CALL FOR PAPERS: ‘THE QUR'AN: TEXT, SOCIETY AND CULTURE'

Seventh Biennial Conference on the Qur'an

10–12 November 2011
SOAS, University of London
Convenors: Prof. M.A.S. Abdel Haleem and Dr Helen Blatherwick
Deadline for abstracts: 1 June 2011

Papers are invited for the Seventh Biennial Conference on the Qur’an, to be held at SOAS from Thursday 10 to Saturday 12 November 2011. The conference series seeks to provide a forum for investigating the basic question: how is the Qur’anic text read and interpreted? Our objective is to encompass a global vision of current research trends, and to stimulate discussion, debate and research on all aspects of the Qur’anic text and its interpretation. While this year’s conference will remain focussed on the textual study of the Qur’an, contributions on all topics relevant to Qur’anic studies are welcomed. While the final conference programme will take account of the range of proposals actually accepted, suggested areas of specific interest for this session include:

- The Qur’an and ethics, law and society
- Applied discourses of the Qur’an: theology, philosophy, exegesis ...
- The reception of Euro-American scholarship on the Qur’an and tafsir in the Muslim world
- The Qur’an in contemporary society and culture
- The Qur’an and the arts: visual, aural and literary
- The Qur’an: characters and characterisation, literary trajectories, structure and themes

Selected papers will be published as articles in the Journal of Qur’anic Studies, subject to standard outside refereeing. Speakers are expected to give priority to the Journal when publishing these articles.

It is Centre of Islamic Studies policy to reimburse featured speakers for their standard travel expenses, hotel accommodation and board. We do however encourage speakers to try to obtain some funding from their home universities or other sources wherever that is possible.


Submission of Abstracts:

The deadline for abstracts is 1 June 2011. Abstracts of around 200 words and details of institutional affiliation should be submitted by email attachment to quran.conference@soas.ac.uk. Accepted speakers will be notified by email at the beginning of July.

Presented papers should be 25 minutes long, and will be followed by 5 minutes for questions per paper.


Further Information:

If you would like further information on the conference, please visit the conference website at www.soas.ac.uk/cisconference. This will be updated in the second half of 2010, on an ongoing basis.

If you have any enquiries, please contact Dr Helen Blatherwick at the Centre of Islamic Studies, SOAS, University of London, Brunei Gallery, Russell Square, Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG, or by email at quran.conference@soas.ac.uk.

No registration is required for this conference and all are welcome to attend.
Venue: SOAS, University of London, Brunei Gallery, Russell Square, Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG