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Shii News – Academic Items

1. ‘”Political jurisprudence” in HTS, IS and Al-Qaeda texts: competing visions of Islamic government’

J S Islam, M S Siyech,

Politics, Religion and Ideology, 2025 (26/4)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21567689.2025.2606088

2. Online BRISMES event

What’s in an Archive? The Colonial and Anticolonial Afterlives of MENA Archives

Tuesday, 27 January 2026, 3-4:30pm (GMT)

Info and registration:

https://www.brismes.ac.uk/events/outreach-and-pedagogy/mena-archives

3. Imagining the Lūṭīand the people of Lūṭ

Jonny Lawrence
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 35 / Issue 4, October 2025, pp 985 – 1009
doi: 10.1017/S1356186325101089 Published Online on 14 November 2025

4. Spring 2026 funding: Laura Bassi Scholarship
The Laura Bassi Scholarship was established in 2018 with the aim of providing editorial assistance to postgraduates and junior academics whose research focuses on neglected topics of study, broadly construed. The scholarships are open to every discipline and the next round of funding will be awarded in Spring 2026
Spring 2026
Application deadline: 8 March 2026
Results: 20 March 2026

All currently enrolled master’s and doctoral candidates are eligible to apply, as are academics in the first five years of full-time employment. Applicants are required to submit a completed application form along with their CV through the application portal by the relevant deadline. Further details, including previous winners, and the application portal can be found at: https://editing.press/bassi

5. Companions of the Sun:
History and Mystery of Iranian Sacred Dance, Music, and Ritual
By Farima Berenji, PhD
ISBN: 978-1-963433-08-1
Sacred Dance/ Iranian/Persian | Paperback
Paper: 420 pages, 6 X 9, $29.95

See http://farimadance.com/companions-of-the-sun

6. Khamseen 2026 Graduate Student Presentation Award

Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online offers talks and other resources to support teaching, learning, and research in Islamic art, architecture, visual culture, and related fields. Since the website’s launch in Fall 2020, new contributions by scholars in the field have grown our catalogue.

Khamseen‘s Graduate Student Presentation Award enables graduate students to feature their expertise and contribute a talk to Khamseen. This year, graduate students may partner with a mentor to collaborate on a presentation.

For this year’s Khamseen Graduate Student Presentation Award, we thus invite:

PhD candidates (ABD) to submit a script of ca. 1,500 words and accompanying Powerpoint slides for a Topic presentation.

A team consisting of a PhD student and a mentor (professor, curator, librarian, or more senior colleague) to submit a script of ca. 1,500 words and accompanying Powerpoint slides for a Topic, Term, or Hands-On presentation.

The award recipient(s) will work with our team to revise and then produce their presentation, and they also will receive a prize of $500 upon their talk’s launch on the Khamseen website.

Submission Guidelines:

Applications due: April 13, 2026

Notification of decisions: June 1, 2026

Eligibility:

PhD candidates (ABD) and advanced PhD students in their third year or above (for doctoral programs without candidacy) enrolled in a degree-granting program in Islamic art and allied fields. If submitting a collaborative presentation with a mentor, graduate students should be enrolled in a PhD program. We do not accept applications from undergraduate and Masters students.

Application Procedures:

Candidates should submit a polished script of ca. 1,500 words and accompanying Powerpoint slides for a Topic talk or, if in collaboration with a mentor, a Topic, Term, or Hands-On presentation following Khamseen‘s Guidelines. Additionally, applications should include a 3-5 sentence synopsis of the Topic or Hands-On presentation (note: this is not necessary if submitting a Term presentation), a 2-page CV, and a note of support from an advisor (e.g., a dissertation committee member) if the talk is submitted solely by a PhD candidate.

Please submit materials to TeamKhamseen@umich.edu; notes of support by advisors and queries by candidates also should be sent to TeamKhamseen@umich.edu.

URL

https://asia.si.edu/research/publications/seto-and-mino-ceramics-2026/

7. CFP: Ephemera & Place in the Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern Worlds

Graduate Conference at Yale University

Department of History of Art

Friday, April 17, 2026

Co-organizers: Blair Betik and Nicole Boyd, Ph.D. Candidates

Keynote Speaker: Professor Abhishek Singh Amar (Hamilton College)

Artists and architects of the ancient, medieval, and early modern worlds worked in anticipation of human action. Altars in Greco-Roman sanctuaries; frescoes in Renaissance villas; screen paintings in East Asian court complexes; and figurines in Mesoamerican tombs were all designed to enrich, animate, and accommodate an assortment of activities, including religious rituals, theatrical performances, diplomatic gatherings, and celebrations. Though these fleeting phenomena are known to art historians thanks to textual, visual, and material evidence, they test the limits of art historical inquiry, which has traditionally prioritized what is enduring, complete, and visible.
Ephemera & Place will bring together graduate students to explore how built spaces and site-specific artworks dating up to the year 1700 shaped and were shaped by ephemeral events. Recent scholarship has emphasized the “global” diffusion and transformation of artistic objects, techniques, forms, and subjects. This conference instead foregrounds the dynamic tensions which emerged in particular places across geographies in the pre-modern world as art and activity converged.

The event invites papers by graduate students across institutions and disciplines which consider:

Methodologies for studying and representing ephemeral events in situ.
The traces left on artistic and architectural programs by impermanent events.
The way pre-modern art or architecture was designed with specific events in mind.
How the experience of pre-existing art and architecture shaped rituals and events.

To submit: please send a brief abstract (around 300 words), a CV, and a short biographical statement to ephemera.place2026@gmail.com by February 1, 2026
Important Dates:

February 1, 2026 → *new deadline to submit
Early February, 2026 → *notification of acceptance
April 17, 2026 → date of conference

8. Online Roundtable – Healthcare Architecture in Islamic Traditions/Translations – 7 March 2026

Please join the 2026 International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA) Dialogues online roundtable on the theme “Healthcare Architecture in Islamic Traditions/Translations,” taking place on 7 March 2026.

This annual Dialogues session explores how Islamic societies have shaped health-conscious architecture, from traditional practices to responses to epidemics and pandemics. Cansu Değirmencioğlu, Sara Honarmand Ebrahimi, and Kamyar Salavati will join IJIA Assistant Editor Deniz Avci for a discussion on culturally responsive approaches to healthcare design across hospitals, domestic spaces, and urban environments.

Join us for an interdisciplinary conversation on architecture, health, hygiene, and care in Islamic contexts.

7 March 2026 | 15:00–16:30 GMT / 6:00–7:30 Pacific / 9:00–10:30 Eastern

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83691919135?pwd=nNd8AKf7uZvzV3MKBezfZrvzNvevXD.1

URL

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83691919135?pwd=nNd8AKf7uZvzV3MKBezfZrvzNvevXD.1

9. Rørbye & Bindesbøll.
The Journey to Constantinople

David Collection, Copenhagen, Denmark
5 February 2026 – 23 August 2026
In December 1835, the steamship Levant cuts through cold winter winds as two Danish artists stand on deck, gazing toward the horizon. Ahead lies Constantinople: the great metropolis situated between East and West. For the painter Martinus Rørbye (1803–48) and the architect Gottlieb Bindesbøll (1800–56), their encounter with the city would mark a decisive turning point.
Two Artists Abroad
Rørbye and Bindesbøll crossed paths in Italy in the mid-1830s during their prolonged study tours abroad. After a stay in Naples, they decided to continue travelling together to Greece, which had recently gained independence from Ottoman control. From there, they were unexpectedly given the opportunity to travel on to Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire – an unusual destination for two Danish artists at the time.
They arrived in Constantinople (today Istanbul) in December 1835 and stayed for six weeks, producing a remarkable number of sketches. Rørbye focused on the life of the city: coffee houses, public fountains, and the crowds around the great mosques. Bindesbøll, by contrast, concentrated on architecture – its ornamentation, colours, and structures – often depicted in precise details rather than monumental overviews. On 1 February 1836, they left the city.
The journey to Constantinople proved transformative. Rørbye returned home and created a series of Orientalist paintings that quickly gained him recognition. For Bindesbøll, the impact of the journey was subtler, yet deeply embedded in his architectural work. His encounter with Ottoman ornamentation and polychromy played a significant role in shaping his highly personal style, most notably in Thorvaldsen’s Museum.
The Exhibition
With Rørbye & Bindesbøll. The Journey to Constantinople, the David Collection invites visitors to embark on this shared journey. The exhibition focuses on the stay in Constantinople as a clearly defined yet pivotal chapter in both artists’ careers.
Through travel sketches and a selection of later paintings, the exhibition traces the course of the journey and the motifs that preoccupied the artists. The exhibition combines a partly chronological structure with thematic sections, and reveals how experiences from the journey were processed and transformed after their return to Denmark. At the same time, it tells a broader story about artistic inspiration and about how shared experiences and mutual observation can shape very different artistic expressions.
Works and Publication
The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see works that have never been shown in combination, including several of Bindesbøll’s sketches that are exhibited for the first time. Loans have been secured from some of the country’s most important museums and institutions, as well as from private collections.
In connection with the exhibition, a richly illustrated book will be published in collaboration with Strandberg Publishing, featuring contributions by Mogens Pelt, Peter Thule Kristensen, Jesper Svenningsen, Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen, and Anette Lindbøg Karlsen. In the event program David’s Bazaar, visitors can also learn more about both the exhibition and present-day Turkey.
Dates: 5 February – 23 August 2026
For press images and further information:
m.vindahl@davidmus.dk

10. Lecture – “Framing Time and Space in Transcultural Dialogue: The Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh and the ‘Pictorial Turn’ in Ilkhanid Mongol Book Art,” Xinyu Liang, Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series, January 27

The first talk for the Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series spring 2026 semester will take place on Tuesday, January 27, at 12:00 New York / 17:00 London / 20:00 Istanbul.
Xinyu Liang (Metropolitan Museum of Art) will present “Framing Time and Space in Transcultural Dialogue: The Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh and the ‘Pictorial Turn’ in Ilkhanid Mongol Book Art.”

