Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the IS-LE activities scheduled for the current year might need to be rescheduled. Please stay tuned to know more about the rescheduling of activities.

CA18129 IS-LE Final Conference

Deadline: 30th April 2023
Date: 7th July 2023
Place: Istanbul (Turkey)
Scientific Coordinators: Antonio Urquízar-Herrera (Action Chair), Alicia Miguélez (Action Vice-Chair), Elena Paulino (Grant Holder Scientific Coordinator), Borja Franco (WG1 Leader), Emir Filipović (WG2 Leader), and Ivana Čapeta Rakić (WG3 Leader).

Abstract:

Cost Action IS-LE Islamic Legacy: Narratives East, West, South, North of the Mediterranean (1350-1750)
CA18129 IS-LE is a research Cost Action funded by EU Cost Association H2020 which is based at the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Spain. This Action started in 2019 and its purpose has been to provide a transnational and interdisciplinary approach capable of overcoming the segmentation that has for long characterized the study of relations between Christianity and Islam in late medieval and early modern Europe and the Mediterranean. Over the last thirty years, some separate geographic and academic areas have been defined in this research field: the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Central Europe and the Balkans, and Greece and the different islands of the Mediterranean. These different geographical areas have been analysed in isolation and have been further disjointed in a scientific context defined by the separation of disciplines and chronologies. The Action has tried to mitigate this academic distortion by creating a common space for scientific exchange and reflection. This space has involved institutions from 35 different European and Mediterranean countries as well as around 250 senior and junior researchers coming from different disciplines (history, history of art, philology, anthropology, social sciences, history of the science, politics, etc.). The creation of this network has help to provide a comprehensive understanding of past relations between Christianity and Islam in the European context through the addressing of three main research problems: otherness, migration and borders. Beyond the strictly academic realm, the Action also has aimed at reviving diversity and Euro-Mediterranean relations in education, at a moment when Europe is at a cultural and political crossroads.  

CA18129 IS-LE Final Conference
After 4 years and six months of existence, CA18129 IS-LE will end next September 2023. As a closing activity, the Action has planned a one-day Final Conference that could put together a relevant number of the researchers and the countries that have been involved in it. Been based in Spain and having held its first meeting in Lisbon, the Action considers that Istanbul will be the most appropriate closing location. This Final Conference aims at revising the outcomes of the Action and its impact in the participants’ research. Also, it will be an excellent opportunity to foster networking in the field and to devise new avenues for collaboration in the future. The academic program of the conference will consist of three panels of debate corresponding to the three working groups of the Action.

CA18129 Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM)

Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM) are institutional visits aimed at supporting individual mobility, fostering collaboration between individuals. The Guidelines for Action Management, Monitoring and Assessment should be followed to ensure the proper implementation of this networking instrument (see www.cost.eu/guidelines_Action_management_monitoring_assessment).
STSM applicants must be engaged in an official research programme as a PhD Student or postdoctoral fellow or can be employed by, or affiliated to, an institution, organisation or legal entity which has within its remit a clear association with performing research. The institutions / organisation or legal entity where applicants pursue their main strand of research are considered as Home Institutions. The Host Institution is the institution / organisation that will host the successful applicant.

Deadline: Applications for GP3 should be submitted before February 20, 2023 (results available on February 28, 2023)

The STSM need to be carried out in their entirety within a single Grant Period and always within the Action’s lifetime. In this case, STSM must take place between March 15, 2023 and August 10, 2023.

