Shii News – Academic Items
1.Monash University in Australia is hiring a PhD student who will specialise in Ibn Arabi (1165-1240), his work, heritage, later influence, and/or reception.
You can find the call here: https://careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/job/633252/phd-scholarship-in-islamic-intellectual-history-through-the-lens-of-sufism-global-dissemination-of-knowledge-in-islam
Deadline: May 20, Friday 2022
Enquiries: aydogan.kars@monash.edu
2. Fruit of Knowledge, Wheel of Learning’
Essays in Honour of Carole and Robert Hillenbrand (2 volumes)
Edited by Ali Ansari and Melanie Gibson
April 2022 by Gingko Library, London
https://www.gingko.org.uk/title/essays-in-honour-of-carole-hillenbrand/
https://www.gingko.org.uk/title/essays-in-honour-of-robert-hillenbrand/
3. “Melodies of Unity: A Discussion on Sufi music with the MTO Zendeh Delan Ensemble” (AFSACK) – May 4
Join us on Wednesday May 4th for our next American Friends of Sufi Arts, Culture and Knowledge (AFSACK) Salon Series Conversation with the MTO Zendeh Delan Ensemble. This discussion explores the eclectic sounds of their new album, Melodies of Unity, diving into their creative process and inspirations from Sufi poetry. The conversation further examines their experiences of recording and making new music remotely during the pandemic across four countries.
This event will take place on Zoom. Register here.
4. In Memoriam – Karel Otavský (11 June 1938, Prague – 12 April 2022, Prague)
by Shireen Ellinger
It is with great sadness that I would like to share the passing of a prominent art historian, Dr. Phil. Karel Otavský, who passed away on the 12th of April 2022.
A renowned Czech specialist in the history of liturgical objects and textiles, Karel Otavský studied art history with Prof. Jaroslav Pešina in the Department of Philosophy of the Charles University in Prague. His dissertation completed in 1966 was entitled ‘Paintings of the Klementinum Anthology of Thomas of Štítný’. At the same time, he was employed in the National Gallery of Prague; first, as assistant curator of Graphic Arts, and later, for Sculpture. In 1967-1968, he worked at the National Museum of Prague, but shortly after the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, he emigrated to Switzerland. In 1968, he began to work as a research assistant at the Abegg-Stiftung in Riggisberg, where he soon became curator of their collections of Western and Oriental arts. In 1991, he received a PhD degree from the University of Bern, with a published thesis entitled Die Sankt Wenzelskrone im Prager Domschatz und die Frage der Kunstauffassung am Hofe Kaiser Karls IV. [The St. Wenceslas Crown from the St. Vitus Dom in Prague and the question of the art notion at the Court of Emperor Charles IV.] (Bern, 1992). He met his Czech wife MgA (magister artis) Vendulka Sudková, a textile conservator, at the Abegg-Stiftung. In 2001, they returned to the Czech Republic and from 2004 to 2015, he taught the history of medieval liturgical art at the Institute of Christian Art History in the Charles University in Prague.
It was the field of Islamic textiles and our common Czech background that brought us together, for the first time, in 2018. We discovered that we had both begun not only with the study of music in the Prague Conservatory, but also shared our general studies at the High School of Jan Neruda (Gymnazium Jana Nerudy) in Prague. As an Islamic art historian specialising in silk textiles of the Mamluk period (1250-1517), I had the privilege to spend some precious moments with Karel Otavský at his home in Černošice, where we shared our enthusiasm for textiles and our discussions taught me much. Although he had most recently focused on liturgical objects in particular, his detailed knowledge of medieval textiles, including their technical aspects and techniques of manufacture, was extraordinary. Besides his numerous publications on liturgical and medieval arts, major contributions to the field of textiles include: Alte Gewebe und ihre Geschichte: Ein Lese- und Bilderbuch (Abbeg-Stiftung, 1987); Mittelalterliche Textilien I: Ägypten, Persien und Mesopotamien, Spanien und Nordafrika (Abbeg-Stiftung, 1995, in collaboration with Muhammad ʿAbbas Muhammad Salim); and Mittelalterliche Textilien II: Zwischen Europa und China (Abbeg-Stiftung 2011, in collaboration with Anne E. Wardwell).
