Categories : Academic items
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Interview on Pandemics in Islamic thought
Justin Stearns, Associate Professor, Arab Crossroads Studies, NYU Abu Dhabi
https://soundcloud.com/radio-786-100-4fm/covid-19-pandemic-a-test-from-god-radio-786
2. Call for Contributions: “Marginal Commentaries”
In December 2019, the Bibliotheca Arabica Project organised a workshop on “Marginal Commentaries in Arabic Manuscripts” at the Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Leipzig.
We are now calling for contributions to the edited volume on “Marginal Commentaries and Glosses in Arabic Manuscripts”. The volume will be published in the Bibliotheca Arabica series with Brill Publishers (series editor: Prof. Dr. Verena Klemm). The editors of the volume are Stefanie Brinkmann and Boris Liebrenz.
For further details, please go to
https://www.saw-leipzig.de/de/projekte/bibliotheca-arabica/news/volume-marginal-commentaries-in-arabic-manuscripts
3. MEM dissertation prize
Middle East Medievalists (MEM) is pleased to announce its biennial prize for the best dissertation on the medieval Middle East (roughly 500-1500 CE). In an effort to recognize excellent doctoral research in the field, MEM will award the second biennial prize at the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association in Washington, DC in October 2020. Dissertations filed and defended between 1 July 2018 and 31 May 2020 will be eligible for this year’s prize.
Applicants must be current members in good standing of Middle East Medievalists to be considered. To join MEM or renew your membership please go to: https://www.middleeastmedievalists.com/membership-application/.
Deadline for electronic submissions is 1 June 2020.
If you have any questions about submission, please contact:
Adam Talib [adamtalib@gmail.com]
4. Software Developer for Arabic Literature Project, University of Muenster
Requirements: Completed university studies in computer science or related fields or a comparable qualification acquired in practice; very good knowledge of German OR English; willingness to acquire a minimal knowledge of the Arabic language; etc.
Deadline for applications: 25 May 2020. Information: https://www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/content/ arabistikislam/stellenausschreibungen/softwareentwickler_ausschreibung_wwu_09.04.20.pdf. English text at the end.
5. Eight 24-month Fellowships of the “Academy in Exile” in the “Critical Thinking Program“ at Freie Universität Berlin
Eligible are scholars worldwide (PhD in humanities, social sciences, or law) who are threatened because of their academic work or engagement with human rights, democracy, and intellectual freedom. AiE fellowships provide opportunities for pursuing research and multidisciplinary collaborations in Germany. Evaluation criteria include academic merit, risk assessment, and suitability for AiE programs.
Application deadline: 15 May 2020.
6. Articles on “Islamic Ethics of Pandemics and Covid-19” for Special Issue of “Journal of Islamic Ethics (JIE)” (Brill)
The articles will be dedicated to the moral questions triggered by the novel coronavirus pandemic and how they can be addressed within the broad context of ethics of pandemics throughout history. The chapters will address Islamic Ethics as an interdisciplinary field where a wide range of scholarly disciplines will be engaged, including Islamic theology, philosophy, jurisprudence (fiqh & uṣūl), Sufism, adab.
Deadline for papers: 31 July 2020.
Information: https://www.editorialmanager.com/JIE/default.aspx; Contact : jie@brill.com
- April 21, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.The Summer Institute for Languages of the Muslim World (SILMW) is an annual intensive language program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We invite students to join the 9% of Americans who choose the unique and meaningful experience of learning a Less Commonly Taught Language (LCTL). We believe that learning these languages will allow students to gain new global perspectives and set them apart as highly qualified individuals for international work and engagement. Many of these languages can assist students in securing international positions in governmental, development, and academic sectors.
This summer SILMW will take place from June 15 to August 8, 2020, and we will be offering Arabic, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, and Wolof. The program is 8 weeks and is divided into two, 4-week semesters. The institute will be offered in an online format, consisting of activities such as language practice, conversation tables, movie nights, and more!
When you complete the program, not only will you be able to hold a conversation in a new language and have earned up to 10 credits, you will have had fun!
For more information, visit our website at https://linguistics.illinois.edu/languages/summer-institute-languages-muslim-world. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at silmw@illinois.edu. We hope to see you this summer!
Staff for Less Commonly Taught Languages Program
Department of Linguistics
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
silmw@illinois.edu
2. Expressing Islam in a New Creative Space Online
6 May 2020, AKU-ISMC
The final lecture in the series “Recognising Islam in Europe and North America” that presents exciting research on Muslim contexts in Europe and North America. The series focuses on issues relating to Muslim agency, creativity and strivings. What engages people and drives them to find new directions? The series challenges conventional narratives about Islam in Europe and North America by providing stimulating, new perspectives based on recent and ongoing research.
Time and Venue
Wednesday 6 May 2020, 18.00-19.30
Online
Booking
This event is free but booking is essential:
To attend online, please click here
3. Columbia’s summer Persian language courses will also now be moving online.
4. Online course on Mawlana Rumi
A new educational platform is now live, and ready to receive you and your students: Illuminated Courses.
https://www.illuminatedcourses.com
The first course is recorded, online, and open for registration: “The Heart of Rumi’s Poetry”
https://www.illuminatedcourses.com/theheartofrumispoetry
This is a chance to see Rumi in his full context, as a Persian-speaking Muslim sage drawing richly from the Qur’an and the being of the Prophet, and the teachings of the centuries of Muslim poets and sages who came before him. If you have always wanted to see an aesthetically rich model of Islamic spirituality centered around Rumi’s teachings and poetry, this is for you!
The “Heart of Rumi’s Poetry” course contains all the material you and your students will need: Twelve lessons, providing seven hours of video-based instructions for you and them to watch at your own pace. The focus is on Rumi’s Masnavi.
The lectures are pre-recorded and loaded online, so one could start the class at any point, and would have three months to go through the lectures. We are hoping to add three live classes in beginning and end of May and June to help answer questions, etc.
5. Hunter College will be offering Arabic 101 and 102, and Modern Palestinian Culture online this summer. Students do not have to be in New York to take these courses.
Please forward this e-mail your colleagues and students, and if there are any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me, or have your students contact me at aelinson@hunter.cuny.edu
Classes will be taught remotely.
Students who are not CUNY students will apply to Hunter College as non-degree students. Applications are being processed within 24-48 hours. Information on that can be found here: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/admissions/admissions-information/non-degree
Tuition and fees information can be found here: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/onestop/finances/bursar/tuition-and-fees-information
- April 18, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Workshop on “Cinema & Islam – How Filmmaking Shapes Islam and How Islam Shapes Filmmaking”, Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, London, 12 June 2020
The workshop examines the ways in which filmmakers explore Islam as a human and historical phenomenon characterized and constituted, not merely by immense variety and diversity, but by the prodigious presence of outright contradiction shaped by Muslims and Non-Muslims.
2. BRISMES Annual Conference 2020: “Knowledge, Power and Middle Eastern Studies”, University of Kent, Canterbury, 29 June – 1 July 2020
In light of the rapidly-evolving public health situation connected to the COVID-19 outbreak, the BRISMES Annual Conference (29 June – 1 July 2020) has been postponed until 2021.
http://www.brismes.ac.uk/conference/postponed-brismes/
3. 49th Annual Conference of the North American Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies (NAAIMS): “Diverse Approaches to Qur’anic Studies in the Western Academy”, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 25 September 2020
Papers might address the following questions: What Determines the Course Outline for Qur’anic Studies in the Western Academy and the Curricula for Qur’anic Studies in Muslim-Majority Nations? What Roles do Social Media Platforms Play in Understanding the Qur’an? How has Digitization of Texts Affected the Field of Qur’anic Studies? Etc.
