Shii News – Academic Items
1.AIS (Assoc for Iranian Studies) Members and Friends, starting on May 15th, 2019, will be able to submit your paper, panel, and roundtable proposals for AIS 2020.
Right now, you can update your membership, pre-register for the conference and review information about the conference site, the University of Salamanca, Spain. Remember, only current members who have pre-registered may submit proposals. Here is a link to get started: https://associationforiranianstudies.org/conferences/2020
2. Position Announcement LACMA
Assistant Curator, Islamic Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is home to a highly significant collection of Islamic art. These widely diverse arts, from an area extending from southern Spain to Central Asia, trace the distinctive visual imagination of Islamic artists over a period of fourteen hundred years. This comprehensive collection consists of over 2,000 works.
Reporting to the Curator & Department Head of Art of the Middle East, the Assistant Curator provides specific expertise in Islamic art. Primary areas of responsibility include exhibition-related projects, involving preparation of checklists, and research and writing for catalogues and didactics. In addition, the Assistant Curator serves as the department’s liaison to collections management, education and other departments within the Museum.
The qualified candidate will have a recent PhD or advanced ABD in the history of Islamic art, ideally with some professional museum experience and/or a demonstrated enthusiasm for working with objects. The successful applicant will have a sound knowledge of one or both of the following languages: Arabic; Ottoman Turkish, and, preferably, will have a strong interest in Art of the Arab Lands or the Ottoman Empire. Since the Assistant Curator also will have administrative responsibility for the department’s collection of ancient Near Eastern art, a general knowledge of this area would be helpful.
Please send a CV, cover letter, writing sample and list of three references by May 12 (approx.), 2019 to amec@lacma.org or access the LACMA website http://www.lacma.org/jobs The position will commence by September 1, 2019.
3. Announcing a one-day Introduction to Arabic Scientific Manuscripts on 10 June 2019 as part of the London International Palaeography Summer School (LIPSS) at the Institute of English Studies, University of London.
This course will provide a practical, hands-on introduction for students beginning research with Arabic scientific manuscripts. The main aim of the course is to familiarise students with some of the major features and obstacles specific to scientific manuscripts, while giving practical experience in interpreting a variety of Arabic scientific manuscripts representing a wide range of periods, locations and scientific topics. Manuscript examples will be chosen from amongst the following topics; Astronomy/Astrology, Geometry/Optics, Mechanics, Arithmetic, Chemistry/Alchemy, Medicine, Divination, Agriculture.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until a course is full. Courses fees range from one-day fees of £100 (standard) and £90 (student), to five-day fees of £450 (standard) and £400 (student).
For the full list of courses and further information about the LIPSS please visit the following link https://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/lipss. Questions can be directed to Summer School administrator Georgia Reeves (Georgia.reeves@sas.ac.uk)
4. 15th Great Lakes Ottomanist Workshop at the University of Vermont, from April 26th to 28th, 2019. For further information, please inquire at 2019glow@gmail.com
| Great Lakes Ottomanist Workshop (GLOW)
April 26-28, 2019 Burlington, Vermont |
Friday April 26
| 4:45 – 5:00pm | Welcome Message
Boğaç Ergene (University of Vermont)
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| 5:00 – 6:30pm | Panel 1: Translating to and from Ottoman
Chair: Victor Ostapchuk (University of Toronto)
Bob Zens (Le Moyne College), “Rising from the Dead in London: Pasvanoğlu Osman Pasha in 1819” Will Smiley (University of New Hampshire), “Translating Trump to Ottoman”
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Saturday April 27
| 8:30-9:00am | Coffee/Tea and Pastries
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| 9:00-10:30am | Panel 2: Intellectual, Religious, Scientific
Chair: Virginia Aksan (McMaster University)
Ahmet Barış Ekiz (University of Michigan), “A Prolegomena to Islamic Paideia: Humanistic Ideals of Ottoman Literati” Özgün Deniz Yoldaşlar (Boğaziçi/Harvard University), “Reading the Ottoman Religio-Legal Dynamics of the Seventeenth Century Through a Religious Debate: Minkarizade Yahya’s Rebuttal to Kürd Molla’s Commentary” Elizabeth Frierson (University of Cincinnati), “Ottoman Pharmacists and New Masculinities”
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| 10:30-10:45am | Break
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| 10:45am-12:30pm | Panel 3: Military, Political, Bureaucratic
Chair: Boğaç Ergene (University of Vermont)
Christopher Whitehead (Ohio State University), “The Veledeş Conflict: Military Reform and Rebellion in the Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Empire” Masayuki Ueno (Osaka City/Yale University), “More than Tax Farmers: The Armenian Patriarchs of Istanbul in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries” Veysel Şimşek (McGill University), “The Mahmudian Origins of the Tanzimat”
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| 12:30-2:00pm | Lunch at the venue
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| 2:00-3:30pm | Panel 4: Sources, Documents, History-Writing
Chair: Febe Armanios (Middlebury College)
Ahmet Yusuf Yüksek (Binghamton University), “Surveying Early Modern Istanbul with GIS: The Space of Artisans in Late Eighteenth-Century Galata” Henry Clements (Yale University), “Documenting, Forgetting, and Remembering the Süryani of the Ottoman Empire” Lale Javanshir (University of Toronto), “Poetry and History in the Paşanāme: ‘Anti-Corruption’ Campaign Meets Ṭulūʿī’s Poetic Skills”
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| 3:30-3:45pm | Break
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| 3:45-5:15pm | Panel 5: Away from the Center
Chair: Jane Hathaway (Ohio State University)
Tyler Kynn (Yale University), “The Seasonal Empire: Ottoman Authority in Early Modern Harameyn” Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer (New York University), “The Notions of Border and Border Formation in the Early Modern Ottoman-Safavid Relations” Maryna Kravets (University of Toronto), “Captivity and Slavery in Early Modern Crimea and the Northern Lands (Poland-Lithuania and Muscovy) from a Comparative Perspective”
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| TBA | Dinner/Reception
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Sunday April 28
| 9:00am | Coffee/Tea and Pastries
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| 9:30-11:30am | Roundtable: On Ottoman Early Modernity
Moderator: Bob Zens (La Moyne College)
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| 11:30-12:30pm | Lunch at the venue |
5. POS: Librarian/Curator for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, UCLA
SEE: https://chroniclevitae.com/jobs/0000478722-01?cid=ja
Department: International Studies
Rank and Salary: Assistant Librarian – Librarian ($60,843 – $119,734)
Position Availability: Immediately
Application deadline for first consideration: April 23, 2019
The UCLA Library has initiated recruitment for the position of Librarian/Curator for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, and is actively seeking applications. The application deadline for first consideration is April 23, 2019.
For your convenience, the complete posting can be viewed here: https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/apply/JPF04457
Anyone wishing to be considered for this position should apply online. Applications should include: a cover letter describing qualifications and experience; a current curriculum vitae detailing education and relevant experience; and the names and addresses for three professional references, including a current or previous supervisor.
6. Call for Papers
Geometry and Colour: Decoding the Arts of Islam in the West 1880–1945
International Conference, Zurich, May 14-15, 2020
Organizers: Sandra Gianfreda (Kunsthaus Zürich), Francine Giese (Universität Zürich), Ariane Varela Braga (Universität Zürich) and Axel Langer (Museum Rietberg Zürich)
Venue: Museum Rietberg Zürich / Kunsthaus Zürich
Deadline for submission: May 31, 2019
Keynote Speaker: Rémi Labrusse (Université Paris Nanterre)
The art and architecture of the Islamic world had a decisive impact on the development of decorative and fine arts from 1880 to 1945. Many leading artists such as Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, masters of decorative arts such as Émile Gallé and Max Laeuger, and architects Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier took inspiration from the rich Islamic language of forms and ornamentation. They were inspired by the mathematical principles and unusual harmonies of colours in Persian miniatures and rugs, stained glass windows or Iznik tiles, and punched metal works and ceramics from the Near East, North Africa and Moorish Spain.
While only some of them actually visited the Islamic world and studied its art and architecture in situ, many discovered it through exhibitions and publications. Following on from Paris (1893/1903), Stockholm (1897) and Algiers (1905), Munich set new standards in 1910 with the exhibition “Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst” (“Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art”). Museums, art dealers and private collectors from a number of countries contributed some 3,600 works, including valuable carpets, ceramics, metalwork pieces and Persian miniatures. The exhibition marked a turning point not only for the academic studies of the time, but also in terms of the reception of Islamic arts. Matisse, Albert Marquet and Hans Purrmann travelled from Paris especially to see it, and it was also visited by Kandinsky, Franz Marc and Le Corbusier.
In the Western fine and decorative arts of the 19th century, the “Orient” conjured up motivic imagery heavily influenced by the colonialist perspective, whereas the artists of early Modernism investigated Islam’s stylistic devices in depth, transposing them to their own environment through a process of artistic internalisation. In combination with their own traditions and their respective times, it was this very internalisation that instilled motivating creative processes, out of which artists developed countless new forms of expression.
