An international academic conference titled “Zīrid Ifrīqiya and the Islamic World in the 10th–12th Centuries” will be held on 28 and 29 May 2026 at University College London (UCL). The academic conference is a collaboration between Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and UCL and will be centered on medieval North African archaeology and history.
The conference is organized by:
Corisande Fenwick, UCL Professor of Late Antique and Islamic Archaeology,
Annliese Nef, Professor, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne,
Viva Sacco, British Academy International Fellow at UCL.
Background and Objectives
The academic study of medieval North Africa has, in recent years, undergone a most welcome revival. Recent scholarship has significantly advanced our understanding of the region during the caliphal, Aghlabid, and early Fatimid periods, as well as within the framework of the Ibadi imamate movements. Within this growing field of research, the Zīrids — a Berber Sanhaja dynasty that ruled from 972 to 1148 — present themselves as a subject worthy of renewed attention.
The most recent major work on the Zīrids appeared in 1962 (Hady Roger Idris), with little focus given to material culture. This conference aims to reevaluate Zīrid Ifrīqiya’s political, economic, cultural, and scholarly roles in the broader Islamic world.
Despite earlier assumptions of marginality, Zīrid Ifrīqiya was a core power at the crossroads of the Sahara and the Mediterranean, involved in extensive transregional networks.
The conference will bring together specialists in archaeology, numismatics, art history, history, epigraphy, and manuscript studies. A follow-up publication is planned, with a projected plan for Brill to publish it in the Handbook of Oriental Studies series.
Call for Papers:
Proposals (English or French) are invited on topics including but not limited to:
- Zīrid autonomy from Fatimid Cairo and maritime power
- Architecture and urbanism (e.g. Achir, Mahdiya, Sabra al-Mansūriyya)
- Political and economic relations regionally and transregionally
- Archaeological knowledge of settlement, economy, and life
- Integration with Fatimid, Sicilian, and Egyptian economies
- Saharan trade and artisanal innovation
- Manuscript culture in Kairouan and Mālikī legal traditions
- Mobile societies and reinterpretation of the ‘Hilali myth’
Submission Details:
Deadline: 30 September 2025
Include: Paper title, author(s), institutional affiliation(s), abstract (maximum 250 words)
Send to:
Corisande Fenwick – c.fenwick@ucl.ac.uk
Annliese Nef – Annliese.Nef@univ-paris1.fr
Notification of acceptance: By end of October 2025
Funding: Travel costs for North African scholars will be covered by the Barakat Trust.
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