06.09.2021 Call for Papers for the Eight Conference fo the School of Mamluk Studies

We are pleased to announce the Eighth Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies, which will take place at the Philipps-Universität Marburg.

As in preceding years, the conference will have both themed and open sessions (7-9 July 2022), and it will be preceded by a three-day intensive course (4-6 July 2022) presenting a multi-disciplinary approach to environmental studies in pre-modern Egypt.

Themed Day: This year’s conference will be a joint cooperation of the Faculty of Islamic Studies at the University of Marburg and the EGYLandscape Project (www.egylandscape.org). As such, the themed portion of the conference on the 7th of July will be “Environment and Nature in the Mamluk Sultanate”. With environmental studies of the Mamluk period a growing but still new field, this themed day will survey the topic broadly. We welcome papers related to land use, hydrology and irrigation, disease and famine, flora and fauna, crops and food, and anything related to these topics. This theme may be interpreted and explored from a literary, political, art historical, economic, archaeological, or any other approach. The focus is on broadening the scope and view of environmental studies of the Mamluk Sultanate.

For the themed day, a maximum of 12 to 15 paper proposals will be selected. If there are more proposals received on this theme, some of the authors who are not selected for the conference may be given the possibility to publish their contributions in the conference’s proceedings. Each paper will be allocated twenty minutes with an additional ten minutes for discussion.

Paper Panels: The remaining two days of the conference (8 and 9 July) will be structured in panels, which may focus on any aspect of the intellectual, political, social, economic, and artistic life of the Mamluk period. The panels will be organized into presentations of three to four papers of twenty minutes each. Panel proposals must be made by a representative, who will be responsible for the panel’s organization. Please note that in case of the cancellation of 2/3 or 3/4 papers in a panel, the panel will be withdrawn from the program.

Language: The official language of the conference and its proceedings will be English.

Fees: The conference registration fees will be fifty (50) euros for participants and attendees. A farewell dinner will take place on the last day (9 July) at a cost to be determined. Payment of the fees (registration and farewell dinner) must be received by 30 April 2022 (information on the method of payment to be used will be provided in the first circular, which will be sent in January 2022). Participants must make their own travel arrangements; information and suggestions for accommodations will be provided in the first circular.

Proposals: Paper proposals for the themed day must be submitted electronically to https://mamluk.uchicago.edu/school-of-mamluk-studies.htmlby 31 October 2021. Panel proposals must be submitted in the same manner by 30 November 2021. The paper proposals should provide the name and a one-page CV of the speaker, a provisional paper title, and an abstract of a maximum of 1500 characters (about 300 words) per paper. Panel proposals must be submitted as such, including the relevant information for each component paper as well as the name of the panel’s chair (the chair can be one of the panelists).

Acceptance: Paper and panel proposals will be peer-reviewed. A first circular will be sent by January 2022 to those whose proposals have been accepted, and to those who have expressed interest in attending the conference as listeners.

Publication:

a) Themed day: the papers will be published in a volume(s) of proceedings.

b) Panels: selected papers will be published in Mamlūk Studies Review.

Intensive course: “A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Environmental Studies in Pre-Modern Egypt”

A three-day, intensive course in methodological approaches to environmental studies in pre-modern Egypt will be held on 4-6 July 2022 immediately before the Eighth Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies. The course is intended for advanced graduate students and other qualified participants. It will be instructed by Ghislaine Alleaume (Aix-Marseille University), Allison Gascoigne (University of Southampton), Nicolas Michel (Aix-Marseille University), and Yossef Rapoport (Queen Mary, University of London). The course will cover a variety of topics, including: an introduction to archaeological methods in environmental history, historiography and research methods for the environmental history of pre-modern Egypt, an introduction to GIS (geographic information systems), and the use of map resources generally. 

Since the number of the participants will be limited (a maximum of 15), those who desire to take part in the course are requested to submit a CV, a statement of purpose (1-2 pages), and a letter of recommendation by someone familiar with your work to the following email address:sms2022marburg@gmail.com by the end of January 2022. Those who are selected for the course will be notified by the end of February 2022, at which time information about the method of payment for the course fees will be provided.

We are pleased to announce that in partnership with the EGYLandscape Project, there will be two scholarships for graduate students, who would like to attend the intensive course. In addition to covering the course fee, the scholarship will also pay for travel and accommodations. If you would like to be considered for the EGYLandscape scholarship, please submit an additional short statement (paragraph) expressing such a need alongside the statement of purpose. We ask that only students who do not have access to institutional funds or whose funds are limited apply. Students from the Middle East region are encouraged to apply. 

The course fee is two hundred (200) euros, which also includes the registration fee for the subsequent conference (7-9 July). The fees must be paid by 30 April 2022. Registration and participation will not be confirmed until payment is received. Participants must make their own travel arrangements. The local organizer will provide suggestions for lodging.

We are excited to welcome you to the Universitätsstadt Marburg,

Albrecht Fuess and Anthony Quickel (local organizers) -sms2022marburg@gmail.com

with, Frédéric Bauden (Université de Liège), Antonella Ghersetti (Ca’ Foscari University, Venice), and Marlis Saleh (University of Chicago)