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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Program in Islamic Law
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DTSTART:20260308T070000
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DTSTART:20261101T060000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260106
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260110
DTSTAMP:20260421T140409
CREATED:20251011T002011Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260106T233341Z
UID:10001798-1767657600-1768003199@pil.law.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:2026 Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Annual Meeting\, New Orleans\, January 6-9\, 2026
DESCRIPTION:The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) will host its Annual Meeting from January 6 to 9\, 2026\, in New Orleans. \nTheme: “Impact\, Excellence\, Resilience: The Enduring Contributions of Legal Education” \nFrom the Organizers: At the beginning of the 20th century\, representatives of 35 law schools convened to establish a new association designed to strengthen American legal education\, with the goal of producing lawyers\, judges\, and legal thought-leaders with the expertise and integrity essential for the country’s future. As we mark the Association’s 125th anniversary (and our 120th annual meeting)\, this year’s theme will look back at the enduring impact of American legal education—and the contributions of our faculty and staff colleagues—on our local communities\, our nation\, our society\, and the world. \nFor more information and to register\, please visit the official AALS Annual Meeting website.
URL:https://pil.law.harvard.edu/event/2026-association-of-american-law-schools-aals-annual-meeting-new-orleans-january-6-9-2026/
CATEGORIES:conferences and workshops
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260106
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260110
DTSTAMP:20260421T140409
CREATED:20260104T030422Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260106T233341Z
UID:10001813-1767657600-1768003199@pil.law.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Conference: Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Annual Meeting\, New Orleans\, LA\, January 6–9\, 2026
DESCRIPTION:From the organizers:  \nWe’re excited to return to New Orleans! Join us for the 2026 AALS Annual Meeting\, taking place in person from Tuesday\, January 6 to Friday\, January 9\, 2026\, at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside and Loews New Orleans Hotel. \nWe look forward to the energy and connection that come from gathering our community of law school faculty—through networking\, relationship-building\, and celebration in the vibrant city of New Orleans\, Louisiana. \nSee the program here. \nAbout \nThe Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting\, held in early January each year\, is the largest gathering of law faculty in the world. More than 2\,500 law teachers\, librarians\, and law school administrators from member schools\, fee-paid schools\, and law schools of other nations attend the gathering. A keynote address and Presidential Programs are among the highlights. Most of the meeting is devoted to programs organized and presented by AALS sections. To encourage and recognize excellent legal scholarship by new law teachers\, AALS issues a call for scholarly papers by full-time faculty who have taught for five years or less. Legal scholars select for special recognition those authors whose papers have made the most substantial contribution to legal literature. Many other legal education organizations hold meetings or programs in conjunction with the AALS Annual Meeting\, and law schools hold receptions for graduates and friends. It is also an opportunity for legal educators to connect with colleagues from other law schools and countries around matters of common interest.
URL:https://pil.law.harvard.edu/event/conference-association-of-american-law-schools-aals-annual-meeting-new-orleans-la-january-6-9-2026/
CATEGORIES:conferences and workshops,lectures and talks
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260109
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260110
DTSTAMP:20260421T140409
CREATED:20251219T183615Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260109T235221Z
UID:10001809-1767916800-1768003199@pil.law.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Call for applications: Lilly Scholar in Residence Short-term Fellowship for Technology & African and Middle Eastern Religious Cultures\, Library of Congress\, January 9\, 2026
DESCRIPTION:  \nPraying in a Machine World: Technology & African and Middle Eastern Religious Cultures – Lilly Scholar in Residence Short-term Fellowship \nApply here \nThe African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED) of the Library of Congress invites applications for short-term fellowships on the theme of religious culture and technology\, defined in its broadest sense from stone tools to AI. Projects must relate primarily to the Library’s African\, Middle Eastern\, Hebraic and Central Asian Collections. \nDeadline : before Midnight (EST) on January 9\, 2026.  \nWho should apply: Emerging Scholar applicants can be up to seven years beyond their doctoral or equivalent degree. Senior Scholar applicants must have held a doctoral or equivalent degree for at least seven years and have a strong record of publication.  \nEligibility: Fellowships will be offered to Applicants who are not U.S. residents but who otherwise meet the above academic qualifications may also apply and be considered for a fellowship\, contingent upon the applicant’s visa eligibility (refer to the fellowship link for more information) \nAward amounts: Senior scholars are eligible for a stipend of $4\,000 for a minimum residency of two weeks. Emerging postdoctoral scholars are eligible for a stipend of $7\,000 for a minimum residency of one month. \nDuration: There is no limitation regarding the time period covered. All appointments must start between June and December 2026\, with a preference for summer 2026.
