Categories : Academic items

1. ONLINE Séminaire IISMM « Orient-Littératures » – Thème : “L’image du Monde arabe dans la littérature européenne du XIXe siècle. Anthologies, différences et influences”, Paris, 14 janvier 2021, 11:00-13:00 h CET

Intervenant : Valerio Vittorini, Chercheur associé à l’ Université Côte d’Azur, Centre Transdisciplinaire d’Épistémologie, de la Littérature et des Arts vivants.

Prière de vous inscrire auparavant à l’adresse : https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0RIR2TDmS-mZndSB0puccQ. Information : https://iismm.hypotheses.org/49853

 

 

 

 

2. ONLINE Roundtable “New Voices in Middle East Studies”, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES), 13 January 2021, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm, GMT

Yara Hawari, Marc Oven Jones, Kamran Matin and Mezna Qato will reflect on the legacies of the revolts and the opportunities and obstacles for meaningful social, political, and economic transformation in MENA.

Information and registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0ode6vrDMoGNZIdRbLJn5qZrFB6-1CoJqA

 

 

 

 

3. ONLINE Book Presentation by Malte Fuhrmann: “Port Cities of the Eastern Mediterranean. Urban Culture in the Late Ottoman Empire”, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), Berlin, 18 January 2021, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm CET

This study examines changes in the histories of space, consumption, and identities of Constantinople, Smyrna, and Salonica in the nineteenth and early twentieth century while the Mediterranean became a zone of influence for European powers.

Please register at registration@zmo.de.

 

 

 

 

4. ONLINE Workshop: “The Making of Minorities in the Middle East and North Africa: Objects, Images, Spaces”, UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies, Part 1: 5 March 2021, 9:00 am PT; Part 2: 12 March 2021, 2:00 pm PT

This two-part workshop addresses minorities and minority-formation in the art, architecture, and urbanism of the Middle East and North Africa through time. A major goal is to consider the role of visual, spatial, and material cultures in mediating minor cultural formations. Another aim is to recognize the complex, varied terrain of interactions between minorities and majority cultures: to emphasize instances of transfer, exchange, and participation that challenge the binary of assimilation and opposition.

Information and registration: Part 1 https://mesana.org/resources-and-opportunities/2021/01/08/the-making-of-minorities-in-the-middle-east-and-north-africa-objects-images-spaces-part-1;

Part 2 https://mesana.org/resources-and-opportunities/2021/01/08/the-making-of-minorities-in-the-middle-east-and-north-africa-objects-images-spaces-part-2

 

 

 

 

5. Maghreb Review and Maghreb Studies Association Conference: “Empires in the Middle East and the Maghreb: The Shaping of Hopes and Perspectives”, Oxford, 13-14 September 2021

Papers should deal with various aspects of the question of how colonial rule, and its demise, has shaped the perceptions of one another held by the colonial powers and the colonised peoples of the MENA region, including debates and conflicts that came to the fore in the post-colonial period. The conference will be in English or French. Papers will be published in “The Maghreb Review”.

Deadline for abstracts: 30 April 2021. Information: maghreb@maghrebreview.com

 

 

 

 

6. Assistant Director, Arabic Program, University of Arizona, Tucson

Qualification: Master’s degree in Arabic Linguistics, Applied Linguistics or related. Minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience required.

Open until filled. Information: https://arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/3818?c=arizona

 

 

 

7. Articles on “New Media and National Identity” for Special Issue of the “Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research”

This special issue of JAMMR aims at enriching the debate on media, identity and cultural formation. It seeks to critically address this ever-growing area of enquiry and revisit the field from various theoretical and empirical multi-disciplinary dimensions.

 

Deadline for abstracts: 25 January 2021. Information: https://www.intellectbooks.com/asset/54399/1/JAMMR_CFP_jan2021.pdf

 

 

 

 

8. New Entries in the Mediterranean Syllabi Index: “The History of the Early Modern Mediterranean (1450-1789)” and “The Mediterranean World, 1450-1750”

The Mediterranean Syllabi Index is an open-access resource for instructors developing or teaching undergraduate and graduate courses relating to Mediterranean Studies topics in disciplines including History, Art History, Material Culture, Archaeology, Literature and Language, Music, Culture and the Social Sciences from Antiquity to the present.

See complete list of courses at http://www.mediterraneanseminar.org/syllabus

 

 

 

9. As part of the efforts of Middle East Medievalists (MEM) to raise the profile of medieval studies at MESA, the MEM Board of Directors announces our 2021 call for panel sponsorship.

MEM is a MESA affiliate and thus may sponsor up to three panels at each annual meeting. We cannot offer financial support, but selected panels will appear as MEM-sponsored panels on the MESA program. We will also publicize MEM-sponsored panels to our membership and highlight them in MEM’s annual “Medieval MESA” circular. We urge medievalists organizing panels for MESA 2021 to send us all the relevant material, including titles, abstracts, and the names of participants, by February 5, 2021, so the MEM board may consider them for sponsorship before the MESA submission deadline. Please email your materials and/or any questions to Zayde Antrim (zayde.antrim@trincoll.edu).

 

 

 

 

10. As promised in our July 2020 Statement on Anti-Racism, the Board of Directors of Middle East Medievalists (MEM) is pleased to announce the launch of a new fellowship to support graduate students of color in medieval studies who wish to attend the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA).

We expect to award up to $1500 to offset the costs of attending the 2021 meeting for successful applicants. We will open a first round of applications as soon as MESA issues its program decisions to help graduate students of color who are formally participating in the meeting pay the registration fee. Details about our simple, needs-based application process will be forthcoming, but we wanted to make the announcement now, in conjunction with MESA’s 2021 call for papers, in order to encourage those who might otherwise opt out of the conference due to cost. We would like to express our gratitude to the anonymous donor who enabled us to launch this fellowship. We plan to fundraise for this fellowship in order to offer it every year.

 

 

 

11. The Friday Mosque in the City: Liminality, Ritual, and Politics

Editor A. Hilâl Uğurlu and Suzan Yalman

Intellect Books, 2020

https://www.intellectbooks.com/the-friday-mosque-in-the-city

 

1. The Mu`allaqat for Millennials, Pre-Islamic Arabic Golden Odes, is available open access here and published by the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) in cooperation with the AlQafilah Magazine, both initiatives of Saudi Aramco.

Aiming to make the mu`allaqat known to new readers, the project gathers a team of eight commentators and translators. They include Abdallah S. Alroshaid, Professor of Arabic Literature at Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud University; Saudi writer and physician Adi Alherbish; New York University Clinical Associate Professor David Larsen; Huda J. Fakhreddine, Associate Professor of Arabic Literature at the University of Pennsylvania; Kevin Blankinship, Assistant Professor of Arabic Literature at Brigham Young University; Saleh Said Alzahrani, Professor of Rhetoric and Criticism at Umm al-Qura University; Sami Abdulaziz AlAjlan, Assistant Professor of Literary Criticism at Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud University; and Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University.

At the helm are Hatem Alzahrani, Assistant Professor of Arabic Literature at Umm al-Qura University, and Bander Alharbi, editor-in-chief of AlQafilah Magazine. You can read Professor Alzahrani’s published introduction here, a report by the King Abdulaziz Center here, and news coverage here (English) and here (Arabic). Enjoy and thanks for your attention.

