Production, Transmission & Interpretation - day 2

Islamic time begins with the Hijra; the integral responsibilities of every Muslim include the Hajj; and studies of Islamic history have traditionally followed military marches and commercial/cultural corridors that enabled the creation of the great gunpowder empires.

More recently, mobility has also been manifested in the Islamic world in the fall of these empires, movement of their materials through loots and repatriations, and voluntary and forced migrations.

Until recently, these themes have been predominantly researched divorced from Islam through incongruous positivist lenses and euro-centric canons, and often with underlying colonial agendas. It is with the aim to intervene within and disrupt this context that the Department of History of Art and the Department of Archaeology at the University of York present Production, Transmission, & Interpretation, a conference on Islamic Art, Architecture, History, and Archaeology.

Foregrounding the voices of the historically marginalised, founded in material cultural narratives, and focussed on new sources and methodologies, this conference will bring together the latest research from scholars (doctoral to emeriti) and draw upon a range of cognate disciplines across the arts, humanities, and social sciences, to consider 1400 years of the Islamic world and society.

This event will particularly be of interest to students/academics/scholars, both from the University of York and other academic institutions

Registration is required tickets cost £5 and are can be purchased here.

Programme - day 2

Venue: Campus West (Berrick Saul Building) 

09:00 – 09:30: Registration and refreshments, Berrick Saul Atrium BS/003A

09:30 – 10:45: Panel 1: Of hinterlands and frontiers, Tree House BS/104

A. The contested Site of Mar Behnam – Khidr-Ilyas Monastery: the thirteenth- century hagiographic evolution of a saint by Catherine McNally, MIT

B. Iranian modern aesthetics: sacred water in Persian mythology and āshūrā traditions in the case of saqqa-khaneh by Pooran Lashini, UT Dallas

C. Islamic occupational and exploitation strategies in the hinterland of the middle Euphrates valley and central-eastern Sicily (6th-10th centuries) by Elie Essa Kas Hanna, Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome Q&A

Panel chair: Dr Richard P. McClary 

10:45 – 12:30: Panel 2: Archaeology: reclaiming the Islamic past, Tree House BS/104

A. Peripheries in the heartland? The ambiguous status of eastern Arabia in the cultural landscape of Islamic lands, 7 -11th centuries by Agnieszka Lic, Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures, Polish Academy of Sciences

B. Technical exploration and classification of polychrome plaster decoration in Iranian architecture during the Islamic epoch by Sahar Basiri, University of York

C. The potential reconstruction of Islamic identity and subsistence on the east African coast through isotopic studies by Nura Hassan, University of York

D. Lonely and forlorn? Nakhchivan’s Alinja khanqah and its architectural decorations by Dr. Ana Marija Grbanovic, KDWT, University of Bamberg Q&A

Panel chair: Dr Louise Cooke 

12:30 – 13:30: Lunch, Berrick Saul Atrium BS/003A

13:30 – 15:15: Panel 3: Occupation, appropriation, and adaptation, Tree House BS/104

A. An Islamic architecture? traditional dwellings in the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush by Dr Abdulmamad Iloliev, University of Central Asia, Tajikistan

B. Bidirectional mobility and paths of artistic diffusion in al-Maghrib al-Aqsa (8th – 13th centuries): new archaeological perspectives by Dr. Asmae EL KACIMI, INSAP, Rabat, Morocco

C. Artistic fusion in Isfahan: the evolution of Armenian murals in Vank Cathedral by Ahmad Yengimolki, University of York

D. Development of forms and customs in late antique to early Umayyad bathhouses in Cordoba, Spain by Dallin Evans, Rice University Q&A 

Panel chair: Professor Joanna de Groot 

15:15 – 17:00: Panel 4: New sources, new methods, Tree House BS/104

A. Heritage materials as works of art by Naureen Ali, Institute of Ismaili Studies

B. The making of Shia Muslim spaces in Britain (1960s-1970s) by Jaffer A. Mirza, King’s College

C. Lessons from late Qajar property ads: unearthing pre-modern architectural and urban subjectivities in Iran Kamyar Salavati, University of Exeter

D. Conditions for the representation of banausic labor in early Arabic poetry by David Larsen, NYU Q&A

Panel chair: Dr Shazia Jagot

17:00 – 18:15: Tea and refreshments, Berrick Saul Atrium BS/003A

18:15 – 19:30: Public keynote lecture, Bowland Auditorium BS/005

The Islamic fascination with domes
by Professor Robert Hillenbrand
Professor Emeritus of Islamic Art, University of Edinburgh
Honorary Professorial Fellow of Islamic Art, University of St Andrews
Slade Professor of Fine Art, University of Cambridge
Honorary Vice President, British Institute of Persian Studies
Chairman, Academic Council of the Iran Heritage Foundation, London

Chaired by: Professor Marcus Milwright 

Download the full 3 day Production Transmission Interpretation Programme revised (PDF , 409kb)

Registration for The Islamic fascination with domes keynote lecture is FREE to attend as a separate event, registration is available here.

Any questions please email Parshati Dutta and Nausheen Hoosein via islamic-art-2024-conference@york.ac.uk.