URL:https://pil.law.harvard.edu/event/call-for-applications-lilly-scholar-in-residence-short-term-fellowship-for-technology-african-and-middle-eastern-religious-cultures-library-of-congress-january-9-2026/
CATEGORIES:Due dates,Fellowships,Opportunities
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260120
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260121
DTSTAMP:20260421T140409
CREATED:20260110T203404Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260120T233404Z
UID:10001816-1768867200-1768953599@pil.law.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Call for Proposals: 2026 Sponsored Event Program\, American Society of Comparative Law\, January 20\, 2026
DESCRIPTION:The American Society of Comparative Law (ASCL) is pleased to issue a Call for Proposals for its 2026 Sponsored Event Program. The Program will provide a $3\,000 grant to a U.S.-based Member School in support of comparative law programming during the spring or summer of 2026. The grant is intended to support a high-quality comparative law event at the selected Member School. Qualifying events can be on any topic relevant to comparative law as an intellectual discipline. They can also be in any format\, including a conference\, a workshop\, a law review symposium or panel\, or a keynote lecture by a prominent comparatist. The selected Member School is expected to list the ASCL as a co-sponsor on all program advertising and marketing\, and to provide the ASCL with a short post-event blog post for potential publication on the ASCL website. \nWe regret that tax and administrative issues mean that this funding opportunity is only available to U.S.-based Member Schools. \nMember Schools that wish to apply for Sponsored Event Program funding should send a short (roughly 250-word) proposal to the ASCL’s Program Committee Chair\, Professor Jason Yackee (jyackee@wisc.edu)\, no later than January 20\, 2026.Member Schools should submit no more than one proposal per school. Final decisions will be communicated by February 1\, 2026. \nProposals should adequately describe the proposed event (i.e. topic\, format\, proposed speakers\, audience\, timing\, chief organizer/sponsor) and provide a brief indication of how ASCL funding will help to contribute to the program’s success. Given the timing of this Call and our interest in funding programming that will take place during the spring or summer of 2026\, we are—in extraordinary cases—willing to consider funding qualifying events that Member Schools have already planned and scheduled. In that case\, we hope that ASCL funding will allow the Member School to improve the quality or scope of the planned event. \nThank you for your interest in this funding opportunity\, and for your support of the Society.
URL:https://pil.law.harvard.edu/event/call-for-proposals-2026-sponsored-event-program-american-society-of-comparative-law-january-20-2026/
CATEGORIES:Due dates,Opportunities
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260121T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260121T200000
DTSTAMP:20260421T140409
CREATED:20260110T210519Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260121T231926Z
UID:10001818-1769022000-1769025600@pil.law.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Book Talk: How Commerce Became Legal: Merchants and Market Governance in Nineteenth-Century Egypt by Omar Youssef Cheta (Syracuse University)\, January 21\, 2026 @ 7:00pm
DESCRIPTION:From the American Society for Legal History: \nPlease join us for the next Making Connections: New Works in Legal History series event on Wednesday\, January 21\, 6-7pm Central Time. Omar Youssef Cheta will discuss his book\, How Commerce Became Legal: Merchants and Market Governance in Nineteenth-Century Egypt (Stanford University Press\, 2025) with interlocutor Nurfadzilah Yahaya. \nAbout the Book:\nEgypt was the site of an aggressive modern state-building project during the nineteenth century. Later in that century\, it became a domain of the British Empire. How Commerce Became Legal is an original exploration of the decades that separated these two historical realities (1840’s – 1870’s). Based on hitherto unexplored archives\, it excavates Egypt’s evolving legal regime in the mid-nineteenth century\, linking its Ottoman roots of its future under British rule. The book also reconstructs the trajectories of merchants and their legal aides as they navigated\, reinterpreted and used the laws that governed the market during an era of free trade and extraterritorial privileges. The 1800’s were a period of legal fluidity in the Ottoman Empire. A practically autonomous province by mid-century\, Egypt was also the scene of profound legal experimentation. How Commerce Became Legal offers a methodical study of how new laws redefined the commercial sphere and shaped a new mode of market governance that would persist for long after the historical forces that created it had been forgotten. The book demonstrates the fusion of Ottoman\, French and Islamic legal concepts\, which formed the infrastructure of laws that governed commerce. It meticulously reconstructs the day-to-day practices\, business strategies and legal expertise of individuals who engaged with commercial law. \nOn the Program: \nOmar Youssef Cheta is Assistant Professor of History at Syracuse University. Nurfadzilah Yahaya is Assistant Professor of History at Yale University. The meeting’s host\, Barbara Welke\, is the Distinguished McKnight University Professor of History and Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota\, and Past-President of the ASLH. \nAs a reminder: we will meet on Zoom\, where the audience is invited to ask questions. Those who wish to attend need not have read the book in advance. Those interested in attending must RSVP; the Zoom link will be sent out to registered participants 24 hours before the event. \nIf you have questions\, please feel free to reach out to Siobhan Barco (sbarco@law.harvard.edu) or Barbara Welke (welke004@umn.edu).