To attend, please register in advance here: https://wellesley.zoom.us/meeting/register/wo1hZhtqTDybICFJVwHpqA

Upon registration, you’ll receive the link to access the lecture.

As always, you can find a full schedule of upcoming talks and register for our list-serv on our website at viahss.org. Although not every talk is recorded, we also have recordings of several recent talks available on the VIAHSS Vimeo page at vimeo.com/viahss. Lastly, you can follow us on Instagram at @theviahss to stay up to date on upcoming events!

Contact Information

Drs. Alexander Brey, Jaimee Comstock-Skipp, and Rachel Winter

Contact Email

winterr6@msu.edu

URL

http://viahss.org

11. Arabic Seminars with Kevin Blankinship 1/29 on al-Maʿarrī’s Fables

Please find below information regarding our first meeting of the semester with Professor Kevin Blankinship (Brigham Young University) next Thursday (1/29) at 7pm EST in Faculty House. The talk is titled: “The Serpent and the Fox, and the Bird in the Jar: Two Eye-Popping Fables by al-Maʿarrī.”

Please note that due to new regulations, non CUID holders will not be allowed into Faculty House without prior notice. If you intend to be present in-person and do not have a Columbia ID, please RSVP ASAP by responding to this message. If we don’t receive your RSVP we will not be able to let you in. You should receive a QR code before Wednesday morning–if not, please reply to this message. The talk will be live streamed here on ZOOM for guests who can’t make it in person.

We will begin at 7:00 pm. If you would like to join the speaker for dinner at 6:00 pm at Faculty House please RSVP to the seminar’s rapporteur (rma2152@columbia.edu). The cost of dinners is $30, payable via card or check.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SEMINAR IN ARABIC STUDIES

The Serpent and the Fox, and the Bird in the Jar: Two Eye-Popping Fables by al-Maʿarrī

Thursday, January 29, 2026

7 pm EST at Faculty House

Kevin Blankinship

12. Opportunity: Library of Congress Asian Division – Librarian In Residence 2026

We have an open call for a short-term Librarian-in-Residence (LIR) with a specific focus on community engagement utilizing the Asian collections: https://www.loc.gov/item/internships/librarian-in-residence/. This is one of seven LIR positions this year, and these are designed for students who earned or will complete their Master’s degree in library and information science from an ALA-accredited program between December 1, 2024 and June 13, 2026. The Asian Division project is the following:

4. Community Engagement: Researcher and Collections Services/General and International Collections Directorate/Asian Division. The Librarian-in-Residence (LIR) in the Asian Division (AD) will assist with AD’s initiative to engage new, younger, and online audiences, including students and young professionals. AD has traditionally excelled in serving established researchers such as doctoral students, faculty, and scholars at domestic and international institutions. An LIR position focusing on community engagement will help the division broaden its user base by identifying potential new segments and developing targeted outreach strategies to amplify awareness among younger audiences. Working closely with AD librarians and specialists, the LIR will identify content likely to appeal to younger users and will compile LibGuides as the go-to venue for connecting with and serving them. The LIR will also collaborate with the Informal Learning Center and the Office of Communications to determine effective channels and platforms for outreach. Strengthening AD’s social media presence will be another key responsibility, including creating content that resonates with target audiences. The LIR will participate in staff meetings, briefings, and tours; interact with researchers, patrons, and event attendees; and gather insights and feedback to guide the design and content of orientations and instructions. The LIR may also contribute posts to the 4 Corners of the World blog. This project strongly supports the General and International Collections Directorate’s performance goal to increase users’ engagement with services and expertise. It further complements the Researcher Experience Initiative by offering a model for language-based collections. The focus on Asian-language content may serve as a framework adaptable to other collections broadly. Candidates should be able to read in one of these languages: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, South Asian languages (examples: Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Sanskrit, Urdu), Southeast Asian languages (examples: Balinese, Burmese, Indonesian, Javanese, Khmer, Lao, Malay, Tagalog, Thai, Tetum, Vietnamese); Tibetan; Mongolian.

See the link above for more information, including information sessions on Friday January 16 at 12pm Eastern; Wednesday January 21 at 4pm Eastern; and Monday February 2 at 12pm Eastern. Note that the deadline is February 13, 2026. Please feel welcome to reach out to librarians-in-residence@loc.gov with questions, too.

All best,

Charlotte Giles, PhD

South Asia Specialist, Asian Division

Library of Congress

chgi@loc.gov

13. ONLINE Lecture “Erased in Solidarity: Middle Eastern Women and the US Progressive Imaginary” by Dr. Esha Momeni, Middle East Librarians Association (MELA), District of Columbia, 28 January 2026, 18:00 – 19:00 CET

The scholar will discuss how Middle Eastern women’s experiences and political demands are sys-tematically erased within contemporary US progressive discourse on recent Middle Eastern conflicts. Drawing on two decades of navigating US academia as a Middle Eastern woman and child of war, Dr. Momeni examines progressive responses to the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in Iran and the war on Gaza, demonstrating how gender and class analyses are conspicuously absent from these conversations.

Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/u46vb699

14. ONLINE Seminar “The Color Black: Enslavement and Erasure in Iran” by Beeta Baghoolizadeh (Middle East Institute, Columbia University), University of Turin, 29 January 2026, 17:00 CET

This is part of the Seminar Series “Histories Across the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf”

Information and registration: https://zenodo.org/records/18173844

15. HYBRID Book Talk “Borícua Muslims: Everyday Cosmopolitanism among Puerto Rican Converts to Islam” by Ken Chitwood (University of Bayreuth), Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies, 2 February 2026, 16:15 – 17:45 CET

Drawing on years of ethnographic research and more than a hundred interviews, Ken Chitwood tells the story of Puerto Rican Muslims as they construct a shared sense of peoplehood through everyday practices. Borícua Muslims thus provides a study of cosmopolitanism as a reality that complicates scholarly and public conversations about race, ethnicity, and religion in the Americas. Expanding the geography of global Islam, Borícua Muslims is an insightful reckoning with the manifold entangle-ments of identity amid late-modern globalization.

Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/3pj8m8wy

16. ONLINE “Networking Meeting for Early Career Scholars in Middle East Studies”, Organised by the “German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO)”, 9 February 2026, 12:00 CET

The meeting offers an opportunity to connect with peers, share research ideas, and collaboratively shape the program of the Werkstattgespräche at this year’s DAVO Congress in Munich (September 2026). Your perspectives and contributions are essential: Together, we aim to create a productive forum where you can receive valuable feedback, refine your research, and advance your academic career. The meeting also provides a chance to familiarize yourself with the German academic land-scape and expand your professional network.

Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/23f6kmcz

17. New Date of the “Congress of the German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO)”, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, 10-12 September 2026

After members’ feedback that the Oktoberfest begins shortly after the originally planned date, making hotel accommodation scarce and expensive, we have decided – together with the local organisers – to bring the DAVO Congress forward by one week. .

Information: https://tinyurl.com/37ycykmr

18. Workshop “Wine in the Middle East and North Africa: Images, Places, Markets, and Brands of a Contested Commodity”, Organised by Steffen Wippel, Freie Universität Berlin, 15-17 March 2027

The workshop aims to better address the still insufficient state of research by studying the Middle Eastern world of wines and vines, both past and present. A decisive theme of the workshop is to consider the region- and country-specific socio-cultural and political contexts and conditions that are usually given little consideration in wine studies. These contexts and conditions can impede the cul-tivation, trade, and consumption of wine, resulting in practices of dissimulation and invisibilisation.

Deadline for abstracts: 30 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/8r6ck9bt

19. Postdoctoral Fellowship (1 Year) on the Impact of U.S. Economic and Financial Policies on the Southwest Asia and North Africa Region, American University of Beirut

Eligible candidates should hold a PhD in Economics or a closely related field. The fellowship is aimed at researchers with a background in macroeconomics, international trade, finance, or development economics. Applicants should not have held, nor currently hold, a professorial position at another institution.

