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News from the Centre

The UK exhibition by the Pakistani-American artist, Shahzia Sikander – an event that we are joint-sponsoring with the Bagri Foundation and Jesus College opens tonight! The exhibition has been curated by our Islamic Art historian, Dr Vivek Gupta and will run from 16 October to 18 February 2022.

Here is a teaser of the unpacking process…

Article/release: https://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/articles/british-debut-shahzia-sikanders-promiscuous-intimacies-west-court-gallery

Event: https://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/events/shahzia-sikander-unbound-exhibition

The video from the first of our public events in the 2021-22 year is now available on our ‘videos and podcasts’ page. The talk ‘Begums and Maids: A History of the Deccan through its Female Protagonists’ was given by author Manu Pillai.

Dr Paul Anderson, Acting Director at the Centre for the past year, has just published a new article:

The Social Life of Syrian Diplomacy: Transnational Kinship Networks of the Asad Regime.

in History and Anthropology2021. This is available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02757206.2021.1946052?src=

Registration for the 2021/22 Arabic Language Classes now open

Cambridge University students have the opportunity to enrol in the HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies’ Arabic Language Programme. The courses are aimed at graduate students across Cambridge University (other than those taking the Arabic tripos) whose research interests include the Arab and Islamic world. For more details and to enrol go here.

If you want to look back over the past year’s varied events then all of the 2020-21 CIS event videos are available on our ‘videos and podcasts’ page.

14 Oct 2021

Our first CIS Public Talk with Prof. Abdelwahab El-Affendi and Dr Azmi Bishara on ‘Standing the Democratic Transition Paradigm on its Head: New Reflections after the Arab Revolutions’ – a great audience and some wide-ranging and challenging questions. A video of the event will be available soon.

7 July 2021

We are pleased to announce that a special issue of Global Intellectual History, edited by our Research Associate, Dr Taushif Kara (along with Amar Sohal), has just been published online and open access. The theme was “Refusing minority, recasting Islam” and it features an introduction by the two editors, four articles, and an afterword by Faisal Devji. https://www.tandfonline.com/action/showAxaArticles?journalCode=rgih20

25 June 2021

Our last event of the term took place on Fri 25 June with the concluding talk in the ‘Malabar to Coromandel’ series. The talk was “Dressing in the Deccan: Clothing and Identity at the Courts of Central India” given by Marika Sardar from the Aga Khan Museum.

17 June 2021

We are looking forward to our symposium ‘Muslims in the UK and Europe’ – with 12 early-career researchers presenting some great papers. This will be held on Thursday 17 June with the keynote running from 9-10am London time. The keynote will be delivered by our Visiting Fellow, Dr Hisham Hellyer, talking about ‘The Muslim-European presence, current and future challenges’ and will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel.

3 June 2021

CIS Public talk on 3 June by our visiting Fellow, Dr Hisham Hellyer, who speak about ‘The New Geopolitics of the Middle East – Back to the Future?’. – go to our videos page for the recording .

28 May 2021

‘Discovering the Deccan’ – William Dalrymple in conversation with George Michell on Friday 28 May in the next of our ‘From-Malabar-to-Coromandel’ Deccan Heritage series. The discussion will explore what attracted William and George to the Deccan; their work and whether their book on the White Mughals was responsible for the restoration of the Residency.

25 May 2021

‘What is Bangladesh?’ – a talk by Naveeda Khan on Tuesday 25 May in our ‘Muslim Thought in South Asia’ series Naveeda will focus on the Bangladeshi delegation at the UN climate change conferences, drawing out what it means to be a small, poor and dependent country within the climate negotiation process. She will study both the country delegates and civil society representatives to show what leadership looks like even when one is bound.

21 May 2021

This weekend (22-23 May) see the start of a new multi-arts festival, ‘MFest’, of Muslim knowledge and creativity – produced by Maslaha in partnership with the British Library. One of Maslaha’s Directors is Dr martin Rose, a former Visiting Fellow here at the Centre. It kicks off this Saturday with journalist Rokhaya Diallo, MP Zarah Sultana, and writer Hoda Katebi discussing connecting anti-racist struggles.

14 May 2021

The latest video in our joint series ‘From Malabar to Coromandel’ – Navina Haidar on ‘Rocks from a brush : Artistic encounters with Deccani rocks, hills and landscapes’ is now available on our ‘videos and podcasts’ page.

9 April 2021

“Balsam and Betel Nut Palm: Botanical Representation in the Early Modern Deccan” – given by Dr Nicolas Roth as part of the ‘From Malabar to Coromandel’ series – go to our videos page for the recordings .

31 March 2021

Our second Cambridge festival event is ‘Minority Questions – Cambridge Festival 2021’ . This session was hosted by Dr Taushif Kara with contributions from Dr Emanuelle Degli Esposti and Dr Amar Sohal.

30 March 2021

‘Charity and activism in Shiism: How grassroots are changing the face of British Shiism’ is the first of two events that we produced for the Cambridge festival. This session given by Dr Emanuelle Degli Esposti.

11 March 2021

CIS Public talk on 11 March by Prof. Magnus Marsden talking about ‘Inter-Asia’ through Inland Eyes: Afghan Trading Networks across Land and Sea.’ – go to our videos page for the recording .

25 Feb 2021

CIS Public talk on 25 February by Mike Farquhar talking about ”Policing Infitah’: Economic Liberalisation, Security and Social Order in Egypt.’ – go to our videos page for the recording .

11 Feb 2021

CIS Public talk on 11 February by Sertaç Sehlikoglu talking about ‘Genealogy, Critique, and Decolonization:Ibn Khaldun and Moving Beyond Filling the Gaps’ – go to our videos page for the recording .

29 Jan 2021

First CIS Public talk on 28 January by Dr David Henig talking about ‘New borders, Old solidarities: (Post-) Cold War Genealogies of Mobility along the ‘Balkan Route’@ – go to our videos page for the recording .

23 Jan 2021

Two great talks in the ‘From Malabar to Coromandel’ series – run in collaboration with the Deccan Heritage Foundation and His Highness Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar Foundation – go to our videos page for the recordings .

25 Jan 2021

Our new Visiting fellow, Dr H. Hellyer, just published two articles that may be of interest: – In Politico magazine on ‘Arab spring, European winter’ – In Jadaliyya magazine on ‘Powerful Scholars and Clerics of Power: Remembering Shaykh Emad Effat’.

About the Centre

The Centre of Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge is a research and outreach centre that aims to promote a constructive and critical understanding of the role of Islam and Muslims in wider society. One important focus of our work is Muslims in the UK and Europe, although we are also interested in Islam and Muslim communities in other parts of the world. We aspire, through rigorous research and dynamic public outreach, to disseminate knowledge and facilitate informed discussion between academics, policy-makers, the media, business and the public with an interest in Islam in the contemporary world.

The Centre of Islamic Studies is part of the University of Cambridge and is supported by a generous donation from Alwaleed Philanthropies.