Aloha!
Salam and welcome to the Muslim Societies in Asia and the Pacific (MSAP) bimonthly newsletter!
This week's thematic focus is Islamic art collections. We also have our regular feature of publications, upcoming events, calls for papers, information about resources, employment, scholarships, and news related to MSAP.
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Islamic Art Collections
MSAP has been highlighting Islamic art collections on our website. This week's newsletter directs your attention to museums with substantial portions of their collections available online. We encourage virtual visits.
Most of these websites engage the question "What is Islamic art?", or as one site asks, "What makes art Islamic?" Like many questions of this sort, there likely is no definitive or conclusive answer. The Metropolitan Museum offers as a definition "the art created specifically in the service of the Muslim faith and created by ..... Muslims." The Smithsonian suggests "The three principal media for artistic expression in the Islamic world are architecture (both religious and secular), the arts of the book (calligraphy, illustration, illumination and bookbinding) and and the arts of the object (ceramics, metalwork, glass, woodwork, textiles, and ivory)". The question seems worth consideration as you view images gathered from across time and space and review the associated texts. 
* The Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) houses Southeast Asia's largest Islamic Art collection, with more than 7000 artifacts and an exceptional library of books devoted to Islamic art. For MSAP, this museum is significant because, while including work from Persia and the Middle East, the collection emphasizes Islamic Art from Asia. Embracing Malaysia's own history of unique cultural influences, the collection is well represented by art from China, Southeast Asia and India. Some images are available online.
* Doris Duke's Islamic Art collection, in the beautiful Shangri La house, Honolulu, Hawaii (U.S.), contains around 3,500 objects from many diverse cultures. "Unconstrained by the organizing principles of museum exhibitions, .....'Doris' Duke filled Shangri La with lesser known arts including furniture, doors, and hybrids that blend Islamic and other artistic traditions." The entire collection can be viewed online.
* The Jameel Gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum located in London (UK) houses over 400 objects, including ceramics, textiles, carpets, metalwork, glass and woodwork, which date from the great days of the Islamic caliphate of the 8th and 9th centuries to the years preceding World War I (1914-18). One notable inclusion is Ardabil carpet from Iran, the world's oldest dated carpet and one of the largest, most beautiful and historically important in the world. Geographically, the collection stretches from Spain in the west to Uzbekistan and Afghanistan in the east, concentrating on important centres of artistic production in the Arab lands, Turkey and Iran. Many images are available online. * " The Nature of Islamic Art" collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York City (US) includes objects from across the 'Muslim World' and offers rich accounts of Islamic history. This enormous collection is accompanied by detailed descriptions, all available online.
* "Arts of the Islamic World" collection at the Smithsonian Museums of Asian Art in Washington, DC (U.S.) houses more than 2,200 items covering a period that ranges from the 9th to the 20th century. Highlights include ceramics from the 9th-13th century and Egyptian and Syrian metalwork from the 13th century. Some images are available online. * "Arts of Asia and the Islamic World" collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts in Michigan (US), includes 1,300 objects from Ancient Middle East and the Islamic World, and 2,600 objects from Asia, as well as from North Africa and Islamic Spain. The collection can be viewed online.
* The "Beauty and Belief" travelling Islamic art collection features over 250 objects, by 40 lenders, from 9 countries, in Europe and the Middle East. It is presently housed Brigham Young University Museum of Art in Provo (Utah, US) and will be housed at the Indianapolis Museum of Art from November 2, 2012 - January 13, 2013; at the Newark Museum from February 13, 2013 - May 19, 2013; and at the Portland Art Museum from June 15, 2013 - September 8, 2013. Highlights can be found online.
* Howard Hodkin's Vision of Mughal India Collection is a temporary exposition (February 2 - April 22 2012) at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology at the University of Oxford (UK). The collection comprises over 115 paintings from the Mughal period (c. 1550-1850), "including the refined naturalistic works of the imperial Mughal court; the poetic and subtly coloured paintings of the Deccani Sultanates; and the boldly drawn and vibrantly coloured styles of the Rajput kingdoms of Rajasthan and the Punjab Hills."