The international conference, which is being held in conjunction with the planned exhibitions at the Vitrocentre Romont (2020) and Kunsthaus Zurich (2022), aims to cast new light on the effort by Western artists to study a foreign but inspiring culture. The main points of discussion will be as follows:
- Colour and geometry in Islamic arts and architectural ornamentation
- Western studies on the principles of Islamic ornamentation
- Bringing Islamic arts to the West: exhibitions and international art fairs
- Translations and reinterpretations of Islamic colour and geometry in Western arts
- The Islamic contribution to the renewal of Western decorative and fine arts, and architecture
Papers will have a duration of 20 min. Conference languages will be English, French and German. Abstracts of no more than 300 words, together with a short CV, should be sent to: conference@transculturalstudies.ch
7. The City in the Islamic World: Synthesis and Perspective
Special Isuue of Hésperis-Tamuda
Guest edited by: Abbey Stockstill and Mohamed Mezzine
The journal Hésperis-Tamuda is seeking English-language contributors for a special issue revisiting the idea of the Islamic city from an interdisciplinary perspective. Though the concept of the “Islamic city” is one weighed down with associations of Orientalist discourse, the past two decades of research on urbanism have opened up new avenues for readdressing the topic. Characterized by an interweaving of various disciplines, urban studies takes the city—not only in historical dimensions, but in its architectural, social, and economic ones as well—as a research subject that naturally appeals to other sources and methods outside the humanities. Possible themes may include (but are not limited to):
- The city as an organizer of space, requiring decision-making and management
- Lived experiences within urban spaces
- The history (or histories) of the city in the longue durée
- The relationship between Islam and public power
This special issue invites scholars from diverse fields to share their contributions on the conceptualization of the city across the Islamic world in an effort to collect and begin to synthesize the many approaches to the topic. Contributions are sought on any geographic region of the Islamic world, and the editors will consider both historical and contemporary subjects.
If interested in contributing, please send a CV and a 300-word abstract to Dr. Abbey Stockstill (astockstill@smu.edu) by May 7, 2019.
8. University of Kent at Canterbury – Postdoctoral Researchers on ERC Synergy Project “The European Qur’an”
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=58451
Brown University – Visiting Lecturer in Turkish, Center for Language Studies, Brown University
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=58416
9. PhD position ‘The Muslim Individual in Imperial and Soviet Russia’
Faculty of Humanities – Amsterdam School for Regional and Transnational and European Studies
Project description:
For European historiography, it is self-evident that diaries, correspondences, and other personal documents provide crucial insights not only into how individuals thought about certain issues, but also in how the authors expressed their individuality, and how they saw their active role in history. This holds true both for prominent and ordinary persons, and for a whole variety of genres. In the historiography of Muslim societies, expressions of individuality are rarely ever problematized; the individual is often seen merely as part of a faith community, and the writings of individuals are more often than not just treated as a source for factual information on Islam, politics, or broader social phenomena, not as an effort of personal self-reflection. By analyzing practices of individualization in the personal archives of Muslims in Russia, this program places the Muslim subject at the center. How does a person engage with the Islamic tradition, with the demands of the state and the non-Muslim majority society, but also with other individuals, to design his or her conception of the self (Ar., shakhsiyya)?
For more info, see: https://www.uva.nl/en/content/vacancies/2019/03/19-149-phd-position-the-muslim-individual-in-imperial-and-soviet-russia.html?origin=dxuSI3bDRY2CW7N9J3yPlw&1555271019338
10. 6th International Conference of the International Iranian Economic Association, University of Naples “L’Orientale”, 16-17 May 2019
The purpose of this conference is to showcase the best current research on Iran’s economy and to generate information and encouragement for future high-quality research in this area.
See program at
11. Conference: “Global Religious Translation in the Early Modern Period”, Gotha Research Centre, University of Erfurt, 6-8 June 2019
We are especially interested in papers dealing with interactions involving non-European or non-Christian actors: What negotiations and compromises did translators make? What did they translate and what did they omit? How did they transform meaning through interventions, abridgements, or amplifications? Etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 10 May 2019. Information: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/4001296/global-religious-translation-early-modern-period
12. Workshop on “Mosques, Families and Islamic Law”, Göteborg, 21-23 August 2019
We invite scholars in the Nordic countries (and beyond) working in the intersection of mosques, family and Islamic law. How are Muslims in mosques (and beyond) articulating their legal, ethical and normative identities? What kind of institutions are being build? How do the courts and the legal systems in general approach and address these issues?
Deadline for abstracts: 1 May 2019.
