April 2026

Workshop: Middle East Beyond Borders—Amadu Kunateh, “Footnote to Ghazali: Philosophy Without Falsafa in West African Intellectual Archive,” April 6, 2026 @ 6:15pm

April 6 @ 18:15 - 19:30

Amadu Kunateh (CSR), “Footnote to Ghazali: Philosophy Without Falsafa in West African Intellectual Archive.” Nicholas Judt (CSR) will respond. We will be meeting from 6:15-7:30pm in the Finnegan Room (Barker 403) and dinner will be provided. See event flyer for more info and to RSVP. The Middle East Beyond Borders (MEBB) workshop aims to foster …

Islamic Law Speaker Series: Sherman Jackson (University of Southern California), “The Islamic Secular,” April 7, 2026 @ 12:30pm

April 7 @ 12:30 - 13:30

On Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at 12:30-1:30PM US EST, Professor Sherman Jackson will be speaking on his book, The Islamic Secular. The basic point of the secular in the modern West is to “liberate” certain pursuits—the state, the economy, science—from the authority of religion. This is also assumed to be the goal and meaning of …

Fellowship: MESA 2026–2027 Global Academy, April 16, 2026

April 16

The Global Academy Fellowship Applications for the 2026-2027 academic year is now open! The MESA Global Academy offers scholars of the Middle East from the MENA region who are currently displaced and/or whose careers have been disrupted in their home countries due to war, institutional collapse, or repression the chance to join the strongest network of …

Roundtable: Knowledge in the Islamic Court, Program in Islamic Law, Harvard Law School, April 16, 2026

April 16 @ 12:00 - 13:30

What counts as proof in an Islamic court? How does a judge rule between competing claims to truth? How does technological advancement impact notions of evidence? How can our understanding of Islamic law writ large change if we center its rules of adjudication? And what constitutes an “Islamic” court or judge in the first place? …

Workshop: Middle East Beyond Borders—Djelemory Diabate, “Closing the Sufi Age: Authority, Finality, and Political Theology in Umar al-Futi Tal’s Kitab Rimah,” April 20, 2026 @ 6:15pm

April 20 @ 18:15 - 19:30

Djelemory Diabate (CSR), “Closing the Sufi Age: Authority, Finality, and Political Theology in Umar al-Futi Tal’s Kitab Rimah.” Amadu Kunateh (CSR) will respond. We will be meeting from 6:15-7:30pm in the Finnegan Room (Barker 403) and dinner will be provided. See event flyer for more info and to RSVP. The Middle East Beyond Borders (MEBB) …

Conference: Humanities of AI—Intelligence and Imitation: Mind, Mechanism, Mimesis, Johns Hopkins University, April 24-26, 2026

April 24 - April 26

Intelligence and Imitation: Mind, Mechanism, Mimesis Inaugural Humanities of AI Workshop Johns Hopkins University, April 24-26, 2026 As a creative aspiration, the Greek notion of mimesis (“imitation”) manifested not only in artistic works imitating reality and philosophical speculations but also in scientific theories and mechanical artifacts. Plato and Aristotle’s nous as a non-bodily principle of …

Conference: American Society for Premodern Asia Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, April 24–27, 2026

April 24 - April 27

From the organizers: The 236th Meeting of the American Society for Premodern Asia will be held Friday, April 24, 2026 through Monday, April 27, 2026, in Los Angeles, CA USA. Hotel and Reservations: A block of conference-rate accommodations has been reserved at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza, 251 South Olive Street, Los …

May 2026

Language School: Persian Language Summer School, Armenian School of Languages and Cultures, Yerevan, Armenia, May 1, 2026

May 1

From the organizers: The Armenian School of Languages and Cultures – ASPIRANTUM is organizing a Persian language summer school in Yerevan, Armenia. The program starts on June 21, June 28, or July 5, and you can stay up to 10 weeks until August 28, 2026. Shorter options of 6, 7, 8, or 9 weeks are …

Conference: 40th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference (MEHAT), University of Chicago, May 1–2, 2026

May 1 - May 2

The 40th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference (MEHAT) at The University of Chicago will take place on May 1-2, 2026. About the Conference. Since its inception four decades ago, the annual Middle East History and Theory Conference at the University of Chicago has earned a reputation as one of the premier academic gatherings in …

Summer School: Philology and Manuscripts from the Muslim World, Leiden University, May 4, 2026

May 4

From the organizers: Date: 17 August – 28 August 2026 Costs: €600 Level: The course is meant for graduate students (MA and PhD) and researchers. Language: English. Non-native speakers are required …