URL:https://pil.law.harvard.edu/event/book-talk-how-commerce-became-legal-merchants-and-market-governance-in-nineteenth-century-egypt-by-omar-youssef-cheta-syracuse-university-january-21-2026-700pm/
CATEGORIES:lectures and talks
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260126
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260127
DTSTAMP:20260421T140409
CREATED:20251219T183616Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260126T233311Z
UID:10001810-1769385600-1769471999@pil.law.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Call for applications: Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship\, Northwestern University\, January 26\, 2026
DESCRIPTION:The Keyman Program offers postdoctoral fellowships as well as visiting professor and visiting scholar programs. \nCall for Applications \nNorthwestern University\, Buffett Institute for Global Affairs\nKeyman Modern Turkish Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship \n\nThe Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Program at the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs at Northwestern University invites applications for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in the study of Turkey and its diasporas in a global or a comparative perspective. Scholars in all branches of the Social Sciences and Humanities may apply. We welcome and encourage applications from early career scholars whose work focuses on nondominant and underrepresented groups including religious\, ethnic\, and LBGTQ minorities and otherwise marginalized groups. The Keyman Fellow will be associated with the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs and the academic department in their discipline. \nThe term of the fellowship will run from September 1\, 2026\, to June 30\, 2028. The second year of the fellowship is subject to review of the fellow’s first-year performance by the University Office of Research and the fellow’s home department. Fellows are expected to teach one course\, preferably during the Fall quarter of their second year with approval from the Dean’s office. \nThe fellow is expected to be in residence in Evanston for the duration of their appointment and be an active member of the university’s intellectual community. They will devote their time to research and writing and participating in academic events at Northwestern Buffett and their home department. During the spring term of their first year\, they will present their work in a format they choose in consultation with their home department. They may choose to deliver another talk during the second year of their residence. They will write a report detailing the progress and achievements of their project a month prior to the conclusion of their appointment. \nThis is a full-time\, benefits-eligible position. The salary will be $63\,000 for the academic year. The Keyman Program will offer up to $1\,500 in moving costs. The fellow may also apply for reimbursement up to $2\,000 per year for research-related activities such as presenting a paper at a conference or the purchase of books. The fellow will be responsible for finding and paying for housing in Evanston. They will be provided office space at the Buffett Institute and have full access to the University’s library and computing resources. \nEligibility:\nApplicants must have submitted all requirements for their doctoral degree by March 31\, 2026\, and have a June 2026 graduation date at the latest. Candidates who received their Ph.D. before September 2022 are not eligible to apply. They may not hold another scholarship\, visiting or employment position during their fellowship. The fellowship cannot be deferred. \nApplication:\nThe Deadline for applications is January 26\, 2026. Review will begin immediately. Candidates are invited to contact turkishstudies@northwestern.edu with any questions or concerns. To apply\, please submit the following documents to our application portal:  \n\nCover Letter (maximum 600 words) with title and summary of proposed project.\nCurriculum vitae with a list of publications.\nResearch proposal (maximum 2000 words) including a detailed description of the project\, goals\, timetable\, bibliography\, and how much of the work has already been done.\nOne writing sample equivalent to a single journal article\, book chapter\, or dissertation chapter. The writing sample may be published or unpublished.\nA sample syllabus for an undergraduate course you would teach. Please include a course description in addition to a reading schedule.\nGraduate Transcript: A transcript from your doctoral degree-granting institution. If your doctoral program did not include formal graded classes\, submit a statement to that effect instead.\nNames of two referees and their email addresses\n\nWith the exception of official transcripts\, all documents must be in English.\n 
URL:https://pil.law.harvard.edu/event/call-for-applications-keyman-modern-turkish-studies-postdoctoral-fellowship-northwestern-university-january-26-2026/
CATEGORIES:Due dates,Fellowships,Opportunities
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260130