Deadline for applications: 1 February 2026. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/178844

20. Postdoctoral / Post-professional Fellowship (10 Months) for Research in Islamic Art, Architecture,

Urbanism, Design and Preservation at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The program is open to scholars with a Ph.D. and practitioners in any field related to architecture with at least three years of experience. Relevant fields include the history of art, architecture, landscape, and urbanism; as well as contemporary art, design, landscape, heritage studies, urban planning, anthropology, and archaeology.

Deadline for applications: 31 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yrzpwtj6

21. Financial Support for the Presentation of Research and Recommendations that Facilitate Policy-making in the Euro-Mediterranean Region by the “Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF)”

The Programme seeks to enhance the capacity of academic institutions to translate knowledge into visible, rigorous and actionable policies and practices that benefit civil society and tackle pressing challenges. Selected authors will receive a lump sum of 700 euro net for the production of a Brief and up to 500 euro net for the organisation of a dissemination event in their community of practice (“Academic Dialogue”) to foster peer discussions, intergenerational exchange, and visibility of their research.

Deadline for applications: 23 February 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/p3jbe945

22. Summer School “Critical Muslim Studies: Decolonial Struggles and Liberation Theologies”, Granada, Spain, 15-20 June 2026

We will have a dynamic faculty team for the 2026 program, bringing together diverse perspectives and approaches within Critical Muslim Studies – including Decolonial thought, Muslim women’s lib-eration perspectives, Islamic theology of liberation, and traditional Islamic scholarship.

Deadline for applications: 1 February 2026. Information: https://www.dialogoglobal.com/granada/

Posted in: Academic items

January 24, 2026
by Andrew Newman
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Shii News – Academic Items

1. CfP: Subalterns in the Persianate world in the Zand and Qajar periods

3^nd workshop: RECOVERING ‘LOST VOICES’:

THE ROLE AND DEPICTION OF IRANIAN/PERSIANATE SUBALTERNS FROM THE 13TH CENTURY TO THE MODERN PERIOD

A multi-year research project funded by the British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS).

The third workshop on subalterns across the entire Persianate world in the Zand and Qajar periods will be held at the University of Edinburgh, UK, on 27-29 October, 2026.

Papers from PhD students, ECRs and unaffiliated scholars – for whom limited financial support may be available – are encouraged.

Shii News – Academic Items

1. Della Valle’s Travels Through Persia, 1617-1622, Translated by Willem Floor

https://mage.com/travels-in-persia-1617-1622-by-pietro-della-valle/

2. The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies invites submissions of interest for our upcoming conference‘War, Empire, and Sabotage in an Age of Genocide,’ co-hosted with the SOAS Middle East Institute. The conference will take place at SOAS University of London on 23-25 June 2026.

The submission deadline is next Sunday, 18 January 2026 at midnight (UK time).

In addition to submissions aligned with the conference theme, we welcome papers on a broad range of topics related to Middle East Studies. Relevant fields include, but are not limited to, politics, culture & society, literature, anthropology, economics, history, linguistics, and translation studies, with a focus on the MENA region. We welcome proposals for Panels, Roundtables, Individual/Co-authored Papers, and Creative Interventions.

https://www.brismes.ac.uk/conference/about-the-conference/conference-theme

3. Advanced Persian through History of Art Texts

About the course:
This 12-week advanced Persian course strengthens students’ ability to read and analyze sophisticated Persian prose through foundational texts on the history, theory, and practice of Iranian art. Focusing on Persian treatises and art-related writings—such as manuals of calligraphy and painting, artists’ biographies (tazkiras), architectural descriptions, and courtly reflections on aesthetics—the course trains students to engage directly with technical vocabulary, stylistic conventions, and evaluative discourse in art history. Emphasis is placed on close reading, genre awareness, and contextual interpretation. The course is especially beneficial for advanced Persian learners, graduate students, and scholars of art history, Islamic art, Iranian studies, and manuscript culture who seek direct access to Persian art discourse in original sources.

Course Details:

Schedule: Fridays, 30 January 2026 – 10 April 2026

Time: 09:00–10:00 AM (US Pacific), 12:00–13:00 (US Eastern), 06:00–07:00 PM (Central European)

Format: 24 online sessions

Class days and times may be adjusted in accordance with the request of enrollees.

Registered participants will receive full access to recorded session videos and all course materials.

Contact Email

admin@ghandeparsi.com

URL

https://www.ghandeparsi.com/winterschool/arttexts

4. The American Center of Research in Amman Archaeological Ceramics Courses, Summer 2026
The American Center of Research is pleased to announce two new courses for 2026, taught by Assistant Professor Sarah Wenner:

* Introduction to Classical Period Ceramics of Southern Jordan and Northern Saudi Arabia: Introductory

* Introduction to Classical Period Ceramics of Southern Jordan and Northern Saudi Arabia: Advanced.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: March 15, 2026.

For further information, please visit the course webpage:

https://acorjordan.org/ceramics-field-schools-2026/

5. Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships at the Orient Institut Beirut (OIB)

https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20137284/doctoral-and-postdoctoral-fellowships-orient-institut-beirut-oib

6. Between Veil and Vanguard: Ideological Battles over Afghan Femininity

Sayed Hassan Akhlaq
Review of Middle East Studies, Volume 59 / Issue 2, December 2025, pp 55 – 67

7. MESA 2026 Call for Papers Opens

https://mesana.org/annual-meeting/call-for-papers

Deadline for abstracts: 17 February 2026.

8. ONLINE Webinar Series “Empowering Muslim Women in Scientific Research” on “Gender Attitudes and Trends over the Last Decade: Examining Female Labor Force Participation” by Prof. Amaney Jamal (Princeton), University of Manchester & University of Sharjah, 28 January 2026, 14:00 – 15:30 CET

Female labour force participation in MENA has been and continues to be quite low when com-pared cross-nationally. Using data from the Arab Barometer, this presentation will examine ap-proximately 20 years of data capturing societal attitudes from across MENA on female employ-ment and empowerment. What progress has and has not been made over the last two decades?

Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/mr2tsm6f

9. HYBRID Book Launch: “The Ascetic Qur’an and Its Kharijite Readers” by Nora K. Schmid (University of Tübingen), January 29, 2026, 15:00 – 17:00 CET

This book reframes Islamic asceticism away from premodern zuhd literature to the ascetic dimen-sion of the Qur’an and its Kharijite reception. Situating the asceticism of the Qur’an in late antiq-uity, it shows how interiorizing and enacting scripture shaped early Islamic culture. Respondents are Sean Anthony, Adam Gaiser, and Sebastian Guenther.

Information and registration: https://www.qasla.eu/book-launch-nora-schmid

10. European Workshops in International Studies (EWIS): “Diaspora Diplomacy Reconsidered: Mapping Possible Futures” (Focus MENA Countries), Izmir University of Economics, 1-3 July 2026

This workshop engages with the concept and practice of “diaspora diplomacy”, exploring how diasporas develop their own diplomacies and participate in a wider geopolitical worldmaking be-yond the state, and considering the geographies of their diplomatic practices. From state-led efforts to mobilise migrants as cultural ambassadors, to transnational diaspora political participation, “diaspora diplomacy” operates in spaces where international relations and everyday life intersect.

Deadline for abstracts: 11 February 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yc42pnsvv

11. PhD Thesis Prize of the British Association of Islamic Studies (BRAIS) on the Study of Islam and the Muslim World

This international prize is awarded annually to an outstanding doctoral thesis. English-language submissions on any aspect of the academic study of Islam and the Muslim world, past and pre-sent, including Muslim-minority societies are accepted. Applicants can be based in any country.

Deadline for applications: 30 January 2026. Information: https://www.brais.ac.uk/prize

12. International Summer Academy: “Chagatai Manuscript Reading Course”, University of Münster, 29 June – 3 July 2026

The course aims to provide the participants with advanced knowledge of one of the central lan-guages of the Islamic world through the study of primary texts. Chagatai is not only one of the most important Turkic languages but also an essential source and literary language for studying

the history of Central Asia, Afghanistan and Northwestern China. However, due to the disciplinary division of this area between Slavic Studies, Sinology, Turkic, Islamic and Iranian Studies, Cha-gatai is rarely taught.

Deadline for applications: 13 February 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4kvdzbvn

13. ONLINE “Politics Beyond Politics” in the Journal “Middle East Bulletin – A Greek Review of Middle Eastern Affair”, Vol. 47, January 2026, 51 Pages

Articles: The Politics of Turkish drama series. – Growth in a Desert of Censorship? Cinema in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran. – Tourism as a Political Instrument in the Contemporary Middle East: The Cases of Israel, Turkey, Egypt and Dubai. – The use of social media during Israel-Palestinian & Iranian-Israeli conflicts. – Israeli Universities and Academic Boycott: The limits of neutrality. – Etc.

