Shii News – Academic Items
1.Call for Papers – School of Mamluk Studies Conference, Queen Mary University London, 8-10 May 2025
We are pleased to announce that the Eleventh Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies will be held at Queen Mary University London, May 8-10, 2025 (https://mamluk.uchicago.edu/sms-conference.html).
The conference will be conducted in two parts: a themed day on law and justice in the Mamluk Sultanate (May 8) and two days of panels with open themes (May 9-10). The conference will be preceded by a three-day intensive course on Mamluk law and society (May 5-7).
THEMED DAY: Law and Justice in the Mamluk Sultanate (May 8, 2025)
The first day of the conference will be themed and dedicated to the history of law and justice in the Mamluk Sultanate. The Mamluk era saw an unprecedented production of Islamic legal texts, professionalization of legal cadres and distillation of legal doctrines, and intense legal pluralism that went beyond the confines of the Islamic law. This first day of the conference will offer a broad view of law and justice as they affected the entire population of the Sultanate and those who visited it. In terms of legal systems, we welcome studies of Islamic law in the Mamluk context, autonomous laws of non-Muslim communities, and customary non-religious laws of rural and urban communities. A broad definition of law also includes royal decrees and regulations of fiscal administration, including rules concerning the iqṭāʿ land regime. In terms of the history of the judiciary, the themed day is open to studies of the courts of qāḍīs, non-Muslim judges and the provision of justice by government officials and magistrates.
A maximum of 12 paper proposals will be selected. Should a greater number of proposals be received, the authors of those which are not selected for the conference may be offered the possibility to publish their contribution in the proceedings. Time allotted to each paper will be twenty minutes, plus ten minutes for discussion.
PANELS (May 9-10, 2025)
The remaining two days of the conference will be structured in preorganized panels, which may focus on any aspect of the intellectual, political, social, economic, and artistic life of the Mamluk period. The panels will be organized in presentations of three to four papers of twenty minutes each, with a discussion at the end of each panel.
Panel proposals must be made by a representative, who will be responsible for the panel’s organization.
Please note that in case of cancellation of two papers out of the three (or three out of the four) composing the panel, the panel will have to be withdrawn from the program.
Language: The official language of the conference will be English.
Fees: The conference registration fees will be £70 for participants and attendees. Graduate students will be offered a discounted fee of £40, subject to availability. A farewell dinner will take place on the last day (May 10) at a cost to be determined. Payment of the fees (registration and farewell dinner) must be received by April 15, 2025. Information on the process of registration and method of payment will be sent in January 2025; for enquiries, please email history-sms2025@qmul.ac.uk. Participants must make their own travel arrangements; the local organizer will provide suggestions for accommodations.
PROPOSALS
Paper proposals for the themed day must be submitted electronically (see link below) by October 31, 2024. Paper proposals must provide the name and a one-page CV of the speaker, a provisional title, and an abstract of a maximum of 300 words.
To submit a paper proposal, complete the form at http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/sms2025paperproposal.html.
Panel proposals must be submitted by November 30, 2024. A panel may include 3 or 4 papers. The proposal should provide the following information for each paper in the panel: the name and one-page CV of the author, a provisional paper title, and an abstract (maximum of 1500 characters, or about 300 words). Panel proposals must also identify the panel’s chair (who may be one of the panelists). The organizer of a panel should have all information about the panel members and their papers before beginning the proposal submission.
To submit a panel proposal, complete the form at http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/sms2025panelproposal.html.
Those who would like to express their intention to attend the conference as non-presenters should complete the registration form.
Acceptance: Paper and panel proposals will be peer-reviewed. A first circular will be sent by January 2025 to those whose proposals have been accepted, and to those who have expressed interest in attending the conference as non-presenters.
Publication: Selected papers from the themed day will be published in a special issue of Mamlūk Studies Review.
