Eastern Science fiction.

This is available Open Access.

 

 

 

7. Afghan Village Voices, Stories from a Tribal Community

Richard Tapper, Nancy Lindisfarne-Tapper

Bloomsbury, 2020

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/afghan-village-voices-9780755600878/

 

 

 

 

8. An Earl, a collection, and a shopping list: Mail-order military manuscripts

The British Library: A lithographed wish-list of titles on Arabic military science testifies to the frustrated literary ambitions of a king’s son.

 

 

 

 

9. Call for papers: Special Issue of the journal Religions “Are Muslim-Jewish Relations Improving in the 21st Century?

We invite scholars to reflect on today’s relations and trends of Muslim-Jewish relations. This issue will be focused on areas where Muslim-Jewish relations seem to be improving but we also welcome submissions that are more skeptical in their outlook. However, we hope to receive well-argued pieces (5,000 to 10,000 words) that help us to identify trends and factors that determine Muslim-Jewish relations today. We especially welcome case studies that look at projects that rediscover the local or regional Jewish or Muslim heritage and case studies of interfaith projects.

Please send an abstract to us by March 15, 2021.

Deadline for papers: April 30, 2021.

For more information, please go to https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/Muslims-Jewish

 

 

 

10. IAS Medieval Studies and NES Lecture: The Turn to the Medieval in Ethiopian Studies – The Turn to Ethiopia in Medieval Studies I, February 19, 2021, 12:00-1:30 pm EST

Panelists:
Andrea Achi (Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum) ♦ Marie-Laure Derat (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) ♦ Kristen Windmuller-Luna (Cleveland Museum of Art) ♦ Felege-Selam Yirga (The University of Tennessee Knoxville)

We are eager to think together about the rich and often challenging complexities that have arisen as a result of the intersection of Medieval Studies and Ethiopian Studies over the past several years. These fields developed along very different lines, but have begun to mutually enrich – and interrogate – one another. In terms of regional networks, the two fields overlap in their concern with political, commercial, and cultural connections in the eastern Mediterranean: while Ethiopia represents for Medieval Studies an outgrowth of Mediterranean Studies, extending investigation for such exchanges down the Red Sea, Europe similarly represents for Ethiopian Studies a secondary ring of this zone of contact. Each offers the other a rich comparative (and sometimes connected) context for the study of Christian culture, including monasticism, hagiography, manuscript studies, and art and architecture, and both have investigated interconfessional relations in ways that might be mutually illuminating. Finally, together they contribute to an exploration of what ‘medieval Africa’ might entail, and allow us to explore the potentialities of more integrated, even global approaches to the premodern world. Yet the enrichment that this intersection of fields provides may also be problematic, as the distinctive chronologies, nomenclatures, and scholarly traditions of Medieval Studies and Ethiopian Studies meet. As research on premodern Ethiopia has greatly expanded in recent decades, and as Medieval Studies manifests increasing interest in Ethiopia, these paired webinars seek to explore what is gained and what is lost by more intensive conversation between them.

Register in advance for this meeting here.

The IAS Ethiopian Studies Series is convened by Suzanne Akbari (IAS), Aaron Butts (CUA/IAS), Samantha L. Kelly (Rutgers U/IAS), Sabine Schmidtke (IAS).

 

 

 

 

11. New Open Access Journal: Tarihçi = Historian

Tarihçi / Historian is an international peer-reviewed journal issued three times per year, in January, May and September.
The languages of the journal are Turkish and English.
Editor: Taha Niyazi KARACA

 

 

 

12. Webinar – Islam and the Devotional Object: A Discussion – NYU, Silsila: Center for Material Histories – February 19, 2021

New York University, Silsila: Center for Material Histories

ISLAM AND THE DEVOTIONAL OBJECT: A DISCUSSION
Richard McGregor, Vanderbilt University
Azfar Moin, UT Austin
Wendy Shaw, Freie Universität, Berlin
Adam Bursi, Utrecht University
Finbarr Barry Flood, Silsila/NYU
Friday, February 19th, 1:00-3.30 pm ET
[Webinar] Silsila Spring 2021 Series, TranslationsFull details of the event and a link to register as an attendee can be found at:

https://as.nyu.edu/silsila/events/2020-2021/-webinar–islam-and-the-devotional-object–a-discussion.html

 

 

 

13. Comparative Literature and Culture (CLCWeb) is calling for papers for a special issue titled “Humor, the Absurd, and the Abject in Middle Eastern and North African Cultural Production”.

From the films of Elia Suleiman to the cartoons of Ali Ferzat, humor and the absurd have long permeated the landscape of literary and cultural production across the Middle East and North Africa. Writers, artists, and intellectuals have employed an aesthetics of humor in a myriad of forms- from lampooning caricatures and songs, to a cinema of the absurd and satirical theater. While some of the recent scholarship in Middle East humor studies has focused on the role of humor and satire in the Arab uprisings and other mass protest movements as well as the lampooning of contemporary Islamist extremists as forms of resistance, this special issue will focus on new scholarship on the relationships between humor, the absurd, and the abject in works of literature, music, and visual culture.

We invite original contributions that explore these and related questions for a special edition on humor, the absurd, and the abject in all forms of modern and contemporary Middle Eastern cultural production. Please send abstracts of no longer than 250 words, a 100 word biography, and 5 keywords by April 30th, 2021. Full articles of 5,000-8,000 words or critical reviews of 3,000 words will be due by October 1, 2021.

This issue will be edited by Dr. R. Shareah Taleghani and Dr. Yasmine Ramadan.

For those interested, more information is available here: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/callsforpapers.html

1. The Role of Islamic Coins in Reading the History of a Site: Baalbak and Beirut as example, by Dr. Hassan Akra (Lebanese University)

February, 11th (3h-4h PM CET, 4h-5h PM in Amman & Beirut)

https://www.ifporient.org/archaeology-mena/

Join next conference of Ifpo’s webinar “ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA FROM LATE ANTIQUITY TO THE OTTOMAN PERIOD. FIRST SERIES: LEBANON AND JORDAN”

Abstract

Coins have not only an economic function, as a medium of exchange, but also other relevant functions: for instance, they can be a propaganda instrument intended to propagate the ideology of a political or/and religious power in place. The economic aspect revealed through the material aspect of coins, namely their intrinsic value (weight and alloy), makes it possible to perceive the financial and monetary policy of a State at a specific moment in its history and reflects as well the vicissitudes and vagaries of the political or economic situation as it may appear at the time of the strike. However, the coins legend – « any inscription appearing on the obverse and/or reverse of a coin: a name, a title, an indication of the mint, value, a date, a religious motto or not …” (Dictionnaire de Numismatique 2001) – is also rich in information. Here we will focus mainly on these data and their evolution throughout the medieval period.

By crossing these data both with written sources (especially chronicles of historians of the time) and archaeological documentation, coins become a tool of great importance. On the one hand, they enable us to read the history of a site or a city: in this context, we will present here the history of Baalbek in medieval times through coins (636-1516). On the other hand, coin hoards will help to fill monetary and/or historical gaps on a very precise period: in this context, we will present the Abbasid hoard discovered in Beirut and the Crusaders hoard discovered in Sarepta/Sarfand.

 

Dr. Hassan Al-Akra holds a PhD in “Archeology, History and Documents” from Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE) in Paris. He is specialized in numismatic studies of the medieval period.

He is currently Assistant Professor at the Lebanese University, at the Department of Arts and Archeology, Faculty of Human Sciences, Section 3 – Tripoli. He is researcher at the National Museum of Beirut, where he is studying medieval coins (from Islamic and Crusaders periods) and co-director of the archaeological project at Abu-l-Hasan Fort, a fort of the Medieval period, in Sfaray/Jezzine. He is instructor at the Ministry of Tourism, where he teaches the course “Archeological sites” for the diploma in Tourist Guidance.

He published several articles about the political and religious change in the Middle East through the study of coins, and he has given many seminaries on cultural, historical and contemporary heritage of religious and historical sites and museums.

His books “L’Histoire de Baalbek à l’époque médiévale d’après les monnaies” (Presses de l’Ifpo) won the prize of “Medaille Drouin” from the French Academy and the Samir Shamma Prize from the British Museum in 2018.

Since 2018, he is the General Director of the Lebanese National Library.

 

 

 

2. ONLINE: 18^th Annual Islamicate Graduate Students Association Conference on “What Does Race Have to Do with Religion? Racialization and Worldwide Islam”, UNC-Duke, 20-21 February 2020

Fields inclusive of, but not limited to: Religious Studies, Political Science, Sociology, History, Art History, Anthropology, Comparative Literature, Philosophy, Asian Studies, African American Studies, Geography, Women and Gender Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, American Studies, and African Studies.

Information: https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/41830/Call-for-Papers-What-Does-Race-Have-to-Do-with-Religion-Racialization-and-Worldwide-Islam

 

 

 

 

3. ONLINE Discussion “Trans/Formations in Arabic Literary Theory: Prospects and Limits”, Columbia University, 19 March 2021, 10:00 am EST; First Session: 14-17 June 2021; Second Session: 14-17 October 2021

We invite scholars to explore a plethora of thematic issues tied to the challenges of mapping, reconstructing, and studying varied sets of Arabic literary theoretical frameworks with the aim of identifying cross-temporal and trans-local conceptualizations and terms for a genealogy of Arabic literary theory.

Information: https://icls.columbia.edu/news/cfp-transformations-of-arabic-literary-theory/

 

 

 

 

4. ONLINE Panel on “What Does Diaspora Mean in the 21^st Century” during the “12^th International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS 12)”, Kyoto, 24-27 August 2021

The conference will explore the meaning of diaspora in the 21^st century. The diasporic discourse is at risk of becoming teleological as a means of articulation, and, thereby, masking the very real struggles that may only eventually produce collectiveness. Or, does this disavow any room for dynamics within diasporic studies? The globalisation also brings with it a whole new set of parameters for perspectives on belonging.

Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/6752090/icas-conference-diaspora-call-papers

 

 

 

 

5. Panel on “European Islam and the Emergence of New Religious and Political Authorities between the Local Dimension and Transnationalities” during the “Annual Conference of the European Academy of Religion”, Münster, 30 August – 2 September 2021

The papers, with sociological, anthropological, theological and historical approaches, discuss how new forms of authority undermine the traditional ones and redefine the transnational ties between Islamic communities in Europe and Islamic countries which through various mechanisms influence the construction of European Islam.

Deadline for abstracts: 28 February 2021. Information: Dr. Minoo Mirshahvalad (University of Turin), mmirshahvalad2@gmail.com

 

 

 

6. Workshop and Publication: “Islamic Legacy: Narratives East, West, South, North of the Mediterranean (1350-1750). A Thesaurus under Discussion”, University Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 7 September 2021

To achieve a comprehensive understanding of the relations between Christianity and Islam, the conference will especially discuss the following specific terms: Orient – Occident, Morgenland – Abendland, Doğu-Batı – Coexistence, Convivencia – Hybridity – Border-Frontier, Center – Periphery, Holy Land – Reconquista, Rückeroberung, Fetih.

Deadline for abstracts: 1 April 2021. Information: https://is-le.eu/calls/islamic-legacy-narratives-east-west-south-north-of-the-mediterranean-1350-1750-a-thesaurus-under-discussion/

 

 

 

 

7. ONLINE Workshop: “Rewiring the House of God: Religious Self-World Relations in the Digital Environment (Including Islam)”, Universities of Birmingham, Graz and Erfurt, 15-17 September 2021

The workshop will examine the mutually transformative relationship between digital technologies and contemporary modes of religiosity.

Deadline for abstracts: 1 March 2021. Information: https://www.uni-erfurt.de/en/max-weber-kolleg/kolleg/recent-news/translate-to-english-veranstaltungen/eventdetail/rewiring-the-house-of-god-religious-self-world-relations-in-the-digital-environment

 

 

 

 

8. Post-doctoral Research Fellow (3 Years, Focus “Age & Generation” in Historical Iran), Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin

The research unit “Age & Generation” studies processes of reshaping inter-generational relations. The candidates must hold a PhD in history, anthropology, sociology, area studies, or cognate disciplines. Applications should preferably have a historical perspective.

Deadline for applications: 15 February 2021. Information: https://www.zmo.de/fileadmin/Karriere/Ausschreibung_Age_Gen_Postdoc_1.pdf

 

 

 

 

9. Academic Coordinator for Joint Project on Democratic Impulses in North Africa and the Middle East since the 19th Century, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin

Requirements: Above-average degree results (MA or equivalent) in the humanities or social sciences, ideally relating to West or North Africa. Very good German and English language skills; French skills desirable. Experience in academic management.

Deadline for applications: 16 February 2021. Information: https://www.zmo.de/fileadmin/Karriere/Ausschreibung_Academic-CoordinatorEZV_ZMO.pdf

 

 

 

10. Post-doctoral Researcher on the “European Qur’an”, Université de Nantes

To join the project “The European Qur’an: Islamic Scripture and European Culture and Religion (1150-1850)”. Requirements: Applicants should have a PhD in a discipline in the humanities by the time of application, or at least strong assurance that they will obtain the PhD by August 2021. Candidates should be fluent in English and French and have strong skills in other languages appropriate to their research topics. Some knowledge of and experience in digital humanities (e.g., XML-TEI) is welcome.