Deadlines for abstracts: 20 April 2020. Information: https://naaims.org/
4. International Conference: “Musical Sources and Theories from Ancient Greece to the Ottoman Period”, Ruhr-University Bochum, 19-21 November 2020
Papers will focus on Arabic, Persian and Byzantine music theory, instruments and ways of transmission, with their roots in Ancient Greece and an outlook onto Ottoman and Safavid music. We encourage especially early career researchers to send their proposals.
Information: https://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/orient/aktuelles/index.html
5. Various Grants of the Istanbul Research Institute
The grants are offered for researchers working on projects related to its departments of Byzantine, Ottoman, Atatürk and Republican-Era studies, and its “Istanbul and Music” Research Program, including grants for PhD projects as well as travel und conference grants.
Deadline for applications: 11 May 2020. Information: https://en.iae.org.tr/Grants/18
6. PhD in History at Koç University in Istanbul
The History PhD program seeks to provide students with a strong grounding in the advanced study of history, especially in Ottoman history and the following areas: the Arab World (Greater Syria and Egypt), Europe (East and Southeast Europe including Russia and the former Soviet Union), the Eastern Mediterranean, and Turkey.
Deadline for application: 29 May 2020. Information: https://gsssh.ku.edu.tr/en/academics/history/program-overview/
7. CALL FOR PAPERS International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA)
Special Issue: “Hinterland Forces: Architectural Responses at the Margins”
Thematic volume planned for July 2022
Abstract submission deadline: 15 June 2020
The hinterland is a realm beyond the known, beyond the confines of the urban core, or beyond the acceptable iterations of religious praxis, cultural identity, political affiliation, and ways of being. The hinterland is a notional locale and a physical one, operating as a geographical reference, a spatial designator, and a conceptual frame. Those who stray or are forced into hinterland spaces may be at the frontiers of new thought, interactions, and technologies, but they are also at the margins. In current parlance, “marginality” describes a state that is the result of societal conditions that should be ameliorated. In other words, those at the centre (of power, urbanisation, settlement, scholarship, education, religious decision making, economic stability, etc.) have superior resources to those on the margins and may even be the source and cause of their peripheralisation. The marginalised may face state and societal pressure to conform or face punitive actions, including physical relocation, or the loss of access to important shrines, prayer spaces, schools, and other resources including hospitals, banks, and government offices. The architectures of persecuted, disadvantaged, and vulnerable people showcase unique adaptive strategies, which, in the writings of French thinker Michel de Certeau, reflect “tactics” that co-exist with the long-term and therefore spatially entrenched “strategies” of those in power (de Certeau, 1984).
This special issue of the International Journal of Islamic Architecture invites papers on architectural responses at the margins, including examinations of the forces that create the hinterland categories of marginalisation, the tactical approaches of the marginalised, and the strategic efforts to destroy sites, limit spatial agency and access, and control people. We particularly welcome papers on regions and communities not widely covered in the published record of Islamic architectures, sites and responses, including but not limited to western and coastal China, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. The margins are in constant flux; this is both the result of and cause for outright conflict and restrictive policies. Indeed, scholarly emphasis is sometimes determined by the accessibility of study sites and regions. Subjects that may exist beyond the traditional scholarly scope of the field and outside what is often considered the geographical heartland of the Islamic world, and work on those living at the extremities of cultural and doctrinal expectations for communities entrenched in either predominantly Muslim or majority non-Muslim surroundings are also welcome.
In the Islamic context, marginalization creates specific architectural responses that are often dynamic, transient, temporary, mobile, or executed in an everyday/vernacular idiom. Whether these are the mosques of the Uyghur minority in western China, the prayer rooms of Muslim students in Latin American universities, or the schools and dormitories of the recently besmirched Hizmet movement in Turkey, these sites and the people that make, care for, and use them are frequently at risk. Built environments made marginal, or made by or for the marginalised, can draw the ire of the central power structure, even long after the historical period of their construction. The iconoclastic destruction of shrines and manuscripts in Timbuktu, Mali in 2012 is a case in point. In other contexts, such buildings may escape the notice of those expecting “mainstream” approaches to religious and social life by providing hidden congregational spaces and sanctuaries for the people and activities within.
A number of historical Muslim communities formed on the outer reaches of the early Islamic world. Muslims settled seasonally and permanently along Chinese and Southern African coastal cities, on islands and peninsulas in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, and on the frontiers of sub Saharan trade routes, bringing Islamic beliefs and practices with them. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the move from empires to nation states, the end of colonial rule, and shifting sources of international financing have created heretofore unknown categories for people and their architectures in marginal zones. Social theories of the dichotomies between steppe and savannah, rural and urban, nomadic and settled, centre and periphery have been used as a framework for many historical studies. Yet, dynamic forces persistently cause people to interact and to intertwine their lives, so that populations grow and change. Ideas about “purity” in race, religious heritage, practice and behavior in Islamic society deny the social realities of the hinterland. Language, cuisine, doctrine, the use of space, and design preferences at the margins take on new aspects precisely because they are subject to hinterland forces. These innovations and adaptations are not always accepted by the broader community, or are seen as a threat by those in power.
Studies which examine the impacts of disenfranchisement and the structural conditions that lead to marginalization have strong applications in policy development. In the Islamic context, people on the margins may not fit societal expectations, may have made intentional moves to live outside the “centre,” or may have been forced into the hinterland by their governments, religious leaders, or neighbours. While the role of architecture is not typically central to these discussions, architecture is a significant marker of marginalisation. Social issues, political shifts, neoliberal policies, and transnational design questions are at the forefront of the contemporary built environment, and some aspects of design have abetted the creation of new margins. The term “Islamic” can be used to regulate and restrict design projects, a strategy that is emerging as states with Muslim governance are reacting against international policies and perceived amorality and heterodoxies.
Architectural technologies and media for monitoring spatial change are being used by scholars and activists to assemble data on the destruction of buildings, the movement of people, the shifting of boundaries, and the eradication of ecosystems. Open-source collaborations are positioning architectural approaches at the forefront of hinterland analysis, and while digital reporting once provided a kind of shield for those seeking to disseminate critical examinations of refugee landscapes, crimes against the vulnerable, and spaces of contention, activists and scholars of the marginalised are no longer beyond the surveillance of authorities who may detain, question, and deny them the ability to obtain travel papers and entry visas.
This special issue encourages case studies of architectural forces that have impacted people by relocating them to hinterland positions or emphasising their marginalisation, as well as architectures created, utilized, and envisioned by marginalised groups within the Islamic context. The issue particularly welcomes: scholarship from disciplines and methodological approaches that posit new definitions of what constitutes architecture and space or of what makes architecture “Islamic”; studies that combine statistical analysis and architecture or offer policy assessments alongside architectural matters; positions beyond the design and history of architecture fields (geography, anthropology, religious studies, linguistics and religious studies, gender and children and youth studies, musicology, sociological disciplines, and others); analysis of design solutions for people at the margins; projects at the “academic margins” (reporting on lived experience, traditional teachings on the environment, journalism).
