Shii News – Acdemic Items
1. The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies and Invisible East present a series of monthly online seminars about archives and documents.
Convened by Arezou Azad and Mohamad Tavakoli, the seminars are held monthly on Zoom.
Please join us next month to hear from Dilnoza Duturaeva on ‘Chinese Documents on the Qarakhanids’ Wednesday 17 September at 12PM EST / 5PM GMT. Pre-registration is essential.
https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/azuvuYKIRh-yNsSYNoA_5A#/registration
2. August 26 was the first anniversary of the death of Reza Ghotbi, the director of National Iranian Radio and Television in the years before the Islamic Revolution. Mr. Ghotbi’s performance has always been a subject of discussion, especially during the Revolution, and his silence in the following years further fueled this. On the first anniversary of Reza Ghotbi’s death in exile, I have reviewed his achievements through the words of his close colleagues at National Television:
https://youtu.be/79VtLuzzAqA
Regards,
Pejman Akbarzadeh
3. The upcoming course titled “Classical Persian through Historical Texts: Reading Juwaynī’s Tārīx-i Jahāngušāy is set to start on September 24.
The course, meeting on a weekly basis, for 2 hours, will be a comprehensive introduction to this extremely important Classical Persian text, as well as the grammar, lexicon, and stylistics of its language. The course is designed for Masters and PhD students with a focus on history or Classical Persian literature, and is open to everyone interested.
You are welcome to follow the link to learn more about the course and apply:
Classical Persian through Historical Texts: Reading Juwaynī’s Tārīx-i Jahāngušāy
Ruben Nikoghosyan
Ferdowsi School of Persian Literature
Yerevan, Armenia
Website: www.ferdowsi.org
4. ‘Lithographic Printing in Afghanistan’, Khalilullah Afzali – September 4, 2025, 12:00 PM EDT
Zoom Registration Link:
https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/FuAhytO2Ty26MGeZcoq_RA
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting
5. Studies in Iranian History and Culture
In Honor of Elton L. Daniel
M Ashtiany, et al., eds.,
Brill, 2025
https://brill.com/display/title/72704
6. The Islamic College: MA-Equivalent Exegesis & Quranic Sciences (Online)
Deadline for Registration: 30th September 2025
Starting date: 3rd November 2025
7. The first lecture in the Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series for Fall 2025 will take place on Tuesday, September 9, 2025 at 11:00 Detroit/New York · 16:00 London · 18:00 Istanbul.
Samira Fathi (Michigan State University) will present “Literary Culture and Urban Revival in Early Qajar Isfahan.”
To attend, please register in advance here:
https://wellesley.zoom.us/meeting/register/8rdxc9xjSqigsRyZZEly9g
Upon registration, you’ll receive the link to access the lecture.
Although not every talk is recorded, we have recordings of several recent talks on the VIAHSS Vimeo page.
Our full Fall 2025 Schedule is available below and on our website. With the exception of our first talk, most of our talks this semester will take place on Tuesdays at 12:00 Eastern Standard/Daylight Time.
8. The Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA)is pleased to invite undergraduate and graduate students to participate in its Poster Competitionat the Eighteenth Annual Conference being held November 1 – 3, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Presenting a poster is an excellent opportunity for young scholars to showcase their work in a visual format that promotes discussion, enables interaction with seasoned academics, and receive feedback about their projects.
Information for applicants:
- Undergraduate applicants must be juniors or seniors in the 2025-26 academic year.
- Graduate applicants must be enrolled at a higher education institution for the 2025-26 academic year.
- Interested students must submit an application via the online submission portal and include a 300-word abstract of original unpublished data.
- Topics must be related to the Middle East and/or Africa.
- Successful applicants will be required to register for the Conference.
- Scoring is based on how well the presenter demonstrates understanding of their subject matter as well as by the clarity of their presentation.
- More submission details and guidelines for final poster projects will be made available to confirmed participants.
- Applications are evaluated and accepted on a rolling basis until October 1, 2025.
For further information, please visit our Call for Posters page or contact info@asmeascholars.org.
Contact Information
Emily Lucas
Membership and Operations Director
Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA)
ph: 202.429.8860
Contact Email
URL
https://www.asmeascholars.org/call-for-posters-2024
9. Conference Announcement
Title: Sea-border and Airspace Formation in the Middle East and North Africa, 1880s-1950s
Dates: 16-17 October 2025
Location: Room RS. 38, University of Neuchâtel, Espace Tilo-Frey 1, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
The University of Neuchâtel is pleased to announce the international conference, “Sea-border and Airspace Formation in the Middle East and North Africa, 1880s-1950s”, to be held this autumn.