————————————————————————-

Kevin Blankinship, PhD

Assistant Professor, Arabic Language and Literature

Brigham Young University, 3058 JFSB

Provo, UT 84602 | (801) 422-4684

kevin_blankinship@byu.edu | Homepage

Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Academia | MuckRack

 

 

 

 

2. A collection of 40 Ḥadīth related to the pandemic. Published by MT Karaan, Strand, Cape Town, South Africa. 

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/65163171/fleeing-from-fate-to-fatedocx

 

 

 

 

3. Position of a post-doctoral research fellow – ZMO (Berlin)

Ausschreibung_Age_Gen_Postdoc_1.pdf (zmo.de)

Application Date: 15 February, 2021

 

 

 

4. MESA Call for Papers

The Middle East Studies Association calls for proposals from our members for the 55th annual MESA meeting, which is currently scheduled for October 28-31, 2021 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. (Meeting safely in person is of course contingent on governmental regulations, among other critical factors. As with last year, we will continue to be as flexible as possible in response to changing circumstances, within the bounds of MESA’s contractual obligations.)

All submissions must be made through myMESA, MESA’s membership and submissions system. The system is now open.

All submissions must be submitted by midnight (Eastern Standard Time) on February 18, 2021.

Please see the detailed guidelines on submitting proposals. Questions about the submission process can be sent to Kat Teghizadeh at kat@mesana.org.

MESA membership is a requirement to submit a proposal. To renew your 2021 membership, login to myMESA or use this form. Contact Sara Palmer at sara@mesana.org with questions about membership.

1.International Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī Symposium, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, 20-22 May 2021

Topics include: • Linguistics • Logic • Tafsīr • Astronomy • Mathematics • Medicine • Geography • Philosophy • Illuminationism • Sufism • Kalām • Music • Ethics and Political Theory • Shīrāzī in Manuscripts and Book Culture Studies • Commentaries (Shurūḥ, ḥawāshī, taʻlīqāt) • Scholarly Networks and Ijāzatnāmas • Urban Studies; etc.

Information: http://kutbuddinsirazi.cumhuriyet.edu.tr/en/index.php

 

 

 

 

2. ONLINE Special Panel on “Religion and International Studies: An Outdated Topic or a Topic in Fruition?” during the “International Conference of the British International Studies Association [BISA]”, 21-23 June 2021

We welcome submissions from politics, religious studies, anthropology, sociology, security studies, geopolitics, area studies, and related fields on any country or region. Our working group seeks to bring together scholars working in this field to examine all aspects of the crossroad of religion and international studies.

Deadline for abstracts extended to  22 January 2021. Information: https://conference.bisa.ac.uk/call-papers and www.hahellyer.com/RAISCall

 

 

 

 

3. Associate Professorship in Comparative Culture Studies (Focus Middle East), Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen

Qualifications: Disciplinary background in a field concerned with cross-cultural comparison and social and cultural theory (ethnography or anthropology for example); Strong expertise in one or more of the following regions covered by the department: Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Middle America, Asia or the Arctic; Long-term ethnographic field experience and the ability to teach fieldwork methods.

Deadline for application: 20 January 2021. Information: https://socioloxy.com/associate-professorship-in-comparative-culture-studies,i7882.html

 

 

 

 

4. Tenure Track Position in Mediterranean History, Haifa Center for Mediterranean History, University of Haifa

We encourage applications from candidates with distinct interests in medieval and/or early modern Mediterranean history and with proven academic excellence in their fields of expertise, together with an extensive background in Mediterranean studies, and a fully-developed Mediterraneanist approach guiding their research. The candidate should be firmly rooted within the historical discipline, with openness to other fields of knowledge in the social sciences.

Deadline for applications: 31 July 2021. Information: https://hcmh.haifa.ac.il/index.php/opportunities-for-researchers/tenure-track-positions

 

 

 

 

5. Spring School on “Spoken Images of/in Islam: Languages and Translations in Texts and Images”, Innovative Training Network “Mediating Islam in the Digital Age” (MIDA) and European Network for Islamic Studies (ENIS), Catania (Sicily), 5 – 9 July 2021

The main objective 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. The Summer School will bring together advanced academics and lecturers from different disciplines with doctoral and MA students.

Deadline for application: 1 April 2021. Information: https://iismm.hypotheses.org/49942

 

 

 

 

6. Articles on MENA Migrants and Diasporas in 21^st-Century Media for Special Issue of “Mashriq wa Mahjar: Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies”

This special issue seeks scholarly contributions that engage with questions related to the main theme through analyses of representations in local, national, or transnational contexts, both in the Global North and South. We welcome topics including but not limited to examinations of otherness, statelessness, self-representation, cultural citizenship, diasporic activism, and aesthetics of representation.

Deadline for articles: 15 March 2021.

Information: https://lebanesestudies.ojs.chass.ncsu.edu/index.php/mashriq/announcement/view/23

 

 

 

 

7. Articles for Edited Volume on “Christianity in Iraq at the Turn of Islam: History and Archaeology”

An international round table organized on 4 and 5 May 2019 at the University of Salahaddin (Erbil, Iraq) highlighted the interest for a collective work that will address the question of Christianity in Iraq at the turn of Islam. Les Presses de l’Ifpo is now calling for papers related to this theme. Convenors: Kinga Dévényi (Budapest), Sebastian Günther (Göttingen), Sabine Schmidtke (Princeton).

Deadline for articles in French, English or Arabic: 28 February 2021. Information: https://www.ifporient.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Christianity_in_Iraq_at_the_turn_of_Islam_Call_for_Papers.pdf

 

 

 

8. IDHN (Islamicate Digital Humanities Network) is organizing the first conference on Digitial Hadith Studies on January 27, 2021.

Mairaj U. Syed, Danny Halawi, Nazmus Saquib, Shuaib Choudhry, and Mohamed Alkaoud will be presenting the latest development of their pioneering research in Digital Hadith Studies. And we will also present a new software designed by Maroussia Bednarkiewicz and Stefan Wezel to automate the drawing of isnad trees.
In order to attend the conference please register as a member at https://idhn.org/contact/ or send us an e-mail to info@idhn.org and request guest access

Maroussia Bednarkiewicz (University of Tübingen)
Irene Kirchner (Georgetown University)
Pranav Prakash (Windgate Fellow, Center for the Book, U-Iowa)

 

 

 

9. The spring 2021 program of Silsila, NYU’s Center for Material Histories. The theme for spring 2021 semester isTranslations.

Due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic, this will be online. 

 

The semester’s program consists of both lectures and more extended presentations and discussions, all open to the public. The lectures will continue to take place on Wednesdays 12.30-2.30 ET (New York time), but we will also have some workshop-type events that will take place on Friday afternoons 12.00-2.30 ET (New York time). For details of each event, please consult the schedule below – further details of each event are posted on our website.

Links to register are available on the relevant web pages for each event (https://as.nyu.edu/silsila/events.html). Once you register, you will then receive a link enabling you to access the event as an attendee. Only registered attendees will be able to access the event.  

