IIIT Summer Student Program 2015

The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) is pleased to announce its 2015 Summer Student Program, which will run for four weeks between Monday, May 18, and Tuesday, June 16, 2015. This residential program is designed for graduate students and exceptional senior undergraduates – majoring in the humanities or social science disciplines – who have a particular interest in developing their knowledge and research skills in the core areas of Islamic studies such as methods in the study of Islam, the Qur’an, the Sunnah, Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence), Muslim History and Civilization, and Contemporary Islamic Thought. 

The program also provides analysis and discussions – in seminar format – on subjects related to contemporary Islamic reform movements, Islamic finance, faith-based entrepreneurship, and Islam in America. IIIT Summer Student Program is a residential program, taught by world-class faculty, drawn from top institutions in the US and around the world.

Our faculty include:

Prof. Abdulaziz Sachedina (George Mason University)
Prof. John Voll (Georgetown University)
Prof. Feryal Salem (Hartford Seminary)
Prof. Jonathan Brown (Georgetown University)
Prof. Jasser Auda (Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies)

Accommodation for out-of-area students will be provided by the IIIT at a local hotel on a shared basis. In addition, IIIT will pay each student a scholarship of $1,000 to cover their living and other expenses, which will be paid in two installments. Students must have their own health insurance coverage. IIIT does not provide health – or any other form – of insurance to students. The program will be held at IIIT office in Herndon, VA. Transportation to and from Herndon is each student’s responsibility. The Institute will not cover transportation costs.

The applicants should fill out the online application form and submit it with their updated resume/C.V., a recent transcript, and a 250-words statement no later than March 1, 2015. Official transcripts should be sent to the following address: Director of Research and Academic Programs, International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), 500 Grove St., Suite 200, Herndon, VA 20170.

For full information and online application please see: http://www.iiit.org/Education/SummerStudentsProgram/tabid/98/Default.aspx

Call for Papers

“CONSTRUCTING AND CONTESTING ISLAM IN CONTEMPORARY CONTEXTS”

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA

We are pleased to announce the call for papers for the Fifth Annual Islamic Studies Conference at UC Santa Barbara. This year’s conference will be held May 8th-10th, 2015 at the Mosher Alumni House. The keynote address will be delivered by Charles Hirschkind, professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley.

We welcome contributions that consider this theme from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, with a focus on the ways in which contestations of practice, authority, and interpretation function in the constitution of competing visions of normative Islam. In examining the ways in which Islam and Muslim identities are constructed and contested in contemporary discourses, this conference seeks to explore questions such as: How is language employed, by Muslims and/or non-Muslims, to define and delimit the boundaries of Islamic identity? In what ways do these discursive practices inform and interact with practices of identification by Muslims and non-Muslims? What are the politics and economics that condition representations and perceptions of Islam and Muslims in the ‘public’ sphere?

To submit a proposal, please send an abstract (300-500 words) along with a two-page CV by December 15, 2014 to: 

isgsc@cmes.ucsb.edu

We especially encourage papers which take up these issues in relation to the following themes:

Disciplining and Teaching Islam
- The roles of Muslim and non-Muslim organizations (advocacy groups, think tanks, pedagogical institutions) in shaping public perceptions of normative Islam.

- The (mis)use of Islamic terminology in media, political, and popular discourse.

- The development of Islamic Studies as field and its role in shaping and problematizing understandings of Islam.


- Genealogies and changing normativities of Islamic terms and concepts (taqlīd, ijtihād, sharī‘a, khilāfa, etc.)

Islam and the Arts
- Visual arts, music, poetry, literature, architecture, dance, and film.

- The contested place of the Islamic fashion industry in Muslim communities.

- The construction of sensory landscapes and sacred spaces.

Minorities and Marginalization
- Individuals, practices, traditions, movements, and communities that are usually viewed as peripheral (or even “un-Islamic”).

- How traditions, practices, and individuals become marginalized in relation to particular structures of power.

- Islamic counterpublics and the construction of subjectivities.

- Methods and discourses for mobilizing Muslims for protest, activism, or militancy.

- Changing practices and possibilities of identification across generational, spatial, and social contexts, including the politics of hyphenated or qualified identities (American-Muslim, Arab-Muslim, secular Muslim, modern Muslim, etc.).

Travel assistance may be available for conference presenters on a limited basis.