San Diego Meeting Registration: Rates Increasing August 1!
San Diego Meeting Registration: Rates Increasing August 1!
The International Qur’anic Studies Association will have a limited conference program in San Diego, California from November 22-25, 2024 in conjunction with the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion’s Annual Meeting.
If you’re joining IQSA in San Diego this fall, remember to register by August 1 before the Super Saver rates end!! Click here for a full list of affiliate prices and deadlines.
Note: The Call for Papers for this meeting is closed. Submissions are no longer being accepted.
Meeting FAQs
Q: What are the dates of IQSA’s Annual Meeting?
A: The IQSA Annual Meeting begins and ends November 22-25, 2024 one day before the regular SBL/AAR Meeting.
Q: How do I register for the Annual Meeting as an IQSA member?
Q: Do I have to be an IQSA member to register for the Annual Meeting?
A: YES – current IQSA membership is required and verified by staff upon registration. However, SBL/AAR membership is not required to attend the IQSA Annual Meeting. You can renew your IQSA membership HERE.
Q: I already registered for the Annual Meeting as an SBL/AAR member. Do I have to register again as an affiliate to attend IQSA events?
A: No – duplicate registration is not required to attend IQSA events if one has already registered as an SBL/AAR member.
Q: Where can I find a schedule of events for the Annual Meeting?
Q: Where can I find information about Housing and Travel Accommodations?
A: Find more information about travel, housing/accommodations, visa letters, etc— on the SBL website.
Q: Does IQSA provide funding or reimbursement for its members to attend the meeting?
A: At this time, IQSA cannot provide financial assistance for housing and travel at the Annual Meeting. However, IQSA encourages its members to seek financial aid through institutional grants and other funding.
Q: I will be traveling internationally. How do I obtain a non-immigrant Visa Letter?
A: Check the required box during online registration.
Q: Is this meeting in person or virtual?
A: This meeting is in person only. There is no virtual option.
Questions? Email contactus@iqsaweb.org. We hope to see you in San Diego!
Schedule Posted! IQSA 2024 in London
IQSA is excited to announce the schedule for this year’s Annual Conference hosted by the Institute of Ismaili Studies at the Aga Khan Centre in King’s Cross, London. The conference will take place in-person only from July 15-18, 2024.
Registration for the conference is now open! Please book as soon as possible to lock in the best possible rates, which will increase in the coming weeks. Select accommodations must be reserved on the registration form, so remember to visit the accommodations page prior to registration.
On the registration form, you will have the option to express interest in…
1. Childcare – Please check this box ASAP so IQSA can make arrangements accordingly in London. More details to follow.
2. Aga Khan Centre Tours – Building tours will be scheduled during lunch breaks every day of the conference. Please indicate your day of interest on the form. Availability is limited.
3. Graduate Student Luncheon – This is a valuable opportunity for graduate students and emerging scholars to mingle with established experts in Qur’anic studies in a more relaxed setting with a light lunch in a semi-private dining area. Please indicate whether you want to participate as a mentor or early career scholar. Availability is limited.
Please note that all travel grants have been awarded at this time. The Call for Papers has also closed.
Official letters of invitation to support visa applications are available. Please email contactus@iqsaweb.org with your full name and address, in addition to any other details you require.
A friendly reminder that IQSA membership is required to attend the conference. Register at https://beta.iqsaweb.org/join-iqsa/ and receive one full year of benefits, including conference attendance in London and San Diego, access to IQSA publications, professional development opportunities, and more.
Questions? We are here to help! Please direct all inquiries to contactus@iqsaweb.org.
We look forward to seeing you in London!
International Conference: Epigraphy, the Qur’an, and the Religious Landscape of Arabia
Conference
The University of Tübingen Qur’an as a Source for Late Antiquity Research Project team announces “Epigraphy, the Qur’an, and the Religious Landscape of Arabia” to be held September 8–10, 2022. This three-day international conference will bring together specialists in epigraphy as well as scholars of the Qurʾān with the aim of exploring how recent epigraphic and archaeological findings and research have been changing our understanding of the Qurʾān and the Arabian religious, cultural, and political landscape.