MSAP has particular interest in online collection that originate or housed in Asia and the Pacific.
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Events in Honolulu Sharia Forum Speakers: David Forte, Professor of Law, Cleveland State University, Tamara Albertini, Professor of Islamic Philosophy-UHM, Azeema Faizunnisa, Ph.D. Candidate Department of Sociology-UHM James Frankel, Professor of Comparative Religion-UHM (moderator) 12 March 2012, 11:30am - 1pm Richardson School of Law (Classroom 2) University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) Sponsors: Hawaii Federalist Society and MSAP more info
Muslims in Motion: Islam and National Identity in the Bangladeshi Diaspora Speaker: Nazli Kibria Professor of Sociology, Boston University 13 March 2012, 3-6pm Crawford 115- UHM Sponsors: Center for South Asian Studies, Ethnic Studies Department and MSAP more info
Sufi Lecture and Performance Speaker: Ustad Ghulam Farid Nizami Fulbright Scholar 14 March 2012, 12-4pm Center for Korean Studies Auditorium Sponsors: Lovers of South Asian Cultures, Islamic Society of UH and MSAP more info  | | Ustad Ghulam Farid Nizami - 4min |
Teaching About Islam, Religions and the World A Free Workshop Speaker: Ms. Susan Douglas From the Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU) Georgetown University 23 March 2012 / 9-3pm Center for Korean Studies Auditorium-UHM Open to the Public Sponsors: College of Education, Islamic Society of UH and MSAP 24 March 2012 / 8:30am - 3pm Burns Hall, East West Center Sponsors: Pacific Affairs Asian Council (PAAC), Islamic Students of UH and MSAP more info |
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Employment Opportunities
Closing date: 9 April 2012
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Asian History Department of History, Wheaton College, Massachusetts, USA Closing date: 1 May 2012 Department Chair Al Mu'allim Mohamed Awad Binladin Chair in Architecture in the Islamic World American University of Beirut Lebanon Closing date: 30 April 2012
Leiden University, Institute for Area Studies (LIAS) Closing date: 15 April 2012 |
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Conferences /
Exhibitions
9th Annual Central Eurasian Studies Conference
3 March 2012
Indiana University - Bloomington
Indiana, USA
16 March 2012
The Institute of Buddhist Studies
Berkeley, California, USA
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
North Carolina, USA
11-13 January 2013
Closing date: 31 October 2012
The Collection of Howard Hodgkin 2 February - 22 April 2012
Museum of Art and Archaelogy University of Oxford United Kingdom |
Grants/Fellowships
ACLS Public Fellows Program: Various Non-profit Staff Positions American Council of Learned Societies New York, United States Deadline: 21 March 2012 Asian Pacific Fund Scholarship 2012 The Asian Pacific Fund offers 14 scholarship programs to help undergraduate and graduate students achieve their education goals Deadline: 15 March 2012 The Mark Steinberg Weil Early Career Fellowship in Islamic Studies Department of Jewish, Islamic and Near-Eastern Languages and Cultures Washington University in St. Louis Deadline: 1 March 2012
Info: akaramus@wustl.edu in selected 27 premier universities in 10 ADB member countries
Various deadlines
Asian Development Bank 3rd Batch - 19 March - 13 April 2012
Foundation for Global Scholars
Scholarships to enable undergraduate and graduate students have an international experience.
Applications available by 12 March 2012.
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Call for Papers
28-29 September 2012
State University of New York
at New Paltz
New York, USA
Closing date: 15 May 2012
Asian Conference on Arts and Cultures
9-10 August 2012
Srinakharinwirot University
Bangkok, Thailand
Closing date: 20 April 2012
Southeast Conference: 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies
11-13 January 2012
Institute of South Asian Studies
University of North Carolina at Wilmington, NC, USA
Closing date: 31 October 2012
2nd Annual International Conference on Political Science, Sociology and International Relations
17-18 September 2012
Bali, Indonesia
Full paper deadline: 18 May 2012
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