The conference critically examines the complex interplay of state- and empire-making, technological advancements, and shifting mobilities in delineating sea-borders and airspaces across the Middle East and North Africa. It probes the historical processes that reshaped regional sovereignty and imperial control during the late Ottoman and European mandatory periods, offering new perspectives on the formation of aerial and maritime territoriality.
See Full Conference Program Attached.
Attendance is free and open to the public. No registration is required.
Keynote Address
Title: “Reforming the British Empire: Space, Place and Mobilties of People, Capital and Ideas in the Global Restructuring of the British Empire”
Speaker: Alan Lester (University of Sussex)
Moderator: Sara de Athouguia Filipe (University of Neuchâtel and nccr – on the move)
The keynote address will take place on Thursday, 16 October, at 4:15 p.m. in Room R.O.12, Espace Tilo-Frey 1. For those unable to attend in person, the keynote will be livestreamed on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/live/KxpSEhtQuOc.
Contact Information
For more information, please contact:
- Jordi Tejel: jordi.tejel@unine.ch
- David Motzafi-Haller: david.motzafi@unine.ch
10. ONLINE Webinar: ‘Fulayj: A Sasanian Persian Fort on the Batinah in Oman’
with Eve MacDonald
British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS), 24 September, 2025, 5:00 pm UK Time
Fulayj fort was discovered in an area of exceptional landscape preservation on the mid-Batinah Plain of Oman 12km inland from the Indian Ocean coast and 30km south of the major early Islamic port and regional capital of Sohar. A preliminary investigation carried out in 2015 and 2016 during the Persian and its Neighbours Project demonstrated that fort was built by a well-organised external military force in the 5th century CE and that it shares an identical ceramic assemblage to Jazirat al-Ghanam, a Sasanian period military watch station overlooking the Straits of Hormuz discovered in 1971. This paper will discuss the results of the final (2023) season at Fulayj, partially funded by a BIPS research grant, and will discuss the fort in its broader context and connection to a larger Sasanian defensive system on the Batinah in Oman
Information and registration:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_x2uw_EuzTeKzHHIYMe9TyA#/registration
11. The British Academy In-person event: Assyria in the 7th century BC
| 4-6 November 2025; 6PM |
Delivered by the most outstanding academics in the UK and beyond, the British Academy’s flagship Lecture programme showcases the very best scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. This event is part of the Schweich Lectures on Biblical Archaeology series.
About the speaker:
Professor Karen Radner holds the Alexander von Humboldt Chair of the Ancient History of the Near and Middle East at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU Munich). A member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and of the German Archaeological Institute, she was awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize in 2022. Her research focuses on the Assyrian Empire.
Chairs: Professor Mark Weeden (UCL), Professor Mark Altaweel (UCL), Professor Andrew George FBA (SOAS)
Exploring Assyria’s fortunes in the 7th century BC will take us on a white-knuckle ride. Only six decades separate the heady days of unprecedented power after the conquest of Egypt in 673 BC from the total loss of religious and political control caused by the destruction of the Ashur temple in 614 BC and the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC. In three lectures focusing on the history, archaeology and texts of the period, we will put ourselves in the place of an inhabitant of the city of Assur who lived through these eventful years.
Free, booking required, tickets to be released prior to the event
This lecture series will take place over the course of three evenings from 4-6 November 2025. The series will include a reception for attendees, details to follow.
If you have any questions about this event, please email events@thebritishacademy.ac.uk.
12. The Department of Middle East Studies at the University of Michigan invites applications for the James A. Bellamy Professorship, with an anticipated start date of August 25, 2026. We seek a tenure-track professor or associate professor with a substantial publication record in the fields of early Arabic language or literature, textual traditions and Islamic culture. The successful candidate will hold a Ph.D. and is expected to teach a range of courses in Arabic and Islamic studies, from introductory undergraduate lecture courses through graduate seminars; to supervise doctoral dissertations; and to participate actively in the programs of the department as well as in area studies initiatives within a larger university community that encourages interdisciplinary efforts.
All application materials should be submitted online through Interfolio. Materials should include a cover letter, current curriculum vitae, statement of teaching philosophy and experience, statement of current and future research plans, teaching evaluations and other evidence of teaching excellence. Additionally, you may provide the names of up to three references.
For any questions, please contact the executive assistant, Department of Middle East Studies, at mes-admin@umich.edu. The deadline for submission is October 31, 2025.
13. Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Edinburgh
Research Seminars, 1st semester (2025/26) (HYBRID)
All talks begin at 5:15 (UK time) and will be held at 40 George Square Lower, LG.11 (unless otherwise noted), and followed by a reception.
The sessions will be hybrid. For those that wish to join us online, please email Anthony.Gorman@ed.ac.uk, who will send you out a link on the day of the seminar.
Mon 15 Sept (Week 1) [40GS, LG.11]
Prof Yasir Suleiman-Malley, University of Cambridge
Arabic Literary Prizes and the Sociology of Literature
Mon 29 Sept (Week 3) [40GS, LG.11]
Dr Andreas Görke (IMES) University of Edinburgh
The beginnings of Qur’anic exegesis or, Can we know how the companions of the Prophet understood the Qur’an?
Mon 13 Oct (Week 5) [40GS, LG.11]
Dr Anthony Gorman (IMES) University of Edinburgh
Teaching the Middle East at Edinburgh before IMES
Mon 27 Oct (Week 7) [40GS, LG.11]
Profs Houri Berberian (UC Irvine) and Talinn Grigor (UC Davis)
The Armenian Woman, Minoritarian Agency, and the Making of Iranian Modernity 1860-1979.
Mon 3 Nov (Week 8) [40 GS, LG.08]
Prof Nacim Pak-Shiraz (IMES)
Staging Masculinity: Hegemony, and Patriarchy in 1990s Iranian Popular Cinema
Mon 10 Nov (Week 9) [40GS, LG.11]
Prof. Mohd Radhi Ibrahim, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) (Visiting Scholar)
The Integration of Knowledge: An Islamic Worldview
14. Colloque “Diversité(s) en islam. Fondements et implications d’une pluralité complexe”, Institut Français d’Islamologie & Université de Strasbourg, 8-9 septembre 2025
Information et programme : https://tinyurl.com/5cyz6uw7
15. Partha Mitter: The Virtual Cosmopolitan in the Global Colonial Order @ Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (11 September 2025, 15:00 GMT, Lisbon, Portugal)
Thursday 11 September, starting at 15:00 (Lisbon Time / GMT) at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum
in conjunction with the 4th EAAA Conference.
This event will showcase
the Museum’s exquisite Asian art collection, followed by a lecture by
Partha Mitter. It will be livestreamed on the following site, so make
sure not to miss this opportunity:
https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgulbenkian.pt%2Fmuseu%2Fen%2Fagenda%2Fpartha-mitter%2F&data=05%7C02%7C%7C757df6f584154e024d2108dded20eb1f%7C2e9f06b016694589878910a06934dc61%7C0%7C0%7C638927447853597277%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ljE9HeTJCBMW7G5RQeTHIQYd25YHda1FJcnq2shjb8Y%3D&reserved=0
16. ONLINE Lecture “Queering Islamic Art: Expressions of Gender Diversity and Critique of Sexual Normativity in Contemporary Art of the Middle East” by Charlotte Bank (Institut für Kunstgeschichte, LMU München), Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series, 21 October 2025, 18:00 CET
Information and registration: https://viahss.org/upcoming-talks/
17. POSTS:
Two Teaching Faculty Positions in Instructional Arabic (Open Rank), Georgetown University in Qatar
The successful candidates will hold an M.A. or Ph.D. in language instruction, linguistics, or applied linguistics. Suc-cessful candidates will demonstrate excellence in teaching Arabic at all levels, including experience working with heritage language learners. They will also have a record of effective instruction in skill-based courses (e.g., Business Arabic, Academic Writing) and in leading co-curricular and experiential learning activities that support Arabic lan-guage development.
Deadline for applications: 1 October 2025. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/172435
Associate Professor or Professor for Palestinian Literature and Culture, University of Toronto
The Department is seeking a scholar of modern and contemporary Palestinian cultural production with a specia-lization in one or more of the following fields: literature, media and visual studies, cinema studies, theatre and perfor-mance studies, and/or the fine arts. We welcome applications from interdisciplinary scholars who will integrate Palestinian studies within the fields of Arabic Studies and the Modern Middle East.
Deadline for applications: 6 October 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/bdhtphds
Assistant Professor of Modern & Contemporary Art History (Focus on Middle Eastern Studies), Rhodes College, Memphis, TN
The successful candidate’s research must carry significance within the field of Art History while resonating across other disciplines. Applications are especially welcome from individuals able to contribute to at least one of the College’s many interdisciplinary programs, including Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies.
Deadline for applications: 7 November 2025. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4j723ujt
18. Call for Articles on “A Sea of Mixedness: Mobility and Mixing Shaping Red Sea Cities and Urban Life (1800s-2000s)” for a Special Issue of “Northeast African Studies”
The editors are especially interested in historically or anthropologically grounded case studies on understudied cities, groups and individuals, including but not limited to Armenians, Greeks and South Asians and their mixed descen-dants in North-East Africa, Egypt’s Afro-Arabs, the Port-Tawfiq Anglo-Maltese officers, the Muwalladeen in Yemen and formerly enslaved people who stayed in the Red Sea region.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 October 2025. Information: https://zenodo.org/records/16992319
Posted in: Academic items- September 06, 2025
- 0 Comment