A wide range of archaeological finds is rapidly expanding our knowledge of the pre-Islamic cultural milieu and the political structures of the Arabian Peninsula during Late Antiquity, and thereby of the Qur’ān’s cultural context. This material can offer a complementary reading to the literary accounts on pre-Islamic Arabia, which were mostly composed outside Arabia, or long after the late antique period. Accordingly, the conference seeks to integrate new archaeological finds with ongoing studies on the genesis of the Qur’ān, its Arabian background, and the broader cultural milieu of pre-Islamic Arabia with a special focus on “late” Late Antiquity at the dawn of Islam. Themes to be addressed include, but are not limited to:
Religious Identities and Religious Landscape
Naming God in pre-Islamic Arabia
Ethnicity and literacy
Cultic continuity
Bearing in mind the fluidity of identities and traditions during Late Antiquity, we also accommodate papers that do not fall into these exact categories. We believe there is a growing need to make the recent exciting discoveries of scholars working on the Qur’ān and Arabia more widely accessible to historians who may not have a solid background in archaeology and epigraphy. Aiming to foster discussion between scholars, each panel will be paired with a specialist on the Qur’ān or on the wider history of Arabia.
The research presentations will be open to the public upon timely pre-registration and streamed online.
Hosted by the Giorgio La Pira Library and Research Centre, this program features Keynote Lectures by Roberto Tottoli (University of Naples L’Orientale), Johanna Pink (University of Freiburg), and Fred Donner (University of Chicago), in addition to a variety of panels, performances, receptions, and tours.
FSCIRE (La Pira Library), will offer travel grants up to € 500 to students, PhD students, post-docs, and scholars participating in the conference to cover travel, accommodation and subsistence costs and conference fees. The grants are also accessible to those who would like to attend the meeting as auditors, i.e., without offering a conference paper.
If you require further information, please contact Alba Fedeli (alba.fedeli@uni-hamburg.de) and Devin Stewart (dstewar@emory.edu). Any other questions concerning practicalities of the conference in Palermo should be addressed to Francesca Badini (badini@fscire.it) and concerning registration and payment should go to contactus@iqsaweb.org.
Are you presenting or attending the 2021 International Qur’anic Studies Association’s Annual Meeting to be held in San Antonio, TX from November 18–21, 2021? Don’t forget to register by September 23rd before regular rates increase! IQSA members can save on the forthcoming registration fee by joining IQSA and registering for the Annual Meetings as an Affiliate Member HERE. To become an IQSA member click HERE.
In-Person Meeting Information
Need more information on the Annual Meeting including registration rates, housing information, meeting locations, airline discounts, etc? Please visit our Annual Meeting website here.
Virtual-Only Sessions Information
Need more information regarding the Virtual Only Sessions including registration rates, sessions included, benefits of attending virtually, etc. Please visit our Annual Meeting website here.
Q: Do I have to be an IQSA member to register for the Annual Meeting?
A: YES – current IQSA membership is required and verified by staff upon registration. However, SBL/AAR membership is not required to attend the IQSA Annual Meeting. You can renew your IQSA membership HERE.
Q: I already registered for the Annual Meeting as an SBL/AAR member. Do I have to register again as an affiliate to attend IQSA events?
A: No – duplicate registration is not required to attend IQSA events if one has already registered as an SBL/AAR member. However, you must register as an active IQSA member if you are presenting at an IQSA session.
Q: Does IQSA provide funding or reimbursement for its members to attend the meeting?
A: At this time, IQSA does not have the resources to provide financial assistance for Annual Meeting registration costs. However, IQSA encourages its members to seek financial aid through institutional grants and other funding.
Q: Can I cancel my registration due to Covid-19 health concerns?
A: We recognize that the coronavirus continues to impact your planning for the Annual Meeting this year so we’re giving you more time to make registration changes without penalty. You now have until Oct. 21 to receive a full refund. http://ow.ly/Bo3c50FM5jV
Participants will be required to register for the conference by submitting payment through SBL’s online submission system.
Questions? Email contactus@iqsaweb.org! We look forward to seeing you at this year’s Annual Meeting.
Annual Meeting Updates: Letter from the SBL Executive Director
Friends of IQSA—please find a message from the Executive Director of our affiliate organization, the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), with important updates regarding this year’s Annual Meeting to be held in San Antonio, Texas.
6 August 2021
Dear Colleagues,
SBL recognizes that the coronavirus continues to impact your planning for the Annual Meeting, and comfort levels, health constraints, and accessibility will vary from person to person. We have worked hard to be able to offer both in-person and virtual-only options. We thank all who are currently registered for the upcoming SBL Annual Meeting 2021 and offer a brief update to those registered or planning to register.
The continuing uncertainty is a source of anxiety for everyone. At the same time, we are being careful not to rush into decisions in the midst of a rapidly changing situation.
Your health and safety are key to our planning. We are closely monitoring governmental and medical recommendations regarding COVID-19 and the Delta variant in order to follow best practices to help reduce your exposure and risk. As we get closer to the meeting, we will issue protocols appropriate to the situation.
