Categories : Field-specific (academic)

Fatimid succession to Imam al Mustansir

ISMM Seminar 2025-2026

Autorité et culture politique en Iran qajar et dans l’Empire ottoman (ca. 1780-1920)

Conveners :
Charles Ganier, Université Paris-Cité, CESSMA
Denis Hermann, CNRS HDR, CeRMI
Erdal Kaynar, MCF, Université de Strasbourg

Tuesday, 6 January 2026

Mapping a Massacre: Extraterritoriality and International Crisis in Ottoman Karbala 1843

In 1843, Necib Pasha, the Ottoman Governor of Baghdad attached the autonomous city of Karbala after the months-long siege on the city. Occupants of the city, claiming Iranian and Russian subjecthood, reported mass looting, massacre, and desecration of the shrines in the city. Soon, the matter turned into an international crisis for the Ottoman Porte, sending a commission from Istanbul to investigate the event. Concurrently, a British-Russian commission arrived in Karbala to investigate how the non-Ottoman subjects resident in Karbala were affected. These commissions mapped the city and its affected population. The local histories, the nationalist historiographies in Arabic, Turkish, and Persian, and the historiography of the Babi/Bahai movement have all tried to get to the truth of the matter in what happened in Karbala in 1843, projecting the grievances around the event onto their own ideological framings. This paper aims to map these historiographies against the international context within which the commission reports were written. It argues that the commissions and the claims within them could only be made in the context of new conceptions of imperial subjecthood and extraterritoriality, where empires claimed protection of their subjects beyond their borders. It was only then that a matter of Ottoman internal rebellion could be magnified into an international crisis with Iranian, Russian and British governments mapping and claiming populations resident in Ottoman Empire.

To attend the seminar via zoom :
https://ehess-fr.zoom.us/j/98558979025?pwd=1EOFoBWcE9No6JJTZb9fixfu9VamZe.1
Meeting ID: 985 5897 9025
Passcode : 345891

For the full seminar programme :
https://iismm.hypotheses.org/128394

For any enquiries, please contact :
Denis Hermann – dnshermann@gmail.com

Application deadline is 28th February 2026.

The Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies, a biannual peer-reviewed journal indexed by Project MUSE, invites submissions on all aspects of Shi‘i studies. Topics include but are not limited to Shi‘ism and:

• The Qur’an and hadith
• History
• Ritual practice and material culture
• Literature
• The ḥawzah
• Islamic law
• Philosophy
• Spirituality
• Contemporary issues

Submissions may be emailed to to jsis@islamic-college.ac.uk.

More information is available at: https://islamic-college.ac.uk/research-publications/journal-of-shia-islamic-studies/

Warmest wishes,

Amina Inloes

Managing editor

Journal of Shi ‘a Islamic Studies

Monthly Talk: The Beginnings of Modern Shiʿism

Date: 9 May 2026

Location: In-person at The Islamic College (London, UK) and online

Papers are welcome on any aspect of Shiʿi studies, including but not limited to theology, philosophy, mysticism, law and jurisprudence, contemporary issues, history, anthropology, sociology, art, literature, the ḥawzah, ritual practice, and interfaith/intrafaith studies. Papers may address any branch of Shiʿism.

Special theme: the study of the Qur’an. This year, we are hosting special panels on the study of the Qur’an. We particularly encourage the submission of papers on topics such as Qur’anic exegesis (tafsīr), past and present; the history and compilation of the Qur’an; Qur’anic manuscripts; translations of the Qur’an, classical and modern; or any other topic pertaining to the study of the Qur’an.

Publication: Presenters will have their work featured in conference proceedings and/or an edited volume on the Qur’an published by ICAS Press, offering an opportunity for quick, quality publication of research.

Submit an abstract at: https://islamic-college.ac.uk/conference-on-shii-studies-submit-an-abstract/

E-mail enquiries to: shiistudies@islamic-college.ac.uk

Abstract deadline: 15 January 2026

Online presentations: Limited slots for online presentations are available. When submitting your abstract, indicate whether you would like to present in-person or online. This option cannot be changed.

Closing date: Monday 15 December 2025,