Deadline for applications: 31 March 2021. Information: https://euqu.eu/research-opportunities/

 

 

 

 

11. Lecturer in the History of the Middle East, SOAS University of London

The preferred candidate will be proficient in the regional languages relevant for their research, with a demonstrated openness to transnational and interdisciplinary approaches. We particularly welcome applicants working on histories of gender, migration, and the environment. The periodic focus is open.

Deadline for applications: 14 March 2021. Information: https://iismm.hypotheses.org/51899

 

 

 

 

 

12. Associate Director, Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Stanford University

Requirements: PhD strongly preferred; ability to develop program partnerships and funding sources; excellent oral, written, and analytical skills, exhibiting fluency in area of specialization; ability to oversee and direct staff; basic knowledge of managing budgets and developing financial plans.

Information: https://careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/associate-director-abbasi-program-in-islamic-studies-11439

 

 

 

13. Appel à Candidatures 2021: Prix Michel Seurat, Sociétés contemporaines du Proche-Orient et du Maghreb

Ce programme vise à aider financièrement chaque année (15 000 € en 2021) un jeune chercheur, ressortissant d’un pays européen ou d’un pays du Proche-Orient ou du Maghreb, contribuant ainsi à promouvoir connaissance réciproque et compréhension entre la société française et le monde arabe.

Date limite de dépôt des candidatures : 15 avril 2021. Information : prix.michel-seurat@cnrs.fr.

 

 

 

 

14. Summer Programme: “Gender in Muslim Contexts”, Aga Khan University London, 28 June – 6 July 2021

Run by leading experts on gender and Islam, the programme will bring together scholars and students from diverse backgrounds to discuss key issues in the study of gender in Muslim contexts.

Deadline for application: 16 April 2021. Information: https://www.aku.edu/ismc/study/Pages/summer-programme.aspx

 

 

 

 

15. École doctorale : « Les usages du Coran dans les sociétés musulmanes contemporaines », IRMC, Tunis, 14-18 juin 2021

Cet atelier doctoral entend examiner les modalités de cette reconfiguration en étudiant les incidences et les recompositions induites par ces nouveaux usages du Coran dans les activités ordinaires des croyants, y compris l’éducation religieuse.

Les dossiers sont attendus avant le 15 février 2021. Information: https://calenda.org/830282?file=1

 

 

 

 

16. MIDA/ENIS Summer School: “Spoken Images of/in Islam:Languages and Translations in Texts and Images”, Università degli Studi di Catania, Sicily, New Dates: 5–9 July 2021

The main objective of this school is to investigate the image–text relations in Muslim traditions by applying to different genres of images and texts and by thinking about how they are affected by translation or interpretation.

Deadline for application: 1 April 2021. Information: http://iismm.ehess.fr/docannexe/file/2147/call_ed2021_06_11_20_final3.pdf

 

 

 

 

17. Articles for “Diyâr. Journal of Ottoman, Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies“

Diyâr is a new, interdisciplinary and interregional academic journal concerned with research on Turkey, the Ottoman Empire and its successor states, Iran, Central Asia and the Caucasus. We accept articles of a variety of research topics and areas in the field of the humanities, cultural studies and social sciences written in German, English, and French.

Deadline for articles: 15 March 2021. Information: https://www.diyar.nomos.de/index.php?id=7418&L=1

 

 

 

18. Articles on “Muslim Women and Gender at the Margins” for Special Issue of “Religions”

This Special Issue seeks to focus on the heterogeneity and multiply gendered ways of being Muslim by drawing attention to the subjectivities, performativity and experiences of those women who tend to be marginalized even within critical feminist scholarship on women and Islam.

Deadline for manuscripts: 1 December 2021. Information: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/Muslim_women_margins

 

 

 

 

19. Contributions for “The IASA Bulletin” of the International Association for the Study of Arabia (Spring 2021)

The IASA Bulletin compiles notices on research, publications, fieldwork, museum updates, societies, conferences and events in the Arabian Peninsula as well as feature articles and book reviews.

Deadline for contributions: 14 February 2021. Information: https://www.theiasa.com/publications/bulletin/

 

 

 

 

20. Chapters for the Edited Volume “Marxism in Muslim Contexts: Communist Organizing, Socialist Movement, and Religious Response”

Proposals investigating Muslim responses to Marxism from historical, anthropological, literary, sociological, cultural, and religious perspectives are welcomed.

Deadline for abstracts: 31 March 2021. Information: dwidmannabraham@ursinus.edu.

 

 

 

 

21. Complex Metallurgy of the Bronze Age-Iron Age Transition in Iran: Archaeomaterials and Forensic Investigations

Funded PhD: EU and UK only; March 15 2021

The Cranfield Forensic Institute and the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory are offering, in partnership with the British Museum, a fully-funded PhD studentship on the archaeometallurgy of Iran during the Bronze Age-Iron Age transition (c. 1200–800 BCE). The student will investigate an exceptional collection of artefacts that includes substantial quantities of bladed weaponry.

For more information and to apply, see:

https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/complex-metallurgy-of-the-bronze-age-iron-age-transition-in-iran-archaeomaterials-and-forensic-investigations/?p129335

 

 

 

22. Open Access:

Materials for a History of the Persian Narrative Tradition. Two Characters: Farhād and Turandot.
Author: Orsatti, Paola.
Published: Venezia: Ca’ Foscari, 201

 

 

23. University of California – Berkeley

Lecturer Pool All Specializations – Department of History

The Department of History at the University of California, Berkeley invites applications for a pool of qualified temporary instructors to teach courses should an opening arise. Screening of applicants is ongoing and will continue as needed. The number of positions varies from semester to semester, depending on the needs of the department. Positions may range from 16% to 100% time, which would translate to 1 to 6 courses over a two semester academic year.

The Department of History at the University of California, Berkeley, is generating an applicant pool of qualified instructors to teach courses in all areas of History (Africa, Ancient Greece & Rome, Byzantine, Early Modern Europe, East Asia, North America, Jewish, Late Modern Europe, Latin America, Medieval Europe, Middle East, Science, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and other various needs), pending openings.

https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=61008

 

 

 

 

24. The Institute of History and the Research group for the Near and Middle East of the Károli Gáspár Reformed University, and the Department of Turkic Studies of Eötvös Loránd University cordially invite you to the following online event:

VÁMBÉRY STUDIES COLLOQUIUM

12 February 2021 (Friday)

Invite Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81972924889

Meeting ID: 819 7292 4889

Opening address:

09.00. (CET). István Vásáry (member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, ELTE University, Department of Turkic Studies, Budapest):

Has Vámbéry’s lifework any relevance for today?

 

 

 

 

25. The Toronto Initiative for Iranian Studies Presents:

Forugh Farrokhzad, Modernity and Madness

Leila Rahimi Bahmany, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main

Friday, February 12, 4-6 pm EST

Zoom Registration: https://uoft.me/IranianStudies

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/4142168369145728

1.Upcoming conference: Islamic Traditions in ‘Greater Khurāsān’ 

You are warmly invited to attend Islamic Traditions in ‘Greater Khurāsān: Ismailis, Sufis and Sunnis’ (February 24 – 27, 2021) convened by Dr Dagikhudo Dagiev at The Institute of Ismaili Studies.

The goal of this international conference is to explore a variety of manifestations of Islamic culture over a vast geographical area situated in the easternmost part of the Islamic world, including contemporary Central Asia, Afghanistan, north-eastern Iran, the Xinjiang region of western China and northern and western Pakistan. We have chosen to use the medieval geographic term ‘Greater Khurāsān’ to refer to this area.

Click below to learn more, download the conference programme, and register to attend.

 

Dates: 24 – 27 February 2021
Time: Sessions start from 11.30 GMT
Location: Online (Zoom)*

*Please note that the conference will be recorded, and may be published online by the Institute for use in teaching, research and marketing.

 

For further information and registration, please click the above link.

 

 

2.  Qur’an manuscripts from Southeast Asia in the British Library

The British Library’s collections of manuscripts from the Islamic world of Southeast Asia were largely formed during the early 19th century by officials in the service of the East India Company. These early colonial philologists eagerly sought out original literary, historical and legal texts composed in local languages such as Malay, Javanese and Bugis, but paid little attention to the rich corpus of writings in Arabic, constituting the bedrock of Islamic scholarship in the region. Manuscripts of the Qur’an, commentaries and prayerbooks were usually ignored, being regarded as poor copies of canonical texts already well known from multiple ‘better’ and older prototypes from the Middle East.

 

 

 

3. 18 Feb event – Black Monuments Matter – an insider’s guide to the exhibition.

The Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations and the Zamani Project at the University of Cape Town are pleased to present an online talk, chaired by Professor Stephane Pradines and given by three of the scholars and surveyors who designed and delivered the site.

Ralph Schroeder, Bruce McDonald and Roshan Bhurtha will cover an introduction to Zamani including some interesting documented sites and the recent House of Wonders collapse in Zanzibar.

The lecture will offer an overview of the Black Monuments Matter website and will share an in-depth look at three of the sites; Zimbabwe, Kua and Meroe using video and modelling to illustrate key points with additional insight into how data was used in the creation of the exhibition. The talk will conclude with  a preview of the team’s upcoming projects.

Black Monuments Matter recognises and highlights African contributions to world history by exhibiting World Heritage Monuments and architectural treasures from Sub-Saharan Africa.

Black Monuments Matter aspires to create links to living African heritage by making it visible, assessable and known to as many people as possible. In general, we would like to raise awareness of and respect towards Black cultures and Africa’s past to a larger audience.

Black monuments matter and black cultures matter. Sites and monuments are physical representations of histories, heritage and developments in society. This exhibition aims to display the diversity and richness of African cultures as part of world history through the study of African monuments; bringing awareness and pride of African roots and contributions to other cultures.

The African continent has numerous sites and monuments of historic and cultural importance, and our exhibition showcases some of its diversity and richness. From the pyramids of Sudan, the Great Mosque of Timbuktu, to the Swahili cities of East Africa, each site is presented in a virtual room and is introduced by short texts written by African scholars.

Through an approach founded on the latest knowledge and technology developed by the Zamani Project, this online exhibition offers visitors an opportunity to learn more about the glorious monuments and sites of African heritage and black cultures across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Time 

18 February 2021 at 12 noon London time

Join Online via Zoom

Meeting ID: 981 1417 2743
Passcode: 017672

Register here for updates.

 

 

 

 

4. From Malabar to Coromandel: Deccan Heritage, Art and Culture

Seminars and lectures co-organized by the Deccan Heritage Foundation, the Centre of Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge, and the HH Sri Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar Foundation, Mysore, presenting the pioneering scholarship in various cultural fields from both the Northern and Southern Deccan regions of India.

MARCH 2021

• “The Idea of Sacral Kingship between Islamic and Turco-Mongol Concepts of Politics”

  Evrim Binbas, University of Bonn, March 5, 1pm GMT

• “Written in Stone: Traces of Medieval Architects”

  Subhashini Kaligotla, Yale University, March 26, 2pm GMT

 

APRIL 2021

• “Balsam and Betel Nut Palm: Botanical Representation in the Early Modern Deccan”

Nicolas Roth, Harvard University, April 9, 1pm GMT

• “Jaina Temple Architecture of Coastal Karnataka: Climatic Dependencies and Artistic Freedoms”

Julia A. B. Hegewald, University of Bonn, April 30, 1pm GMT

 

MAY 2021

• “Deccani Portraits in Jahangir’s Albums”

Navina Najat Haidar, Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 14, 1pm GMT

• “Discovering the Deccan”

William Dalrymple in conversation with George Michell, May 28, 1pm GMT

 

JUNE 2021

• “The Persianate World: What is it? How did it appear? Why did it Collapse?”

Richard Eaton, University of Arizona, June 11, 2pm GMT

• “Dressing in the Deccan: Clothing and Identity at the Courts of Central India”

Marika Sardar, Aga Khan Museum, June 25, 1pm GMT

 

Registration: https://www.deccanheritagefoundation.uk/events/webinars

 

Centre for Visual Culture Seminar: New York, Lahore: In Dialogue with Shahzia Sikander and Salman Toor

March 10, 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM GMT

Shahzia Sikander changed the game of the art world with her breakthrough at the Whitney Biennial in 1997. This year, Salman Toor, debuted his first solo museum exhibition at the Whitney, How Will I Know. In June, Sikander will open a career retrospective, Extraordinary Realities, at the Morgan Library & Museum co-organised with the RISD Museum. Centered on issues of gender, identity, global affiliations, appropriation, and narrative, this conversation engages the relationship between two artists on how they have navigated the shifting worlds of New York and Pakistan. In dialogue, we will pause and reflect over how we got here and anticipate where we are going.

Registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/centre-for-visual-culture-seminar-2020-21-tickets-138079279843

 

 

 

 

5. NES Lecture: The European Qur’ān: The Qur’ān in European Religious and Cultural History, February 10, 2021, 12:00 pm (EST)

Mercedes García-Arenal (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [CCHS-CSIC], Madrid), Jan Loop (Københavns Universitet), John Tolan (Université de Nantes) and Roberto Tottoli (Universita degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale). Hosted by Sabine Schmidtke (School of Historical Studies, IAS).

“The European Qur’ān” (EuQu: https://euqu.eu/) is an ongoing project funded by a Synergy Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), dedicated to the important place of the Muslim holy book in European cultural and religious history. From the 12th century to the 19th, European Christians read the Qur’ān in Arabic, translated it into Latin, Greek and various vernacular languages, refuted it in polemical treatises, and mined it for information about Islam and Arab history. The “European Qur’ān”, in its various manifestations (Arabic editions, Latin and vernacular translations) should be conceived as scholarly efforts to understand Islam; as weapons in polemical exchanges between divergent versions of Christianity; as financial ventures on the part of printers and publishers; and as tools for the understanding of Semitic languages, Arab history and culture, and the history of monotheism.

The team that leads the project —Mercedes García-Arenal, John Tolan, Roberto Tottoli, Jan Loop— with their respective units in Madrid, Nantes, Naples and Copenhagen, will be dealing with various aspects of the transmission, translation, uses and study of the Qur’ān in Europe, on the role the Qur’ān played in debates about European cultural and religious identities, and more broadly about the place of the Qur’ān in European culture.

Register in advance for this webinar here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

 

 

 

 

6. ReOrienting Histories of Medicine, Encounters along the Silk Roads

Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim

Bloomsbury 2021

 

 

 

 

7. Leiden University – Lessons in codicology and palaeographybased on manuscripts from the Middle East, Islamic Africa and beyond

This is a collection of lessons in codicology – the study of handwritten documents or codices – and palaeography from the Muslim world. The lessons will guide you through the ways books were made and used there before the printing press, by investigating the traces left by producers, owners and readers of manuscripts. Using your mouse, you will come close to people in the manuscript age as they produced, transmitted, cherished and “consumed” the written texts.

The lessons are centered around fully digitalised manuscripts from the oriental collection of Leiden University Libraries. They include samples in Arabic, Persian and Coptic, from cultures ranging from the Maghrib to Mughal India. The lessons can be read in any order. All include suggestions for further reading and questions (with answers) or assignments.

 

 

 

8. I am writing on behalf of the Editorial Board of Essays in History (EiH) to announce that the journal is currently soliciting submissions for its upcoming fifty-fourth volume. We welcome submissions from scholars of the history of Middle Eastern politics.

Essays in History (EiH) is an open access journal for emerging historians. EiH publishes peer-reviewed articles and historiographical essays in all areas of historical inquiry, as well as reviews of the most recent scholarship. The journal has been staffed by graduate students at the University of Virginia since 1954. EiH aims to provide a supportive experience for our editors, authors, and referees. The editorial team is committed to ensuring that equity, anti-racism, and accessibility are at the heart of who we are, how we operate, and the work we publish.

Essays in History welcomes submissions from graduate students, scholars who have received their PhD within the last five years, and accomplished undergraduates. The deadline for submissions is April 2, 2021. You may submit your work or volunteer to serve as an anonymous referee through our website: https://www.essaysinhistory.com

Regards,

Alice King, Managing Editor,

The Editorial Team of Essays in History

essays_in_history@virginia.edu

 

 

 

 

9. Arab Translators Association (ArTA) is pleased to invite you to attend the Lecture titled:

Translation as an intercultural encounter

Dr. Ayman Nazzal

An-Najah National University, West Bank, Palestine

Day: Wednesday 10/2/2021

Time: 8 p.m. Jerusalem Time, 6 p.m. GMT

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89615401270

Free Certificate of Attendance sent to your email on the same day.

Dr. Ayman Nazzal:

Assistant Professor: Taught courses in General Linguistics, syntax and semantics, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and Rhetoric & Public Communication

PH.D. in General Linguistics, Speech Communication, and Humanistic Studies

State University of New York at Albany, Albany, N.Y. 1996-2001

M.A. Degree in General/theoretical Linguistics & Cognitive Science

NYU, New York, N.Y. 1990-1993 Part-time

M.A. Degree in Applied Linguistics & Pedagogy

S.U.N.Y AT Stony Brook, N.Y.

Page: https://www.facebook.com/ArabTranslatorsAssociation /

Translation Courses:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ArTACourses/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQSdhuPN8G050I_IyqxoAQA

 

 

 

 

10. The programme of the second semester of the monthly seminar “Companies, Policies and Cultures of the Iranian World” organized by the Iranian World Research Center (CeRMI, UMR 8041) can be accessed at:

https://cermi.cnrs.fr/seminaire-de-recherche/

 

1.ONLINE Lecture by Prof. Abbas Amanat (Yale University): “Kings and Clerics in Modern Iranian History”, Department of Middle East Studies, USC, 13 March 2021, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm PST

This is a part of the Iranian Studies Initiative Annual Distinguished Lecture Series arranged by the USC Department of Middle East Studies.

Information and registration: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yCHea1iwRly2ToYcyGp27g

 

 

 

 

2. ONLINE Workshop on “What Does Decolonizing Kurdish Studies Mean?”, Middle East Studies at Yale University and Brown University, 9 April 2021

Proposal should engage with the themes of decolonizing epistemologies and methodologies and its implications in the field of Kurdish studies. We welcome novel approaches, creative strategies, and emerging scholarship informed by first-hand data that brings in “the Kurdish voice and perspective” into discussion.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 February 2021. Information: https://cmes.macmillan.yale.edu/events/decolonizing-kurdish-studies-initiative

 

 

 

 

3. ONLINE 54^th Seminar for Arabian Studies, International Association for the Study of Arabia (IASA), Casa Arabe, Cordoba, Summer 2021 (Date to be Announced)

This is the only international forum that meets annually for the presentation of the latest academic research in the humanities on the Arabian Peninsula from the earliest times to the present day or, in the case of political and social history, to the end of the Ottoman Empire (1922).

Deadline for abstracts: 28 February 2021. Information: https://mailchi.mp/d561f3a9ad87/reminder-call-for-papers-2021-seminar-for-arabian-studies?e=18cf0337f7

 

 

 

 

4. International Conference: “Musical Sources and Theories from Ancient Greece to the Ottoman Period”, Ruhr-University Bochum, 10-12 June 2021

Papers will focus on Arabic, Persian and Byzantine music theory, instruments and ways of transmission, with their roots in Ancient Greece and an outlook onto Ottoman and Safavid music. Call for Papers closed. Guests are welcome!

Information: https://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/orient/aktuelles/index.html.en

 

 

 

 

5. International Colloquium: “Itinerant Prophets – Rewritings, Appropriations and Metamorphoses of Prophetic Figures in the Religious, Literary and Historiographical Texts of Pre-modern Islam”, Paris, 16-18 Septembre 2021

This colloquium will seek to grasp the itinerant figures: the prophets of the pre-modern Arab world, between Judaism, Christianity and Islam, between sacred model and familiar figure of popular literature, between mythical authority and historical hero. It will welcome proposals devoted to Islamic Studies, literary or historiographical approaches, as well as those that explore the continuities and discontinuities between these different fields.

Deadline for abstracts in French, English or Arabic: 26 March 2021. Information: https://f-origin.hypotheses.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/1460/files/2021/01/LES-PROPHETES-ITINERANTS-Appel-a-contributions.pdf

 

 

 

 

6. Third NEHT Workshop on “Environmental Histories of the Ottoman and post-Ottoman World: The Anthropocene: From Empire to Nation-States”, University of Vienna, 16-18 September 2021

The workshop will discuss the ways of integrating the concept of the Anthropocene into the field of Ottoman/post-Ottoman environmental history. It will open a space for analysing the role of human activities in transforming the Ottoman/post-Ottoman landscapes in the age of the Anthropocene.

Information: https://orientalistik.univie.ac.at/en/disciplines/turkish-studies/events/neht-2021/

 

 

 

 

7. International Workshop: “Religion as an Object of Historical and Social Scientific Study: Global Perspectives (Including Middle East)”, University of Leipzig, 4-5 November 2021

We are especially interested in the global presence and characteristics of religion as an object of study in the History of Religion; Comparative Religious Studies; Sociology; Anthropology and Political Science (excluding Theology and Philosophy). Central questions concern the place, status and history of research on religion in these disciplines.

Deadline for abstracts: 30 April 2021. Information: https://multiple-secularities.de/events/event/religion-as-an-object-of-historical-and-social-scientific-study-global-perspectives/

 

 

 

 

8. International Workshop: “Religion as an Object of Historical and Social Scientific Study: Global Perspectives (Including Middle East)”, University of Leipzig, 4-5 November 2021

We are especially interested in the global presence and characteristics of religion as an object of study in the History of Religion; Comparative Religious Studies; Sociology; Anthropology and Political Science (excluding Theology and Philosophy). Central questions concern the place, status and history of research on religion in these disciplines.

Deadline for abstracts: 30 April 2021. Information: https://multiple-secularities.de/events/event/religion-as-an-object-of-historical-and-social-scientific-study-global-perspectives/

 

 

 

 

9. W1 Assistant Professor (Juniorprofessor) with a W2 Tenure Track for “Islamic Philosophy”, Centre for Islamic Theology (CIT), University of Münster

The candidate must hold a university degree in Islamic theology or Islamic studies, pedagogical aptitude and special ability at pursuing advanced, independent research which is substantiated by a subject-relevant, above-average doctoral degree. Research and teaching experience in the field of Islamic philosophy with a focus on Islamic ethics and very good, subject-specific Arabic skills should be proven.

Deadline for applications: 19 February 2021. Information: https://universitoxy.com/juniorprofessur-fuer-islamische-philosophie,i10659.html

 

 

 

10. Post-doctoral Researcher for Project “The European Qur’ān: Islamic Scripture in European Culture and Religion (1150-1850)”, University of Nantes

Each candidate should propose an original, innovative research project on an important aspect of the role played by the Qur’ān in Medieval and Early Modern European culture and should be fluent in English and French and have strong skills in other languages appropriate to their research topics.

Deadline for applications: 31 March 2021. Information: https://mailchi.mp/mediterraneanseminar/postdoc-european-qurn-nantes?e=82aeb6c61d

 

 

 

 

11. Post-Doctoral Fellowship (History, Arabic, Islam Studies) in the Program “ReLRace – Religions, Lignages et ‘Race’”, Le Mans University

Qualifications: PhD in history (preferably) but also sociology, anthropology, Arabic philology; proficiency in Classical Arabic; good knowledge of ancient and contemporary Muslim sources; French and English fluent.

Deadline for applications: 5 January 2022.  Information: https://relrace.hypotheses.org/post-doctoral-fellowship-2

 

 

 

 

12. Online 4-Week Course: “Christian-Muslim Relations”, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, Commencing 15 February 2021

You’ll explore some of the key historical moments, compare the teachings of both the Bible and the Qur’an, will learn about the everlasting theological debates that concern the study, and will also decipher how politics and societies have been directly impacted by Christian-Muslim relations.

Information: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/christian-muslim-relations.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5myqlYXPPM

 

 

 

 

13. ONLINE Course: “Manuscripts in Arabic Script: Introduction to Codicology”, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, Aga Khan University, London, 23-24 April 2021, 11:00 am – 15:00 pm GMT

This introductory course is intended for students, researchers and librarians who are working in the field of manuscript studies. The lecturers will cover a wide range of aspects for those who are acquiring basic knowledge in this field.

Information: https://www.aku.edu/events/pages/event-detail.aspx?EventID=1652&Title=Manuscripts%20in%20Arabic%20Script:%20Introduction%20to%20Codicology

 

 

 

 

14. ONLINE Course: “Manuscripts in Arabic Script: Introduction to Codicology”, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, Aga Khan University, London, 23-24 April 2021, 11:00 am – 15:00 pm GMT

This introductory course is intended for students, researchers and librarians who are working in the field of manuscript studies. The lecturers will cover a wide range of aspects for those who are acquiring basic knowledge in this field.

Information: https://www.aku.edu/events/pages/event-detail.aspx?EventID=1652&Title=Manuscripts%20in%20Arabic%20Script:%20Introduction%20to%20Codicology

 

 

 

 

15. Chapters for Edited Book on “Muslims and Societies in Africa” (Including Arab Muslims of North Africa), University of Abuja

To what extent has the Muslim life been resilient or influenced by colonialism and globalisation? What is the extent of conformism or dissonance from the various constructs that determine Muslim identity. How does being a Muslim matter in the social, political and economic spheres of African societies.

