[CFP] “Reclaiming History Islam and Cultural Patrimony in the 21st Century”

Over the past half-century, Muslim communities around the world have faced unprecedented levels of war and destruction. Apart from the immense human toll of conflicts spanning from sub saharan Africa, to the Middle East, or Central and South Asia sites of Islamic cultural patrimony have suffered a near constant stream of destruction. The systematic looting of treasured artifacts and archives and the physical destruction of civilizational sites of learning and commemoration have accelerated the immeasurable loss of historical memory. But can the restitution of such crimes also serve as a tool of reconciliation and restoration?

The AbuSulayman Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University is calling for papers to address the phenomenon of cultural destruction with an eye to understanding the nature of such loss in places such as, but not limited to, Afghanistan, Bosnia, China, Gaza, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Mali, Myanmar, the Palestinian Territories, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen ; as well those efforts to redress the crimes of looting and to restore cultural patrimony as an act of reconciliation.

What are the means of assessing loss and addressing restitution of cultural patrimony? What role do international organizations like UNESCO, the Aga Khan Foundation, the International Association of Dealers in Ancient Art, or the Association of Art Museum Directors play in such efforts? What are the legal, historical, or geopolitical boundaries for government entities like the U.S. State Department or the European Commission in the regulation of stolen antiquities and cultural patrimony? What have local governmental departments of antiquities or cultural institutions done to resist, restore, or at times, accelerate such destruction?

The Center welcomes papers addressing any range of topics concerning the politics of patrimony, archival destruction, the international market for art and antiquities, or the political dimensions of cultural artifacts in Islamic history. We are interested in papers that highlight

• Endangered or already compromised sites or archives of collective memory and learning in the Islamic world.

• Historical examples of cultural destruction (from the Mongol invasion to the colonial era) and their lasting imprint on Islamic heritage.

• Individual and communal efforts to preserve or salvage endangered manuscripts, artifacts, buildings, or other.

• The politics of nostalgia.

• Attempts at recovery and restoration.

• The politics of Western intervention in these matters, including the purchase of manuscripts and artifacts for private collections, academic study, or public exhibition.

Abstracts due: January 3, 2025.

Please email submissions to: avacgis@gmu.edu

The Annual Conference of the AbuSulayman Center for Global Islamic Studies will be held on the Fairfax, VA campus of George Mason Mason University and in hybrid format over a two day period in mid-April, 2025. Exact conference dates along with the conference keynote speaker(s) will be announced in early January. Accepted papers will be notified in early February.

Submissions should include

1. a CV and
2. an abstract of no more than 500 words.

Applicants are requested to indicate if their submission would be eligible for possible inclusion in a collected volume.

Select candidates may also be invited to publish an abstract of their research in the online publication of the AbuSulayman Center, Maydan (https://themaydan.com/).

Limited funding will be available for participants unable to secure travel and lodging support from their home institutions. If you would like to request funding for participation please note “funding requested” at the top of your submission.