Financial details:

  • An STSM Grant is a fixed financial contribution which takes into consideration the budget request of the applicant and the outcome of the evaluation of the STSM application. STSM Grants do not necessarily cover all expenses related to undertaking a given mission. A STSM Grant is a contribution to the overall travel, accommodation and meal expenses of the Grantee. 
  • Up to a maximum of EUR 4000 in total can be afforded to each successful applicant (In the event of a high number of applications, the STMS Committee could propose a cap on the maximum allowances in order to provide more grants).  
  • Up to a maximum of EUR 300 can be afforded for travel costs. 
  • Up to a maximum of EUR 130 per day can be afforded for accommodation and meal expenses in ITC countries, up to a maximum of EUR 160 per day can be afforded for accommodation and meal expenses in other countries. 
  • Specific provisions have been introduced to enable researchers from ITC participating in the Action to request a pre-payment of 50% of their STSM Grant when they complete the first day of their STSM. In such case, the representative of the Host Institution must confirm by e-mail to the Grant Holder that the STSM applicant has officially started the mission on day 1. Only then the Grant Holder can arrange the payment of 50% of the STSM grant. The remaining 50% of the Grant is payable once the administrative requirements have been satisfied after the STSM. 
  • As a consequence of the Covid pandemic, travel may be restricted; other restrictions may also be imposed. Therefore, all bookings, with regard to both travelling and accommodation, must be refundable, and a free cancellation option is a prerequisite of any reservation, as in no case will COST reimburse expenses incurred if a mission is not carried out. Cancellation insurances are eligible travel expenses.  

Northern Europe And Islam. Borders And Non-contact Zones In Late Medieval And Early Modern Times, With A Focus On Scandinavia

Deadline: 15th of April 
Date: 6th– 9thJune 2023
Place: Stockholm, Sweden

Scientific Coordinators: Kurt Villads Jensen (Stockholm University), Joachim Östlund (Lund University), Jan Loop (Copenhagen University)

Abstract: Over the past decades, Marie Louise Prat’s concept of “contact zone” has made a huge impact on studies of cultural encounters in travel writing and colonial settings. In current historiography contacts between Europe and Islam have mainly been studied in the context of a shared border, with its specific cultural and political dynamics, and thereby produced a certain theoretical/historical knowledge. Much less attention has been paid on how networks, encounters and knowledge were produced in the context of non-contact zones. This is the case for the Nordic region, which is geographically clearly separated from “Muslim Lands”. Nonetheless, imaginary borders were still produced.  The aim of this training school is to discuss the dynamics of encounters between Christian Europe and the Islamic world in non-contact zones, particularly, but not only, in Scandinavia in medieval and early modern times. It will study the transmission of objects, texts and people and analyse the ways in which they were interpreted and understood and how they affected individual and collective identities.

Main objectives of the activity:  a) To study Late Medieval and Early Modern networks between the Islamic worlds and Europe, with focus on Scandinavia;  b) To discuss trade, exchange and mobility of objects and knowledge between the Mediterranean and the Baltic basin;  c) To analyse how such phenomena had an effect in the creation of individual and collective identities;  d) To develop a student network on long-distance encounters and Islamic legacy in Europe and Scandinavia;  e) To promote a dialogue between junior and senior scholars.

Deadline and details:  Students interested to participate in this training school are invited to submit their cover letters and CVs before 15th of April 2023 to the course secretary (sekreterare@medeltid.su.se), and to Professor Kurt Villads Jensen (kurt.villads.jensen@historia.su.se), Dr. Joachim Östlund (joachim.ostlund@hist.lu.se), and Professor Jan Loop (jlo@teol.ku.dk).

Negotiating Islamic Legacies in Europe: Concepts, Heritages, and Comparative Approaches

Deadline: 20th of December 2023
Date: 17th of January 2023
Place:  Athens, Greece

Scientific Coordinators: Eleni Gara (University of the Aegean), Elias Kolovos (University of Crete), Yorgos Tzedopoulos (University of Ioannina)    

