Categories : Academic items
Shii News – Academic Items
1.The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture at Hellenic College Holy Cross in Brookline, MA, is pleased to announce that “Byzantine Pieces of an Umayyad Puzzle: A Basalt Platform in the Azraq Oasis” has been rescheduled. In this lecture, Dr. Alexander Brey, Wellesley College, will discuss an Umayyad-era basalt reservoir platform built within the Azraq oasis in eastern Jordan and places its carved interlocking stones in conservation with early Byzantine zodiac and celestial diagrams.
October 1, 2020 | Zoom | 4:00–5:00 pm (Eastern time)
This lecture will take place live on ZOOM, followed by a question and answer period. Please register to receive the ZOOM link. An email with the relevant ZOOM information will be sent 1–2 hours ahead of the lecture. Registration closes at 11:00 AM on October 1, 2020.
Register here: https://maryjahariscenter.org/events/byzantine-pieces-of-an-umayyad-puzzle-a-basalt-platform-in-the-azraq-oasis
Mary Jaharis Center lectures are co-sponsored by Harvard University Standing Committee on Medieval Studies.
Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture, with any questions.
2. Turkish History and Culture in India: Identity, Art and Transregional Connections
co-edited by A.C.S. Peacock and Richard Piran McClary.
Leiden: Brill, 2020
https://brill.com/view/title/57315?language=en
3. Sheikh Zayed Book Award (9 categories) | Final Call for Submissions to 15th edition | 1 October 2020
Examples of previous winners
Marina Warner (Arabic Culture in Other Languages, 2013); Amin Maalouf (Cultural Personality of the Year, 2016); Ibitisam Barakat (Children’s Literature, 2020); and Moncef Ouhaibi (Literature, 2020).
Award categories include:
● Arabic Culture in Other Languages
● Translation (either to or from Arabic)
● Literature (including fiction, poetry and plays)
● Literary and Art Criticism
● Young Author (for writers under the age of 40)
● Children’s & Adolescent Literature
● Publishing & Technology
● Contribution to the Development of Nations
● Cultural Personality of the Year
For further information:
https://www.zayedaward.ae/en/how.to.nominate.aspx
4. Mideastwire announces free access to the Taliban Source Project
Through a partnership with Thesigers, the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI) and the University of Oslo, Mideastwire.com has translated and is now making available 1,452 separate translations drawn from nine years of the Taliban’s Arabic language magazine, Al-Samood (Issues 1-99/2006-2014), which together constitute the overwhelming bulk of the Taliban Source Project (TSP) database.
Unfortunately, the TSP as a whole and our translations of Al-Samood specifically were only made available this year because of what we believe was a fundamental misunderstanding of the project and its implication.
Indeed, several years ago, the British Library, which was supposed to serve as the sole repository, judged that the archive contained some material that could contravene the Terrorism Act.
Thankfully, the University of Oslo recently stepped up and hosted the project, thereby recognizing how freely available, high-quality translations – especially of one’s purported adversary – can actually lead to greater understanding and, potentially, peace-building.
The material in both the original Arabic (downloadable PDF for each month) and English are all searchable in full.
Register at: https://www.mideastwire15years.com/
5. The HIAA Biennial Symposium, originally planned for October 2020, was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We are now writing to announce that the event will be held remotely by the University of Michigan on April 15-17, 2021. Please mark your virtual calendars!
We are currently revising the symposium program in order to accommodate our participants’ various time zones. Thank you for staying tuned for more information as we revise the schedule of panels and talks.
The remote pivot notwithstanding, we are so looking forward to hosting the HIAA Biennial Symposium remotely in April 2021! If any questions pop up, please do not hesitate to contact us at besener@umich.edu.
All best wishes,
Christiane Gruber and Bihter Esener
5. ONLINE: Conference via Zoom: “The Concept of Death, and the Concept of Life in Judaism, Christianity and Islam”, Research Unit “Key Concepts in Interreligious Discourses”, University Erlangen-Nürnberg, 23-24 September 2020
It is possible to join the conference after registration. Please contact Mr. Fabian Schmidmeier fabian.schmidmeier@fau.de. Program: https://www.kcid.fau.de/files/2020/09/program_online_conference_the-concept-of-life-and-the-concept-of-death-in-judaism.pdf
6. ONLINE: “4th Annual Late Antique, Islamic, and Byzantine Studies Conference”, University of Edinburgh, 19-21 November 2020
The conference focuses on disasters (natural, “manmade” or “supernatural”) that shape historical memory and our understanding of the past, concentrating on the problematic relations between catastrophes and memory in Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine societies.
Information and registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/4th-annual-edinburgh-late-antique-islamic-and-byzantine-conference-tickets-117904135443
7. POSTPONED: Conference: “The Middle East c.1960-1980. Global and Transnational Perspectives“, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, 5 March 2021; Postponed, New Date to be Announced
The Conference will look at the ways in which events in the Middle East were shaped by global and transnational contexts and, in turn, the impact events in the region exercised on other parts of the world.
8. Symposium on “Alanya and Alaaddin Keykubat on the Eve of 800th Year of Conquest”, Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, 21-22 April 2021
The symposium will focus on Sultan Alaaddin Keykubat and the history of Alanya during Seljukid, Ottoman and Republican periods.
Information: https://selcuklu.alanya.edu.tr/ctrcms/media/61/tmp//2020_05_11_alanya_sempozyum_call_for_papers_EN.pdf
9. Post-Doctoral Researcher (3 Years) in Islamic Manuscripts of Sumatra, SOAS, University of London
Requirements: PhD, or be very close to completion of a PhD, in a relevant subject (i.e. philology, codicology, textual or literary analysis, history and/or ethnography utilising Islamic manuscripts in Malay and/or Arabic and/or other relevant languages); etc.
Deadline for applications: 3 October 2020. Information: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CBK758/post-doctoral-researcher-in-islamic-manuscripts-of-sumatra?uuid=aeb9c14b-f17f-11ea-a3a3-064da8edb92a&campaign=jbew20200908&source=jbe
10. Articles on “Feminist Political Economy in the Arab Region” for a Special Issue of the Journal “Al-Raida”
This issue of Al-Raida asks what feminist political economy, or FPE, can contribute as a critical framework for analyzing, understanding, and challenging dominant socioeconomic and political systems in the Arab Region. With an emphasis on process, FPE examines the lived realities of social difference, and the constraints and pressures of the everyday under global capitalism.
Deadline for full-length article: 27 November 2020. Information: http://alraidajournal.com/index.php/ALRJ/announcement/view/5
11. Articles for “Al Noor”, the Undergraduate Middle Eastern Studies Journal of Boston College
Our aims: – Facilitate a nonpartisan, unbiased conversation within the Boston College community and beyond about the Middle East. – Provide a medium for students to publish research on the Middle East. – Promote diverse opinions and present a comprehensive view of the myriad of cultures, histories, and perspectives of the Middle East
Deadline for submissions: 11 October 2020. Information: https://www.bcalnoor.org/ and https://mesana.org/resources-and-opportunities/2020/09/10/al-noor-fall-2020
12. ARIT Summer Fellowships for Advanced Turkish Language in Istanbul offers intensive advanced study of Turkish at Bogazici University during the summer 2021. Participants must have two years of Turkish language study or the equivalent. The fellowships cover round-trip airfare to Istanbul, application and tuition fees, and a maintenance stipend. The application deadline will be in early February, 2021.
For additional information please see the ARIT webpage at http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/ARIT/FellowshipPrograms.html
13. The Silk Road: Crafting global futures, global pasts
Panel Proposal, International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS )12
Kyoto, Japan, 24-27 August 2021
Prof Tim Winter, University of Western Australia
Deadline for Abstracts 25th September 2020
The Silk Road has emerged as one of the key geocultural and geostrategic concepts of the 21st century. Built around narratives of maritime and overland trade and exchange connecting Asia with Africa and Europe, Silk Road discourses are rewriting histories, remapping futures. In the age of Belt and Road, they now operate as platforms for international trade, diplomacy, infrastructure development and statecraft.
The ascendancy of the Silk Road in international affairs means it is also fast gaining currency across academic disciplines, migrating outwards from Archaeology, Asian Studies and History into International Relations, Political Geography, Religious Studies, Public Health and Urban Studies, to name a few. Such developments raise important questions about how to interrogate and locate the Silk Roads, conceptually and empirically.
In China’s worldview the Silk Roads serve as both ‘shared heritage’ and ‘shared destiny’. So what does the idea of ‘reviving’ them for the 21st century tell us about global futures? How are we to read the Health Silk Road as a platform for COVID-19 medical cooperation across Asia and beyond? What’s really at stake in the Digital Silk Roads? And is the push for Silk Road narratives finally putting Asia at the centre of global history?
In exploring such themes, this panel takes the Silk Road as a topic of critical investigation. It addresses the urgent need to take Silk Road discourses seriously, interrogating the work they do crafting both pasts and futures around certain themes, ideologies and structural relations.
Papers are welcome that consider the Silk Roads across different contexts, in academia or policy.
Please send 250 word abstracts and author details to Tim Winter, tim.winter@uwa.edu.au by 25th September 2020.
See: silkroadfutures.net
14. Call for Papers: 4th Islamicate Digital Humanities Conference
We are calling for contributions from both members and guests employing digital methods in their research within the Islamicate Studies and related fields in the Humanities, as well as from our colleagues in Linguistics and Computer Science.