Questions that might be addressed by contributors to this special issue are unlimited but might include:
- What means are available to investigate the palimpsest left behind by sites that existed for a brief time, were confiscated and converted for other uses, or were razed and removed from the record, even the record of community memory?
- What is the relationship between state and ethnic geographical margins and groups that gravitate away from doctrinal centrality?
- How have postcolonial and post-secular tendencies impacted the built environment of the hinterland?
- What are the possible architecturally-rooted relationships between poverty, labour, impermanence and tenuousness, and marginalisation?
- How do marginalised communities access emergency services or participate in state and international policy formation during a disease pandemic or a natural disaster? How do such communities cope with legal, health, and supply issues within their own sectors?
- How do marginalised spaces function when ties are severed to the historical archive of buildings, documents, and oral histories?
- How do the areligious and antireligious function in devout societies, and how are believers marginalised amongst non-practising communities?
- How are new technologies used in capturing, recording, and disseminating information about and from the margins, including photographic methods, satellite mapping, social media, and open-source collaborations?
- Why are some subjects more readily available in the published record or course offerings?
- How does focusing linguistic training for researchers on Arabic and Persian, or emphasizing connections to what are frequently called the “central” Islamic lands, seemingly push western Chinese, Southeast Asian, Sub-Saharan African, Eastern European, and Latin American Islamic architectures to the hinterlands of the publishing and scholarly realms of Islamic fields? Furthermore, do conference topics, journal entries, the parameters for research grants, and the wording of job applications support or defy what lies on the margins?
- How do the margins operate, conceptually and physically, to quarantine people to certain sites and spaces?
Articles offering historical and theoretical analysis (DiT papers) should be between 6000 and 8000 words, and those on design and practice (DiP papers) between 3000 and 4000 words. Practitioners are welcome to contribute insofar as they address the critical framework of the journal. Urbanists, art historians, anthropologists, geographers, political scientists, sociologists, and historians are also welcome. Please send a title and a 400-word abstract to the guest editor, Dr. Angela Andersen (angela.andersen.53@gmail.com), by 15 June 2020. Authors of accepted proposals will be contacted soon thereafter and will be requested to submit full papers by 30 January 2021. All papers will be subject to blind peer review. For author instructions, please consult: www.intellectbooks.com/ijia
- April 14, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. University of Chicago Press posts this notice on its website: “all e-books on our site are immediately available for direct purchase at 30% off using the EBOOK30 code at checkout.” (https://pressblog.uchicago.edu/2020/03/31/a-message-from-university-of-chicago-press-director-garrett-kiely.html)
2. CfP: The First International Online Conference on “Ethics and Inclusive Disasters (Focusing on Coronavirus Disease)”
Faculty of Religious Studies of Shahid Beheshti University,Tehran,Iran July 6th, 2020
The first international academic conference on “Ethics and Inclusive Disasters (Focusing on Coronavirus Disease)” is an academic event in ethical/moral studies. The conference will be held online by Shahid Beheshti University, in Tehran, Iran. All accepted abstracts/ papers will be published after double-blind peer review. This conference has five main aims:
1) Analyzing religious and moral challenges caused by the spread of coronavirus disease
2) Strengthening social tolerance and soothing the community
3) Helping the country’s health system in crisis situations
4) Helping governmental institutions in controlling and guiding society in crisis situations
5) Analyzing the behaviors and religiosity of contemporary man in the post-corona period
Conference Topics:
- a) Medical ethics and the challenges of coronavirus disease
- b) Media ethics and inclusive disasters
- c) Political ethics and the duties of governments in the face of inclusive disasters
- d) Inclusive disasters and religious moral lifestyle
- e) Socio-economic ethics and inclusive diseases
Important Dates:
Abstract submission deadline: May 4th, 2020.
Final paper submission deadline: June 19th, 2020.
Conference online holding date: July 6th, 2020.
Email: ayenehmarefat@sbu.ac.ir
Phone number: 021- 22431785
3. Manchester University Press offers free access to its digital content of over 1,600 eBooks and journals.
It can be accessed through this platform: https://www.manchesteropenhive.com/
4. Middle East History. Wesleyan University’s History Department invites applications for a visiting assistant professor to teach the history of the Middle East. The position will run from September 1, 2020 until May 31, 2021.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Interviews for finalists will be conducted via Skype or Zoom.
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=60079
5. The Department of History at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, invites applications for two full-time assistant professors in the field of History of Science.
The candidates’ research record and teaching should focus on one of the following fields:
- History of science in the Islamic world from the Medieval or Early-Modern to the Modern era;
- History of science in the Ottoman World from the Medieval or Early-Modern to the Modern era;
- History of science in Europe and the US from the Medieval or Early-Modern to the Modern era.
The deadline for submitting applications is May 7, 2020.
https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=60078
6. AMECYS Call for Papers:
Graduate Student Paper Prize
Submissions deadline: Friday, May 1, 2020
The Association of Middle East Children’s and Youth Studies (AMECYS) calls graduate students engaged in the study of children and youth in the region to submit their papers to the AMECYS graduate student paper prize.
Papers can be submitted in any capacity that aligns with AMECYS’ mission statement:
The AMECYS is a private, non-profit, international association for scholars with an interest in the study of children and youth in the Middle East, North Africa and their diasporic communities. Through interdisciplinary programs, publications, and services, AMECYS promotes innovative scholarship, facilitates global academic exchange, and enhances public understanding about Middle Eastern children and youth in diverse times and places.
Requirements for submission:
- Papers should not exceed 7,500 (excluding bibliographies and endnotes)
- The paper should never have been submitted for publication
- The format needs to include: Standard font, Double-spaced, 1” margins, IJMES standards for endnotes and transliteration
- Registered member of AMECYS
- Proof of registered graduate student enrolment for the 2019-2020 academic year may be requested at a later date
Send submissions as a pdf or word doc to Dylan.baun@uah.edu.
The AMECYS program chair and one other AMECYS board member will review all papers submitted by members of AMECYS that are received by the deadline of Friday, May 1.
For any queries, email AMECYS program chair at dylan.baun@uah.edu.
7. CFP: Catastrophes and Memory (500-1500 CE), 4th Edinburgh Conference in Late Antique, Islamic, and Byzantine Studies 19-20 November 2020
Disasters (natural, manmade or “supernatural”) shape historical memory and our understanding of the past. This conference focuses on the problematic relations between catastrophes and memory in Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine societies. Memory plays a crucial role in the way events are perceived, understood and narrated by different groups and elites: locals might see the conquest of their city as a catastrophe, while the conquerors portray the same as glorious or divinely inspired.We invite papers and posters that address issues and questions including, but not limited to:
- Natural/environmental: Plagues, earthquakes, famines/droughts, floods, fires,climate change
- Socio-cultural/linguistic: Iconoclasm, artistic and urban disruption/renewal, cultural vandalism, translation movements, language death and breaks in literary tradition
- Political/military: Conquests, coups, sieges, wars, revolts, revolutions, civil wars, usurpations, succession crises and religious/ “holy” wars (Crusade/Jihad)
- Religious: Heresies, schisms, theological or dogmatic conflict, new religions, apocalyptic traditions and eschatology
- Memory “devices” and strategies:How do memories of catastrophes manifest themselves in material culture, texts, images and other different sources? Where do we see evidence of intentional forgetting?
- Comparative/Interdisciplinary: Elites versus non-elite memory of catastrophes; geographical (Mediterranean and Eurasia); temporal (500-1500CE)
- The role of the 21st century cultural historian: What is and should be modern scholars’ role in situating catastrophe?
This conference will be hosted by the Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Society of the University of Edinburgh on November 19-20, 2020 in Edinburgh.We welcome papers and posters from postgraduate students and early career researchers from all disciplines with an interest in Late Antique, Islamic or Byzantine studies.
Papers: Presentation is 20 minutes in length, delivered in English.
Posters:Participants will present their research at a poster session. Dimensions should not exceed 70cm (width) x 100cm (height) and posters must be printed and brought by the author.We strongly encourage undergraduate, masters and first-year PhD students to summit posters of their dissertations or research.
To apply, please respond with an e-mail including whether you hope to present a paper or poster, an abstract of no more than 300 words, and a small academic biography of no more than 120 words to edibyzpg@ed.ac.uk.
The deadline for submitting papers and posters is June 15, 2020.
Registration Fees:
Students speakers: £15 before September 15, 2020; £20 after
Non-Students speakers: £35 before September 15, 2020; £40 after
(fee includes lunch both days)
We will publish a selection of the papers in a peer-reviewed volume that will bring together the strongest contributions in each area to produce an edited volume of high-quality, deep coherence and rich variety.
Any questions please address to edibyzpg@ed.ac.uk
- April 11, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.AIS (Association for Iranian Studies) 2020 Conference is Cancelled, But Plans to Reschedule are Underway
“Were you thinking that you needed more time to get that conference paper ready? Well, we got you covered.
For the past few weeks, AIS Executive Committee has been making contingency plans in the event that the COVID 19 pandemic made cancellation necessary. After consultations with our Conference Chair, Miguel Angel Andres Toledo, it is time to implement those plans.
Here is what you need to know now:
1) The AIS Conference scheduled for August 25-28, 2020 is cancelled.
2) Registration fees for AIS 2020 will be honored at the next conference.
3) The rescheduled conference will be at the University of Salamanca, Spain.
4) Awardees will be announced this year, but we’ll celebrate properly at the rescheduled conference.
It is still too soon for us to offer the precise dates for the rescheduled conference. We will advise on that as soon as possible. But, let us assure you of something: the registration fee you have paid will be honored at the next conference you are able to attend. So, if, for some reason, you cannot make the rescheduled conference, you can apply your registration to the next conference.
In the coming weeks, in addition to working on rescheduling the conference, we will be studying ways to support Iranian Studies activity in the near term. I hope to present those initiatives to you soon.
For those of you who were looking forward to an AIS conference in Spain, as I most certainly was, the good news is that we can still look forward to it. Our conference will come.
In the meantime, I know every single one of you is working extra hard to support your students, your communities, and your families through this crisis. In the midst of all that, academic study – even of something so dear to us as Iranian Studies in all its forms – may seem like a misplaced priority. But that is not so. History is so often the miserable tale of disasters and suffering. But, it also the story of people like you who reclaim our common humanity with every act of learning.
I look forward to hearing about your scholarly accomplishments during this difficult time, in person; and I will. So, stay well in the meantime.
Cam Amin
AIS President
2. Notice of a website (Atelier Ideas & Research) that curates an on-going list of digital map collections: https://www.air4edu.com/.
There have been three episodes dropped so far to create a census of digital collections of maps / globes / atlasses, with a few more archives across the world: https://www.air4edu.com/academic-life/maps-globes-and-plans-an-ongoing-census-of-free-digital-archives-3/
3. CFP: Online Symposium on “Epidemic Urbanism: Reflections on History”
Epidemic illnesses—not only a product of biology, but also social and cultural phenomena—are as old as cities themselves. The recent pandemic of COVID-19 has put into perspective the impact of epidemic illness on urban life, and exposed the vulnerabilities of the societies it ravages as much as the bodies it infects. How can epidemics help us understand urban environments? What insights from the outbreak, experience, and response to previous urban epidemics might inform our understanding of COVID-19?
These questions in mind, we are organizing an online symposium in May 2020 to bring together academics from a range of disciplines to present case studies from across the globe to demonstrate how cities in particular are not just the primary place of exposure and quarantine, but also the site and instrument of intervention. Presentations will be informal, brief (7-10 minutes), and illustrated with 2-4 slides.
We welcome presentations on a range of illnesses and epidemics, geographies, time periods, urban interventions, observations on the impact of these epidemics on society and urban life, and insights to understand, critique, or complexify the conception of and response to COVID-19.
Each presentation should tell the story of a city, an outbreak of illness, and the city’s response to the epidemic. For example:
- What notable interventions or actions were implemented? With what effect?
- What impact did the epidemic have on urbanism, urban design, and urban planning?
- What impact did the epidemic have on architecture in the short and long term?
- What impact did the built environment have on the epidemic, or the experience of illness?
Our goal is to create a venue to use history as a medium to provide a better understanding of the current crisis. Especially welcome are proposals by historians, public health experts, art/architectural historians, sociologists, anthropologists, and medical experts. The proposals should address the following:
- The idea of an epidemic or widespread illness in the geographical context you study;
- The employment of urban design, architecture, landscape, and/or experience in response to the illness or the epidemic;
- The insight(s) your case study can offer to understanding today’s COVID-19 pandemic and response.
Proposals can be sent to Dr. Mohammad Gharipour, Morgan State University (mohammad@gatech.edu) and Dr. Caitlin DeClercq, Columbia University (cd3100@columbia.edu) by April 10, in 200-250 words. After proposals are reviewed, the symposium organizers will coordinate with accepted presenters to finalize a date and time for this event.
4. International Doctoral Conference in Religious Studies: “Resistance to Order and Authority in Religion“, Central European University, Budapest, 25-27 June 2020
The conference invites contributions studying the conceptualization, management and instrumentalization of religious ideas and beliefs with regard to past and contemporary resistance movements.
Information: https://religion.ceu.edu/crs-elte-masaryk-phd-conference-25-27-june-2020
5. 15th International Congress of Ottoman Social and Economic History (ICOSEH), University of Zagreb, 13-17 July 2020
The Congress will address various aspects of the economic and social history of the Ottoman Empire as well as any aspects of the Ottomans and the Mediterranean and the Ottomans and Central Europe.
Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/11419/discussions/4222924/icoseh-zagreb-2020-cfp
6. Workshop: “Trembling and Inundation: Natural Disasters in the History and Culture of West Asia and North Africa”, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, Lancashire, 8 September 2020
What happens to our understandings of histories, societies and cultural production when human activity is interrupted by earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, droughts and plagues? What do these mighty forces, impacting on all, irrespective of social position, but experienced differently according to it, tell us about societies? This workshop is intended to facilitate intensive discussion with the aim of producing a published collection.
Information: https://sarahirving0.wixsite.com/tremblingsinundation
7. 27th International Congress of the German Middle East Studies Association for Contemporary Research and Documentation (DAVO), University of Osnabrück, 24-26 September 2020
Papers are invited in social sciences and humanities related to the Middle East, North Africa and the entire Islamic World.
Deadline for abstracts of papers and closed panels: 15 July 2020.
Information: https://www.iit.uos.de/davo2020 (click on English version).
8. Meeting of the European Network for the Study of Islam and Esotericism (ENSIE): “Islamic Esotericism in Global Contexts”, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium, 24-26 September 2020
The aim is to consider the relationship between Islam and esotericism, and Islamic esotericism, in a global context, shifting the emphasis not only from Western perspectives, but also being more inclusive of the experience of Islam beyond the Arabo-Persian domains.
Deadline for submissions: 1 May 2020. Information: http://ensie.site/conferences.html
9. Summer School: “Cultural Encounters and Ibadi Theological Developments” and Workshop: “Assessing the Study of Early Ibadi Sources: Methodologies, Developments and Perspectives”, University of Tuebingen, 7-11 September 2020
The Summer School will focus on text studies (early sources) bearing on the emergence and early development of Ibadi theological thinking within the culturally and religiously multifaceted context and spectrum of Early Islam. The workshop is intended to pay tribute to the contribution which Professor van Ess made to research and study particularly on Early Ibadi sources.
Deadline for abstracts: 19 May 2020. Information: https://ibadistudies.org/index.php/summer-school/37-application-details-for-the-2nd-summer-school
10. Articles on “Constructing Islam: Politization of Muslim Identity in the Contemporary World“ for Special Issue of “Islamology – Journal for Studies of Islam and Muslim Societies”
Authors are invited to examine the phenomenon of politicization of Muslim identity: on the one hand, what image is being shaped in different sectors of public space? and, on the other hand, how does the Muslim community react to the set frames? In what cases and why does a certain community position itself as ‘Muslim’?
Deadline for abstracts: 1 June 2020. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/6074071/special-issue-constructing-islam-politization-muslim-identity
11. Articles on “Religious Transformation in the Middle East – Spirituality, Religious Doubt, and Non-religion” for Special Edition of Journal “Religions”
This Special Issue looks to compose a cross section of current work in social science, religious studies, and related fields on Islam/religion and non-religion in the Arab World. It aims at collecting case studies that offer carefully contextualized explorations, grounded in theoretically informed analyses.
Deadline for manuscripts: 1 December 2020.
Information: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/Religious_Arab
12. Articles for “CyberOrient – Online Journal of the Virtual Middle East and Islamic World”
The peer-reviewed and open-access journal of the American Anthropological Association is devoted to research on the impact of cyberspace and its representation on the Middle East, North Africa and wider Islamic world in Asia.
Deadline for articles: 1 June 2020. Information: https://cyberorient.net
13. University of Pennsylvania Press e-books available for free download through 30 June 2020
Link to the main Penn Press search page: https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/catalog.html. Note: for most of its books, Penn Press doesn’t sell the e-book directly. For that, you have to go to its “Partners” page (https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/about/ebooks.html). One can find material, for example, through the University Press Content Consortium page.
- April 07, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
[Editor’s note: I will continue to circulate this ‘academic items’ list but please note that I am unable to know if any items are going on, postponed or even cancelled. My advice is to check the website/email address(es) given for each. Stay healthy!]
1.Workshop: “Travelling Practices and the Emergence of Tourism in the Middle East (16th-20th Centuries), Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Vienna, 12-13 June 2020
This workshop will analyse travel literature (travelogues and guidebooks) from the 16th to the 20th centuries with regard to the practices, patterns and significations of travel. In shifting the focus to routine and mundane aspects of travelling, it will serve to place travel narratives in a relational framework combining basic questions of infrastructure and transportation with the movements and pathways of individual travellers.
Information: https://travelmena.univie.ac.at
2. 24th Conference of the Comité International des Études Pré-Ottomanes et Ottomanes, Thessaloniki, 23-27 June 2020
The aim is to provide a platform of a high scholarly level, which will promote the knowledge and sustain the memory of Ottoman history. Panels and individual papers will focus on the following topics: the Ottoman Empire in the Age of Revolutions; Sources: New Interpretations and Approaches; etc.
Information: https://www.univie.ac.at/ciepo/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CIEPO24_1st_Circular.pdf
3. 9th International Conference: “The Dynamics of Change in the Pakistan-Afghanistan Region: Politics, (Dis)integration and Reformation in the Borderland,” University of Peshawar, Baragali, 24-26 June 2020
Papers are invited on: War, Genre, and Critique; Religion, Difference, and Violence; Law, Human Rights and Gender Rights; Democratic Governance, Public Space, and Resistance; Youth and Radicalization; Economic Transformation and Development; Migration, Diaspora, Refugees, and Internally Displaced Persons; Politics of Identities; etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 10 April 2020. Information: http://www.uop.edu.pk/events/?q=526
4. Conference of the Working Group “Ethnology of Reiligion“ of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 6-9 September 2020
The conference wants to draw closer to the current as well as historical dynamics of the “religion-nature” interdependence and thus to the cultural ecologies of beliefs. We are interested in a broad set of questions and research foci, i.e.: how do religions and religious communities in past or present symbolically and ritually articulate and negotiate relationships with their immediate and distant environment? What role do other species – i.e. animals, plants – play within religious (knowledge) systems and practices? Etc.
Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/5651674/religion-and-nature-–-cultural-ecologies-belief
5. 4th “European Convention on Turkic, Ottoman and Turkish Studies“ (Turkologentag 2020), University of Mainz, 16-18 September 2020
The conference is organized by the Society for Turkic, Ottoman and Turkish Studies (GTOT) in co-operation with the Chair of Turcology of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and addresses the domains of language, literature, history, culture, society, politics, and philology of the Turks and the Turkic peoples.
Information: http://www.turkologentag-2020.de
6. Annual Meeting of the “International Qur’anic Studies Association (IQSA 2020)“, Boston, MA, 20-23 November 2020
Program Units include: The Qur’an: Manuscripts and Textual Criticism; Linguistic, Literary, and Thematic Perspectives on the Qur`anic Corpus; The Societal Qur`an; Qur`anic Studies: Methodology and Hermeneutics; etc.
Information: https://iqsaweb.wordpress.com/call-for-papers-iqsa-annual-meeting-2020/
7. International Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī Symposium, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, 20-22 May 2021
Topics include: • Linguistics • Logic • Tafsīr • Astronomy • Mathematics • Medicine • Geography • Philosophy • Illuminationism • Sufism • Kalām • Music • Ethics and Political Theory • Shīrāzī in Manuscripts and Book Culture Studies • Commentaries (Shurūḥ, ḥawāshī, taʻlīqāt) • Scholarly Networks and Ijāzatnāmas • Urban Studies; etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 May 2020. Information: http://kutbuddinsirazi.cumhuriyet.edu.tr/en/index.php
8. Awards and Prizes of the “Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association (OTSA)”
Applications and submissions are invited for two book prices (each $ 1000), a graduate student paper prize ($ 200) and travel grants ($ 500).
Deadline for applications: 30 April 2020 and later.
Information: https://www.ottomanturkishstudiesassociation.org/awards-prizes/
9. Two-year English-language M.A. Program in “Ottoman History”, University of Crete and Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas
The program consists of 5 history courses (four in Ottoman History, and one in Medieval or Modern History); 4 Turkish language courses; 4 Ottoman language and palaeography courses. Students are required to write an original M.A. thesis based on the critical analysis of Ottoman archival, epigraphic or narrative sources. No tuition fees.
