Shii News and Resources
Shii News and Resources > Academic items > Shii News – Academic Items

Shii News – Academic Items

1.The University of London is running an intensive short course on Islamic manuscripts, in person, 8-12 June.
Some three million Islamic manuscripts are thought to survive in collections around the world. Most of them are unedited and unpublished. This course offers an in-depth, hands-on introduction to the practical skills needed to unlock these resources: to consult unedited texts, collate manuscript witnesses to produce textual editions, use paratextual evidence to study scholarly networks and activities, and appreciate the materiality of manuscripts as unique cultural artefacts.
Subjects covered will include:
An overview of the history of Islamic book culture
Major bookhands of the Islamic world: Naskh, Nastaʿlīq and Maghribī
Signs of manuscript production: Collation statements, quire marks and colophons
Bibliographical data: Title pages, tables of contents, and prefaces
Ownership and provenance: Dedication statements, ownership inscriptions, and seals
Manuscript consumption: Marginalia, abbreviations, readers’ statements and teaching certificates
Non-verbal knowledge encoding: Tables, figures, numerals and illustrations
Online and print resources for the study of Islamic manuscripts
Participants will gain familiarity with manuscripts representing a wide range of periods, locations and textual genres from across the Islamic world. Although Arabic-script manuscripts in various languages will be discussed, and many of the key concepts apply across the range of Islamic manuscripts, this course will focus on Arabic-language materials.
No prior palaeographical or codicological experience is needed, but students should have at least an intermediate reading knowledge of Arabic to benefit from the course.
Course tutors: Dr Bink Hallum & Jenny Norton-Wright
More information is available here: https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpalaeography.uk%2Fstudy%2Fshort-courses-and-summer-schools%2Funlocking-the-islamic-literary-heritage-an-intensive-practical-introduction-to-arabic-manuscripts%2F&data=05%7C02%7C%7C9d76e94bc96e47fc238108de9f9e932d%7C2e9f06b016694589878910a06934dc61%7C0%7C0%7C639123700597447795%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=jDYjTZiO0nTHCMU0NoRkB4MeLmjZhozPe1arChfz%2FRc%3D&reserved=0

 

 

 

 

 

2. ELIZA TASBIHI, Hidden in Plain Sight: İsmāʿīl Anḳaravī’s Commentary on ‘Book Seven’ of Rūmī’s Mathnawī. MONDAY MAJLIS ONLINE. 27th of April (Monday) 17:00-18:30

Monday Majlis Online on the 27th  of April, 17:00-18:30 (UK time)

Centre for the Study of Islam, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter

Register please on this link:  

https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/jki7T0_8SZ-fZobEEMH5RQ

 

 

 

 

 

3. Scholar of Islam, Victim of the Holocaust

The Tragic Story of Hedwig Klein

Sabine Schmidtke

De Gruyter, 2026

https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/isbn/9783111705804/html

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Zoom: The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies, in partnership with the Toronto Book Club, present the Iranian Studies Book Launch Series.
This event will feature Arezou Azad’s latest titles for Edinburgh University Press in The Islamicate East series, The Warehouse of Bamiyan & The Rise and Fall of the Barmakids.
Please join us on Monday 27 April at 12PM EST / 5PM GMT / 6PM CET.Pre-registration is essential.

https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/fqspsfMGRd2dxPgnMt4gNw#/registration

 

 

 

 

 

5. AAS-in-Asia 2026: Early Bird Registration Deadline

A quick reminder that early bird registration rates for AAS-in-Asia 2026 will remain available until April 30th 2026. After this date, standard rates will apply.

If you are planning to attend, we encourage you to register soon to take advantage of the discounted rate.

For more information and to register, please visit:
https://aasinasia2026.lums.edu.pk/
Warmly,
The South Asian Muslim Studies Association (SAMSA)
 

 

 

 

6. The Forgotten Qur’ans of the Eastern Islamic World

Manuscripts of the Ghaznavid and Ghurid Dynasties, 11th-12th Centuries CE

Alya Karame

EUP, 2026

https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-forgotten-qur-ans-of-the-eastern-islamic-world.html

 

 

 

 

7. Zoom: Zahra Institute:

Kemalist Colonial Modernity, the Kurdish Self, and the Notion of Tawhid

Speaker: Ramazan Aras, Professor, Ibn Haldun University
Date: Wednesday, May 6
Time: 12:00 PM Central / 1:00 PM Eastern
Register: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/gWV-Ye9aRAuNB0GEsxJrLQ

www.zahrainstitute.org

 