We will have four to six presentations of 20 minutes each in which you can introduce your project and share your expertise and questions with the network.
To contribute, send an email to info@idhn.org with the preliminary title, an abstract of 150 to 250 words, and your academic affiliation until October 2nd, 2020. We encourage submissions from those in Graduate School or beyond. Find more information on www.idhn.org and join at https://idhn.org/contact/.
15. CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: SoFCB JUNIOR FELLOWS PROGRAM
Rare Book School’s Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography (SoFCB) invites applications for its 2021–23 cohort of junior fellows. The deadline is Monday, 2 November 2020.
Continuing the work of the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in Critical Bibliography (2012–17), this scholarly society works to advance the study of texts, images, and artifacts as material objects through capacious, interdisciplinary scholarship—and to enrich humanistic inquiry and education by identifying, mentoring, and training promising early-career scholars. Junior Fellows will be encouraged and supported in integrating the methods of critical bibliography into their teaching and research, fostering collegial conversations about historical and emerging media across disciplines and institutions, and sharing their knowledge with broader publics.
The fellowship includes tuition waivers for two Rare Book School courses, as well as funding for Junior Fellows to participate in the Society’s annual meeting and orientation. Additional funds are available for fellows to organize symposia at their home institutions, and fellows will have the option of attending a bibliographical field school to visit libraries, archives, and collections in a major metropolitan area. After completing two years in good standing as Junior Fellows, program participants will have the option to become Senior Fellows in the Society.
The Society is committed to supporting diversity and to advancing the scholarship of outstanding persons of every race, gender, sexual orientation, creed, and socioeconomic background, and to enhancing the diversity of the professions and academic disciplines it represents, including those of the professoriate, museums, libraries, archives, public humanities, and digital humanities. We warmly encourage prospective applicants from a wide range of disciplines, institutions, and areas of expertise.
For more information and to apply, please visit:
http://rarebookschool.org/admissions-awards/fellowships/sofcb/
For more information about diversity and the SoFCB, please visit the SoFCB Diversity & Outreach Committee’s Welcome Letter: https://rarebookschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/SoFCB_Welcome_Letter_2020.pdf
Inquiries about the SoFCB Junior Fellows Program can be directed to Sonia Hazard, SoFCB Selection Committee Chair, at shazard@fsu.edu, or Donna Sy, SoFCB Administrative Director, at rbs-mellon@virginia.edu.
- September 15, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Tributaries and Peripheries of the Ottoman Empire
Ed G Karman
Leiden: Brill, 2020
https://brill.com/view/title/56530
2. ONLINE: 4th Islamicate Digital Humanities Conference of the Islamicate Digital Humanities Network (IDHN), 18 November 2020
We are calling for contributions from both members and guests employing digital methods in their research within the Islamicate Studies and related fields in the Humanities, as well as from our colleagues in Linguistics and Computer Science. We encourage submissions from those in Graduate School or beyond.
Deadline for submissions: 2 October 2020. Information: www.idhn.org
3. Conference: “Knowledge Systems and Ottoman-European Encounters: Spatial and Social Dynamics”, University of Zurich, 21-23 January 2021
The conference will focus on knowledge from or about the Ottoman Empire in the early modern period, addressing two questions: from a spatial perspective, how can the Ottoman Empire be included into a European history of knowledge? From a social viewpoint: how was knowledge inside or about the Ottoman Empire organized and what kind of social functions can there be distinguished?
4. Visiting Professorship (6 Months) at Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) under the Kuwait Program, Sciences Po, Paris
The visiting professorship will start 6 January 2021. We are seeking professors or researchers who are full-time faculty members of professorial rank from the social sciences or economics with a Middle East/Gulf focus.
Application deadline: 15 September 2020. Information: https://www.sciencespo.fr/kuwait-program/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Call_KSP_Visting_Faculty_Spring_2021_V2.pdf
5. 30 Fellowships for10 Months per Academic Year (Focus Mediterranean Studies) Offered by “French Institutes for Advanced Study” at High-level Scientific Residencies in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Montpellier
The fellowships are offered to outstanding researchers of all career levels. The minimum requirement is a PhD + 2 years of research experience at the time of the application. Exception will be made for scholars with a Master + 6 years of full‐time research experience after the degree. Researchers from all countries are eligible, but they have to have spent no more than 12 months in France during the three years prior to the application deadline.
Deadline for applications: 15 September 2020. Information: https://www.fias-fp.eu/
6. Book Proposals for New Series on “Cinema and Media Cultures in the Middle East“, Peter Lang Publishing
The purpose of the series is to demarcate and critically examine the shifting terrain of film- and media-making in the Middle East, and of practices of film and media studies regarding it, testing them both against their larger, social enabling conditions at the national, regional, and transnational levels. Titles in the series will engage recent developments in the field of Middle East film and media studies.
Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/6380782/cinema-and-media-cultures-middle-east
7. The Arab Regional Center for World Heritage (ARC-WH) has launched the Dr. Ahmad Yusuf Al-Ubaydli Award for the Study of Ancient Arab Dialects and Societies. The award will help shed light on the traditional Arabic languages and dialects that are threatened and disappearing, in addition to encouraging scientific research to enhance efforts of preserving intangible cultural heritage in the Arab world.The award covers all regions of the Arab world.
Regional and international researchers are invited to participate by presenting research or literature in Arabic or English that focus on various topics and areas of interest. Studies or text presented must be in line with the scientific method of analysis.The award includes the following areas: contemporary Arab societies that speak languages such as Dhofari, Mehri, and Socotran, as well as various forms of text and writings widespread in the Arabian Peninsula.
The deadline for submission is 1 June 2021. Those wishing to apply for the award must fill out of the form provided on ARC-WH’s website and send their research proposal to ARC-WH electronically via e-mail to info@arcwh.org <mailto:info@arcwh.org>. Contestants can also send their proposal to the following address: P.O. Box 75553, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain.
8. CFP for METHODOS 22 “Argumentation and Arabic Philosophy of Language”
Guest Editors Shahid Rahman and Walter Young invite submission of papers to be
published in “Argumentation and Arabic Philosophy of Language,” the
forthcoming issue of Methodos, the online review of the research unit
« Savoirs, Textes, Langage » (UMR 8163 – CNRS, Université de Lille)
(http://methodos.revues.org)
Argumentation and Arabic Philosophy of Language
The domain of Islamic thought and intellectual history boasts an important
body of studies relevant to the Arabic philosophy of language, as well as a
growing interest in Islamic argumentation theory and practice. There remains,
however, a dearth of volumes which pool research from both areas and examine
them together. Filling this gap is more critical than ever; in our time,
significant work is being conducted in argumentation theory, but little of it
draws from, or relates to, the rich intellectual traditions of Islam
(exceedingly few argumentation specialists have heard, for example, of Islamic
traditions of dialectical theory [jadal, munāẓara, ādāb al-baḥth], much less
benefited from the millennium of discussions and solutions they contain).
With this in mind, the main objective of this volume of Methodos is to provide
a venue for studies of hermeneutics, linguistic analysis, and deductive
reasoning (formal and informal) in the theory / practice of argumentation
relevant to the Arabic philosophy of language, including contributions on: (1)
theories which are geared towards argument (e.g., dialectical justifications
and objections, linguistic fallacies, strategies and protocols for engagement
on particular issues, etc.); (2) the dynamic of argument in shaping concepts
and theories (e.g., explaining how systematic argument fashioned certain
scholars’ solutions); and (3) theories “in action” (e.g., argument analyses of
the historical, scholarly dialectic on a certain problem).
Understanding that interdisciplinarity is a quintessential feature of
premodern Islamic thought, we are also particularly eager to attract
contributions on Argumentation and Arabic Philosophy of Language from a broad
spectrum of premodern Islamic disciplines (philosophy, theology, law and legal
theory, logic, dialectic, rhetoric, philology, grammar, linguistics, exegesis,
etc.) so as to provide testimony for the dynamic “unity in diversity” of
Islamic thought.
SUBMISSION OF PAPER PROPOSALS
Paper proposals (2500 characters) are to be sent electronically, in Word and
PDF formats, to Leone Gazziero (leone.gazziero@univ-lille.fr) and Florence
Thill (florence.thill@univ-lille.fr).
DEADLINE: 20 JANUARY 2021
Accepted languages : French, German, Italian, English.
SUBMISSION OF PAPERS
Once a proposal has been accepted, the authors will send their text in
accordance with the guidelines described under « Conditions de publication et
instructions aux auteurs » on the review’s website
(http://methodos.revues.org/2124).
DEADLINE: 15 MAY 2021
9. Call for chapters: Marriage and Forced Migration: New Understandings of Conjugal Relationships in the Middle East and North Africa
- Edited by: Yafa Shanneik, Mulki al-Sharmani and Farah Al Taji
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has experienced, since the beginning of the 21st century, large-scale forced movement of populations who fled wars in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia. The absorption of millions of these refugees, including (un)recognised asylum seekers, in neighbouring countries creates a number of significant socio-economic and political challenges. This massive forced population movement also resulted in ruptures of traditional understandings of family structures and gender roles defined by religio-cultural norms and values of both new-comers and of receiving societies.