Deadline for application: 6 April 2020. Information: http://www.history-archaeology.uoc.gr/en/graduate-studies/programs-of-post-graduate-studies/joint-english-language-m-a-program-in-ottoman/?lang=en
10. Summer School “The Middle East: Power and Ideology”, LSE, University of London, 22 June – 10 July 2020
The course will examine the regional politics of the Middle East since 1918 and their interaction with problems of international security, global resources and great power/superpower/hyperpower policies. It will also deal with more recent developments such as the 2011 Arab uprisings and their consequences.
Deadline for applications: 25 May 2020.
Information: https://www.soas.ac.uk/summerschool/subjects/the-middle-east-in-global-politics/
11. Articles for Book on “The Effects of Pandemics on Religious History” (Focus Islamic and Jewish History) Edited by Global Center for Religious Research
We welcome both industry leaders and scholars from any discipline related to religious studies, the natural or social sciences, theology, and history. Proposals may include any topic related to the impact of pandemics, diseases, or pestilence.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 July 2020. Information: https://shoutout.wix.com/so/42N4DTvxM?fbclid=IwAR0Ch2t9sSoakJaud98ysCdSAFDyOX7ia5Kij0muKg7_vLuEFn9UMUPPWZU#/main
- March 31, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Announcement of publication by Brill, Leiden of two new volumes in the Maimonides Medical Works Series.
This is vol. 15 containing Nathan ha-Me’ati’s Hebrew translation of Maimonides’ Medical Aphorisms, and vol. 16 with an edition of the Hebrew translation of the same work by Zerahyah Hen. Both translators were active in the city of Rome in the late 13th century. An Arabic-Hebrew-English glossary to the Medical Aphorisms with indices to its Hebrew translations will be part of vol. 17, the final volume in the series. This volume will be published in the course of this year.
sites.google.com/site/gerritbos1
https://academia.edu/GerritBos
2. Brill: COVID-19 and coronavirus-related publications immediately accessible
More than 30 leading STM publishers have committed to making all of their COVID-19 and coronavirus-related publications immediately accessible.
At Brill we have opened up books and articles on topics such as public health, distance learning, crisis research.
If any new related content is published with us, it will be added to this collection.
Access at: https://www2.brill.com/COVID-19_Collection
3. Arts of the Islamic World : From the Dome of the Rock to the Taj Mahal, the Coronation Mantle, the Ardabil Carpet, and more… c. 640 – 1924 C.E.
Published by: Smarthistory
“Smarthistory is an open educational resource for art history, with the aim to make high-quality introductory art history content freely available to anyone, anywhere. This is a platform for the discipline where art historians can contribute in their areas of expertise and learners come from across the globe. Besides still images, the resource also offers hundreds of videos which are being translated into dozens of languages. Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker originally created Smarthistory and are the executive editors. The original resource was merged with Khan Academy in 2011.”
4. BRISMES 2020 CONFERENCE POSTPONED
‘In light of the rapidly-evolving public health situation connected to the COVID-19 outbreak, the BRISMES Annual Conference (29 June – 1 July 2020) has been postponed until 2021. We will announce details of the postponed conference in due course and we will update the conference website accordingly.’
See: http://www.brismes.ac.uk/conference/postponed-brismes/
5. Due to Harvard University’s recent decisions regarding on-campus events (related to Coronavirus COVID-19), the March 31, April 2 and April 23 AKPIA lectures have been postponed until further notice. https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/news-events
- March 28, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
[Editor’s note: I will continue to circulate this ‘academic items’ list but please note that I am unable to know if any of the events listed or other items are going to happen, be postponed or even be cancelled. My advice is to check the website/email address(es) given for each. Stay healthy!]
1. LUCIS Summerschool on Philology and Manuscripts from the Muslim World
From August 24 to September 4, the Leiden University Centre for the Study of Islam and Society (LUCIS) will offer its fourth Summerschool on philology and manuscripts from the Muslim world, with lectures by experts, hands-on classes and much practice with manuscripts from its famous oriental collection. The course is meant for graduate students and researchers. For more information please go to https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/2020/08/lucis-summer-school-philology–manuscripts-from-the-muslim-world or send an e-mail to d.m.van.der.helm@hum.leidenuniv.nl .
The deadline for application is June 22.
2. Due to COVID-19 emergency some publishers are now offering free access to their content. These publishers offer significant amount on content for the study of Islam and the Middle East.
“Cambridge University Press is making higher education textbooks in HTML format free to access online during the coronavirus outbreak. Over 700 textbooks, published and currently available, on Cambridge Core are available regardless of whether textbooks were previously purchased.”
https://www.cambridge.org/core/what-we-publish/textbooks
[Update 3/19/2020 : Due to unprecedented demand and reported misuse publisher temporarily removed the free access to textbooks. They are working to address these concerns plan to reinstate free access as soon as possible.
“Project Muse: Free Resources on MUSE During COVID-19”
https://about.muse.jhu.edu/resources/freeresourcescovid19/
“Access to the digital Loeb Classical Library will be free to schools and universities impacted by COVID-19 until June 30th. From Harvard University Press International @HarvardUPLondon In these uncertain times, sometimes you need to look back at the classics.
Access to the digital Loeb Classical Library will be free to schools and universities impacted by COVID-19 until June 30th. Librarians: email loebclassics_sales@harvard.edu for access.
3. Interdisciplinary Colloquium for (Post)doctoral Students on “Postcolonial and Gender Studies”, University of Trier, 18-19 June 2020
The aim of the colloquium is to offer the young researchers who work in these two fields a platform for exchanging content and interdisciplinary networking.
4. 54th Seminar for Arabian Studies of the “International Association for the Study of Arabia (IASA)”, Casa Arabe, Cordoba, 15-18 July 2020
Information: https://mailchi.mp/3c625180ed77/seminar-for-arabian-studies-2020-call-for-papers-4803397?e=18cf0337f7
5. 21st Annual Conference of the Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS), Ohio State University, Columbus, 15-18 October 2020
Papers are also welcome for Iran, Afghanistan and the Black Sea region.
Deadline for abstracts (extended): 30 April 2020.
Information: https://www.centraleurasia.org/conferences/annual/
6. 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.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 April 2020. Information: https://www.cilecenter.org/resources/news/call-research-papers-end-life-care-eolc-and-islamic-moral-tradition
7. 4th Edinburgh International Graduate Conference in Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies on “Catastrophes and Memory (500-1500 CE)”, 19-20 November 2020
This conference focuses on the problematic relations between catastrophes and memory in Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine societies. Memory plays a crucial role in the way events are perceived, understood and narrated by different groups and elites: locals might see the conquest of their city as a catastrophe, while the conquerors portray the same as glorious or divinely inspired.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 June 2020.
8. Research Assistant for Three-years Doctoral Research Project “The Historicity of Democracy in the Arab and Muslim World”, Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG), Mainz
Requirements: Master degree in History or a related discipline (Islamic Studies, Political Sciences, Sociology, Anthropology or a neighbouring discipline) with a focus on the modern history of the MENA; excellent command of Arabic, English, and German (for non-German speaking applicants: Certificate of sufficient German skills or a strategy to improve them).