Karel Otavský was a humble and generous man, with a fine sense of humour and an immense spirit of curiosity and wonder. The art historical world has lost a remarkable scholar, author and teacher, who was greatly loved by his students and colleagues.
5. Religions, Volume 13, Issue 4 (April 2022), Natality and Relational Transcendence in Humanist Chaplaincy, one may find several contributions dealings with Islam among 106 articles.
Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/4/271
Topics range from culture, politics, museum studies, sociology to theological aesthetics. Here is a sample of articles (open access):
Stéphane Lacroix
Religions 2022, 13(4), 316; doi:10.3390/rel13040316
Article: Muslim YouTubers in Turkey and the Authoritarian Male Gaze on YouTube
Esma Çelebioğlu
Religions 2022, 13(4), 318; doi:10.3390/rel13040318
Kamaluddin Abu Nawas, Abdul Rasyid Masri and Alim Syariati
Religions 2022, 13(4), 320; doi:10.3390/rel13040320
Article: The Religious Plot in Museums or the Lack Thereof: The Case of Islamic Art Display
Valerie Gonzalez
Religions 2022, 13(4), 281; doi:10.3390/rel13040281
Article: Beyond Theological Aesthetics: Aesthetic Theology
Sixto J. Castro
Religions 2022, 13(4), 311; doi:10.3390/rel13040311
6. Book Launch
What is Islamic Studies? European and North American Approaches to a Contested Field
6 May 2022 17:30-19:00
Aga Khan Centre
Aga Khan Centre (1st floor)
10 Handyside Street
London
N1C 4DN
Book ticket here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launch-what-is-islamic-studies-tickets-321304278747
7. The Latin America & Caribbean Islamic Studies Newsletter Vol. 2, no. 3 – April 2022
This edition of the newsletter reflects these global/local processes in various ways as well, via news reports from Texas, new research on philanthropic networks, and a new logo for our network.
In this edition, you will find:
* The launch of new LACISA logos to match the vibrancy of our growing network of scholars, journalists, and those interested in the study of Islam and Muslims in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Latinx U.S.
* New opportunities for studies on Muslim philanthropy, including a fall colloquium and new edited volume.
* A research presentation that asks whether we might conceptualize a “Bahamas-to-Bengal Complex.”
* News items from Chile and California, Costa Rica and Argentina.
* New opportunities and calls for a new LACISA Newsletter Editor, a Brill book series, and a higher diploma in South-South relations.
* Fresh translations of our original research articles, essays, and interviews in Spanish, Portuguese, and German.
I invite you to enjoy and explore all of this content and more below. Thank you, as always, for your time, consideration, and growing commitment to our network.
Kind Regards,
Ken Chitwood
Editor-in-Chief, LACISA Newsletter
** Read more about our newsletter and network (https://fu-berlin.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=218987e5c8b20ce72c5e7da24&id=1519b51275&e=f70992245e)
8. Call for Papers: A Workshop on Citation
Modeling Attribution and Acknowledgement in the Digital Humanities: Citation Practices and the Pre-Modern Arabic Book
For some time, the KITAB team has been dealing with the practice of citation in the pre-modern Arabic written tradition. In doing so, we are building on extensive work in Arabic and Islamic studies that deals with how authors cite, and particularly their use of isnads (that is, chains of transmission). Digital Humanities, moreover, offers us new and exciting methods for the identification and analysis of citations within our texts.
Through this informal workshop, we hope to present some of our research and also to hear from other researchers who are working on citation (case studies from both Arabic and non-Arabic contexts are very much welcomed). If you are working on any of the topics below, we invite you to present a proposal for a 20-minute paper:
– Digital methods used to identify and interpret citations within large textual traditions.
– Digital methods used to parse citations (particularly isnads) and convert them into transmission networks.
