The 2025 Annual Conference of the Humanities and Social Sciences at LUMS will center on the theme of Islam and society in historical and contemporary South Asia. This conference aims to reimagine the past and present by encouraging submissions that deepen our understanding of Islamic traditions and their diverse expressions in South Asia, as well as their relationships with other religious traditions and followers. Contributions may adopt historical, ethnographic, or interdisciplinary approaches within the humanities and social sciences, with a particular focus on the construction of religious traditions as objects of study.

The study of Islamic traditions has become a vibrant area of scholarly engagement. In recent years, researchers from diverse disciplines have questioned orientalist assumptions about the vitality and creativity of religious traditions, interrogating the relevance of “religion” as a category of analysis. Studies of post-classical Islam have uncovered the subtle and significant ways in which Islamic traditions have evolved to address intellectual, societal, and existential concerns. This research also explores the dynamic interplay between different religious traditions in South Asia, across multiple languages and cultural contexts. Furthermore, scholars have examined how premodern traditions interacted with colonial modernity and continue to adapt in postcolonial contexts. However, the nature and implications of these processes remain ripe for further inquiry.

Additionally, there has been growing scholarly interest in the diversity of Muslim life in contemporary South Asia. This research often transcends the binary of Sufism versus reformism to explore creative reinterpretations of Muslim religiosity. It also investigates everyday practices, focusing not only on texts and rituals but also on how Muslims navigate issues such as gender, class, inclusion, exclusion, coexistence, and contestation. These studies consider the interactions between Muslims and followers of other religions within South Asia’s diverse cultural and historical contexts.

To foster interdisciplinary dialogue, the conference invites papers addressing themes such as:

• Historical studies of Islamicate traditions
• Interreligious encounters and interactions in Islamicate South Asia
• Colonial modernity’s impact on religion
• Social sciences and humanities research on Muslim and non-Muslim communities, culture, and arts
• Theorizations of religious traditions, and critical studies on the legacies of orientalism, colonialism, and eurocentrism in humanities and social sciences

The conference will be held in person at LUMS in Lahore from April 18 to April 20, 2025, and will include a tour of Lahore. LUMS will cover meals for participants and offer limited accommodation support for those traveling from outside Lahore.

Abstract submissions of up to 300 words, along with a brief biography and contact details, are due by December 31, 2024. Notifications will be sent out in January. Interested researchers should email their submissions to [email protected].