Call for Applications for the ASK Fall School "Reading Fatwas"

Mohammad Gharaibeh Announcement
Location
Germany
Subject Fields
Arabic History / Studies, Environmental History / Studies, Islamic History / Studies

Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg Fall School 2016

8th-12th August 2016

Topic: “Reading Fatwas” 

The purpose of this year’s Fall School is to introduce participants to the methods, sources, and lines of inquiry in studying medieval fatwas. It grows out of the Annual Programming Theme of the Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg in 2015-2016, which is Environmental Approaches to Mamluk Studies. Fatwas are a rich, though under-utilized, source for documenting conflicts of water access and rights, and control of and use of a range of natural resources. Fatwas are an invaluable window on legal institutions (including more “popular” and informal ones), as well as conflict resolution on the local level, relations of “state and society”, and local values and ethics.

The School takes the form of lectures, interspersed with seminars and group reading on Arabic texts of the period, highlighting the ways in which these sources can be used to study environmental issues, but going well beyond that. While the focus of the Spring School is the Mamluk period, some of texts studied date to the larger “Middle Islamic” period, and namely the 13th-16th centuries, and in the larger Mediterranean. This intensive, five-day Fall School covers a range of different types of fatwas from different regions of the late medieval Mediterranean. Each day is devoted to the study of a particular fatwa collection.

The instructors, internationally known specialists in their fields, include:

  • Prof. Dr. Yossef Rapoport (Queen Mary University of London)  - private law fatwas
  • Prof. Dr. David Stephan Powers (Cornell University) - fatwas concerning riparian disputes in the Middle Atlas Mountains, ca. 683-824/1285-1421
  • Prof. Dr. Daniella Talmon-Heller (Ben Gurion University of the Negev) - religious life and history (based on a corpus of Ibn Taymiyya)
  • Prof. Dr. Stuart Borsch (Assumption College) - water issues, Mamluk Egypt

Prerequisites: Open to all doctoral students of Islamic Studies and related subjects, post-doctoral scholars, and ASK Fellows, who have a graduate-level command of written Arabic. The language of instruction and seminars is English.

 

Registration/Information:

For registration to the Fall School please fill out the form below and send it either by mail to:

Annemarie Schimmel KollegHeussallee 18-2453115 BonnGermany or by email to:Mail: gharaibeh@mamluk.uni-bonn.de.Tel.: +49 – (0)228-73 62941 (Mohammad Gharaibeh)Fax: +49-(0)228-73 62964 

Questions regarding the Fall School or the Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg, in general, will be directed to Prof. Bethany Walker (bwalker@uni-bonn.de).

 

Deadline for Registration: May 15th 2015

The number of participants is limited to 15 people. Participants will be chosen among the total of incoming applications. Therefore special attention will be drawn to your motivation letter, in which you should highlight why you are interested in the topic of the spring school and what benefit it has for your ongoing study.

Please add to your registration:

  • a short CV and a description of your ongoing study
  • a motivation letter (between ½ - 1 page)

You will receive a confirmation of your registration in the first week of June.

Terms of participations:

The participation at the Fall School will only be possible if you attend the entire week. You should be willing to prepare a short presentation, read the texts in advance and participate actively.

 

Participation fee:

The Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg will cover all costs of accommodation and food. We provide a single room at the conference hotel (Gustav-Stresemann-Institute) for the entire week. Food includes breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as coffee breaks.

We suggest planning your arrival on Sunday, August 7th 2016, and departure on Saturday, August 13th 2016.

In case you cancel your registration after June 13th 2016, it will be your responsibility to find a substitute for your seat in the class or pay a cancellation fee. That will proportionally include the costs of accommodation and food.

 

Conference Hotel:

Gustav-Stesemann-Institut – Europäische Tagungsund Bildungsstätte Bonn, Langer Grabenweg 68, 53175 Bonn, phone: +49 228/8107-222, fax: +49 228/8107-198.

 

Travel expenses:

The Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg is able to subsidize your travel expenses (round-trip second class). Participants from Germany are encouraged to book their train tickets or flights early. Participants from abroad are asked to contact us directly. We will decide on a case-to-case basis the financial support needed for your travel expenses.

Contact Information
Annemarie Schimmel KollegHeussallee 18-2453115 BonnGermany Mail: gharaibeh@mamluk.uni-bonn.de.Tel.: +49 – (0)228-73 62941 (Dr. Mohammad Gharaibeh)Fax: +49-(0)228-73 62964
Contact Email
gharaibeh@mamluk.uni-bonn.de