Table of content and direct access to the text: https://tinyurl.com/44zuadbm

Posted in: Academic items

January 17, 2026
by Andrew Newman
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Shii News – Academic Items

1.Guerre et paix en islam de David Cumin

David Cumin : Guerre et paix en islam, géopolitique et polémologie des régions et des pays du monde musulman (XXe-XXIe siècles)

Tome 1 : Approche globale (268 pages – isbn: 9791093817149)

Tome 2 : Approche aréale (606 pages – isbn 9791093817156)

Ouvrage disponible – profitez du tarif de souscription jusqu’au 20 janvier 2026

https://editionsguilhem.com/catalogue/344977-Societe

2. Tuḥfat al-Mulūk fī al-Taʿbīr

Editors: Lina Jammal, Bilal Orfali

AUB Press, 2026

One of the earliest known Arabic works on dream interpretation, attributed to the Sistani ruler Abū Aḥmad Khalaf bin Aḥmad al-Sijistānī (d. 399/1009).

https://aub.edu.lb/aubpress/Pages/Tuhfat_al-Muluk.aspx

3. The Turn to the Environmentالاتجاه نحو المحيط

AUB Press, 2026

During the late 1980s, the artist Hanaa Malallah (b. Baghdad, 1958) made frequent visits to the Iraq Museum, sketching archaeological artifacts in an attempt to grasp the temporality by which they could at once belong to the past and yet exist in the present. In the wake of the Gulf war in 1991, when the museum was closed and sanctions isolated Iraq from the outside world, Malallah shifted her attention from the museum to its surrounding environment, and she began to explore the city of Baghdad as a field of traces with a temporal structure like that of the archaeological artifact. This research resulted in a distinctive manner of constructing her panels—using found materials to build patterns that seem to encode some indecipherable meaning but only communicate the meaning of time itself—and it set her on a path of further research that moved increasingly in the direction of semiotics and logic.

Malallah conceptualized this turn to the environment in dozens of short texts that she published in newspapers in Baghdad and London over the 1990s. This book gathers that body of art theory not only to provide insight into the evolution of Malallah’s practice, in its taking up a question first posed by Jewad Selim and renewed by Shakir Hassan Al Saʿid, of the relationship between the modern artwork and the historical artifact, but also to open a window into the practice of art in Iraq during a decade of intellectual isolation and material deprivation

https://aub.edu.lb/aubpress/Pages/turn-to-the-environment.aspx

4. Zahra Institute: Spring 2026 Kurdish Studies Courses & Speaker Series

Register Now for Spring 2026 Courses

Zahra Institute is pleased to offer M.A. and Certificate programs in Kurdish Studies and Critical Muslim Studies. All courses are also available as standalone options for those seeking focused academic enrichment.

Our Spring 2026 courses include Kurdish Media, Approaches to Kurdish Studies, and language courses in Kurmanji.To register, contact:
admissions@zahrainstitute.org

2026 Spring Speaker Series Begins February 11

We are delighted to announce the launch of Zahra Institute’s 2026 Spring Speaker Series on February 11. This semester’s lineup brings together scholars and experts exploring a range of topics, including Kurdish politics, cultural heritage, literature and identity, Islamic intellectual history, and Muslim chaplaincy in the US.

For details on both see the website: https://www.zahrainstitute.org.

Posted in: Academic items

January 13, 2026
by Andrew Newman
0 Comment

Shii News – Academic Items

1. Séminaire “L’Afghanistan à travers les âges” – 4e séance mercredi 14 janvier 18h-19h30

nous avons le plaisir de vous convier à la troisième séance du séminaire “L’Afghanistan à travers les âges”, qui se tiendra mercredi 14 janvier 2026, 18h-19h30, en salle 3.01 à l’INaLCO (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris XIII, 3^e étage).

Nous sommes heureux d’accueillir Mme. Laurianne Sève, directrice de la Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan, pour une conférence intitulée : Nouvelles recherches sur Aï Khanoum (Afghanistan).

Résumé:

La ville d’Aï Khanoum, située dans le nord-est de l’Afghanistan, à la frontière avec le Tadjikistan constitue l’une des grandes découvertes de la Délégation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan. Fouillée entre 1965 et 1978 sous la direction de Paul Bernard, le directeur de la DAFA de l’époque, elle a révélé un ensemble de monuments de grande ampleur, dont beaucoup sont fortment marqués par la culture grecque (un théâtre et un gymnase notamment). Plusieurs de ces monuments ont fait l’objet de publications parues peu de temps après l’arrêt des fouilles, provoqué par l’invasion de l’Afghanistan par l’URSS. Ces travaux ont permis de proposer une première interprétation de l’histoire de la ville et de son peuplement. Les publications se sont ensuite espacées, et bien que le travail soit encore en cours, la façon dont on envisage la ville et ses fonctions n’a pas toujours beaucoup progressé. Aï Khanoum était marquée par une forte mixité culturelle et c’est principalement à travers cette problématique, fortement renouvelée dans le cadre des post-colonial studies que de nouvelles approches ont vu le jour. L’objet du séminaire sera de présenter ces interprétations et de proposer une autre façon de concevoir la ville et son histoire.

Orientations bibliographiques:

Hoo, M., « Baktria in Early Hellenistic Times and the Question of ‘Alexandrian Legacy’ », in K. Nawotka et A. Wojciechowska, éds., Legacy of the East and Legacy of Alexander, Wiesbaden 2023, p. 103-127.
Lecuyot, G., éd., Il y a 50 ans… la découverte d’Aï Khanoum : 1964-1978, fouilles de la Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan (DAFA), Paris 2014.
Martinez-Sève, L., « Aï Khanoum and Greek domination in Central Asia », Electrum 22, 2015, p. 17-46.

Vous trouverez l’intégralité du programme 2025-2026 du séminaire mensuel de recherche “L’Afghanistan à travers les âges” en ligne sur le site du CeRMI: L’Afghanistan à travers les âges – Centre de recherche sur le monde iranien

2. The Islamic College

Ta’wil and the Unfolding of Historical Meaning in the Qur’an
Professor Maria Massi Dakake
Friday, 23 January 2026
6:00-7:30 pm (London time)
Online (register for link)

https://islamic-college.ac.uk/tawil-registration/

3. Online Persian Winter School – From Beginner to Advanced

Following the successful completion of the 2025 Ghand-e Parsi Persian Autumn School, we are delighted to announce the launch of our Online Persian Winter School.

The Ghand-e Parsi 2025 Winter School is a seasonal program designed to offer learners from all backgrounds a rich, structured, and immersive experience of the Persian language and Persianate culture. With carefully designed courses at the elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels, the Winter School provides a comprehensive learning pathway—from building foundational communication skills to engaging deeply with historical, literary, artistic, and mystical Persian texts.

In addition to the core language levels, the program includes a diverse selection of cross-level courses that open interdisciplinary perspectives, such as Digital Humanities, Persian through Arabic, and Persian through Music. Taught by distinguished instructors including Mohammad H. Naraghi, Peyman Eshaghi, Domenico Arturo Ingenito, and Mehdi Rezania, the Winter School brings together language learning, cultural exploration, and scholarly expertise in a unique and intellectually enriching environment.

All course sessions are fully recorded, allowing participants to review materials and watch sessions outside of live class hours.

Below you will find the list of courses offered this winter:

Elementary Courses

Elementary Persian (Mohammad H. Naraghi)

Intermediate Courses

Intermediate Persian (Mohammad H. Naraghi)
Intermediate Persian through Short Stories (Mohammad H. Naraghi)
Intermediate Persian through News Websites in Simple Persian (Mohammad H. Naraghi)
Persian for Heritage Speakers (Mohammad H. Naraghi)

Advanced Courses

How to Read Persian Poetry: From Ferdowsi to Forugh Farrokhzad (Domenico Arturo Ingenito)
Advanced Persian through Mystical and Sufi Texts (Peyman Eshaghi)
Advanced Persian through Persian Codicology Texts (Peyman Eshaghi)
Advanced Persian through Safavid Texts (Peyman Eshaghi)
Advanced Persian through South Asian Persian Texts (Peyman Eshaghi)
Advanced Persian through History of Art Texts (Peyman Eshaghi)

Cross-Level Courses

Persian Language and Culture through Iranian Cinema (Peyman Eshaghi)
Bridging Arabic & Persian: Learn Faster, Remember Better (Mohammad H. Naraghi)
Digital Humanities and Persianate Studies Bootcamp (Peyman Eshaghi)
Learning Persian Through Songs: Language, Poetry, and Culture Across the 12 Dastgāh (Mehdi Rezania)
Persian for Everyday Conversation (Mohammad H. Naraghi)

We warmly invite you to join us for this Winter School and take part in a meaningful journey into Persian language and culture. Whether you are continuing your studies or joining Ghand-e Parsi for the first time, we hope this program will be both inspiring and rewarding.

