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Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC) holds a number of activities throughout the year. These activities are an integral part of the research and teaching of the Institute and aim to bring together expert scholars in a range of fields relevant to the study of Muslim cultures and heritages.
Articles, audio recordings, transcripts and links to other online resources can be found in this section. Detailed information about the various conferences, seminars and workshops held by the Institute can also be found within this section.
For information about forthcoming events at the Institute, please click here.
Recent Activities
Enfoldment and Infinity: An Islamic Genealogy of New Media Art
Public Lecture
On July 23, 2009, the AKU-ISMC held a public lecture with guest speaker Dr. Laura Marks. Dr. Marks was in London to teach in the summer course ‘Expressions of Diversity: A Contemporary Introduction to Muslim Cultures', organised jointly by AKU-ISMC and the Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures - Simon Fraser University. Her presentation was based on her new book, ‘Enfoldment and Infinity: An Islamic Genealogy of New Media Art' to be published by MIT Press later this year.
The book draws on research inspired by points of contact between classical Islamic art and contemporary computer-based art. In pursuing these and other parallels, Dr. Marks suggests ways that Islamic Philosophy, which informs the creation of Islamic art, can give us new and fruitful ways to think about contemporary media art. Dr. Marks traced several paths by which Islamic aesthetics have travelled west and informed the development of European modernism and contemporary new media. Her talk focused on these parallels and paths of transmission. Dr Laura Marks is the Dena Wosk University Professor of Art and Cultural Studies at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver.
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Reconsidering Dubai: New perspectives for cities in the Middle East?
Roundtable Workshop The roundtable workshop, Reconsidering Dubai: New perspectives for Cities in the Middle East? was held on 12 June 2009, as part of the Cities/Muslim Urbanities research initiative at AKU-ISMC. The workshop included presentations by seven leading academics and architects, who explored the current state of Dubai, and its future prospects. More...
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Debating Debate in Northern Afghanistan
Magnus Marsden
Dr Magnus Marsden, a Senior Lecturer at SOAS, lecturing in Social Anthropology with reference to South and Central Asia, presented a lecture entitled Debating Debate in Northern Afghanistan on 20 May. Marsden’s ethnographic work in Afghanistan seeks to document the role of critical thinking which challenges global stereotypes about Muslims, and adds to the scholarly debate about Muslim agency. More...
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