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260131
DTSTAMP:20260421T140409
CREATED:20251106T230413Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260130T235149Z
UID:10001804-1769731200-1769817599@pil.law.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Call for Submissions: Fusayfsa’\, the Smith College student-led Middle East Studies Journal\, January 30th\, 2026
DESCRIPTION:Fusayfsa`\, Smith College’s student-led Middle East Studies Journal\, is currently accepting submissions from undergraduate students to contribute to our fifth edition! We are looking for research papers\, opinion pieces\, book/movie reviews\, poetry\, visual artwork\, or any other forms of media produced by students related to the MENA region! \nSubmit your work via this google form.  \n\nSubmitting to Fusayfsa` is open to any undergraduate level student interested in the MENA region. The deadline for submissions is January 30th. Fusayfsa` is divided into two sections: journal and magazine. There are separate guidelines for each section. \nJournal Submission \nThe journal section will be accepting research papers on any topic related to the MENA region. Papers can be varied in length (maximum 3000)\, following Chicago style for citation\, font 12\, Times New Roman and double spaced. \nMagazine Submission \nThe magazine section will be accepting anything ranging from art (with the permission of the artist\, we may use the art piece as the cover of our journal and/or integrate it into our website)\, op-eds (similar guidelines as for the research papers\, but with a maximum word limit of 1500 words)\, book reviews\, poetry\, multimedia etc. (any sort of creative work related to the MENA region is acceptable!) \nPlease email fusayfsa@smith.edu with questions!
URL:https://pil.law.harvard.edu/event/call-for-submissions-fusayfsa-the-smith-college-student-led-middle-east-studies-journal-january-30th-2026/
CATEGORIES:Call for papers,Due dates,Opportunities
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260131
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260201
DTSTAMP:20260421T140409
CREATED:20251219T183616Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260131T233551Z
UID:10001811-1769817600-1769903999@pil.law.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Call for papers: 40th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference (MEHAT)\, University of Chicago\, January 31\, 2026
DESCRIPTION:The 40th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference (MEHAT) at The University of Chicago will take place on May 1-2\, 2026.\n \nAbout 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 the field. Capitalizing on its setting at a university with a strong tradition in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies\, MEHAT has established itself as a major forum for emerging scholars across disciplines to share their research with peers\, receive constructive feedback\, and foster fruitful academic relationships. Participants come from North America\, Europe\, and the Middle East\, and have traditionally included researchers at every stage of their careers.\n \nCall for Papers. We are now accepting proposals for papers and pre-arranged panels from graduate students\, postdocs\, faculty\, and independent scholars. We invite historians\, linguists\, anthropologists\, literary scholars\, sociologists\, musicologists\, scholars of religion\, and political scientists whose work engages with a broad geography\, including but not limited to\, the Mediterranean\, North and West Africa\, and South and Central Asia\, from Late Antiquity and the advent of Islam to the present.\n \nWe particularly encourage (but do not limit!) submissions related to this year’s overarching theme: “Playing with the Scales: The Local\, Regional\, and Global in Middle Eastern Studies.” Drawing inspiration from economic historian Jan de Vries’s 2019 article “Playing with Scales: The Global and the Micro\, the Nano and the Nano”\, we invite you to problematize the scales of the phenomena\, contexts\, and developments our discipline and research shed light on. How do micro-scale engagements with Middle Eastern agents help us to understand global developments\, like the transformation of law and statehood and the emergence of capitalism? What role do regional configurations\, whether defined in terms of shared ecological\, economic or political contexts\, trade\, religious or intellectual networks\, play in shaping the interaction of individual\, local\, and global scales? How can our work account for these varied layers? The conference theme will also allow us to reflect this critical moment for our discipline amidst challenges that put humanistically informed area studies research at risk.