Saturday 14 November 2020

ENSIE2

The program for ENSIE2 is now online at http://ensie.site/2020conference.html

The conference will be 3-5 December, on Zoom. It examines Islam and esotericism, from Sufism and dreams to sorcery and magic, in al-Andalus, the historical and contemporary Middle East, Africa, and the West. Register before December 1 at https://doodle.com/poll/ahvdmz9airifz933.

Saturday 19 September 2020

ENSIE at ESSWE8: Deadline approaching

As previously announced, ENSIE is again organising panels for the biannual conference of ESSWE, which in 2021 will be in Cork from 5 July to 7 July. 

The theme of the conference is "Western Esotericism and Creativity: Art, Performance and Innovation." Proposals are therefore invited for papers dealing with any aspect of Islam, esotericism and creativity. ​ENSIE will then assemble proposals for papers into proposals for sessions, and forward these to ESSWE. Each session will have three or four papers. 

 Proposals of max. 300 words with 3-5 keywords and the name, title, and institutional affiliation of the proposer should be submitted by 1 October 2020 to Mark Sedgwick, mjrs@cas.au.dk. The ESSWE deadline is 1 November 2020, and the ENSIE deadline is designed to allow time to meet this. For further information, visit http://esswe8.com and http://ensie.site/conferences.html.

Saturday 8 August 2020

ENSIE Call for Papers for ESSWE8

ENSIE is again organising panels for the biannual conference of ESSWE, which in 2021 will be in Cork from 5 July to 7 July. The theme of the conference is "Western Esotericism and Creativity: Art, Performance and Innovation." Proposals are therefore invited for papers dealing with any aspect of Islam, esotericism and creativity. ​ENSIE will then assemble proposals for papers into proposals for sessions, and forward these to ESSWE. Each session will have three or four papers.

Proposals of max. 300 words with 3-5 keywords and the name, title, and institutional affiliation of the proposer should be submitted by 1 October 2020 to Mark Sedgwick, mjrs@cas.au.dk. The ESSWE deadline is 1 November 2020, and the ENSIE deadline is designed to allow time to meet this.

For further information, visit http://esswe8.com and http://ensie.site/conferences.html.

Wednesday 13 May 2020

Matt Melvin-Koushki in conversation

Sajjad Rizvi at Exeter has been holding a series of "Exeter Convos" on various topical issues, and has just published a "convo" with Matt Melvin-Koushki of the University of South Carolina, entitled "Is occult science science?" on occult science, Islam, and the problems of the historiography of the study of Islam. Available here.

Saturday 18 April 2020

Deadline approaching: ENSIE 2020

The deadline for proposals for ENSIE 2020 (Louvain la-Neuve, 24-26 September, 2020) is approaching: 1 May, 2020. Send abstracts and CVs to 2020ensie@gmail.com. Further information at http://ensie.site/conferences.html.

We still hope that we will be able to meet physically in September, but if for any reason we cannot, we will still hold the conference one way or another, in sha Allah, so please send us your proposal, if you have not already done so.

Thursday 13 February 2020

Call for Papers: ENSIE 2020

Call for Papers 
“Islamic Esotericism in Global Contexts” 
2020 Meeting of the European Network for the Study of Islam and Esotericism (ENSIE) 
24-26 September, 2020 
Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain la-Neuve, Belgium 
Deadline for submissions: 1 May, 2020

The European Network for the Study of Islam and Esotericism (ENSIE) invites you to submit proposals for its 2020 meeting. The theme for the meeting is “Islamic Esotericism in Global Contexts”. The aim is to consider the relationship between Islam and esotericism, and Islamic esotericism, in a global context, shifting the emphasis not only from Western perspectives, but also being more inclusive of the experience of Islam beyond the Arabo-Persian domains. We encourage proposals that give prominence to the agency of non-Western actors in negotiating and challenging social, political, and doctrinal “realities” as they manifest in the writings and activities of esoteric groups and systems. The chronological scope thus stretches from medieval to contemporary times. We encourage papers outlining suitable methods of investigation, re-evaluating accepted conceptual frameworks, formulating effective comparative research, and foraying into new textual frontiers.

We invite papers that engage with these aims, but proposals that do not relate to the 2020 meeting theme are also welcome.

There is no fee for attending the meeting and accommodation will be provided, but the cost of travel is the responsibility of individual participants.

Further information at http://ensie.site/conferences.html.

Monday 13 January 2020

2-month residential scholarships in Venice: Esotericism qualifies

The Vittore Branca International Center for the Study of Italian Culture is offering seven 2-month residential scholarships at the Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice to PhDs and post-doc students who must not be over 40 years old on March 10, 2020. Each scholarship is worth €2,100 with accommodation free of charge for 2 months at the Vittore Branca Center Residence on San Giorgio Maggiore between April 2020 and April 2021.

"Candidates shall propose a research topic preferably focused on the archives and documents kept in the Fondazione Giorgio Cini on the Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore." One of the fields accepted is comparative cultures and spiritualities--and not only Italian spiritualities. It seems that other forms of esotericism would also qualify. See the website of the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities.

Further information: