• The Seminar for Arabian Studies

 The Seminar for Arabian Studies is the only annual international forum for the presentation of the latest academic research on the Arabian Peninsula. The subjects covered include archaeology, history, epigraphy, languages, literature, art, culture, ethnography, geography, etc. from the earliest times to the present day or, in the case of political and social history, to the end of the Ottoman Empire (1922).

• Changes to the format of papers at the Seminar for Arabian Studies, Paris 2024

The Seminar Committee has decided to change the way papers are given at the Seminar. The changes will be introduced for the Paris Seminar in June 2024. They follow from the strong feeling amongst Committee members that too much time is dedicated to descriptive reporting of fieldwork (rapportage) at the Seminar, and not enough to synthetic review, broader research questions and discussion. This feeling was backed by Felix Riede’s comments at the end of the Århus Bronze-Age session in 2023. This year we will therefore accept the following two types of paper:

-Short rapportage: Such papers will be focussed on reporting the results of current fieldwork (or labwork) of any sort. Presentation of the wider academic and geographical context should be brief and acknowledgments should be listed in a single, brief final slide. The paper should focus on describing the work that has been done and its results. Short rapportage papers will be allocated 15 minutes speaking time (including questions).

-Synthetic overview: Such papers will be expected to provide a review and/or analysis of a wider research question of any sort. Detailed context is required and the abstract will need to set out clearly the scope and aims of the paper and outline the data set or evidence on which it will be based. Such papers will be allocated 25 minutes with 5 minutes for questions.

All abstracts will be allocated to one of these types.

Those submitting abstracts will therefore be required to state clearly which type of paper they are proposing. If it is a synthetic overview, then the requirements set out above will need to be set out in the abstract, this will be scrutinised by the Committee. It is hoped that this format will allow more time for discussion sessions.

Both types of papers will be acceptable for publication in PSAS in the normal way. It may be possible to allow a longer word limit for synthetic overview papers, this is a matter that is still under discussion.

• Call for Papers

If you wish to offer a paper, please send an abstract to seminar.arab@theiasa.com on or before the 31 January 2024 for consideration by the Steering Committee. Do not send abstracts to any other e-mail address. Papers submitted should address a research approach that engages with answering unknown questions or challenge existing assumptions as opposed to papers that strictly report on empirical observations.

Abstracts should include what the proposed paper intends to cover, an outline of the approach it will take and an indication of the significance of the topic. Abstracts can include up to three relevant bibliographical references. All abstracts must also include 1) the title of the proposed paper; 2) name(s) and affiliation(s) of the contributor(s); 3) five keywords. 4) whether it is to be considered short rapportage or synthetic overview. Abstracts are limited to 200 words maximum (not including bibliographic references) and abstracts that are significantly over the word limit may rejected. Please submit your abstracts as Word documents only.

Short rapportage presentations will be 15 minutes of speaking time including questions and synthetic overview presentations will be 25 minutes of speaking time with an extra 5 minutes for questions. They must be delivered in English and submissions for publication in PSAS must be made in English. Due to programme time constraints, and the ever-increasing number of abstracts received, there is no guarantee that all papers will be accepted. The Steering Committee will select those abstracts that are most scholarly, with a focused statement of thesis or importance, clear aims and methodology, well-organised research data, specified sources, and coherent conclusions. As in previous years, the Committee will normally only accept one abstract from any given project.

Only those papers that are actually presented at the Seminar will be considered for publication in the Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, and they will be subject to editorial and peer review.

SOURCE: The seminar | IASA (iasarabia.org)