1.ONLINE 4^th International Conference on “Arabs’ and Muslims’ History of Sciences: Scientific Legacy and its Contemporary Impacts”, University of Sharjah, 4-6 April 2021

Scholars, researchers in higher educational institutions and research centers, museums and heritage foundations, and postgraduate students are cordially invited to submit their recent research findings to be presented and published at this conference.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 January 2021. Information: https://www.sharjah.ac.ae/en/Media/Conferences/ICHS21/Pages/default.aspx

 

 

 

 

2. ONLINE Doctoral Workshop of the “Italian Society for Middle Eastern Studies (SeSaMO)”, Bologna, 20-21 April 2021

The workshop is open to PhD students in Italian universities and working on research projects dealing with the MENA region and the Muslim population in other countries. Italian PhD students working abroad and foreign doctoral candidates enrolled in double-degree programmes between foreign and Italian Universities are also encouraged to participate.

Information: http://www.sesamoitalia.it/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Workshop-Dottorale-SeSaMO-2021-CfPs-It-En-Fr.pdf

1.Call for Papers: Translation  & Literary Studies February issue 2021 Extended

Arab World English Journal for Translation and Literary Studies welcomes submissions for the February issue 2021. The deadline for manuscript submission has been extended till January 4. 2021.  The issue publication date is February issue 2020. For more information, visit the Submission page. The papers can address but are not limited to the following ..Read More

 

Calls for Papers March 2021

Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) welcomes the submission of papers for March 2021. The deadline for manuscript submission is December 30, 2020.  The issue publication date is March 2021. For more information, visit the Arab World English Journal on www.awej.org. Before sending your paper, please read the submission and Manuscript Guidelines for Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) ... Read More 

Kind Regard,
Arab Society of English Language Studies

 

 

 

2. Post-Doctoral Research Assistants in History

Northumbria University
Northumbria University seeks to appoint two Post-Doctoral Research Assistants in History, for three years fixed term, from 1 September 2021. These opportunities arise through the successful award of a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship to Dr Felicia Gottmann, entitled ‘Migration, Adaptation, Innovation: A Comparative Global History, 1500-1800’. One of the PDRAs should have specialist historical and linguistic skills appropriate for the study of the Islamic World in the period 1500-1800, with reading ability in at least one of the following: Arabic OR Ottoman Turkish OR Persian OR South Asian languages.
Closing date for applications | 21 January 2021
Further information

 

 

3. Associate Professor in Middle East Politics

Durham University

The School of Government and International Affairs (SGIA) at Durham University seeks to appoint an exceptional scholar as an Associate Professor with research and teaching expertise in Middle East Politics. Applicants with research and teaching expertise in any of the following, Geopolitics of the sub-regions of the Middle East (which includes North Africa and Turkey); the politics of Gender and Identity; and the Political Economy of Middle East will be at an advantage.
Closing date for applications | 25 January 2021
Further information

 

 

 

4. Associate Professorship in Politics or International Relations with specialisation in the Middle East

University of Oxford

The Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) and the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies (OSGA), in association with St Antony’s College, seek jointly to appoint an inspirational teacher and accomplished research scholar to an Associate Professorship in Politics or International Relations with specialization in the Middle East. The post will be held in conjunction with a Governing Body Fellowship at St Antony’s College. The post-holder will have a room for teaching and research in the Department of Politics of International Relations as well as at the Middle East Centre of St Antony’s.
Closing date for applications | 8 February 2021
Further information

1.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.

Deadline for abstracts: 24 December 2020. Information: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=JsKqeAMvTUuQN7RtVsVSEPPJaGxaHCpEvDKPihpEmi1UN0I2TUxKMVNMWE04MlI5MEg5S0xOUTBEQy4u

 

 

 

 

2. ONLINE Seminar on “National and Regional Dimension of Mediterranean Studies” at the Annual Meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association, 8-11 April 2021

This seminar engages with literary texts from diverse Mediterranean literary traditions, periods, and genres in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, while being theoretically aware of their potential to challenge canonical interpretations of critical artistic, political, religious, and linguistic issues relevant to their and/or other national traditions in the region.

Information: https://mailchi.mp/mediterraneanseminar/cfp-acla-2021-national-and-regional-dimension-of-mediterranean-studies-8-11-april-2021-virtual?e=82aeb6c61d

 

 

 

 

3. ONLINE “Seminar for Arabian Studies”,  International Association for the Study of Arabia (IASA), Summer 2021 (Dates 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://www.theiasa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2021CallforPapers.pdf

 

 

 

 

4. “4^th Congress of Studies on the Middle East and Muslim Worlds”, Aix-en-Provence, 28-30 June 2021

This event is organized by GIS Moyen Orient et mondes musulmans (MOMM) in collaboration with IREMAM, IDEMEC, CHERPA, IMAF, and SEMOMM. The themes fall under anthropology, archaeology and history of art, law, economics, geography, history, islamology and religious sciences, linguistics, literature, philosophy, sociology, political science, in a global or regional perspective. As in previous years, the congress is an invitation to move beyond disciplinary and institutional compartmentalization, by bringing together contributors from diverse backgrounds, working in France and around the world.

Information: http://majlis-remomm.fr/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Appel_4e%CC%80meCongre%CC%80s_en.pdf

 

 

 

 

5. Tenure-track Assistant Professorship in History and Society in the Modern Middle East, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, Copenhagen University (UCPH), Denmark

The successful applicant is expected to teach and conduct research in the field of modern Middle Eastern history and the dynamics that characterize the developments of the regional societies. She or he must have a command of the Arabic language. Insight into classical Arabic history will be an advantage.

Deadline for applications: 20 January 2021. Information: https://employment.ku.dk/tenure-track/?show=153184

 

 

 

 

6. Visiting Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern History, History Department, Oberlin College (OH)

Requirements: PhD (in hand or expected by August 2021). The incumbent will teach courses in the general area of Middle East and North African History, including a two-semester survey sequence, one or two intermediate-level classes, and at least one advanced class in her/his area of specialization. We are particularly interested in hiring a specialist in the history of the modern Middle East.

Deadline for application: 1 February 2021. Information: https://jobs.oberlin.edu/postings/9679

 

 

 

 

7. Grant for a Visiting Research Fellowship in Omani Studies (3 Months), Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) Berlin

We are seeking an outstanding postdoctoral scholar who is engaged in projects in research fields related to Omani Studies.

Deadline for application extended to 6 January 2021. Information: https://www.zmo.de/fileadmin/Karriere/CfP_TheOmanResearchGrant_ZMO_2021.pdf

 

 

 

 

8. Articles for the “Australian Journal of Islamic Studies”

The open access, double-blind peer-reviewed journal invites original research articles, essays and book reviews related to Islamic sciences from academics in Islamic theology, philosophy, sociology, jurisprudence, contemporary studies, comparative religion, spirituality, Qur’anic and Sunnah studies, history and art.

Information: https://ajis.com.au/index.php/ajis/about

 

 

 

 

9. Articles on “Islamic Constitutions: Managing Religion and Politics” for Special Issue of Journal “Religions”

Papers are invited that examine the ways in which constitutions, constitutional articles, and the writing and abolition of constitutions manage the relationship between religion and politics. Of particular interest are papers which highlight the specific legal, social, and political consequences of how religion is altered by the state’s management of it through constitutional articles especially in Muslim-majority countries.

