We invite submissions for short articles concerning law in the early modern or modern Ottoman Empire, for publication on SHARIAsource, a digital project based at Harvard Law School and directed by Prof. Intisar Rabb, that will be launched in late 2016.
SHARIAsource is an online research portal to collect and house primary sources and commentary on Islamic law. It is designed to be both a reference for scholars and a reliable resource for people outside the academy: lawyers, journalists, policy-makers, activists, and so on. Articles published by SHARIAsource will be blind peer-reviewed and meet the highest scholarly standards, but should also be accessible to non-specialists.
For more details, an article on SHARIAsource was published last year in the Harvard Magazine.
Currently, we would like short articles (approx. 1500-3000 words) on any subject related to law, judicial institutions and legal practices in the Ottoman Empire since 1450. We accept submissions in any relevant scholarly discipline.
There are various potential formats for the article:
- A primary source, such as a sijill entry or other legal document, in English translation with commentary.
- A summary of a journal article or book that you have published recently, detailing its argument and conclusions.
- An article on a key controversy in Ottoman legal studies.
- An article on a key event or trend in Ottoman legal history (for example, the 1876 Ottoman Constitution)
- An article on a key concept (for example, kānūn, or citizenship)
- An article on a significant jurist or other actor in Ottoman legal history.
As the above suggests, articles submitted to SHARIAsource need not be original research in their own right, but they should be based on original research. SHARIAsource aims to expand access to existing scholarship as well as facilitate new research.
By contributing to SHARIAsource, you will help to inform the global public debate on Islamic law, and you will also be able to raise the profile of your published work, connect with people inside and outside the academy and forge interesting new collaborations.
Please send submissions relevant to the period 1450-1839 to James Baldwin at james.baldwin@rhul.ac.uk, and submissions relevant to the period 1839-1924 to Will Smiley at smileyw@reed.edu.