Intensive course: Law and Society in the Mamluk Sultanate (May 5-7, 2025)
This three-day intensive course will focus on reading Mamluk-era legal documents as sources for the social, economic and religious history of Egypt and Greater Syria, including Palestine. It is intended for advanced graduate students and other qualified participants and will be offered by Professor Yossef Rapoport (Queen Mary University London) in collaboration with Dr Daisy Livingston (Durham University). The course will include close reading and historical analysis of published Arabic legal documents from the Mamluk Sultanate, including Islamic legal manuals, fatwas, formularies and court documents.
The number of participants will be limited to a maximum of 12.
Applications for the intensive course should include a CV, a statement of purpose (up to 750 words), and a letter of recommendation by someone familiar with your work. These should be sent to history-sms2025@qmul.ac.uk by the end of January 2025. Those who are selected for the course will be notified by the end of February 2025, at which time information about the method of payment for the course fees will be provided.
The course fee is £300, which also includes the registration fee for the subsequent conference (May 8-10). The fees must be paid by April 15, 2025. Registration and participation will not be confirmed until payment is received. Participants must make their own travel arrangements; the local organizer will provide suggestions for accommodation.
We look forward to seeing you in London!
Yosef Rapaport, Queen Mary University London (local organizer)
Frédéric Bauden, Université de Liège
Antonella Ghersetti, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice
Marlis Saleh, University of Chicago
2. PARTHIAN ART AND THE GRAECO-ROMAN WORLD
An international hybrid workshop Thurs 3 to Friday
4 October 2024, all welcome!
In-person: Ioannou Centre, Oxford
Online: via Zoom
More information at www.carc.ox.ac.uk
We are now taking reservations for the CARC annual workshop on 3 and 4 October 2024, which this year turns to ancient Iran under the umbrella of our #AncientArtConnections theme.
You can book for free, either for in-person or Zoom attendance, via our Eventbrite page. (Note that you do not need to register with Eventbrite or print out your ticket.) The provisional programme is available here but we predict changes, so keep an eye on this page for the latest information. Speakers include Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, Pierfrancesco Callieri, Matthew Canepa, Blair Fowlkes Childs, Henry Colburn, Lucinda Dirven, Stefan Hauser, Barbara Kaim, Ted Kaizer, Rubina Raja and Fabrizio Sinisi.
This hybrid workshop, hosted in Oxford with an online audience via Zoom, will address unresolved questions about the identity of Parthian art and its complex relationship with the classical tradition. Ranging from the origins of the Arsacid dynasty in the 3rd century BC to the emergence of a new visual culture under Sasanian rule in the 3rd century AD, this workshop will bring together a panel of international experts to consider how Parthian art connected with the art traditions of Hellenistic Asia and the Roman Empire. We will consider different media, including sculpture, coins, and luxury art, and use recent discoveries and fresh research to cast new light on old problems, including the issue of whether Parthian art even existed as a coherent phenomenon.
The workshop will be recorded and an open access volume of proceedings will appear in 2025. Further details will be announced soon.
Funding for this event is very generously provided by Richard Beleson in honour of Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis.
3. The Center of the World
A Global History of the Persian Gulf from the Stone Age to the Present
A J Fromherz
UC Press, 2024
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-center-of-the-world/hardcover
4. Hybrid Seminar – Zulfikar Hirji & Sana Mirza, CALLFRONT Seminar, Institut national d’histoire de l’art – October 15
We are pleased to welcome Zulfikar Hirji and Sana Mirza for the next session of the seminar CALLFRONT Calligraphy at the Frontiers of the Islamicate World, which will take place on October 15th, 2024, 6:00-8:00 p.m (Paris time), at the Institut national d’histoire de l’art (salle Walter Benjamin) :
Styling the Script: Calligraphy and Illumination in Eastern African Qur’an Manuscripts
Zulfikar Hirji (York University) and Sana Mirza (Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art)
Abstract : Sana Mirza and Zulfikar Hirji explore calligraphy and illumination in Qur’an manuscripts from Eastern Africa: Harar and the Swahili Coast. They discuss the multiplicity of script styles used in these manuscripts and their histories of production as well as the relationship between the manuscripts inscription styles and those that appear in other media from the region.
