Shii News – Academic Items
1. Half-day workshop on Islam in Southeast Asia (Wednesday March 3rd, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm)
The Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World (University of Edinburgh)
Please join us at the Alwaleed Centre for this special half-day workshop on Islam and Inter-Religious Relations in Southeast Asia, which will comprise an opening plenary lecture on the history of Islam in the region, by Professor Michael Feener of Kyoto University, followed by a panel event showcasing some of the interesting and creative Islamic thought in the region on the themes of The Study of Religion, Gender, and the Environment.
2. As part of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies’ Wednesday Seminar Series for Hilary Term 2021, we’re delighted to be joined by Professor Scott Redford (Nasser D. Khalili Professor of Islamic Art & Archaeology, SOAS) and Professor Sussan Babaie (Professor in the Arts of Iran and Islam, The Courtauld Institute of Art):
Wednesday, 3 February 2021 at 5pm GMT: Scott Redford, Writing as Talisman in Medieval Islamic Art
Wednesday, 17 February 2021 at 5pm GMT: Sussan Babaie, Isfahan and Istanbul: European views before the long shadow of ‘Orientalism’
Talks will take place via Zoom. Please register here. All welcome!
3. Roundtable on the 100th Anniversary of the 1921 Coup and Reflections on the Reza Pahlavi Period
Monday, February 22, 2021 at 10:00am Pacific via Zoom
https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pahlavi-workshop-panel-1/
The first panel of the Iranian Studies workshop, “History and Historiography of Pahlavi Iran, 1921-1979: A Workshop” will feature a round table discussion centered on the 100th anniversary of the coup that initiated the Reza Pahlavi Period in Iran.
This panel will be chaired by workshop organizer Dr. Robert Steele, the Jahangir and Eleanor Amuzegar Post-Doctoral Fellow in Iranian Studies at UCLA.
Featured panelists of the round table discussion include:
Camron Michael Amin, Professor of History, University of Michigan-Dearborn
Ali Ansari, Professor of Iranian History, University of St Andrews and Senior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute
Stephanie Cronin, Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Research Fellow, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford
Afshin Marashi, Professor of Middle Eastern History, University of Oklahoma
To register for this event and receive the Zoom webinar information, please click here.
4. Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Cultures of the Islamic World invites submissions for the forthcoming volume 39, to be published in 2022.
Muqarnas is a scholarly journal that publishes articles on art, architectural history, and archaeology, as well as all aspects of Islamic visual and material cultures, historical and contemporary. Full-length articles are accompanied by shorter submissions grouped under a separate section titled “Notes and Sources,” for which we particularly welcome studies that introduce textual and visual primary sources.
Deadline for submissions: March 1, 2021.
Manuscripts should be submitted by email to the Managing Editor of Muqarnas at muqarnas@fas.harvard.edu.
A complete submission includes five elements:
- Microsoft Word document of the main text file. Submissions should be double-spaced throughout in 12-point typeface. Use endnotes rather than footnotes; no bibliography is required. Articles should be no longer than 50 pages (not including endnotes).
- Images. All submissions must be accompanied by images, with an upper limit of approximately 30. Low-resolution images are acceptable for initial consideration, with the expectation that authors will provide high-resolution TIFFs or JPEGs (at least 300 dpi at 4 x 6 inches) and secure all necessary permissions if the article is accepted for publication.
- Captions file. Each image should be clearly labeled and have a corresponding caption that provides identifying information and appropriate image credits.
- Abstract and keywords. Submit a 150- to 200-word abstract and 12 keywords for publication in the online version of the journal.
- CV, stating the author’s institutional affiliation (if any), mailing address, phone number, as well as academic status and a list of publications.
Any submission that does not include these five elements will be returned to the author, as will articles that do not conform to the Muqarnas style sheet.
Articles must present original research that has not been published in any language previously. Authors must properly credit previous scholarship on the subject and cite the source of each quotation, with full bibliographic details given in the endnotes (no additional bibliography is required).
All articles are subject to review by the Editorial Committee and anonymous external readers, whose comments will be sent to the author only if the article is accepted for publication. Authors may be expected to make revisions based on the feedback of the readers and editors.
