Shii News – Academic Items
1. Zoom talk: In honour of Babur’s birthday on 14 February — a day celebrated in Uzbekistan as part of its cultural heritage — we warmly invite you to a special lecture:
Babur Day Special: Mirza Haydar Dughlat and East Turkestan in Literary Memory
The lecture will explore how writers have told and retold the history of East Turkestan, beginning with Mirza Haydar Dughlat’s Tārīkh-i Rashīdī and examining how later authors responded to and built upon this foundational work. It will engage with themes of historiography, literary memory, and the Chagatai literary tradition.
Guest Speaker:
Dr Eric Schluessel
Associate Professor in Modern Chinese & East Asian History
Tutor in History, Keble College, University of Oxford
Dr Schluessel’s research focuses on Central Asia and Xinjiang (Eastern Turkestan), with particular attention to literature, culture, and historical memory.
Please find the Zoom link below.
Time: Feb 13, 2026 06:00 PM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86861817875?pwd=5Fi8C7nwvdP9N9KtZPhzPJRti0G2X6.1
Meeting ID: 868 6181 7875
Passcode: 9mLteF
2. CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: MYSTICISM(S) BEYOND THE WEST
Conference venue: Campion Hall, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Conference dates: 9 am Monday 29 June 2026 – 1 pm Wednesday 1 July 2026
Abstract submission deadline: 1 March (end of day)
Notification of acceptance: 15 March
Keynote speakers
Dr. Marta Domínguez Díaz (Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies, University of St Gallen)
Professor Gavin Flood (Professor of Hindu Studies and Comparative Religion; Senior Research Fellow, Campion Hall)
Description
This conference invites papers that explore mystical traditions beyond the Western canon, with a particular focus on traditions that have remained underrepresented in mainstream scholarship. The conference aims to foreground non-Western mystical traditions and to foster dialogue across religious, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries. Traditions of interest include, but are not limited to, Indian, Islamic, East Asian, Eastern Christian, and Indigenous contexts. Papers may be historical, philosophical, theological, anthropological, or interdisciplinary in approach.
We welcome contributions that address, among other topics:
- Theoretical and methodological challenges in applying the category of mysticism beyond Western contexts
- Comparative, cross-cultural, and decolonial approaches to mystical traditions
- Relationships between mysticism and rationality, philosophy, or theology in non-Western traditions
- Mysticism and ethics, practice, embodiment, or social life
- Marginalised, neglected, or emerging mystical voices and texts
The event is intended for established scholars, early-career researchers, and advanced postgraduate students working in comparative religion, theology, philosophy, and related fields. We will aim at a gender balance among speakers and we welcome contributions from members of underrepresented groups. Selected papers may be considered for publication in either an edited volume or a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal.
Submission guidelines
Submissions should take the form of an abstract of around 300 words, submitted by email in word or pdf format to mysticismsoxford@gmail.com by 1 March (end of day). Applicants will be notified of the outcome of the selection process by 15 March.
Conference fees
£60 for waged participants, £30 for unwaged / student participants. Please note that we are unable to cover accommodation or travel costs.
Organisers
Dr Szilvia Szanyi (Faculty of Theology and Religion & Campion Hall, University of Oxford)
Dr Brett Parris (Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford)
3. CfP: Edinburgh’s Seventh International Graduate Conference in Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies: ‘Institutional Identities in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages’ taking place on the 18th & 19th May 2026 at the University of Edinburgh.
The conference is held in a hybrid format, so we accept virtual papers as well. The deadline for submissions is the 20th of March, and applicants will be notified by the 31st of March. Please see the linked webpage for further details, and contact edibyzpg@ed.ac.uk for any questions.
4. Syracuse University Press: Upcoming Events of Interest:
https://press.syr.edu/home/news-and-events/
5. Empire and Nation in the City
Rusçuk from Ottoman Rule to Bulgarian Statehood
Mehmet Çelik
SUP, 2026
https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/9430/empire-and-nation-in-the-city/
6. A Study of ›Tawriya‹ in the Qur’an
Exegesis, Rhetoric and the Reader
Luca Rizzo,
Brill, 2026
7. The Concept of Emotions in Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Edited by: Catharina Rachik and Georges Tamer
Brill, 2026
8. University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point – Teaching Assistant Professor in History
https://networks.h-net.org/jobs/69760/university-wisconsin-stevens-point-teaching-assistant-professor-history
Closing date: 1 March, 2026
9. A History of Ottoman Poetry by E. J. W. Gibb
This six-volume set reissues E. J. W. Gibb’s classic study of Ottoman Poetry, spanning from 1450 to the late-19th century, with new forewords by Christine Woodhead, Honorary Fellow in Ottoman History, University of Durham
EUP,
10. The Mathnawí of Jaláluʾddín Rúmíby Reynold A. Nicholson
This eight-volume set of The Mathnawí of Jalálu’ddín Rúmí reissues Reynold A. Nicholson’s authoritative Persian edition, English translation and commentary with new forewords by Alan Williams, Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Religion at the University of Manchester.
EUP,
Posted in: Academic items- February 10, 2026
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