Conference. Thinking in the ‘Multi-verse’: The Many Layers of Islamic Diplomatic History. NYU Abu Dhabi, October 2-3, 2023.

On October 2-3, 2023, Rémi Dewière attended an international conference entitled "Thinking in the Multiverse: Unraveling the Layers of Islamic Diplomatic History" sponsored by the NYU Abu Dhabi Humanities Research Fellowship for the Study of the Arab World. The conference took place on the beautiful campus of NYU Abu Dhabi. During this conference, he presented a paper on the structure of a fictitious Mamluk letter, adhering to the Chancery manuals. This project explored the act of writing as a sensitive and technological practice. The paper concluded with an exhibit of the 3.5-metre-long fictitious Mamluk scroll.

Over the course of two days, attendees debated the social, political, artistic, and religious facets of Islamic diplomacy during the medieval, early modern, and modern periods. Of particular interest were the intricate connections with the Safavids and Ottomans, as well as the significance of mobile participants in diplomacy and technological transfers. Ottoman immigrants in 19th century England, Ottoman prisoners of war in Russia and Central Europe, and Safavid and Morisco refugees all played a role in disseminating ideas and practices on a global level.

 Programme

• Monday, October 2 

  • 10:00 – 10:30             Welcoming Remarks & Introduction. Peter Kitlas, Humanities Research Fellow, NYUAD; Süphan Kırmızıaltın, History, NYUAD; Nathalie Peutz, Arab Crossroad Studies, NYUAD

  • 10:30 – 12:30             PANEL I: Materiality and Diplomacy. Moderator: Maurice Pomerantz, NYUAD, Arab Crossroad Studies

    • Recounting Diplomatic Contacts in the Premodern Islamicate World: The Mamluk Case. Malika Dekkiche, History, University of Antwerp

    • The Sultan of Paper: Recovering a Mamluk Diplomatic Letter to the Sultan of Mali (1440). Rémi Dewière, History, Northumbria University

    • Representing the Liminal: Faces and Places between Istanbul and Tehran in the Early Nineteenth Century. Özlem Yıldız, Art History, Temple University

  • 14:00 – 16:00             PANEL II: Concepts and Diplomacy. Moderator: Laure Assaf, NYUAD, Arab Crossroad Studies

    • Decolonial Ventures in Early Modern History: Al-Ghassānī’s Khaldunian Reading of Spanish Modernity and the Burgeoning of Islamicate Diplomatic Ethics. Achraf Idrissi, English and American Studies, University of Debrecen

    • Conceptual Diplomacy: A look at “European” Diplomacy from Istanbul in the Eighteenth Century. Yusuf Ziya Karabıcak, History, Mainz University

    • Translation in Cross-Confessional Diplomacy and its Archival Transmission: Florence and Cairo. Mahnaz Yousefzadeh, Global Liberal Studies and Italian, NYU

    • Local Diplomacy, Global Scale: The Ottoman Consular Network. Michael Talbot, History, University of Greenwich

• Tuesday, October 3 

  • 10:00 – 12:00             PANEL III: Culture and Diplomacy. Moderator: Justin Sterns, NYUAD, Arab Crossroad Studies

    • Between the Center and the Periphery: Ottoman Firmans in the Diplomatic History of Tunisia. Ahlem Ellafi, Beit Bennani, Tunisia

    • Navigating Mediterranean Diplomacy: Forging Peace Between the Ottoman Empire and Spain in the Eighteenth Century. Ayşe Çiçek Ünal, History, Yale University

    • Two Moroccan Ambassadors in Early Modern Europe: Cross-cultural Encounters and Cultural Diplomacy. Khalid Bekkaoui, English, Sidi Muhammed Ben Abdallah University; Salaheddine Bekkaoui, English, Sidi Muhammed Ben Abdallah University

  • 14:00 – 15:30             PANEL IV: Practicing Diplomacy. Moderator: Monica Marks, Arab Crossroad Studies, NYUAD

    • The Issue of Border Crossing and Migration in the Ottoman-Safavid Rivalry and its Diplomacy. Ayşe Baltacıoǧlu-Brammer, History, NYU

    • The Moriscos as Diplomats in the Turbulent Modern Mediterranean. Houssem Eddine Chachia, History, University of Tunis

    • When a Captive Meets an Empress: Warfare and Diplomacy in the Ottoman Russian Sphere during the 1770s. Gül Şen, History, University of Bonn

  • 15:30 – 16:00 Closing Remarks and Discussion. Peter Kitlas, Humanities Research Fellow, NYUAD; Süphan Kırmızıaltın, History, NYUAD

  • 16:30 – 21:00             Tour and Dinner at the Anwar Gargash Diplomacy Academy