This Winter School revolves on the theme of “commensality”, the prospect of coming together at the same table -or not-, with literal and metaphorical implications for respecting differences among those who share a meal.  As a field of growing research in the arena of public health, scholars now connect commensality and sociability to individual and communal well-being. In this Winter School, we propose…

On Wednesday November 12 at 5 pm Ahmed El Shamsy (University of Chicago) will give the 2025 Juynboll lecture entitled “Sunni constitutional theory in light of an early hadith about obedience.”  The lecture takes place at Leiden University in Lipsius 005. In this lecture El Shamsy shows that the claim that Sunnism is politically quietist,…

Since the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, on 8 December 2024, there are notable signs of hope and change within the country.  Interim-president al-Shara, who completely abandoned the path of Jihadism, has openly expressed the importance of equal rights for men, women and young people. What are the chances for women to play…

The Annual Medieval Middle East Meeting (AMMEM) is a yearly event in the Netherlands supported by NISIS and the Dutch Research School for Medieval Studies. This initiative is a yearly forum for students, junior, middle-career and senior scholars to present work-in-progress that is related to the Medieval Middle East. The aim is to receive feedback,…