Deadline for abstracts: 10 April 2021. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/7149932/muslims-and-societies-africa

 

 

 

 

16. Chapters for Edited Book on “Übersetzerforschung in der Türkei II” for Series “Germanistik in der Türkei”

In the chapters the life and / or works of translators who translate from Turkish to a foreign language or from a foreign language to Turkish are discussed.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 March 2021. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/7175074/cfp-%C3%BCbersetzerforschung-der-t%C3%BCrkei-ii

 

 

 

 

17. A call for submissions: Journal of Arab & Muslim Service, Tourism and Hospitality Research (https://www.jamsthr.com/) is a multidisciplinary, free of charge, peer-reviewed academic journal aiming at publishing a large variety of articles focused on consumer and organizational behavior in the Arab and Muslim world. JAMSTHR accepts qualitative and quantitative, theoretical and applied, articles focused on themes pertinent to the understanding of business and consumer phenomena related to Service, Tourism, Hospitality and related fields from the supply and demand perspective. The Journal also publishes case studies, literature reviews, and opinion pieces. The journal encourages researchers and academics to share their work and contribute to building a knowledge base focused on this important and yet invisible and misunderstood consumer and business market. Descriptive/exploratory and explanatory papers are welcome.

The Journal’s website: https://www.jamsthr.com/

Send your paper (and/or) interest to join our Editorial Board to:

Editor-in-Chief Dr. Omar Moufakkir at: moufakkir.o@gust.edu.kw

Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait.

 

 

 

 

18. Women of Faith and the Quest for Spiritual Authenticity
Comparative Perspectives from Malaysia and Britain

Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

Routledge 2021

https://www.routledge.com/Women-of-Faith-and-the-Quest-for-Spiritual-Authenticity-Comparative-Perspectives/Crabtree/p/book/9780367436759

 

 

 

 

19. Events at Cambridge this week:

Wed 3 Feb

2:00pm – 3:00pm – Qatari Women and the Labour Market- Towards an Empowering Alternative

(Dr. Mawahib Abubakr (Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics))

 

2:00pm – 3:00pm – Equality and difference: some reflections on religion, ethnicity and the pandemic in South Asia

(Radhika Coomaraswamy (Former Under-secretary General of the United Nations))

 

7:00pm – 8:30pm – A Christian Insurgency in Islamic Syria: The Jarajima (Mardaites)between Byzantium and the Caliphate

(Christian Sahner (University of Oxford))

 

Fri 5 Feb

5:00pm – 6:30pm – The Place of Religion After the Uprisings

(Shadi Hamid (Brookings) and Nadia Oweidat (University of Kansas) Chair: Dr Usaama Al-Azami (Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford))

 

1. Half-day workshop on Islam in Southeast Asia (Wednesday March 3rd, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm)

The Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World (University of Edinburgh)

Please join us at the Alwaleed Centre for this special half-day workshop on Islam and Inter-Religious Relations in Southeast Asia, which will comprise an opening plenary lecture on the history of Islam in the region, by Professor Michael Feener of Kyoto University, followed by a panel event showcasing some of the interesting and creative Islamic thought in the region on the themes of The Study of Religion, Gender, and the Environment.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/islam-and-inter-religious-relations-in-southeast-asia-tickets-137959032179

 

 

 

 

2. As part of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies’ Wednesday Seminar Series for Hilary Term 2021, we’re delighted to be joined by Professor Scott Redford (Nasser D. Khalili Professor of Islamic Art & Archaeology, SOAS) and Professor Sussan Babaie (Professor in the Arts of Iran and Islam, The Courtauld Institute of Art):

Wednesday, 3 February 2021 at 5pm GMT: Scott Redford, Writing as Talisman in Medieval Islamic Art

Wednesday, 17 February 2021 at 5pm GMT: Sussan Babaie, Isfahan and Istanbul: European views before the long shadow of ‘Orientalism’

Talks will take place via Zoom. Please register here. All welcome!

 

 

 

 

3. Roundtable on the 100th Anniversary of the 1921 Coup and Reflections on the Reza Pahlavi Period

Monday, February 22, 2021 at 10:00am Pacific via Zoom

https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pahlavi-workshop-panel-1/

The first panel of the Iranian Studies workshop, “History and Historiography of Pahlavi Iran, 1921-1979: A Workshop” will feature a round table discussion centered on the 100^th anniversary of the coup that initiated the Reza Pahlavi Period in Iran.

This panel will be chaired by workshop organizer Dr. Robert Steele, the Jahangir and Eleanor Amuzegar Post-Doctoral Fellow in Iranian Studies at UCLA.

Featured panelists of the round table discussion include:

Camron Michael Amin, Professor of History, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Ali Ansari, Professor of Iranian History, University of St Andrews and Senior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute

Stephanie Cronin, Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Research Fellow, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford

Afshin Marashi, Professor of Middle Eastern History, University of Oklahoma

 

To register for this event and receive the Zoom webinar information, please click here.

 

 

 

 

4. Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Cultures of the Islamic World invites submissions for the forthcoming volume 39, to be published in 2022.

Muqarnas is a scholarly journal that publishes articles on art, architectural history, and archaeology, as well as all aspects of Islamic visual and material cultures, historical and contemporary. Full-length articles are accompanied by shorter submissions grouped under a separate section titled “Notes and Sources,” for which we particularly welcome studies that introduce textual and visual primary sources.

 

Deadline for submissions: March 1, 2021.

 

Manuscripts should be submitted by email to the Managing Editor of Muqarnas at muqarnas@fas.harvard.edu.

 

A complete submission includes five elements:

 

1. Microsoft Word document of the main text file. Submissions should be double-spaced throughout in 12-point typeface. Use endnotes rather than footnotes; no bibliography is required. Articles should be no longer than 50 pages (not including endnotes).
2. Images. All submissions must be accompanied by images, with an upper limit of approximately 30. Low-resolution images are acceptable for initial consideration, with the expectation that authors will provide high-resolution TIFFs or JPEGs (at least 300 dpi at 4 x 6 inches) and secure all necessary permissions if the article is accepted for publication.
3. Captions file. Each image should be clearly labeled and have a corresponding caption that provides identifying information and appropriate image credits.
4. Abstract and keywords. Submit a 150- to 200-word abstract and 12 keywords for publication in the online version of the journal.
5. CV, stating the author’s institutional affiliation (if any), mailing address, phone number, as well as academic status and a list of publications.

 

Any submission that does not include these five elements will be returned to the author, as will articles that do not conform to the Muqarnas style sheet.

 

Articles must present original research that has not been published in any language previously. Authors must properly credit previous scholarship on the subject and cite the source of each quotation, with full bibliographic details given in the endnotes (no additional bibliography is required).

 

All articles are subject to review by the Editorial Committee and anonymous external readers, whose comments will be sent to the author only if the article is accepted for publication. Authors may be expected to make revisions based on the feedback of the readers and editors.

 

Muqarnas follows the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. For further specifications on preparing text and images for publication, see the Muqarnas style sheet (available to download from our website: https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/submission-guidelines).

 

Contact Info:

Managing Editor, Muqarnas

History of Art and Architecture Department, Harvard University

485 Broadway, Office 411

Cambridge, MA 02138  USA

Phone: 617-495-3774

E-mail: muqarnas@fas.harvard.edu

 

 

 

 

5. Spring 2021 AKPIA Lecture Series – A Forum for Islamic Art & Architecture

The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University presents

February 4, 2021, 5:30pm

“The Intellect of the Hand: Making and Thinking the Medieval Islamic Art of the Object”

Margaret Graves

Associate Professor of Islamic Art, Department of Art History, Indiana University

Co-sponsored with the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies at Harvard University

 

March 25, 2021, 5:30pm

“The Visual and Material Culture of Rayy, as Revealed through the Excavations Headed by

Erich Schmidt in the Late 1930s”

Renata Holod

College of Women Class of 1963 Professor in the Humanities, History of Art Department; Curator, Near East Section of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania

 

April 22, 2021, 5:30pm

“Imagining a World: Selfhood and Empire in Safavid Iran”

Kishwar Rizvi

Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture, Department of the History of Art, Yale University

 

 

Lectures are held via Zoom session; time listed is Eastern Standard Time; registration is required. Register here: https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/news-events. All lectures will be recorded and made available from the AKPIA website, after the event date.

 

THE AGA KHAN PROGRAM FOR ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

For further information, email agakhan@fas.harvard.edu, or visit https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/news-events

 

Contact Info:

Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture

Harvard University

Sackler 415

485 Broadway

Cambridge, MA 02138 USA

Tel 617-495-2355

agakhan@fas.harvard.edu

 

https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/news-events

 

 

 

 

6. An Online Course in Persian Calligraphy

Nasta’liq Script

12 February – 16 April, 2021

The Iran Heritage Foundation is delighted to offer once again a course in Persian Calligraphy, with teaching provided online.

 

This ten-week exercise-based course is suitable for all levels, from beginners to advanced. It is based on a one-to-one teaching method, so everyone will be given the instructions based on their own level and previous experience.

 

You will learn the writing techniques of the Nasta’liq script during the course, and the first session will start with a general introduction to the traditional tools, materials, and various Islamic calligraphy styles.

 

Although previous knowledge of Persian language is not necessary, you will enjoy the course more if you have familiarity with the alphabets and particularly the language, as the materials are constantly engaged with Persian language and literature.

 

The course will be taught online and remotely. Each week the student will submit photographs of their practice; the teacher will record personal videos of comments and advice, along with further practice. For those requiring materials, a special pack including a traditional reed pen cut and prepared by the teacher, paper and ink, can be posted to the student at an additional charge of £25 for UK and £35 for International shipment.

 

Keramat Fathinia is a Persian calligrapher born in Iran who has been teaching calligraphy for over 17 years. He received a distinguished certificate in both Nasta’liq and Shikasteh Nasta’liq styles from the Iranian Calligraphers Association (ICA) in Iran, and has had several exhibitions, workshops, and demonstrations in both Iran and London, including at SOAS, Cambridge University, BIPS (British Institute of Persian Studies), and the Courtauld Gallery.

 

Price: £300 for ten classes

 

Pack of materials (sent by post): £25 UK, £35 International

 

To register click here. The registration deadline is Friday 12 February 2021

​

For any enquiries please contact leonard@iranheritage.org, Tel: 020 3651 2124

 

Organised by: Iran Heritage Foundation.

 

Forthcoming Events

What’s On

 

 

 

7. The Indo-Persian Confluence Symposium Three:

“Indo-Persian Musical Hybrids in Afghanistan”

Sunday, January 31, 2021

10am PST, Zoom

https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/event/indo-persian-confluence-indo-persian-musical-hybrids-in-afghanistan

RSVP: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIpcuutrjIiHdV4WsLZhCyRQGsssq-uH1Fk

Join us for our third event in the Indo-Persian Musical Confluence series, featuring a panel of eminent ethnomusicologists on Indo-Persian musical hybrids in Afghanistan and a performance by Homayun Sakhi on the rubab.

Panelists

John Baily (Goldsmith University of London)
Lorraine Sakata (UCLA)
Mark Slobin (Wesleyan University)

Chair and Discussant

Richard Wolf (Harvard University)

Performance: Indo-Persian music on the rubab by the renowned Afghan musician Homayoun Sakhi

https://festival.si.edu/2016/sounds-of-california/homayoun-sakhi/smithsonian

 

For more information on The Indo-Persian Music Confluence project:

https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/indo-persian-musical-confluence

Details of subsequent events will be forthcoming soon.

Project leader: Mohsen Mohammadi

Event Sponsors:
UCLA Mohindar Brar Sambhi Chair of Indian Music
UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology
UCLA Center for Musical Humanities (Robert U. Nelson Fund)
UCLA Jahangir and Eleanor Amuzegar Chair in Iranian Studies
UCLA Iranian Studies program
UCLA Center for India and South Asia (CISA)
UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES)

 

 

 

 

8. Waikato Islamic Studies Review – Call for Papers

http://www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/UWISG/review.shtml

On behalf of the University of Waikato Islamic Studies Group, I warmly invite submissions of papers which examine Islam in the widest sense to the Waikato Islamic Studies Review for publication consideration.

Articles can be as short as 2000 words and up to a maximum of 5000. For full details regarding paper guidelines and submissions and the Waikato Islamic Studies Review please see:http://www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/UWISG/review.shtml

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me asap if you think that you might like your work considered; the next edition is due for publication in March 2021.

Kind regards,

Abdullah Drury

Editor: Waikato Islamic Studies Review

Email: abdullah@xtra.co.nz

 

 

 

 

9. Call for Papers

CALL FOR PAPERS: JOURNAL OF THE CONTEMPORARY STUDY OF ISLAM

The newly established, fully open-access Journal of the Contemporary Study of Islam is now accepting submissions.

The Journal of the Contemporary Study of Islam was launched by the Institute for the Contemporary Study of Islam, based in the UK, to promote and disseminate research related to Islam and Muslims in the contemporary world. Although we may consider any submissions that fall within the scope of JCSI, we are keen to publish research articles that deal with some of the most pressing issues that Muslims face in the contemporary world, such as new approaches to Islamic law, new religious trends in the Muslim world (e.g. new atheism, deism, and agnosticism), Islam and politics, sectarianism in the Muslim world, Islam and social change, Islam and human rights, Islamophobia, Muslim-Christian relations, new methodological developments in Quranic studies, and hadith studies.