Deadline for submissions: 15 April 2021. Information: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/Religion_Politics

 

 

 

 

10. Chapters for Edited Volume on “Creative Processes, Patrimonial Practices: Art and Heritage in the Middle East and North Africa”

Contributors seek to examine how artists, architects, curators and digital content producers engage with various elements of aesthetic practice to produce, re-produce an challenge cultural representations and narratives. This volume analyses current artistic and heritage practices within the region, questioning the appropriateness of existing methods and providing suggestions for future research.

Deadline for abstracts: 20 January 2021. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/6974299/call-chapter-creative-processes-patrimonial-practices-art-and

 

 

 

11. ‘A cessation of plunder and piracy… for ever’: the General Maritime Treaty of 1820 and British imperialism in the Persian Gulf

The British Library

 

 

 

12. ONLINE WORKSHOP: Unspoken memories, unwritten histories: Eastern Mediterranean pluralism in oral history and memory studies (Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul)

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

A series of workshops devoted to theories and practices in academia and civil society in Turkey and beyond

Less than a hundred years ago, most Eastern Mediterranean cities were marked by a high degree of ethnic, linguistic and religious pluralism. Whereas the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of states based on modern concepts of nationhood heralded its end, some of the most important cities of the empire retained their cosmopolitan nature well until the Second World War and its aftermath. Oral histories and communicative memories of ethnoreligious groups that constituted vital parts of these cities are still living, often wound up with unhealed and suppressed traumas of displacement, ethnic cleansing and genocide. At the same time, simplified and nostalgic visions of a pluralist past are sometimes held up as role models for present-day Eastern Mediterranean societies without questioning its implications and meaning, or without regard for the challenges that they entail. Local academics and civil society organizations alike play vital roles in researching, highlighting and supporting pluralism and pluralist heritage, sometimes in defiance of nationalist historiographies and policies, sometimes supported by states and institutions that embrace pluralism.

The following series of online panels, arranged by the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul (SRII), operates at a cross-section of academic research and civil society activism. It aims to bring together young scholars of history, minorities and human rights with representatives of academia and civil society in a number of Eastern Mediterranean cities outside of Turkey. The panels will discuss what cultural pluralism meant in the past and what it means today, survey how different Eastern Mediterranean countries have struggled to either sustain or suppress cultural pluralism and pluralist heritage, and debate what academics can learn from civil society organizations and human rights discourses when they deal with the questions it brings up. The series will begin with cases of cultural loss that lie further back in the past and conclude with cases that have a bearing on the present and future. Focusing on the vision and memory of pluralism in times of globalization and homogenization the panels will use these case studies as points of departure for a wider exploration of what cultural pluralism means and why it matters, both in the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond.

The initial workshop that will launch the series, is entitled How can we talk about cultural pluralism in the Eastern Mediterranean? will take place via Zoom on January 28, 2021. The Workshop aims to create an interdisciplinary space for discussion among theoretically informed researchers and civil society actors working on memory studies and oral history in Turkey and the Eastern Mediterranean at large. We welcome young scholars and motivated graduate students in the humanities who aim to further their studies in this domain as well as workers in civil society who wish to attain a higher perspective in the state of memory studies and oral history in the region. The content of this first workshop will focus on central methodological questions in the field, such as:

– Modern and Post-modern approaches to cultural pluralism: is there a common basis of understanding?

– How have Eastern Mediterranean countries dealt with cultural pluralism in the past? How do they deal with it – and the loss of it – today?

– How should academics in the Eastern Mediterranean area approach cultural pluralism and the loss of cultural pluralism?

Speakers of the first panel, January 28 at 13:00 (UTC+3):
Asena Günal, director of Anadolu Kültür
Bülent Bilmez, professor at Bilgi University
Noémi Lévy-Aksu, Hafıza Merkezi

Following this initial virtual workshop bimensal meetings are planned that will concentrate on multicultural cities of the Eastern Mediterranean beyond Turkey, such as Thessaloniki, Alexandria and Jerusalem. The goal being to offer a critical overview of the state of memory studies and oral history in the region through panel presentations by academic and civil society professionals, followed by an informal participatory Q&A between veterans in the field and young participants interested in specializing in these domains. New CFAs will be issued for each upcoming event.

Contact Info:
Eligible for participation are advanced students with a background in Turkish, Eastern Mediterranean or Ottoman culture and history, cultural and minority studies, or political, social and Human Rights studies. They should send their CV, together with a letter of interest outlining their interest in the topic and the ways in which it connects with their own research, no later than December 31, 2020, to sriiapplication@gmail.com. Participants will be notified by January 11, 2021.

Contact Email:
sriiapplication@gmail.com
URL:
https://rem-em.com/

 

 

 

 

13. Remaking Muslim Lives

Everyday Islam in Postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina

David Henig, University of Illinois Press, 2020

https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9780252085215/remaking-muslim-lives/

 

 

 

14. The Bloomsbury Colleges group, University of London, is offering a PhD studentship for an Islamic visuality project entitled ‘Recording the invisible: Islamic architecture and its photographic archives’, beginning in the academic year 2021/22. The studentship is awarded for UK and EU citizens, and covers tuition fees (at the home fee rate) plus a stipend (the stipend rate was £17,285 per annum for 2020/21) for up to 3 years. Details are available here:  http://www.bloomsbury.ac.uk/studentships/2021/recording-the-invisible-islamic-architecture-and-its-photographic-archives

The closing date for applications is: 28 February 2021

 

1.Short Course

Decolonisation: Power, Politics, and Knowledge

12, 19, and 26 February 2021

Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations

Full info at:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/decolonisation-power-politics-and-knowledge-short-course-tickets-131444860115

 

 

 

 

2. International Conference:
Arabic Historiography,
Narratives of Order, and Discourses of Sovereignty
in late medieval Egypt and Syria
(Closing conference of the ERC project MMS-II, UGent, Belgium, 2017-21)

Cairo, November, 28-30, 2021
in cooperation with:
Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO)
American University in Cairo (AUC)
Nederlands-Vlaams Instituut in Caïro (NVIC)

Keynote speaker: Konrad Hirschler (FUBerlin)

 

The Mamlukisation of the Mamluk Sultanate-II (MMS-II): Historiography,
Political Order and State Formation in Fifteenth-Century Egypt and Syria’
(www.mms.ugent.be) (European Research Council ‘Consolidator Grant’ Project) is
a collaborative research program on fifteenth-century Arabic historiography
that runs at Ghent University (Belgium) from January 2017 to December 2021

The ERC project MMS-II invites contributions to its three-day closing
conference in Cairo (Egypt) in November 2021. We welcome papers that engage
with the rich Arabic historiographical traditions of the ‘Mamluk’ Sultanate of
Cairo (seventh/thirteenth-tenth/sixteenth centuries), and that question in
particular the complex contextual, textual or semiotic layers which connect
texts of history in diverse ways to the social, cultural and above all
political environments of their production, reception and circulation.