– Terminology: what do authors mean when they use certain transmission terms? How does the use of these terms differ diachronically and spatially?
– Correspondences between text reuse and citation: can we trace cited text within a corpus? Can we identify instances of uncited text?
– Theories of citation: what constitutes plagiarism? What forms are citation expected to take? How does written citation intersect with oral practices?
The workshop will take place in two halves. In the first half, participants will be invited to give a paper to a panel with a respondent. In the second half, there will be an informal (and we hope lively) conversation about citation practices. This will take place in person with the number of offline participants kept low to enable a lively and productive conversation.
If you would like to participate, please submit an abstract of less than 300 words to kitab@aku.edu by 13th May 2022.
Date and Time
25-26 July 2022, 10:00 – 17:00 London Time.
Address
Aga Khan Centre
10 Handyside Street
London
N1C 4DN
9. Intellect is pleased to announce that Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research 15.1 is out now.
For more information about the journal and issue click here>>
https://www.intellectbooks.com/journal-of-arab-muslim-media-research
10. Two publications from Stanford University Press:
Media of the Masses, Cassette Culture in Modern Egypt
Andrew Simon
https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=31649&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_conte…
Street Sounds, Listening to Everyday Life in Modern Egypt
Ziad Fahmy https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=29380&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_conte…
11. The second presentation in the series of lectures about the exhibit “From Qarajalu (Persia) to Santa Clara County: An Assyrian Family’s Multiple Atlantic Crossings in Search of a Home at the turn of the Century” takes place this Sunday, May 1, 2022, 1 pm.
The exhibit and lecture location is:
Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum
570 East Remington Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
Dr. Samir Johna will address the topic “Joseph D. Joseph, MD: A Link in the Assyrian Chain of Medicine.”
Below is Dr. Johna’s brief biography. He is imminently qualified to discuss a topic about which he has published widely in medical journals.
Samir Johna, MD, is a Clinical Professor of surgery who has held many positions in southern California and is author of many medical articles as well as books. Born in Iraq, and conscripted into the Iraqi military, he advanced his educational training at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles following his bachelor’s degree from the University of Baghdad College of Medicine. He is active in community service related to his profession but also takes the time to provide frequent interviews on Assyrian media.
A summary of the exhibit is available at the website qarajalutosantaclara.com as is information for the purchase of the catalogue.
12. To encourage the integration of Byzantine studies within the scholarly community and medieval studies in particular, the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture seeks proposals for a Mary Jaharis Center sponsored session at the 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, May 11–13, 2023. We invite session proposals on any topic relevant to Byzantine studies.
The 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies will include traditional in-person sessions, virtual sessions, and new blended-format sessions that make it possible for speakers to present and audiences to attend both in-person and online.
Session proposals must be submitted through the Mary Jaharis Center website (https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/58th-icms). The deadline for submission is May 16, 2022.
If the proposed session is approved, the Mary Jaharis Center will reimburse a maximum of 4 session participants (presenters and moderator) up to $600 maximum for scholars based in North America and up to $1200 maximum for those coming from outside North America. Funding is through reimbursement only; advance funding cannot be provided. Eligible expenses include conference registration, transportation, and food and lodging. Receipts are required for reimbursement. For scholars participating remotely, the Mary Jaharis Center will reimburse participants for conference registration.
For further details and submission instructions, please visit https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/58th-icms.
Please contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture with any questions.
13. Afghanistan, Volume 5, Issue 1
Read the free featured article ‘“Citizen Martyrs”: The Afghan Fatemiyoun Brigade in Iran’ by Kevin L. Schwartz: https://ddlnk.net/CEQ-7TXYI-MWI2D5-4RXOY9-0/c.aspx
Browse the Table of Contents: https://ddlnk.net/CEQ-7TXYI-MWI2D5-4RXOYA-0/c.aspx
14. UCLA: “An Epic Tribute to the Lyric Poem” | Justine Landau, Iranian 250 Public Lecture for CMRS-CEGS Research Seminar
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
9:00 am – 10:30 am Pacific Time
Register here for online attendance on Zoom.