This edited volume seeks to analyse conjugal relationships and matrimonial practices (marriage and divorce) as they are being debated and developed in theory and practice in the MENA region. We aim to explore to what extent the conflict- and crises-induced displacement of people contribute to the emergence of new understandings of family structures and relationships and their wider religious and socio-economic context. While there is a growing body of research on gender and sexuality in the MENA region and legislative or judicial approaches towards questions of Islamic family law, fewer studies have given attention to the impact of the significant refugee flows on the emergence of new conjugal relationship norms and practices in the MENA region.
Deadline for abstract submission: 15 September 2020
Abstracts of 300-500 words need to specify the empirical research and/or methodological and conceptual discussions the chapter is based on and the broader questions addressed. We also need a short bio of up to 200 words. The abstract and the bio need to be sent as one email attachment in MS Word format to Yafa Shanneik: y.shanneik@bham.ac.uk with ‘abstract and bio’ and your last name in the subject heading.
Further information at:
10. Posts: Alwaleed Centre, University of Edinburgh
Alwaleed Lecturer in the Globalised Muslim World: https://www.vacancies.ed.ac.uk/pls/corehrrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=053049
Alwaleed Early Career Teaching and Research Fellow: Contemporary Muslim Societies in Southeast Asia: https://www.vacancies.ed.ac.uk/pls/corehrrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=053050
The closing date for both posts is the 7th October.
Interviews for both posts will take place online towards the end of October.
- September 10, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. University of Toronto – Mississauga – Assistant Professor – History of Islamic Art and Architecture
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=60314
All application materials, including reference letters, must be received by September 30, 2020
2. MOON AND SUN, a bilingual edition of translations of Rumi’s rubaiyat, is now available in both hardcover and eBook formats.
You can find more information and purchase the book here: https://zarahoushmand.com/moon-and-sun/
3. Tehran Islamic Studies Monitor (TehranISM)
TehranISM is a series of conversations addressing Islamic studies across the world. The aim of conversations is to link “Western” and “non-Western” study of Islam. In particular, it aims at engaging more Iranian scholars and students with the state of the art in global Islamic studies.
Each conversation will focus on one recently published work about Islam. The structure of each conversation consists of: 5 minutes “introduction” by the host; 15 minutes “comments” by the discussant; and 20-30 minutes “response” by the author and the Q&A period.
For full information, see: https://ftis.ut.ac.ir/en/tehranism
September 3, 11 am (EDT), 16 (BST), 19:30 (Iran daylight time)
The Qur’an and the Bible: Text and Commentary.
Author: Gabriel Said Reynolds (University of Notre Dame)
Discussant: Mohsen Goudarzi (University of Minnesota)
September 10, 10 am (EDT), 15 (BST), 18:30 (Iran daylight time)
Teaching and learning the sciences in Islamicate societies (800-1700)
Author: Sonja Brentjes (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin)
Discussant: Amir Mohammad Gamini (University of Tehran)
September 17, 10 am (EDT), 15 (BST), 18:30 (Iran daylight time)
A Monument to Medieval Syrian Book Culture: The Library of Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī
Author: Konrad Hirschler (Freie Universität Berlin)
Discussant: TBA
September 24, 10 am (EDT), 15 (BST), 17:30 (Iran standard time)
Qur’anic Hermeneutics: Between Science, History, and the Bible
Author: Abdulla Galadari (Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi)
Discussant: Kurt Andres Richardson (University of Toronto)
October 1, 10 am (EDT), 15 (BST), 17:30 (Iran standard time)
Author: Marijn van Putten (Leiden University)
Discussant: Ala Vahidnia (Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran)
Further inquiries: feyzbakhsh@ut.ac.ir
4. Monash University is starting an open-to-public online seminar series on the medieval Sufi master Ibn Arabi (d.1240), titled “The Hidden Treasure.”
It will meet on the first Saturday of every month, and the inaugural seminar will be delivered by Dr. Stephen Hirtenstein (Ibn Arabi Society, UK) on Sept.5 (at 10am in London time). The seminars will be composed of 30-minute presentations by the speaker followed by 30 minutes of question and answer with the audience. See the link and the attachment for more info and for free registration: https://www.monash.edu/arts/Ibn-Arabi-Interreligious-Research-Initiative/news-and-events/events/events/the-hidden-treasure-ibn-arabi-seminar-series2 The following talk will be delivered by Prof. Pablo Beneito (Uni. Murcia, Spain) on Oct.3, and the series will feature other distinguished experts on Ibn Arabi.
5. Gentile Bellini’s Portrait of Sultan Mehmed II: Live and Afterlives of an Iconic Image
Elizabeth Rodini
IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, 2020
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/gentile-bellinis-portrait-of-sultan-mehmed-ii-9781838604813/
6. Le judaïsme persique
Le double sens de l’assimilation
de Reza ROKOEE
Editions du Cygne, 2020
http://www.editionsducygne.com/editions-du-cygne-judaisme-persique.html
- September 07, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Modern Hadith Studies
Continuing Debates and New Approaches
Edited by Belal Abu-Alabbas, Christopher Melchert, Michael Dann
Edinburgh University Press, 2020
2. The Department of History and the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations at Amherst College invite applications for a joint tenure-track appointment at the rank of assistant professor in South Asian history, broadly defined.
Amherst College is one of the most diverse liberal arts colleges in the country. Forty-five percent of our students identify as domestic students of color, and another 9 percent are international, with non-U.S. citizenship; 14 percent are the first members of their families to attend college. Amherst is committed to providing financial aid that meets 100 percent of every student’s demonstrated need, and 57 percent of our students receive financial aid. Our expectation is that the successful candidate will excel at teaching and mentoring students who are broadly diverse with regard to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, and religion.
We welcome applications from candidates in any specialization who are prepared to teach courses in both pre-modern and modern South Asian history, and who have strong commitments to scholarship and to teaching a diverse undergraduate student body. The teaching load is two courses per semester. The successful candidate will also be expected to advise senior thesis projects in both departments and to participate in the life of the college. Candidates must have the Ph.D. in history or a related field in hand, or all requirements for the degree must be fulfilled by the start of the appointment on July 1, 2021.
See: https://apply.interfolio.com/77685
Candidates who progress beyond the initial review will be asked to submit three letters of recommendation, a writing sample, and syllabi for two proposed courses. Review of applications will begin on October 15, 2020, and continue until the position is filled. Questions may be directed to Professor Trent Maxey, chair of the Asian Languages and Civilizations Department, at tmaxey@amherst.edu.
Amherst College is an equal opportunity employer and encourages persons of all genders, persons of color, and persons with disabilities to apply. The college is committed to enriching its educational experience and its culture through the diversity of its faculty, administration, and staff.
3. Silsila: Center for Material Histories, New York University
Fall 2020 Series
Islam in Africa: Material Histories
Dear colleagues and friends,
We are delighted to announce below the lineup for our fall lecture series Islam in Africa: Material Histories. Due to the ongoing restrictions imposed by the pandemic, this will be an online series in the form of Webinars. We are extremely grateful to our speakers for agreeing to participate in this format.
To accommodate audiences in the US and abroad, for this semester we are changing the timing of our lectures to 12.30-2.30 ET (New York time).
Each event will take place as a live Webinar at 12.30 ET New York (equivalent to 17.30 Abuja & London; 18.30 Berlin & Cape Town; 19.30 Addis & Beirut; 21.30 Islamabad; 22.00 Delhi; 23.30 Jakarta). Links to register are posted on the web pages for each event (https://as.nyu.edu/silsila/events.html). 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.
We look forward to welcoming you back to Silsila, virtually.
Silsila Fall 2020 Lecture Series, “Islam in Africa: Material Histories”
Sep 9th “THE LOST ARCHIVE – TRACES OF A CALIPHATE IN A CAIRO SYNAGOGUE” Marina Rustow, Princeton University
Sep 16th “SWAHILI MOSQUES BETWEEN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN” Stéphane Pradines, Aga Khan University, London
Sep 23rd “CONTINUITIES AND CROSSINGS – EAST AFRICAN ILLUMINATED QUR’ANS FROM FAZA AND SIYU” Zulfikar Hirji, York University, Toronto
Sep 30th “ITEMS OF VALUE IN THE WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN” Stephanie Wynne-Jones, University of York
Oct 7th “BROKER STATES & THE ARTICULATION OF MEDIEVAL AFRICA WITH THE ISLAMIC WORLD” François-Xavier Fauvelle, Collège de France
Oct 14th “THE PALACE OF KING NJOYA – COLONIALISM, MODERNITY, AND ISLAM” Mark DeLancey, DePaul University
Oct 20th “RELATIONS BETWEEN THE MAGHREB AND THE BILAD AL-SUDAN AT THE TIME OF THE BERBER EMPIRES” Mehdi Ghouirgate, Université Bordeaux-Montaigne
Oct 22nd “TRANS-SAHARAN SLAVERY AND GNAWA GUINBRI – FROM CONCEALMENT TO EXHIBITION” Cynthia Becker, Boston University
Oct 28th “THE TARIKH AL-FATTASH AND THE MAKING OF THE CALIPHATE OF HAMDALLAHI” Mauro Nobili, University of Illinois
Nov 4th “BECOMING MUSLIM. THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF ISLAMISATION AND TRADE IN EASTERN ETHIOPIA” Timothy Insoll, University of Exeter
Nov 11th “DETERMINANT INDETERMINACIES – ICONIC PHOTOGRAPHS OF A SENEGALESE SUFI SAINT” Allen F. Roberts, UCLA
Nov 18th “PAPERS OF ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPTS AS GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATORS” Anne Regourd, CNRS, Paris
Nov 24th “TIMBUKTU, THE SCHOLARS, AND RULERS: AHMAD BABA TINBUKTI’s Jalb al–ni‘ma wa daf‘ al-niqma bi mujānabat al-wulāt al-ẓalama (How to obtain blessing and avoid divine anger by avoiding unjust rulers)” Shamil Jeppie, University of Cape Town
Dec 2nd “GOLD WORK: TECHNIQUES AND EXCHANGE ACROSS THE SAHARA” Sarah Guérin, University of Pennsylvania
Dec 9th “AFRICA IN THE INDIAN OCEAN WORLD – THE PROBLEM OF MARGINS IN ART HISTORY” Prita Meier, NYU
4. “Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online” is an emerging platform of digital resources to aid the teaching of the history of Islamic art and architecture. In its initial stage, the platform provides original multimedia content developed by scholars from across the field of Islamic art, which is intended to aid educators in the creation of an interactive learning environment and to contribute to new ways of teaching in general, bringing new voices, perspectives, and materials into our classrooms. The project is spearheaded by Prof. Christiane Gruber at the University of Michigan and a team of six collaborators. Team Khamseen will make this material available to public audiences, with the aim to establish and expand a website with additional resources over the coming months.