\n \nThe range of topics we hope to examine with this theme include\, but are not limited to: \n●      Theoretical and methodological engagements with scales in Middle Eastern Studies\, i.e. with regard to micro and macrohistory approaches within the discipline\, studies actively problematizing the bridging of broad-scale and granular data sets\, whether qualitative or quantitative \n●      Critical approaches to studying the Middle East as a region\, as well as work situating its actors and locales in alternative geographical realms or disciplinary contexts \n●      The role of individuals\, communities\, and states of the region in shaping global developments as well as the impact of global transformations on the region and its actors\, examples for which may include but are not exhausted by colonialism and imperialism\, capitalism and neoliberalism\, climate change and other ecological alterations\, technological and infrastructural developments\, political movements and global ideologies\, scientific\, literary\, and linguistic exchanges etc. \n●      Meditations on individual and collective agency in the face of local\, regional\, and global transformations \n●      Papers that interrogate the utility of terms and concepts often employed to circumscribe the geographical foci of our field of study\, such as the Middle East\, North Africa\, the Islamicate world\, or the Global South \n●      Explorations of archives\, sources\, and data aiding our understanding of multi-scale phenomena from below \n \nKeynote Speaker. The keynote speaker of this year’s conference is Professor Chris Gratien. Chris Gratien is an associate professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of History at the University of Virginia\, where he offers courses on global environmental history and the modern Middle East. His first book\, The Unsettled Plain: An Environmental History of the Late Ottoman Frontier (Stanford University Press\, 2022)\, was awarded the Nikki Keddie Book Award by the Middle East Studies Association. He is also co-creator of the Ottoman History Podcast\, which has featured over 500 interviews with scholars of the Ottoman Empire and beyond since 2011.\n \nSubmissions. Please send submissions electronically to mehat2026@gmail.com\, no later than Saturday\, January 31\, 2026. Please include each presenter’s name\, and a brief biographical note including institutional affiliation\, program of study\, or position and attach a 250-word abstract with a tentative title. For pre-arranged panels\, please send a single email with an overall panel description plus individual paper abstracts. The best abstracts will summarize the paper’s topic\, its relationship and contribution to existing scholarship and specific conclusions. If you are unsure about the suitability of your topic\, feel free to email us at the above address. Submissions will be assessed\, and invitations extended by late February 2026. \n \nSelected papers will be grouped into panels of three or four. Participants should be prepared to deliver a maximum twenty-minute presentation and respond to questions from an assigned discussant as well as conference attendees. Written papers must be circulated to the respondent and fellow members of the panel at least two weeks before the conference. \n \nA small amount of travel support may be available for a number of presenters without access to institutional funding. Please indicate if you are interested in being considered in your email.\n \nPlease circulate widely! For questions and accessibility concerns\, please write to mehat2026@gmail.com. Additional information will be published on our website. For reference\, you can have a look at last year’s conference program here.
URL:https://pil.law.harvard.edu/event/call-for-papers-40th-annual-middle-east-history-and-theory-conference-mehat-university-of-chicago-january-31-2026/
CATEGORIES:Call for papers,Due dates,Opportunities
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260131
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260201
DTSTAMP:20260421T140409
CREATED:20260110T210520Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260131T233551Z
UID:10001819-1769817600-1769903999@pil.law.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Call for Papers: Humanities of AI Workshop—Intelligence and Imitation: Mind\, Mechanism\, Mimesis\, Johns Hopkins University\, January 31\, 2026
DESCRIPTION:Intelligence and Imitation: Mind\, Mechanism\, Mimesis \nInaugural Humanities of AI Workshop \nJohns Hopkins University\, April 24-26\, 2026 \nAs 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 intelligibility underwriting cosmic order and thought; Hobbes and LaMettrie’s machine like mind and world; the Jaquet-Droz family’s musical automata; Wolfgang von Kempelen’s chess-playing Turk; Norbert Wiener’s cybernetic analogy between human\, animal\, and machine; Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori’s observation of the revulsion to imperfect verisimilitude (Bukimi no Tani: “uncanny valley”); and Soviet semiotician Yuri Lotman’s culture as collective mind\, exemplify the broad relevance of “imitations” to science\, literature\, and culture. \nDevelopments in artificial intelligence (AI) participate in the legacy of mimesis but also complicate and challenge it. In the course of AI’s research history\, AIs have variously been claimed to represent\, simulate\, assist\, improve upon\, provide a surrogate for\, or replace the functioning of human minds. Concepts such