Organisation : Eloïse Brac de la Perrière, Maxime Durocher
Session can be accessed via zoom
5. Franklin Lewis Memorial Seminar
September 13th–14th, 2024
University of Chicago, Saieh Hall 146
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VR2Q5mUFq4GUf92wp_km3kg5LA39Sz1VnOOPi0m5tqE/edit
6. Mina’i Ware: A Reassessment and Comprehensive Study of Iranian Polychrome Overglaze Wares through Sherds
Richard P. McClary
EUP, 2024
7. Call for Applications: SoFCB Junior Fellows Program
Rare Book School’s Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography (SoFCB) invites applications for its 2025–27 cohort of Junior Fellows. The deadline is Friday, November 1, 2024.
This scholarly society works to advance the study of texts, images, and artifacts as material objects through capacious, interdisciplinary scholarship—and to enrich humanistic inquiry and education by identifying, mentoring, and training promising early-career scholars. Junior Fellows will be encouraged and supported in integrating the methods of critical bibliography into their teaching and research, fostering collegial conversations about historical and emerging media across disciplines and institutions, and sharing their knowledge with broader publics.
The fellowship includes tuition waivers for two Rare Book School courses, as well as funding for Junior Fellows to participate in the Society’s annual meeting and orientation. Additional funds are available for fellows to organize symposia at their home institutions, and fellows will have the option of attending a bibliographical field school to visit libraries, archives, and collections in a major metropolitan area. After completing two years in good standing as Junior Fellows, program participants will have the option to become Senior Fellows in the Society.
The Society is committed to supporting diversity and to advancing the scholarship of outstanding persons of every race, gender, sexual orientation, creed, and socioeconomic background, and to enhancing the diversity of the professions and academic disciplines it represents, including those of the professoriate, museums, libraries, archives, public humanities, and digital humanities. We warmly encourage prospective applicants from a wide range of disciplines, institutions, and areas of expertise.
For more information and to apply, please visit: http://rarebookschool.org/admissions-awards/fellowships/sofcb/. For more information about diversity and the SoFCB, please read the SoFCB Diversity & Outreach Committee’s Welcome Letter.
Inquiries about the SoFCB Junior Fellows Program can be directed to SoFCB Administrative Director Kathryn Higinbotham at kathryn.higinbotham@virginia.edu.
8. Oman’s Transformation after 1970
J E Peterson
Brill, 2024
https://brill.com/display/title/69396?rskey
9. The Art of Teaching Persian Literature, From Theory to Practice
F Lewis, et al., eds.
Brill, 2024
10. Open Access – Narratives of Kingship in Eurasian Empires, 1300-1800
R van Leeuwen
Brill, 2017
11. Sugar and the Indian Ocean World
Trade and Consumption in the Eighteenth-Century Persian Gulf
N Daito
Bloomsbury, 2024
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/sugar-and-the-indian-ocean-world-9781350399228/
12. ONLINE Seminar “Constructing Culture and Race in the Gulf” by Maia Holtermann Entwistle (QMUL), Centre for Gulf Studies, University of Exeter, 8 October 2024, 17:00 – 18:30, London Time
This talk explores culture as an agent of economic and urban development and site of political governance. It maps the global disciplines, industries, and technical abstractions behind the physical construction of culture in the Gulf. By reconstructing these industrial circuits this talk uses art to probe how race and capitalism combine in a place that does not fit neatly within the theoretical paradigms developed in relation to the transatlantic slave trade and European colonial encounter.
Information and registration: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/events/details/index.php?event=14193
13. International Conference: “The First Academic Dialogue among Scholars of the Nowruz Cultural Sphere and the Ibero-American World”, Tehran, 8-9 December 2024
Papers will cover historical ties, socio-cultural relations, academic cooperation, and politico-economic aspects of the relations between people and governments of the Nowruz Cultural Sphere and the Ibero-American World from ancient times to the present and with an outlook towards the future.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 October 2024. Information: https://iberoamericanowruz.atu.ac.ir
14. University Professor (W 2 Salary Level) of Arabic Studies, University of Bamberg
Candidates are required to cover the field of Arabic Studies in full width, with due regard to the modern period. In research, a focus on Arabic literature is desirable. Specializations in History or Cultural studies are also possible. Apart from active command of Modern Standard Arabic and at least one regional colloquial variant, research experience in the Arab World is expected. A habilitation or equivalent academic qualification is required which may also have been obtained within the scope of an assistant professorship.