 

 

 

8. Zoom: Translating Oman: A Conversation with Authors and Translators

Monday, April 27, 2026

12 pm New York | 5 pm London | 7 pm Cairo | 8 pm Muscat

https://syracuseuniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_FsyhZHbwSsSMNivZcn_1mw#/registration

 

 

 

 

 

9. Online seminar announcement: MONSTERS, MAPS, AND THE EDGES OF THE WORLD

Entangled Histories Seminar Series

How did the medieval mind navigate the unknown?

We invite you to a journey through the “Wonders of the East” and the vast landscape of Western European and English medieval cartography. This session explores how the medieval world—from medieval English manuscripts to the Mappae Mundi—used monstrosity and geographical barriers like the Red Sea to define, reinforce, and destabilize the boundaries of civilization.

🎙️ FEATURED SESSION

“Margins, Maps, and Monsters: Negotiating Borders in the ‘Wonders of the East’”

Speaker: Dr. Elisa Ramazzina (University of Insubria)

When: Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Time: 17:00 CET (Rome) | 16:00 BST (London) | 18:00 TRT (Istanbul)

Check your local time here: https://dateful.com/time-zone-converter

Platform: Online via Zoom

🔍 SESSION HIGHLIGHTS

Integrated Analysis: Exploring Western European and English medieval maps alongside the “Wonders of the East”.

Cultural Borders: How monstrosity was used to map “the Other” and define the limits of the human.

Symbolic Geography: The role of the Red Sea as both a physical and spiritual barrier in medieval thought.

🔗 REGISTRATION & LINKS

To join the discussion and receive your Zoom link, please register through our official portal:

👉 GET YOUR TICKET HERE: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/entangledhistoriesseminarseries/2162817

🌐 OFFICIAL WEBSITE: https://sites.google.com/view/entangledhistories/home

Contact Email

entangledhistories.seminars@outlook.com

 

 

 

 

 

10. Persian Summer School Online: Beginner to Advanced Enrollment Now Open

2026 Online Persian Summer School.

The Ghand-e Parsi 2026 Summer School is a seasonal program designed to offer a rich, structured, and immersive experience of the Persian language and Persianate culture to students from all backgrounds. With carefully designed courses at the elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels, the Summer School provides a comprehensive learning pathway to build foundational communication skills for deep engagement with historical, literary, artistic, and mystical Persian texts.

In addition to the core language levels, the program includes a diverse selection of new courses that open interdisciplinary perspectives. The Summer School brings together language learning, cultural exploration, and scholarly expertise in a unique and intellectually enriching environment.

All course sessions are fully recorded, allowing participants to review materials and watch sessions outside of live class hours.

Below you will find the list of courses offered this summer:

Foundation Courses

Supplementary Courses

Poetry Courses 

Thematic and Text-Based Courses

Heritage in Danger: Special Gratis Course 

🔗 Learn more about all courses:

https://www.ghandeparsi.com/summerschool

🔗 Testimonials:
https://www.ghandeparsi.com/testimonials

📝 Register here:

https://forms.gle/UmAoENTqAymRKVS59

 

 

 

 

 

11. HYBRID Book Talk “Boricua Muslims – Everyday Cosmopolitanism among Puerto Rican Converts to Islam” by Ken Chitwood, University of Erfurt, 27 April 2026, 16:15 – 17:45 (CET)

Drawing on years of ethnographic research and more than a hundred interviews, Ken Chitwood tells the story of Puerto Rican Muslims as they construct a shared sense of peoplehood through everyday practices. Borícua Muslims thus provides a study of cosmopolitanism not as a political ideal but as a mundane social reality – a reality that complicates scholarly and public conversations about race, eth-nicity, and religion in the Americas.

Information and Webex link: https://www-tinyurl.com/fdfcbbfa

 

 

 

 

 

12. ONLINE Webinar “The Middle East Cultural Heritage at Risk in Armed Conflict” by Mehrnoush Soroush & Sepideh Maziar, Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series, 28 April 2026, 18:00 CET

This session is part of the series “Middle East Cultural Heritage at Risk in Armed Conflict”. It will be an informal, focused introduction to a new resource documenting the ongoing destruction of cultural herit-age in Iran. We hope it will function as a space to learn about the project and its implementation, and to discuss the opportunities and challenges it faces.

Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/4tmk5u5z

 

 

 

 

 

13. ONLINE Launch of the Website “Academic Freedom Initiative (AFI)” of MESA, 4 May 2026, 18:00 CET

The website will produce analysis and resources for MESA members and the wider public to support academic freedom and to challenge repression on North American campuses. Speakers will discuss how the website’s resources can be useful to you on your campuses and in defending academic free-dom.

Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/3tbr3n8c

 

 

 

 

 

14. International Conference “New Perspectives on South-Asian and Middle Eastern Connections in the 20th Century”, Organized by Antoinette Ferrand (Ifao) & Simon Conrad (OIB), French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo, 9-10 May 2026

Program: https://tinyurl.com/yfkvc6yu

 

 

 

 

 

15. HYBRID Conférence internationale d’études iraniennes “Reframing the Constitutional Revolution: Gender, Law, and the Iranian Press”, Université de Genève et en ligne, 20-21 mai 2026

En abordant l’art, la culture, l’histoire et les mutations sociales de cette période fondatrice, cette confé-rence s’inscrit parmi les rares événements académiques consacrés à l’étude de la Révolution consti-tutionnelle iranienne dans toute sa richesse et sa complexité.

Information, programme et inscription : https://tinyurl.com/y2n9fzjx

 

 

 

 

 

16. 16th Conference of the European Association for Modern Arabic Literature (EUROMAL): “Catastrophe and Beyond: Representations of Violence and Trauma in Modern Arabic Literature”, University of St Andrews, Scotland, 22-26 June 2026

The contributions are exploring how modern Arabic literature engages with the traumatic experiences of violence in modern and contemporary times, from the struggle for independence to Gaza and be-yond. Papers draw their critical and theoretical approaches from disciplines such as trauma studies, minority studies, cultural memory studies, feminism, postcolonial studies, affect studies and gender studies.

Information and program: https://euramal2026.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/

 

 

 

 

 

17. Conference “‘Vassals and Lords: Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Western Mediterranean (13th – 15th Centuries)”, Madrid, 26-28 October 2026

The conference will focus on a period in which seigneurial systems reached full maturity and produced diverse forms of authority that was exercised over Christian, Jewish, and Muslim populations. We wel-come proposals from different disciplines (political history, history of art, literary criticism, cultural stud-ies, diplomatics, archaeology, and others) that explore the dynamics of seigneurial power across the Iberian kingdoms and its Mediterranean territories.

Deadline for abstracts: 30 June 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3b8uua4p

 

 

 

 

 

18. Post-doc Position (12 Months +) for Research in the Project “Mapping Occult Sciences Across Islamicate Cultures”, University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Qualifications: PhD in Islamic Studies, in Middle Eastern Studies, or related fields. – Excellent com-]mand of Classical Arabic (the knowledge of additional languages such as Persian and Turkish is con-sidered an advantage). – Academic writing and presentation skills in English. – Ability to work both individually and as part of a team.

Deadline for applications: 10 June 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4udw8h2r

 

 

 

 

 

19. Pre-doc Position (3 Years) in the Project “Party Systems and Social Cleavages in the Post-Ottoman Space of the MENA Region” (CLOSER), Oriental Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

Requirements: Working knowledge of at least one Middle Eastern language, namely Arabic, Turkish, or Hebrew – Fluency in English (both spoken and written). – Passive knowledge of French (or another major European language) is an advantage. – MA in Middle Eastern studies, modern and contemporary history, or historical sociology. – Relocation to Prague for the duration of the project.

Deadline for applications: 30 April 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3rrhs9ss

 

 

 

 

 

20. Post-doc Position (3 Years) in the Project “Party Systems and Social Cleavages in the Post-Ottoman Space of the MENA Region” (CLOSER), Oriental Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

Requirements: Working knowledge of at least one Middle Eastern language, namely Arabic, Turkish, or Hebrew. – Fluency in English (both spoken and written). – Passive knowledge of French (or another major European language) is an advantage. – PhD in Middle Eastern studies, modern and contempo-rary history, or historical sociology. – Relocation to Prague for the duration of the project.

