Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

The Tatars of the Sūdān | Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta

3 5

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · 11d

The article is open access, so you can read, download, & share it here:

Welcome to Middle East Medievalists

1 4 11

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · 11d

New article alert!

Join us in exploring a phrase from Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī’s 13th-c. geography. He refers to the Damādim of northeast Africa as “Tatars of the Sūdān.” Hannah Barker interrogates the racializing discourses at play in such comparative claims.

[image: British Library Or 1524]

1 12 18

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jul 17

as always, you don't need to be a member of @mideastmedieval.bsky.social to read/submit to al-ʿUsur al-wusta. however, membership dues help keep the journal running. please consider becoming a MEMber today. while you’re at it, check out all the other stuff MEM is up to!

MEM is an international professional non-profit association of scholars interested in the study of the medieval Middle East.

Emotional Manipulation, Coercion, and Precarity in the Tales of Jamīl and Buthayna | Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jul 17

The article is open access, so you can read, download, & share it here:

Welcome to Middle East Medievalists

1 1 3

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jul 17

New article alert!

The exploits of the ʿudhrī lovers Jamīl and Buthayna are well known, full of potential for romance and scandal and violence. This article asks how such celebrated stories read differently when read with an eye to Buthayna’s experiences instead of Jamīl’s performances

1 3 3

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jul 10

as always, you don't need to be a member of @mideastmedieval.bsky.social to read/submit to al-ʿUsur al-wusta. however, membership dues help keep the journal running. please consider becoming a MEMber today. while you’re at it, check out all the other stuff MEM is up to!

MEM is an international professional non-profit association of scholars interested in the study of the medieval Middle East.

'Masʾalatun or Mas'ʾalatun? That Is the Question! | Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta

2

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jul 10

The article is open access, so you can read, download, & share it here:

1 2 3

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jul 10

New article alert!

How can we rethink word stress in Classical Arabic? This article looks to an unexpected source: the traditional recitation of metra in Persian metrics. This evidence clarifies controversial patterning in Classical Arabic, with implications for Proto-Arabic word stress, as well

1 3 4

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Apr 8

We affirm that our use of Columbia Libraries open-access publishing is in solidarity with students, faculty, and staff protesting genocide and calling for justice in Palestine.

2

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Apr 8

The Editors of @alusuralwusta.bsky.social endorse @mesa1966.bsky.social's March 13 Statement on the repression of academic freedom and March 28 Joint Statement regarding Columbia.

Letters from The Board

mesana.org

1 3 6

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jan 21

as always, you don't need to be a member of @mideastmedieval.bsky.social to read/submit to al-ʿUsur al-wusta. however, membership dues help keep the journal running. please consider becoming a MEMber today. while you’re at it, check out all the other stuff MEM is up to!

MEM is an international professional non-profit association of scholars interested in the study of the medieval Middle East.

Mkrtičʻ Nałaš: An Armenian Bishop as Pillar of the Aqquyunlu State? | Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta

4

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jan 21

The article is open access, so you can read, download, & share it here:

1 2

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jan 21

New article alert!

Explore the history of 15th-century Diyarbakır with us today! This new article relies on literary & epigraphic sources to tell a story of Aqquyunlu rulers & their relationship to the famous Armenian bishop, painter, & poet Mkrtičʻ Nałaš

[shown here: remains at nearby Ergani]

1 3 9

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jan 15

as always, you don't need to be a member of @mideastmedieval.bsky.social to read/submit to al-ʿUsur al-wusta. however, membership dues help keep the journal running. please consider becoming a MEMber today. while you’re at it, check out all the other stuff MEM is up to!

MEM is an international professional non-profit association of scholars interested in the study of the medieval Middle East.

A Neglected Armenian Source of the Late Umayyad Era | Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta

1

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jan 15

The article is open access, so you can read, download, & share it here:

1 4

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jan 15

New article alert!

We invite you to explore a text composed in the northern reaches of the Caliphate in 744: the Armenian martyrology of Vahan of Gołtʻn. This article includes a translation and intro that analyzes the text’s construction of the Umayyad world and Armenian experiences within it

map of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia including Gołtʻn along the Araxes

2 5 11

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jan 13

as always, you don't need to be a member of @mideastmedieval.bsky.social to read/submit to al-ʿUsur al-wusta. however, membership dues help keep the journal running. please consider becoming a MEMber today. while you’re at it, check out all the other stuff MEM is up to!

MEM is an international professional non-profit association of scholars interested in the study of the medieval Middle East.

Ibn Khaldūn’s Muqaddima and the Maps of al-Idrīsī | Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta

2

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jan 13

The article is open access, so you can read, download, & share it here:

1 6

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Jan 13

New article alert!

Ibn Khaldūn’s Muqaddima offers the most extended reading of a series of maps known from medieval literature. In this article, Alfred Hiatt parses Ibn Khaldūn’s text alongside manuscripts of al-Idrīsī’s 12th-cent. geography, prompting questions about Ibn Khaldūn’s art of history

manuscript showing a sectional map from al-Idrisi. It is worn in the middle with some water damage near the top. The map has a gold border with notes in Arabic in red and black ink around the margins. Within the border are two bodies of water in blue with light blue waves. Rivers cross the land in lines of blue. Land is not colored except mountains, in green, burnt orange, pink, & red. Arabic text in red identifies seas and regions; cities are noted in black. The map shows the south and east of France from Toulouse (top right) to Burgundy (bottom right), separated by the Alps from northern and central Italy, located between the Mediterranean (top) and Adriatic (bottom) Seas.

3 17 34

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Dec 20

as always, you don't need to be a member of @mideastmedieval.bsky.social to read & submit! however, membership dues help keep the journal running. please consider becoming a MEMber today. while you’re at it, check out all the other stuff MEM is up to!
www.middleeastmedievalists.com

MEM is an international professional non-profit association of scholars interested in the study of the medieval Middle East.

Vol. 32 (2024) | Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta

1

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Dec 20

The 2024 issue includes 3 conference reports on Sasanian studies, an interdisciplinary study of Baghdad, and comparative empires. And 3 book reviews on Ibāḍi texts, a translation of Ibn al-Muʿtazz, & Berber Empires

1 1 3

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Dec 20

We published an extensive pedagogy file on medieval Georgian coinage

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Dec 19

Check out Stephen Rapp’s pedagogy file on medieval Georgian coins to use in undergraduate classes!

This example combines familiar format: “there is no god but God alone, who has no associate; Muhammad is the messenger of God” in Arabic, w/ Georgian margin “Christ, exalt Bagrat, king of the Apʻxaz”

1 3

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Dec 20

UW had its first round table in 2024! It was on the Global Middle Ages with nine thought-provoking contributions

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Dec 18

UW announces the publication of its first-ever roundtable! it showcases a variety of perspectives on the Global Middle Ages—its possibilities, perils, & problems—from fields associated w/ Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies.

1 1

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Dec 20

In 2024, we published ten peer-reviewed research articles on wide-reaching topics such as the miḥna, an Ibāḍī khuṭba, Middle Armenian, divinatory lots, ḥadīth transmissions, tile revetments, poetry, & emotion. Here is the compilatory thread!

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists @alusuralwusta.bsky.social · Dec 16

Since we are new(ish) to Bluesky, we want to make sure you did not miss all of the wonderful articles we published this year! We publish as soon as articles are through peer review and copyediting, so these have rolled out over the past 12 months:
🧵⬇️