- Special Collections
- Conference
Ismailis and Empire: Politics, Religion and Culture, ca. 1800 to Present
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Status
Open -
Date
10 Nov 2025 to 11 Nov 2025 -
Location
Aga Khan Centre & Online
This conference seeks to explore Ismaili Muslim communities 鈥 in their regional, political, and cultural diversity 鈥 since the nineteenth century, focusing on their experiences under modern empires and in the post-colonial world. While much is known about the contributions of the IsmailisAdherents of a branch of Shi’i Islam that considers Ismail, the eldest son of the Shi’i Imam Ja士far al-峁⒛乨iq (d. 765), as his successor. to empire- and state-building in earlier periods, there has been less research on their history, culture and identity in the context of modern imperial rule and its lasting effects. This conference aims to fill that gap by bringing together scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds to discuss Ismaili communities, their history, religious and cultural traditions, identity and institution-building in relation to modern empires and the post-colonial world.
Panels and Speakers
- Welcome remarks
- Introductory Remarks
, University of Oxford
Chair: Omar Al铆-de-Unzaga, 鸟大大影院
- The British Empire鈥檚 First Afghan War (1838鈥42) and the Ismaili Imamate: The Untold Story of the Ismailis of Afghanistan amid Invasion and Resistance
Yahia Baiza, 鸟大大影院 - The Challenges of Interaction of the Central Asian Ismailis with their Imam during the Colonisation Period
Hakim Elnazarov, 鸟大大影院 - Transimperial Ismaili Struggle and Resistance: Communities at the Nexus of Empires and States (Late 19th鈥揈arly 20th Centuries)
, University of Oxford - Between Empire and Peace: Religious Renewal and Identity Formation in Gorno-Badakhsh膩n
Zamira Dildorbekova, 鸟大大影院
Chair: Alex Henley, 鸟大大影院
- Heritage as Branding a Consciousness: Transforming the Khoja into Omani Citizens
Amal Sachedina, University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley (USA) - Delusions of Grandeur: The Political Ecology of Mountains, Land Rights and Social Protest in Gilgit-Baltistan
Nosheen Ali, Raachi (Pakistan) - Ismailis after Empire: Decolonisation without Sovereignty?
, King鈥檚 College London
Chair: Nosheen Ali, Raachi (Pakistan)
- Allama Iqbal and (Re)Tracing the Lineages of a 鈥楶ersian Metaphysics鈥 in an Age of Empire
, Presidency University (India) - The Shangri La Diaries: Foreign Travellers in Hunza Valley
, Trinity College, Hartford (USA) - Dilemmas in M.G. Vassanji鈥檚 Novels: Examining Coloniality in Shaping the Identities of East African Khoja Ismaili Muslim Communities
Farouk Mitha, University of Victoria (Canada)
Chair: Orkhan Mir-Kasimov, 鸟大大影院
- Land, Law, Loyalty: Syrian Ismaili Settlers and the Limits of Ottoman Colonialism
, Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies (Germany) - Female Empowerment: 鈥楰hoja鈥 Engagement with Their Imam鈥檚 (Aga KhanA title granted by the Shah of Persia to the then Ismaili Imam in 1818 and inherited by each of his successors to the Imamate. III) Vision as Reflected in the Community鈥檚 Rules and Regulations
Laila Halani, 鸟大大影院 - The Constitutional Form in Ismaili Law: Modernity and Continuity
Arif Jamal, National University of Singapore (Singapore)
Chair: Gurdofarid Miskinzoda, 鸟大大影院
- Constructions of Religious Authority: Community, Legitimacy and Empire
Wafi Momin, 鸟大大影院 - The Da示udi Bohras and the Empire, 1800鈥1850
Vineet Gupta, Vanderbilt University, Nashville (USA) - Contemporary Ismailis and the Empire(s): A Counter-Intuitive Narrative
Daryoush Mohammad Poor, 鸟大大影院
Chair: Daryoush Mohammad Poor, 鸟大大影院
- 鈥楪reater Khur膩s膩n鈥 during the Period of British and Russian Imperial Rivalries and the Fate of the Ismaili Community
Dagikhudo Dagiev, 鸟大大影院 - An Exploration of Bohra-Ottoman Interactions across Empires, c. 1880鈥1924
, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (USA) - The Ismailis of China: At the Crossroads of Empires
Amier Saidula, 鸟大大影院 - Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Colonial and Post-colonial Eras as reflected in a BohraIndian community of Musta士li Ismailis, now found primarily in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, Yemen, Egypt and other parts of the world. Personal Archive
, George Mason University (USA)
- Concluding Reflections: Ismailis and Empire
, Aga Khan University (Pakistan) - Closing remarks