Muqarnas follows the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. For further specifications on preparing text and images for publication, see the Muqarnas style sheet (available to download from our website: https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/submission-guidelines).
Contact Info:
Managing Editor, Muqarnas
History of Art and Architecture Department, Harvard University
485 Broadway, Office 411
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
Phone: 617-495-3774
E-mail: muqarnas@fas.harvard.edu
5. Spring 2021 AKPIA Lecture Series – A Forum for Islamic Art & Architecture
The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University presents
February 4, 2021, 5:30pm
“The Intellect of the Hand: Making and Thinking the Medieval Islamic Art of the Object”
Margaret Graves
Associate Professor of Islamic Art, Department of Art History, Indiana University
Co-sponsored with the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies at Harvard University
March 25, 2021, 5:30pm
“The Visual and Material Culture of Rayy, as Revealed through the Excavations Headed by
Erich Schmidt in the Late 1930s”
Renata Holod
College of Women Class of 1963 Professor in the Humanities, History of Art Department; Curator, Near East Section of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania
April 22, 2021, 5:30pm
“Imagining a World: Selfhood and Empire in Safavid Iran”
Kishwar Rizvi
Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture, Department of the History of Art, Yale University
Lectures are held via Zoom session; time listed is Eastern Standard Time; registration is required. Register here: https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/news-events. All lectures will be recorded and made available from the AKPIA website, after the event date.
THE AGA KHAN PROGRAM FOR ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY
For further information, email agakhan@fas.harvard.edu, or visit https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/news-events
Contact Info:
Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture
Harvard University
Sackler 415
485 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
Tel 617-495-2355
https://agakhan.fas.harvard.edu/news-events
6. An Online Course in Persian Calligraphy
Nasta’liq Script
12 February – 16 April, 2021
The Iran Heritage Foundation is delighted to offer once again a course in Persian Calligraphy, with teaching provided online.
This ten-week exercise-based course is suitable for all levels, from beginners to advanced. It is based on a one-to-one teaching method, so everyone will be given the instructions based on their own level and previous experience.
You will learn the writing techniques of the Nasta’liq script during the course, and the first session will start with a general introduction to the traditional tools, materials, and various Islamic calligraphy styles.
Although previous knowledge of Persian language is not necessary, you will enjoy the course more if you have familiarity with the alphabets and particularly the language, as the materials are constantly engaged with Persian language and literature.
The course will be taught online and remotely. Each week the student will submit photographs of their practice; the teacher will record personal videos of comments and advice, along with further practice. For those requiring materials, a special pack including a traditional reed pen cut and prepared by the teacher, paper and ink, can be posted to the student at an additional charge of £25 for UK and £35 for International shipment.
Keramat Fathinia is a Persian calligrapher born in Iran who has been teaching calligraphy for over 17 years. He received a distinguished certificate in both Nasta’liq and Shikasteh Nasta’liq styles from the Iranian Calligraphers Association (ICA) in Iran, and has had several exhibitions, workshops, and demonstrations in both Iran and London, including at SOAS, Cambridge University, BIPS (British Institute of Persian Studies), and the Courtauld Gallery.
Price: £300 for ten classes
Pack of materials (sent by post): £25 UK, £35 International
To register click here. The registration deadline is Friday 12 February 2021
For any enquiries please contact leonard@iranheritage.org, Tel: 020 3651 2124
Organised by: Iran Heritage Foundation.
Forthcoming Events
7. The Indo-Persian Confluence Symposium Three:
“Indo-Persian Musical Hybrids in Afghanistan”
Sunday, January 31, 2021
10am PST, Zoom
RSVP: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIpcuutrjIiHdV4WsLZhCyRQGsssq-uH1Fk
Join us for our third event in the Indo-Persian Musical Confluence series, featuring a panel of eminent ethnomusicologists on Indo-Persian musical hybrids in Afghanistan and a performance by Homayun Sakhi on the rubab.