as “optimization\,” “satisficing\,” and “superintelligence” run orthogonal to the classical concept of mimesis. \nAt the same time\, developments in science and society have deeply challenged both mimesis and mindedness as concepts and ideals. Darwinian and embodied cognitive approaches challenge the primacy of abstract reasoning over embodiment; and reflections on human labor’s relation to material (re-)production\, social stratification\, and human experience from Marx\, Wallerstein\, Pasquinelli and others call into question the social “value-added” of material imitations as well asthe veracity of accounts of “intelligent” labor’s nature and origins. Deep divisions in the societal uptake of AI – exemplified in anti-AI activism\, dueling governance regimes\, and popular criticalslang like “AI slop” – exemplify and give opportunity to inform these theoretical challenges.Orientation to these developments requires approaches that scholars in the humanities may beuniquely positioned to provide. We hereby announce a three-day workshop on “Intelligence and Imitation: Mind\, Mechanism\, Mimesis” for presentation and discussion of new humanities research engaging with this theme. \nOur aim is to foster a collective critical engagement with AIs in their history\, socioeconomic context\, architecture\, and other dimensions of significance with the assistance of resources from literature\, philosophy\, history\, or other humanities fields. We invite contributions from both early-career (including graduate students) and established academic researchers\, whose work-in-progress projects straddle disciplinary boundaries to illuminate aspects of the diverse mind-machine relations exemplified in AI’s history\, current reality\, and imagined futures. \nSome possible avenues of investigation include: \n• Mimesis and mechanical imitation from antiquity to the transformer \n• Transformer architecture and the hermeneutic circle of understanding \n• Political economy and ideology of digital infrastructures sustaining LLMs \n• New histories and historical perspectives on literary cybernetics and natural language \nprocessing (NLP) \n• Hybridity and joint agency between humans and LLMs \n• Anthropomorphism and human relations with the (in)animate \n• Emotional AI as mimesis or optimization \nIn addition to presented papers\, some time at the conference will be devoted to reflection on “humanities of AI” as a research domain\, including its current state and possible futures\, disciplinary articulation\, conditions of success\, relations with natural and social sciences\, and potential impact on sociotechnical systems involving AI. \nSubmission Instructions \nSubmit a single Word or PDF file to Jiantong Liao (jliao20@jh.edu) by January 31 containing: \n(i) an abstract roughly 300 words; (ii) a short bio including your name\, institutional affiliation\, and contact email; and (iii) up to five key words. Decisions will be communicated within one month of the deadline. Authors of accepted abstracts will be asked to send up to 3000 words (a short paper or portion of a paper-in-progress) for distribution before the workshop. Questions may be directed to the address above. \nSupporting Institutions \nAlexander Grass Humanities Institute\, Johns Hopkins \nUniversity\n(https://krieger.jhu.edu/humanities-institute/) \nCenter for Equitable AI & Machine Learning Systems (CEAMLS)\, Morgan State \nUniversity\n(https://www.morgan.edu/ceamls) \nOrganizing Committee \nJiantong Liao (Chair) \nPhD Student\, German Program\, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures \njliao20@jh.edu \nKsenia Tatarchenko (Faculty Sponsor) \nFaculty\, Medicine\, Science & Humanities Program\, Johns Hopkins University \nktatarc1@jh.edu \nPhillip Honenberger (Faculty Sponsor) \nAI Ethicist & Researcher\, Center for Equitable AI & ML Systems (CEAMLS)\, Morgan State \nUniversity \njaywilliam.honenberger@morgan.edu
URL:https://pil.law.harvard.edu/event/call-for-papers-humanities-of-ai-workshop-intelligence-and-imitation-mind-mechanism-mimesis-johns-hopkins-university-january-31-2026/
CATEGORIES:Call for papers,Due dates,Opportunities
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260131
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260202
DTSTAMP:20260421T140409
CREATED:20251103T002042Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260131T233551Z
UID:10001800-1769817600-1769990399@pil.law.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Call for Papers: Association for the Study of Law\, Culture\, and the Humanities Annual Conference\, Chicago\, January 31\, 2026