JCSI aims to reach a wider readership beyond academia, and thus we suggest authors use accessible language in their submissions. The journal is open-access, free of cost for authors and readers alike, and provides unrestricted online access to its readers.

JCSI is a member of Crossref, an independent membership association for building shared technologies. Crossref was launched in early 2000 as a cooperative effort among publishers to enable citation linking in journals using the Digital Object Identifier, or DOI. Our DOI prefix is 10.37264 and our ISSN is 2633-7282 (online). We are in the process of applying for membership to the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and CLOCKSS archival service.  

JCSI has a prestigious advisory board and will be covered by the leading relevant indexing services.

Interested scholars are invited to submit their articles for consideration at https://contemporarystudyofislam.org/index.php/jcsi/about/submissions 

Manuscripts will undergo a process of blind peer review. Author guidelines are available at https://contemporarystudyofislam.org/index.php/jcsi/about/submissions#authorGuidelines

 

 

 

10. Harvard University – NELC – TENURED PROFESSOR IN ARMENIAN STUDIES

http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=60958

 

 

 

11. CALL FOR PAPERS International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA)

Special Issue: Rupture and Response

 

Thematic volume planned for July 2023

Abstract submission deadline: April 5, 2021

 

This special issue of the International Journal of Islamic Architecture addresses urban and architectural responses to rupture. Prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this issue understands and investigates rupture as a state of emergency which may reveal systemic inequalities through the moment of crisis. Such rupture can be caused by events including epidemics, explosions, fires, episodes of armed conflict, and earthquakes or other natural disasters – events which all have myriad and wide-reaching effects on buildings, cities, urban environments, and the communities that inhabit them. While not directly addressing the current pandemic disrupting many of our lives, this special issue aims to explore moments like these and responses to them through built environments. In line with the mission of the IJIA, which aims to encourage dialogue between practitioners and scholars, this special issue hopes to be strongly interdisciplinary. Contributions will be drawn from fields ranging from urban design, history, architecture, planning, and art and architectural history.

 

Rupture can take the form of a physical rending, manifesting itself in the tearing apart of our built environment. For example, an earthquake might tear down a building important for the social life of a community or level a town. In the first instance, therefore, such moments of rupture themselves may have an effect on the built environment – they may cause direct damage or other change to buildings. However, such an event might also rend the social, economic, or political structures around it. All too often, the damage done by events such as epidemics, natural disasters, or explosions is exacerbated by, while also exacerbating, pre-existing social inequalities. Such moments can place extra strain on political, social, economic, and personal crises. In addition, aspects of culture, such as the production of art or the performance of music and theatre, are also impacted, as they are often deemed secondary needs and neglected at such times of crisis. These two aspects – the urban/architectural and the social/cultural – are, thus, frequently affected in parallel. A moment of sudden disruption might be made manifest in the built environment, as well as the social structures which inhabit and support it.

 

Further, subsequent to these initial moments of change, the urban and built environment is a medium in which responses to rupture are frequently made material. The environment we build around us is so often the space on and in which we make our preoccupations manifest. The buildings affected by moments of rupture are in many ways extensions of the people who call them home, and the economic and social structures which shape their lives. In light of this, contributors are encouraged to approach these moments as catalysts for architectural and urban change, but also for other, wider forms of change within society. Moreover, as this special issue will have a focus on the built environment, it may also address acts of commemoration and the architectural memorialisation of the loss of life that is often a consequence of the moments investigated by this special edition.

 

Indeed, rupture and the response to it can take myriad forms and the past year provided many examples. In 2020, the world has been unexpectedly disrupted in many ways by the spread of COVID-19. Iran, for example, one of the countries dramatically impacted by the pandemic, has already seen effects caused by this outbreak made manifest on its architecture and urban environments. Many of the most significant religious sites in the country have had their doors shut for months, with the shrine of Shah Abdol-Azim in Rayy even being repurposed as a mask factory. The past year also saw the explosion in the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020 which devastated the city and its inhabitants in many ways, one of which was the widespread damage to the urban fabric. Homes, work spaces, places of worship, museums, and many other sites felt the full force of the blast. In the days that followed, many of the responses were embedded within and emerged from the damaged cityscape, whether in the shape of the clean-up effort or anti-government protests.

 

The changes that take place after rupture affect not only physical spaces, but also social relationships. In response to COVID-19, for example, buildings are used differently and space is managed in new ways. Interior spaces look different – they bear the paraphernalia of social distancing enforcement and increased sanitisation. Many of us are inhabiting spaces differently – frequenting them less; distancing ourselves from others when we do. In addition, new technologies might be developed to guard against further damage. Legislative adjustments, as well as changes to social norms brought about in response to the moment of rupture will have their own effects on the built environment. Thus, the changes can range from repurposing or renovation to reconstruction or relocation. Through studies of the manifestation of rupture and such responses to it in architecture and the wider built environment, this issue aims to explore not only the rending of urban, but also social, fabrics and the conjunction between these two aspects.

 

Paper proposals should work from the framework outlined above and offer insights relevant to the IJIA’s remit, which is defined broadly as ‘the historic Islamic world, encompassing the Middle East and parts of Africa and Asia, but also the more recent geographies of Islam in its global dimensions’. In this vein, we encourage contributors to address Islamic architecture in less-frequently represented geographies such as sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas. Equally, papers addressing groups often under-represented in the study of Islamic architecture such as women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and people with disabilities are very welcome. Papers can address past or present moments of rupture and the responses to it.

 

Contributors might range from an architectural historian investigating a mosque built in the early-modern period to commemorate the damage wrought by a fire, or an historian working on the impact of pandemics on hospital design, to an urban planner designing a new town in southern Iran after a major earthquake, or an entrepreneur trying to design a prototype shelter for Syrian refugees in Iraq, etc. Contributions are welcomed from individuals at any stage of their careers, and advanced graduate students are encouraged to submit proposals. Questions that might be addressed by contributors to this special issue are unlimited but could include:

 

1. How are the social and political ramifications of these events reflected in architecture? After rupture, how are new and changing societal or political needs expressed through art, architecture and urban design?
2. In what ways are societies’ responses to rupture reflected in the worlds they build around them? Are there responses which are distinctive to particular regions? How do religious practice and cultural traditions play a role in the response? Have marginalised communities produced distinctive responses through architecture?
3. What role do architecture, urban design, planning etc. play in recovery from rupture? How is architecture used to mend tears in the social fabric?
4. What are the consequences of the lack of an architectural response to rupture?
5. What effect do such moments have on social justice and disparity? How do they exacerbate pre-existing patterns of inequity and marginalisation? How can responses to these moments build toward a more equal society?
6. How might architectural studies help us understand moments of rupture more clearly? What are the benefits or challenges of working with buildings as sources in these cases?
7. How have planners, architects, and designers understood their role in providing responses to pandemics, earthquakes, etc.?
8. How is architecture used to memorialise such moments? How are urban spaces used for the making of memory? In what ways does damaged or otherwise altered architecture stand in testament to the moment of rupture?

Articles offering historical and theoretical analysis (DiT papers) should be between 6,000 and 8,000 words, while those on design and practice (DiP papers) between 3,000 and 4,000 words. Urbanists, art historians, anthropologists, geographers, political scientists, sociologists, and historians are also welcome. Practitioners from all relevant fields (i.e., architecture, urban planning, landscape design, art) are welcome to contribute insofar as they address the critical framework of the journal. Please send a title and a 400-word abstract to the guest editor, Fuchsia Hart, University of Oxford (ijia.rupture@gmail.com), by April 5, 2021. Authors of accepted proposals will be contacted soon thereafter and will be invited to submit full papers by January 2022. All papers will be subject to blind peer review. For author instructions, please consult: www.intellectbooks.com/ijia.

 

 

 

 

12. Research Fellow, ‘Science and the Transmission of Islamic Knowledge in Britain’, Department of Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham

Part time 80% FTE, fixed term for 24 months

This position is for a post-doctoral Research Fellow to work on the new Templeton Religion Trust-funded research project, ‘Science and the Transmission of Islamic Knowledge in Britain’. This project will investigate how the relationship between Islam and science is understood and discussed by those involved in the transmission of Islamic knowledge and the establishment of Islamic authority in Britain. It will examine: if, and how, scientific concepts are used by Muslim religious leaders to legitimise their arguments; if Islamic education centres and religious leaders oppose any scientific theories, and if so what movements influence them; and how Muslim leaders’ answers to questions about science and Islam are affected by UK policy context and Muslims’ position within British society. It will provide one of the first in-depth portraits of whether, when and how Muslim religious leaders interact with scientific concepts and popular narratives about science.

The post holder will work with the Principal Investigator and external Co-investigator to conduct ethnographic observation of women’s and co-educational Islamic educational institutions as well as interview research with current and in-training Muslim religious leaders. They will also assist in research by carrying out literature reviews, conducting data analysis and writing up research findings. The post holder will be expected to engage in, and support, aspects of project dissemination, team meetings and international networking activities, including contributing the project-related websites, workshops and seminars. They will also be expected to effectively contribute to the presentation and dissemination of research outputs, including developing academic and non-academic publications/presentations.

Some of the responsibilities of this role are outlined below.

• With the PI and Co-I, negotiate access to research sites and interviewees.
• Conduct ethnographic and interview research at two case study sites, as well as interviews at a variety of settings around the UK.
• Undertake research administration and support the PI and Co-I in research management.
• Analyse and interpret data gathered for the project.
• Co-ordinate the collaborative preparation of findings for dissemination to academic and non-academic audiences both in the UK and internationally.
• Present research outputs at UK-based and international conferences and contribute to academic publications.
• Actively contribute to public reports based on the data collected and related public/media engagement activity.
• Work with Muslim educational and community organisations to set up forums for the discussion and dissemination of the research.
• Provide guidance to support staff and any students and colleagues who may be assisting with research.

For informal inquiries, please contact Dr Stephen Jones (PI) at s.h.jones@bham.ac.uk.

As this vacancy has limited funding, the maximum salary that can be offered is Grade 7, salary £30,942.

Closing date: 24^th Feb 2021 Reference: 12098

1. Online Indian Ocean Studies Conference , 28-20 January, 2021

As the new field of Indian Ocean Studies grows in both scope and ambition,
we would benefit from a regular conference – in part to foster
collaborations between different scholars working on the area and in part
for all us to see how the field is growing and changing. To this end, as
scholars of the region, we announce an inaugural meeting to take stock and
look ahead. Bringing together scholars at various stages in their careers,
including doctoral students, the sessions of this conference are meant to
allow us to develop collaboratively a sharper sense of what the stakes are
in our shared enterprise as researchers and teachers.

The meeting will take place between January 28-30, 2021 on Zoom, and will
feature a series of roundtables on the state of the field in various
thematic areas, along with more informal breakout sessions following each
roundtable. Registration is open to anyone interested in participating.
Details and registration links can be found at http://iowconference.org/ .
We look forward to what will be a stimulating conversation, and the first
of many more to come.

Fahad Ahmad Bishara
Associate Professor of History and of Arabian Peninsula and Gulf Studies
University of Virginia

Ananya Chakravarti
Associate Professor of History
Georgetown University

 

 

 

 

2. Historians of Islamic Art Association at the College Art Association’s Annual Conference, February 10-13, 2021

The schedule for the HIAA Business Meeting and Majlis, held in conjunction with CAA Annual Conference next month:

The HIAA Business Meeting will be virtually on Thursday, February 11 at 12.30pm (EST). To register for the meeting, please sign up here: https://ucr.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEufuihqDkoH9H8pZ-g2v6Dmev6szJI0Sv2

The HIAA Majlis, will take place virtually as a webinar on Thursday, February 11 from 3:30 to 5:30 pm (EST). To attend, please register using the following link: https://yale.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OLkc7lbMTgiuwIat8hCCMw

 

** Andrea Luigi Corsi, Sapienza University of Rome, “The Development of Stucco Decoration During the Early  Abbasid Period: the ‘Miniaturistic Style’ as a Transregional  Artistic Koine.”

** Ariel Fein, Yale University, “Kufic Epigraphy between  Ifriqiyya and Norman Sicily.”

** Holley Ledbetter, University of Michigan, “Gender, Race,  and ‘Ajab: Automata of the Enslaved in al-Afdal’s Drinking  Room.”

** Alison Tendrup, Boston University, “Picture-in-Picture:  Representations of Ottoman-Balkan Princely Identities in  Nineteenth Century Portraiture.”

** Amanda Lanzillo, Princeton University, “Electroplating as  Alchemy: Making metalsmithing Islamic in colonial India,  1870-1920.”

 

The live Q&A for HIAA’s sponsored panel at CAA will be held on Friday, February 12 at 4:00 pm (EST). Please see the CAA website for attendance details.

Digital Humanities + Islamic Visual Culture

** Lyla Halsted, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, “Animating an  Amulet: 3D Modeling, Materiality, and a Medieval Arabic Amulet Scroll.”

