Midwest Association for Middle East and Islamic Studies

03/08/2018

The Middle East and Islam in War and Peace -
Lewis University, Chicago, Ill. April 14, 2018

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Midwest Association for Middle East and Islamic Studies and Lewis University are pleased to announce a call for papers for the MAMEIS Annual Conference at Lewis University in Romeoville, IL, April 14, 2018. We welcome submissions from scholars based in the Midwest (broadly conceived) on this year’s theme “The Middle East and Islam in War and Peace”.

With the centennial of the official end of the First World War, which had a profound effect on the modern Middle East and the Islamic World, this year’s conference seeks papers around this theme, but also war and peace in the Middle East and the Islamic World in any period. Topics unrelated to this year’s theme are also welcome.

We welcome papers and panels from a variety of disciplines, including, but not limited to: History, Geography, Anthropology,

Sociology, Philosophy, Political Science, Comparative Literature, Religious Studies, and Cultural Studies.

MAMEIS Midwest Association for Middle East and Islamic Studies-is a non-profit organization which promotes and fosters community among the many scholars of Middle East and Islamic Studies based at institutions throughout the Midwest. MAMEIS is concerned with promoting the study of the Middle East and Islamic world and does not subscribe to any particular religious or political viewpoints or agenda. Our aim is to develop an open forum for discussion of scholarly issues, share news and information about regional events, and support collegial ties among our members.

Please submit a one page prospectus along with your name, title, and affiliation by March 19, 2018 to: James N. Tallon, President MAMEIS, [email protected]

04/19/2017

Negotiating Ethnic & Religious Identities
MAMEIS 2017 Annual Conference

Friday April 21, 2017
University of Louisville - Shumaker, Rm. 139

9-10:30 Muslim Identity in the Spiritual Realm

Bradley Bowman, University of Louisvile
From Acolyte to Ṣaḥābī: The Curious Conversion of Salmān al Fārisī and the Monks Who Guide Him to Islam

Matthew Niemi, Indiana University-Bloomington
Judging by what God has Revealed: Din in 7th-century Arabia

Gregory S. Hutcheson University of Louisville
Negotiating the Multiconfessional in Medieval Iberian Law

10:30-11:00 Coffee/Tea Break

11:00-12:30 Identity and Empire in Iran

Marian Smith, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
‘Abd Allah Hātifī’s Tīmūr-nāma: Observations on the Dispersed Manuscript Corpus of a Late Timurid Epic

Rosemary Stanfield-Johnson, University of Minnesota-Duluth
Storytelling and Identity in Safavid Iran

James Gustafson, Indiana State University
The Ecology of Empire in Qajar Iran

12:30-1:30 Lunch

2:00-3:00 Exploring Turkish Identities during Empire and Republic

Brian Van Wyck, Michigan State University
Transmitting Turkishness in the Diaspora: Turkish Teachers and Imams in Germany, 1961-2017

Gül Aldıkaçtı Marshall, University of Louisville
Negotiating Transnational Feminist Activism: The Significance of Multiple Platforms for Turkish Feminists

3:00-3:15 Coffee/Tea Break

3:15-4:15 War, Displacement, and Relocation: Identity in Transition

James Tallon, Lewis University
Albanian Identity at the End of Empire

Jusuf Salih, University of Dayton
Catholicism, Islam and Albanianess as Collective Queries Among Kosovars

4:15-4:30 Closing Remarks
James Tallon, Lewis University

01/10/2017

The MAMEIS Annual Conference is returning to Louisville April 21, 2017! This year's conference theme is "Negotiating Ethnic and Religious Identities," although papers and panels highlighting new research on other topics by Midwest-based scholars of Middle East and Islamic Studies are also welcome.

Abstracts are due by February 17, 2017 to:
Dr. Jim Tallon, President, MAMEIS: [email protected]

04/05/2016

We are pleased to announce the schedule for our 2016 conference in Omaha, Nebraska:

MAMEIS 2016 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
"Geography and the Environment in MENA"

University of Nebraska at Omaha
Saturday April 30, 2016

ISLAMIC INTELLECTUAL HISTORY 9AM-10:15AM
• Cathy Bronson, Notre Dame, “Early Islamic Women’s Literature”
• Navid Saberi-Najafi, University of California – Davis, “Ibn Sina and Suhrawardi: A New Interpretation of The Epistle of the Bird.”

THE ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES IN IRAN 10:30AM-12:00PM
• James M. Gustafson, Indiana State University, “Environment and History in Modern Iran”
• Vahid Abedini, Florida International University, “The Politics of the Environment in Iran”
• Hassan Vaezi, Florida International University, “The Effects of International Economic Sanctions on Iran’s Nuclear Program and Economy”

MEDIA STUDIES 1PM-2:15PM
• Kristian Petersen, University of Nebraska Omaha, “Muslim Places in Western Cinema”
• Dan Clanton, Doane College, “Teaching Muslim Comics in Rural Nebraska, or, Marji and Kamala Come to Crete”

CROSSING IMPERIAL FRONTIERS 2:30PM-4:00PM
• Marian Smith, University of Michigan, “Images of Timur’s Sacred Kingship: ‘Abd Allah Hatifi’s
• Timurnameh and its Manuscript Tradition in Early Modern Eurasia”
• Jusuf Salih, University of Dayton, “The Sultan’s M***i and His Borderless Call: Mustafa Sabri Efendi”

DELINEATING THE NATION STATE 4:30-6:00PM
• Ramazan Kilinc, University of Nebraska at Omaha, “The Regulation of Religion in Competitive
• Authoritarianism: The Turkish Case”
• Yuval Ben Bassat, UC Berkeley/Haifa, “The Solidification of the Border between Palestine and Egypt”
• Jim Tallon, Lewis University, “Defining and Claiming Space: The Convention of Tripoli 1910 and the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913”

02/08/2016

The due date for abstracts for the MAMEIS 2016 Conference in Omaha has been extended to Friday February 12! The theme of this year's conference is Environment and Geography in MENA, but papers on all topics in Islamic Studies will be considered.

Midwest based scholars are especially encouraged to participate!

See our new website for the Call for Papers for our 2016 Annual Conference in !

http://www2.indstate.edu/mameis/

12/09/2015

See our new website for the Call for Papers for our 2016 Annual Conference in !

http://www2.indstate.edu/mameis/

12/08/2015

A review of Idaho State University professor (and MAMEIS board member) Zachary Heern's new book The Emergence of Modern Shi'ism from the Economist.

Modern Shiites have a long and complicated history

05/14/2015

Call for Proposals for a MAMEIS Sponsored Panel at the NAAIMS Conference September 19, 2015 Providence, RI

MAMEIS would like to put together a panel for the annual conference of the North American Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies. The timeframe for submission is limited. The deadline is May 15, 2015 (we may get an extension if we have a viable panel that needs to work out details). A chair and commentator have already been arranged. We simply need three papers that address the conference’s theme “Sectarianism in Islam and Muslim Communities.” This is a great opportunity for graduate students, early career specialists, and seasoned scholars to share their ideas with an engaging intellectual community. The conference will be held at Brown University in Providence, RI September 19th 2015. The NAAIMS conference description is below. If interested, please send a 250-word abstract to James Tallon [email protected]



CALL FOR PAPERS

44th Annual Conference of the North American Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies (NAAIMS)



“Sectarianism in Islam and Muslim Communities”



Cosponsored By:

Middle East Studies

Brown University, Providence, RI

Saturday, September 19, 2015



Deadlines:

Abstracts: May 15, 2015

Final Papers: August 31, 2015

04/20/2015

Thank you to everyone who attended our 3rd Annual Conference in Louisville this past week! This two day event brought together an interdisciplinary group to discuss the concept of "Modernity" in Middle East and Islamic Studies, connect with regional scholars in a variety of fields, and experience everything the great city of Louisville has to offer!

Another great milestone: Our page now boasts over 1,000 followers! Wow!

Please share your comments, memories, and feedback below.

JMG

04/17/2015

Day One of our Third Annual Conference concluded with a wonderful keynote lecture by Dr. Asma Afsaruddin, a panel on modernity, geography, and space featuring James M. Gustafson (Indiana State), Lyman Stebbins (LaSalle), and Todd Reisz (Yale), and dinner at Saffron's Mediterranean Restaurant in downtown Louisville.

Panels on "modernity" in Intellectual History, Ottoman Studies, and the Turkish Republic are on the schedule for tomorrow starting at 9am!

04/16/2015

Our 3rd annual conference is TOMORROW at University of Louisville! This year's theme is "Islamic Modernities," featuring panels on modernity and space, intellectual history, Ottoman Studies, and modernization in Turkey, plus a keynote address from Asma Afsaruddin. Hope to see you all there! http://www.indstate.edu/mameis/conference.htm

2015 Annual Conference: "Islamic Modernities: Time and Space"

03/20/2015

“There are a lot of stereotypes about how Americans see the Middle East and how the Middle East sees Americans. So when I connected these two groups of kids, they saw what their daily life is about. They understood that it’s not like the movies."

What’s the future for Syria’s children? March 3, 2015March 9, 2015 Dave Taylor Soulaf Abas poses for a portrait with a copy of “Me and You,” a letter and art exchange between Syrian refugee children and American children. It is available at Soulaf Abas’ website, www.soulafabas.com. All proceeds from…