Panelists
John Baily (Goldsmith University of London)
Lorraine Sakata (UCLA)
Mark Slobin (Wesleyan University)
Chair and Discussant
Richard Wolf (Harvard University)
Performance: Indo-Persian music on the rubab by the renowned Afghan musician Homayoun Sakhi
https://festival.si.edu/2016/sounds-of-california/homayoun-sakhi/smithsonian
For more information on The Indo-Persian Music Confluence project:
https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/indo-persian-musical-confluence
Details of subsequent events will be forthcoming soon.
Project leader: Mohsen Mohammadi
Event Sponsors:
UCLA Mohindar Brar Sambhi Chair of Indian Music
UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology
UCLA Center for Musical Humanities (Robert U. Nelson Fund)
UCLA Jahangir and Eleanor Amuzegar Chair in Iranian Studies
UCLA Iranian Studies program
UCLA Center for India and South Asia (CISA)
UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES)
8. Waikato Islamic Studies Review – Call for Papers
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/UWISG/review.shtml
On behalf of the University of Waikato Islamic Studies Group, I warmly invite submissions of papers which examine Islam in the widest sense to the Waikato Islamic Studies Review for publication consideration.
Articles can be as short as 2000 words and up to a maximum of 5000. For full details regarding paper guidelines and submissions and the Waikato Islamic Studies Review please see:http://www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/UWISG/review.shtml
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me asap if you think that you might like your work considered; the next edition is due for publication in March 2021.
Kind regards,
Abdullah Drury
Editor: Waikato Islamic Studies Review
Email: abdullah@xtra.co.nz
9. Call for Papers
CALL FOR PAPERS: JOURNAL OF THE CONTEMPORARY STUDY OF ISLAM
The newly established, fully open-access Journal of the Contemporary Study of Islam is now accepting submissions.
The Journal of the Contemporary Study of Islam was launched by the Institute for the Contemporary Study of Islam, based in the UK, to promote and disseminate research related to Islam and Muslims in the contemporary world. Although we may consider any submissions that fall within the scope of JCSI, we are keen to publish research articles that deal with some of the most pressing issues that Muslims face in the contemporary world, such as new approaches to Islamic law, new religious trends in the Muslim world (e.g. new atheism, deism, and agnosticism), Islam and politics, sectarianism in the Muslim world, Islam and social change, Islam and human rights, Islamophobia, Muslim-Christian relations, new methodological developments in Quranic studies, and hadith studies.
JCSI aims to reach a wider readership beyond academia, and thus we suggest authors use accessible language in their submissions. The journal is open-access, free of cost for authors and readers alike, and provides unrestricted online access to its readers.
JCSI is a member of Crossref, an independent membership association for building shared technologies. Crossref was launched in early 2000 as a cooperative effort among publishers to enable citation linking in journals using the Digital Object Identifier, or DOI. Our DOI prefix is 10.37264 and our ISSN is 2633-7282 (online). We are in the process of applying for membership to the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and CLOCKSS archival service.
JCSI has a prestigious advisory board and will be covered by the leading relevant indexing services.
Interested scholars are invited to submit their articles for consideration at https://contemporarystudyofislam.org/index.php/jcsi/about/submissions
Manuscripts will undergo a process of blind peer review. Author guidelines are available at https://contemporarystudyofislam.org/index.php/jcsi/about/submissions#authorGuidelines
10. Harvard University – NELC – TENURED PROFESSOR IN ARMENIAN STUDIES
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=60958
11. CALL FOR PAPERS International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA)
Special Issue: Rupture and Response
Thematic volume planned for July 2023
Abstract submission deadline: April 5, 2021
This special issue of the International Journal of Islamic Architecture addresses urban and architectural responses to rupture. Prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this issue understands and investigates rupture as a state of emergency which may reveal systemic inequalities through the moment of crisis. Such rupture can be caused by events including epidemics, explosions, fires, episodes of armed conflict, and earthquakes or other natural disasters – events which all have myriad and wide-reaching effects on buildings, cities, urban environments, and the communities that inhabit them. While not directly addressing the current pandemic disrupting many of our lives, this special issue aims to explore moments like these and responses to them through built environments. In line with the mission of the IJIA, which aims to encourage dialogue between practitioners and scholars, this special issue hopes to be strongly interdisciplinary. Contributions will be drawn from fields ranging from urban design, history, architecture, planning, and art and architectural history.
