The Art and Material Culture of Iranian Shiism
Conference - Programme
7 - 8 July 2006
Maison Française d'Oxford, University of Oxford, 2-10 Norham Road, Oxford OX2 6SE
This conference aims to bring together historians, art historians, anthropologists and folklorists, in order to try and identify what is specifically Shiite in the art and material culture of Iran. The conference will cover Iran from earliest Islamic times until the 21st century, but expects to focus on four main periods, Safavid, Qajar, Pahlavi and post-Revolutionary Iran.
Provisional Programme
Day 1: Friday 7th July
Shiism and Islamic Mortuary Architecture
Dr. Kishvar Rizvi (Columbia University, New York)
Sufi and Shi'i: Religious Identity and the Architectural Patronage of Shrines in Safavid Iran
Dr. Yasser Tabbaa (Oberlin College, Oberlin (Ohio))
Invented Pieties: The Revival of Shi'ite Shrines in Contemporary Syria
Dr. Oliver Watson (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)
Lustre Ceramics - the Shi'ite connection
Dr. Aftandil S. Erkinov (National University of Uzbekistan, Tashkent)
Ahmad Yasavi: An Ismaeli Pir of the Turkestan Region ('North')
Shiism, Ritual and Material Culture
Prof. Peter Chelkowski (New York University, New York)
Nakhl and Nakhl Rituals in Central Iran
Dr. Sabrina Mervin (Institut français du Proche-Orient, Beirut)
The Shi'ite Theatre in South Lebanon: The Karbala Drama and the Sabaya
Dr. Ziva Vesel (CNRS/Monde Iranien-Indien, Paris)
Inscriptions and Representations on Iranian Talismans: A Millenary Tradition
Shiism, Nomadism and Material Culture
Mr. Ali Akbari (Organization of Nomadic Peoples of Iran, Iran)
The Shi'ite Material Culture between Nomads People of Iran
Mr. Pedram Khosronejad (University of Oxford)
Lion of God, Lion of 'Ali: Shi'ite Material Culture in one Nomadic Society in Iran
Dr. Igne Mortensen (Denmark)
Shi'ite Iconography in a Nomadic Funeral Context
Day 2: Thursday 8th July
Shiism and Material Culture
Prof. Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes à la Sorbonne, Paris)
Icône et Contemplation: Entre l'Art Populaire et le Soufisme dans le Shiisme Imamite
Dr. Robert Gleave (University of Exeter)
Prayer Paraphernalia in Iranian Shiism
Dr. Sadiq Naqvi (Osmania University, Hyderabad)
The Impact of the Material Culture of Iranian Shi'ism on Shi'a Art
Dr. Firuzeh Abdullaeva (University of Oxford)
Firdousi's 'Shahnama' as a Shi'ite Book
Shiism, Symbols and Iconography
Prof. Ulrich Marzolph (Enzyklopaedie des Maerchens, Goettingen)
The Pictorial Representation of Shiite Themes in Lithographed Books of the Qajar Period
Dr. Fahmida Suleman (The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London)
The Iconography of 'Ali as the Lion of God in Shi'ite Art
Dr. Juergen Wasim Frembgen (Museum of Ethnology, Munich)
The Horse of Imam Husain. Notes on the Iconography of Shi'ite Devotional: Posters from Pakistan and North India
Dr. Ingvild Flaskerud (University of Tromsø)
The Votive Image in Shiism