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British Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference 2017, Edinburgh 10-12 July 2017

Jews on the Move: Exploring the movement of Jews, objects, texts, and ideas in space and time

Bookmark the Conference Website: http://wp.me/P2HpFu-bo

Call for Papers:

From the earliest accounts travel and migration, movement across space and time characterise Jewish history. No less crucial than the movement of people is the movement of texts, objects, and ideas, which travel both physically and intellectually as generations in distant locations engage with these at different times and places. Jews themselves are associated with travel and migration, historically and in cultural production. This conference invites contributions of papers and panel proposals within the broad theme of the conference. What follows is a list of thematic headings which is indicative, but not exhaustive:

  • Jews and migration
  • Jews in / and the archive
  • Texts which move
  • Jewish journeys, journeys of Jews
  • Literary explorations of travel, movements, and migration and their consequences
  • Displaying Jews: museums, heritage, art
  • Jewish objects: from vernacular and ritual to display and memory

As usual with BAJS conferences, papers on topics unrelated to the conference theme are also welcome, including proposals by graduate students wishing to present on their doctoral research.

Travel bursaries for postgraduate students from outwith the UK can be applied for at a later date.

Confirmed keynote speakers:

  • Professor Charlotte Hempel (Birmingham): People and ideas on the move: the evidence from Qumran
  • Professor Tony Kushner (Southampton): Jews as refugees: special or not?
  • Professor Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (New York / Warsaw): Expanded Geography: An Epilogue to the History of Polish Jews at POLIN Museum
  • Professor Hana Wirth-Nesher (Tel Aviv): To Move, to Translate, To Write: Jewish American Immigrant Voices

Paper proposals should include an abstract of no more than 300 words and a speaker biography of 100 words max.

Panel proposals should include a rationale for the panel of no more than 500 words, abstracts of 300 words max for each paper proposed as part of the panel and speaker biographies of no more than 100 words.

Please send paper and panel proposals and all conference-related correspondence to: BAJS2017@ed.ac.uk.

Deadline for submission of paper and panel proposals:

  • 31 January 2017.

Confirmation of acceptance of proposals will be emailed by 31 March 2017.

Conference booking will open in mid-April.

All catering provided at the conference will be vegetarian. If you are unable to eat a vegetarian diet please email BAJS2017@ed.ac.uk with your dietary requirements by 3 April 2017. Please be aware, that we are unable to guarantee at this point that we will be able to cater for your specific dietary needs.

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Workshop: ‘Arab Jews: Concepts, Histories, Definitions’

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Lecture: The Transformation of the Ancient Synagogue: From the Meeting Hall of Jesus’ Galilee to the Sacred Space of Early Byzantine Galilee, Professor Paul V.M. Flesher, 27 November, 3-4:30pm

Martin Hall, New College, Mound Place, Edinburgh EH1 2LX

 

The plain, unadorned character of the first-century synagogues excavated in Israel in recent decades differs significantly from that of the synagogues lavishly decorated with mosaic floors which were built in the centuries after Constantine initiated the Christian creation of the “Holy Land.” These aspects of synagogal architectural and artistic composition display differing concepts of sacred space—concepts which reflect important changes in the nature of worship and liturgical activity in Judaism. This talk aims to read the material culture found in archaeological excavations of these two synagogue types and to suggest how those readings might shape our research into them.

A lecture by Professor Paul V.M. Flesher, University of Wyoming

 

An event jointly organised by The Centre for the Study of Christian Origins, The Jewish Studies Network, and the Religious Studies Research Seminar.

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Events in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies: ‘ISLAMIC STUDIES IN SCOTLAND: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT’, 23-24 October 2015

In October IMES, in conjunction with the Alwaleed Centre, will be marking the 50th anniversary of W. Montgomery Watt’s inaugural address as the first Chair of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Scotland with an evening and day of events.

This promises to be a most memorable occasion and will provide an opportunity not only to assess the state of the field since Professor Watt’s pioneering work but will also emphasise the continuing strength of Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

Both events will be held in the Playfair Library at the University of Edinburgh and are open to the public.

For booking and more detailed information about the speakers, please see here: http://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/islamic-middle-eastern/news-events/watt-anniversary

The programme:

Friday, 23 October, 6-8pm

On Friday evening, we will feature two celebrated scholars of early Islam.

Professor Carole Hillenbrand of the University of Edinburgh will begin proceedings with a presentation on ‘Montgomery Watt, the man and the scholar’.

Professor Fred Donner of the University of Chicago will follow with a lecture on ‘The Study of Islam’s Origins since W. Montgomery Watt’s Publications’.

To conclude the evening’s programme, Dr Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh, will offer a short talk on Professor Watt’s religious life.

Saturday, 24 October, 9.30-5.30pm

The following day, Saturday, 24 October, we will be holding an academic colloquium titled, ‘Representations of Muhammad’. This will bring together scholars from both Edinburgh and abroad.

Chair: Dr Andrew Marsham, University of Edinburgh

 

9.30-10.15am

Professor Wilferd Madelung, Institute of Ismaili Studies

Muhammad, Khadija and ‘Umar

 

Coffee: 10:15-10:45am

 

10.45-11.30am

Dr Nicolai Sinai, University of Oxford

Muhammad and the Prophetology of the Medinan Qur’an

 

11.30am-12.15pm

Dr Andreas Goerke, University of Edinburgh

Muhammad and Zaynab bint Jahsh: Between History and Exegesis

 

Lunch (12:15pm-1:30pm)

 

1.30-2.15pm

Dr Christiane Gruber, University of Michigan

Muhammad among the Great Men of the World: Enlightenment, Nationhood, and Early 20th-Century Iranian Carpets

 

2:15-3:00pm

Dr Nacim Pak-Shiraz, University of Edinburgh

Representing Muhammad on Screen

 

Coffee (3:00-3:30pm)

 

3.30-4:15pm

Dr John Tolan, University of Nantes

The Ecumenical Turn: Massignon, Watt, and 20th-century European Scholarship on Muhammad

Roundtable with all Participants: 4:15-5:15pm

 

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Job: Research Associate: ‘Jewish Lives, Scottish Spaces: Jewish Migration to Scotland, 1880-1950’, School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow

Reference Number: 010576
College / Service: COLLEGE OF ARTS
Department: SCHOOL OF CRITICAL STUDIES
Job Family: Research And Teaching
Position Type: Full Time
Salary Range: £33,242 – £37,394
Closing Date: 11 June 2015

To join the AHRC research project Jewish Lives, Scottish Spaces: Jewish Migration to Scotland, 1880-1950, in order to carry out archival research along with the PI (based at the University of Edinburgh) and the Co-I (based at the University of Glasgow). The RA will be based in Glasgow and play a key role in analyzing, digitizing and cataloguing relevant materials available at the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre (SJAC) and related archives in the UK. The RA will contribute their own research, including conference papers, articles, and a monograph under thematic umbrella framed by Jewish Lives, Scottish Spaces.

For further particulars and application details, please see here.