The Second International Ismaili Studies Conference is being held at Carletion University on March 9-10, 2017. The Conference Convener and Organizer is Professor Karim H. Karim of Carleton University and the Conference Coordinator is Nasreen Rajani. Below is the conference program as copied from the Official Conference Website.

MARCH 9, 2017

8:00 am – 8:30 am

(Conference package pick-up & coffee / tea)

8:30 am – 9:15 am

Opening Address (Atrium)
André Plourde (Dean, Faculty of Public Affairs, Carleton University)

Opening Plenary
Karim H. Karim (Director, Carleton Centre for the Study of Islam)

9:15 am – 10:35 am

Panel: The Fatimids: Texts and Contexts (Room 2220)
Chair: Ismail K. Poonawala (University of California, Los Angeles)

• Paul E. Walker (University of Chicago), “The Minor Works of al-Sijistānī.”
• Shainool Jiwa (Institute of Ismaili Studies), “Fatimid-Abbasid Historiography: Between Heresy and Good-Governance.”
• Samer Traboulsi (University of North Carolina), “The Reliance of the Gnostics: Al-Ashrafānī and his Druze Universal History.”

Panel: Ismailis and Others (Room 2224)
Chair: Rubina Ramji (Cape Breton University)

• Michael Ebstein (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “The Circular Vision of Existence in Classical Islamic Mysticism: From Ismāʿīlī Writings to the Works of Ibn al-ʿArabī.”
• Li-wei Chen (Aga Khan University), “The Mountain without the Old Man: Xishiji on Ismailis.”
• Mir Baiz Khan (ITREB Canada), “Chitrali Ismailis: Their Relations with Other Communities”

Panel: Sacred and Secular Spaces (Room 2228)
Chair: H. Masud Taj (Carleton University)

• Rizwan Mawani (Independent Scholar), “The Jamatkhana: Exploring Its Prehistories and Hegemony in the 20th Century.”
• Aynur Kadir (Simon Fraser University), “Mapping the Sacred Landscape: An Ethnography of Mazar Shrine Pilgrimage among Tajiks in Xinjiang, China”
• Vineet Gupta (University of Heidelberg, Germany), “Shrines and Identity: A Case Study of the Dargah of Pir Fakhruddin, Galiyakot.”

10:35 am – 11:55 am

Panel: The Ismaili State in Iran (Room 2220)
Chair: Shafique N. Virani (University of Toronto)

• Miklós Sárközy (Károli Gáspár University, Hungary), “The Mongol Road to Alamūt: The Re-evaluation of the Last Decades of the Nizārī Ismaili state.”
• Karim Javan (Institute of Ismaili Studies), “Dīwān-i Qāʾimiyyāt: A Missing Chapter of Ismāʿīlī History in Alamut.”
• Shiraz Hajiani (University of Chicago), “Munāẕarāt — a Siege Tactic deployed by the Saljuqs and countered by Nizari Ismaili Proclamations of Islamic Pluralism.”

Panel: Khoja and Other Shia Studies (Room 2224)
Chair: Paul E. Walker (University of Chicago)

• Iqbal Akhtar (Florida International University), “The Khoja Chronicle of Light.”
• Ali Ahmad Rasekh (Independent Scholar), “Reconsidering Weber’s Theory of Authority through a Re-reading of the Charisma of the Ismaili Imams.”
• Michel Boivin (Le Centre national de la recherche scientifique, France), “Authority and bureaucratization: discussing anthropological categories according to the Khoja case study.”

Panel: Digitizing Resources (Room 2228)
Chair: Shane Hawkins (Carleton University)

• Karim Tharani (University of Saskatchewan), “Sound Approach: Digital Curation of Oral Traditions for Access and Preservation.”
• Iqbal I. Dewji (Independent Scholar), “Khojawiki.org: A Transnational Oral History Documentation Project.”
• Aslisho Qurboniev (University of Cambridge), “Project Identity: The Discursive Formation of Pamiri-Isma‘ili Identity on the Internet.”
• Nawazali A. Jiwa (Independent Scholar), “Towards an Online Searchable Database for Ismaili Studies.”

