Call for Papers: Shiʿi Piety: Theory and Materiality from Premodern to Postmodern

Leiden University Shiʿi Studies Initiative (LUSSI) will host one-day workshop titled Shiʿi Piety: Theory and Materiality from Premodern to Postmodern on November 16, 2018.

This one-day workshop brings together graduate students and early career scholars working on topics related to Shiʿism in all periods and from any disciplinary perspective. The workshop is open to work on Zaydi, Twelver, Ismaili and other forms of Shiʿism. The aim is thereby to allow for the discussion both of micro-historical and ethnographic specificities as well as long durée patterns and developments.

The workshop will address the concept of piety in its material expression, its literary representation and its theoretical articulation.

Central topics include:
• Belief and its implications in philosophy, theology, and law
• Rites and rituals in spaces and texts
• Spatial, material, and literary manifestations of piety
• Networks
• Impiety
• The daily lives of pious beings

We particularly welcome scholars working on the intersection between the material expression of piety, and the intellectual or theoretical articulation of what it means to be Shiʿi. Contributions will be expected to be clear in how they define and understand piety, whether a theological conception or as lived tradition.

For consideration, please send a 300-word abstract to lussi@hum.leidenuniv.nl by July 15th.

The language of the workshop will be English.

Travel subsidies will be available for participants.

About the Leiden University Shiʿi Studies Initiative
Islamic studies is a flourishing field, but the study of Shiʿi Islam in all its forms still remains underpopulated. The primary objective of LUSSI is to connect scholars and address lacunae in the field by promoting the study of Shiʿism in all its expressions and disciplinary approaches.