Abstract: The legacies of a medieval (in the case of in the case of the Iberian and Italian peninsulas, Sicily and other western mediterranean islands) and/or early modern (in the case of the Ottoman Balkans and southern Central Europe) Islamic presence in Europe are still noticeable today, especially in the form of architectural heritage. Arabic and/or Ottoman mosques, especially, and other Islamic buildings, have been mostly treated as “unwelcome”, or “dissonant” heritage in contemporary Europe – or have not been recognized as heritage at all – and have been constantly contested and negotiated by national ideologies and state policies. Moreover, the Islamic past has been negated, at least in terms of visibility, in monuments of high symbolic value. This is the case of the Acropolis of Athens, which had been the fortified part of the town in Ottoman times, with the Parthenon having been transformed from a church into a mosque. In juxtaposition, monuments like Hagia Sophia in Istanbul have been recently negated their Christian past. The legacies of an undesired past are constantly being reappraised. The aim of this conference is to bring together scholars who would be interested in discussing the management of medieval and early modern Islamic heritage in contemporary Europe, the public discourses concerning this heritage, and, consequently, the questions raised by the above on the very concept of “heritage”.  

Deadline and details: This call for papers is now open for those researchers interested in taking part in the conference. Both early career scholars and senior researchers are welcome, as are those working in different fields, in order to encourage interdisciplinarity and plurality of dialogue. Proposals are invited consisting of a title, abstract (no more than 500), and a brief bio of 15 lines, which should be sent to Eleni Gara (egara@aegean.gr), Elias Kolovos (kolovos@uoc.gr) and Yorgos Tzedopoulo (tzedoy@gmail.com) by the deadline of December 20, 2022.  

Reimbursement of expenses: CA1829 IS-LE will be able to reimburse travel and accommodation expenses to a limited number of accepted participants. Applications should be submitted along with the proposals.

The migration of objects between Islam and Christianity in the medieval and early modern Mediterranean: new uses, new meanings

Deadline: 10th of March, 2023
Date: 15th – 16th of June, 2023
Place:  Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Scientific Coordinators: Mercedes García-Arenal (mercedes.garciaarenal@cchs.csic.es), Ana Rodríguez (ana.rodriguez@cchs.csic.es) and Antonio Urquízar-Herrera (aurquizar@geo.uned.es)  

Co-organizer: PetrifyingWealth-ERC-AdG (GA-695515)   This conference, organized by IS-LE COST Action (CA18129) Islamic Legacy: Narratives East, West, South, North of the Mediterranean (1350-1750), aims to bring together scholars who work on the perception of Islam in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe.    

Abstract: It has long been known that during late medieval and early modern times, objects circulated across different regions, cultures and religious areas, often covering great distances. They were carried by travellers, merchants and traders, and were given as gifts by diplomatic agents. They were frequently taken and targeted as the spoils of war. For the past several years, there has been increasing interest in the migration of such objects in the late medieval and early modern periods.    The aim of this seminar is to bring together research from a variety of fields that interacts with the following questions: What everyday objects maintained similar uses, and how can this fact be read? What other objects became precious items, or were prized, or even undervalued by collectors? Which were used as indices of political and military triumph? How were they used? What were the religious implications of the objects’ resignification? What happened in cases where objects migrated as a result of the forced displacement of people? And when a great many foreign and transported objects were subject to resignification, how did this transformation influence the tastes and fashions – regarding clothing, luxury or even household items – of the receiving culture? Lastly, when such objects were valued, prized or collected in another culture, did this fact condition how they were produced in their place of origin and, in turn, cause them to be resignified there as well?  

Deadline and details: This call for papers is now open for those researchers who are interested to participate in the conference. They are invited to submit their proposals with a title, an abstract (no more than 300 words) and a brief bio (maximum of 15 lines) before March 10, 2023 to: Antonio Urquízar Herrera (aurquizar@geo.uned.es).

CA18129 Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM)

Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM) are institutional visits aimed at supporting individual mobility, fostering collaboration between individuals. The Guidelines for Action Management, Monitoring and Assessment should be followed to ensure the proper implementation of this networking instrument (see www.cost.eu/guidelines_Action_management_monitoring_assessment). 
STSM applicants must be engaged in an official research programme as a PhD Student or postdoctoral fellow or can be employed by, or affiliated to, an institution, organisation or legal entity which has within its remit a clear association with performing research. The institutions / organisation or legal entity where applicants pursue their main strand of research are considered as Home Institutions. The Host Institution is the institution / organisation that will host the successful applicant. 

Deadline: Applications for GP3 should be submitted before August 10, 2022 (results available on August 13, 2022

Financial details 

  • An STSM Grant is a fixed financial contribution which takes into consideration the budget request of the applicant and the outcome of the evaluation of the STSM application. STSM Grants do not necessarily cover all expenses related to undertaking a given mission. A STSM Grant is a contribution to the overall travel, accommodation and meal expenses of the Grantee. 
  • Up to a maximum of EUR 4000 in total can be afforded to each successful applicant (In the event of a high number of applications, the STMS Committee could propose a cap on the maximum allowances in order to provide more grants).  
  • Up to a maximum of EUR 300 can be afforded for travel costs. 
  • Up to a maximum of EUR 130 per day can be afforded for accommodation and meal expenses in ITC countries, up to a maximum of EUR 160 per day can be afforded for accommodation and meal expenses in other countries. 
  • Specific provisions have been introduced to enable researchers from ITC participating in the Action to request a pre-payment of 50% of their STSM Grant when they complete the first day of their STSM. In such case, the representative of the Host Institution must confirm by e-mail to the Grant Holder that the STSM applicant has officially started the mission on day 1. Only then the Grant Holder can arrange the payment of 50% of the STSM grant. The remaining 50% of the Grant is payable once the administrative requirements have been satisfied after the STSM. 
  • As a consequence of the Covid pandemic, travel may be restricted; other restrictions may also be imposed. Therefore, all bookings, with regard to both travelling and accommodation, must be refundable, and a free cancellation option is a prerequisite of any reservation, as in no case will COST reimburse expenses incurred if a mission is not carried out. Cancellation insurances are eligible travel expenses.  

Training School: Late Medieval and Early Modern Migration Routes an Identity Spaces in the Mediterranean

Deadline: 15th April 2022
Date: 15th-17th June 2022
Place: Tunis (Tunisia)

Scientific Coordinators: Houssem Eddine Chachia, Gerard Wiegers, Luis Bernabé Pons, Emir O. Filipović, Borja Franco, Antonio Urquízar Herrera and Neila Saadi

Abstract: Over the past decades, there has been a growing interest among scholars in analysing the early modern migration routes and identity spaces in the Mediterranean. The Sephardic and Morisco diasporas are a typical example to study the forced movement of persons, but also of ideas and expertise. The aim of this training school is to discuss those issues from different and complementary perspectives, including social, cultural history, but also heritage and architecture, and to question the integrations of those religious and cultural minorities into Early Modern North African societies: the difficulties of their social assimilation, how their identities developed in this context, their contribution to the development of host societies, etc. Field visits and on-site discussions in Medina of Tunis and Testour will be complemented with conferences and debate sessions, focused on the students’ personal research. The overarching goal is to create a space of debate and exchange among junior and senior scholars, as well as to promote a network of scholars of early modern migration and identities that will bring new perspectives into the field. Students will be asked to prepare one small introduction to a specific monument that will be discussed on those visits, and to make a brief presentation of their own case studies, with a specific focus on problems of research and methodologies, in one of the three panels specified below. The training school is part of the COST-Action “Islamic Legacy: East, West, North South of the Mediterranean (1350-1750)”.

Deadline and details: Students interested to participate in this training school are invited to submit their cover letters and CVs to Dr. Houssem Eddine Chachia (h.chachia@fshst.rnu.tn), Dr. Elena Paulino Montero (epaulino@geo.uned.es) and Dr. Emir O. Filipović (filipovic@europe.com) before 15th April 2022. In addition to the specific standards established by COST Association regarding COVID-19 pandemic, participants in the Training School must also consider the measures adopted by local or national authorities in Tunis.  

Conference: Settlement of Muslim Black Slaves in Early Modern Europe

Deadline: March 2, 2022
Date: 27 September 2022
Place: Valletta (Malta)

Scientific Coordinators: Alessandro GORI (frd322@hum.ku.dk) and Simon MERCIECA (simon.mercieca@um.edu.mt)

Abstract: The Aghlabid Emirate of the eighth and ninth century is known to have subjected endogenous Berber Blacks into slavery. Some of these slaves converted to Islam and made headway in the Aghlabid world. Keeping Berber Blacks as slaves continued in the following centuries. Black individuals continued to be subjected into slavery by both Christians and Muslims alike. Records show that there were Black slaves in Medieval and Early Modern Malta. Their presence on the island departs from the religious conflict between Islam and Christianity which was reduced from the seventeenth century onwards to one of corsairing between the North African Muslim troops and the Maltese corsairs. Yet, there were other Christian nations engaged in corsairing even if the Knights of Saint John, who took over the government of the island of Malta in 1530, assumed leadership in this sector and developed corsairing into a proper trade and economic activity. Scholars who have been working on the Mediterranean world during Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times and have material related to stories of Black slavery in the Mediterranean are invited to submit a proposal for consideration.

Deadline and details:
This call for papers is now open for those researchers who are interested to participate in the conference. They are invited to submit their proposals with a title, an abstract (no more than 300 words) and a brief bio (maximum of 15 lines) before March 2, 2022 to: Dr. Alessandro GORI (frd322@hum.ku.dk) or Dr. Simon MERCIECA (simon.mercieca@um.edu.mt).

Deadline: March 2, 2022
Date: 27 September 2022
Place: Valletta (Malta)

Scientific Coordinators: Alessandro GORI (frd322@hum.ku.dk) and Simon MERCIECA (simon.mercieca@um.edu.mt)

Abstract: The Aghlabid Emirate of the eighth and ninth century is known to have subjected endogenous Berber Blacks into slavery. Some of these slaves converted to Islam and made headway in the Aghlabid world. Keeping Berber Blacks as slaves continued in the following centuries. Black individuals continued to be subjected into slavery by both Christians and Muslims alike. Records show that there were Black slaves in Medieval and Early Modern Malta. Their presence on the island departs from the religious conflict between Islam and Christianity which was reduced from the seventeenth century onwards to one of corsairing between the North African Muslim troops and the Maltese corsairs. Yet, there were other Christian nations engaged in corsairing even if the Knights of Saint John, who took over the government of the island of Malta in 1530, assumed leadership in this sector and developed corsairing into a proper trade and economic activity. Scholars who have been working on the Mediterranean world during Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times and have material related to stories of Black slavery in the Mediterranean are invited to submit a proposal for consideration.

Deadline and details:
This call for papers is now open for those researchers who are interested to participate in the conference. They are invited to submit their proposals with a title, an abstract (no more than 300 words) and a brief bio (maximum of 15 lines) before March 2, 2022 to: Dr. Alessandro GORI (frd322@hum.ku.dk) or Dr. Simon MERCIECA (simon.mercieca@um.edu.mt).

https://is-le.eu/wp-content/uploads/CA18129-GP3-Malta-Conference-2022-Call-for-papers.pdf

Charting Image and Self Image of Islam in Europe

Deadline: 10th of March 2022
Date: 10th of May 2022
Place: Paris (France)  

Scientific Coordinators: Youssef El Alaoui (youssef.elalaoui@univ-rouen.fr) and Luis Bernabé (Luis.Bernabe@ua.es)      

This conference, organized by IS-LE COST Action (CA18129) Islamic Legacy: Narratives East, West, South, North of the Mediterranean (1350-1750), aims to bring together scholars who work on the perception of Islam in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe.  

Abstract: The image of Islam in Europe was usually studied from a Christian-Western point of view, and without a longue durée approach. The aim of this workshop is to create a methodological framework for studying this topic, comparing different case studies through time and space, from the Middle Ages to the end of the Early Modern period, from Iberia to the Balkans, from the Christian and non-Christian point of view. We would like to map this game of perceptions between image and self-image, between identity and representation, breaking with the stereotypes and preestablished ideas and proposing new paths of analysis. Scholars who have been working on these topics and have material related to them are invited to submit a proposal for consideration.  