Deadline for applications: 15 October 2024. Information: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/fileadmin/abt-personal/Homepage_ab_2016-03/10_Stellenausschreibungen/01_Professuren/2024/W2_Arabistik_EN.pdf
15. Full Professorship “Islamic Beliefs and Philosophy” (W3) The Berlin Institute for Islamic Theology
Your profile: Completed degree in Islamic theology; Islamic sciences or other relevant subjects; pedagogical aptitude and the ability to carry out in-depth independent academic work, proven by an outstanding relevant doctorate in the field; research and teaching experience in Islamic foundations of faith and Islamic philosophy
Deadline for application: 2 October 2024. Information:
16. PhD Position in Islamic/Middle Eastern Studies (75 %), Project “Tracing Labour in Islamicate Legal Traditions”, University of Bern
Candidates must hold an MA degree (with very good grades) in Islamic Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Arabic Studies, or related fields, with a proven ability to work with historical sources. A willingness to carry out fieldwork in Egypt is expected. Fluency in written and spoken English and a very good knowledge of Arabic is required. A proven interest in current debates in gender and/or labour history is expected. Previous experience of working with legal sources is an advantage.
Deadline for applications: 15 October 2024. Information: https://ohws.prospective.ch/public/v1/jobs/4b55c823-0eaa-4dfe-a0c5-3fd38d8720ec
17. Assistant Professor (Tenure-Track) in the Politics of the Middle East and North Africa, University of Pennsylvania
Qualifications: The successful candidate’s written materials and scholarly productivity will indicate potential for a high-impact research agenda. The successful candidate will typically plan to seek external funding to support their research, and should also be highly proficient in at least one of the four most widely spoken languages in the MENA region: Arabic, Farsi, Kurdish, and Turkish.
Deadline for applications: 10 September 2024. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/152474
18. Call for Nominations: IJIA Book Award 2025
Deadline for submission: 30 December 2024
View the full call here>>
https://www.intellectbooks.com/asset/88490/1/IJIA_Book_Award_2025.pdf
The International Journal of Islamic Architecture is pleased to announce the IJIA Book Award. Since the publication of its first issue in 2012, the journal has emerged as a vibrant, interdisciplinary platform for multifaceted approaches to the study of architecture. The IJIA Book Award will likewise celebrate the intellectual exploration of architecture, architectural history, urbanism, and related social issues within the Islamic world in both historical and contemporary contexts.
The IJIA Book Award recognizes outstanding books that showcase the importance of research-based inquiry and the scholarly advancement of studies in Islamic architecture, architectural history, and urbanism. The award will highlight outstanding books that foster interdisciplinary dialogue in architectural scholarship and practice from a broad spectrum of subjects ranging from design, art, architecture, preservation, and landscape, to urban design and planning. The winning projects will reflect the journal’s commitment to the diverse narratives that shape the built environment across different traditions and time periods, and from underrepresented contexts, places, and cultures. With this in mind, the Islamic world is understood to include the Middle East and parts of Africa and Asia, the geographies of Islam in its global dimensions, vibrant groups in diaspora, and the communities that create architecture in predominantly Muslim societies.
The IJIA Book Award will catalyse scholars, architects, practitioners and enthusiasts as they engage with the artistic, urban, and architectural works that resonate with cultural identity, social dynamics, and historical change. Awardees will receive a prize and a two-year subscription to IJIA. Additional recognition may also be awarded. All books published in English with a copyright date between January 1, 2022, and December 30, 2024, are eligible. Authored books, edited volumes, and exhibition catalogues are welcome. Submissions, including copies of the book and the form, must be received by December 30, 2024. For more information, please visit the journal’s website. Questions may be sent to IJIAaward@gmail.com
- September 07, 2024
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