Islamicate Manuscripts and Texts Colloquium
Islamicate culture, in the words of Marshall Hodgson, refers to “the social and cultural complex historically associated with Islam and the Muslims, both among Muslims themselves and even when found among non-Muslims.” In this colloquium, we will read texts from the Islamicate world, from Nile to Oxus and beyond, written in different languages and scripts of the pre-modern Islamicate world, including Arabic, New Persian, Middle Persian, Pāzand, and Hebrew.
Weekly online sessions every Tuesday of Michaelmas Term 2020 of up to 90 mins, each on a new document or set of documents from one part of the Islamicate world. Each session has 2 parts. 1) Speakers in the first 45 minutes give a historiographical, historical, and/or literary context to the texts. Participants to do not need to know the primary source language (first 45 minutes). 2) The subsequent 45 minutes are devoted to a close, group reading of the text (s) by participants familiar with the source language. Participants need not attend both parts, and can join whichever part they prefer.
For any questions, please contact the convenors, Arezou Azad, Tommy Benfey, and Zhang Zhan, at invisible_east@orinst.ox.ac.uk.
13 October 2020: Arabic deeds of sale and Islamic law in Christian Sicily
Jeremy Johns, Director of the Khalili Research Centre; Professor of the Art & Archaeology of the Islamic Mediterranean
Nadia Jamil, Senior Researcher in Arabic, ERC-DocuMult project, Khalili Research Centre
Website: https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/arabic-deeds-of-sale-and-islamic-law-in-chr...
Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/imt-arabic-deeds-of-sale-and-islamic-law-...
20 October 2020: Al-Muzani’s al-Mukhtasar: An Arabic legal text from 9th century Egypt
Christopher Melchert, Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies
Website: https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/al-muzanis-al-mukhtasar-an-arabic-legal-tex...
Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/imt-al-muzanis-al-mukhtasar-an-arabic-leg...
27 October 2020: In Search of the Arkand: Astral Science between India, Sasanian Iran, and the Early Islamicate World
Tommy Benfey, ERC-Go.Local Post-doctoral Researcher
Website: https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/in-search-of-the-arkand-astral-science-betw...
Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/imt-in-search-of-the-arkand-astral-scienc...
3 November 2020: A Zoroastrian Critique of Islam in the Škand Gumānīg Wizār in Pāzand
Christian Sahner, Associate Professor of Islamic History
Website: https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/a-zoroastrian-critique-of-islam-in-the-skan...
Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/imt-a-zoroastrian-critique-of-islam-in-th...
10 November 2020: Embryonic New Persian: two letters by a Jewish Sogdian in eighthcentury Khotan
Zhan Zhang, ERC-Go.Local Post-doctoral Researcher
Website: https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/embryonic-new-persian-two-letters-by-a-jewi...
Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/imt-embryonic-new-persian-2-letters-by-a-...
17 November 2020: Jewish books in the Islamicate world and how to study them
Judith Olszowy-Schlanger, Director of the Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies
Website: https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/jewish-books-in-the-islamicate-world-specif...
Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/imt-jewish-books-in-the-islamicate-world-...
24 November 2020: Book-picking from a Conquered Citadel in the Summer of 1517
Zeynep Yurekli-Gorkay, Associate Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture
Website: https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/book-picking-from-a-conquered-citadel-in-th...
Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/imt-book-picking-from-a-conquered-citadel...
1 December 2020: Remembering the Barmakids in a Persian Fürstenspiegel
Arezou Azad, Programme Director, Invisible East and Senior Research Fellow
Pejman Firoozbakhsh, AHRC-PersDoc Post-doctoral Researcher
Website: https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/remembering-the-barmakids-in-a-persian-furs...
Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/imt-remembering-the-barmakids-in-a-persia...