  • The themes may include, but are not limited to:  
  • The Muslim as a literary and historical character.
  • Race, religion, and cultural stereotypes. Methodological considerations.
  • Images and self-images of Islam at odds.
  • Key moments and key places of the construction of the image of Islam in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe.  

Deadline and details: This call for papers is now open for those researchers who are interested to participate in the conference. They are invited to submit their proposals with a title, an abstract (no more than 300 words) and a brief bio (maximum of 15 lines) before 10th of March 2022 to: Borja FRANCO LLOPIS (bfranco@geo.uned.es).  

In addition to the specific standards established by COST Association regarding COVID-19 pandemic, researchers must also consider the measures adopted by local or national authorities in France. They might be required to be fully vaccinated and / or present a COVID-19 negative test to be able to participate in this activity.

Settlement of Muslim Black Slaves in Early Modern Europe

Deadline: 2nd of March 2022
Date: 27th of September 2022
Place: Valetta (Malta)

Scientific Coordinators: Alessandro GORI (frd322@hum.ku.dk) and Simon MERCIECA (simon.mercieca@um.edu.mt)  

This conference, organized by IS-LE COST Action (CA18129) Islamic Legacy: Narratives East, West, South, North of the Mediterranean (1350-1750), aims to bring together scholars who work on forced migration of Black Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean.  

Abstract:  The Aghlabid Emirate of the eighth and ninth century is known to have subjected endogenous Berber Blacks into slavery. Some of these slaves converted to Islam and made headway in the Aghlabid world. Keeping Berber Blacks as slaves continued in the following centuries. Black individuals continued to be subjected into slavery by both Christians and Muslims alike. Records show that there were Black slaves in Medieval and Early Modern Malta. Their presence on the island departs from the religious conflict between Islam and Christianity which was reduced from the seventeenth century onwards to one of corsairing between the North African Muslim troops and the Maltese corsairs. Yet, there were other Christian nations engaged in corsairing even if the Knights of Saint John, who took over the government of the island of Malta in 1530, assumed leadership in this sector and developed corsairing into a proper trade and economic activity.   

Cyprus and Crete were also other islands where Blacks (both in servile and free condition) moved and settled to carry out a stable life until the modern times. Other Black communities are attested at least during the nineteenth century in Epirus, Macedonia, and on the coast of Montenegro (the community in the port city of Ulcinj was particularly developed). Blacks had a more sporadic but still significant presence in Sicily and in many maritime Italian cities (Naples, Livorno, Genoa), and they certainly were not unknown in Spain, for instance in Seville.   

Blacks represent a component of Mediterranean visual arts, architecture and artefacts: Black Baldassarre (or Gasparre) in the Journey/Adoration of the Magi; “Four Moors” monument in Livorno (different in origin from but still similar to the Sardinian [and also Corsican] flag); the “moretto” (floor) lamp in Venice until the Harapi i Beledijes (1916), portrait by Kol Idromeno. The presence of Black figures and personages in this domain has been so far scarcely addressed by the specialist and would deserve a more intense attention. All these geographically scattered and qualitatively different attestations of the presence of Black people in the Mediterranean basin show the intensity and duration of the trade routes linking the northern shores of the Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Africa through North Africa and the Levant. Through these routes not only slaves but different kinds of merchandise were circulated in a network of connections which is slowly being discovered and described by the scholars.  

Deadline and details: This call for papers is now open for those researchers who are interested to participate in the conference. They are invited to submit their proposals with a title, an abstract (no more than 300 words) and a brief bio (maximum of 15 lines) before 2nd of March 2022 to: Dr. Alessandro GORI (frd322@hum.ku.dk) or Dr. Simon MERCIECA (simon.mercieca@um.edu.mt).   

In addition to the specific standards established by COST Association regarding COVID-19 pandemic, researchers must also consider the measures adopted by local or national authorities in Malta. They might be required to be fully vaccinated and / or present a COVID-19 negative test to be able to participate in this activity.

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