In November 2021 (November, 28-30) the MMS-II team will organize its closing
conference to present the main results from its research and reach out to the
wider academic community. This three-day conference will be organized in
Cairo, Egypt, to maximize the potential involvement of colleagues and students
from the MENA region. It will consist of individual paper sessions with
respondents, presentations of MMS-II research results, and a keynote. We will
work together with international academic partners in Cairo (AUC, IFAO, NVIC)
for this closing conference’s organization.
We welcome submissions of paper proposals that tackle the many contextual,
textual and semiotic dimensions of the production and construction of social
memories in the Arabic historiographical traditions of the seventh/thirteenth
to the tenth/sixteenth centuries. We particularly seek contributions that
critically engage with one or more of the following three themes:
Contexts: what are a historiographical text’s, or textual corpus’, relevant
socio-economic, cultural and political contexts, and what can be said about an
author’s positioning within these contexts, his engagement with them through
social practices such as competition and patronage, and the studied texts’
relations with these practices?
Texts: how are a historiographical text and its narratives organized and
structured; how have textual strategies such as narrative modes, time,
narrator and focalization been deployed, and to what effect; what do inter-
and para-textual relations reveal?
Meanings: what textual themes, didactic purposes and layers of meaning are
being communicated in a historiographical text, or set of texts; how does a
text, or set of texts, represent a communicative act, or even a social
performance, in complex discursive contexts of power relations; what semantic
and discursive fields is a text, or set of texts, operating in, and to what
effect?

A maximum of 18 individual paper proposals will be selected for presentation
and discussion at this 3-day conference. The conference languages will be
English and Arabic, and facilities for simultaneous translation will be
foreseen to ensure communication and discussion across linguistic barriers.
Papers (max. 8,000 words, in English or Arabic) will be pre-circulated
(deadline for draft paper submission: October, 31, 2021) and their summary
presentations at the conference (max. 15 minutes) will be followed by
responses from invited specialists as well as further discussion with other
participants. Participants are also expected to commit to revise their papers
for inclusion in a future peer-reviewed conference publication.
The MMS-II project will be able to cover most of the travel and accommodation
expenses for selected participants.

Paper proposals should include: name, short CV, paper title, related
conference theme (contexts, texts, meanings), paper abstract (max. 250 words,
briefly stating subject, rationale, methodology, main argument and/or expected
results). They should be sent to mamluk@ugent.be , before April, 1, 2021.

 

 

 

3. Islamic Interpretive Tradition and Gender Justice: Processes of Canonization Subversion and Change – Y Amin, N. Reda, eds. McGill, 2020

https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1bhg2d1?fbclid=IwAR2l9dHA96cYPF0zDpzpitfcXn2aIv7zF3WPYD_gaCZr3GSnqNRjaJoPS8k

 

 

 

 

4. Polymaths of Islam, Power and Networks of Knowledge in Central Asia – J Pickett Cornell U Press, 2020

https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9781501750243/polymaths-of-islam/

 

 

 

5. The Khalili Research Centre is offering a fully-funded graduate scholarship to study Islamic Art and Architecture at the University of Oxford from the beginning of the academic year 2021–2022. The Scholarship is awarded on the basis of academic merit and potential. It will cover full course fees, and maintenance costs equivalent to the UK national minimum doctoral stipend. It may be either for a DPhil or a combined four-year programme consisting of a Master’s course in Islamic Art and Architecture proceeding to a DPhil. The application deadline is 11 January but it is recommended to approach your potential supervisor by 22 December. For further details, please visit:  https://krc.web.ox.ac.uk/article/i.m.-pei-scholarship

 

 

 

 

6. Seeking chapters for the edited volume, Decolonizing Islamic Art in Africa.  Please submit proposals to avmiller@umich.edu by January 15, 2021.

This publication examines the status of Muslim visual and expressive cultures in the wake of decolonization in Africa.  It asks, in the years leading up to and following struggles for independence from colonial regimes across the continent, how was “Islamic art” mobilized, interpreted, transformed, or even erased in relation to projects of nation-building and in the context of new cultural and religious identities emerging across Africa and its diasporas?  It will consider the different strategies through which diverse actors–political leaders, architects, artists, museum curators, members of local religious communities, and others–approached the social and conceptual structures upheld by previous colonial regimes and explore the consequences of such processes of negotiation for the visual, spatial, and intellectual parameters framing Muslim institutions, practices, and cultural works in “postcolonial” Africa.

We also approach the topic of decolonizing Islamic art in Africa from a historiographical perspective, presenting case studies that disrupt and interrogate the colonial-era geographical and conceptual boundaries shaping the disciplines of Islamic and African art history.  In recent years, the history of Islamic art in Africa has been subject to reevaluation through critical attention to the continent’s position within global networks of trade and the subsequent influence of African actors in shaping Muslim visual and material cultures within and beyond the continent, particularly during Europe’s medieval period.  Less attention, however, has been given to the African continent’s dynamic relationship with Islam and Muslim culture during the course of the twentieth century, a period no less marked by escalating global interest in Africa’s material and cultural resources and by the active participation of Muslim Africans in new cross-regional and cross-continental religious and cultural communities.  This publication contends that attention to this longer history of African agency within a global Muslim community is crucial for speaking back to colonial frameworks that continue to distort our understanding of both “Islamic” and “African” art today.

The volume’s case studies will ideally represent a broad geographical scope and may address a range of expressive practices and objects, including architecture, landscape, urban design, painting, decorative arts, ritual objects, domestic display, music, performance, etc.  While the publication is envisioned to focus on the years directly leading up to and following African independence movements, contributions exploring the continuing “decolonization” of Muslim cultural expression in Africa and the field of art history into the twenty-first century are also welcome.

Please submit a 500-word abstract, title, and bio by January 15, 2021 to avmiller@umich.edu.  First drafts of accepted contributions due June 1, 2021.  Contributions to the volume will be approximately 6,000-8,000 words.  All essays will undergo a double-blind, peer-review process before final acceptance.

 

Ashley Miller, Ph.D.

Forsyth Postdoctoral Fellow

History of Art Department

University of Michigan

 

 

 

 

7. The 10th anniversary issue from the International Journal of Islamic Architecture is out now!

Special Issue: ‘Islamic Architecture: Reflections on the Field’

For more information about the special issue and journal, click here >> https://www.intellectbooks.com/international-journal-of-islamic-architecture

Aims & Scopes

The International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA) publishes peer-reviewed articles on the urban design, architecture and landscape architecture of 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. The main emphasis is on the detailed analysis of the historical, theoretical, and practical aspects of architecture.

 

 

 

 

8. Jafar and Shokoh Farzaneh Prize for Best Article on Persian Literature

The University of Oklahoma’s Farzaneh Family Center for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies is pleased to announce a competition for the Jafar and Shokoh Farzaneh Prize for Best Article on Persian Literature. This $2000 prize will be awarded to the best published article on any topic relating to Persian literature. The winner will also be invited to present a public lecture at the University of Oklahoma and to serve on the award selection committee for the following year. All relevant articles or book chapters published in English or Persian in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals or edited volumes between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020 are eligible for consideration.

