Lecture Series "Shia Islam and Ismaili Studies"
About the lecture series
The Institute of Ismaili Studies and the Inalco Foundation signed a partnership agreement in 2022, which envisages lecture series, the exchange of scholars and collaborative projects in the field of Islamic studies and the study of the art and culture of Afghanistan and broader Central Asia. Within the framework of the agreement, this series of lectures has been initiated to disseminate the knowledge produced by the partner institutions and exchange new ideas and scholarly perspectives in Islamic and particularly Shi‘i and Ismaili studies. These series start with lectures by IIS scholars working in diverse fields of Ismaili and Shia studies in general. The lectures are aimed at both specialist and non-specialist audiences interested in a better understanding of Shia Islam, in its relations with other Islamic traditions as well as in the intellectual heritage and traditions of the Ismailis in contemporary and historical contexts.
9 December 2024
When does a group become a group? Remarks on the ‘birth’ of Shi’I Sufism, academic reification, and the issue of confessional identity
With Dr. Alessandro Cancian (Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies)
Inalco – Auditorium Georges Dumézil (2 rue de Lille 75007)
Conference at 6.15 PM
Cocktail at 8 PM
13 January 2025
Ismaili Cosmology : Nature and Religion
With Dr. Daryoush Mohammad Poor (Associate Professor and the Interim Head of the Constituency Studies Unit at the Institute of Ismaili Studies)
Inalco – Auditorium Georges Dumézil (2 rue de Lille 75007)
Conference at 6.15 PM
Cocktail at 8 PM
3 Mars 2025
Reconstructing the Higher Thought of Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Karīm al-Shahrastānī (d.548/1153): Eclecticism or Intellectual Synthesis?
With Dr. Toby Mayer (Senior Research Associate at the the Institute of Ismaili Studies)
Inalco – Auditorium Georges Dumézil (2 rue de Lille 75007)
Conference at 6.15 PM
Cocktail at 8 PM
11 April 2025
Expressions of Islamic Syncretism in the Ismaili Traditions – The Case of the Nizari Ismailis of Central Asia
With Dr. Hakim Elnazarov (Head of the Central Asian Studies at the Institute of Ismaili Studies)
Inalco – Auditorium Georges Dumézil (2 rue de Lille 75007)
Conference at 6.15 PM
Cocktail at 8 PM