We will be as flexible as possible to accommodate the varying needs of members. Already we are taking the following steps:
The change date for registrations, including full refunds or change in registration types, has been extended to 21 October 2021. You can register now and alter your plans as you see fit through that date with no penalty.
We will continue to work with program unit chairs to adapt sessions according to the changing needs of presenters.
As guidance changes, we will continue to keep the Annual Meetings website up-to-date with meeting requirements, recommendations, and best practices. The challenge of planning for the 2021 Annual Meetings is one that exceeds even that of 2020. We ask for your continued patience as we work to provide the best and safest experience that meets your needs.
Call for Papers: Archaeology of Arabia and the Archaeology of Islamic Society
ASOR is requesting paper proposals for two different conference sessions: the Archaeology of Arabia and the Archaeology of Islamic Societies.
Conference Description: The ASOR 2021 Call for Papers is open, and this year the Archaeology of Arabia Session is doubling the fun: online (virtual), and in Chicago.
We warmly invite you to present your research with us in the 2021 ASOR Archaeology of Arabia Sessions — one to be held in Chicago, November 17–20, and the other virtual, December 9–12.
That’s right! This year, you may choose to present a paper at the Archaeology of Arabia (1) Chicago session; (2) virtual session; or (3) present the same paper in the Chicago session and in the virtual session.
The pandemic has kept most of us from fieldwork. Fortunately, the Archaeology of Arabia Session welcomes papers that cover all aspects of Arabian archaeology. We encourage you to dust off old projects and data sets, show off some theory or research proposals, review the state of the field or a museum collection, or consider other aspects of your fieldwork or research, such as community outreach, collaborations with local and state government, social media, or new technical or technological trials (and/or tribulations).
The Session promotes scholars in all career stages and encourages collaborations.
Paper abstracts must be submitted by March 15, 2021. If you are interested or have any questions, please contact us (email addresses below) or see the full Archaeology of Arabia CFP online at <bit.ly/ASOR2021>.
Please see here for more information on how to submit a paper: https://www.asor.org/am/2021/call-for-papers-2021. You can submit an abstract to either session or you can submit the same abstract to both sessions and it will count as a single paper presentation.
As a learned society, IQSA is committed to understanding its members’ opinions and shaping our academic activities in a way that responds appropriately to them and advances our mission. To that end, we are turning to you for input on our meetings. This *short* (15 question) survey asks you to offer insights on our regular annual meetings.
Please complete the survey as soon as possible and in any case before February 1, 2021. The survey is to be filled out by active IQSA members only. If your membership is not active, please renew it ASAP at members.iqsaweb.org.
Qur’anic Studies in Indonesia / Studi Al-Qur’an di Indonesia, Oct 14 – Dec 30
The International Qur’anic Studies Association (IQSA) and the Asosiasi Ilmu Al-Qur’an dan Tafsir se-Indonesia (AIAT) are happy to announce a new series of talks over Zoom: “Qur’anic Studies in Indonesia.”
Convenors: Johanna Pink and Lien Iffah Naf’atu Fina
Date and Time: October 14 – December 30, 2020. All talks will take place from 8–9pm Western Indonesian Time.
The remaining sessions from October 28 through December 30 will be accessible through this link: https://uni-freiburg.zoom.us/s/82700585905 Meeting ID: 827 0058 5905 Password: 478453898
Call for Papers: Pre-Modern Comparative Literary Practice in the Multilingual Islamic World(s)
A virtual conference entitled Pre-Modern Comparative Literary Practice in the Multilingual Islamic World(s) will take place July 12-24, 2021. This conference is co-organized by Huda Fakhreddine (University of Pennsylvania), David Larsen (New York University), and Hany Rashwan (University of Birmingham), and hosted by the Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation Research Centre (OCCT), University of Oxford.
Description: The premodern Islamic world was multilingual and multicultural, and by necessity was continually engaged in comparative critical practices. Mapping the interconnected trajectories of these practices, everywhere they arose between Urdu, Persian, Turkish, Arabic, and other language traditions of Asia and Africa, is the aim of this conference. We invite scholars to employ methodologies based on direct engagement with primary sources that negotiate the multilingual Islamic world(s) in ways that are overlooked or misunderstood by Comparative Literature.