Submissions should be emailed to Marjan Seirafi-Pour (marjan@ou.edu) by April 30, 2021. Results will be announced at the Association for Iranian Studies general meeting at the Middle East Studies Association conference in 2021.

 

[Ed note – You may have noticed that we are no longer using ‘embedly’ software to generate images from websites. We are now using WordPress’ own plug-in to do this. to process. This has resulted in some anomalies already – e.g. with Brill sites – and there may be more. I do apologise for this.]

 

1.Expectations of justice and political power in the Islamicate world (ca. 600-1500 CE) (Leiden University, October 2021)

 

Participants are asked to present a case study discussing how just rule was defined and what actions and reactions it precipitated in specific historical, geographical and cultural contexts (local, regional and imperial). How was just rule or, conversely, the abuse of political power understood and defined? What solutions were at hand to redress unjust rule or to institute just rule? Etc.

 

Deadline for abstracts: 1 March 2021. Information: https://emco.hcommons.org/events/event/799/

 

 

 

 

 

2. ONLINE: Interdisciplinary Conference on “Living in the End Times: Utopian and Dystopian Representations of Pandemics in Fiction, Film and Culture”, Cappadocia University, Turkey, 14-15 January 2021

Topics: Plague, pandemic & epidemic representations in fiction & films; Apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic/pandemic fiction; Pandemic politics & praxis; Capitalism and biopolitics; Constructions of post-pandemic worlds; Post-humanism/post-anthropocentrism and multispecies interactions: etc.

Information: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/living-in-the-end-times-utopian-and-dystopian-representations-of-pandemics-tickets-117170820077

 

 

 

 

3. Four Postdoctoral Fellowships in Middle East History, Tel Aviv University

The fellowships, $30,000 each, are available for the academic year of 2021-2022, with a possibility of a one-year renewal. Fellows will conduct their research under the supervision of a senior faculty member from Tel Aviv University.

Deadline for applications: 11 February 2021. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/6940474/postdoctoral-fellowships-2021-2022-zvi-yavetz-school-historical

 

 

 

 

4. 2021-22 Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards from the American Center for Research (ACOR), Jordan

ACOR promotes study, teaching, and increased knowledge of ancient and Middle Eastern studies with Jordan as a focus. We encourage you to share these opportunities widely with your networks.

Deadline for applications: 1 February 2021. Information: https://orcfellowships.smapply.org/

 

 

 

 

5. Articles for “Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Cultures of the Islamic World”, Vol. 39, 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.

Deadline for submissions: 1 March 2021. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/6931259/call-submissions-muqarnas-39-2022

 

 

 

 

6. Articles on “Geopolitical Shifts and Ethnic Conflicts: The Transnational Kurdish Conflict in the Contemporary Middle East” for “Special Issue of the International Journal of Conflict and Violence”

Topics include: The Kurdish conflict through the lens of the geopolitics of Kurdistan in past and present; The rise and transformation of modern Kurdish nationalism; Intra-Kurdish relations: political, military, economic, social (tribes, sects, NGOs, associations); Cross-border mobility of the Kurds: etc. Guest Editors are Gülistan Gürbey (Freie Universität Berlin) and Arzu Yilmaz (University of Hamburg)

Deadline for abstracts: 15 February 2021. Information: https://ekvv.uni-bielefeld.de/blog/ikgblog/resource/IJCV/CfP_2021-3_final.pdf

 

 

 

7. CfP : Canon and Censorship in the Islamic Intellectual and Theological History

Conference and volume

The conference welcomes papers that focuses on certain texts, ideas or individuals that were perceived by Muslim communities as canon, authorities, or constitutional ideas and texts. In order to reach broad conclusions from the various papers, we encourage case studies that cover a wide range of disciplines (Sufism, Islamic law, Islamic theology, Islamic Philosophy, hadith-studies etc.) as well as focus on texts, ideas and individuals from different regions and time periods ranging from early Islamic history to modern times. It is particularly important to highlight the plurality of Islamic intellectual and theological thought by focusing on different schools of thoughts (e.g. Sunni, Shii, Zaydi schools of thoughts and others). The conference wants to offer valuable insights into a wide variety of studies and aims for an increased exchange with other disciplines. Therefore, in addition to studies from the Islamic Intellectual and Theological History, papers from humanities and social sciences as well as historical science are welcomed. Papers from the field of Islamic manuscript studies in various regions and historical periods can also be submitted.

The following research questions shall guide the contributions: What do the concepts of ‘canon’ and ‘censorship’ mean in the context of the case study? How did the canon become authoritative? How were contradicting ideas suppressed or censored? What stages did a text or an idea pass through with regard to the reception history to become a canonical text or a constitutional idea? What scholarly community stood behind this development who has fostered and supported a certain text or idea? What other historical, social or political factors favored the dominance of certain texts, ideas or individuals over others?

Organization:

The conference will be organized and the proceedings edited by Mohammad Gharaibeh (Berlin Institute for Islamic Theology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Bacem Dziri (Institute for the Study of Islamic Culture and Religion at the Goethe University of Frankfurt) and Amir Dziri (Swiss Center for Islam and Society, University of Fribourg) in cooperation with the Academy for Islam in Research and Society (AIWG). The conference will take place in Berlin from October 8th–10th 2021. Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered. If international travelling will not be possible in Oct 2021, the conference will take place virtually. The papers will be peer reviewed and published in a collective volume.

Time Frame:

– Please submit a short academic cv and a proposal by January 15th, 2021, including the title of your contribution and an abstract of about 400 words. Please send this via mail to the address below.

– Once the paper has been accepted, you will be asked to participate in one or two preceding workshops in Berlin in which we will discuss the theoretical and methodological framework as well as your papers more detailed. If travelling will not be possible at that time, we will offer an online workshop.

– The first draft of the full article after the conference will be due January 31st 2022 (7.000–15.000 words)

For more information please contact Iman Zayat at iman.zayat@hu-berlin.de

 

 

 

 

8. Call for Papers:

Issue 31, Winter/Spring  2021  on “Media & Health”

Arab Media & Society, the biannual journal of the Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism in the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the American University in Cairo, is seeking submissions for our next issue on “Media & Health”.

A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, and following the publication of our Summer/Fall 2019 special issue on “Media & Science”, this next edition will examine broader issues relating to communication, and human health and medicine. For years, scientists sounded the alarm that the world was long overdue for the outbreak of a global pandemic, but in most cases the media and policy makers were ill-prepared for what has become the most catastrophic health crisis in a century. The pandemic has illuminated both successes and failures of our communication and media systems; expediting changes in how we use, receive, and understand information communication technology (ICT). The media has played a pivotal role in keeping the public protected and informed, but it has also been a vector for panic and misinformation. In the Arab world, health communication in general has its own sets of variables dictated by social, cultural, and religious factors, not to mention socioeconomic status and the political mechanisms governing the nations of the region. With this in mind, we are compiling a special issue dedicated entirely to “Media & Health” in the Arab region. More information is available here.

 

1.History of Istanbul : from Antiquity to the 21st century

“This website is designed for the dissemination of History of Istanbul from Antiquity to XXIst century, a work prepared by the cooperation of Türkiye Diyanet Foundation Center for Islamic Studies (İSAM) and İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Kültür ve Sanat Ürünleri A.Ş.