Deadline for applications: 30 April 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3fhj9ayw

 

 

 

 

 

21. Postdoctoral Researcher (2 Years) in AI, Digital Humanities, and Arabic Studies, Center for Arab Studies and Islamic Civilizations (CASIC), American University of Sharjah

Qualification: PhD in Arabic Studies, Digital Humanities, Computational Linguistics, Linguistics, Com-puter Science (with humanities focus), or a closely related discipline. – Strong analytical and research skills with the ability to integrate humanities scholarship and computational methods. –

Excellent academic writing and communication skills in English; proficiency in Arabic required for re-search purposes.

Applications until position is filled. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4udw8h2r

 

 

 

 

 

22. Postdoctoral Researcher (2 Years) in Arabic and Islamic Studies, Center for Arab Studies and Islamic Civilizations (CASIC), American University of Sharjah

Qualification: PhD in Arabic Studies, Islamic Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, History, Literature, Cul-tural Studies, or a closely related Humanities discipline. – Demonstrated research experience in areas related to the study of the Arab world, its rich literature and intellectual history, its cultural and artistic heritage. – Proven ability to conduct independent scholarly research and collaborate within interdisci-plinary research teams.

Applications until position is filled. Information: https://tinyurl.com/24bwtc2n

 

 

 

 

 

23. Postdoctoral Researcher (2 Years) in Material Culture and Manuscript Studies, Center for Arab Studies and Islamic Civilizations (CASIC), American University of Sharjah

Qualification: PhD in Manuscript Studies, Material Culture, Islamic Studies, History, Art History, Digital Humanities, or a closely related field. – Proven record of scholarly publication or clear potential for publication. Excellent Reading knowledge of relevant languages Arabic is required. – Good reading knowledge of other Islamic languages, i.e. Persian, Ottoman Turkish, or South Asian languages highly desirable.

Applications until position is filled. Information: https://tinyurl.com/ycfecxar

 

 

 

 

 

24. Visiting Assistant Professor of Arabic (9 Months +) at Hamilton College, Clinton, New York

The candidate will be expected to offer courses in Arabic literature or cultural studies, as well as to teach Modern Standard Arabic language courses. Applicants should have native, or near-native, flu-ency in Arabic and a record of excellence in teaching Arabic language using a communicative approach that emphasizes developing students’ language skills in meaningful, real-world contexts.

Deadline for applications: 1 May 2026. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/185105

 

 

 

 

 

25. New Book “Canon and Censorship in Islamic Intellectual History”, Edited by: Mohammad Gharaibeh, Bacem Dziri and Amir Dziri, De Gruyter, 17 March 2026, 320 Pages

Muslim scholars had always to legitimize their religious positions in a different way. Canonisation and censorship processes played a decisive role in the formation and deconstruction of religious authority. This volume therefore examines how texts, positions and the people behind them gain or lose their authority, and which structural, contextual and institutional factors contribute to the establishment or suppression, but also to the maintenance of this claim.

Information: https://tinyurl.com/3585aexb

 

 

 

 

 

26. Nouveau livre “Herméneutiques en Islam contemporain – Théologie, exégèse et philosophie”, Constance Arminjon, Rainer Brunner (eds), Bibliothèque de l’École des Hautes Études, Sciences Religieuses, vol. 212, 2026, 224 pages

L’ouvrage vise à donner un aperçu de l’exégèse coranique contemporaine, ainsi que des efforts menés pour acclimater l’herméneutique philosophique européenne dans la théologie de l’Islam. Les théolo-giens et philosophes musulmans usent librement de l’herméneutique. Les contributions réunies ex-plorent les oeuvres les plus emblématiques de l’exégèse coranique et de la théologie musulmane nour-rie par l’herméneutique philosophique européenne. Elles sont précédées par une rétrospective sur l’histoire de l’herméneutique, retracée par Marc de Launay.

Information: https://tinyurl.com/2jfhhj6b

 

 

 

 

 

27. New Book: “Gender Relations in the Qur’an: Conceptualising Space and Male-Female Interaction” by F. Redhwan Karim, Edinburgh University Press, May 2026, 272 Pages

This book challenges restrictive assumptions about relations between non-maḥram men and women in Muslim societies, arguing for a more nuanced and expansive Qur’anic vision of gendered space, roles, interaction and clothing. Engaging both classical and modern scholarship, it offers a contextual reading of contested verses and a systematic analysis of gender relations in the Qur’an.

Information: https://tinyurl.com/msbre7vh

 

Posted in: Academic items

Leave a comment