How Rebellion Ends 

The Emmy Noether Junior Research Group ‘Social Contexts of Rebellion in the Early Islamic Period’ (SCORE) invites submissions for an international conference on rebellion in the early Islamicate world and its late antique predecessors (c. 500–1000 CE). The conference will be held in Hamburg (Germany) on 12–13 September 2024.

SCORE studies rebellion and related categories (such as banditry, martyrdom or civil war), foregrounding sociopolitical and socioeconomic rather than more traditionally emphasised religious causes (www.aai.uni-hamburg.de/score).

We invite submissions that discuss processes and mechanisms of conflict resolution in Late Antiquity and the early Islamic period from theoretical and/or source-based perspectives. We particularly welcome case studies of distinct revolts, as well as papers that seek to apply methods, theories, and insights from other fields to the study of ‘how rebellion ends’ in the early Islamic period. Recognising the complexity and diversity of early Islamicate societies, we are also especially keen to include studies of contention and its resolution in non-Muslim communities under Muslim rule, as well as contributions that examine these processes within non-elite and marginalised groups and individuals (e.g., women, slaves, peasants, certain groups of mawālī).

Speakers are invited to discuss conflict resolution in all its dimensions. These include, but are not limited to, the following themes and questions:

• Actors: which individuals and groups were involved in resolving conflict?
• Institutions: which social, legal, economic and political structures and processes were employed in conflict resolution (e.g., negotiation, mediation, amān, pledging or exchange of hostages, military force)?
• Discourses: (how) do accounts of revolts employ repertories of resolution and legitimacy/loyalty and disloyalty?
• Reintegration: how were rebels brought back into a political and social community during or following the resolution of a revolt? What happened to people who rebelled multiple times?
• Regeneration: how were conflict-affected regions resettled and brought under renewed cultivation following conflict resolution?
• Punishment: how were members of a defeated party or functionaries of a victorious party punished for disloyalty or abuses?
• Violence: what role did the use of violence (by either state agents or rebels) play in responses to rebellion? To what extent was violence performative?
• Constituencies: did different ethnic, linguistic, religious, social and political groups employ different methods of conflict resolution? Did statist institutions use different methods to deal with different constituencies?
• Contexts: to what extent is a common culture of conflict resolution in evidence between the major imperial and post-imperial contexts of Late Antiquity and the early Islamicate world? (Roman, Byzantine, Sasanian, Islamic, Frankish.)
• Implications: what can cultures of conflict resolution tell us about sociopolitical and ideological structures and concepts within these societies more broadly?
• Archaeology: to what extent can the ends of revolts be traced through the material culture of defensive settlements, sieges, assaults or battles?
• Memorialisation: how do textual and material sources attest to the commemoration and celebration of conflict resolution? (E.g. inscriptions, monumental architecture, proclamations, processions and other performances, liturgies, payments.)

Papers will be pre-circulated. Each paper will be allotted a 45-minute slot, comprising 10 minutes for a short presentation of the paper’s main points followed by 35 minutes of discussion. Interested speakers should submit an abstract (300 words) and a short biography to hannah-lena.hagemann@uni-hamburg.de by 15 December 2023. We welcome submissions from established as well as junior scholars, advanced PhD students, and independent researchers. Travel and accommodation for 3 nights will be covered.

All prospective speakers will be notified of the outcome of their proposals at the end of January 2024. Confirmed speakers will be asked to send their draft paper for pre-circulation by 1 August 2024. We plan to publish the results of this conference, so please let us know in advance if you are interested in contributing to the proceedings; this is not, however, a prerequisite for participation. We look forward to receiving your abstracts

pdf

This CfP was published in October 2023.

How Rebellion Ends: Conflict Resolution in the Late Antique and Early Islamicate World, 500-1000 CE

 

University of Hamburg, 12-13 September 2024

 

Two-day conference organised by the DFG Emmy Noether research group “Social Contexts of Rebellion in the Early Islamic Period” (SCORE, University of Hamburg)

 

Thursday, 12 September 2024

Welcome

09:00 Registration

 

09:30 Hannah-Lena Hagemann (Hamburg), Welcome and Introduction: Conflict Resolution in the Late Antique and Early Islamicate World

 

10:00-10:15 Coffee Break

 

Political Culture

Chair: Alon Dar (Hamburg)

 

10:15-11:00 Yannis Stouraitis (Edinburgh), “‘All Tyrants Must Die’, or Perhaps Not: Conflict Resolution in Byzantine Civil Wars”

11:00-11:45 Ralph Mathisen (Urbana-Champaign), "Emperors, Generals, and Kings: Conflict Resolution in the Late Roman Empire (ca. 400-602 CE)"

11:45-12:15 Coffee Break

 

12:15-13:00 Maribel Fierro (Madrid), “A Few Good Men: Dealing with Rebels in Umayyad al- Andalus”

 

13:00-14:30 Lunch

 

Legitimacy and Social Order

Chair: Alon Dar (Hamburg)

 

14:30-15:15 Zélie Lépinay (Paris),“Conflict Resolution and Political Legitimization: Ibn al-Ṣaghīr’s  Discourse on the Rustamid imam of Tāhart"

15:15-16:00 Murtaza Shakir (Mumbai), “Al-Mashʾhad al-Juyūshī: A Symbol of Triumph and Devotion”

 

16:00-16:30 Coffee Break

16:30-17:15 Matthew Gordon (Miami, OH), “Lu’lu’ and the Trials of the Ṭūlūnid Household”

 

19:00 Conference Dinner

 

Friday, 13 September 2024 

09:00-09:15 Coffee and Welcome

 

Intermediate Elites: Negotiating Loyalties

Chair: Konrad Hirschler (Hamburg)

 

09:15-10:00 Alasdair Grant (Hamburg), “The Church How Militant? Christian Clergy and Conflict Resolution in the Early Islamic Empire”

10:00-10:45 Rob Haug (Cincinnati), “The Fate of the Peacock Army in Khurāsān: Reconciling Networks and Loyalties in the Aftermath of Revolt”

 

10:45-11:15 Coffee Break

 

Constituencies

Chair: Natalie Kontny-Wendt (Hamburg)

 

11:15-12:00 Kevin Feeney (Connecticut), “Popular Mobilization, Repression, and Rebellion in Early Medieval Constantinople”

12:00-12:45 Annliese Nef (Paris), “‘These Cities Do Not Suit Their Rulers and Their Rulers Do Not Suit Them’: Ending Rebellion in ‘Riotous’ Sicily at the Beginning of the Fatimid Era (First Half of the 10^th Century)"

 

12:45-14:15 Lunch

 

Contentious Aftermaths

Chair: Jürgen Paul (Hamburg)

 

14:15-15:00 Daniel Alford (Lille), “Borderland Lords and Central Sons: The Sasanian Empire’s Treatment of Captives in the Aftermath of the 450-451 CE Armenian Rebellion”

15:00-15:45 Natalie Kontny-Wendt (Hamburg), “From Execution to State Office: Dealing with the Supporters of the Failed ʿAlid Rebel Ibrāhīm b. ʿAbdallāh (d. 763 CE)”

 

15:45-16:15 Coffee Break

 

16:15-17:00 Reza Huseini (Cambridge), “The Rebellion of Fāʾiq-i Khāṣṣa in Samanid Khurasan: Diplomacy and War in the Eastern Iranian Regions”

 

Closing

17:00-17:15 Hannah-Lena Hagemann (Hamburg), Concluding Remarks

 

19:15 Conference Dinner 

 

Conference Programme [pdf]