Dates: January 26 – April 12, 2026

Registration Deadline: January 20, 2026

🔗 Learn more about all courses:
https://www.ghandeparsi.com/winterschool

🔗 Testimonials:
https://www.ghandeparsi.com/testimonials

📝 Register here:
https://forms.gle/RLeytfi9nMU5RpdXA

4. Al-Ghazālī’s Moral Psychology

From Self-Control to Self-Surrender

Joel Craig Richmond

Available in hardback and ebook editions
For more information and to order at a discount visit the webpage:

https://equinoxpub.com/projects/al-ghazali-moral-psychology

5. HIAA ONLINE WORKSHOP: Teaching Islamic Art to Artists – Friday, January 16

9-10:30 am Pacific
11 am-12:30 pm Central
12-1:30 pm Eastern

To register: https://temple.zoom.us/meeting/register/K1dGohPMQyy_DkgTk_5Bqw

Join us for a conversation with Glaire Anderson, Kerr Houston, D. Fairchild Ruggles, and Foad Torshizi about different approaches for teaching the history of Islamic Art and Architecture to students in the art and design disciplines, many of whom are looking to their futures in studio art, architecture, animation, graphic design, and fashion. The objective of the workshop is to share strategies for student engagement in

Islamic art with the broader HIAA community, while critically evaluating how Islamic art history is integral to an arts-based education. Topics of discussion will include the value of hands-on workshops, the teaching of Islamic art objects as precedents to contemporary practice, and digital tools to create immersive experiences of Islamic art. Organized and moderated by Nisa Ari.

URL

https://temple.zoom.us/meeting/register/K1dGohPMQyy_DkgTk_5Bqw

6. The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies, in partnership with the Toronto Book Club, present the Iranian Studies Book Launch Series.
This event will feature Arezou Azad’s latest titles for Edinburgh University Press in The Islamicate East series, The Warehouse of Bamiyan & The Rise and Fall of the Barmakids.
Please join us on Monday 19 January at 12PM EST / 5PM GMT / 6PM CET.Pre-registration is essential.

https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/IRIPumA0RiywhWQndxY9ZA#/registration

7. The complete programme of the Monday Majlis series (online) in the spring term Centre for the Study of Islam, Exeter
19^thof January (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Gabriel Said Reynolds, A Faithful Dog and a Clay Bird: The Qur’an in Its Christian World

https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/3uYLlGdRRcGlh0sgg2JnOw

26^th of January (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Orhan Elmaz, Digital Tools and Methods in (+/- Contemporary) Quranic Studies

https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/fbHQXhbxSm6-9gtiDQ4ovQ

2^nd of February (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

James E. Montgomery, A Future, Remembered—The Poet-Prophet al-Mutanabbī

https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/mUwZSgnkQ3mQLiOxe2qCnw

11^th of February (Wednesday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Andrew Marsham, Perspectives on the Umayyad Empire

https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/mdvrgHS4Sq6MNpJ7eKzrWQ

18^th of February (Wednesday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Rosabel Ansari, Al-Fārābī and the Study of Islamic Philosophy

https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/8TC1t86eSMqXmUAzEP9SQg

23^rd of February (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Michael Cook, Women as Jurists: The Case of Kasani’s Wife

https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/INbq3y5ERAeojbtkOi2aSg

2^nd of March (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Yuka Kadoi, Museumisation in Arabia: The Reach and Limits of Cultural Heritage

https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/T4SPygHTQpm4ICdTA1ThUg

9^th of March (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Samuel Hodgkin, The Blind Bard: The Afterlives of Rōdakī’s Poetics

https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/PqKX8HD6SaulZJfU76hsQQ

16^th of March (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Matthew L. Keegan, Islam and Adab: Reading al-Hariri’s Maqamat in an Age of Commentary

https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/0IINz8EATQKNhFUjkvj7dA

23^rd of March (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Mehdi Aminrazavi, Islamic Philosophy and its Receptivity to Non-Islamic Traditions

https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/31PX0Ik-RuWt6P1XrhM3gw

In the spirit of the label ‘Majlis’ and also to make the talks even more interesting, our speakers present the topic discussed as embedded in their own journey.

You can watch the previous Majlises here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8YRkUahFj_81oJzCSDLTx4kVQQgeHLc-.

However, we don’t record the Q&A in order to keep the discussion free.

If you’d like to be included in the CSI (Centre for the Study of Islam, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter) mailing list, please write to I.T.Kristo-Nagy@ex.ac.uk

8. Second European Round Table on Modern Persian Literature, 15-17 January 2026, Institute of Iranian Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences

https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/ifi/veranstaltungen/event-details/modern-persian-literature

9. ONLINE Book Talk “Islamic Theology and the Problem of Evil” by Safaruk Chowhury (Cambridge Muslim College), American University in Cairo Press, 13 Jan-uary 2026, 18:00 CET

This rigorous study examines four major dimensions of the problem of evil: human disability, animal suffering, evolutionary natural selection, and Hell, offering fresh insights into how Islamic theology has grappled with these enduring questions.

Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/3cc9bd39

10. ONLINE Book Launch “International Relations in a Multipolar Middle East” by Francesco Belcastro and Edward Wastnidge, Hosted by the Open University, 23 January 2026, 12:00 – 13:00 CET

This volume explores the international relations of today’s Middle East. The tumult following the Arab Uprisings has expanded the arenas competed over by regional powers, global ac-tors and non-state players. As global politics moves towards a new, multipolar era, the volume’s co-editors help shed important light on how this transition is impacting on the re-gion.

Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/2h29ccdf

11. Workshop “Jewish Literature under Muslim Rule: Textual Transformations and Inter-Religious Encounters” by the Simon Dubnow Institute (Leipzig) & Unit of Judaic Studies (University of Munich), Munich, 14-16 April 2026

The workshop invites proposals exploring the impact of Muslim rule on Jewish literature, with a particular focus on religious texts – including translations of the Bible, commentaries, and philosophical and legal writings. This workshop seeks to sharpen the lens by examining how the realities of Muslim political authority and Islamic intellectual traditions influenced or shaped Jewish religious writing.

Deadline for abstracts: 20 January 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/mvej4ubr

12. 40th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference (MEHAT): “Playing with the Scales: The Local, Regional, and Global in Middle Eastern Studies”, University of Chicago, 1-2 May 2026

How do micro-scale engagements with Middle Eastern agents help us to understand global developments, like the transformation of law and statehood and the emergence of capital-ism? What role do regional configurations, whether defined in terms of shared ecological, economic or political contexts, trade, religious or intellectual networks, play in shaping the interaction of individual, local, and global scales?

Deadline for abstracts: 31 January 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/dvzubk37

13. Several Postdoctoral Fellowships (10 Months) in the Humanities and Social Sciences 2026-27, Orient-Institut Beirut

The fellowships are specifically designed for postdoctoral candidates engaged in outstand-ing research projects in the humanities and social sciences. We invite applications across disciplines, time periods, and geographic coverage. Proposals are encouraged to articulate the contemporary stakes of the research project, whether historiographical, cultural, reli-gious or political dimensions.

Deadline for applications: 1 March 2026.

Information: https://www.orient-institut.org/postdoctoralfellowships.html

14. Several Doctoral Fellowships (10 Months) in the Humanities and Social Sciences 2026-27, Orient-Institut Beirut

The fellowships are specifically designed for doctoral candidates engaged in outstanding research projects in the humanities and social sciences. We invite applications across dis-ciplines, time periods, and geographic coverage. Proposals are encouraged to articulate the contemporary stakes.

Deadline for abstracts: 1 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4m4tf77v

15. “DECRIPT Program”: Call for Research and Transfer Projects (Focus Middle and Near East), INALCO, Paris

Deadline for proposals: 30 January 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3wvr9wbx

16. “DECRIPT Program”: Call for Applications for 20 International Research Residencies (1 Month, Focus Middle and Near East), INALCO, Paris

During their stay, researchers must propose to conduct or formalize high-level academic research related to the program’s core scientific question on civilizational narratives and/or civilizationism, in connection with the Middle and Near East or its methodological area. Compensation: €3,400 covering transportation and living expenses. Location: Paris, Bordeaux, Lille.

Deadline for applications: 28 February 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/2nmn5nyk

17. “Gerda Henkel Prize” for Excellent and Internationally Acclaimed Researchers (Focus Historical Islamic Studies)

The Foundation invites scholars of universities worldwide, as well as renowned cultural and academic institutions, and calls on scholars in these institutions to nominate suitable candi-dates. The prize is open to scholars from all countries. Individuals as well as teams of several researchers can be nominated. The Gerda Henkel Prize is worth 100,000 euros.

Deadline for nominations: 30 January 2026. Information: https://www.gerda-henkel-stif-tung.de/en/prize

18. “Armed Groups and the Politics of International Legitimation” (Including Pales-tine, Afghanistan, Libya), Edited by Stephan Hensell & Klaus Schlichte, Oxford Aca-demic, 15 December 2025

This book is the first comparative study of armed groups that try to gain international legiti-macy. It analyses how and when these attempts are successful. Based on practice theory and global history, it highlights the interaction of practices and publics in the process of le-gitimation and introduces four different historical times, spanning from 1945 to the present.