Currently available mini-multimedia files include the following presentations, which were kindly (and very swiftly) provided by international experts. We hope these will prove useful to those teaching remotely this fall semester:
Water and Sound in Islamic Architecture
The Egyptian Tentmakers and the Art of Khayamiya
Islamic Art at the Walters Art Museum
İbrahim Müteferrika and the First Printed Books of the Islamic World
Touching Mecca & Medina: The Dalā’il al-Khayrāt and Devotional Practices
Gruber, Christiane and Paroma Chaterjee.
[available online with closed captions here]
A Safavid Painting of the Prophet Muhammad’s Mi‘raj
[available online with closed captions here]
Persian Painting in the Second Half of the Seventeenth Century: Farangi Sâzi Safavid Paintings
Dome of the Rock: Original Mosaics
The Paintings of Osman Hamdi Bey
The Khanqah of Baybar al-Jashinkir, 1306-1310
Islamic Arms and Armor: A Look at Dhu’l Fiqar, ‘Ali’s Miraculous Sword
Mahmoud Mukhtar’s Khamasin: Scuplture in Modern Egypt
The Stuart Cary Welch Islamic & South Asian Photograph Collection
Contextualizing the Hünername (Book of Talents)
Monumental Mosques in Latin America
Khamseen is an ongoing project and more material will be included on a rolling basis. For any questions, or if you are interested in contributing a mini multi-media file, please contact Sandy Williams (University of Michigan) at sswill@umich.edu.
5. ONLINE: International eConference on Interreligious Dialogue, Global Center for Religious Research (GCRR), 4-6 December 2020
The conference will bring together religion scholars, specialists, and practitioners of different faith traditions (from all over the world) to discuss the various complexities, problems, and solutions resulting from interreligious dialogue.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 September 2020. Information: https://www.gcrr.org/2020interreligiousdialogue
6. 3rd ANU Religion Conference: “Religion and Migration: Culture and Policy”, Australian National University, Canberra, 8-10 December 2020 – POSTPONED to 8-10 December 2021
The aim of this conference is to explore the various phenomena related to religion and migration; the political and social transitions impacting upon the transnational religiosity of contemporary communities.
Deadline for abstracts: 21 May 2021. Information: https://hrc.cass.anu.edu.au/events/religion-and-migration-culture-and-policy-0#acton-tabs-link–tabs-0-middle-1
7. British Academy Postdoc Fellowships (3 Years) for Outstanding Early Career Researchers in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Any nationals from the European Economic Area are eligible, regardless of where their doctorate was obtained. Eligible applicants are expected to be at an early stage of their career. This is defined as being within three years from the date of your successful Viva Voce examination.
Deadline for application: 14 October 2020.
Information: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/postdoctoral-fellowships/
8. Postdoctoral Fellowship (11 Months) for Research on Ottoman Turkish, Arabic and Persian Sources on Religion in the Ottoman Empire (15th -18th Centuries), Boğaziçi University, Istanbul
Application requirements: PhD degree in history, Islamic Studies, or a related field; near-native fluency in English and an excellent command of Ottoman Turkish, Persian and Arabic; experience in translating primary sources.
Deadline for applications: 4 September 2020. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/11419/discussions/6348878/cfa-postdoc-opportunity-bogazici-university-early-modern-ottoman
9. Up to 40 Scholarships (3 or 6 Months) for Historical Research on Near Eastern Civilizations and the Islamic World, Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Princeton University
Requirements: Substantial record of publications and a PhD awarded by no later than 31 December 2019.
Deadline for applications: 15 October 2020. Information: https://www.hs.ias.edu/mem_announcement
10. Up to 40 Residential Fellowships at the National Humanities Center, Research Triangle Park, North Dakota
Mid-career and senior scholars from all over the world are encouraged to apply. Emerging scholars with a strong record of peer-reviewed work may also apply. In addition to scholars from all fields of the humanities, the Center accepts individuals from the natural and social sciences, the arts, the professions, and public life who are engaged in humanistic projects.
Deadline for applications: 8 October 2020.
Information: https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/become-a-fellow/
11. Articles on “Islamic Theologies of Disasters: Between Science, Religion and Messianism” for Special Issue of “MIDEO” 38 (2023)
This issue of MIDEO is devoted to the Islamic theology of catastrophes at different periods of history, in ancient, modern and contemporary theological thought.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 June 2021.
Information: https://www.ideo-cairo.org/en/2020/07/call-for-papers-islamic-theologies-of-disasters/
12. Articles on “Historizing Islamophobia” for Special Issue of “Journal of the Contemporary Study of Islam”
We seek articles that present counter-hegemonic analyses, approaches and concepts, examining Islamophobia as a longer and more complex phenomenon. We are especially interested in papers which examine how settler-colonial projects against Indigenous communities and colonized communities have informed Islamophobia formations across varying national, social and political contexts.
Deadline for submissions: 20 February 2021. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/6142269/special-issue-%E2%80%9Chistorizing-islamophobia%E2%80%9D
13. Editors and Contributors on Middle Eastern, Persian and Iranian Studies for “The Digital Orientalist”
This is the digital magazine and arm the “American Oriental Society”. Editors will be expected to contribute 5-6 posts between September 2020 and June 2021. We are also looking for people who contribute guest posts or series of guests posts on the Digital Humanities in General, Islamic Studies, Syriac Studies etc.
Information: https://digitalorientalist.com/2020/06/30/open-call-for-editors-and-contributiors/
- August 31, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. International Conference on Gender Studies: “Mapping Gender”, Cambridge, UK, 5-6 December 2020
The conference seeks to explore the past and current status of gender identity around the world, to examine the ways in which society is shaped by gender and to situate gender in relation to the full scope of human affairs. Online participation is available. Presented papers will be published in a post-conference volume.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 September 2020. Information: https://genderstudies.lcir.co.uk/home/
2. Doctoral Contract for Research on “History: Places and Uses of Popular Arabic Tales in the Contemporary Levant (19th – 21st Century)”, Université Jean Moulin, Lyon
Applicants should hold a MA in Middle Eastern studies, the humanities, or social sciences, as well art history and architecture, at the time of submission of their project. The selected candidate will have to register in doctoral studies in Modern and Contemporary History at the Université Lyon 3 before the beginning of the contract.
Deadline for applications: 15 September 2020.
Information: https://www.ifporient.org/offre-de-contrat-doctoral-anr-lipol/
3. Fellowship in Turkish Studies for Research Visit (1-3 Months) at the Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Vienna
The fellowship is open to advanced doctoral candidates and postdoctoral/early stage researchers studying a specific subject in Turkish studies. We particularly welcome applications that expand the current research focus of the Department (i.e. environmental history, history of technology, digital humanities, consumption history, history of tourism, and cultural heritage).
Deadline for applications: 1 October 2020.
Information: https://orientalistik.univie.ac.at/forschung/fellowships/andreas-tietze-memorial-fellowship/
4. Winter School: “The State in Flux”, Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Doha, 3-13 January 2021
This program is open to advanced graduate students/early career researchers in the social sciences and humanities in the US, UK, Canada, and Europe. The objective is to provide an in-depth and critical look at specifically selected topics in the broader study of the Middle East.
Deadline for applications: 30 September 2020. Information: https://www.dohainstitute.org/en/Events/The-Second-Graduate-Winter-School-program/Pages/index.aspx
5. Articles on “Media Reporting of COVID19 and the Challenges of the Digital Environment” for Special Issue of “Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research”
Topics include: Media representation of the COVID19 pandemic; Serious journalism versus sensational reporting; Ethics and fake news in COVID19 reporting; Media coverage of the pandemic as ideological manipulation; Contested narratives: comparing global media’s case studies; etc.
Deadlines for abstracts: 30 August 2020.
Information: http://www.intellectbooks.com/journal-of-arab-muslim-media-research
6. Chapters for Edited Volume on “The Gendered Arab”
Topics include: The criteria of cisheteronormative masculinity in the Arab world; the unparalleled perceptions of the Arabian male figure in comparison to the traditional Non-Arab patriarchal archetype; conceptualizing the role of the domesticated Arab mother in terms of comparative individuality with the Western notion of motherness; etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 November 2020.
Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/6345674/gendered-arab
7. Call for papers: “Gather Up Fragments” – Digital Philology
We are calling for short case studies on individual fragments or dismembered manuscripts for a special issue of Digital Philology (https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/digital-philology-journal-medieval-cultures) for 2022. We are eager to encourage a global perspective on the dispersal, re-use, and fragmentation of non-Western manuscripts in this issue and we welcome submissions from colleagues working on global fragments, such as African, Asian, and Middle Eastern materials, and in particular from Islamic traditions.
We have extended the deadline of the abstract submission to 31 August 2020. Please send us your abstracts of 200-300 words.
Many thanks,
and best wishes,
Shiva Mihan
—
Shiva Mihan
Schroeder Curatorial Fellow of Islamic Art
617-495-9250
8. The UNC-Chapel Hill Persian Studies Program Presents:
Revisiting Discourses of Love, Sex, and Desire in Modern Iran and Diaspora: A Symposium in a Series of Virtual Panels
September 5 – October 3, 2020
For more information:
9. University of Edinburgh – Persian post
The department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, part of School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, seeks to appoint a Persian language assistant. This is a part time (17.5 hpw), fixed-term post available from September 2020 to August 2021. Closing date: 5 September, 2020.
Further details can be found here:
https://www.vacancies.ed.ac.uk/pls/corehrrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=052871
- August 25, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Call for Proposals, CAA 2021
The Classical is Political
109TH CAA (College Art Association of America, Inc.) ANNUAL CONFERENCE
New York City, February 10–13, 2021
Since the rise of nationalism in the 19th century, the modern nation has defined state identity in the present by redefining its ties to the distant past. No longer an historical—or art historical—given, the temporal, geographic, and ethnic construction of “the classical” became a function of the particular geo-political ambitions of the nation state. Throughout the late modern period, the territorial claims of imperialist nations were motivated by notions of ethnic and cultural lineage connecting occupying powers to the classical pasts of occupied lands. Meanwhile, some countries looked to notions of local classical history to define their distinct cultural identities as defense against the incursions of imperialist powers. The classical remains the subject of contestation in the contemporary. Whereas the right mobilizes classical aesthetics as the language of reactionary nostalgia, the left appropriates these forms as a vehicle for staging progressive positions on discourses on race, gender, religion and disability.
We solicit papers, focusing on a range of geographic and cultural localities, which examine the conflicts surrounding the construction of the classical. How and when did definitions of “the classical” take hold? How are claims on the classical past mobilized and what role has art and architecture played in these claims? What types of trans-cultural influences and hybrid cultural forms do definitions of the classical aim to distill or purify? How has the rise of post-colonial theory de-centered hegemonic constructs of the classical?
Please send your proposal, including the completed proposal form, title, 250 words (max.) abstract, 2-page CV, as well as a short statement explaining why your proposal would be a good fit for this panel: titrand@buffalo.edu and beringol@buffalo.edu. We encourage early submissions, and we can only consider proposals received on or before Sept. 16, 2020. Please note that panel participants must be active CAA members at the time of selection.
2. Islamic Manuscripts of Late Medieval Rum, 1270s-1370s: Production, Patronage and the Arts of the Book (Edinburgh University Press, 2020) – C. Jackson
3. The Armenian School of Languages and Cultures – ASPIRANTUM is inviting you to apply and participate in the “Learn Persian through the Shahname” online course.
You may find the details about this course and apply through this link: https://aspirantum.com/courses/learn-persian-through-shahname
The syllabus of the course is available here: https://aspirantum.com/curriculum/learning-persian-through-shahname-syllabus
4. Association for Iranian Studies 2020 awardees:
AIS Lifetime Achievement Award:
Emerita Professor Erika Friedl, Western Michigan University
*****
Mehrdad Mashayekhi Dissertation Award
Winner: Dr. Peyman Jafari.
Thesis: “Oil, Labor and Revolution in Iran; A Social History of Labor in the Iranian Oil Industry, 1973-83.” University of Leiden, October 2018
Advisors: Prof. Touraj Atabaki and Prof. Marcel van der Linden
Honorable Mention: Dr. Sheida Dayani.
Thesis: “Juggling Revolutionaries: A Theatrical History of Indigenous Theatre and Early Playwriting in Iran.” New York University, 2018
Advisors: Prof. Mohammad Mehdi Khorrami and Prof. Arnold Aronson
*****
Keiji Yamamoto (ed) and Charles Burnett (ed), The Great Introduction to Astrology by Abu Ma’sar (2 vols.), Volume 106 Herausgeber: Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2019.
*****
Dominic Brookshaw (Associate Professor of Persian Literature, and Senior Research
Fellow in Persian at Wadham College, Oxford University), Hafiz and His
Contemporaries – Poetry, Performance and Patronage in Fourteenth-Century Iran. London: I.B. Tauris / Bloomsbury, 2019).
******
Nazanin Shahrokni (Assistant Professor of Gender and Globalization at the London School of Economics and Political Science), Women in Place: The Politics of Gender Segregation in Iran. University of California Press, 2019.
*****
Winner: Rika Gyselen (Directrice de Recherche émérite, CNRS: Histoire ancienne – Iran), La géograghie administrative de l’Émpire Sassanide. Les témoignages épigraphiques en moyen-perse. Res Orientales XXV, Groupe pour l’Étude de la Civilisation du Moyen-Orient, 2019.
Honorable Mention: Matthew Canepa (University of California-Irvine), The Iranian Expanse: Transforming Royal Identity through Architecture, Landscape, and the Built Environment, 550 BCE-642 CE.University of California Press, 2020.
Normally, we would celebrate them in person at a lovely reception at our conference. And we will certainly do that at the next available opportunity. This year, however, the award committee chairs have agreed to share proper appreciations of their awardees in the 2020 Virtual Workshop on August 22nd . If you are looking for another reason to visit the Virtual Workshop, you now have it! In the interim, I am sure you will join me congratulating these fine scholars who inspire us to do our best, as they have done their best, for the field.
My thanks also to our colleagues serving on the award committees (Please follow the links above to learn more about the awards and the committees). Let me add an additional presidential “thank you” to Dr. Canepa, Dr. Jafari, and Dr. Brookshaw for their service on AIS Council, AIS Nominating Committee and the Iranian Studies Editorial Board, respectively. We need scholarship and service both.
All best,
Camron Michael Amin
AIS President
5. Appended below is the Call for Papers for the next volume (32) of the Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion (RSSSR) which I co-edit with Professor Ralph Hood – https://brill.com/view/serial/RSSR . RSSSR 32 will have special section on Cultural Blindness in Psychology and Religion of Belief in HE. It will also have its regular open section for papers on any subject within the socio-scientific study of religion. We welcome your proposals .
Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion (RSSSR) is an interdisciplinary, international peer-viewed annual series, which publishes new and innovative research within the social scientific study of religion or belief. Contributions span a range of theoretical orientations, geographic contexts and research methods, though most articles are reports of original quantitative or qualitative research related mainly to the sociology and/or psychology of religion.
RSSR usually includes one or more guest-edited special sections that allows networks of researchers to report studies in areas that are or current interest or which are innovative and expanding the discipline into new areas. For 2021, RSSR will include the following special sections
Special section 1: Cultural Blindness in Psychology. Guest Editor Dr. Louise Sundararajan, has collected several papers documenting cultural blindness in psychology beginning with her own paper, “Cultural blindness in psychology: Implications for studies of religion.”
Special section 2: Religion or Belief in Higher Education. In this section, we will explore religious and non-religious identities on university campuses anywhere in the world. Chapter may interrogate how these identities are ‘lived’ on campus and how these are dealt with in university policy, practice, management and curricula. This section will explore the diversity of ways in which religious and non-religious identities are experienced, encountered and catered for on higher education campuses. We invite proposals for papers that explore any dimension of religion or non-religion on campuses in any geographical context, focussing on a particular tradition, group or movement or on the interactions between different parties, or on broader cultural or political changes impacting upon how religion is expressed within campus contexts. We hope that the special section will attract a range of epistemological positions and disciplinary standpoints.
Submitting Proposals
We invite proposals for the next edition of the RSSSR – RSSSR 32. This will be published by autumn 2021. We welcome proposals from academics at all levels of their career, including early career researchers and final year PhD students.
For Book Chapters
Please submit a title and abstract of no more than 300 words together with names and short biographies (150 words), institutional affiliation/s (if relevant), and contact details.
- Deadline for abstracts: 5pm on Friday 30th October 2020
- Notification of acceptance of paper: 5pm on Friday 13th November 2020
- If accepted full papers will be due by 5pm Friday 12th March 2021
Proposals for both the main and special sections should be send to the editors, Ralph Hood (ralph-hood@utc.edu) and Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (ac0967@coventry.ac.uk).
For Special Section Proposals
We welcome enquiries for guest edited special sections for RSSSR 32 and also for future editions. Special section proposals can emerge from conference proceedings or from other forms of academic collaboration around a specific subject area. To suggest a special proposal please contact the editors Ralph Hood (ralph-hood@utc.edu) and Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (ac0967@coventry.ac.uk) in the first instance, with the following information:
- Theme / Title of the special section
- Short rationale of the special section (no more than 500 words)
- Guest editor/s name and short bio (150 words) for each editor
- List of potential contributors
- If accepted timelines for special sections will be discussed with editors
For more information and submission guidelines please check the author guidelines (https://brill.com/fileasset/downloads_products/RSSR_Author%20Guidelines.pdf) or contact the editors.