** Hussein Keshani, The University of British Columbia, “Soft  Eyes: Software’s Visualities and Islamic Art History in the Digital Age.”

** Yasaman Lotfizadeh, The University of British Columbia,  “Visualizing Creative Collaboration in the Shah Tahmasp  Shahnameh.”

** Michael A. Toler, Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT  Libraries, “Digital Sustainability in DH Projects: The Case  Study of Archnet.”

 

There are a number of other panels and single papers for those interested in Islamic Art and material culture, the most relevant of which are listed below. Note: this is not an exhaustive list.

 

For a full schedule of the conference, please see: https://caa.confex.com/caa/2021/meetingapp.cgi

 

Please note that registration is required to attend CAA. There are several options: https://www.collegeart.org/programs/conference/conference2021/registration

 

 

 

3. Ceramics of Iran: Islamic Pottery in the Sarikhani Collection,

by Oliver Watson with contributions by Moujan Matin and Will Kwiatkowski.

Yale, October 2020; 528pp.; £50 / $60

https://yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?K=9780300254280

 

 

 

 

4. ONLINE National Conference on “Rahma and Karuna – Compassion as Common Ground for Building Understanding between Islam and Buddhism”, International Islamic University Malaysia, 27 January 2021, 9:30 am – 4:00 pm (GMT+8)

Registeration link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVpwHoAe3Vd08o70jFdXyh7OJq-j6IrOEGlSCyyyIgmj_wFA/viewform

 

 

 

 

5. ONLINE Seminar: “The Bitter Harvest of Lebanon’s Sectarian Politics”, Arab Center Washington DC, 2 February 2021, 10:00 am – 11:30 am ET

Speakers will discuss the serious problems inherent in Lebanon’s politics and will consider the chances for a breakthrough from the current stalemate, including the prospects for compromise. They will explore how political paralysis affects the country’s economy and development.

Information and registration: http://arabcenterdc.org/events/the-bitter-harvest-of-lebanons-sectarian-politics/

 

 

 

6. ONLINE Seminar by Aili Mari Tripp (University of Wisconsin): “Seeking Legitimacy: Why Arab Autocracies Adopt Women’s Rights”, SOAS Middle East Institute, 9 February 2021, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm GMT

Aili Mari Tripp explains why autocratic leaders in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria embraced more extensive legal reforms of women’s rights than their Middle Eastern counterparts. The study challenges existing accounts that rely primarily on religiosity to explain the adoption of women’s rights in Muslim-majority countries.

Information and registration: https://www.soas.ac.uk/smei/events/cme/09feb2021-seeking-legitimacy-why-arab-autocracies-adopt-womens-rights.html

 

 

 

7. ONLINE Seminar by Aili Mari Tripp (University of Wisconsin): “Seeking Legitimacy: Why Arab Autocracies Adopt Women’s Rights”, SOAS Middle East Institute, 9 February 2021, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm GMT

Aili Mari Tripp explains why autocratic leaders in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria embraced more extensive legal reforms of women’s rights than their Middle Eastern counterparts. The study challenges existing accounts that rely primarily on religiosity to explain the adoption of women’s rights in Muslim-majority countries.

Information and registration: https://www.soas.ac.uk/smei/events/cme/09feb2021-seeking-legitimacy-why-arab-autocracies-adopt-womens-rights.html

 

 

 

 

8. Postdoctoral Position (Kurdish Studies) and Doctoral Position (Berber/Amazigh Studies), Heidelberg University

We are looking for candidates with a background in Political Science / Middle East Studies with a particular focus on modern Kurdish or Berber/Amazigh politics. For the position as postdoctoral researcher, spoken and written Kurdish is required; for the position as doctoral researcher, a Berber/Amazigh language is required (knowledge of the neo-Tifinagh script is an advantage).

Deadline for applications: 15 February 2021. Information: https://adb.zuv.uni-heidelberg.de/info/INFO_FDB$.startup?MODUL=LS&M1=1&M2=0&M3=0&PRO=29731

 

 

 

 

9. Arcapita Visiting Professor Modern Arab Studies, Middle East Institute, Columbia University

This is a one-semester position for the fall 2021 or spring 2022 semester. We are interested in candidates whose field of research and teaching is in history, culture, or social sciences of the modern Arab world.

Application deadline: 21 April 2021. Information: https://pa334.peopleadmin.com/postings/6940

 

 

 

 

10. Books for New Series “Unsettling Colonialism in Our Times” (I.B.Tauris)

This is the principal venue for research at the intersection of settler colonialism studies, decolonization, and critiques of neoliberalism. . It provides a framework for experts to deconstruct history and present contemporary struggles for freedom and human rights in new ways. Series editors: William Gallois (Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies) and Ilan Pappe (Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies), both at the University of Exeter.

Information: Contact Sophie Rudland sophie.rudland@bloomsbury.com

 

 

 

 

11. New Website Launched: “Digital Ottoman Studies Platform”

This website is designed as a hub for digital projects, tools, events, publications, and platforms to contribute to Digital Humanities from the perspective of Ottoman and Turkish Studies.

Information: https://www.digitalottomanstudies.com/

 

 

 

 

12. Researchers, teachers and librarians at Leiden university joined forces to create this very innovative free online ‘ textbook’.

Mouse&Manuscript is a collection of interactive lessons on codicology and oriental manuscripts. Its aim is to stimulate teaching on codicology in and outside of the classroom, and to contribute to the disclosure of Leiden University’s rich collection of oriental manuscripts. The lessons are centered around fully digitalised manuscripts from the oriental collection of Leiden University Libraries. They include samples in Arabic, Persian and Coptic, from cultures ranging from the Maghrib to Mughal India. The lessons can be read in any order.

With lock-downs around the world and teachers struggling to give shape to their teaching online, this tool could not have been more timely:

https://mouse.digitalscholarship.nl/

https://mouse.digitalscholarship.nl/lessons

 

 

 

13. CfP : We invite submissions for an international conference on the language of kinship in Islamic(ate) societies before the modern period (622–1500 CE).

The Embedding Conquest (EmCo) team has been investigating the social, political, administrative, religious, and economic ties that sustained strategies and mechanics of protection and dependency in the early Islamic empire, contributing to shaping imperial rule under the Umayyads and the Abbasids. As part of our project, we study how writers and document producers expressed vertical and horizontal relationships, including the use of family terms. We now invite other researchers to join in our conversation focusing on relational ties that were expressed primarily through or as kinship. This international meeting will be a venue for presenting new studies about practices, categories, and discourses through which kinship might

(i) connect individuals and groups to one another

(ii) contribute to binding an empire (or other large political entity) together.

For the full description of the conference and details on sending in your proposal, please check the upcoming events page on our website: https://emco.hcommons.org/events/event/call-for-papers-ties-of-kinship-and-the-early-islam…

N.B. Note that this is a different conference from the one advertised on H-net several weeks ago by the Embedding Conquest research team and for which we are still accepting proposals as well.

For additional information/ questions you can contact us at emco@hum.leidenuniv.nl

1.As part of the webinar series Archaeology of the Middle East and North Africa from Late Antiquity to the Ottoman period, the Ifpo is pleased to announce the first series of meetings that will focus on Lebanon and Jordan and will take place every two weeks during the year 2021 (January-July & September-December).

The goal of this series of conferences is to bring together specialists working on a broad region extending from North Africa to the Middle East and focusing on the period from Late Antiquity to Modern era. As the current pandemic is forcing us to reinvent ways of communicating and sharing our work, a webinar would be an opportunity to reconnect the academic community of researchers working on this field. It is open as widely as possible and aims to gather together archaeologists working on this large area as well as students.

While other regions will be addressed in the following cycles, this first series focuses on archaeology and material culture of Lebanon and Jordan. These meetings will present, on the one hand, ongoing projects and, on the other hand, comparative data and synthesis studies, which will allow to frame this region into a broader historical and geographical context.

https://www.ifporient.org/archaeology-mena/

 

 

 

2. The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, presents Honoring Esin Atılon Saturday, February 20, 2021, 9 am – 1 pm EST.

Scholar, curator, teacher, mentor, and trail blazer, Esin Atıl (1937–2019) was all of that and more. Her groundbreaking exhibitions and publications covered a wide range of topics and set new standards in the field of the arts of the Islamic world for their content, design, and presentation. This gathering of leading international art historians will reflect on the remarkable career of one of the first female curators in her field of expertise and assess her success in bringing unrivaled attention to the arts and cultures of the Islamic world.

Speakers include:
Doris Behrens-Abouseif, Professor Emeritus, SOAS University of London
Walter Denny, University Distinguished Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Oya Pancaroğlu, Professor, Boğaziçi University
Julian Raby, Director Emeritus, Freer and Sackler
Günsel Renda, Professor, Koç University
Marianna Shreve Simpson, Visiting Scholar, University of Pennsylvania
Zeynep Simavi, Director, Istanbul Branch at American Research Institute, Turkey
Zeren Tanındı, Professor, Uludağ University

Facilitator:
Massumeh Farhad, Senior Associate Director for Research, Chief Curator, and The Ebrahimi Family Curator of Persian, Arab, and Turkish Art

 

Register for the event here: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xX6VJnoVTrSHZfpKLEWDgg

Find more information here: https://asia.si.edu/events-overview/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D150315890

 

Questions can be directed to:

Lizzie Stein, Scholarly Programs and Publications Specialist, AsiaScholarlyProgram@si.edu

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art

 

 

 

 

3. Near Eastern Studies and Digital Scholarship @IAS Joint Lecture

February 3, 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

THE HISTORY OF THE ARABIC BOOK: A NEW CHAPTER

Mathew Barber (The Aga Khan University, KITAB), Lorenz Nigst (The Aga Khan University, KITAB), Sarah Bowen Savant (The Aga Khan University-ISMC), Peter Verkinderen (The Aga Khan University, KITAB). Hosted by Sabine Schmidtke (School of Historical Studies, IAS) and María Mercedes Tuya (Digital Scholarship, IAS).

It is an exciting time to be thinking about Arabic book history, as many questions are now being re-framed and addressed in ways that speak to a wider field of scholarly investigation. These questions concern, for example, the arguably scant material evidence for books up until roughly the eleventh century C.E., the non-survival of books treating important topics, the great variability of witnesses to individual works, and the ways that recycling of parts of prior books operated across time and place. Such questions, which query the very nature of ‘the book’, are relevant for the first four Islamic centuries, but also for later periods. This jointly delivered lecture will present the KITAB project – a collaboration between historians and computer scientists that addresses these major questions. We have assembled a corpus of 1.7 billion words of Arabic texts, and are seeking specifically to understand transmission practices (ca. 700-1500), with a special focus on how authors recycled earlier works and how they cited their predecessors. Through this lecture, we hope to describe the frontiers of knowledge, the challenges and promises of our data, and what listeners themselves might now do with it. (KITAB is a European Research Council Consolidator Grant project funded under Horizon 2020 and also has received funding from the Qatar National Library and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.)

 

Register in advance for this webinar here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

 

Near Eastern Studies Lecture

February 10, 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

THE EUROPEAN QUR’AN: THE QUR’ĀN IN EUROPEAN RELIGIOUS AND
CULTURAL HISTORY 

Mercedes García-Arenal (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [CCHS-CSIC], Madrid), Jan Loop (Københavns Universitet), John Tolan (Université de Nantes) and Roberto Tottoli (Universita degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale). Hosted by Sabine Schmidtke (School of Historical Studies, IAS).

“The European Qur’ān” (EuQu: https://euqu.eu/) is an ongoing project funded by a Synergy Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), dedicated to the important place of the Muslim holy book in European cultural and religious history. From the 12th century to the 19th, European Christians read the Qur’ān in Arabic, translated it into Latin, Greek and various vernacular languages, refuted it in polemical treatises, and mined it for information about Islam and Arab history. The “European Qur’ān”, in its various manifestations (Arabic editions, Latin and vernacular translations) should be conceived as scholarly efforts to understand Islam; as weapons in polemical exchanges between divergent versions of Christianity; as financial ventures on the part of printers and publishers; and as tools for the understanding of Semitic languages, Arab history and culture, and the history of monotheism.

 

The team that leads the project—Mercedes García-Arenal, John Tolan, Roberto Tottoli, Jan Loop—with their respective units in Madrid, Nantes, Naples and Copenhagen, will be dealing with various aspects of the transmission, translation, uses and study of the Qur’ān in Europe, on the role the Qur’ān played in debates about European cultural and religious identities, and more broadly about the place of the Qur’ān in European culture.