The Project for the preparation of the Turkish version of the work was launched in late 2012, and completed and published in 2015. The book was prepared the­matically and composed of around 355 articles written by nearly 260 scientists about different fields such as topography, architecture, religious and social life, management, economics. In this book which consists of 10 volumes, nearly 5300 pages, around 4 thousand visual materials such as maps, miniatures, engravings, paintings, and archive documents were used. The English translation of the work was completed in 2019 and not published yet. It is accessible online…”

 

 

 

 

2. New Book: Quoting the Quran: A Reference Handbook for Authors and Scholars

Saad D. Abulhab

Volume 1: Full Text of the Quran in an Early Quranic Kufic Script with and without Diacritic Vowel Marks

https://books.google.com/books/about?id=2ObxDwAAQBAJ

 

Volume 2: Full Text of the Quran in Modern Arabic with a Latin Transliteration According to the ALA-LC Romanization Standards

https://books.google.com/books/about?id=zOr4DwAAQBAJ

 

This handbook is a reference tool intended to help authors, scholars, and anyone else provide accurate and standardized quotations from the Quran, both from linguistic and historical perspectives. The first volume of the handbook includes the full text of the Quran using a font mimicking its earliest script, Mashq or Early Kufic, and it is provided in two formats, with and without diacritic vowel marks. The font used to generate the full texts in the first volume, Arabetics Mashq, was designed and implemented by the author after years of in-depth examination of the historical Quranic manuscripts, notably the copy of Muṣḥaf ʿUthmān kept today in the Topkapi Museum in Turkey. The second volume of the handbook also includes two full texts of the Quran. The full text of the first part is a complete, word-by-word Latin transliteration of the modern Arabic script full text of the Quran, using the ALA-LC Romanization Standards. The second part includes a modern Arabic script full text of the Quran, including the full set of modern Arabic diacritic vowel marks. It is generated using Arabetics Latte, a multilingual font designed and implemented by the author to emphasize simple, clear shapes, and facilitate easy reading. Letters change shapes only minimally and are designed to have a large x-height. The diacritic vowel marks are placed intentionally away from the letters for clarity. Reading the Quran in this font can be very helpful to both native and non-native Arabic readers. The full text of the Quran contained in this book is based on the Tanzil Quran text, a carefully produced, highly verified and continuously monitored text by a group of specialists at Tanzil project. Possibly, this handbook includes the first Latin transliterated copy ever of the Quran using the ALA-LC Romanization Standards. Both volumes include indexes for Quran chapters and verses and the necessary tables needed to help the readers understand the early Quranic Kufic script and the ALA-LC Romanization Standards.

 

 

 

3. Armenian School of Languages and Cultures – ASPIRANTUM is organizing Persian language summer school in Yerevan, Armenia.

The 8 weeks Persian language summer school will start on July 4, 2021 and will last till August 28, 2021. Applicants may also choose to participate in 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 weeks’ program.

 

For more details please check the following link: https://aspirantum.com/courses/persian-language-summer-school-04-july-28-august-2021-yerevan-armenia

 

 

 

4. ISLAMIC HISTORY / STUDIES

James Madison University – Tenure-Track Assistant Professor – Department of Philosophy and Religion
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=60762

Preference will be given to candidates with a Ph.D. in Religious Studies with a specialty in Islam in Africa and/or the African diaspora. Candidates with other areas of specialization in the study of Islam and A.B.D. candidates are also welcome to apply.

Application closing date: 3 January, 2021.

 

 

 

 

5. CALL FOR PAPERS 

MESA’s 55^th Annual Meeting
October 28-31, 2021 

All submissions must be made through the myMESA electronic submission system (https://mesana.org/mymesa/login.php) which opens on Friday, January 8, 2021 and closes on Thursday, February 18, 2021 at midnight Eastern Standard Time. Late submissions will not be considered.

Important Links
* Call for Papers & Submission Instructions: https://mesana.org/annual-meeting/call-for-papers

Membership is a requirement to submit a proposal. To renew your 2021 membership, login to your myMESA account. To join you will need to create an account in myMESA, complete a profile, and pay the annual dues. Contact Sara Palmer at sara@mesana.org with questions about membership. Preregistration payment is not required until May 15, after the program committee decisions are released.

Please direct questions about submissions to Kat Teghizadeh at kat@mesana.org.

 

 

 

6. Applications are invited for an Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award at the University of Cambridge, in partnership with the Everyday Muslim Heritage and Archive Initiative.

Supervisory team: Professor Esra Özyürek (Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge) and Sadiya Ahmed (Everyday Muslim Heritage and Archive Initiative)
The CDA project asks how do different generations of Muslims understand what it means to be a Muslim in the U.K.? Can we talk about a British Muslim experience? If so, at which generation does it start? What kinds of everyday religious expressions bind British Muslims with each other and make them different from non-British Muslims? What would the across the generations experiences of British Muslims tell us about the relationship between migration and localization when it comes to diverse religious communities coming together and forming a distinct minority?
The CDA student will conduct research under the supervision of Esra Özyürek, Sultan Qaboos Professor of Abrahamic Religions and Shared Values, and Sadiya Ahmed, Director and Founder of the Everyday Muslim Heritage and Archive Initiative. The student will use existing audio-visual archival material from the Everyday Muslim Project, as well as collecting new sources from three generations of Muslims from different families in the U.K. This is a unique opportunity to understand transformation in the lived experience of Islam through generations of diverse Muslim communities in the U.K. The dissertation will be an anthropological contribution to our understanding of the rich but understudied lived experience of Islam in the U.K. from a generational perspective. It will allow us to gain a diachronic perspective on the localization of religious expression in creating cultural, ethnic, and citizenship ties in contemporary U.K.
The CDA is also an opportunity to develop professional skills in collecting oral history narratives and other audio-visual and material documents for archives. Upon completion of their degree the student will both have academic qualifications and practical training in collecting and archiving oral history narratives, and other visual and material evidence that highlight an aspect of Muslim lives in the UK of their choice. Hence, the student will join the much needed but scarce ranks of qualified people who can build bridges between academia and the museum and heritage world.
The award holder will be based at the Faculty of Divinity in Cambridge, with regular periods of time spent at the Everyday Muslim Heritage and Archive Initiative offices in London. Applicants from the fields of religious studies, divinity, anthropology, sociology, history, and related disciplines are encouraged to apply.
Potential applicants are encouraged to contact Esra Özyürek: ego24@cam.ac.uk with questions and for any guidance before submitting their application. For further details on how to apply for this CDA through the University of Cambridge, please see the advert on the Cambridge jobs site.

 

 

 

 

7. Symposium on ‘Iran and Global Decolonization’
organized by the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California Los Angeles, to be held online on THURSDAY, MAY 20 and FRIDAY, MAY 21, 2021.

