Mamluk Studies Resources
The Middle East Documentation Center at The University of Chicago
Eleventh Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies
Queen Mary University of London
U. K.
May 8-10, 2025
SMS 2025
We are pleased to announce that the Eleventh Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies will be held at Queen Mary University London, May 8-10, 2025.
The conference will be conducted in two parts: a themed day on law and justice in the Mamluk Sultanate (May 8) and two days of panels with open themes (May 9-10). The conference will be preceded by a three-day intensive course on Mamluk law and society (May 5-7).
THEMED DAY: Law and Justice in the Mamluk Sultanate (May 8, 2025)
The first day of the conference will be themed and dedicated to the history of law and justice in the Mamluk Sultanate. The Mamluk era saw an unprecedented production of Islamic legal texts, professionalization of legal cadres and distillation of legal doctrines, and intense legal pluralism that went beyond the confines of the Islamic law. This first day of the conference will offer a broad view of law and justice as they affected the entire population of the Sultanate and those who visited it. In terms of legal systems, we welcome studies of Islamic law in the Mamluk context, autonomous laws of non-Muslim communities, and customary non-religious laws of rural and urban communities. A broad definition of law also includes royal decrees and regulations of fiscal administration, including rules concerning the iqṭāʿ land regime. In terms of the history of the judiciary, the themed day is open to studies of the courts of qāḍīs, non-Muslim judges and the provision of justice by government officials and magistrates.
A maximum of 12 paper proposals will be selected. Should a greater number of proposals be received, the authors of those which are not selected for the conference may be offered the possibility to publish their contribution in the proceedings. Time allotted to each paper will be twenty minutes, plus ten minutes for discussion.
PANELS (May 9-10, 2025)
The remaining two days of the conference will be structured in preorganized panels, which may focus on any aspect of the intellectual, political, social, economic, and artistic life of the Mamluk period. The panels will be organized in presentations of three to four papers of twenty minutes each, with a discussion at the end of each panel.
Panel proposals must be made by a representative, who will be responsible for the panel’s organization.
Please note that in case of cancellation of two papers out of the three (or three out of the four) composing the panel, the panel will have to be withdrawn from the program.
Sponsored SMS 2025 conference panel: Gaza's Mamluk heritage. In light of the ongoing war on Gaza and Israel's mass destruction of its historical monuments and systematic demolition of all its universities, the School of Mamluk Studies invites paper proposals that deal with Gaza's Mamluk-era heritage, or paper proposals that document the work of Gazan academics to preserve and study this heritage. Selected proposals will form a conference panel dedicated to the heritage of Mamluk Gaza, sponsored by the School of Mamluk Studies. Proposals, including the name of the speaker, a provisional title and an abstract of a maximum of 300 words, should be sent by November 30, 2024 to sms2025london@gmail.com
PROPOSALS
Paper proposals for the themed day must be submitted electronically (see link below) by October 31, 2024. Paper proposals must provide the name and a one-page CV of the speaker, a provisional title, and an abstract of a maximum of 300 words.
To submit a paper proposal, complete the form at http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/sms2025paperproposal.html.
Panel proposals must be submitted by November 30, 2024. A panel may include 3 or 4 papers. The proposal should provide the following information for each paper in the panel: the name and one-page CV of the author, a provisional paper title, and an abstract (maximum of 1500 characters, or about 300 words). Panel proposals must also identify the panel’s chair (who may be one of the panelists). The organizer of a panel should have all information about the panel members and their papers before beginning the proposal submission.
To submit a panel proposal, complete the form at http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/sms2025panelproposal.html.
Those who would like to express their intention to attend the conference as non-presenters should complete the registration form.
Acceptance: Paper and panel proposals will be peer-reviewed. A first circular will be sent by January 2025 to those whose proposals have been accepted, and to those who have expressed interest in attending the conference as non-presenters.
Language: The official language of the conference will be English.
Fees: The conference registration fees will be £70 for participants and attendees. Graduate students will be offered a discounted fee of £40, subject to availability. A farewell dinner will take place on the last day (May 10) at a cost to be determined. Payment of the fees (registration and farewell dinner) must be received by April 15, 2025. Information on the process of registration and method of payment will be sent in January 2025; for enquiries, please email history-sms2025@qmul.ac.uk. Participants must make their own travel arrangements; the local organizer will provide suggestions for accommodations.
Publication: Selected papers from the themed day will be published in a special issue of Mamlūk Studies Review.
Intensive course: Law and Society in the Mamluk Sultanate (May 5-7, 2025)
This three-day intensive course will focus on reading Mamluk-era legal documents as sources for the social, economic and religious history of Egypt and Greater Syria, including Palestine. It is intended for advanced graduate students and other qualified participants and will be offered by Professor Yossef Rapoport (Queen Mary University London) in collaboration with Dr Daisy Livingston (Durham University). The course will include close reading and historical analysis of published Arabic legal documents from the Mamluk Sultanate, including Islamic legal manuals, fatwas, formularies and court documents.
The number of participants will be limited to a maximum of 12.
Applications for the intensive course should include a CV, a statement of purpose (up to 750 words), and a letter of recommendation by someone familiar with your work. These should be sent to history-sms2025@qmul.ac.uk by the end of January 2025. Those who are selected for the course will be notified by the end of February 2025, at which time information about the method of payment for the course fees will be provided.
The course fee is £300, which also includes the registration fee for the subsequent conference (May 8-10). The fees must be paid by April 15, 2025. Registration and participation will not be confirmed until payment is received. Participants must make their own travel arrangements; the local organizer will provide suggestions for accommodation.
We look forward to seeing you in London!
Yosef Rapaport, Queen Mary University London (local organizer)
Frédéric Bauden, Université de Liège
Antonella Ghersetti, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice
Marlis Saleh, University of Chicago
© Middle East Documentation Center. The SMS logo is based on the lion emblem used by Sultan Baybars.