Call for Papers: Production, Transmission & Interpretation

Islamic time begins with the Hijra; the integral responsibilities of every Muslim include the Hajj; and studies of Islamic history have traditionally followed military marches and commercial/cultural corridors that enabled the creation of the great gunpowder empires. More recently, mobility has also been manifested in the Islamic world in the fall of these empires, movement of their materials through loots and repatriations, and voluntary and forced migrations. Until recently, these themes have been predominantly researched divorced from Islam through incongruous positivist lenses and euro-centric canons, and often with underlying colonial agendas.

It is with the aim to intervene within and disrupt this context that the Department of History of Art and the Department of Archaeology at the University of York present Production, Transmission, & Interpretation, a conference on Islamic Art, Architecture, History, and Archaeology. Foregrounding the voices of the historically marginalised, founded in material cultural narratives, and focussed on new sources and methodologies, this conference will bring together the latest research from scholars – doctoral to emeriti – and draw upon a range of cognate disciplines across the arts, humanities, and social sciences, to consider 1400 years of the Islamic world and society.

Submission Guidelines

We welcome abstract submissions intended to culminate into the standard format of 20-minute in-person academic paper presentations and invite applications from across disciplines, including art and architectural history, archaeology, conservation, heritage management, curation, museum studies and cultural studies, on themes that may include:

Islamic heartlands, hinterlands, and frontiers

Art and architecture of mobility, routes, travels, and transfers

Patronage - imperial, sub-imperial, male, female, and non-binary

Agency of architects, artists, and craftspersons

Sources – oral histories, local archives, epigraphy, calligraphy, endangered languages Archaeological material, bioarchaeological approaches, and conservation

Islamic approaches past and present to nature, culture, environment and sustainability

Conflicts, occupations, appropriations and adaptations

Islamic art markets – auctions, ethics, legislations

Abstracts should be limited to 250 words, indicate the target thematic cluster, and be accompanied by the researcher’s name, institutional affiliation and stage of study, location, and a brief biography not exceeding 100 words.

Deadline for proposal submission is 31 December, 2023.

All abstracts should be sent as pdf attachments to hist592@york.ac.uk

If you have any questions, please email Parshati Dutta or Nausheen Hoosein.

Conversations are underway with leading university presses to publish a thematic edited volume of papers presented, therefore please declare if the material has been used before, and if not, whether you would be interested in publishing with us.

Photo by kind courtesy of Prof Robert Hillenbrand