We look forward to receiving your work.
Professor Ralph Hood and Dr Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor
Dr Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor
Assistant Professor | Research Group Lead | Faith and Peaceful Relations
Series Editor | Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion
Chair (2020-2023) | Muslims in Britain Research Network
Principal Investigator | AHRC GCRF Minorities on Campus in India (2020-2022)
Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University
- August 22, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.The Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, London, is organising online short course on “Decolonisation: Knowledge, Power, and Politics” by Dr Sanaa Alimia.
Decolonisation: Knowledge, Power, and Politics (Short Course)
In the twentieth century, anti-colonial and anti-racist movements in Asia, Africa, and the Americas appeared to be radically remaking the modern world. Yet the creation of new and politically independent nation-states was only one stage of decolonisation. The configuration of global power is still unequal. The ways in which we think and engage in the world continue to be marked by a colonial past and present. Yet alternative possibilities have been and are being imagined and practiced.
Situated across the disciplines of Politics, History, and Sociology this introductory course examines the unfinished business of decolonisation. The course will:
- Introduce students to key ideas in decoloniality, post-colonialism, Marxism, gender, and ecological studies.
- Analyse the historic contexts of political decolonisation.
- Ask how are our everyday lives impacted by colonial legacies using the example of race, gender, and desire?
Download the Course Structure.
Learning Outcome
To understand how the current world system has developed over a period of 500 years of colonialism, slavery, and exploitation, making modernity and coloniality two sides of the same coin.
Course Convenor
Dr Sanaa Alimia is interested in analysing structures of power and how they play out in our everyday lives. Her first manuscript reconstructs microhistories of refugees, undocumented migrants, and low-income groups in Pakistan. An Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, Sanaa Alimia holds a PhD from the Department of Politics and International Relations at SOAS, London where she also taught (2011-2014). She was a Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Peshawar (2013-2017) and a Research Fellow at the Berlin Graduate School for Muslim Societies, Freie Universität, Berlin (2014-2016) and Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin (2014-2019).
Some of the courses she has taught include:
- Understanding Frantz Fanon
- Global Racialised Migration in the 20th-to-21st Centuries
- The Politics of Modern Muslim Mobility
- Social Movements and Political Protest
- Urban Housing in the Global South
- Comparative Politics
- International Relations
One-on-one Sessions
Interested participants are invited to arrange two individual one-on-one online sessions (each for 45 minutes). These can be used up to 8 weeks after the course has been delivered. They can discuss key texts, pieces of writing, or reflections in those sessions. These sessions must be booked in advance.
Course Preparation
Participants will be asked to listen to a 10-minute pre-recorded lecture before attending each session. They will also be asked to read a mixture of academic texts, poetry, political speeches, and news articles, and to listen to and/or watch songs, performances, and short visual clips.
Time
28, 29 and 30 September 2020, 9.00-11.30
Tickets and Booking
£75.00 for professionals | £45.00 for students, AKU alumni, and AKU staff. Register as soon as possible.
*The course will be delivered via Zoom. Further details will be provided later upon registration.
2. The HIAA-sponsored discussion of online resources for the teaching of Islamic art is now freely available at this URL:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FSpDdDx7kmGgOEJy8WaNyv7LHI-zm-CA/view?usp=sharing
The discussion includes a synthesis of online resources by Christiane Gruber (University of Michigan), an exploration of museum online collections of Islamic art by Ruba Kana’an (University of Toronto, Mississauga), and an overview of Archnet by Michael Toler and Matt Saba (Archnet/MIT).
3. International Conference “Mapping South-South Connections: Networks, Alliances and New Actors on the International Scene during the Decolonization Process and Cold War in Latin America, Asia and Africa (1810–1990)”, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, 21–22 November 2020
This conference is organized in collaboration with the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and aims to explore historical, political and cultural South-South connections from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Deadline for abstracts: 10 September 2020. Information: https://southsouthconnections.atu.ac.ir
4. Three Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships in Art and Humanities, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire (2021-2023)
These fellowships foster the academic careers of scholars who have recently (since January 2020) received their Ph.D. degrees by permitting them to pursue their research while gaining mentored experience as teachers and members of the departments and/or programs in which they are housed, including Middle Eastern Studies, Comparative Literature, Jewish Studies.
Deadline for applications: 15 September 2020.
Information: https://leslie.dartmouth.edu/opportunities/post-docs/mellon-postdoctoral-fellowships
5. Research Papers and Project Demos on “Jews, Christians, and Muslims as Colleagues and Collaborators in the Abbasid Near East” for Special Issue of “Medieval Worlds: Comparative & Interdisciplinary Studies”
Relevant topics: Surveys of trends in dynamics between scholars of different religious communities, illustrated by case studies or by quantitative approaches; Comparative studies of attitudes among different linguistic or religious communities (Arabic, Syriac, Greek; Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Samaritan); Network analysis involving relationships among people, places, or books; etc.
Abstract Deadline: 28 August 2020– Information: http://t.usaybia.net/forum2020/index.html
6. Resource: Academic Search-Engine of Free eJournals: JURN
JURN is a curated academic search-engine, which helps you find free academic articles and books. JURN harnesses all the power of Google, but focusses your search through a hand-crafted and curated index covering Social Sciences and Humanities, including Middle East Studies and selected university fulltext repositories as well as many additional ejournals in science, business and law.
Search millions of free academic articles, chapters and theses at www.jurn.org
7. New Methods in the Study of Islam
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Methods play a notable role in the scholarly cognition of available data and shape (and even direct) scholarly productions. In the study of religions, methods also highlight possible connections between various traditions by utilizing a multitude of socio-cultural, anthropological, legal, textual and other disciplinary approaches. When it comes to disclosing methods and methodologies, the study of Islam remains no exception. However, many in Islamic studies tend to employ established or classic methods that seemingly echo (neo-)orientalist and political inclinations. This volume seeks to offer an alternative, and we welcome new, innovative, and inter-/multi-disciplinary approaches. Framed boldly, we want to encourage new ways to think about and study Islam.
This call asks a set of broad questions: What are (the) new methods in the study of Islam? Can newer approaches to methods and methodologies provide different lenses to examine Islam and Islamic Studies? Can technology revolutionize our method and methodological preferences? Can textuality, once the dominant method, be replaced by non-textual methods to understand Islam and its relations with other religions? Can one theorize the ethics of method application in the study of Islam?
New Methods in the Study of Islam offers a modest proposal to discover new methods, methodologies and approaches that can be applied, utilized and conceived in the study of Islam and Islamic Studies. The volume also seeks to show how such methods and approaches help us understand Islam’s relationship to other religious traditions.
Potential themes in the volume include (but are not limited to) the following,
- The concept of New Method in the Study of Islam
- Method vs. Methodology in the Study of Islam
- Existing Paradigms in Methodological Study of Islam
- Decolonizing Methods/Methodologies in Islamic Studies
- Easternism, Westernism and Centrality in Methods
- Historicizing and Universalizing Methods in Islamic Studies
- Ethics of method production and application in the Study of Islam
- Evaluating and Assessing Established or Emerging Methods
- New Methods for Comparative Study of Islam and Other Religions
Scholars, researchers, and instructors are invited to send an abstract of their proposed chapters (max. 200 words) and a short bio-note to the editors, Abbas Aghdassi and Aaron W. Hughes before November 30, 2020.
Abstracts and subsequent chapters should be submitted in English.
Notification of abstract acceptance will be communicated by January 15, 2021. Following the notification, authors will be invited to submit their full chapter by April 30, 2021. Chapters would then undergo a review by the editors, at which point authors will be notified if revisions are required.
We plan to publish the volume in Brill’s Supplements to Theory and Method in the Study of Religion (SMTR).
Please, circulate this call. For any general queries, feel free to contact us at (aghdassi@um.ac.ir).
Editors Abbas Aghdassi, Ed., (aghdassi@um.ac.ir)
Aaron W. Hughes, Ed. (aaron.hughes@rochester.edu)
Abstract submission Nov 30, 2020
Acceptance note Jan 15, 2021
Chapter submission Apr 30, 2021
Initial reviews May 30, 2021
Revised chapter June 30, 2021
CHAPTER FORMAT
The following format will help ensure coherence. A full chapter should be 6000-8000 words (approx.) including, reference, tables, figures etc.
| TITLE | Clearly defined and relevant to the text |
| ABSTRACT | 200 words |
| INTRODUCTION | 750 words (approx.) |
| LITERATURE (context, concepts, methods) | 1500 words (approx.) |
| DISCUSSION | 3000 words (approx.) |
| CONCLUSION | 500 words (approx.) |
| REFERENCES/CITATIONS | CHICAGO 17TH ed. (notes and bibliography***) |
| KEYWORDS | 3-6 (required for indexing) |
| LANGUAGE | English U.S. |
*** See this for some examples: https://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/c.php?g=508212&p=5426978
8. What’s wrong with talking about maps that we want to consider historically as “historical maps”?
https://www.mappingasprocess.net/blog/2020/8/13/rehabilitating-historica…
9. The Great Lakes Adiban Workshop will take place on Zoom on September 5-6, 2020. The workshop will feature two roundtable discussions and eight presentations by both veterans of our workshops and newcomers, ranging across Arabic, Persian, and Urdu literature, from the 3rd/9th century to the 14th/20th. The schedule is available on our website (https://greatlakesadiban.github.io/), along with further information about GLAS.
Attendance is free and open, but we do ask that all participants register through this link: https://forms.gle/pDV2V59N1Mn9nHmG9. Please register by Friday, August 21st so that we can ensure full participation, and please contact the organizers if you require accommodations or have further questions.
- August 18, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Iranian musicians residing in Iran and American Opera singers living in Washington, DC, facilitated by Roshan Institute for Persian Studies in partnership with the IN Series Opera in Washington DC, and the North American Iranian Friendship Association in Tehran, collaborated together for a performance in cyberspace.
The Director of the Roshan Institute for Persian Studies, Dr. Fatemeh Keshavarz, has made a clip of just over 6 minutes of the performance available:
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/iran-us-musicians-collaborate-trnd/index.html
2. International Seminar: “End-of-Life Care and the Islamic Moral Tradition”, Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics (CILE), Doha, 20-22 October 2020
This seminar aims to critically address the key EoLC ethical questions, by engaging a wide range of scholarly disciplines, including those within the field of Islamic studies (e.g., Theology, Philosophy, Jurisprudence & Legal Theory, Sufism, and Adab) in addition to other disciplines like social sciences and legal studies.
Information: https://www.cilecenter.org/resources/news/call-research-papers-end-life-care-eolc-and-islamic-moral-tradition
3. 5th Annual International Conference of the Gulf Studies Centre: “Social Change in the Gulf Societies in the 21st Century”, Qatar University, 11–12 November 2020
This conference aims to explore the role of economic transformation, education, social media, migration, and urbanization in the social changes in the Gulf societies, with a focus on their directions, magnitudes, and relevant policy options.
Information: http://www.qu.edu.qa/research/gulfstudies-center/events/Social-Change-in-the-Gulf-Societies-in-the-21st-Century
4. Symposium: “Ottoman Ego-Documents”, Istanbul Medeniyet University, 7-9 April 2021
The symposium will be in English and Turkish. The texts belonging to pre-Tanzimat period are particularly advised to present. The primary sources used in the presentations can be in Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, Persian or any other languages spoken/written in Ottoman territories. The main focus would be on the texts written in Ottoman Turkish.
Information: https://benanlatilari.medeniyet.edu.tr/en/symposium/home-page-sempozyum
5. POSTPONED from Philadelphia 2020: Panel on “Representing Islands and Water in the Early Modern Period (Focus Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean)” during the 67th Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America: Dublin, 7-10 April 2021
Topics may include: Questions around the notion of insularity between the years 1400-1700; Urban space through chorographic representations and urban views of island cities; The power relations between the political powers seen through Early Modern cartography; etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 August 2020. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/6296056/reprensenting-islands-and-water-early-modern-period and https://rsa.confex.com/rsa/2021/cfp.cgi
6. Postdoctoral Researcher (4.5 Years) in DFG-Graduiertenkolleg “Empires: Dynamic Change, Temporality of Post-Imperial Orders”, University of Freiburg, Germany
Candidates are invited from the following disciplines: Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern, Modern, and Contemporary History of any global area, Sociology, Political Science, Near Eastern Studies, Literary/Cultural/Media Studies.
Deadline for application: 4 September 2020.
Information: http://zanderdev.com/GRK_2571/en/Call%20for%20Applications.pdf
7. Six Postgraduate Positions (3 Years) for PhD Program (DFG-Graduiertenkolleg) “Empires: Dynamic Change, Temporality of Post-Imperial Orders”, University of Freiburg, Germany
We are looking for postgraduates with a background in the following disciplines: Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern, Modern, Eastern European and East Asian History as well as Sociology, Political Science, Literary/Cultural/Media Studies.
Deadline for application: 4 September 2020. Information: http://zanderdev.com/GRK_2571/en/Call%20for%20Applications.pdf
8. Up to 10 Fellowships for International Doctoral Students in European History, the History of Religion, Historical Theology, or other Historical Disciplines, Leibniz Institute of European History (EIG), Mainz
We fund PhD projects on European history from the early modern period until 1989/90. We are particularly interested in projects with a comparative or cross-border approach, on European history in its relation to the wider world, or on topics of intellectual and religious history. The IEG Fellowships provide a unique opportunity to pursue your individual PhD project while living and working for 6–12 months at the Institute in Mainz.
Deadline for applications: 15 August 2020. Information: https://www.ieg-mainz.de/en/fellowships
9. 30 Fellowships for 10 Months per Academic Year (Focus Mediterranean Studies) Offered by “French Institutes for Advanced Study” at High-level Scientific Residencies in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Montpellier
The fellowships are offered to outstanding researchers of all career levels. The minimum requirement is a PhD + 2 years of research experience at the time of the application. Exception will be made for scholars with a Master + 6 years of full‐time research experience after the degree. Researchers from all countries are eligible, but they have to have spent no more than 12 months in France during the three years prior to the application deadline.
Deadline for applications: 15 September 2020. Information: https://www.fias-fp.eu/
10. Gerald D. Feldman Travel Grants to Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey etc.
The travel grants are meant to improve the career opportunities for humanities and social science academics in their qualification phase. The scientists conduct a self-chosen research project in at least two and at most three host countries: China, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Turkey, USA. The total term of funding shall not exceed three months.
Deadline for applications: 9 October 2020.
Information: https://www.maxweberstiftung.de/en/foerderung/gerald-d-feldman-travel-grants.html
11. Articles on “Islamic Theologies of Disasters: Between Science, Religion and Messianism” for Special Issue of Journal “MIDEO” 38 (2023)
This issue is devoted: the Islamic theology of catastrophes at different periods of history, in ancient, modern and contemporary theological thought. See Call for Papers with many proposals of themes.
Deadline for paper: 30 June 2021.
Information: https://www.ideo-cairo.org/en/2020/07/call-for-papers-islamic-theologies-of-disasters/
- August 08, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.ONLINE Conference: “Global Islamic Archaeology Showcase”, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS), University of Exeter, 26 September 2020
We welcome papers from Ph.D. students and early career researchers, as well as those studying a Master’s by Research, whose focus is Islamic archaeology and material culture in the broadest sense: we embrace a wide chronological range and geographical focus.
Deadline for abstracts: 22 August 2020. Information: https://www.islamicarchaeology.co.uk/
2. POSTPONED: Conference “Christian-Muslim Missionary Encounters, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries”, Mission and Modernity Research Academy (MiMoRA#3), Leuven, Belgium, 3-10 November 2020, Postponed until 1-3 February 2021
Themes: Reactions to Christian/Muslim missionary activities in the fields of education, literacy, health care, etc.; Space-settings of Christian/Muslim encounter-interaction; Muslim responses to (Western) Christian missions; The agency of Islamic activism in transforming the practices and thinking of Christian missionaries; Muslim responses to Christian interventions into Islamic religious practice; etc.
Information: https://kadoc.kuleuven.be/english/3_research/31_ourresearch/mimora
3. 5th Conference of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences (ACSS): “Interrogating the Social Sciences in the Vortex of Crises: Waves of Discontent and Demands for Change”, Beirut, 21-23 May 2021
The conference is open to papers from all social science and allied disciplines and to scholars from the Arab region and the rest of the world. Applicants must hold at least an MA degree and be actively engaged in social science research. Papers may examine contemporary or historical phenomena. Comparative, cross-regional and global perspectives are particularly encouraged. The conference will be organized around the following four major axes: Inequality and Resistance; The State and Risk Society; Infrastructure and Survival; Global, Regional and National Ecologies.
Deadline for abstracts: 25 September 2020. Information: http://www.theacss.org/pages/fifth-conference
4. M.A. in Mediterranean Studies, Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of the Peloponnese, 2020-2021
The MA is taught in English in partnership with the University of Bologna (Italy), Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (France), Yaşar University (Turkey), Neapolis University of Pafos (Cyprus), and the Olympia Summer Academy.
Deadline for application: 31 August 2020. Information: https://pedis.uop.gr/?page_id=1949
5. Articles for New Open-access Peer-reviewed “Journal of Islamic Law”, Harvard Law School
Focusing on historical, comparative, and law and society approaches to Islamic law, we have a keen interest in featuring data science tools and primary sources that inform the scholarly analysis. The Journal welcomes long-form articles, essays, book reviews, and notes on cases and other new developments in the field.
Information: https://journalofislamiclaw.com/current
6. Articles on “Disinformation in the Middle East” for Special Issue oft he Journal “Open Information Science”, De Gruyter
We welcome studies that are focused on the empirical investigation of infodemics targeting the Middle East and/or originating from the region.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 September 2020.
Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/6278732/disinformation-middle-east
7. Paid Articles on “The Influence of Covid-19 on the Already Vulnerable Rights and Freedoms in the MENA Region” for Special Issue of “Rowaq Arabi”
This issue aims to provide new research on the influence of the Cvid-19 pandemic on governance, freedoms and rights in the already troubled MENA region. How does Covid-19 crisis management in the region unfold the practical meaning and consequences of the interdependence and indivisibility of civil, political, economic and social rights? And to what extent can the realisation of civil and political rights contribute to the efficacy of states’ responses to the crisis?