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm (LUNCH)

1:15 pm – 2:30 pm

Keynote Address (Singhal Family Theatre)

Homi K. Bhabha (Harvard University), “Thoughts on Diasporic Cosmopolitanism”

2:40 pm – 4:00 pm

Panel: Ikhwan al-Safa (Room 2220)
Samer Traboulsi (University of North Carolina)

• Arzina Lalani (Institute of Ismaili Studies), “Faith and Awareness: Risala fi’l Iman in Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ.”
• Ismail K. Poonawala (University of California, Los Angeles) “Pluralist Space and the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ.”

Panel: Migration, Borders, Politics (Room 2224)
Chair: Daniel McNeil (Carleton University)

• Sadiq Habib (Independent Scholar), “How Shall We Sing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land? On the Intergenerational Reproduction of Ismāʿīlīsm in Post-Migratory Contexts.”
• Alnoor Gova (Independent Scholar), “‘Unpacking AntiTerrorism’ and its A/Effects on Muslims in Canada.”

Panel: Ginans (Room 2228)
Chair: Tazim R. Kassam (Syracuse University)

• Pyarali Jiwa (Independent Scholar), “The Electronic Ginan Library.”
• Shaheryar Liaquat Ali (Independent Scholar), “Unpublished Ginans.”
• Ali Jan Damani (Independent Scholar), “Nakhlanki Gita.”

4:00 pm – 4:10 pm (COFFEE / TEA)

4:10 pm – 5:30 pm

Music Workshop (Atrium)

Hussein Janmohamed (University of Toronto), “O Canada! Intersections, Counterpoint, and Harmony through Choral Dialogue – An Interactive Workshop.”

5:30 pm – 7:15 pm (DINNER)

MARCH 10, 2017

8:30 am – 9:05 am (COFFEE / TEA)

9:05 am – 10:25 am

Panel: Nasir-i Khusraw (Room 2220)
Chair: Farhang Rajaee (Carleton University)

• Sunatullo Jonboboev (University of Central Asia), “The Reflections of Central Asians on Texts from Nasir Khusraw’s ‘Safar-name” and Folk Versions of his Travelogues.”
• Farhad Mortezaee (Independent Scholar), “Virtual Fatimid Cairo.”
• Marodsilton Muborakshoeva (Institute of Ismaili Studies), “Nasir Khusraw, the Muslim Scholastic.”

Panel: Ugandan Asian Expulsion (Room 2224)
Chair: Alia Paroo (Texas A&M International University)

• Shezan Muhammedi (University of Western Ontario), “‘Gifts from Amin’: Exploring the Resettlement of Ugandan Asian Refugees in Canada and the Partnership between the Aga Khan and Pierre Elliot Trudeau.”
• Patti Harper (Carleton University), “Memory Creation: The Archival Perspective.”
• Heather LeRoux (Carleton University), “Many Voices, One Story: The Ugandan Asian Archive Oral History Project.”

Panel: Reimagining Ismaili Ta’wil (Room 2228)
Chair: Ali S. Asani (Harvard University)

• Khalil Andani (Harvard University), “Reading Text through Pre-Text: Redefining Ismaili Ta’wil”
• Paul Anderson (Harvard University), “Primeval: The Uses of Ta’wīl to Mythologize and De-Mythologize in Ismāʻīlī Genesis Narratives.”
• Faraz Alidina (Harvard University), “Aims and Applications of Taʾwīl in Alamut Ismailism.”
• Aaron Viengkhou (Harvard University), “A New Model of Conversion: Esoteric Hermeneutics and Sapiential Narrative in the Ismāʿīlī Gināns.”

10:35 am – 11:55 am

Panel: 19th & 20th Century Ismaili History in Africa (Room 2220)
Chair: Zulfikar A. Hirji (York University)

• Judy Aldrick (Independent Scholar), “The Sultan’s Spymaster: Peera Dewjee of Zanzibar.”
• Alia Paroo (Texas A&M International University), “Resistance as an Expression of Loyalty: The Ismaili Muslims in Colonial Tanzania, 1920-1960.”
• Mala Pandurang (Dr. BMN College, India), “The Ismaili Khoja East African Asian Diasporicity: Exploring Pluralist Spaces in the Narratives of Sultan Somjee.”

Panel: Identity, Practice and Participation in Canada (Room 2224)
Chair: Melanie Adrian (Carleton University)

• Alyshea Cummins (University of Ottawa), “Redefining Islam in Canada: An Ismaili Muslim Movement.”
• Rubina Ramji (Cape Breton University), “Second Generation Ismaili Muslims in Canada: What Does it Mean to be Muslim?”
• Reeshma Haji (Laurentian University), “Beyond Sectarian Boundaries: Dimensions of Muslim Canadian Religiosity and the Prediction of Sociocultural Attitudes.”
• Salima Versi (University of Alberta), “The Evolution of Identity: Khōjā Nizari Ismailism in Canada.”

Panel: Ismailis of Badakhshan (Room 2228)
Chair: Jeff Sahadeo (Carleton University)

• Nourmamadcho Nourmamadchoev (Institute of Ismaili Studies), “The Politics of Rule in Badakhshan and the Place of Ismāʿīlīs.”
• Hakim Elnazarov (Institute of Ismaili Studies), “The Ismailis of Central Asia during the Colonial Era.”
• Abdulmamad Iloliev (Institute of Ismaili Studies), “The Ismāʿīlīs of Tajikistan during Soviet Rule: Appropriation to a New Socio-Political Order.”
• Zamira Dildorbekova (Institute of Ismaili Studies), “The Shaping of ‘Civil Society’ by Tajik Ismailis through Discourses on Faith.”

12:00 pm – 1:15 pm (LUNCH)

1:15 pm – 2:35 pm

Panel: Art and Music (Room 2220)
Chair: Shainool Jiwa (Institute of Ismaili Studies)

• Ambreen Shehzad Hussaini (University of Victoria), “Choreography of Islamic Calligraphy: A Labour of Love? A Case Study of Pakistani Artist Mohammad Ismaili Gulgee.”
• Karim Gillani (ITREB Kenya), “Rethinking Ginans: Sound, Recitation and Migration.”
• Chorshanbe Goibnazarov (University of Central Asia), “Musical Instruments and Construction of Identities: The Rubab as an Expression of Religious, Cultural and National Identities.”

Panel: Aga Khan IV: Ideas and Institutions (Room 2224)
Chair: Reeshma Haji (Laurentian University)

• Otared Haider (University of Oxford), “Syrian Ismailis in the 20th Century: Educational Renaissance and Cultural Revival.”
• Yahia Baiza (Institute of Ismaili Studies), “The Ismaili Imamate’s Development Intervention in Afghanistan, 2002-2017: Moving Beyond Humanitarian and International Aid.”
• Al karim Karmaili (Athabasca University), “Imamat Leadership and the Transparent Community: The Case of the Enabling Environment.”

Panel: Religious Education (Room 2228)
Chair: Karim Tharani (University of Saskatchewan)

• Aleem Karmali (ITREB Canada), “Are the “Seven Pillars” Still Relevant in Contemporary Nizārī Thought? The Presentation of al-Qāḍī al-Nu‘mān in 21st Century Nizārī Religious Education.”
• Daryoush Mohammad Poor (Institute of Ismaili Studies), “Problematising Pluralism among Ismailis: An Intellectual and Pedagogical Perspective.”
• Shelina Adatia (University of Ottawa), “‘Unwrapping’ Rahim’s Story: Giftedness and Ismaili Religious Education.”

2:35 pm – 2:45 pm (COFFEE / TEA)

2:45 pm – 4:45 pm

Town Hall Discussion (Atrium)

“Exploring Future Directions of the Ismaili Conferences and Related Initiatives.”

4:45 pm – 5:00 pm (CONFERENCE WRAP UP)