Rupture can take the form of a physical rending, manifesting itself in the tearing apart of our built environment. For example, an earthquake might tear down a building important for the social life of a community or level a town. In the first instance, therefore, such moments of rupture themselves may have an effect on the built environment – they may cause direct damage or other change to buildings. However, such an event might also rend the social, economic, or political structures around it. All too often, the damage done by events such as epidemics, natural disasters, or explosions is exacerbated by, while also exacerbating, pre-existing social inequalities. Such moments can place extra strain on political, social, economic, and personal crises. In addition, aspects of culture, such as the production of art or the performance of music and theatre, are also impacted, as they are often deemed secondary needs and neglected at such times of crisis. These two aspects – the urban/architectural and the social/cultural – are, thus, frequently affected in parallel. A moment of sudden disruption might be made manifest in the built environment, as well as the social structures which inhabit and support it.
Further, subsequent to these initial moments of change, the urban and built environment is a medium in which responses to rupture are frequently made material. The environment we build around us is so often the space on and in which we make our preoccupations manifest. The buildings affected by moments of rupture are in many ways extensions of the people who call them home, and the economic and social structures which shape their lives. In light of this, contributors are encouraged to approach these moments as catalysts for architectural and urban change, but also for other, wider forms of change within society. Moreover, as this special issue will have a focus on the built environment, it may also address acts of commemoration and the architectural memorialisation of the loss of life that is often a consequence of the moments investigated by this special edition.
Indeed, rupture and the response to it can take myriad forms and the past year provided many examples. In 2020, the world has been unexpectedly disrupted in many ways by the spread of COVID-19. Iran, for example, one of the countries dramatically impacted by the pandemic, has already seen effects caused by this outbreak made manifest on its architecture and urban environments. Many of the most significant religious sites in the country have had their doors shut for months, with the shrine of Shah Abdol-Azim in Rayy even being repurposed as a mask factory. The past year also saw the explosion in the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020 which devastated the city and its inhabitants in many ways, one of which was the widespread damage to the urban fabric. Homes, work spaces, places of worship, museums, and many other sites felt the full force of the blast. In the days that followed, many of the responses were embedded within and emerged from the damaged cityscape, whether in the shape of the clean-up effort or anti-government protests.
The changes that take place after rupture affect not only physical spaces, but also social relationships. In response to COVID-19, for example, buildings are used differently and space is managed in new ways. Interior spaces look different – they bear the paraphernalia of social distancing enforcement and increased sanitisation. Many of us are inhabiting spaces differently – frequenting them less; distancing ourselves from others when we do. In addition, new technologies might be developed to guard against further damage. Legislative adjustments, as well as changes to social norms brought about in response to the moment of rupture will have their own effects on the built environment. Thus, the changes can range from repurposing or renovation to reconstruction or relocation. Through studies of the manifestation of rupture and such responses to it in architecture and the wider built environment, this issue aims to explore not only the rending of urban, but also social, fabrics and the conjunction between these two aspects.
Paper proposals should work from the framework outlined above and offer insights relevant to the IJIA’s remit, which is defined broadly as ‘the historic Islamic world, encompassing the Middle East and parts of Africa and Asia, but also the more recent geographies of Islam in its global dimensions’. In this vein, we encourage contributors to address Islamic architecture in less-frequently represented geographies such as sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas. Equally, papers addressing groups often under-represented in the study of Islamic architecture such as women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and people with disabilities are very welcome. Papers can address past or present moments of rupture and the responses to it.
Contributors might range from an architectural historian investigating a mosque built in the early-modern period to commemorate the damage wrought by a fire, or an historian working on the impact of pandemics on hospital design, to an urban planner designing a new town in southern Iran after a major earthquake, or an entrepreneur trying to design a prototype shelter for Syrian refugees in Iraq, etc. Contributions are welcomed from individuals at any stage of their careers, and advanced graduate students are encouraged to submit proposals. Questions that might be addressed by contributors to this special issue are unlimited but could include:
- How are the social and political ramifications of these events reflected in architecture? After rupture, how are new and changing societal or political needs expressed through art, architecture and urban design?