Deadline for application: 17 April 2020. Information: http://bit.ly/2WpjO4U
9. Two CESS Awards for Books on the “History and the Humanities” and on “Social Sciences” in Central Asia, Including Iran, Afghanistan, Black Sea Region
Books must be scholarly monographs based on original research and published in English in 2019.
Deadline for nominations: 31 May 2020. Information: https://www.centraleurasia.org/awards/book/
10. Nominations for Various MESA Book Awards
Nominations can be made by the publisher or the author. Books must be non-fiction scholarly monographs based on original research published in English between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020. Authors need not be members of MESA. Winners for each of the awards receive $1000 and a certificate of award.
Deadline for nomination: 1 April 2020. Information: https://mesana.org/awards/category/mesa-book-awards/mesa-book-awards-nomination-guidelines
11. New Masters Program in “Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations”, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh
This is a year-long, taught Masters which offers a rich and broad study of the Islamic intellectual traditions of scripture, law, theology and philosophy in conversation with Christian thought, ethics and political theology.
Program Website: https://www.ed.ac.uk/divinity/graduate-school/taught-programmes/islam-christian-muslim-relations
12. 3rd Intensive Course “Ottoman Palaeography and Diplomatics”, Institute for Islamic Studies, University of Heidelberg, 28 September – 9 October 2020
The course will enable the participants to read, date, and contextualise Ottoman documents and other handwritten sources in a methodologically founded manner. The course will be held in German and is free of charge.
Applications deadline: 15 May 2020. Information: https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/fakultaeten/philosophie/ori/islamwissenschaft/sommerkurs.html
13. Articles on “The Politics of Religious Dissent (Focus on Islam)” for Special Issues of the “International Journal of Religion”
Three questions frame the topic in the special issue: How do religious leaders respond to dissent within their faiths? How does the state respond to religious dissent? How do religions react to dissent from feminist and gay activists?
Deadline for abstracts: 30 April 2020. Information: https://ijor.tplondon.com/index.php/ijor/announcement
14. Two New Resources by H-Net for Scholars Affected by the Coronavirus
A) “Resources for Teaching Online” is designed to be a space where we can share resources with each other about how to repurpose face-to-face course materials in an online format.
B) “Remote Conference Presentations” is a space created to give scholars an opportunity to share papers or presentations that were intended for now-canceled conferences.
Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/6020592/two-new-resources-scholars-affected-coronavirus
15. The Arab Studies Institute’s Open Access Resources for Teaching the Middle East
- March 24, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
[Editor’s note: In the context of COVID-19, I will continue to circulate this ‘academic items’ list but please note that I am unable to know if any of the time-sensitive items are going on, postponed or even cancelled. My advice is to check the website/email address(es) given for each. Stay healthy!]
1. Royal Holloway University of London’s Centre for Islamic & West Asian Studies, has introduced CIWAS Scholarships to provide financial assistance to MA in Islamic and West Asian Studies students.
The programme offers an understanding of the history and contemporary politics of Islam and West Asia (Middle East) and introduces a unique approach to exploring issues of contemporary significance.
For more information about the CIWAS Scholarships visit: https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-here/fees-and-funding/postgraduate/scholarships/ciwas-scholarships/, or email ciwas@rhul.ac.uk
Deadline: 15 June 2020.
2. Editor-in-Chief of Iranian Studies: Journal of the Association for Iranian Studies
The Association for Iranian Studies (AIS) is looking for a new Editor-in-Chief for its flagship journal Iranian Studies: Journal of the Association for Iranian Studies. This interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal is dedicated to the study of all aspects of Iran and the Persianate world from the pre-Islamic period to the present. As the official publication of the Association for Iranian Studies, it has served as the leading forum for the exchange of ideas and promotion of discipline-based and interdisciplinary research in all fields of Iranian studies since 1967.
The Editor-in-Chief oversees the journal’s online peer review and editorial processes and gives strategic direction to the journal. As an officer of the Association for Iranian Studies, the Editor-in-Chief receives, annually, an honorarium of $4,000 USD, funding for up to two course releases, support for travel to the AIS biennial conference, and a $10,000 USD operating budget to support the editorial process with the expectation of additional support from the scholar’s home institution. The position is a five year appointment and renewable for a second term.
Applicants should be active and published scholars in fields covered by the journal; demonstrate an interest in, and ability to work with, a diverse team of editors and AIS council members; and build relationships with researchers in the field of Iranian Studies. Some previous editorial work and comfort with digital media is preferred. We especially welcome applications from tenured mid-career scholars and institutional applications from scholarly research centers. The disciplinary field and period of scholarly concentration of the Editor-in-Chief is open.
The deadline for applications is May 1, 2020. Applications will include a CV and a letter of application explaining your vision for the journal and the resources your home institution can provide to support your efforts for augmenting the operating budget. Please send application materials to James Gustafson (Chair, Search Committee) at james.gustafson@indstate.edu. Informal queries are welcome and encouraged.
3. Harvard Open Collections Program history of epidemics resource
Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics is a digital library collection that brings a unique set of resources from Harvard’s libraries to Internet users everywhere. Offering valuable insights to students of the history of medicine and to researchers seeking an historical context for current epidemiology, the collection contributes to the understanding of the global, social–history, and public–policy implications of disease. Contagion is also a unique social–history resource for students of many ages and disciplines.
https://web.archive.org/web/20100205181504/http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu:80/contagion/index.html
4. International Seminar: “Persian-Arabic Poetics and South Asian Literatures: Readings Recoveries and Re-orientations”, Comparative Literature Association of India, Patna, 20-23 March 2020
We look forward to a fruitful exchange of ideas that will unpack the relations between the mainstream and margins, great and little traditions, major and minor languages within South Asia. The very idea of the ‘literary’ here is open to question as the subject proposed covers both the written and the oral, the philosophical and religious, the narrative and the performative.
Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/5412876/international-seminar-be-organized-comparative-literature
5. Shi’i Studies Symposium: “‘But by the Love You Bear My Kin’: Devotion (Walāya) and Shiʿi Islam”, University of Chicago, 3-4 April 2020
This conference will be centred on the theme of walāya—the call of devotion to the Ahl al-Bayt that is at the core of Shiʿi beliefs. One unifying theme of the symposia of the past few years has been the institutional development of Shiʿi Islam, as we have considered the authority of the Imams, the development of centers of learning, Shiʿism and governance, and dynamics of sectarianism in Islam.
Information: https://voices.uchicago.edu/shiistudies/3-2/
6. Conference: “From Sectarianism to De-sectarianisation – Reimagining Sectarianism, Geopolitics and the State in the Contemporary Middle East”, Lancaster University, 16-17 April 2020
The conference will reflect on sectarianism, ‘proxies’, the struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and broader questions about identities, geopolitics, economics and social factors in the contemporary Middle East.
Information: https://www.sepad.org.uk/announcement/sepad-conference-2020-from-sectarianism-to-de-sectarianization
7. Graduate Student Workshop on “Religion, Law, and Politics in the Middle East”, Syracuse University, 23 April 2020
The workshop will address the historical and contemporary interactions between religious, legal and political institutions in the Middle East and North Africa region. Topics include state-religion relations, secularism, religious movements, religious law and courts, religious authority, social movements, political violence, democratization, political parties, gender, etc.
Information: https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/moynihan/mesp/Annual_Workshop/
8. Conference: “Christian-Muslim Missionary Encounters, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries”, Mission and Modernity Research Academy (MiMoRA#3), Leuven, Belgium, 3-10 November 2020
Contributions are invited on: 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.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 May 2020.
