Call for Papers: "Writing Semitic: Scripts, Documents, Languages in 
Historical Context: The Sixth International Society for Arabic 
Papyrology (ISAP) Conference" (Munich, October 7th-10th, 2014)

Deadline: End of December, 2013


During the last years, Arabic papyrology has started to contribute 
significantly to Arabic and Islamic studies: we now dispose of a number 
of high standard editions of documents; scholars working on the Islamic 
World up to the 16th century counterbalance literary tradition with 
documentary evidence; and cooperation with Demotic, Greek, and Coptic 
papyrology has steadily improved.

The thematic framework of the "Sixth International Society for Arabic 
Papyrology (ISAP) Conference" in 2014 will be somewhat wider. We intend 
to bring together scholars using documentary evidence for the history of 
the Early Islamic world (including Arabic, Coptic, and Greek papyri, 
inscriptions and coins) with scholars working on Semitic languages and 
writing systems in general. About one third of the contributions will be 
devoted to this wider perspective.

The Sixth ISAP Conference will be hosted by the Bavarian Academy of 
Sciences and Humanities (www.badw.de) and be organized by the Academy's 
Committee of Semitic Philology, ISAP, and the Munich Institute of Near 
and Middle Eastern Studies. The conference will start on the morning of 
Tuesday, October 7, 2014, and continue through the afternoon of Friday, 
October 10, 2014. The programme will include 20-minute lectures, evening 
lectures, and a poster exhibition of current PhD projects, as well as a 
visit of the Bavarian State Library with its holdings in Oriental 
manuscripts (and Sabaic wood sticks). Optional visits will include the 
newly reopened Egyptian Museum and the State Museum for Ethnology. 
Conference languages will be English, German, French and Arabic. 
However, all lectures will be given in English.


Giving a lecture and/or presenting a poster

Please send a 400-word abstract to Dr. Kathrin Mueller 
([log in to unmask]) no later then end of December, 2013. Notification 
regarding the acceptance of proposals will be made by end of March, 2014.


Participation with no lecture

Please send a notice of intent to participate to Dr. Kathrin Müller 
([log in to unmask]) no later then end of August, 2014. There will be 
no conference fee charged. Yet, participants will be asked, on spot, to 
be or become members of ISAP. Information on membership can be found on 
the ISAP website (www.ori.uzh.ch/isap).


Travel Subsidies

It is hoped that the Conference will be able to offer a few awards for 
scholars not able to get institutional subventions for travel to Munich. 
Please let us know as soon as possible whether you will be in need for 
such sponsoring.


Conference Organizers

If you have any further questions about the Conference, please contact 
Dr. Kathrin Müller ([log in to unmask]), Professor Andreas Kaplony 
([log in to unmask]) or Dr. Daniel Potthast ([log in to unmask]).