Veni grants for NISIS members

NISIS members Mònica Colominas Aparicio, Mahmood Kooriadathodi, and Judith Naeff, were recently awarded a veni grant. Veni grants are awarded by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) to excellent researchers who have recently obtained their PhD. The grant allows researchers to develop their ideas for a period of three years.

We would like to congratulate Mònica Colominas Aparicio, Mahmood Kooriadathodi, and Judith Naeff on this achievement!

Dr. Monica Colominas Aparicio (University of Amsterdam)
The Status of Jews and Christians in the Islamic World: The Case of Islamic Spain
Religious diversity in Islam is often controversial. Al-Andalus serves as a model in societal debates about minorities, but solid studies about the period are lacking. This project investigates the social reality of Jews and Christians in al-Andalus and wants to clarify knowledge about the history of minorities in Islamic societies.

Dr. Mahmood Kooriadathodi (Leiden University)
Matriarchal Islam: Gendering Sharia in the Indian Ocean World
Islam is generally interpreted as a patriarchal religion. This presupposition comes from reading the religion through a male-dominant perspective alone. This project turns to the Indian Ocean Islam for it offers a different understanding of several connected matriarchal Muslim communities, who all should be considered as part of the historical and human experiences of the Sharia.

Dr. Judith Naeff (Leiden University)
Remembering Dissent and Disillusion in the Arab World
This research project analyses experimental documentaries and fiction by young Arab makers about the protest movements of the 1970s in the region. The way in which they engage with this past reveals how they define their position in the dispiriting political context of the 2000s in the region.