The Seventh Biennial Convention of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies (ASPS)

ASPS/Konya 2015

September 23-27, 2015

Konya, Turkey

CALL FOR PAPERS: The Association for the Study of Persianate Societies (ASPS) calls for the participation of its members in its Seventh Biennial Convention, to take place in Konya, Turkey, September 23-27, 2015. Selçuk University (http://www.selcuk.edu.tr/English/DefaultEng.aspx) will host and help organize our meeting, along with the Directorate of Culture and Tourism in Turkey. The deadline for submission of abstracts is September 15, 2014. Please note that you must be a current ASPS member in order to submit your abstract, otherwise your submission will not be considered. In order to become a new member or renew your ASPS membership please proceed to our membership page at (http://www.persianatesocieties.org/index.php/membership). We will likely have a limited number of fellowships available for participants from Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Caucasus, as well as US students. All humanities and social science disciplines related to Persianate Societies are welcome. We strongly encourage pre-organized panels, but individual papers are also welcome. Submissions for pre-organized panels must include a panel abstract of no more than 300 words plus individual abstracts of no more than 300 words for each panelist. Panels must be limited to a minimum of three panelists and a maximum of four. We are very enthusiastic about the forthcoming Seventh Biennial Congress of the Association in Konya. For almost a millenium, Konya (ancient Ikónion), as well as the larger region of Anatolia, have boasted strong currents of Persianate culture, some of which are world-famous. The capital of the Anatolian Seljuqs, home to Mawlana Rumi and other luminaries such as Ibn ʿArabi, Sadr al-Din Qunawi, and even allegedly the famous literary character Nasreddin Hoja, Konya also boasts some of the finest specimens of medieval Islamicate architecture, including the Alaeddin Mosque, the İnce Minareli Medrese, the Karatay Medrese, and many others. Konya’s rich manuscript collections, some of which were put together by the local literati well versed in Persian literature in the early twentieth century, also testify to the vibrancy of Persianate civilization in the city. We look forward to an exciting seventh convention in Konya. Past conventions of the ASPS have been held in Dushanbe/Tajikistan (2002); Yerevan/Armenia (2004); Tbilisi/Georgia (2007); Lahore/ Pakistan (2009), Hyderabad/India (2012) and finally, Sarajevo/Bosnia and Herzegovina (2013). We invite you to review our past programs on our web page at http://www.persianatesocieties.org. The ASPS Congresses have provided a rare and valued opportunity for scholars from West, Central and South Asia, Europe and North America to participate in an interdisciplinary dialogue. The interchange of ideas has also found its place in our publication, the Journal of Persianate Societies, published by Brill Academic Publishers. We encourage you to take the opportunity to participate in this unique gathering. Submissions for pre-organized panels and individual papers can be made here [http://persianatesocieties.org/index.php/asps-konya-2015-abstract-submission].