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The Arabic Freud: Psychoanalysis and Islam in Modern Egypt

Presented by Omnia El Shakry, Associate Professor of History at UC Davis What might it mean to think through psychoanalysis and Islam together, not as a problem, but as a creative encounter of ethical engagement? Traversing literatures minor and major, Omnia El Shakry shows how postwar thinkers in Egypt translated and blended psychoanalytic theories with...

New Methods in the Study of the Qur’an

The date and provenance of the Qur’an, as with all the literary sources for early Islamic history, have been the subject of scholarly disagreement for decades. So have the questions of whether the Qur’an had one author or multiple authors, and whether the suras are random mishmashes of verses from different periods or somewhat coherent...

Rare Manuscripts of the Moroccan Royal Library: An Introduction and Overview

This lecture will describe some of the rare holdings of al-Khizāna al-Ḥassania, discuss issues related to Maghribi paleography, codicology, and art, imagery, and the symbolism and significance of color used in selected manuscripts. The lecture will also offer advice for potential researchers and suggest fruitful avenues for research in manuscripts at the Ḥassania Library.  ...

Imagined Wahhabis: Disentangling British and Indian Representations of Wahhabism in Colonial India

Throughout the nineteenth century, the British in India feared a vast conspiracy of "Wahhabi" Muslim fanatics that threatened their imperial interests. While the British discourse on so-called Indian Wahhabis has received significant attention from academics, the same is not true of an Indian Muslim discourse on Wahhabis. A closer analysis of the latter not only helps...

New Documentary Evidence for the Trade in Papers

Watermarked papers, which served as media for Islamic manuscripts (codices and documents), were imported from Europe at least since the 13th century. The study of trade in papers brings us, therefore, to Global history. This presentation will focus on recently published research on late production papers which were dispatched to the Yemeni and Ethiopian market...

John of Litharb (d. 738 CE), On the Soul: A Previously Unknown Syriac Treatise and the New Light it sheds on Islamic Kalām, on Byzantine Theology, and on Syriac Psychology

John of Litharb is a fairly well-known Syriac author from the turn of the seventh-and-eighth centuries, who participated in a robust circle of intellectual Christian theologians, historians and philosophers. Although he is known to have authored several important works, due to the accidents of manuscript transmission, only one very short letter of his was thought...

Using Documents in the Study of Early Islam: A Brief Introduction

Come hear papyrologist Dr. Naïm Vanthieghem discuss the use of documents, particularly papyri, in the field of Islamic Studies. This informal talk is designed with graduate students in mind and will include ample time for discussion, Q & A, and even trying your hand at deciphering documentary sources. Dr Vantheighem brings experience working directly on...

Multilingualism in Early Islamic Egypt: The View from Papyri

After Arab armies conquered Egypt in the mid-seventh century, the country's linguistic landscape changed only gradually. Greek, preeminent for centuries as a language of high culture and governance, faded as Arabic advanced to fill these niches. Coptic, which until then had functioned largely as a vernacular, became in its turn a language of culture and...

An Introduction to Islamic Manuscript Culture

This free workshop will provide a hands-on introduction to Islamic manuscripts and manuscript culture, using the extensive holdings of the Special Collections at UCLA's Charles E. Young Research Library. It is intended for advanced students and scholars with backgrounds in Islamic studies and/or manuscript studies. Sessions will be devoted to such topics as parchment and...