Category Archives: Conferences and Talks

Central Asian and Middle Eastern Numismatics Seminar

Archaeology and Antiquities, Central Asia, Conferences and Talks, Iran, Islamic Economics, Islamic History, Languages


‘Great Ruler of Sogdiana, of the Tchao-ou Race’/Alram’s ‘Imitationsgruppe V’
Yueh Chih Principality of Sogdiana AR Tetradrachm, 130 BCE – 80 CE

The Fifth Seminar in Central Asian and Middle Eastern Numismatics in Memoriam Boris Kochnev will be held at Hofstra University on Saturday, March 16, 2013.

This seminar is free and open to the public. Hofstra is located in Hempstead, NY, easily accessible from NYC by the Long Island Railroad. For directions click here or here. The seminar will be held in Breslin Hall, room 112. For more information, contact Aleksandr Naymark or Daniel Martin Varisco.

Seminar Program:

10:00 am
Daniel Varisco (Hofstra University)
Opening Remarks

10:15
Vadimir Belyaev (Zeno.ru, Moscow) and Aleksandr Naymark (Hofstra University)
Archer Coins from South Sogdiana (1st – 3rd centuries C.E.)

10:45 pm
Pankaj Tandon (Boston University)
Notes on Alchon Coins

11:15 pm
Waleed Ziad (Yale University)
The Nezak – Turk Shahi Transition:
Evidence from the Kashmir Smast (mid 7th c. C.E.) Continue reading Central Asian and Middle Eastern Numismatics Seminar →

Vienna Conference

Conferences and Talks, Islamic History, Rasulids, Yemen


Rasulid polo players, ca. 1260-1270; Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin

This week I am participating in a conference in Vienna and will deliver a paper on Rasulid bureaucracy. Details on the conference are noted below. Anyone in or near Vienna is welcome to attend.

3rd International Conference of the Research Network Imperium & Officium: Land and Power in the Ancient and Post-Ancient World, University of Vienna, 20–22 February 2013

In addressing the theme of ‘Land and Power’ we wish to examine the power base of office-holding élites in pre-modern societies. As a tool of analysis we frame our questions in Weberian terms, distinguishing between exercise of power in a bureaucratic mode (ex officio) and power based on economic wealth and privilege in a patrimonial setting, with office being conferred as a consequence. Our focus will be on the interplay between economic power and bureaucratic rationality. In most pre-industrial societies, power and wealth was based on landownership and the control of food production: landownership as the basis of power of an office-holding élite is a recurring phenomenon in ancient states. We also seek to question whether such élites (especially in the periphery) were a force for cohesion or disruption from the point of view of the state, and to investigate the means by which the state sought to integrate and control office-holding élites, e.g. by the use of parallel and/or overlapping chains of command, or by co-optation through court offices and privileges.

Programme (provisional)

Wednesday, 20 February 2013

9–9.30 a.m. Welcome address by Jursa, Michael and Palme, Bernhard (Vienna)

Section 1: Elite Formation

Chair: Jursa, Michael

9.30–10 a.m. Garfinkle, Steven J. (Washington): Landownership and Office-Holding: Pathways to Privilege and Authority under the Third Dynasty of Ur

10–10.30 a.m. Kaiser, Anna (Vienna): Flavius Athanasius, dux et Augustalis Thebaidis

10.30–11 a.m. coffee break

11–11.30 a.m. Scheuble-Reiter, Sandra (Chemnitz): Military Service and the Allotment of Land in Ptolemaic Egypt

11.30–12 a.m. Paulus, Susanne (Münster): The System of Landownership in the Middle Babylonian Time (1500–1000 BC) Continue reading Vienna Conference →

Amat Al Alim Alsoswa on the Yemeni National Dialogue

"Arab Spring", Conferences and Talks, Development, Scholars, Terrorism Issue, Yemen


ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION;
YEMENI COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL DIALOGUE: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

The International Peace Institute (IPI) is pleased to host a roundtable discussion on the Yemeni Dialogue with Ms. Amat Al Alim Alsoswa, former Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States, United Nations Development Program on Wednesday, February 13, 2013, from 1:00pm–2:45pm at IPI’s Trygve Lie Center for Peace, Security & Development on the 12th floor, located at 777 United Nations Plaza.

Yemen’s transition began on November 23, 2011, when an agreement was brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) creating a two-year transitional government led by President (and former Vice-President) Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. The agreement mandates holding a National Dialogue to decide the formation of the new movement and address other pressing national issues. According to the GCC agreement, the National Dialogue conference must include “all forces and political actors, including youth, the Southern Movement, the Houthis, other political parties, civil society representatives and women.” Continue reading Amat Al Alim Alsoswa on the Yemeni National Dialogue →

Digital Heroes: Video Games and Identity Construction in Iran

Anthropology/Sociology, Conferences and Talks, CyberOrient, Iran


The Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center of The Graduate Center at CUNY announces a lecture by Vit Sisler (Charles University) entitled Digital Heroes: Video Games and Identity Construction in Iran. This will be held February 11, 2013 from 6:30 PM TO 8:30 PM in Rom 9204 of The Graduate Center. For more information, click here. Admission is free.

Abstract:
Video games are a popular leisure time activity for a substantial part of Iranian youth. At the same time, most games on the Iranian market are of US, European, or Japanese origin. Unsurprisingly, the Iranian authorities are concerned about the negative influence of such games on Iranian youth. Therefore, they established the National Foundation of Computer Games in Tehran in 2006 in order to subsidize development of games in Iran, conceived in accordance with Iranian and Islamic values. Consequently, a variety of independent producers have become involved in this emerging industry. The lecture analyzes contemporary Iranian video games and explores the ways in which they communicate different concepts of identity. Essentially, whereas the Iranian government perceives games as a new semiotic language of the youth and utilizes them to promote Islamic values and foster national pride, many independent producers maneuver within the and around state’s interests, presenting instead their own, oftentimes quite different ideas. Therefore, the resulting concepts of identity are achieved through sensitive negotiations between the demands, funding and restrictions of the Islamic state and the visions and engagement of private entrepreneurs.

Vit Sisler is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague. His research deals with the problematic of contemporary Islamic law, the relation between Islam and digital media, normative frameworks in cyberspace, and the topic of educational and political video games. Vit Sisler was a visiting Fulbright scholar at Northwestern University in 2008-2009. He is also a managing editor of CyberOrient, a peer reviewed journal founded by the Middle East Section of the American Anthropological Association.

Egypt Week in New York

Conferences and Talks, Egypt, Film and Video, Music and Dance


Egyptian pianist, Mohamed Shams

EGYPT MINI-SERIES FEBRUARY 2013 
LINCOLN CENTER

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
BRUNO WALTER AUDITORIUM
(entrance @ 111 Amsterdam Avenue @ 64th street)



PROGRAM

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 2 @ 2.30 PM
Opera in Arabic:
On translating opera into classical and colloquial Egyptian Arabic, with Baritone Raouf Zaidan, Bass Baritone Ashraf Sewailam and Kamel Boutros, piano – moderated by Nimet Habachy of WQXR Classical Music Station New York



SUNDAY FEBRUARY 3 @ 2.30 PM
Music for Piano and French Horn:
Recital by Amr Selim (winner, Northeast Horn competition 2012), and Seba Ali, both winners of the 2012 Ackerman Chamber Music competition 2012 at Stony Brook, NY
And a choreographic offering specially created for Seba and Amr by Cherylyn Lavagnino with Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance (CLD) dancers Ramona Kelley and Justin Flores


MONDAY FEBRUARY 4 @ 6 PM
Music of Arab American composer Mohammed Fairouz
With the Cadillac Moon Ensemble, Ensemble 212 and the Mimesis Ensemble
Curated by Katie Reimer

 Continue reading Egypt Week in New York →

Central Asia Archaeology Conference at Hofstra

Archaeology and Antiquities, Art, Central Asia, Conferences and Talks, Scholars


Colloquium at Hofstra University
Art and Archaeology of Central Asia: Works in Progress
Saturday, January 26, Breslin Hall 105

Session I
11:00 am – 12:45 pm

Michael D. Frachetti
Washington University in St. Louis
Agriculture and Mining among Highland Mobile Pastoralists of Semirech’e (3000 – 1500 BCE)

Claudia Chang
Sweet Briar College, Virginia
Progress on the Archaeological Researches
on Iron Age settlements on the Talgar Fan

Perry Tourtellotte
Sweet Briar College, Virginia
Mortuary and Settlement Landscapes of the Iron Age:
Talgar Fan and Beyond

Lunch
12:45 pm – 1:30 pm

Session II
1:30 pm – 4:15 pm

Pavel Lurje
Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia
Personal Names throughout the History of Chorasmia

Fiona Kidd
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Some New Thoughts on the Procession Scene
in the Paintings of Akchakhan-kala

Anna Feuerbach
Hofstra University
Recent Research on Industrial Remains at Ancient Merv Continue reading Central Asia Archaeology Conference at Hofstra →

Have Muslims Misunderstood Evolution

Anthropology/Sociology, Conferences and Talks, Ethics, Islamic Sciences, Scholars


The importance of Evolution and Islam debate in London

by Salman Hameed, Irtiqa’, January 7, 2013

I’m now back in US and I’m glad that I had a chance to attend the London debate, Have Muslims Misunderstood Evolution? It was organized by The Deen Institute and I posted some quick thoughts on Saturday.

You can find a good summary of each speaker’s presentation at Farrukh’s blog.

Here are a few reasons why I think the London debate on evolution and Islam may turn out be a game-changer in the way Muslims look at evolutionary biology, and science, in general.

This was an intra-faith debate. There is no question that the topic was controversial. However, the conversation on evolution often gets derailed by common misconceptions and juvenile creationist ideas. The debate would have been a failure, had it been simply between biologists and those who follow Harun Yahya. There is no common ground – as Yahya’s group has no understanding of science.

The reason for the success of the debate was that almost all of the speakers (with the exception of Harun Yahya acolyte, Oktar Babuna) accepted the scientific consensus on evolution. Then the question became: Can Muslims reconcile human evolution with their faith? Now this is an important question.

Here are a few take-aways from the London debate: Continue reading Have Muslims Misunderstood Evolution →

ISLAM IN THE COLUMBIA CURRICULUM, 1886-2012

Conferences and Talks, Islam in America, Scholars


This photo shows Jackson with his student Dhalla, the financier Henry Clews (1836-1923), and Djelal Munif Bey (d. 1919), the Ottoman Consul General in New York. The other two men are unidentified.


The Columbia University Seminar on Religion and Writing and the American Institute of Iranian Studies are pleased to announce:

ISLAM IN THE COLUMBIA CURRICULUM, 1886-2012: FROM ORIENTAL LANGUAGES TO AREA STUDIES AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Thursday, January 31, 2013
Faculty House (400 West 117th St)

The one-day conference will explore the history of Islamic Studies in North America in general, and at Columbia University in particular. Its starting point is the observation that Islamic Studies slipped into the Columbia curriculum when in the late 1880s Oriental languages were first added to the fledgling University’s course offerings. For a detailed schedule, please see the conference website at
https://researchblogs.cul.columbia.edu/islamicbooks/religionwriting/conference/

The conference accompanies the exhibition “Collecting Oriental Books for the Columbia Libraries, 1886–1936” in Columbia’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The exhibition explores the beginnings of the University’s Islamic book collections, and will be on view in the Chang Octagon from December 19, 2012 until March 2013.

This conference is open to the public, but we request that you register, as seating is limited. Please RSVP to icc1886@gmail.com.

For further information contact icc1886@gmail.com.