Annual Medieval Middle East Meeting (AMMEM)

This event is interdisciplinary, interregional and transhistorical. A main aim is to break down disciplinary and regional boundaries. All students and scholars with an interest in the greater Middle East and related regions (from Andalusia to Central Asia) are encouraged to attend. In particular we would like to welcome, in addition to those working with the languages of the Middle East, also those who work on e.g. medieval European language texts and objects that relate to the Middle East.

In 2024, the roundtable theme will be “The Societal Impact of Studying and Teaching the Medieval Middle East.” Please let us know if you would be interested in participating or nominating one of your colleagues for this roundtable!

MAs, ResMAs, PhDs, Postdocs, Lecturers, Professors and independent scholars are all welcome!

Course load:(for Research MA-students only): 1 ECTS

Register here to attend and/or present: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOMDD8KLHG085obYLklKVdkbL2Ns6zuFkIOB8l7xkqDRW-Lw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Presentations are invited on all relevant topics. There is no theme for presentations. Abstracts of max. 300 words can be sent to the organisers, Josephine van den Bent, j.m.c.vandenbent@uva.nl ,and Edmund Hayes e.p.hayes@hum.leidenuniv.nl) by Sept 7^th, 2024.

We expect the programme to consist of around 10-20 short papers on a variety of subjects, presented in a number of  sessions by research students and tenured staff. (Parallel sessions may be added if numbers are great). We will aim to accept all submitted papers of a sufficient quality. In this way, a broad cross-section of our fields can be represented. Presentations of papers will be 20 minutes long followed by 10 minutes for Q&A. Places will be allocated on a first-come-first served basis, but also with attention to balance in topic and seniority.

Description of AMMEM

The aim of AMMEM is to meet and share recent research, work in progress, and contemplations on our fields, with a strong focus on making interdisciplinary connections between sometimes mutually isolated departments and fields in the study of history; language and literature; art, archaeology and material culture; Islamic studies and other Middle Eastern religious traditions; and across regional boundaries. The Medieval Middle East Meeting will be a yearly forum for students, junior researchers and senior scholars to present historical work-in-progress that is related to the medieval Middle East and Islamic world broadly defined to include North Africa, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean world (e.g. Andalusia). The conception of medieval likewise is broadly defined, also including late antiquity to early modernity. Students will benefit from presenting their research before senior scholars and by attending the presentation of more senior scholars and seeing research in process. In addition, each year the programme will include a roundtable on a hot topic of relevance to all. AMMEM is an initiative organized in association with the Dutch Research School for Medieval Studies and the Netherlands Interuniversity School for Islamic Studies (NISIS)