 

Register in advance for this webinar here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

 

 

 

4. The latest issue of al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā, the open-access, peer-reviewed journal of Middle East Medievalists has been published. TOC and downloadable PDFs of the entire 485-page issue (and all back issues) can be found here: https://www.middleeastmedievalists.com/al-usur-al-wusta/current-issue/

Contents

1. Introduction Leonardo Capezzone; 2. Ptolemy’s Place Names of Mesopotamia. Change and Persistence Lamberto Lesti – Cosimo Palagiano; 3. Manāzil Sulaymān: Solomonic Memory and the Islamic Empire in the Early Abbasid Period Michelina Di Cesare; 4. The Past before their own Past. Time, Otherness and the Remains of pre-Islamic Civilizations as seen by medieval Muslim authors Giovanna Calasso; 5. Tradition and re-elaboration of a Shiʿite account on the prophet Idrīs Laura Bottini; 6. Inscriptions and portraits from the past: a fictional temptation in al-Mas‘ūdī’s Murūj al-Dhahab Leonardo Capezzone; 7. The Last Years of the Sasanid Empire as Reflected in the Persian Romantic Narrative Tradition Paola Orsatti; 8. The Journey of Wisdom. Al-Fārābī on Philosophy before the Greeks and the Development of Knowledge Federico Stella; 9. Quoting the Shāhnāma in Monumental Epigraphy. Literary Culture and Legitimisation Strategies across the Persianate World (5th/11th-7th/13th C.) Viola Allegranza; 10. The Roman Past in 7th/13th-century Ḥamā (Syria): A Brass Cast with the Portrait of Nero in the Treasure Of al-Malik al-Manṣūr II Arianna d’Ottone, Erika Zwierlein-Diehl and Hadrien J. Rambach; 11. Beyond Recovery Towards Continuity in the Qajar Perception of the Past: the Case of Āthār-e ʿAjam (Antiquities of the Persians) by Forṣat al-Dowla Shirāzi Simone Cristoforetti; 12. The re-Orientalisation of the Myth of Adonis in ʿAshtarūt wa-Adūnīs by Ḥabīb Thābit Arturo Monaco

 

 

 

 

5. Before Archaeology, The Meaning of the Past in the Islamic Pre-Modern Thought (and After)

Edited by Leonardo Capezzone

Sapienza-University of Rome, 2020

https://www.artemide-edizioni.it/prodotto/before-archaeology/

 

 

 

 

6. Invitation: How Do Publishers ‘Really’ Decide Whether to Publish Your Book Manuscript?

The first interview of our ‘Publication Success Interview Series’, where we will discuss how publishers really decide whether to publish your manuscript.

I will be speaking with Katie Chin, Acquisitions Editor at Brill Publishers, about why she accepts or rejects manuscripts, and about practical tools for increasing scholars’ chances of being published – and quickly.
Join us for the interview on January 26 at:

4:30 PM IST / 2:30 PM GMT / 9:30 AM EST

For further info, see: Registration

Attendance is free of charge, and there is a registration link above. If you are interested but can’t attend, you can register and we will send you a recording.

 

 

 

 

7. The Indo-Persian Confluence Symposium

“Indo-Persian Confluence: Indo-Persian Musical Hybrid in Afghanistan”

Sunday, January 31, 2021

10am PST, Zoom

 

RSVP: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIpcuutrjIiHdV4WsLZhCyRQGsssq-uH1Fk

The third event in the Indo-Persian Musical Confluence series, featuring a panel of eminent ethnomusicologists on Indo-Persian musical hybrid in Afghanistan and a performance by Homayun Sakhi on the rubab.

Panelists

John Baily (Goldsmith University of London)
Lorraine Sakata (UCLA)
Mark Slobin (Wesleyan University)

Chair and Discussant

Richard Wolf (Harvard University)

Performance: music on the rubab

Homayun Sakhi

For more information on The Indo-Persian Music Confluence project: https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/indo-persian-musical-confluence/

Details of subsequent events will be forthcoming soon.

Project leader: Mohsen Mohammadi

Event Sponsors:
UCLA Mohindar Brar Sambhi Chair of Indian Music
UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology
UCLA Center for Musical Humanities (Robert U. Nelson Fund)
UCLA Jahangir and Eleanor Amuzegar Chair in Iranian Studies
UCLA Iranian Studies program
UCLA Center for India and South Asia (CISA)
UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES)

 

 

 

 

8. Iraq Heritage Stabilization Program

Iraq is home to an ethnically and religiously diverse population and a rich cultural heritage. However, decades of conflict and instability have torn at Iraq’s social fabric, weakened its institutions, and damaged its cultural property. The rise of ISIS and the atrocities perpetrated by the group—including genocide and cultural cleansing—have heightened tensions between different Iraqi communities even further and left much of the cultural heritage in the areas formerly under its control in ruins.

IHSP believes that the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage can contribute to reconciliation and peacemaking within societies affected by communal violence, especially when part of wider humanitarian efforts in post-conflict environments. Our projects in Iraq seek to mitigate the effects of genocide, cultural cleansing, and conflict through the maintenance and promotion of cultural memory, identity, diversity, and freedom of expression. To achieve this goal, we work closely with Iraqi government and civil society groups that are engaged in the protection and preservation of built heritage, particularly in communities directly affected by ISIS and the battle to defeat the group.

IHSP’s projects aim for the following qualities:

• Close work with local stakeholders and employment of local contractors
  • Historically accurate conservation and restoration of built heritage for use by living communities
  • Action-oriented plans and rapid results
  • Cost effectiveness and low operating costs

History

IHSP was founded in 2018 through a $2 million award from the U.S. Department of State to preserve ethnic and religious minority heritage in northern Iraq. The program is based in the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

IHSP is built upon the foundations of earlier projects dedicated to the support of Iraq’s cultural heritage and cultural heritage professionals. IHSP’s staff have collaborated closely with Iraqi heritage professionals in Mosul and the Nineveh Plain since 2012 through training workshops and scholarly exchanges facilitated by Boston University’s Mosul Archaeology Program. More recently, many of IHSP’s staff worked on Iraqi cultural heritage issues as part of the American Schools of Oriental Research’s Cultural Heritage Initiatives.

 

 

 

9. The Beginnings of Modern Medicine in Iran

W Floor, Mage, 2020

https://magepublishers.com/the-beginnings-of-modern-medicine-in-iran/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=how-iranians-relaxed-through-the-centuries-with-food-drink-and-drugs_49

 

 

 

 

10. CFP: Innovative Practices and Pedagogies for Teaching Undergraduate International Development Studies

To strengthen the educational practices of international development studies faculty, the Tobias Center for Innovation in International Development at the Hamilton Lugar School for Global and International Studies at Indiana University Bloomington will hold a two-day, virtual workshop on June 7-8 from 10am-3pm ET.  entitled “Innovative Practices and Pedagogies for Teaching Undergraduate International Development Studies.” 

This workshop will include interactive and engaging presentations that share new and innovative approaches to teaching development studies to undergraduate students. Potential topics could include:

– Best practices for online learning
– Decolonizing your pedagogy
– The possibilities of virtual exchanges
– Bringing reflexive practices into the classroom
– Bridging theory and practice in the field of IDS
– Employing partnerships with development organizations in the classroom
– Case studies of different approaches to teaching development studies

Workshop participants are expected to both present at the workshop and attend all sessions, and they will receive a stipend of $750.00 for their participation. Participation will be capped at 20 people.

For more information and to apply, please click here. Please contact Elisheva Cohen at ellcohen@iu.edu with any questions.

 

 

 

 

11. Amuletic Archives: Writing Magico-Material Histories of the Middle East
What amulets tell us about the past

Historiography of the Middle East
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
3:00 PM (Pacific Time)

UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies

 

 

 

12. Book launch: Domenico Ingenito’s “Beholding Beauty: Saʿdi of Shiraz and the Aesthetics of Desire in Medieval Persian Poetry” (Brill, 2020)

Wednesday, January 27, 2021
10:00 AM (Pacific Time)

UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies

 

 

 

13. Islamic Interpretive Tradition and Gender Justice Processes of Canonization, Subversion, and Change

Edited by Nevin Reda and Yasmin Amin,

McGill, 2020

https://www.mqup.ca/islamic-interpretive-tradition-and-gender-justice-products-9780228001638.php

 

ZOOM DISCUSSION ROUNDTABLE

Jan 30, 2021

12:00 PM EASTERN TIME5 PM GMT7 PM CAIRO TIME

Zoom link: https://fordham.zoom.us/j/82757414650

 

 

 

14. Saintly Spheres and Islamic Landscapes: Emplacements of Spiritual Power across Time and Place, ed. Daphna Ephrat, Ethel Sara Wolper, and Paulo G. Pinto

Brill, 2020

https://brill.com/view/title/59199?rskey=58MEKF&result=1

 

1.ONLINE Seminar of Zeynep Kaya (SOAS): “Mapping Kurdistan: Territory, Self-Determination and Nationalism”, London Middle East Institute, 26 January 2021, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm GMT

The author builds on her book Mapping Kurdistan to show how a focus on self-determination, territorial identity and international norms helps analyse how imaginations of homelands have been socially, politically and historically constructed (much like the state territories the Kurds inhabit), as opposed to their perception of being natural, perennial or intrinsic.

Information and registration: https://www.soas.ac.uk/smei/events/cme/26jan2021-mapping-kurdistan-territory-self-determination-and-nationalism.html

 

 

 

 

2. ONLINE Conference: “Transformations of Arabic Literary Theory”, Columbia University, Preliminary Virtual Discussion Panel: 19 March 2021; First in-person Session in Paris: 27-30 June 2021, Second in-person Session in New York: 1-3 December 2021.

The focus is on Arabic literary theory, engaging with its development from the pre-modern era up to the present. Literary Theory is not limited to the classical or premodern reading of poetics and adab, but also inclusive, and very strongly, of transformations since the late nineteenth century.

Extended deadline for abstracts: 11 February 2021. Information: https://icls.columbia.edu/news/cfp-transformations-of-arabic-literary-theory/

 

 

 

 

3. ONLINE Symposium: “Muslim Philanthropy in a Canadian Context”, University of Toronto, 27 March 2021

This symposium addresses a simple, yet underexplored, question: How is Muslim philanthropy developing in a secular liberal democracy such as Canada? The symposium will be a pioneering event bringing together scholars from a variety of disciplines and practitioners working in the non-profit/charitable sector.

Information: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=JsKqeAMvTUuQN7RtVsVSEPPJaGxaHCpEvDKPihpEmi1UN0I2TUxKMVNMWE04MlI5MEg5S0xOUTBEQy4u

 

 

 

 

4. Conference on “Translation and Transfer” of the Network “Eastern European-Ottoman-Persian Mobility Dynamics”, University of Marburg, 6–9 October 2021

The conference will stress the pragmatic implications of the translation of texts in its narrower sense and the translators involved in activities across or within the Transottoman focus region. For a closer look at this and the multiple projects within this framework, please visit our website at www.transottomanica.de.

Deadline for abstracts: 31 January 2021. For further information, contact florian.riedler@uni-leipzig.de.

 

 

 

 

5. ONLINE International Conference on “Canon and Censorship in the Islamic Intellectual and Theological History”, Berlin Institute for Islamic Theology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 8-10 October 2021

Muslim societies and theologies did not witness the emergence of a single institution that establishes a binding canon for everyone who adheres to Islam. Instead, the constitutional positions are (re)negotiated constantly in a scholarly discourse. Against this backdrop, the conference focuses on the question of how certain texts and positions evolve to a canon while others get lost in time.

Information: https://www.islamische-theologie.hu-berlin.de/de/copy_of_forschung/islamische-ideengeschichte-1200-1800/medien/call-canon-and-censorship-1.pdf

 

 

 

 

6. 3^rd ANU Religion Conference: “Religion and Migration: Culture and Policy”, Australian National University, Canberra, 8-10 December 2021

The aim of this conference is to explore the various phenomena related to religion and migration; the political and social transitions impacting upon the transnational religiosity of contemporary communities.

Deadline for abstracts: 21 May 2021. Information: https://hrc.cass.anu.edu.au/events/religion-and-migration-culture-and-policy-0#acton-tabs-link–tabs-0-middle-1

 

 

 

 

7. Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Groningen, the Netherlands

We are looking for candidates with broad expertise of the contemporary Middle East with a particular focus on politics and culture. S/he should be proficient in Modern Standard Arabic and preferably also Hebrew. Candidates with a background in Middle Eastern Studies, Arabic Language and Culture, (contemporary) History, Political Science, and related fields are especially encouraged to apply.

Deadline for applications: 18 February 2021. Information: https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/work-with-us/job-opportunities/?details=00347-02S00082BP

 

 

 

 

 

8. Post-doctoral Position for Research on Race and Racialization in the MENA Region and Middle Easterners in the USA, Graduate Center, City University of New York

The successful applicant must have the doctorate in hand by the start of the fellowship (25 August 2021), but be no more than seven years beyond the granting of the PhD.

The deadline for applications: 1 March 2021. Information: https://home.cunyfirst.cuny.edu/psp/cnyepprd/GUEST/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL?Page=HRS_CE_JOB_DTL&Action=A&JobOpeningId=22123&SiteId=1&PostingSeq=1

 

 

 

 

9. Post-doctoral Position for Research on Race and Racialization in the MENA Region and Middle Easterners in the USA, Graduate Center, City University of New York

The successful applicant must have the doctorate in hand by the start of the fellowship (25 August 2021), but be no more than seven years beyond the granting of the PhD.

The deadline for applications: 1 March 2021. Information: https://home.cunyfirst.cuny.edu/psp/cnyepprd/GUEST/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL?Page=HRS_CE_JOB_DTL&Action=A&JobOpeningId=22123&SiteId=1&PostingSeq=1

 

 

 

 

10. Chapters for Edited Collection on “The Arab World as Ghurba: Citizenship, Identity and Belonging in Literature and Popular Culture”, University of Warwick

The aim of this edited collection is to investigate the cultural implications of different kinds of movement and migration to and within the Arabic-speaking world.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 February 2021. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/7093745/call-book-chapters-arab-world-ghurba-citizenship-identity-and

 

 

 

11. New Book Series “Critical Studies on Islamism” Published by I.B.Tauris & Bloomsbury

Books are welcomed from political science, sociology, religious studies, history, political economy, sociolinguistics, media and cultural studies, and international relations. The geographical scope is global and it covers the nature, dynamics, and evolution of Islamism at different contexts and regions.

Information: Contact Khalil al-Anani, Ph.D., kalanani@gmail.com

 

 

 

12. The Gombroon Diaries: a Rich Source on Eighteenth Century Persia and the Persian Gulf at the British Library

The Gombroon (Bandar-e ʻAbbas) Factory was established in 1623 to represent the interests of the East India Company (EIC) on the southern coast of Persia (Iran) and the Gulf. It soon became the centre of British trade and political activities following the expulsion of the Portuguese from Hormuz and Bahrain. A Chief Agent headed the Factory’s decision-making ‘Council’. The Council members coordinated with Sub-Agents, Brokers and local partners at the rest of the British establishments in Persia, primarily in Esfahan, Kerman and Shiraz.

 

 

 

13. On-line event: Numerals and Their Alternatives in the Middle East and Europe: A Reckoning, Dr Stephen Chrisomalis

London, Agha Khan University
4 February 2021, 18:00 – 20:00

Synchronous and interactive participation via Zoom and simultaneous livestreaming on AKU-ISMC’s Facebook page (@akuismclondon).

To join via Zoom, register in advance for this event by clicking here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the event.

 

 

 

14. The San Diego Museum of Art – Research Assistant

http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=60919

APPLICATION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 28, 2021

 

 

 

 

15. Séminaire “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du monde iranien”, jeudi 21 janvier 2021

Nous avons le plaisir de vous convier à la prochaine séance du séminaire “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du monde iranien” organisé par le CeRMI, qui aura lieu le jeudi 21 janvier 2021 de 17h15 à 19h en visioconférence.

L’intervention de Denise Aigle, intitulée : “Chiraz, citadelle des saints et capitale du Fars”, doit malheureusement être reportée. Nous vous remercions de votre compréhension, et ne manquerons pas de vous faire connaître dès que possible la date de ce report.

Nous serons heureux d’accueillir au cours de cette séance Martina Massullo (Université de Lille), pour une conférence intitulée :

“Le patrimoine funéraire islamique de Ghazni d’après les archives de la Mission Archéologique Italienne en Afghanistan”

Résumé :

Au sein de la documentation collectée à Ghazni par la Mission Archéologique Italienne en Afghanistan (1957-1978), le patrimoine funéraire occupe une place de premier plan. En effet, de nombreuses structures funéraires se dressent autour de la ville. Ces espaces sacrés, mausolées où enclos, présentent une grande variété de styles architecturaux et ils recèlent un nombre exceptionnel de tombeaux en marbre datant du Xe au XVIIe siècle, ainsi que d’éléments remployés relevant du décor architectural des palais et d’autres vestiges ghaznévides de la ville. Cette documentation, partiellement inédite, témoigne de l’occupation continue de ces sites au fil des siècles et de leur valeur sacrée. Un poème mystique en persan confirme ce constat, et révèle qu’au XVIIe siècle ces espaces funéraires devinrent partie d’un circuit de pèlerinage à l’échelle locale, selon une pratique attestée en Asie Centrale et dans les territoires iraniens. Néanmoins, les nombreux remaniements qui ont touché ce patrimoine funéraire, ainsi que la nature fragmentaire des photographies conservées dans les archives italiennes, compliquent l’analyse et la reconstitution chronologique de ces structures et appellent à un travail de réorganisation et d’exploitation de l’ensemble de cette précieuse documentation.

Orientations bibliographiques :

• Massullo, M., “Epigraphic Survey on the Mausoleum of Muḥammad Šarīf Ḫān at Ghazni (Afghanistan)”, Bulletin d’études orientales, 67, 2020, p. 159-184.
• Massullo, M., “Marble Tombs from Ghazni (Fifteenth-Eighteenth Centuries): Morphological and Epigraphic Remarks”, Eurasian Studies, 13, 2015, p. 54-67.
• Szuppe, M., « Une description des lieux de pèlerinage (ziyāratgāh) autour de Ghazna, Afghanistan (fin du XVIIe s. ?)», dans M. Bernardini et N.L. Tornesello (éd.), Scritti in onore di Giovanni M. D’Erme, Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”, Series Minor, 68, 2005, p. 1167-1200.

Lien de connexion :

ID de réunion : 779 343 3035

Code secret : 759711

 

—————————————————
CeRMI – CNRS UMR 8041
Centre de Recherche sur le Monde Iranien
—-
27 rue Paul Bert – 94204 Ivry-sur-Seine – France
cermi@cnrs.fr – https://www.cermi.cnrs.fr

 

 

 

16. Webinar: “On Ruins: The Contemporary Politics of Heritage Preservation and Reconstruction,” International Journal of Islamic Architecture Dialogues Series

 

Join the International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA) for its Dialogues Series, an annual webinar that brings together scholars and practitioners from across varied disciplines for a discussion of critical contemporary issues that interrogate the boundaries between architecture, art, anthropology, archaeology, and history. In the inaugural session, “On Ruins: The Contemporary Politics of Heritage Preservation and Reconstruction,” series host, Hala Auji (Beirut), is joined by video artists and filmmakers Ali Cherri (Beirut/Paris) and Panos Aprahamian (Beirut) for a virtual discussion (via Zoom) on the intersections between video art, film, and architectural preservation in relation to the socio-political constructs of heritage in Syria, Palestine, Iraq, the Gulf, and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

 

Date and Time: Wednesday, January 27, 2021, 6:00-7:30 pm (Beirut)

 

Register in advance for this session:

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEvcOGopzksGN1LarCNSZf0ZZWZACDuXFak

 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the session. A recording of the event will be posted on the IJIA website and Facebook page. The discussion will also appear in print as part of the journal’s new “Dialogues” section.

1.Call for Papers: The Study of Islam and Muslims in the shadow of the “War on Terror”: Complexity, Reflexivity and Decolonising Methodologies

The Alwaleed Centre is delighted to be co-hosting a major online conference later this year entitled The Study of Islam and Muslims in the shadow of the “War on Terror”: Complexity, Reflexivity and Decolonising Methodologies.

 

Delivered in partnership with the Moray House School of Education and Sport, The Centre for Education for Racial Equality Scotland & RACE.ED, this conference invites academics to critically explore the politics of engaging in research and teaching on Islam/Muslims at British universities through an exercise of self-reflection on their own research and teaching practises.

 

Please note that paper abstracts must not exceed 250 words, and must be submitted to: idil.akinci@ed.ac.uk and ibtihal.ramadan@ed.ac.uk by 7th February 2021 in order to be considered.

 

For further information and to submit your abstract, follow this link: www.alwaleed.ed.ac.uk/conference-june-2021

 

With warmest wishes for 2021,

 

The Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam

in the Contemporary World

University of Edinburgh

16 George Square

Edinburgh

EH8 9LD

 

0131 650 4615

thealwaleedcentre@ed.ac.uk

www.alwaleed.ed.ac.uk

 

 

 

2. Soundscapes of Uyghur Islam

by Rachel Harris

Indiana University Press, 2020

https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9780253050205/soundscapes-of-uyghur-islam/

 

 

 

 

3. “Extended grammars”: descriptive models of Persian

International workshop

19^th November 2021, Paris

Call for submissions

 

Organisation:

Pollet Samvelian (Université Sorbonne nouvelle, CeRMI & Labex EFL)

Pegah Faghiri (University of Amsterdam)

 

A great number of the languages of the world have been described based on grammatical categories initially developed for other languages. Thus, the grammatical tradition of a small set of languages, namely Arabic, Chinese, Greek and Sanskrit, has played a key role in the development of the grammatical descriptions of many thousands of languages known in the world. The transfer of the Latin grammatical model onto European vernaculars and “exotic” languages –called “Extended Latin Grammar” by Sylvain Auroux is one of the best studied cases in the domain.

Modern Persian is an interesting case of study in this respect, since various paradigms have been used for its grammatical description, as noted by Windfuhr (1979: 9) “The two main paradigms with which Persian grammar has been studied and described are the ‘Muslim/Near Eastern and the ‘Western’ paradigm. (A third paradigm, that of Indian (Sanskrit) grammar, is said to have been applied in some grammars of Persian written in India during the time of Akbar)”.

We invite contributions on various aspects of the use of exogenous grammatical traditions for the description of Modern Persian including, but not limited to: the inventory of the parts of speech and grammatical functions (dependency relations), morphological analysis, history of Persian grammars.

The workshop is a part of the Labex EFL workpackage “Extended Grammars”. Selected contributions will be published as a special issue of the Histoire Épistémologie Langage (HEL) journal.

Timetable:
Deadline for abstracts: 18^th June 2021 

Notification of acceptance: 10^th July 2021 

Submission specifications:

All abstracts, in English or in French, should be submitted via Easy Chair https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=egpersian1 ). Please submit an abstract of no longer than 500 words.

 

Presentations will be allotted 30 minutes, with an additional 10 minutes for questions and discussion.

 

 

 

 

4. Digital Catalogue of a Photographic Archive of Cairo – The Photographs of Beniamino Facchinelli (1839-1895)

Note the release of the digital catalogue of views of Cairo’s monumental heritage taken by Italian photographer Beniamino Facchinelli (1839-1895) after his settling in 1875 in the Egyptian capital, where he died twenty years later. The catalogue currently features 726 high-definition reproductions of images identified among the holdings of six libraries and museums across the globe; it is designed to incorporate further ones as they appear in collections willing to share their content in full Open Access mode.

It is estimated that Facchinelli produced about 1200 topographical views during his stay in Egypt, of which 900 have been already listed and located, though not all copyright-cleared yet. All images are authenticated through cross-referencing, and their original captions are listed in the entries, as well as the albums and publications where they were reproduced. The whole represents a unique documentation on buildings which have either disappeared since then, or been radically transformed in course of restoration; it also includes rare views on their furnishings. Because the photographs of the reconstructed corpus were often commissioned by dedicated preservationists and inserted in their publications (although without any credit to their author), one can closely follow through them how a vanishing architectural, visual and material culture was then viewed, valued and defended.

The catalogue can be accessed at:

http://facchinelli.huma-num.fr/

 

 

 

 

5. Instructional Professor (open rank) in Persian

Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Humanities Division
Chicago, IL

Jan 11, 2021 – Feb 11, 2021

Description

The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and the College of the University of Chicago invite applications for appointment to an open-rank position as Instructional Professor in modern Persian. Start date of the appointment will be September 1, 2021. Appointment will be made at the rank of Assistant Instructional Professor, Associate Instructional Professor, or Instructional Professor, depending on qualifications and educational background.

Responsibilities include both teaching and service duties. Teaching consists of six courses in Persian language across three quarters, both elementary and intermediate, as well as a seventh topical Advanced Persian course (Persian of the Media, modern Persian fiction or poetry, Iranian History, etc.). Service duties may include assistance with student placement, programmatic assessment, coordination of the Persian Language Circle, Conversation Table, or other program-specific duties. Instructional Professors of all ranks are required to engage in regular professional development.

Qualifications

Applicants should demonstrate previous language teaching experience at the college or post-secondary level. An M.A. degree or equivalent is required. Candidates with specialized training in second language acquisition, second language pedagogy, and/or assessment are especially encouraged to apply. Preference will be given to candidates whose pedagogy integrates multimedia and other modern pedagogical tools in the classroom. Applicants must demonstrate sufficient language proficiency for teaching Persian in a university context, e.g. through an ACTFL-certified result at the Superior level or higher, or through receipt of an advanced degree earned in a Persian-language context.

Application Instructions

To apply for this position, please submit your application through the University of Chicago’s Academic Recruitment website at http://apply.interfolio.com/82699. An application must include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, teaching statement, one sample syllabus for elementary or intermediate Persian, and the names and contact information of three potential recommenders. Applicants may be asked to provide additional materials following the initial review.

Application deadline: All applicant materials must be received by February 11, 2021 at 11pm central time.

This position is contingent upon budgetary approval. The terms and conditions of employment for this position are covered by a collective bargaining agreement between the University and the Service Employees International Union. For information on the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, please go to https://nelc.uchicago.edu. For questions about the position, please contact Amanda Young at amanday@uchicago.edu.