Poetry does things with words. In the premodern world, this fact is perhaps nowhere acknowledged more unanimously than in the Persianate sources. Chief among the arts of language, lyric poetry is associated with “licit magic,” after the Arabic saying, since its mastery is said to conduce to “the accomplishment of great things in the order of the world” (Nezâmi ‘Aruzi, Chahâr maqâle, II). The philosophers of the classical period discussed the powers of the poetic art and its unique effect on the imagination. In Arabic and in Persian, the successors of Fârâbi developed the doctrine of the “poetic syllogism” to account for its workings. Writing in the mid-thirteenth century, Nasir al-Din Tusi provides a striking account of why “good poems are more effective than sermons” in impressing the minds of the listeners. Yet, from Beyhaqi and Ghazâli to Jâmi and Mollâ Sadrâ, poets, critics, historians, theologians and prose writers all pay homage to the art of the poet in some way. Unsurprisingly, the Shâhnâmeh itself honors the lyric poets. In several instances in his great epic, Ferdowsi stages episodes of lyric performance, and their consequences on the narrative. Whether depicting the craft of minstrels at court, the boasting of heroes or the lament of warriors after a defeat, these scenes sound a distinctive note within the epic verse in which they are embedded. How can a song inform, or deflect, the destiny of kings? And how does Ferdowsi pay tribute to lyric poetry? The philosophers’ perspective might help us elucidate the far-reaching consequences of some remarkable poems in the Book of Kings.
This lecture is part of the Spring 2022 CMRS-CEGS Research Seminar, Iranian 250, “Persian Literature in English Translation: Global and Interdisciplinary Perspectives,” a graduate course taught by Associate Professor Domenico Ingenito (NELC), offering a survey of medieval and early modern Persian literature in English translation including nine public lectures by scholars in the field. More information about these lectures is on our website.
15. CONF: International Conference on Design and Development of Public Library Services; Patterns, Experiences, & Ideas (Iran, online)
The registration for the International Conference on Design and Development of Public Library Services; Patterns, Experiences, & Ideas which will be held virtually on 17-18 May 2022 is open now for all the participants from all over the globe.
The conference registration is free of charge for all the participants and authors.
DDPLS welcomes professionals, researchers, and librarians from all over the world to participate in this international conference.
The conference is organized by the Iranian Public Libraries Advancement Association, Iranian Sociological Association & the Iran Public Libraries Foundation. The conference language is Persian and English.
More than 20 National & International Distinguished Professors, Professionals, Associations Presidents, and Public library directors will speak at this important event.
The deadlines for this conference are as follows:
- Last Date of Registration: 14 May 2022
- Conference Date: 17 & 18 May 2022
More details regarding the conference can be found at:
16. Inaugural Calderwood Lecture at Boston College – Prof. Nancy Um, “Wood, Porcelain, and Coral: Indian Ocean Objects on and in the Water” – May 5
“Wood, Porcelain, and Coral: Indian Ocean Objects on and in the Water”
Prof. Nancy Um, Binghamton University
The past twenty years have witnessed the rise of Indian Ocean art history as a watery rubric that eludes and exceeds the continental and religious limits defined by the conventional subfields of African, Asian, and Islamic Art. In this talk, Prof. Um will consider the rise of Indian Ocean art history as a vibrant area of study that productively forges visual and material connections across the eastern and southern hemispheres, while also positing objects as fundamental sources for the writing of oceanic histories. The talk will be grounded by two works dating to the late 17th and early 18th C. Both objects present complex itineraries of creation and far-flung itineraries of travel, even if their journeys were not, ultimately, successful. Taken together, they chart a path for Indian Ocean art history, exemplifying how this area has developed as a field of study and where it might be going in the future.
Thursday May 5th at 5:30 pm. lecture attendees will be asked to wear masks.
Outdoor reception to follow
Hill Family Conference Room
McMullen Museum of Art
2101 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02135
For details see: Calderwood Lecture, BC Events Calendar
Posted in: Academic items
- April 30, 2022
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