Information: https://kadoc.kuleuven.be/english/3_research/31_ourresearch/mimora/cfp-mimora-3.pdf
- March 17, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1.Workshop: “Ibadi Manuscripts in European and North American Libraries,” Lviv, Ukraine, 24-25 April 2020
This workshop aims to investigate critically the histories and politics of these collections, with special attention to their acquisition and subsequent use by scholars from both outside and inside Ibadi communities.
Information: https://ibadistudies.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/lviv_ibadi_mss_cfp_2020.pdf
2. 35th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference: “Theorizing Gender and Sexuality in the Historic and Contemporary Middle East“, University of Chicago, 1-3 May 2020
The conference will study the Middle East from the sixth century c.e. to the present day. Topics include history, political science, anthropology, religious studies, geography, literary studies, philosophy, art history, and media studies.
Information: https://mehat2020.wixsite.com/mehat
3. 7th Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies, Centre for Visual Arts and Research, Nicosia, 2-4 July 2020
The conference will be preceded by a three-day (29 June – 1 July 2020) intensive course on Venetian sources concerning trade in Mamluk territories and Cyprusy. The first day of the conference will focus on Mamluk-Cypriot relations in a wider Euro-Mediterranean perspective under the title “Commerce and Crusade: The Mamluk Empire and Cyprus in a Euro-Mediterranean Perspective.” The following two days of the conference will be structured in panels, which may focus on any aspect of the intellectual, political, social, economic, and artistic life of the Mamluk period.
Information: http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/sms-conference.html
4. 16th Colloquium of the Ernst Herzfeld Society: “The Arts and Archaeology of Funerary Cultures in Islam”, Sapienza University, Rome, 2-4 July 2020
The colloquium discusses Islamic funerary cultures through art history and archaeology as well as related disciplines and subfields.
Information: https://f.hypotheses.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/1460/files/2020/01/2020_07_02-04-Funerary-Cultures-in-Islam_CFP.pdf
5. Conference: “Ideas in Motion: Arabia in Late Antiquity,“ Leiden University and King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies, Leiden, 26-27 August 2020
The conference will address key themes in religious, intellectual, and cultural history in Arabia in the period between 570-1000 AD. Central topics include: transmission of ideas and texts; religious and philosophical doctrines and beliefs in Arabia; devotional piety and theology; etc.
Information: https://diwan.hypotheses.org/17079 and the English version of the Call for Papers: https://f.hypotheses.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/678/files/2019/12/call-.pdf
6. International Conference of the Academic Research Institute in Iraq (TARII): “From Ancient to Modern: The Current State of Research on Iraq“, Washington, DC, 9 October 2020
This conference will bring together American, Iraqi, and international scholars to present their findings and exchange their ideas in any subject area.
Information: https://www.tarii.org/conferences
7. Conference: “Rethinking Narratives of China and the Middle East: The Silk Roads and Beyond”, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 8-10 April 2021
The conference examines the relationship between China and the Middle East, both ancient and modern. Papers that incorporate additional regions, such as Europe, Central Asia, or South/Southeast Asia are also encouraged, provided they are also incorporate both China and a country in the Middle East, broadly construed.
Information: mec-conference@sas.upenn.edu
8. Postdoctoral Research and Outreach Associate in Islamic Art, Aesthetics and/or Material Culture, Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge
The associate will be involved in researching Arabic and Persian manuscripts. Expert knowledge of the two languages and Islamic codicology are two essential requisites.
Deadline for applications: 19 April 2020.
Information: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/24783/?fbclid=IwAR1CrdaAHpweM6UtBhgHkQmwgymH-DFnBIfRRsxTFbvqLdwda5lkU_g22lM
9. Visiting Assistant Professor in African or Middle Eastern History, Loyola Marymount University
The successful candidate will be expected to teach courses on “State, Society, and the Citizen in the Modern Middle East”.
Deadline for applications: 20 March 2020. Information: https://jobs.lmu.edu/postings/44126
10. Fellowship Program to Support Emerging Displaced Scholars (Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences), Columbia University, Global Center, Amman
Eligible candidates have been forcibly uprooted from their home countries and respective academic institutions. They could be graduate students who have had their education disrupted or post-doctoral scholars in the early stages of their careers. Creative writers, artists, and curators may also apply.
Deadline for applications: 1 May 2020. Information: https://globalcenters.columbia.edu/content/fellowship-program-emerging-displaced-scholars?fbclid=IwAR0wAWVxs8iSSlh-r8asDdHjibNRGCMxUZGVW0T-1TLhOZ1FcwhiTK_fV40
11. Articles on “The Politics of Religious Dissent” for Special Issue of New “International Journal of Religion”
Three questions frame the topic in the special issue: – How do religious leaders respond to dissent within their faiths? – How does the state respond to religious dissent? – How do religions react to dissent from feminist and gay activists?
Deadline for manuscripts: 31 July 2020. Information: tsjhayn1@londonmet.ac.uk
12. New “Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World”
The Journal aims to be a new reference for field archaeologists, (art) historians, anthropologists, curators, and scholars and students of the archeology, (art) history, architecture, anthropology and ethnography of the Muslim world. Material culture includes not only artefacts, architectural structures and monuments, but also crafts and archaeological field surveys.
Information: https://brill.com/page/mcmw
13. Chapters for Edited Book on “Diasporic Political Communication: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives” (Focus Middle East)
We invite theoretical chapters Mediatisation, Diaspora, Multimodality, Contentious Action Formation, and how each of these concepts relates to political communication among diasporas; and empirically-based chapters that examine Middle East diasporas, and how they use traditional and digital media to politically mobilise and transnationally connect.
Abstract deadline: 15 April 2020.
Information: https://ccrs.ku.dk/research/centres-and-projects/mediatizeddiaspora/
14. Chapters for the New “Handbook of Non-Violent Extremism: Groups, Perspectives and New Debates” (Routledge)
The Handbook will provide an up-to-date picture of the most active non-violent extremist groups in Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, the US and the Middle East and discuss the ideological foundation of their ‘war of ideas’, their claims and perspectives. Chapter proposals are invited about Islamist extremism, feminist extremism etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 March 2020.
Information: Dr Elisa Orofino (elisa.orofino@anglia.ac.uk)
15. POSTPONED: BRAIS
The British Association for Islamic Studies and the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations have today taken the decision to postpone the BRAIS 2020 Conference, due to take place at the Aga Khan Centre on 6 and 7 April, in response to the escalation of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.
Many of our delegates are facing increasingly stringent travel restrictions and the situation is developing very quickly. As disappointed as we are to be postponing this much-anticipated conference, continuing would not be in the best interests of our delegates and we feel the decision to postpone is therefore unavoidable. If you had registered as a delegate, you will have received a separate email regarding the refund of delegate fees.
We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the conference thus far, and it goes without saying that we are incredibly disappointed that such a wonderful programme of papers, panels and keynotes has had to be postponed. BRAIS and the Aga Khan University will discuss rescheduling the conference in due course, and we will be in touch with updates as soon as we know more. In the meantime, if you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for your understanding and very best wishes from us all,
The BRAIS Officers’ Committee and the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations
- March 11, 2020
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment