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Annual Student Conference
The MEICON student conference is an annual student conference open to undergraduate students in all departments whose work focuses on Islam or the Middle East.
MEICON-BC 2012: Fourth annual student conference: Call for papers now open!
Click here for more information
MEICON-BC 2011: Third annual student conference
Saturday March12, 2011
University of British Columbia
To view the program click here
MEICON-BC: 2010 Student Conference
Saturday March 27, 2010
University of Victoria
MEICON– BC: 2009 Student Conference
MEICON-BC: First Annual Student Conference, May 9, 2009
Simon Fraser University, Harbour Centre
To view the conference program click here.
The inaugural student conference was held at SFU's Harbour Centre campus on May 9, 2009. Twenty-six participants presented papers on eight different panels, ranging from "Negotiating the Everyday", through "Conceptualizing/Practicing Islam", to "Situating the State". The first prize went to Nawal Musleh-Motut (SFU) for “The Holocaust and Nakba: Contending Collective Memories in the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict,” and second prize went to Ezra Karmal (Victoria), “Eretz Yisrael or Islamic Waqf: Gush Emunium and the Rise of Religio-Political Movements.” An entertaining reception followed and featured the music of Gordon Grdina (oud) and Tim Gerwing (daf).
The keynote address (“Shia-Sunni Relations: Ideology, Rituals, and Communal Identity”) was provided by Dr. David Pinault, Director of the Arabic, Islamic, and Middle East Program at Santa Clara University. Dr. Pinault focused on the controversy surrounding Muharram lamentation rituals, especially their use to assert or deny communal identity.
The third annual MEICON-BC student conference was hosted on March 12, 2011 at Green College, UBC. The responsibility for hosting the event rotates annually among SFU, UBC, and the University of Victoria. In 2011, the conference featured eight panels, with subjects such as "Muslims Between East and West", "Women's Bodies: Past and Present", and "Reconfiguration in Iran and the Iranian Diaspora". In addition to providing a valuable opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to share their work, the conference was open to the public.
Students are encouraged to consider participating in our 2012 Conference. Deadline for abstract submissions is January 15th, 2012.
Picture Gallery from the 2009 conference
CALL FOR PAPERS
Dharma-Dhamma International Conference, July 20-22, 2012, Sanchi/Bhopal
Dharma-Dhamma International Conference, 20th – 22nd July 2012, at Sanchi/Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
Hosts: 1. Center for Study of Religion and Society, New Delhi, India; 2. Mahabodhi Society, Sri Lanka
The central theme of the Conference is Dharma-Dhamma which has been a pivotal and pervasive concept and overriding principle in Indian culture commonly shared by all religious traditions of India. It has played a dominant and cardinal role in shaping Indian view and way of life. It has covered every facet of human existence and cosmic life in so far as it has been the sustaining (dharaka), regulating (niyamaka) and life-enhancing (sadhaka) force in Indian cultural ethos. It has been the foundational tenet in Hinduism and Buddhism.
Aim
The Conference aims to focus on the essential identity between the Dharmma-Dhamma view points. We find that these thoughts are as relevant today as they have been over millennia of Pilgrims’ Progress, exemplified by the abiding continuum of Hindu and Buddhist Civilizations. We aim through this conference, to facilitate the cross-pollination of ideas and foster harmony between the two ancient Civilizations, so that Dharmma-Dhamma becomes a veritable celebration of freedom. It is all the more essential in view of the forces released by Globalisation today, to integrate the Orient through the common factor of Dharmma-Dhamma link provided by centuries of cultural and civilisational inter-connectedness.
This conference will explore the following subjects:
• Hindu Dharma – Bauddha Dhamma as Philosophia Perennis and Universalis – Perennial and Universal Philosophies
• Expression of Hindu and Bauddham thoughts in art and architecture
• Archaeological and Historical perspectives
• Sampradayas and patterns of worship in temples
• Renaissance in Hindu and Bauddham temples
• Areas for cooperation between Hindu and Bauddham scholars and prominent citizens
• Socio-economic cooperation among the Indian Ocean Rim countries
Indicative list of themes or topics at:
https://sites.google.com/site/dharmadhammaconference/scope-theme
The Abstracts and Papers may be sent by email in word.doc unicode format to:
dharmadhammaconference@gmail.com
Abstracts and Papers must be in English only (Participants interested in presenting Papers in languages other than English may contact the organisers at the contact details provided)
Poster Sessions are also available
Last Date for Submission of Abstracts: 30th April 2012
Last Date for Submission of Papers: 15th June 2012
Mr. Sandeep Kumar Rao
Ms. Rami Desai
Contact address:
Dharma Dhamma Conference
CSRS, India Foundation
C-1, Jangpura Extension
New Delhi- 110092,
India
Phone: +91 11 43012351 (10.30 A.M to 4.30 P.M on weekdays)
E-mail: dharmadhammaconference@gmail.com
Conference link: https://sites.google.com/site/dharmadhammaconference/about-us
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Sixteenth annual New Frontiers in Graduate History Conference:
Call for papers from a wide range of national, regional, thematic, and methodological backgrounds. New Frontiers is an excellent opportunity for both MA and PhD students in history and related fields to present papers to colleagues from across Canada and the United States. We will be accepting papers on any geographic location and on a wide range of themes and topics including but not limited to:
History and Theory
Public Memory and Commemoration
Law, Politics, Protest and the State
Science, Medicine, Technology and Society
Religion
Race, Ethnicity, and Identity
Gender, Sexuality, and the Body
Empire and Nation
Popular Culture and Consumerism
Environment and Society
Migration and Diaspora
Work, Class, and Community
Applicants are invited to submit 250-word proposals for individual papers or panels of either two or three papers. Submissions must be accompanied by a short biographical statement and email contact information. The deadline for submissions is November 18, 2011. Please direct submissions to Ashlee Bligh, Madeleine Chartrand, and Daniel Ross at: yorknewfrontiers@gmail.com or
New Frontiers Conference
C/O Ashlee Bligh, Madeleine Chartrand, and Daniel Ross
Department of History
York University, 4700 Keele St.,
Toronto, ON, Canada M3J 1P3
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Classical Association of the Canadian West, March 16th - 17th, 2012
University of Victoria, VICTORIA, B.C.
VISUALIZING ANTIQUITY
Keynote Speaker:
Elio Lo Cascio
Professor of Roman History
The University of Rome, La Sapienza
No conception, ancient or modern, of the ancient world is entirely objective; every vision of of antiquity carries its own agenda. It is easier to see the prejudices of other eras than it is to interrogate our own.
How is our vision of the ancient world affected by our cultural values, prejudices and experiences? How did the cultural, historical and intellectual contexts of previous generations of artists, scholars and intellectuals affect their conception of antiquity, and the uses to which they put it? How did the artists and intellectuals of antiquity themselves envision and make use of their past?
We invite contributions addressing the ways in which scholars and artists, past and present, have constructed their visions and models of the ancient world; the cultural, historical, artistic, economic and intellectual contexts that affected and nourished those visions; and their later influence. Papers on other topics of interest to classicists will also be considered.
Comparative Perspective, Prague (29 August-1 September 2012)
DEPICTION AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE “OTHER”:
ISLAMIC CITIES IN THE EYES OF EUROPEAN TRAVELERS (Panel S7)
The Renaissance era is often said to be a significant turning point in
European history, as a period of cultural and economic reformations
that were shaping the identity of the “West.” This new identity was
based on a revolutionary shift in knowledge about the world in this
period. Cultural discovery of the non-Western lands, triggered after
the 16th century by European travelers, opened new doors for cultural
and economic exchanges. The “discovery” of new territories by the
Western-eye transformed the ‘mystical’ orient into immanent
geographies to be visited, explored, recorded, and something to be
depicted. The ‘voyage to the Orient’, once an exceptional adventure,
evolved into a habit of the Western intellectual. In the corresponding
period of time, the civilizations in Ottoman Turkey, Safavid Persia,
and Mughal India were experiencing diverse socio-political and
cultural developments. The complex layers of political, economic, and
religious struggles, alliances, and rivalries among these empires
gradually impacted on the development of cities in this region. The
progress in geographic discoveries and the ascending habit of
travelling led to inevitable result of the definition of the “other”
as opposed to the identification of the “self”. Following this
construction of the “other” and the creation of “non-Western”
cultures, some civilizations were sub-categorized under a homogenizing
term, “Islamic” and the cities in these territories were started being
defined as the “Muslim city”. Distinctions between the Muslim city and
the Muslim society against the European city and the European society
were sharply defined. Travelers’ accounts played a major role in the
split of the world into East and West. This session aims to discuss
the West/non-West divergence from a different perspective, which is
based on analyzing the travelers’ accounts on the “Orient” in the
early modern era. We are searching an answer for how the Muslim city
was defined and depicted by the Western gaze before the heyday of
Orientalism; and proposing to discuss the issues of urban
representation before the invention of photography.
The papers of this panel could address the following issues:
1. What tools were used for the depiction of urban fabric and how
these depictions were interpreted in the West and also in the East?
2. How “Islamic” cities responded to the developments taking place in
Europe in the post-Renaissance era?
3. How was the image of the “Muslim city” literally and symbolically
formed and transformed during this period with regard to the cultural
and political changes in the Western world?
4. What iconic representations were utilized and how these
formulations were transformed within the rapidly changing social,
political, and economical context of the period?
The papers can analyze the correspondences and discrepancies between
visual depictions and textual accounts and compare various forms of
representation of the cities. The papers could initiate new
comparisons among European and Muslim cities and encourage new
cross-cultural discussions on the underlying factors behind their
urban design and development.
Session chairs: Mohammad Gharipour, College of Architecture and
Planning, Morgan State University; mohammad@gatech.edu; and Nilay Ozlu,
Bogazici University; Department of History; nilay.ozlu@gmail.com.
All abstracts, maximum 500 words, and a brief CV should be submitted by
October 1, 2011. For more information, please visit the website of the
conference on http://www.eauh2012.com.
Call for Papers
Change and Continuity in the Middle East :
Rethinking West Asia, North Africa and the Gulf after 2011
11 of June, 2012
The London School of Economics and Political Science
London, United Kingdom
CONFERENCE CALL:
The fact that 2011 has been a year of momentous importance for West Asia, North Africa and the Gulf can hardly be disputed. For this reason, the Graduate Section of BRISMES hereby extends an invitation to all young researchers and PhD candidates to present research that addresses the political, economic, social and cultural transitions taking place across the region. We welcome submissions of papers and panel proposals from any disciplinary field which reflects on these events and the resilience displayed despite the pressure of mass uprisings, regime changes, and the emergence of new conflicts. Will the Middle East become more democratic? What is the role of political Islam? How do the events of 2011 influence the conflicts in the region? Is the Middle East finding a new civil conscience? How is the political economy of the region changing? To what extent were the arts, social networking, civil society or collective memory relevant factors of change in the region? What was the impact of foreign policies towards Middle Eastern states? Is the discourse of "resistance" outdated or is it a factor of change? Are human rights the new political vocabulary of the Middle East? Is women's emancipation really happening in the region?
The BRISMES Graduate Section and its co-host, the LSE Middle East Centre, look forward to welcoming you in London in June 2012 to address these and many other questions in its annual conference: "Change and Continuity in the Middle East: Rethinking West Asia, North Africa and the Gulf after 2011".
For more information and to submit your paper or panel proposals go to: https://sites.google.com/site/brismesgs2012/
Deadline for submissions: 13th of April 2012
45th Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association
This year's meeting will be held in Washington, DC at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, December 1-4, 2011.
The deadline for the call for papers for MESA's 45th annual meeting has passed. It is still possible to participate on the program as a panel chair. Information about volunteering to chair can be found at http://mesa.arizona.edu/annual-meeting/panel-chairs.html.
The Annual Meeting also features an Art Exhibit, Book Exhibit and Film Exhibit.
For more information about the annual meeting please click here
MESA's next call for papers will be for its 46th annual meeting to be held in November 2012 in Denver, Colorado. For that meeting, MESA will begin accepting submissions on January 1, 2012, and until the deadline of Wednesday, February 15, 2012. The call for papers will be posted here sometime in December 2011.
Questions about MESA's annual meetings may be directed to Mark Lowder at mlowder@email.arizona.edu.