Welcome, opening, and requirementd for the course LATA 4000/6000 the Latin American and Caribbean Studies (LACS) Program Weekly Seminar Series

Talk by Dina Siddiqi

In Bangladesh, as elsewhere today, bodies marked Muslim are constitutive sites of feminist and other politics. The figure of the female garment worker – tasked with saving the national economy through her public, visible labor – has emerged as an especially dense site of debate and signification. This paper traces the ideological labor that garment workers, or rather their sartorial practices, perform for Islamists as well as the secular intelligentsia, in national as well as transnational spaces. Juxtaposed to accounts of how workers navigate the competing discursive economies in which they are embedded, the paper offers a situated reading of parda (practices of covering).

Talk by Nicoletta Fazio

The word muraqqa‘ (lit. patchwork) indicates a composite album containing a vast array of material from both contemporary artists and past masters. The early Timurid albums are treasure troves for the study of artistic practices of professional painters in Iran and Central Asia at the turn of the 9th century AH. In particular, the albums H.2153 and H.2160 in Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi preserve a unique corpus of paintings that have enthralled scholars until today. Attributed to a phantomatic painter named “Muhammad Siyah Qalam”, they depict, in strong and vibrant manners, scenes of nomadic life in Central Asia, sufi gatherings, and supernatural beings (either jinn or demons). They have been dated between the end of the 8th century AH and the second half of the 9th century AH and feature peculiar iconographies that will not be replicated in the following centuries. Differences in style show that they are the work of different artists, who have presumably drawn from the rich and diverse artistic heritage of the Silk Road (from Iran up to Tibet and China) to create these puzzling images. Based on previous research of mine, this seminar aims to be an open discussion, presenting this painting corpus to reflect on their iconographies and propose some interpretative readings vis-à-vis to the most recent scholarship.

Talk by Niloofar Haeri

More than four decades after the revolution of 1979, how do we assess the religiosity of Muslim Iranians now? What is it to be religious? How is it that certain texts, ancient and repeatedly recited, continue to have such sway over the emotional and cultural histories of individuals and societies? I will examine the central ritual of Muslims and search for answers to these and similar questions in my ethnography of a group of middle class educated women who live in Tehran

Talk by Dr. Natali Pearson

In 1998, the Belitung, a ninth-century western Indian Ocean–style vessel, was discovered in Indonesian waters. Onboard was a full cargo load, likely intended for the Middle Eastern market, of over 60,000 Chinese Tang dynasty (619–907) ceramics, gold, and other precious objects. It is one of the most significant shipwreck discoveries of recent times, revealing the global scale of ancient commercial endeavors and the importance of the ocean to these trading networks. But this shipwreck also has a modern tale to tell, of how nation-states appropriate the remnants of the past for their own purposes, and of the international debates about who owns—and is responsible for—shared heritage. In this seminar, I focus on the Belitung’s connections to the Muslim world—as suggested by its origins, as evidenced by its extraordinary cargo, and as implied in its display—and reflect on the knowledge this wreck has brought to the surface.

** Co-sponsored with the Southeast Asia Program

Talk by James D. Frankel

Islam arrived in China during the 7th century as a foreign religion. Yet, once the first Muslims settled permanently there, Islamic religious and cultural traditions were gradually influenced by the norms of Chinese culture and society. This process of naturalization and localization sometimes referred to as “Sinicization”, continued apace for nearly a millennium before historical circumstances accelerated it during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. The vicissitudes of modern Chinese history have led to varying official governmental and societal attitudes towards Islam and Muslims and concomitant adaptations of identity and expressions of religiosity by Chinese Muslims. Most recently, the government of the People’s Republic of China is pursuing its own policies of decreasing foreign religious influences in the country in the name of combatting “extremism and separatism.” These have included official regulations aimed at “sinicizing” Islam in China, leading Muslims into a new wave of adaptation for their survival.

Talk by Faiz Ahmed

Just as a devastating humanitarian crisis, international isolation, and fraught governing regime mark the country’s present-day realities, recent years have witnessed a series of more optimistic anniversaries in Afghanistan’s modern history. As leading examples, 2019 marked the 100th anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence from the British Empire, and 2023 will mark the centennial of Afghanistan’s first written constitution. Commemorating the roots and legacies of Afghanistan’s independence and first national charter a century ago, Faiz Ahmed unearths a lost history behind the country’s emergence as a fiercely anti-colonial, constitutionally governed, and widely respected “Islamic nation-state” lodged between the late Ottoman Empire, Iran, and British India, the subject of his first book Afghanistan Rising. As the US and other global actors continue to debate the future of relations with and foreign involvement in this pivotal country, this lecture will explore what lessons we can learn from rediscovering Afghanistan’s own legal and constitutional history from Afghan and other perspectives of the region(s) it inhabits.

Talk by Qamar Adamjee

This talk, a research project in its early stages, takes three 18th century Qing-period enameled vessels in the Denver Art Museum collection as a starting point for exploring their function, meaning, and context of use within a Chinese Muslim community. The copper vase, covered box, and incense burner are richly enameled cloisonne ware, a type of luxury goods that became very fashionable in the Qing period (1644-1911). Decorated with floral motifs and bearing pious Arabic inscriptions written in the distinctive Chinese sini script, these three vessels were possibly made as a set, similar to Chinese religious ritual altar sets, but for use in a Muslim context. The socio-political and religious histories of Muslim communities in China have been subjects of scholarship in recent decades, but much more work on the artistic production of (and for) Chinese Muslims remains to be done. Drawing upon the visual information included on these objects and by studying them alongside Qur'an manuscripts, mosques, and shrines, this paper situates the material culture of Sinophone Muslims within the context of Muslim ritual practice as well as within wider frameworks of imperial Chinese art, politics, and popular religion.