Disseminations
Events and News Related to GlobalLIT
RESOURCES
Still under construction but Islam in China Project hopes to put up as many sino-Islamic texts in Arabic, Persian, and Chinese as they can lay their hands on, plus large numbers of audio and video recordings that show the rich ritual world of Sinophone Muslims. To read more check out their website: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/mideast/Huihui
Translation & Activism, Hcommons Public Group: https://hcommons.org/groups/translation-and-activism/
TRANSMODERN (Translational Modernity: Literary Theory from Europe to Iran) is a project funded by the European Commission within Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions. The project runs from August 2019 to August 2021. The project fellow is Kayvan Tahmasebian.
CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS
On Friday 11th March, @rrgould introduced Arabic Poetry in Exile together with other performers at the event ‘Poems in Transit’ that showcased three projects which work with refugees and writers in exile. If you missed the conference and wish to know more about this project, follow @poetryExile on X and read more on their website at the link below: https://stanzapoetry.org/events/poems-in-transit/
‘The Architecture of the Caucasus in the Global Middle Ages’ For those who missed the lecture of Robert Ousterhout, the recording of his lecture is now available on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhX0b4sq1vE
We congratulate our Research Associate, Dr. Kayvan Tahmasebian, on being awarded a Bahari Fellowship in the Persian Arts of the Book at Oxford University’s Bodleian Library for his project “Persian Moraqqa’ and the Interspaces of Comparison.” By using the Ottoman and Mughal albums in the Bodleian’s Collections, Tahmasebian’s research will shed light on the expansion of moraqqa’ into Mughal and Ottoman empires.
The Iranian Studies Initiative at UCSB and Farhang Foundation. Canon Making and Canon Breaking in the Caucasus. 2022. University of California, Santa Barbara. The video recording can be accessed here: https://farhang.org/ucsb-lecture-series/canon-making-and-canon-breaking
The Intellectual Heritage of Iranian Jews in Judeo-Persian. 2022. Organized by the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies and the Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies. University of California, Los Angeles. Video recording can be accessed here: https://nelc.ucla.edu/video/the-intellectual-heritage-of-iranian-jews-in-judeo-persian/
UBC Department of Asian Studies, Alireza Ahmadian Lectures in Iranian and Persianate Studies: The Persian Prison Poem from South Asia to the Caucasus. 2022. University of British Columbia. Video recording available here: https://asia.ubc.ca/events/event/the-persian-prison-poem-from-south-asia-to-the-caucasus/
Bilal Orfali, Chairman, Professor, and Sheikh Zayed Chair of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the American University of Beirut, presented a paper titled “Why Poetry? A Sufi Response” on February 7th at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden. URL: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/2023/02/why-poetry-a-sufi-response
Are you a language student or professional interested in exploring new theory and practice in the field of metaphor translation? LifeinLINCS. The Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies at Heriot-Watt University invites you to participate in a 1-day metaphor translation workshop on Saturday 11 June 2022: Metaphor Translation Workshop [Online Event]. Heriot-Watt University, 2022. Accessed via https://lifeinlincs.site.hw.ac.uk/2022/05/09/online-metaphor-translation-workshop/
In a December 6th interview with Syaq, the Saudi Society for Comparative Literature, Prof. Rebecca Ruth Gould discussed the significance of balagha or Islamic rhetoric in contemporary literary studies. She also addressed the role of multilingualism in world literature and literary critique through the literary-theoretical traditions of four Caucasian languages—Arabic, Persian, Turkic, and Georgian. Additionally, she highlighted the primary goal of GlobalLIT, which is to bring these literatures into comparison via translation and a critical anthology of major pre-modern literary-theoretical texts from the Islamic world. URL: Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8c5oJFGJWI&list=PL2qfkx0IObl-YjZnx75qcqYEC3MljB_j1&index=5
Prof. Rebecca Ruth Gould’s interview, where she discusses balagha, multilingualism, and the goals of GlobalLIT, is featured in the December newsletter of the Saudi Society for Comparative Literature. URL: not available.
The Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC) in London offers an MA program in Muslim Cultures and Civilisations, which provides an in-depth exploration of the Islamic world. To learn more about the course, please visit the official AKU-ISMC website. https://www.aku.edu/ismc/ma/Pages/home.aspx
BIPS offers several travel grants to students, with awards of up to £1,200. These grants are intended to support research-related travel expenses and are not available for coursework or to cover college or university fees. Recipients are required to publish the results of their research, with BIPS reviewing and approving any acknowledgment of their funding before publication. Additionally, grant recipients must submit a brief report for the BIPS website. https://www.bips.ac.uk/apply-for-grants/
Public lecture: September 2024 Kayvan Tahmasebian presented “Medieval Persian Constellations. Crossing the Boundaries of Astrology, Art of the Book, and Rhetoric” at the 44th Cologne Conference on Medieval Studies (KMT 2024: Konstellationen). URL: https://kmt.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/downloads/44-2024_tagungsmappe.pdf
CALL FOR PAPERS AND SUBMISSIONS
Call for Submissions 2022 Awards and Prizes: The Ottoman and Turkish Studies (OTSA) is pleased to announce its annual award and prize competitions for 2022. Eight award competitions are listed in this announcement, the last three of which are administered by the American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages (AATT). OTSA encourages scholars and students to apply for awards and invites teachers to encourage their students to apply as well:
Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association (OTSA). Call for Submissions: 2022 Awards and Prizes. 2022. Available at: https://iismm.hypotheses.org/62465
Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta. “Call for Papers: Gender as a Category of Analysis for the Study of the Medieval Middle East.” Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists, vol. [issue], 2022. Available at: https://networks.h-net.org/node/8330/discussions/10212068/cfp-gender-category-analysis-study-medieval-middle-east . We are soliciting original research articles that use gender as an analytical lens through which to view any aspect of the medieval Middle East, expansively defined to include all geographies with prominent Muslim political, religious, or social presences between the rough parameters of 500 and 1500 CE. This thematic dossier will be published in the 2023 issue of Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists, the only open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the medieval Middle East. To be considered, please submit a title and abstract of no more than 500 words to alusuralwusta@gmail.com by June 1, 2022. Complete articles will be due by January 6, 2023.
The theme for ArabLit Quarterly’s Fall 2022 issue is “WEDDINGS,” and it will be edited by Nashwa Nasreldin. The issue invites a broad range of interpretations related to weddings, whether traditional ceremonies complete with cultural customs like tablas and zaghroutas or other forms of unions. Submissions can reflect on weddings in anticipation, during the event, or in its aftermath, exploring the concept in both literal and metaphorical ways. URL: https://arablit.org/call-for-submissions-alqs-fall-2022-issue/
The Turk-o-Tajik World: Coalescence of Turkic, Arabic, and Persian Spheres c. 900–1900 is a two-day academic conference which explored the symbiosis of Turkic, Arabic, and Persian cultures across the Islamicate world, from the medieval to the modern period. The contributors discussed various aspects of these cultural symbioses, and continuums, which formed the bedrock of a flourishing ‘Turk-o-Tajik’ civilisation. This cultural coalescence is explored in a variety of settings, including sufism, sexuality, literature, religious discourse, and politics. This online conference was sponsored by SOAS, University of London, and was held via zoom, on the 4th & 5th of May 2022. URL: https://farhang.org/ucsb-lecture-series/canon-making-and-canon-breaking
The recording on Digital History & Archives in Caucasus and beyond is now available on YouTube. This workshop is focused on understanding the potential, significance and challenges of working with digital archives. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i01Vca3-lpU