Information: https://mosques.ku.dk/activities/mosques-families-and-islamic-law/
13. Conference: “Words Laying Down the Law: Translating Arabic Legal Discourse,” Aga Khan University, London, 7-8 October 2019
The Governance Programme at the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC) invites papers in the disciplines of legal anthropology, law and comparative law, legal pragmatics, sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, politics and translation studies for a two-day conference on translations of legal discourse in Arabic-speaking contexts.
Deadline for abstracts: 31 May 2019.
Information: https://www.aku.edu/govprogramme/conferences/Pages/home.aspx
14. Prize for Best Article, Council for British Research in the Levant
The award recognizes excellent research and scholarship that engages with current and emerging issues in the Levant that advances our understanding of the region. We are looking for original unpublished articles from scholars in different stages of their careers and from different disciplines: anthropology, sociology, politics, religion and theology, language and linguistics cultural studies, etc.
Deadline for full articles: 1 July 2019. Information: http://cbrl.ac.uk/news/item/name/call-for-papers-2019-prize-for-best-article
15. International ILEM Summer School: “Transnational Islam and Challenges of Being Muslim Ummah”, Istanbul, 29 July – 4 August 2019
The ideal of being an Ummah, and the challenges faced by this ideal in the light of contemporary developments, will be discussed with special emphasis on “Theoretical Frameworks, Contemporary Debates and Future Projections”. We invite graduate students and junior scholars from the fields of philosophy, law, theology, political science, history, sociology, and other related disciplines.
Deadline for abstracts: 10 May 2019. Information: http://iiss.ilem.org.tr/
16. New Series “Edinburgh Studies of the Globalised Muslim World”
This is a new series (editor: Frédéric Volpi, Alwaleed Centre, University of Edinburgh) that provides a platform for innovative books exploring the dynamics of contemporary Muslim societies. It considers the boundaries of the contemporary Muslim world and critically addresses the construction of Islamic and non-Islamic categories. It analyses the discourses and practices of individuals, communities, states and transnational actors, while offering multidisciplinary scholarly perspectives on what it means to be part of the Muslim world today.
Information: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/series-edinburgh-studies-of-the-globalised-muslim-world-html.html
17. The Islamic Art Circle at SOAS is delighted to announce that our April lecture will be given by Professor Lorenz Korn (Islamic Art and Archaeology, University of Bamberg, Germany) on Wednesday, 24th April at 7.00 pm in the Khalili Lecture Theatre, L/G Phillips Building, SOAS, London University, WC1H 0XG – all welcome. Enquiries to Rosalind Wade Haddon: rw51@soas.ac.uk.
Professor Korn’s topic is: Islamic Architecture of Khurasan during the pre-Mongol period (10th-13th cent.) and will cover the following:
Khurasan, the eastern province of the caliphate was more than once a region from which political movements and cultural currents originated that shaped the Islamic world at large. Similarly, for the field of Islamic art and architecture, monuments of Khurasan have been viewed as important evidence of innovation, even if they are very unevenly preserved and the urban centres of Nishapur, Marv, Balkh and Herat offer diverging pictures with regard to material from the pre-Mongol period. Looking at mosques, madrasas, minarets and mausolea, the paper characterizes the religious architecture of Khurasan, asking how architectural forms were related to functions. With glances at neighbouring regions, it attempts to determine the position of Khurasan between traditions of Central Asia and developments in Iraq and Western Iran, and to highlight elements that are indicative of artistic exchange between these regions.
18. Lecturer of Arabic
(AFL and Academic Arabic for Graduate Studies)
The Language Center (LC) at the Doha Institute (DI) seeks to appoint a highly qualified lecturer of Arabic with experience in teaching (1) all levels of Arabic as a foreign language and (2) Academic Arabic for graduate students. Minimum qualifications include educated mastery of MSA, a B.A. in Arabic, an M.A. in teaching Arabic or related field, a proven record of accomplishment in teaching AFL and Academic Arabic. Additional qualifications include experience in content-based advanced language instruction, testing, or experiential, blended and independent learning.
The position begins in August 2019. The successful candidate will join a vibrant team in delivering courses in Arabic for Academic purposes and AFL courses at all levels, and participate in the development of other LC research and outreach initiatives. The DI offers internationally competitive salaries and benefits based on rank and experience.
Applicants should submit a CV with the names of three referees and a cover letter in which to expound the relevance of their experiences to the above requirements. Review of applications will begin on May 3, 2019 and the position will remain open until filled. Only short listed candidates will be contacted.
Inquiries and applications (detailed CVs and cover letters) should be sent to careers@dohainstitute.edu.qa
Posted in: Academic items
- April 16, 2019
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