For most of Islamic intellectual history, the literary analysis of discourse has been carried out in the domain of balāghah, and its Arabic terms—e.g., sariqah (theft, but also intertextuality), muʿāraḍah (rivalry, but also parody), muṭābaqah (correspondence, but also antithesis), muwāzanah (collation, but also comparison) etc.—signify concepts and categories that are different from those of Western criticism. Likewise, the traditions of grammar, lexicography, poetic meter, Quranic exegesis, hadith criticism, jurisprudence, theology, philosophy, and mysticism developed their own Arabophone conceptual resources, which were applied throughout the Islamic world. We invite participants to investigate the ramifications of such terms, and the consequences of their application across the multilingual Arabic world, fruitful and otherwise. Participants are invited to extend Islamicate poetics beyond Islamic traditions, and contemplate how contemporary critical theory might be enriched by comparative methods of the Islamic world. To bridge the frontier dividing modern literary theory from Islamic Studies is another aim of this conference. We mean to challenge the Eurocentrism of modern Comparative Literature as we invite dialogue across the disciplines of comparative rhetoric, poetics, philosophy, and Islamic Studies.
Topics
Translation and non-translation in the Islamic world
Translinguistic adaptations of genre and form
Multilingual scholars and scholarly practice
Nationalism and polyglossia
Minorities, shibboleths, and Arabolects
Multilingual lexicology and exegesis
Catachresis and Creative Misreadings
Textual practices, media, and reception
**Abstract Guidelines**
Abstracts (max. 400 words) should be sent in a word document, along with a short biography that contains academic affiliations and publications. Please use the IJMES transliteration system. The deadline for all submissions is November 17th, 2020. Please send the abstract to the conference’s email: premulticomparison@gmail.com
Notification of abstract acceptance is issued by December 25th, 2020.
Talks will be allotted 20 minutes for the presentation with 10 minutes for questions and answers on Zoom.
The proceeding will be co-edited by the organizers and published in early 2022 with Oxford University Press.
Conference Report: Approaching Gog and Magog from Different Perspectives: A Conference on Functional, Inter(con)textual, Structural and Comparative Approaches to Gog and Magog
The second Conference on the apocalyptic figures, Gog and Magog, was held, from September 23 to 25, at the FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg. Preceded by a successful academic event about the eschatological idea on February 2018, the even larger conference, organized by Prof. Georges Tamer (Chair of Oriental Philology and Islamic Studies FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg), Dr. Julia Eva Wannenmacher (University Bern) and Dr. Lutz Greisiger (ZfL, Berlin), examined this subject in much more detail, as many participants from various academic disciplines contributed to the success of the conference with their presentations and papers.
Gog and Magog consuming humans. Thomas de Kent’s Roman de toute chevalerie, Paris manuscript, 14th century. Wikimedia Commons
The Conference, entitled “POLITICS · HISTORY · ESCHATOLOGY. Functional, Inter(con)textual, Structural and Comparative Approaches to Gog and Magog”, aimed to analyze the possible interpretations, ambiguousness and historical dynamics of this eschatological motive, especially in order to observe the potential creation of enemy stereotypes in most cases associated with the concept of “Othering”. The conference necessitated a historical reconstruction of the figures of Gog and Magog, by analytically studying numerous historical sources, as ancient and mediaeval texts and even illustrations, together with philological examinations, including philosophical and theological insights to this subject, which all together was diligently presented and discussed by the participants. Hence, the conference provided a platform of sharing ideas and perceptions with the result that there is still more to be discovered about this eschatological figures.
Also, the artistic presentation by the artist group “Internil” was a special highlight of the conference. Marina Miller Dessau and Arne Vogelgesang played: The Theatrical Production “Gog/Magog–An Apocalyptic Disinformation Campaign.” This representation, which included excerpts of theatrical performances, music and biographical narrations, clearly emphasized the valuable interaction between scholarship and art.
The concluding session at the end of the conference remarked the importance of further researches in the field of Eschatology, particularly in relation to Gog and Magog, since there are many traditional Islamic sources regarding Gog and Magog, who still have to be examined. Thus, many participants therefore called for a third conference. However, before a further conference can be organized, the academic achievement of both conferences has to be published in a collected volume, who will include all contributions of the participants. The editing-process of the volume is currently ongoing.
The conferences and as well as the publication about the eschatological motive of Gog and Magog intend to encourage other scholars and academics to approach the subject of Eschatology, as the concept of End of the World is constantly recurring in the historical narrative of mankind.
The following presentations comprehensively touch upon various religious, historical, social and linguistic issues revolving around “Gog and Magog” in different languages.
Presentation List
Agustí Alemany Vilamajó (UAB Barcelona) The Gog and Magog Motif as a Source for the History of Eurasian Steppe Nomads
Christian Zolles (Universität Wien) The Devil Within. Gog and Magog in Modern Mass Discourse
Mark Dickens (University of Alberta) Gog & Magog in Syriac Literature
Sasson Chahanovich (Harvard University) Gog and Magog in the Early Modern Ottoman World
Anna Ayşe Akasoy (CUNY) Gog and Magog in Islamic and Graeco-Roman Geography and Eschatology
Ian Richard Netton (University of Exeter) Towards a Comparative and Literary Anthropology of Force and Chaos: Gog and Magog with Particular Reference to Kitab al-Fitan by Nuʿaym b. Hammad al-Marwazi (d.229/844) and The Tower of London by William Harrison Ainsworth (1805–1882)
Felicitas Schmieder (Fernuni Hagen) Gog and Magog as Geographical Realities
Majid Daneshgar (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg) Gog and Magog in the Malay-Indonesian Quranic Commentaries
Ramy Abdin (FAU) The Correlation Between Gog and Magog and the Antichrist in Imran Hosein’s Concept of Islamic Eschatology
Helen Spurling (University of Southampton) The Reception of Gog and Magog in Jewish Apocalyptic Traditions at the Emergence of Islam
Grit Schorch (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena) Edom, Gog and Magog, Leviathan and Behemoth: Apocalyptic and Other Enemy Myths as Evocations of War
James T. Palmer (University of St. Andrews) An Undefined Evil: Gog and Magog Between Exegesis and Prophecy in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries CE
Zeinab Mirza, Nader el-Bizri (American University of Beirut) Mobilizing the Devotional Ritual Against Tyranny: Nabatieh’s ʿĀshūrāʾ in South Lebanon During the Israeli Occupation
Wolfram Brandes (Max-Planck-Institut für Europäische Rechtsgeschichte) Gog & Magog in Photios (820–891) and Other Byzantine Authors
Kristin Skottki (Universität Bayreuth) No Saracen Gog/Magog? Reviewing the Evidence of Latin Crusade Chronicles
Todd Lawson (University of Toronto) Evil in Shaykhi, Babi & Bahai Texts: Gog, Magog and the Perfection of Humanity
Dustin N. Atlas (University of Dayton, Ohio) Twins Through Sleep: Gog and Magog, Zoroastrian Liturgy, and the Need for Myth in Martin Buber’s Understanding of Evil
Charles Häberl (AMESALL – Rutgers University) The Enclosed Peoples of Mandaean Lore
Gadi Sagiv (The Open University of Israel) Gog and Magog in Hasidism: Spiritualizing and Re-Mythologizing the Evil that Precedes Redemption
Pavlína Cermanová (CMS, Centre for Medieval Studies) The Figure of Gog and Magog in Medieval Heretical Discourse
Yaakov Ariel (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) Coming Together and Staying Apart: Gog and Magog in Contemporary Christian and Jewish Messianic Scenarios and their Cultural and Political Roles
Matthias Riedl (Central European University, Budapest) Gog and Magog – Corpus Antichristi – Synagogue of Satan: Symbolizations of Collective Evil in the Later Middle Ages and Early Modernity
Tiborc Fazekas (Universität Hamburg) “I Am the Son of Gog and Magog” – Assuming the Role of Destroyer and Renovator in a Programmatic Poem by Endre Ady (1906)
Jörn Happel (Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel) Asian Horsemen, Bolshevik Monsters: Europe’s Primal Fear of the East
Many thanks to Ramy Abdin of Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg for the following conference report.
The theme for this year’s conference is Historical inertia: Continuity in the face of change 500-1500 CE:
Historical discourse has long concerned itself with patterns of change and discontinuity to demonstrate and validate models of periodisation and the compartmentalisation of the wider historical field. Building on these themes, this conference has chosen to focus on the opposing view by concentrating on inertia – how history, material culture, ideas and communities can be seen to maintain a stayed course or deviate if a significant force is exerted upon it. Inertia, a concept that has yet to be applied to mainstream Late Antique studies, introduces perspectives and frameworks that permit new approaches to traditional processes.
This conference will feature numerous papers on qur’anic studies and medieval Islamic history. The complete program can be found here. Additionally, there will be keynote lectures from Averil Cameron and Jack Tannous (Princeton University).
For more information, including registration instructions, visit the conference website.
The University of Tübingen Qur’an as a Source for Late Antiquity Research Project team announces “
Conference Description
Description: The premodern Islamic world was multilingual and multicultural, and by necessity was continually engaged in comparative critical practices. Mapping the interconnected trajectories of these practices, everywhere they arose between Urdu, Persian, Turkish, Arabic, and other language traditions of Asia and Africa, is the aim of this conference. We invite scholars to employ methodologies based on direct engagement with primary sources that negotiate the multilingual Islamic world(s) in ways that are overlooked or misunderstood by Comparative Literature.
