King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud Chair in Islamic Studies

Events from this organizer

Today

  • Histories of Economy in the Middle East: A Workshop

    McCune Conference Room (HSSB 6020) Humanities and Social Sciences Bldg, Santa Barbara, CA, United States

    Histories of Economy Flyer2 MAY 18 1:30-1:45: Introduction Adam Sabra, University of California, Santa Barbara Sherene Seikaly, University of California, Santa Barbara 1:45-3:15: Commerce and Capital Adam Hanieh, “Space, Scale, and the Middle East’s Contemporary Political Economy” Jessica Goldberg, “Sea Change in Medieval Ifriqiyya” Ziad Abu-Rish, “Complicating the Post-Colonial Narrative” 3:15-3:30: Break 3:30-5:00: Money and […]

  • Flyer for "The Deccani Trails of the St Andrews Qur’an Manuscript" by Keelan Overton on April 12 from 4-5:30PM in HSSB 3001E

    The Deccani Trails of the St Andrews Qur’an Manuscript – Lecture by Dr. Keelan Overton

    HSSB 3001E 3001E Humanities and Social Sciences Building, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States

    Shortly after its production in Safavid Tabriz or Herat, the single-volume Quran manuscript known as the "St Andrews Quran" traveled east to the Deccan region of southern India and circulated between four courtly contexts over the next two hundred years. The evidence for this dynamic life history is found in the codex itself, and this […]

  • Flyer for "The Pasha's New Clothes: The History Section of an 18th-Century Library from Acre" on April 17 from 4-6PM in HSSB 4080

    The Pasha’s New Clothes: The History Section of an 18th-Century Library from Acre – Lecture by Prof. Dana Sajdi (Boston College)

    HSSB 4080 University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, United States

    This is an exploration of the history booklist found in a recently discovered 'library catalogue' from a college in 18th-century Acre. Endowed by the notorious Ottoman governor of the region Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar (d. 1804), the library seems to have been one of the largest in the Ottoman Levant. In addition to introducing the larger […]

  • Michael Cooperson: Towards a New Arabic Literary History

    Michael Cooperson (UCLA), “Towards a New Arabic Literary History”

    HSSB 4020

    Towards a new Arabic literary history Michael Cooperson, Professor of Arabic, NELC, UCLA What did pre-modern authors writing in Arabic have to say about their own literary history? Many things, as it turns out, most of them non-linear. In this respect, their accounts differ from the rise-and-fall story later promulgated by European scholars––a story which […]

  • Ambition on the Road: Getting Ahead in Arabic Travel Writing

    HSSB 4080 4080 Humanities and Social Sciences Building, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States

    Monday, Feb 2, 2026 | 04:00 PM Location HSSB 4080 A Syrian merchant known as the ʿAṭṭār set out on a new road in 1765. When he began to write about his journey, he did so with specific aim and purpose: success, prestige, and merit. A few years earlier, in 1758, a Maronite Christian by […]