Complete text: https://academic.oup.com/book/61785

19. “Al-Junayd: The Sufi Master of Baghdad” by Arin Salamah-Qudsi, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025, 184 Pages

This book offers the first comprehensive reconstruction of al-Junayd al-Baghdādī based on his own writings, especially his treatises and letters. Tracing his legacy from the classical period to the modern age of media and cyberspace, the study provides a fresh portrait of Junayd and his enduring place in Islamic piety and thought.

Information: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-87094-1

Posted in: Academic items

January 10, 2026
by Andrew Newman
0 Comment

Shii News – Academic Items

1. New Book “A Pedagogical Grammar of Arabic by al-Qazwīnī al-Naǧǧār: Edition and Study” by Almog Kasher, Harrassowitz-Verlag, December 2025, 184 Pages

This study presents a critical edition of an anonymous pedagogical Arabic grammar, identifying its author as Ṭāhir al-Qazwīnī al-Naǧǧār. It highlights its unorthodox pedagogical features and argues that it likely underlies the renowned Lubāb al-ʾiʿrāb al-māniʿ min al-laḥn fī al-Sunna wa-l-Kitāb, composed by the prolific Sufi ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Šaʿrānī.

Information: https://tinyurl.com/4w9wkavk

2. Open Call for Submissions for Emruz Festival 2026 (NYC)

We are proud and excited to announce the Open Call for Submissions for Emruz Festival 2026, taking place April 29 – May 3, 2026 in New York City.

Emruz Festival is a spring, biennial, multi-day festival celebrating artists of Middle Eastern, Southwest Asian, and North African (MENA / SWANA) descent. The festival will feature performances, concerts, theater works, short film screenings. We aim to create space for artistic exchange, experimentation, and community gathering.

Spanning several days, Emruz Festival presents a dynamic blend of open-call submissions and curated works, showcasing projects ranging from finished pieces to works-in-progress. Across disciplines—from theater, music, and film—artists are invited to put their work on its feet, share it with the community, and engage with New York City audiences at large.

This year, we are honored to collaborate with Brooklyn Art Haus and Cheers Cinema, which will host selected works throughout the festival.

We warmly welcome submissions from emerging artists across all disciplines. We especially encourage narrative-driven works—projects that speak to what is dear to the artist’s heart and seek to engage contemporary audiences in New York City in meaningful ways. We strongly recommend responding thoughtfully to all application questions, as each submission will be reviewed with care and attention. Emruz Festival provides performance/screening space, production support, and representation of your work as part of the festival. Submission to the Emruz Festival is free.

Key Dates

Application Deadline: January 31, 2026
Decision Notification: February 16, 2026
Festival Dates: April 29 – May 3, 2026

Apply Here!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSchZ1dj2DMOdPT2ZwrC6GKCpA5V6fSDLui8b4gTDbUchvGrgQ/viewform?pli=1

3. Northwestern University – Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship
https://networks.h-net.org/jobs/69646/northwestern-university-keyman-modern-turkish-studies-postdoctoral-fellowship

4. Bahçeşehir University, Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences has designated the Middle East as the theme for its inaugural Interdisciplinary Regional Studies Conference to be held in 2026. This conference aims to address current and historical issues related to the Middle East from an interdisciplinary perspective and to create a productive, deliberative, and comprehensive academic platform by bringing together researchers, experts, and graduate students studying the region.

Researchers wishing to participate in the conference must submit their abstracts of at least 250 and no more than 500 words and relevant keywords by March 15, 2026. Applications will only be accepted via the online form.

IMPORTANT DATES

Abstract Submission Deadline: March 15, 2026
Acceptance Notification: March 30, 2026
Registration Opens: April 1, 2026
Registration Deadline: April 15, 2026
Conference Dates: May 7-8, 2026

CONFERENCE VENUE

The conference will be held in person at the Fazıl Say Conference Hall in the South Campus of Bahçeşehir University in Beşiktaş, Istanbul. All sessions and panels will be held in the relevant halls within the campus, and the detailed program will be shared with participants before the conference date.

CONTACT INFORMATION

bau.bck@eas.bau.edu.tr

Contact Information

bau.bck@eas.bau.edu.tr

Çırağan Caddesi Osmanpaşa Mektebi Sokak No: 4 – 6 34353 Beşiktaş, ISTANBUL / TURKEY

Contact Email

bau.bck@eas.bau.edu.tr

URL

https://bau.edu.tr/news/19506-interdisciplinary-regional-studies-conference-mid…

5. Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany – Professor for the History of the Islamic World
https://networks.h-net.org/jobs/69670/johannes-gutenberg-university-mainz-germany-professor-history-islamic-world

6. CFP – From the Balkans to Bengal in Baltimore: Engaging Diasporas, Shaping Publics, and Reimagining Islamic Art in American Museums- Deadline February 15
🗓 Conference Dates: September 24-25, 2026
📍 Location: UMD, College Park, and Baltimore
📬 Proposal Deadline: February 15, 2026
🔗 Submit Here: https://forms.gle/4saumkLZiNAxP8EE7
Conference Overview
How should American museums that present Islamic art engage the diasporic communities that are increasingly recognized as key public constituencies? What strategies might best encourage communities to move from viewing art to responding to it—and in doing so, reshape how it is interpreted in public spaces?

This conference explores the transformative ways diasporic communities from the Balkans to Bengal interact with Islamic art in North America. The organizers invite submissions from scholars and museum professionals that identify challenges and opportunities for local actors to engage with global histories of Islamic art. The conference will bring those ideas together with artists and community leaders advancing the needs of local Muslim communities in Baltimore and the wider DMV.

This 2-day conference combines discussions of historical and theoretical foundations with those of the concrete, present challenges of migrant communities as they define their place in the contemporary world. We welcome papers that present experiences with normative and dissident approaches to cultural heritage in migrant societies (pre- and post migration), and that introduce real-world projects and collaborative practices that center community voices, challenge traditional narratives, and reimagine what museum spaces can be—especially in politically and culturally complex moments.

Day One of the conference will be on campus at UMD, College Park, and will include a full day of panel discussions followed by a keynote lecture in the evening, to coincide with a walkthrough of an exhibition of Islam & Print at the University of Maryland Art Gallery. Day Two of the conference will include a visit to the Walters Art Gallery and presentations focused on diasporic Muslim communities in Baltimore.

We welcome paper submissions on a wide range of topics related to the display of arts of the Islamic world, including but not limited to:

Diasporas and Institutions
● How diasporic communities interact with and shape historical collections and Museums
as contact zones for dialogue and cultural negotiation

States, Memory, and Identity
● Reckoning with borders, belonging, and the politics of display
● How museums participate in crafting national and diasporic memory
● The role of Islamic art in narratives of statehood, citizenship, and cultural identity

Community-Led Interpretation
● Community-authored labels, co-curation, and grassroots storytelling
● Empowering communities to shape how Islamic art is displayed

Technology & Immersion
● The potentials of AR/VR, digital storytelling, and immersive tools that connect past to present
● Expanding access and empathy through tech

Contemporary Art and Counterculture
● Connecting Islamic heritage to contemporary practitioners
● Contemporary Islamic art as critical engagement and action

Museum Practice in Challenging Moments
● Navigating Islamophobia, censorship, and contested publics
● Curating in politically charged environments

Who Should Submit?
We invite proposals from scholars across disciplines: Art Historians and Historians (South Asia, MENA, Museology, Migration and Diaspora), museum practitioners (Curators, Educators, Collections staff), Artists, Community Organizers & Heritage Advocates, and Technology/Digital Humanities collaborators.

Submission Guidelines:
Papers (20 minutes):
1. Title of presentation or project
2. Abstract (300–500 words)
3. Short bio (150 words)
4. Optional: links to media, images, or work samples
📞 Questions? Contact us at sslinglu@umd.edu
Contact Email

sslinglu@umd.edu

URL

https://forms.gle/4saumkLZiNAxP8EE7

Posted in: Academic items

January 07, 2026
by Andrew Newman
0 Comment

Shii News – Academic Items

1. Tokat Institute for Advanced Islamic Studies

TIAIS INAUGURAL ARTICLE PRIZE COMPETITION WINNER

We are also pleased to announce Professor Michael Rapoport of Florida Atlantic University as the recipient of the TIAIS inaugural Article Prize for his essay, “The Unambiguous Truth (al-ḥaqq al-ṣarīḥ): Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī on Philosophy and the ‘Truth’ in His Compendium (Mulakhkhaṣ).” Professor Rapoport’s work exemplifies exceptional analytic precision and carefully reasoned analysis, challenging current scholarly perspectives in offering a nuanced interpretation of the interplay between theology and philosophy in two of Rāzī’s important works. His essay combines meticulous textual reading with fruitful scholarly debate, advancing Rāzī studies and postclassical Islamic intellectual history in innovative and promising directions. Professor Rapoport’s article will be published in the first issue of TIAIS’ new Open Access journal, Islamic Intellectual Traditions.

https://tokatinstitute.org/news/tiais-inaugural-article-prize-winner

2. Introduction to Persian Manuscripts: Classical Persian through Living Books online course, which will start on January 26 and last for two weeks.

https://ferdowsi.org/introduction-to-persian-manuscripts-2026/

Ferdowsi School of Persian Literature

Yerevan, Armenia

Website: www.ferdowsi.org

3. CfP: International Meeting of the SBL

Biblical Traditions in Islamic Contexts unit at the International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (https://members.sbl-site.org/cfp-detail-im?z7412e263df1640689761ab72b66f59df=00fb281888-9c7f-46b6-b3e6-bad4fc23df7c&z423c93b755704c19a0e7ac980d5d638c=00fb281888-9c7f-46b6-b3e6-bad4fc23df7c).

Proposals are not limited to comparing Islamic texts (e.g., Qur’an) with the biblical traditions. They could also be about biblical communities, their biblical reception, transmission, etc, under Islamic rule throughout history. So, the scope is more expansive than you may think.

The conference is scheduled to take place from 5 to 9 July 2026, down under in Adelaide, Australia.

If you live in Australasia or the Asia-Pacific, this is a rare opportunity for a conference coming near you.

If you live elsewhere, then what better excuse to visit that amazing part of the world?
The deadline for paper or session proposals is 15 January 2026.

4. International Workshop “Radical Imaginations – Rethinking Gender Justice in the Middle East and North Africa”, Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway, 6-7 July 2026

The workshop will bring together scholars working on gender justice, law, lived experience, and social change across the MENA region. It aims to create space for critical, interdisciplinary conversations that rethink dominant frameworks and open new analytical and political possibil-ities.

Deadline for abstracts: 31 January 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yc589pyd

5. International Conference: “Entrenchment and Experiment: Situating Authoritarian Turkey in the 1930s and 1940s”, University of Hamburg, 1-2 October 2026

This conference and the subsequent book project invite scholars to contribute cutting-edge research on authoritarianism as lived and practiced in Turkey between 1931 and 1950. We are especially interested in contributions that consider issues of institutional experimentation, state-society relations, and rule of law (including states of exception and legal arbitrariness).

Deadline for abstracts: 16 January 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/2yzercmz

6. 2nd Edition of the Rabat Policy Forum: “Fractured Social Contract: Citizens, State, and Trust in Institutions in MENA”, Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis (MIPA), Rabat, 9-10 October 2026

This forum seeks to foster a high-level academic and policy dialogue on rebuilding state-society trust and envisioning a renewed social contract grounded in participation, protection, and pro-vision. Themes: The Old Social Contract. – The Role of Parliament in Shaping a New Social Contract. – Institutional Prerequisites for a New Social Contract. – New Social Movements and the Renewal of the Social Contract.

Deadline for abstracts: 28 February 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/2ny7mnbs

7. Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) for History of the Middle East, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Preference will be given to candidates whose research expertise aligns with one of the following broad thematic areas: 1) Gender and sexuality; 2) War, revolution, and society; 3) Science, technology, and medicine. Expertise in public history and/or digital history will be considered an asset.

Deadline for appllications: 16 January 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/epebjk4d

8. Postdoctoral Fellowship (2 Years) in the Study of Turkey and Its Diasporas in a Global or a Comparative Perspective, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Scholars in all branches of the Social Sciences and Humanities may apply. We welcome and encourage applications from early career scholars whose work focuses on nondominant and underrepresented groups including religious, ethnic, and LBGTQ minorities and otherwise mar-ginalized groups.

Deadline for applications: 26 January 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3bfxh473

9. Summer School for Persian Language, Yerevan, Armenia, 6-10 weeks, 21 June – 28 August 2026

Courses are available at beginner, elementary, and intermediate levels and focus on all core language skills: reading, writing, speaking, listening, grammar, and vocabulary. Small class sizes ensure close interaction with experienced instructors and rapid progress. Participants will also benefit from a strong cultural immersion component, including guided excursions.

Deadline for applications: 21 May 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/2mdhwru9

10. Chapters for the Volume “On Ottoman Objects: A Sourcebook for the Cultural Herit-age of the Ottoman Peoples”, Edited by Ceren Abi, Published by Gordium

The volume seeks to expand the existing literature on cultural heritage in the Ottoman context by foregrounding the perspectives and experiences of the empire’s many communities – Mus-lim and non-Muslim, urban and rural, elite and subaltern. While it will include sources produced by individuals associated with the Ottoman state apparatus, it also aims to feature provincial voices and materials produced in different languages.

Deadline for abstracts: 31 May 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/27jn2upy

11. Chapters for “The Handbook of Ecofeminism” (Focus on Ecofeminists from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia)

The volume opens with foundational ecofeminists and environmental activists. Between these sections, contributors examine how ecofeminist perspectives foster more holistic scientific par-adigms, promote ethical responsibility toward nonhuman animals, and cultivate affirmative spir-itual practices. The volume demonstrates that ecofeminism is not only a critical framework for exposing injustice but also a generative force for imagining and enacting emancipatory futures.

Deadline for abstracts: 13 January 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/ywbtfkam

12. Articles on how authoritarian ideas, practices, and technologies circulate transnationally — with a focus on the SWANA (South-West Asia and North Africa) region as a key hub of exchange.

If your research touches on authoritarian diffusion, surveillance, policing, regime learning, counter-revolution, digital repression, or international linkages between democracies and autocracies – Fabrizio Leonardo Cuccu and Paola Rivetti at Dublin City University would love to hear from you!

Deadline for abstracts: 10 January 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4z73fyvr

13. The new issue of “CyberOrient” (Vol. 19, Issue 2, 2025) is available for free at the link https://cyberorient.net/

Articles on “The War of Humor: A Visual Content Analysis of Israel’s Information Warfare in France and Spain” by Ninon Bouteloup. – “Finishing the Fight for Freedom: The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Strategic Communication of the “Freedom Jihad” Narrative Frame on X” by Bořivoj Nachtmann. – “Lurking Terror in Andor: The Subaltern from Above” by Emir Alışık.

Posted in: Academic items

January 03, 2026
by Andrew Newman
0 Comment

Shii News – Academic Items

1.UCLA: IRANIAN STUDIES OUTREACH/BILINGUAL LECTURE SERIES

Hasan Pirnia and Constitutional Experience: Articulation of Public Law and the Prospects of Modern State in Iran, 1905-1925

Ali Gheissari

University of San Diego

Persian Lecture

Sunday, January, 25, 2026 at 4:00 pm Pacific Time

Royce Hall 314

English Lecture

Monday, January 26, 2026 at 11:00am Pacific Time

Bunche Hall 10383

Hybrid Zoom option is available both days:

https://ucla.zoom.us/j/92182697630

2. BRAIS Annual Conference 2026: Call for Papers deadline Monday 5 January 2026

For further information, and to submit your paper or panel proposal, click HERE.

BRAIS 2026 will be hosted by the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (Aga Khan University) & The Institute for Ismaili Studies, London on Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 May 2026. We look forward to seeing many of you there!

If you have any questions at all about the conference, please do not hesitate to contact us on: brais.conference@ed.ac.uk.

3. CfP: Hispano-Arabic Mirror in the Mediterranean: How Art and Culture Keep Crossing Paths in the Basin

Description of the Volume:

This seminal study contributes to the advancement of hybrid cultures and identities, the editors of

this monograph aim to scan and materialize the multiple connections across the Mediterranean basin that

often times are overlooked. Cross-cultural intertwining between the Arab culture and the region of Northern Africa and Spain have been constant since the middle ages, as Andalusia, for example, was a melting pot of ethnicities. The mirror (evoking the “buried mirror” concept developed by Carlos Fuentes in 1992 in the book entitled the same), reflecting north and south, south and north, has been hiding in plain sight for centuries and this intertwined history has countless manifestations, including a current revival of this connection due to global migratory trends. The volume aims to bring to light new ways of understanding these imbrications.

The goal is to contribute to the debate and enhance the relevancy and current nature of these relationships from different perspectives, focusing on how much these cultures have in common rather than looking at the differences. For this reason, this project welcomes proposals that analyze past and present literary, filmic, artistic or cultural manifestations, and new ways in which these civilizations keep sharing paths, inevitably.

This volume is also open to other themes and lines of research not explicitly mentioned but that align with the central vision of the volume.

Possible lines of study, but not limited to:

-Artistic influences, a two directional path

-Aesthetic intertwine and crosspollination

-Literary shared spaces and intertextuality

-Visits, invasions, settlements, and legacies

-History of ideas: Intersections between art and society

-Thought and progress, contributions and mutual symbiosis

-Visible and not so visible overlaps and common understanding

-Revisions of manifestations that highlight the Mediterranean connection

-From the basin to the world: fusion culture exported or implanted in other parts of the world

-Hybridity conceptualization and theorical analysis in relation to the Hispano-Arabic culture

Timeline:

April 15th 2026: Reception of proposals: Title and Summary (200 words approx.).

November 31st 2026: First full version of the chapter to be completed.

Year 2027: Publication of the volume.

Length and Style:

No more than 20-22 pages (including notes, bibliography, illustrations, etc.) MLA style format (word length between 6000-8000 words), written in English.

Send proposals in English to:

Jorge Gonzá lez del Pozo jorgegdp@umich.edu & Wessam Elmeligi elmeligi@umich.edu

4. Call for Papers – al-Karmil: Studies in Arabic Language and Literature (2026 Volume)

We warmly invite high-quality, original submissions in the fields of Arabic language and Arabic literature. Articles may be submitted in either Arabic or English. All submissions received by 1 May 2026 will undergo double-blind peer review. Accepted papers are expected to be published in the last quarter of 2026.

Al-Karmil is committed to publishing rigorous and innovative scholarship, and we particularly welcome contributions that engage with classical, medieval, and modern Arabic texts from linguistic, literary, and interdisciplinary perspectives.

For reference, you may consult the journal’s most recent issue (2025) at the following link:

Al-Karmil Volume 46 Issue 1-2 (2025)

Posted in: Academic items

December 31, 2025
by Andrew Newman
0 Comment

Shii News – Academic Items

1. News from Invisible East

We have made significant improvements to the Invisible East Digital Corpus (IEDC). Alongside a sixth release of documents, and Persian language functionality, tagging has been introduced to the site, which significantly enhances the value of the IEDC as a research tool. We have had a busy term featuring schools outreach, teaching on a six-week lecture series for Oxford Lifelong Learning, as well as presenting at conferences.

We have published three new Documents of the Month, including two on the Bamiyan Papers which are digitised in the IEDC: a Judeo-Persian letter and a fragment of a treatise dealing with pre-Islamic festivals.

The Islamicate East series

Three books in The Islamicate East series are now listed on the EUP website and will be arriving in bookstores soon. Use NEW30 for a discount of 30% from the listed price:

In print from 31 December 2025: The Warehouse of Bamiyan. Economic Life in Medieval Afghanistan by Arezou Azad, with a contribution by Pejman Firoozbakhsh (former Invisible East Postdoc);
Expected January 2026: Persian World Histories in the Mongol Era. The Transmission and Reception of Rashid al-Din’s Jami al-Tawarikh, edited by Tomoko Masuya, Osamu Otsuka and Masatomo Kawamoto; and
Expected January 2026: The Rise and Fall of the Barmakids: Stories from a Forgotten Persian Manuscript, translated and annotated by Pejman Firoozbakhsh and Arezou Azad.

The hybrid series Rethinking History: Returning Archives and Documents resumes in January. Registration is essential. Join us for:

Wednesday 14 January 2026, 5PM UK time: ‘Documents from Turbulent Times: Studying Middle Persian Collections from the Late Sasanian and Early Islamic Periods—Opportunities and Challenges’, with Nima Asefi, Universität Hamburg.
Wednesday, 11 February 2026, 5PM UK Time: ‘Archaeology as National Archive: Hertzfeld’s History of Iran’, with Jennifer Jenkins, University of Toronto.
Wednesday, 11 March 2026, 4PM UK Time: ‘Documenting Space: Waqf-Namehs, Architecture, and the Social Function of Qajar Madrasas’, with Maryam Heydarkhani, University of Oxford.

Posted in: Academic items

December 27, 2025
by Andrew Newman
0 Comment

Shii News – Academic Items

1. Quand la scène s’empare du traumatisme : Métadiscours des artistes arabes contemporains / When the Stage Engages with Trauma: Metadiscourses of Contemporary Arab Artists (Nancy)

Université de Lorraine, Nancy, le vendredi 13 mars 2026

By focusing on the discourses produced by artists – creative correspondence, directors’ notes, interviews, program-matic texts, rehearsal journals, artistic manifestos, and other critical postures and positionings – this study day seeks to shed light on the processes through which scenic and performative practices transform traumatic experience into an aesthetic engine, a political stance, and a form of engagement with audiences and societies.

Deadline for abstracts: 31 January 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/bdhcry9u

2. Summer School: “Decompartmentalizing the Study of Religion: The Middle East and its Diasporas (Late 19th – 21st Centuries) – Lexis, Mapping and Staging”, Organized by ANR PredicMO, IREMAM, CNRS, AMU, IFAO, IFPO, EFR, NVIC and University of Groningen, Cairo, 10-17 October 2026

Dive into an innovative, cross-disciplinary exploration of religion in the Middle East and its diasporas (late 19th – 21st centuries). This summer school focuses on breaking down confessional and disciplinary silos through lexicons, media, and spatial dynamics, fostering a connected approach to religious phenomena.

Deadline for applications: 12 February 2026. Information: https://predicmo.hypotheses.org/category/ecole-dete

3. Seeking North African and Arabic Scholars to Write and Edit Bloomsbury’s “Trans Studies” Book Series

High priorities for the series include books explore Arabic influences on transgender issues, as well as works that examine transgender and nonbinary topics with reference to specific North African linguistic, national, and regional groups. We encourage authors from around the world to contribute to the series, incorporating culture-specific insights as feasible. Books written from a postcolonial perspective are especially welcome.

Information: https://tinyurl.com/3sadpnym

4. Chapters for Sourcebook on “Moving Stories: Sectarianisms in the Global Middle East”

We seek to publish a Sourcebook that reflects the capacious range of sources that speak in the widest way to the interplay between processes of Ottoman mobility, migration, and identify formation in a period of Middle Eastern history spanning roughly from 1860 to 1930. We are especially interested in previously unpublished sources in languages as varied as Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English.

Information: https://tinyurl.com/3f7pvjbc

5. Call for Articles on “On Both Sides of the Border: Muslims in Garb al-Andalus and Portugal During the Middle Ages” for the Journal “Hamsa: Journal of Judaic and Islamic Studies”

The aim of this monographic issue is to serve as a compilation and new impetus for this research into the Muslim presence in Portuguese lands, both under the sphere of Andalusian influence (Garb al-Andalus) and under Christian rule (Portugal).

Deadline for articles: 28 February 2026. Information: https://journals.openedition.org/hamsa/5249

6. The Transformation of Turkish Foreign Policy

Islamism and Nationalism

Hasan Kösebalaban

Information: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-transformation-of-turkish-foreign-policy.html

7. Parution : “Un printemps ottoman. La révolution jeune-turque de 1908” par François Georgeon, Les Belles Lettres, 16/01/2026, 306 pages

Information: https://www.lesbelleslettres.com/livre/9782251458250/un-printemps-ottoman

8. “Defying the Violence: Lebanon’s Visual Arts in the 1980s” Edited by Nadia von Maltzahn, Orient-Institut Beirut, Manzir Journal 7, 17 December 2025, 264 pages

Information and complete text: https://bop.unibe.ch/manazir/issue/view/1535

9. University of Exeter:

Recordings of Monday Majlises

All of them, and those before, starting in 2022, can be accessed on this link:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8YRkUahFj_81oJzCSDLTx4kVQQgeHLc-

6^th of October (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

John Esposito, Among the Believers: A Journey in Islam, the Muslim World and Global Politics

Recording available at https://youtu.be/2TosfWwvbJg

13^th of October (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Said Reza Huseini, The Arab Conquests in Bactria: Local Politics and Arab Domination (651–750 CE)

Recording available at https://youtu.be/Aoxr-C_RSKs

27^th of October (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Badr Tachouche, The Chanting Faqihs: Retuning Islamic Discourse through Muwashshahs and Zajals

Recording available at https://youtu.be/r9UV0Xyd2f0

3^rd of November (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Michael Shenkar, Sogdian Civilisation and the Arab Conquest.

Recording available at https://youtu.be/dmtOwZXLqM8

10^th of November (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Godefroid de Callataÿ and Laura Tribuzio, A Ruby Which Is Not a Ruby: Symbol, Substance, and Political Imagination in Timurid and Mughal Thought.

Recording available at https://youtu.be/VD81qXyz_l4

17^th of November (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Edith Szanto, Mourning and Performing: Twelver Shi‘ism in Ba‘ath Syria

Recording available at https://youtu.be/akoNLAeKLpI

24^th of November (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Safa Mahmoudian, Palace Gardens in Lower Mesopotamia: 8th–11th Centuries

Recording available at https://youtu.be/7V98hHUe6tc

1^st of December (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Pranav Prakash, Unravelling a 17^th Century Persian Translation of Śiva Purāṇa

Recording available at https://youtu.be/q6IiXrvOD7M

8^th of December (Monday) 17:00-18:30 (UK time).

Alireza Doostdar, Facing Satan: The Iranian Revolution and Its Demons