- In what ways are societies’ responses to rupture reflected in the worlds they build around them? Are there responses which are distinctive to particular regions? How do religious practice and cultural traditions play a role in the response? Have marginalised communities produced distinctive responses through architecture?
- What role do architecture, urban design, planning etc. play in recovery from rupture? How is architecture used to mend tears in the social fabric?
- What are the consequences of the lack of an architectural response to rupture?
- What effect do such moments have on social justice and disparity? How do they exacerbate pre-existing patterns of inequity and marginalisation? How can responses to these moments build toward a more equal society?
- How might architectural studies help us understand moments of rupture more clearly? What are the benefits or challenges of working with buildings as sources in these cases?
- How have planners, architects, and designers understood their role in providing responses to pandemics, earthquakes, etc.?
- How is architecture used to memorialise such moments? How are urban spaces used for the making of memory? In what ways does damaged or otherwise altered architecture stand in testament to the moment of rupture?
Articles offering historical and theoretical analysis (DiT papers) should be between 6,000 and 8,000 words, while those on design and practice (DiP papers) between 3,000 and 4,000 words. Urbanists, art historians, anthropologists, geographers, political scientists, sociologists, and historians are also welcome. Practitioners from all relevant fields (i.e., architecture, urban planning, landscape design, art) are welcome to contribute insofar as they address the critical framework of the journal. Please send a title and a 400-word abstract to the guest editor, Fuchsia Hart, University of Oxford (ijia.rupture@gmail.com), by April 5, 2021. Authors of accepted proposals will be contacted soon thereafter and will be invited to submit full papers by January 2022. All papers will be subject to blind peer review. For author instructions, please consult: www.intellectbooks.com/ijia.
12. Research Fellow, ‘Science and the Transmission of Islamic Knowledge in Britain’, Department of Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham
Part time 80% FTE, fixed term for 24 months
This position is for a post-doctoral Research Fellow to work on the new Templeton Religion Trust-funded research project, ‘Science and the Transmission of Islamic Knowledge in Britain’. This project will investigate how the relationship between Islam and science is understood and discussed by those involved in the transmission of Islamic knowledge and the establishment of Islamic authority in Britain. It will examine: if, and how, scientific concepts are used by Muslim religious leaders to legitimise their arguments; if Islamic education centres and religious leaders oppose any scientific theories, and if so what movements influence them; and how Muslim leaders’ answers to questions about science and Islam are affected by UK policy context and Muslims’ position within British society. It will provide one of the first in-depth portraits of whether, when and how Muslim religious leaders interact with scientific concepts and popular narratives about science.
The post holder will work with the Principal Investigator and external Co-investigator to conduct ethnographic observation of women’s and co-educational Islamic educational institutions as well as interview research with current and in-training Muslim religious leaders. They will also assist in research by carrying out literature reviews, conducting data analysis and writing up research findings. The post holder will be expected to engage in, and support, aspects of project dissemination, team meetings and international networking activities, including contributing the project-related websites, workshops and seminars. They will also be expected to effectively contribute to the presentation and dissemination of research outputs, including developing academic and non-academic publications/presentations.
Some of the responsibilities of this role are outlined below.
- With the PI and Co-I, negotiate access to research sites and interviewees.
- Conduct ethnographic and interview research at two case study sites, as well as interviews at a variety of settings around the UK.
- Undertake research administration and support the PI and Co-I in research management.
- Analyse and interpret data gathered for the project.
- Co-ordinate the collaborative preparation of findings for dissemination to academic and non-academic audiences both in the UK and internationally.
- Present research outputs at UK-based and international conferences and contribute to academic publications.
- Actively contribute to public reports based on the data collected and related public/media engagement activity.
- Work with Muslim educational and community organisations to set up forums for the discussion and dissemination of the research.
- Provide guidance to support staff and any students and colleagues who may be assisting with research.
For informal inquiries, please contact Dr Stephen Jones (PI) at s.h.jones@bham.ac.uk.
As this vacancy has limited funding, the maximum salary that can be offered is Grade 7, salary £30,942.
Closing date: 24th Feb 2021 Reference: 12098
Posted in: Academic items- January 30, 2021
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