DESCRIPTION:From the organizers: \nEvery year\, the Association holds it annual conference\, usually a two-day affair\, as well as a graduate student workshop\, usually held the day before the annual conference. The 2026 annual meeting will be held at the DePaul University College of Law from June 17-18th. Our call for papers and submissions guidelines can be found below: \nUprooted Law: Reflecting on the Origins and Outgrowths of Law \nWhat do we follow when we follow the law? Is law what is on the books\, or what is observed\, or what should be observed? The English term “law” descends from the plural form of the Old Norse “lag\,” designating “things laid down or fixed.” Yet law must be flexible enough to adjust and respond to changes. Particularly today\, when the line between legal norms and norms rooted elsewhere has blurred\, it is difficult to determine law’s location. What is law’s function in times of technological\, political\, and societal change? Does the law have a responsibility toward itself\, and if so\, who can be trusted with its observation? Given that law borrows from other areas of culture\, from literature and rhetoric to the sciences and dramatic arts\, the humanities are in a premier position to respond to these questions. \nThis conference invites reflections on the origins of law in the broadest sense. What substantiates the rule of law in practice\, and how does law itself mediate the difference between original and copy\, present and past? How do an ensemble of methods\, disciplines\, movements\, texts\, and technologies come together to help law create the past and future? We invite reflections on these and related questions and welcome papers\, roundtables\, and work-in-progress sessions that help us understand law’s current position by looking at it through a humanistic lens. \nSubmission Guidelines \nWe encourage the submission of fully constituted panels\, as well as panels that reimagine or experiment with models for academic presentation\, such as roundtables\, “author meets reader” sessions (which may include multiple books and their authors in conversation)\, works-in-progress sessions\, workshop-format panels that focus on engaging participants in shared thinking or other kinds of productive co-creation\, multi-panel streams\, etc. Individual proposals should include a title and an abstract of no more than 250 words. \nPanels\, whether virtual or in-person\, should include three papers (or\, exceptionally\, four papers). Please specify a title and designate a chair for your panel. The panel chair may also be a panel presenter. It is not necessary to write an abstract or proposal for the panel itself. \nTo indicate your pre-constituted panel\, roundtable\, or stream\, please ensure that each individual participant provides the name of the panel and the chair in their individual submissions on the registration site. All panel\, roundtable\, or stream participants must make an individual submission on the registration site. When submitting a proposal\, we also ask that registrants identify two to three keywords to help us align sessions with each other. \nMode \nThe twenty-eighth annual conference will emphasize the LCH tradition of in-person conversation. While we encourage participants to join us in Chicago\, we recognize that in-person attendance may be prohibitive for some. To that end\, we will also accept the submission of virtual panels and papers. \nSince we will not be providing technical support for virtual participants\, panel chairs will be responsible for providing Zoom links that will be listed in the program. All plenary sessions will be available streaming online as well as in person. \nCreating a Panel: Our Program Archive and Graduate Coordinators \nWhile participants may submit individual paper proposals that the Program Committee will later combine into full panels\, we strongly encourage applicants to create full panels prior to submission. Pre-formed panels may cohere better\, and allow collaborators to craft focused scholarly exchanges. Panels comprising a diversity of institutions\, academic ranks\, disciplines\, and identities are often the most rewarding. \nIf you would like support in finding others who might be interested in forming a panel\, have a look at our archive of past conference programs\, which can be found here. Our recent programs may contain the names of scholars working in fields related to your research. Reaching out to scholars who have previously presented at LCH about creating a panel can be a good place to start. For additional assistance\, please feel free to contact our Graduate Coordinators\, Aditya Banerjee (adityabanerjee@g.harvard.edu) and Jack Quirk (john_quirk@brown.edu) with “LCH panel” in the subject line. The Graduate Coordinators will act as intermediaries\, and may be able to put you in contact with others working on related topics. Please contact them well before the submission deadline\, to allow time for follow-up. \nWe especially encourage graduate students and those new to LCH to consider reaching out to the Graduate Coordinators if they’re struggling to identify potential co-panelists. \nHow to Submit \nSubmissions should be made through the following link: \n\nSubmit a Proposal\n\n\nSubmission Deadline \nThe deadline for all conference submissions is January 31\, 2026. \nContact Information \nPlease email lch@lawculturehumanities.com with any queries.
URL:https://pil.law.harvard.edu/event/call-for-papers-association-for-the-study-of-law-culture-and-the-humanities-annual-conference-chicago-january-31-2026/
CATEGORIES:Call for papers
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