Institute of Islamic Studies

Al-Jahiz lived in a transitional time when it came to textual transmission. Scholars were just beginning to author books and transmit them intact, rather than compiling information and transmitting that information in such a way that it could be recompiled and reordered by the recipients. This is probably the reason why his longest work, the seven-volume Book of Animals, is so cryptically organized.  There are chapter headings, but they do not necessarily correspond with the contents, or with the major textual divisions, and there are various ways to understand how the text is organized.  Many modern critics have simply labelled it a digressive text.  In this talk, I will turn to the manuscripts, asking how the copyists, commentators, and readers seem to have interpreted the organizational structure of this mysterious text.  The results show a variety of approaches, and also reveal some differences of opinion about whether to treat the text as a biological work or a lexicographical one.

Writing a dissertation is no small matter.  It’s a task that, once completed, stands as the crowning achievement of the PhD.  But…writing a dissertation and publishing a book are two very different things.  Anver M. Emon, director of the IIS is also the founder and general editor of the Oxford Islamic Legal Studies Series.  In less than a decade, he has helped transform new scholars’ dissertations into successfully peer-reviewed monographs that have secured a place in the historiography of Islamic law.  Emon will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the processes involved in publishing a book.  Offering a general timeline that tracks the process from dissertation defense to final page proofs, Emon will help soon-to-be PhDs chart their respective courses forward in their publishing life.

This workshop will introduce participants to the disciplinary terrain of Islamic studies, as it varies across North America and Europe. The two regions are important producers of knowledge on Islam and Muslims, but they do so through distinct disciplinary registers and historical contexts — both of which inform the range of research questions and the intricacies of research design.  Moreover, these distinct intellectual contexts inform processes of peer review for publication purposes. Extending the IIS’s earlier discussions on publication processes, Dr. Cavatorta will compare and contrast the intellectual climates on both side of the Atlantic for a profession that faces the challenges of increasing mobility, interdisciplinary, and collaboration.

Francesco Cavatorta is a professor of political science at Laval University, Quebec.  He is currently visiting professor of political science at UofT.