 

We invite submissions for a symposium on Iran and Global Decolonization, organized by the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California Los Angeles, to be held online on THURSDAY, MAY 20 and FRIDAY, MAY 21, 2021. Iranian activists, dissidents, entrepreneurs, non-state actors, diplomats, prostitutes, homeless and migrant populations engaged with and experienced colonialism and decolonization in different ways, both inside Iran and beyond its borders. The symposium invites scholars whose work investigates Iran’s experiences with colonialism and decolonization from a multiplicity of perspectives – including, but not confined to, race and ethnicity; foreign relations; intellectual history; social and economic networks; as well as cultural studies – to answer questions such as: What role did decolonization play in Iran’s interactions with the Global South? How did Iran respond to decolonization movements? What networks did Iranian women and minorities create to confront their experiences of dispossession reinforced by colonialism or decolonization? How did Islam and secular ideologies help proponents of decolonization movements to articulate their struggles?

In the decades after the Second World War, dozens of countries around the world achieved independence from colonial rule, including Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Kuwait (among others) in Asia and Senegal, Kenya, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Sudan and Angola (among others) in Africa. Similar processes had taken place earlier in the Americas. This period of rapid decolonization after WWII fundamentally changed the dynamics of global politics. Between 1946 and 1970, membership of the United Nations increased from 35 to 127 nations, and the organization became a forum in which these newly independent states could argue for the continuation of decolonization and the recognition of national rights.

From the 1950s onwards, and with increased urgency in the 1970s, Iran sought to establish close political relationships with the newly independent countries in the Global South. Iran presented itself as a powerful, wealthy, and like-minded ally – an alternative to the colonial powers of Europe. Though it was never formally colonized, Iran had, from the early nineteenth century, suffered repeated violations of its sovereignty at the hands of the Russians and British. This shared experience of imperialism allowed Iran to present itself as inherently sympathetic to the formerly colonized states of Africa, Asia and the Americas despite its imperial self-image and impulses.

In the same period, anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist movements around the world had a profound impact on intellectual thought inside Iran. The rising influence of the United States in the Middle East gave voice to new anti-imperialist currents in Iran that prompted intellectuals simultaneously to call for civil liberties, social justice and democracy.

We hope this symposium will show the necessity of studying Iran’s experiences with colonialism and decolonization in a global framework in an effort to broaden conversations around these subjects and to expose the complex networks that Iran created and shared with (de)colonized communities.

 

Abstracts of no more than 500 words should be emailed to: iranglobaldecolonization@gmail.com no later than Friday 15 January 2021.

 

 

 

8. ‘Building a Library: The Arabic and Persian Manuscript Collection of Sir William Jones’,

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/abs/building-a-library-the-arabic-and-persian-manuscript-collection-of-sir-william-jones/C27FD97B5285861ECF7CD06516DF2A1D

 

1.ONLINE Workshop: “Environmental History of the Ottoman Empire”, Orient-Institut Beirut, 10-11 December 2020

Organised by Fatih Ermiş, the workshop is open to all researchers who show interest in the Ottoman environmental history and to all subfields of the Ottoman studies, especially historians, geographers, theologians, natural scientists, sociologists, political scientists, botanists and zoologists.

Information, program and registration: https://www.orient-institut.org/events/event-details/environmental-history-of-the-ottoman-empire

 

 

 

 

2. ONLINE Conference: “Iran and Global Decolonization”, University of Pennsylvania and University of California Los Angeles, 20-21 May 2021

The symposium invites scholars whose work investigates Iran’s experiences with colonialism and decolonization from a multiplicity of perspectives – including race and ethnicity; foreign relations; intellectual history; social and economic networks; as well as cultural studies – to answer questions such as: What role did decolonization play in Iran’s interactions with the Global South? How did Iran respond to decolonization movements? Etc.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 January 2021. Information: https://mesana.org/resources-and-opportunities/2020/11/30/iran-and-global-decolonization-call-for-papers

 

 

 

 

3. Two-Year Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo

The postdoctoral position will be associated with the Work Package on Middle Eastern futurisms (such as Gulf, Arab, Iranian, Turkish). The Postdoctoral Fellow (PD) can hold a PhD in any relevant arts and humanities or social science discipline (including artistic research), and they can conduct research on any kind of media, including film, visual arts, literature, video games, as long as these can be considered a part of Middle Eastern futurisms.

Deadline for applications: 1 February 2021. Information: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/195901/postdoctoral-research-fellowship-at-the-department-of-culture-studies-and-oriental-languages

 

 

 

 

4. Azar Hatefi Graduate Student Fellowship in Iranian Diaspora Studies, San Francisco State University

The scholarship supports original and significant research about the Iranian Diaspora that crosses disciplinary, regional, or cultural boundaries. Award is contingent upon the candidate’s acceptance into a graduate program at SFSU. This $10,000/year award (with possibility for 2nd year renewal) may be used for expenses connected with research, course work, travel, data work/collection, and supplies.

Deadline for applications: 3 January 2021. Information: https://sfsu.academicworks.com/opportunities/11729

 

 

 

 

5. ONLINE Course: “Muslims in the UK”, Aga Khan University, London, 12, 19, and 26 January, 2 February 2021, 9:30-11:30 am GMT

This course will address, among other things, the history and diversity of Muslims in the UK, the discussion about integration, radicalisation, securitisation, gender and Sharia. The aim is to give participants an in-depth introduction and tools to critically understand discussions about Muslims.

Information, program and registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/muslims-in-the-uk-short-course-tickets-129491874683

 

 

 

 

6. Articles on “Contesting Boundaries and Producing the Norm: Gender-related Issues in Islamic Theory and Practice” for Special Issue of “Islamology – Journal for Studies of Islam and Muslim Societies”

Major social, economic, political transformations of the last decades have strongly affected both Muslim majority and Muslim minority countries, bringing issues related to gender and sexuality to the forefront. These transformations that have fundamentally altered the previously dominant role division between men and women.

Deadline for abstracts: 1 February 2021. Information: http://islamology.in/journal/announcement/view/20?fbclid=IwAR0K9JyCZYR5c76Tn4cjbOuRGqfhoubwwfKVIJTG3DkjW6PpvYpoRjU31cg

 

 

 

7. The Mediterranean Syllabi Index

This is an open-access resource for instructors developing or teaching undergraduate and graduate courses relating to Mediterranean Studies topics in disciplines including History, Art History, Material Culture, Archaeology, Literature and Language, Music, Culture and the Social Sciences. from Antiquity to the present.

Information: http://www.mediterraneanseminar.org/syllabus

 

 

 

 

8. Job vacancy: fully-funded Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in late antique and/or medieval Greek and Near Eastern narrative (2 years) at Ghent University (Belgium)

The Department of Literary Studies at Ghent University (Belgium) is seeking well-qualified applicants for a fully-funded and full-time postdoctoral research fellowship in the European Research Council Consolidator Grant project Novel Echoes. Ancient novelistic receptions and concepts of fiction in late antique and medieval secular narrative from East to West (for an abstract, see https://www.novelsaints.ugent.be/about/projects). Its Principal Investigator is Prof Dr Koen De Temmerman, who specializes in ancient fiction and its reception. See here for the full announcement.

deadline: 5 January 2021

 

 

 

9. The master’s program Cultural Studies of the Middle East, jointly hosted by the Universities of Bamberg and Erlangen, invites applications for the Visiting Professorship 2021-22

The deadline to apply is January 07, 2021.