Deadline for manuscripts: 31 August 2020. Information: https://rowaq.cihrs.org/call-for-contributions-the-influence-of-covid-19-on-the-already-vulnerable-rights-and-freedoms-in-the-mena-region/?lang=en
8. Religious Healing and Sacred Health Curing: Online Documentary Film Program and Debate (week 3)
Please join our third biweekly webinar (8 August 2020), documentary film presentation and debate organized by the Network of the Anthropology of the Middle East and Central Eurasia of EASA in collaboration with the Religion and Society Research Cluster, Western Sydney University.
Introduction to the program by Dr. P. Khosronejad (Western Sydney University), debate by researcher and filmmaker Dr. Christian Suhr (Aarhus University), and discussant Dr. Paola Esposito (University of Oxford).
Film presentation
Descending with Angels
Christian Suhr, 2013, 75 minutes, Denmark.
Synopsis
Islamic exorcism or psychotropic medication? ”Descending with Angels” explores two highly different solutions to the same problem: namely Danish Muslims who are possessed by invisible spirits, called jinn.
A Palestinian refugee living in the city of Aarhus has been committed to psychiatric treatment after a severe case of jinn possession which caused him to destroy the interior of a mosque, crash several cars, and insult a number of people. He sees no point in psychotropic medication since his illness has already been treated with Quranic incantations. A psychiatrist and nurse try to understand his point of view but find that even further medication is needed. In the meantime a local imam battles a stubborn jinn-spirit of Iraqi origin and tries to explain the Muslims of Aarhus that they should stop worrying so much about jinn, magic, and other mundane affairs since nothing can harm anyone except by the permission of God.
The film compares two systems of treatment that despite vast differences both share a view of healing as operating through submission of faith to an external non-human agency — namely God or psychotropic medicine.
After the film, a debate with the presence of the filmmaker.
A link will be provided to all participants after the introduction debates to watch the film online or via screen sharing through the moderator’s screen.
This webinar will be held on Zoom.
Time
August 8, 2020 10:00 AM London
Registration
https://uws.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6XcISVSiTHSZpMl8n0jUGw
- August 04, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.ASPIRANTUM is a language school based in Yerevan, Armenia.
We offer Persian language summer and winter schools every year.
In 2020 we were anticipating to have around 40 students but because of COVID our summer school 2020 in Yerevan was canceled. Instead we offered online courses to our prospective students.
We had 17 students for our first Persian language online summer school and the testimonials from the graduates of our first online school are already available here: https://aspirantum.com/testimonials.
From August 10 till August 28 we are organizing our second online Persian language summer school.
Please check this announcement for details and apply: https://aspirantum.com/courses/learn-persian-online
2. Society of Fellows, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dartmouth College
These fellowships foster the academic careers of scholars who have recently received their Ph.D. degrees by permitting them to pursue their research while gaining mentored experience as teachers and members of the departments and/or programs in which they are housed. We are particularly interested in scholars whose research is innovative and transcends traditional disciplinary divides. Applications will be accepted in the various fields of humanities, social sciences, sciences, interdisciplinary programs, engineering, business and medicine.
Eligibility
Applicants for the 2021 – 2024 Society Fellowships must have completed a Ph.D. no earlier than January 1, 2019, and must have their degree in hand by June 30, 2021. Selection criteria include exceptional and innovative research, ability to transcend disciplinary boundaries, and potential to contribute to an interdisciplinary community of scholars. Dartmouth is highly committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive population of students, faculty, and staff. We are especially interested in applicants who are able to work effectively with fellows, faculty, students, and staff from all backgrounds, including but not limited to: racial and ethnic minorities, women, individuals who identify with LGBTQ+ communities, individuals with disabilities, individuals from lower income backgrounds, and/or first generation college graduates.
Application and process
Applications are accepted through Interfolio at apply.interfolio.com/77464 and must be received on or before Monday, September 14, 2020, 11:59 PM EDT.
Full info at: https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=60244
3. The Hidden Life of Textiles in the Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean Contexts and Cross-Cultural Encounters in the Islamic, Latinate and Eastern Christian Worlds
Vryzidis (ed.), Brepols, 2020
http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9782503587738-1
4. Projects Assistant
The London School of Economics and Political Science
The LSE Middle East Centre drives LSE’s engagement with the Middle East and North Africa and provides a central hub for the wide range of research on the region carried out at LSE. We are looking to hire a Projects Assistant to provide proactive and efficient administration support for various Middle East Centre projects on subjects including climate change in the GCC and gender in the Palestinian West Bank. The post holder will be an integral part of the Middle East Centre team and will be keen to contribute to Centre life and grow in their role.
Closing date for applications | 9 August 2020
Further information
5. Project Co-ordinator Brunel University London
Brunel University London is seeking to recruit a Project Co-Ordinator for an international interdisciplinary team with partners in the Africa, Middle East, South East Asia and the UK. This post is to support a funded project which explores the role of the arts in preventing and mitigating the impacts of violence and armed conflict. This is an exciting and creative role supporting a team of academics, artists, scholars, policy makers and advocates for the arts, and will involve project coordination and organisation, partnership management, website content design, research resource gathering and impact and evaluation.
Closing date for applications | 21 August 2020
Further information
6. Research Fellowship in the History and Culture of the Countries of the Silk Roads
King’s College, Cambridge
Through a generous donation, King’s College Cambridge is able to invite applications for a four-year Research Fellowship from those who are completing or have recently completed a doctorate and who intend to pursue a research project on some aspect of the Silk Road countries, societies, and cultures of Asia from the Western borders of China to the Mediterranean Sea, as well as their relationships with China in the East and Europe in the West, since 1400CE. The research project’s discipline may be, but is not limited to, politics, geography, anthropology, comparative literature, social/political aspects of economics, history and archaeology.
Closing date for applications | 4 September 2020
Further information
7. Call for book proposals – Disruptions
Edinburgh University Press
The Middle East is experiencing major political transformations, some of which continue from the Arab uprisings of 2011, which invite historical and comparative examinations. The first of its kind, Disruptions publishes studies on the origins, nature, and impact of the ideas, events (uprisings, revolutions, protests), and actors (ordinary people, activists, intellectuals, or leaders) that are now disrupting the social orders in the region.
The series focuses on the genesis, development, and outcomes of ongoing transformations, but is open for historical studies with still-relevant theoretical and comparative topics. Topics may include, but are not limited to: Violent/non-violent forms of political protest; genesis and development of social movements; revolutions; arts and politics; women, gender, LGBT, or labour movements; norm diffusion; digital activism; civil societies.
Further information
8. Call for Papers: “Women in revolt. Mobilizations, pathways, imaginations – the Arab Mediterranean 1950-2020”
Univ. Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne | 10-12 February 2021
The ERC Dream programme seeks your contributions for a three-dayconference dedicated to women in revolt in the Arab Mediterranean world (1950s to the present). In the framework of the research undertaken on revolts and revolutions, Dream focuses its investigations on the protagonists who are the most invisible inthe human and social sciences and in collective memory. While much work has been devoted in recent decades to the place of women in societies and in struggles (Bereni, Révillard, 2001; Kréfa et Barrières, 2018), it is clear that the figure of the revolted or revolutionary woman has more recently been forcefully renewed by women’s voices in the context of the Arab Spring of 2011 and the new uprisings in Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq.
Deadline | 1 September 2020
Further information
9. Call for Abstracts on men and masculinities for a potential special issue, Guest editor: Dr. Çimen Günay-Erkol
Middle Eastern Literatures
MEL (Middle Eastern Literatures) is willing to consider a potential special issue on men and masculinities to discuss the changing social construction of masculinities in Middle Eastern literatures, and to elaborate on how literature as a field can contribute to the theorization of masculinities. This special issue is intended to explore masculinities as dynamic and multifaceted phenomena emerging within contradictory cultural, material and discursive contexts of the Middle East. The aim is to locate and dislocate masculinities, along the line of thought presented by Andrea Cornwall and Nancy Lindisfarne in Dislocating Masculinity (1994). Cornwall and Lindisfarne punctuated the importance of considering the various ways people understand masculinities in particular settings, so that it becomes possible to explore how masculinities are defined and redefined in social interaction.
Deadline | 30 September 2020
Further information
10. Call for Papers: “Challenging Orientalism: New questions of perception and reception”
Proposals are invited for the above panel which is will take place at the Association for Art History’s Annual Conference in 2021. Western visual culture has long depicted themes of Orientalism in paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs and films. Since Linda Nochlin applied Edward Said’s theory to paintings in 1983, these works have occupied a complex and often uncomfortable place in Western art history. Nevertheless, Orientalist artworks continue to present their dissonant character, as simultaneously crowd-pleasing favourites and critically discounted works. This session seeks to enlarge a contested field of art historical study by inviting submissions that re-evaluate its historiography, offer novel studies of Orientalist art from the 19th century to the modern day, and examine contemporary practices around its display and reception.
Deadline | 19 October 2020
Further information
11. Establishment of the Ferdowsi Presidential Chair in Zoroastrian Studies at UC Irvine
https://news.uci.edu/2020/07/29/massiah-foundation-challenge-gift-to-fund-uci-chair-in-zoroastrian-studies/
12. Open Access Newspaper Archive – Persian Periodicals (Digitization Project “Translatio”)
- August 01, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment